The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1880-03-06
ITEMS OF INTEREST
Personal and Literary.

-Sylvanus Cobb, Jr., has made
$500, 900 by his pen.
1t is said that Turgenieff has been
forbidden by the authorities from carry
ing out plan he had formed of spend
ing the winter in Russia for the purpose
Of studying up the present situation.
Charles Darwin, the English scien-
fist, has won the prize of 81 400 recent
ly offered at Turin for discoveries in the
physiology of plants. He is receiving
the congratulations of all the scientific
men in Europe.
Mr.. Larkin j. Mead, the American
sculptor, is married to beautiful ltal-
ian lady with whom he could not at first
acquaintance talk, neither knowing the
others language. They have charm
ing home in Florence. Mr.. Mead is one
of the kindest of men and most gener-
Gus of artists, always sympathetic and
helpful to younger artists.
Herbert Spencer, the English phil
osopher, is GO years old. Having been
privately educated, he was at first a
civil engineer. His forehead is high
and he is quite bald. His face is long,
and, although his features are not small,
he has an impractical and almost eff
Terminate appearance. His portraits re-
present him as resting his head against
his hand, in the Washington Irving
style. ~
Mr.. w. ID. Howells's home at Cam
bridge bears the quaint name OF /" Red
top" The lower story is of brick and
the second of wood, entirely sheath ed
in California redwood shingles. In
architecture it is a mixture Of Queen
Anne house and Swiss chalet. Mr..
Howells's study is large and charming
room, with wide fireplace, filed at
this season with blazing logs, with a
pretty winter garden, under glass, open
ing out of it, and ceilin g divided in
ancient fashion by beams.
Science and Industry.
We sent last year to Europe 1,50O,-
600 hides. e3if 20
IA toy maker of Montrose, Pa,
uses 100000 feet of Eastwood every
year.
Sixteen pudding furnaces at the
Altoona (Pa.) Rolling Mill are running
day and night. ,aaa.
Seven machines in Pittsburgh, Pa,
produced, last year, over 1,063, 345 kegs
of nails. :.
The grape islands of Lake Erie
have 1900 acres of vines, and the
yield in 1879 was 100000 pounds.
The wine production was 1925, 400
gallons.
b AN order that can not be filed in
less than one year has been received by
the Marlborough Wooden Company.
The company will turn out 800 yards
a day. - 'ea- ="
1T is said that the adhesiveness and
durability of solution of 100 parts gum
arabic in $50 parts water may be in
creased by adding two parts of sulphate
Of alumina.
-Crocus, dried and powdered, when
applied with chamois leather to nickel
plated goods, will restore their
brilliancy without injuring their sur
face. 3-lsL8 a 89e Vaa N1Eai1a ~
-. Ecyrlate - is the name of a
new red color derived from coal. 1t is
prophesied that cochineal has had its
day, and that the new color. will take its
place. ....4
Geese are raised for their feathers
in Texas. One goose ranch in Western
Texas has over 800 geese, whose feathers
are plucked every two months, each one
averaging pound and half year.
= "A species of dwarf cactus, abundant
in Lower California, is rich in fiber,
said 10 be excellent for mattresses. 1t
is reported that an experimental ma
chine, costing only $500, converts the
raw material into white, elastic fiber
with great rapidity, and promises to
reduce the cost and improve the quality
of such goods very materially.
A fact probably but little known is
that the United States nickel five-cent
piece furnishes key to metric measures
and weights. This coin is two cent?
merets in diameter, and its weight is
five grammes. Five of them placed in a
row win give the length of the decimetre,
and two of them will weigh deca-
gramme. As kilolitre is cubic meter,
the key to the measure of length is also
the key to measures Of capacity. IA
D. a Foreign Notes. ninue 1is
Z 1t is expected that the Cologne