The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1878-11-21
POPULAR SCIENCE.


will sweeten if placed out of doors in
the cool air over night.
SALT will curdle new milk hence in
preparing milk porridge, gravies, ETC.,
the salt should not be added until the
dish is prepared.
ELECTRIC CANDLEs-M. Jabloch-
koff's invention is being tested on a
large scale in the streets of Paris, and if
it answers expectations it will no doubt
be introduced for the public benefit.
An attempt to introduce it in New York
would probably be followed by injunc-
tons and endless litigation resulting in
ruinous delays, which might very pos
sibly cripple the resources of all con-
cerned.
ABREAD-FRUIT tree is now acclimated
and in healthy bearing in the capital
grounds at Sacramento, Cal. The fruit
has the shape of pear, four inches
long and three in diameter. 1t has a
cantaloupe flavor. The milky juice of
this tree tenders the toughest meat if
steepe d in it for 10 minutes. In Barba-
does it is usual to hang meat and fowls
in the branches, where the vapor of the
tree effects the same purpose.
THE most important geological dis
covery of the year was made by Prof.
Snow of the Kansas University scientific
expedition about 800 miles east of Den
ver 1t consisted of giant reptile or
Saurian, SO perfectly preserved as to
exhibit portion of the hide. Previ-
ously geologists had found hundreds of
specimens of these Saurians with the
bones alone remaining, SO that the dis
covery of the outer skin is new to sci
ence.
A NEW STIMULANT.--The British
Medical Journal gives long account of
a new stimulant, which has lately been
described by the papers of Australia. 1t
is called pitcherine by the natives, and
is used by them as we use tobacco, both
for smoking and chewing. Its effect is
that of pleasant exhilaration; when
long continued, intense and continuous
excitement follows. 1t is used, when
ON long foot journeys, to invigorate and
keep up the strength or excite them to
courage in battle; large doses are said
to infuriate all the passions. Some OF
the natives make a plaster of the plant
and place it back of the ears, believing
they are influenced by it.
NEW ROPE MAKING MATERIAL.-It is
said that more durable material than
hemp Or flax has been found in the
hbrous leaves of q species of aloe grow
ing in Mauritius. It's leaves, after being
simply crushed, and without requiring
the elaborate maceration necessary
with flax or hemp, furnish long and
tough threads, which are said to excel
in tenacity iron-wire of similar thick
ness, while the suppleness of ropes made
of this material is equal to that of Ital-
ian hemp. But the specially of the ma
terial is its durability, and the absence
of the excessive contraction and expan-
sion when wet or dry, which are so in
convenient to ordinary ropes. 1t is, in
fact, perfectly unalterable in salt water.
A SIMPLE LIGHTNING CONDUCTOR
The discovery of an extremely simple
and cheap means to protect houses from
being struck by lightning has recently
been announced in a French agricul-
tural paper. This consists in the use OF
bundles of straw attached to sticks OF
broom-handles and placed on the roofs
of houses in an upright position. The
first trials of this simple apparatus were
made at Tarbes-Hautes Pyrenees-by
some intelligent agriculturists, and the
results were so satisfactory that soon
afterwards eighteen communes of the
Tarbes district provided all their houses
with these bundles of str.w, and there
have been no accidents from lightning
since in the district So SAYS Nature.
but owners of valuable buildings in ex-
posed situations will hesitate to trust
such an expedient until it is more thor
oughly tested and explained; and then
the rights of lightning-rod men are to
be considered.
INFLUENCE OF TREES ON RAINFALL.
From observations made by M. Fan.
trait relative to the comparative infiu.
ence of leafy woods and resinous woods
on rain and the hygrometric state of the
air, recently communicated to the
Paris Academy, it appears that pine
forests have much greater influence
on the hygrometric state than others; so
that if the vapors dissolved in the ali
were apparent, like fogs, we should
see forests shrouded in large screen OF
moisture, and in the case of resinous
woods the vapory envelope would be
more distinct than in that of leafy
woods. M. Fantrat also shows that
pines retain in their branches more than
half of the water which is poured upon
them, whereas leafy trees allow So per
cent of the precipitated water to reach
the surface of the ground. He suggests,
therefore, that in planting with view
to oppose foundations, it would be adj
visable to choose by preference resin
GUS trees, as offering better covert.
A USEFUL PAsTE.-A correspondent