American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1880-08-07
FACTS AND FIGURES.

The PRINTING! ffices of the Neue
Frcie Presse at Vienna are now lighted
with Siemens' divided electric lamps.
cotton can be manufactured there at a
less than in New England.
1t is said that German workmen
give very fine temper to their edge
tools by simply heating them to a white
heat and plunging them repeatedly into
sealing-wax, so that finally the tool is
too cold to penetrate the wax
BY means of the electric clocks now
in position along the Hudson River
Railroad, an operator in New York con-
trolls the hands of each clock without
the Intervention of the men connected
with the depot. For moment before
noon the hands of each clock are agi-
tated and stop exactly at the same in
slant.
- Mr.. Trowbridge. our Consul at
Vera Cruz, has called attention to a
cactus known as the "pita," with tibers
sixteen feet long, and capable of being
spun to an Incredible fineness. The
fabric woven from these fibers appears
like silver tissue of wonderful deli
cacy. The plant fourishcs both in
Mexico and Texas in great abundance.
In a recent note to the Vienna
Academy, Herr Salzer offers an estimate
(based on numeration) of the probable
number of optic nerve fibers and of ret
inal cones i'll . human eye. The num-
Der of the former he supposeS to be
about ABS, 900, that of the latter 3, $780,
600. This gives seven or eight cones
for each nerve fiber, supposing all fbers
of the optic nerves to be connected with
cones, and equally distributed among
them.
The Ames Company at Chicopee,
Mass, a concern which needs skilled
and intelligent workmen, is trying to
bring about return to the old ap-
prentice system by their employees.
In view of the present scarcity of thor
oughly competent mechanics, other
concerns are adopting such course,
and, with the demand for skilled labor
in that line, the boys who have the pa
tience and nerve to learn the business
thoroughly will be sure of better re-
wards ultimately than the present sys-
tenn can ever secure them.
The shortest curve in the world is
on the Knoxville branch of the Louis
vile and Nashville Road. The gauge
is three feet, and a part of the grade
is 200 feet to the mile; but the
most remarkable feature is curve,
which is on the scale of 100 degrees.
While the engine is moving in one di-
rection, the rear cars are moving in ex-
actly the opposite direction. The en-
gine is perfect little toy, and with its
long train of about seventy-five loaded
cars, or ninety to one hundred empty
ones, it resembles gigantic serpent
crawling gracefully but rapidly among
the trees and houses along the way.
In 1910 the finest ocean steamers
plying between this country and En-
gland burned 1921 pounds of coal for
each ton of paying freight, the speed.
at that time considered fast, being 81
knots per hour. At the present day
the first-class steamers burn only 551
pounds of coal per ton of freight car
ried. and realize speed of 15l knots
per hour. But, although our present
steamers are making very fast time, and
are very economical as compared with
the earlier vessels, it is still lamenta-
BILE fact that on the largest and finest of
them, furnished with all the latest i'm
provements to secure economy, we can
only succeed in putting into the steam
about one-tenth of the Heat realized in
the boiler fire, and the remaining nine
tenths are lost.