The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1880-02-26
BELLEVUE La, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY
USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC.

e USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC.
n THE TONGUE AND TASTE TIL
!, tasting power of the tongue is not reg
+ ularly distributed over all parts of tha
G organ. According to the unanimou
S judgment of PSYCHOLOGISTS, the bacl
part of the tongue is best qualified fol
. this function, while there is difference
/ Of opinion as to the tip of the tongue
) The older observers have repeated,
t said that tasting power in the tip is
, limited to certain persons, whereas
more recent ones affirm its presence in
all men. In experimenting on the so
called ssreaction time,'' Herr Vintsch.
gau lately met with case of limited
tasting power in the tongue-tip, and
this led him to thorough Investigation
of the subject. The observations were
made with solutions of chloride of So
dunn, sugar, quinine, and citric acid.
The results were as follows: There are
persons who are capable of accurately
distinguishing all principal tastes with
the tip of the tongue alone; others per-
ceive with certainty the qualities of
sweetness, saltness, acidity, but less
distinctly bitterness. Others, again,
can only with great difficulty distinguish
tastes with the tip of the tongue; and,
finally, there are individuals who can
not do this in the least.
PURE CIsTERN WATER AND How TO
GET lT.-Pure water for domestic use is
OF great importance. In most wells the
water is more or less impregnated with
lime, or other mineral or earthly SUBJ
stance, SO that it is not so pure as rain
water. Wells are often so deep that it
is hard drawing the water. For family
use, would recommend cistern. Most
places where well can be dug, and
where it is not so sandy as to cave, a
cistern can be plastered with cement
without walling with brick or stone.
When | built my house. four years ago,
| dug my cistern back of the house be-
fore | built the summer kitchen, so as to
have it in the kitchen. The filterer is a
small cistern, one or two feet from the
| other cistern, with tile for spout to
connect them. The end of this pipe in
the filterer is inclosed by small circu-
lar brick wall, or double wall of two
inches each, with space of two inches
between, which is filled with pulverized
charcoal. The surface of this filtering
wall is scarcely square yard, and that
part of the roof discharging into the cis-
tern is "a feet by 40. Yet it is only the
most violent thunder-shower that gives
more than enough water to pass readily
through the filterer. The main cistern
is six feet in diameter and "a feet deep.
This gives us cool water all summons
cool as well water. We draw with a
chain-pump, which keeps the air and
water circulated, SO that it is pure. I /
prefer to have the filterer outside the
main cistern, and, being shallow, it is
easily cleaned. Both cisterns are COW
cred with brick arch. In the cistern |
of six feet in diameter, the arch is start
ed with groove cut in the earth for the
bottom of the arch. The earth holds it |
sufficiently from where the cistern is |
plastered. The arch rises three feet,
leaving three feet of earth over it,
chronological journal.
IMPROVED REFRIGERATING APPARA-
Tus.-The export of fresh meat from |
this country and from Australia and |
South America to Europe has led to the |
invention of a number Of processes for
keeping the meat cool during the voy-
age. The most simple, and, so far, the |
most successful, process consists in
making an air-tight chamber in the
steamer, and pumping air by means OF
fan and special engine, through a
series of pipes packed in ice. The air
is cooled to about 35 deg. Fahr., and is
deprived of its moisture by condensation
in passing the pipes, and the meat is
preserved perfectly so long as the supply
of ice holds out and the fan is kept in
motion. An improved process recently |
announced dispenses with the use of ice |
and accomplishes equally good results,
with only moderate expenditure of |
power. The new method is founded on
the simple fact Of the heating and cool
ing of air when compressed and allowed
to expand. A meat chamber of any
convenient shape and size is fitted up,
and near it is placed an air compressor
driven by steam power. The first re-
suit obtained is a heating of the COM
pressed air, and to get rid of this heat,
a spray of cold water is let into the
chamber containing the compressed air |
at each stroke of the compressor. This
lowers the temperature to that of cold
water, and by an ingenious system of
fine grating, the moisture that saturates
the compressed air is extracted. The
air is passed through series of finely |
perforated disks, on which a large pro- |
portion of the water is caught and |
allowed to pass away through suitable |
valves. Within the meat chamber are |
arranged a series of pipes hung
up in zigzag form (probably straight |
pipes Joined by returning bends), and
the compressed air is allowed to pass
through these, still farther chilling it |
and removing by condensation the re-
manning moisture. 1t then passes to |
the cylinder of an engine and is there
allowed to expand in driving the engine.
The exhaust air is then taken by pipes
into the meat chamber, and there al
lowed to expand to atmospheric pres
sure. The engine is also coupled to the