The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1873-02-26
SCIENCE AND INVENTION.

RBsPtRAToR o FIRBMEN. Professor
TyudaIl has Just perfected a new respi-
rator for fremen, in which the solid
PARTICLES Of the densest smoke are
arrested ny films of cotton wool wctted
with gIycerinc, and the most pungont
gas by layers of charcoal. BY this
simple means iremen can remain with
in burning buildings for upward Of an
hour at a time with safety and comfort.
50 far as their respiration is concerned.
ABSORBING Power OF THE HUMAN
SKrN.-Dr. Thomson, Of Edinburgh re
lates some experiments which he tried
on his Own person to ascertain the
truth Of the statements made as to the
curative power of mineral water baths.
depending on the absorption by the
skin of certain salts and other sub
stances which they hold in solution ::
and, therefore. to ascertain whether
certain substances applied in the form
of Ointments. etc. pass through the
skin and reach the blood before they
produce any beneficial effect. His con
illusions are that not only has ahsorp-
ton by the skin been greatly z
ated. but i'll the case of substances in
aqueous solution il seems to be the eH-
Ception. not the rule. for absorption to
take place; and that, in the case Of
ointments, etc. some of the substances
SO applied seem to be absorbed and
others not.
French THEORY OF E]ruDEurs. -Ac-
cording to NJ, AIphonso de CandolIe.
when a fatal malady has seriously
effected the younger portion of a popu-
%lation, the succeeding generation. de
scended from persons who escaped the
disease or wee but little effected nv it.
will be found less liable to attack. as an
ordinary effect Of the law of descent.
this continuing to be the case from
generation to generation, This, there
fore constitutes II cause of the weak
ening of epidemics, and may serve to
explain the reason why n disease is
most injurious when it first attacks any
people, and why it subsequently, be
comes rsrer or less dangerous, as has
frequently been observed. After the
lapse of several generations, however.
a population moderately affected by
disease approaches the condition of one
which has never had it, and increased
intensity may then ensue.
AMMONIA IN -CouGH.-A
writer in the British Medical Journal
states that in cases of whooping-cough
i'll the last stage-that is. after the third
week-he had one ounce of the strong
est liquid ammonia put into a : gallon of
boiling water in an open pan, and the
steam kept up by means of half a brick
made red-hot throughout and put into
the boiling water containing the am
mOnia, the pan being placed in the
middle of n room into which the pa
TENTS were brought as the ~ammoniated
steam was passing off. This method.
he says. was used in the evening, lust
before bedtime and it proved SO eff
cacious in abating the spasmodic attack.
and after three or four days terminating I
malady, ms to establish. beyond any ,
doubt, the great value of this mode of ,
lnhaling ammonia as a therapeutic
agent in tranquilizing the nervous sys- =
in whooping-eough. u
SoAP-srONB BURROWS -Soap-stone. or f.
has recently found a new mp h
as a raw material for buttons. +,
lominoes, and other similar objects. is
and refuse pieces of mineral are II
to powder and mixed with sill ls
ate of soda, water, glass: and. after a u
epose of some hours, dried Oh a plate, "a
nd the mixture again pulverized. The
thus obtained is then subjected Il
, powerful pressure in suitable molds, W
nd afterwards baked in air-tight cruel -
les' The pressed objects are again
baked i'll a ~cilieate of soda bath, and
gain heated out of contact with the
I. The hardness of the product is OK
I'D to depend, in a great measure, III
pom the number Of times the heating 4,
repeated. The last stage in the pro- an
of manufacture consists in washing ov
water in a rotary tub, drying, and ed
en- agitating in Wsuitable vessel with bo
ap-stone powder, this last operation mr.
wing to the surface a bright polish. ial
. New PROCESS or WooD-ENaRAvtNa n.
called the "planotype." The design no.
be engraved is transferred to a block h.
lime-tree wood, which is then placed az,
n machine having somewhat The ap- ale
arailce OF a carving-machine, the ax,
ape OF which varies considerably ac- A,
to the nature of the work. the ogl
being kept red-hot by a gas-iet. Pc
means of this appliance the design In
gradually burnt into the wood. II
CURES or letters Of reference are i'm M
essed by means of punches. The tail
ole design having been burnt into plo
wood, a cast in type-meta1 is taken tl1e
from the block without any pra
'ther preparation the cast may be
for printing from, like an ordinary
reotype plate. II ID said that the s
cd does not suffer in the slightest de- ciet
'e from the heat Of the molten metal, in
| that the finest details are faithfully sho
Produced. The process ID carried out pit,
a large scale. and is found to give a m
satisfactory results. will
oF TYPHOID FBvER.--Ln a re- nm,
t lecture On typhoid fever at Gay $ atra
Sir William Gull remarked as
t $50 years ago one Of the kings of not
gland died Of ague, but now by i'm sue
we'd agriculture and drainage the a i
Ease had bpcnnn raaql ana oaptai.,1v T1