The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-05-29
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.
Interesting Information for the Genera
READER.

Interesting Information for the General
READER.
Works for the manufacture of fuel
from coal screenings are to be erected
at Port Richmond, on the Delaware,
where the accumulation of coal-dust is
very great.
A cotton mill in Columbus, Ga, sold
goods last year to the amount of $780,
1913. and realized thereon a net profit of
$50, 125. Its business was one-fourth
greater than in the previous year, and
was unaffected by the panic.
During the fiscal year ending June
80, 1873, Canada imported goods amount
ing to SAT, 1876, 900 from the United
States, exporting in return products
valued at 81 800, 000 The trade of
the Dominion with Great Britain in the
same period was as follows: Imports,
$58. 552, 600; exports, $50, 500, 600.
The steamship Queen Elizabeth,
which was totally lost near Gibraltar,
had on board the most valuable cargo
ever shipped from Calcutta. 1t in
cluded 81, $4,000 worth of indigo,
$50, 900 of tea, and $412, 900 of silk,
shellac and produce. The ship, &C.,
was worth $3.50, 900, making an aggre-
gate loss of 80, 675, 900.
In Birmingham, England, according
to advices of the 2Sth ult., business was
almost paraIyzed, pending the settle
ment of the several wages questions,
the most serious and pressing being
that which has arisen between the col
liers and their employers with reference
to the proposed reduction of Is and Is
cents on the thick and thin coal dis
tricts respectively.
The Westphalian Union OF Hamm
exhibited at Vienna several hollow iron
cylinders filed internally with stony
mass, for which greater strength is
claimed than that of untitled columns
with walls of the same thickness, and
which may find extensive use for tele-
graph poles and building purposes.
They are made by rolling pile of pud-
died bars, filled with a peculiar sandy
mixture, at heat at which the sandy
mass will fuse and unite with the iron
walls.
There is probably no question in prac-
teal science which has given rise to the
discussion that has been advanced in IA
vor or against the use of the several
well-known disinfectants. The latest
and most forcible of these opposing
opinions is that advanced against car
bolic acid by Jerome Cochran, NJ D., pro-
lessor OF hygiene and medical jurispru-
dence in the Medical college of Alabama.
AS the period for the use of valued pre-
ventives approaches, the views of care
full observer merit thoughtful attention,
and certainly if Professor Cochran be
not culpably mistaken, there is need
that an immediate reform be instituted
as to the use of this hitherto acknowl-
edged disinfectant.
According to DR.. Hoffman, there may
be obtained from the juice of the fir,
between wood and bark, crystalline
| substance, called coniferin, which, when
| treated with the proper oxidizing gents,
| Is converted into vanilIin, the essential
| principle of vanilla. It is also estimated
that the juice of an ordinary spruce-fr
tree contains what is equivalent to
| twenty-five dollars worth of vanillin.
| Should these opinions be substantiated
! by experiment, the effect on the vanilla
trade will be immediate and disastrous.
The French expedition. which has
| been exploring Terra del Fuego, report
the discovery of a lake, fifteen miles in
circumference, surrounded by Iuxuriant
vegetation, and Astounding in ducks,
geese, and other wild-fowl. The in
| habitants are described as a rude but
hospitable people. Among the relics
that one of the women had preserved
with great care was the lid of a sardine
box. This, although highly priced,
was at last parted with in return for
generous gift of sugar and common
handkerchiefs.
Colonel Warburton has lately COM
pleted an exploration of western Aus
tralia, which has added greatly to our
knowledge of the continent. The ex-
petition started from Adelaide with
train of camels, and after traversing a
thousand miles in longitude, reached
Perth, having made the journey in
twelve months.
With the announcement that the Yer
sailles national assembly have voted for
the benefit of the coming transit of
Venus observations, a supplementary
credit of four thousand pounds, comes
the astounding statement that the six
clerical members who voted in the neg
alive are said to have so done because
they are not believers in the Coperni-
can theory, and have no faith in the
astronomical observations.
In Peterman's Mittheilugen we find
paper by Benin and Wagner upon the
population of the earth, in continuation
of a similar article published last year.
From this we extract the following table
of the estimated population of the grand
divisions, which will be of interest to
our readers: