The Bossier banner., 1879-07-24
USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC.

SOAP bubbles have lately been used
by physicists as means of exhibiting
tie effects of tone vibrations.
SCIENTISTS believe that the lightning
rod principle was understood an ap
piled 500 years before Christ.
BY diligent observation, Sidney Bux-
ton has decided that dogs and horses
are the only animals sensitive to ridi-
cule.
COFFEE and tea do not have the same
effect on every ore. Some they render
wakeful, and to some they prove a gen.
tie anodyne.
THERE is poisonous principle which
| occasionally crops out in the use of the
vanilla bean, and which is not yet quite
understood.
PROF HowZEAU has presented to
science list of 5000 stars visible to the
naked eve, made by him when residing
in the West Indies.
PUTNAM's winged atom is the small
est of all known insects. Its body is
only 1-12, 900 of an inch in length, and
the antenna only 100000.
WATER is simply chemical COM
bination of the two gases, oxygen and
hydroe en-, in the proportion of one part
Of oxygen and two parts of hydrogen.
A FARMER who has tried it speaks in
the highest praise of gas tar for paint
ing wagon wheels, stating that it tight
ems tire s and spokes better than any thing
else that can be tried.
In all living plants carbon is in the
process of being fixed into vegetable
substances, and oxygen is in process of
being discharged, so long as the infu-
ence of the SUMS light is acting upon
the leaves.
PROF. WOLLNY finds the following
relations between temperature and COM
pactness of soils: In summer, compact
soil is on the average warmer than loose
soil, but in winter and on fall of tenn
perature, it is colder. In warm wealth
er compact soils are warmer by dav
and colder by night than loose soils, and
are subject to greater fluctuations of
temperature. The practical inference
is plain.
THE carrier-pigeon service is now in
full operation in France and has been
included in one of the military depart
ments under the head of aerial commu-
nication. The number of birds fed by
the Government is six thousand. These
pigeons are placed in Paris and twelve
other large fortified towns. A number
of soldiers and officers have been taught
the treatment and rearing of these birds,
and carriers are now sent from place to
place. The minister of public instruc-
ton and the minister of agriculture
have established prizes for pigeon
races.
PRUssIAN statistics 60 to prove that
the price of wheat governs the births
there. Most births occur in January
and February; fewest in June and July
Those Prussian provinces which contain
an unmixed German population of q
comparatively high degree Of civiliza-
ton have fewer births than the more
mixed Polish provinces. Jews multiply
less rapidly than Christians; circum-
stance contrary to what has been sup
posed. On the other hand, they live
longer. Since 1877 the average num-
Der of children to married women has
been five. 1t used to be four.
TWELVE sets of telephones have been
sent out to Sir Garnet Wolseley for use
at the seat of war in South Africa. The
great advantage of the telephone over
the telegraph is that the General can
carry on confidential talk with the Off
Ger at the district station, or a soldier
can creep out towards the enemy's lines
and whisper back the information as TO
position. A fine wire, the thinner the
better, is all that is needed This the
soldier carries in reel upon his back, a
mile weighing only few pounds. This
will be the first time the telephone has
been used as an instrument of warfare,
AN invention has been patented in
Germany which, should its practicable
application prove feasible, will add very
greatly to the power of musk etry fire.
The invention consists of an apparatus,
described as very simple in design and
construction, by which an ordinary
breech loading rifle can, whenever it
may be desired, be temporarily con-
verted into a repeating arm. The ap-
paratus holds ten cartridges, and can be
carri' d by the soldier in his pocket.
When necessary it can be fitted on the
rifle in moment, when the ten rounds
can be fred just as rapidly as the same
number of cartridges can be discharged
from any magazine rifle.
SEVEN persons have been poisoned in
Amsterdam, Holland, by the use of
enameled iron cooking vessels of Ger
man and Belgian manufacture Prof.
T. +. Van Hamel-Roos recently tested
some OF these utensils. He heated the
pans for about two hours on water
bath, with diluted q to s per cent }
acetic acid and common salt. On
analysis the solution thus obtained
yielded considerable quantity of oxide
OF zinc. AS the combinations of zinc
are considered to be very injurious to
health, and as sauces and other articles
of diet very often contain mixtures of
salt and vinegar, he deems it desirable
that public attention should be directed
to the result of his examination ef the
effect likely to be produced by similar
~ coated pots or pans upon food.
EVERY tree, however hardy, will be
IT, =.