The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1880-01-17

is lighted only by single terch-th'
chamber Of exacution-there shall stant
an iron image Of Justice, with her scale'
and sword. Stern Justice is poppylarl,,
supposed to have no bowels, but the Ger
man goddess will carry powerful bat
terry i'm her inside; and this battery vii
be connected with an arm-chair-tht
seat Of death In front Of the chair shal
stand the judges tribunal, aud only the
judge, jury and other officers shall b.
present with the criminal during the
ceremony Of execution. This will con
sist in the judges residing the story Of
the crime committed by the prisoner
who will be rigidly manacled to the
Aforesaid armchair, and when this i
| done, the judge will break bis rod Of
Office, and toss it into one of the scale
pans of justice, at the same time extin'
gushing the solitary torch. The descent
| Of the scale7pap will complete the cleo
| trio circuit, and shock the wretch into
tho next .y4rld.
The metric system has now been
adopted by twenty-eight different 49,
lions, including majority of the civi'
lied world. In eleven countries it is il,
exclusive use while in several, as Ger
many and France, there AEs penalties for
using any other measures.
Prof. Proctor EXPRESSES consitl.rai'i'
confidence in the success Of Edison r.
electric light. He thinks it not improl,-
able that the heat Of the sun may be a.
some time utilized in driving the electr.
generators.
An English chemist claims to have
succeeded III crystallizing carbon. Speci-
mems Of the crystals are said to have
been shown to Frof Tyndall, who pro-
nounces them nndouhte.il, ,:i:.ois4:,sI.
"A man was lately killed ii K4nsa.
by the fall Of an aToHte-a very unusual
occurrence, notwithstanding the large
number If meteors which annually reach
the .earth's surface.
The attention Of sight-seskers BE-
for more than a year been attracted a.
the Kane Geyser, or spouting w:.te,- vs..
situated in the valley Of Wilson's Rnr
near the line of the Philadelphia and Erie
railway, and four miles from Kane. IL
was drilled in the spring of 1879 to u
depth Of 1000 feet, but petroleum not be-
ing found in paying quantities, the casing
was drawn and the hole abandoned. In
drilling, fresh water veins were met with
to depth Of !364 feet, which was the
limit Of the casing. At 1415 feet heavy
"gas vein was struck, and the gas al
lowed free escape while drilling was con-
tinued. When the we'll was abandoned,
the fresh water flowed in, and the con
tlict between the water and gas COM
menced. The water flows into the well
until the pressure of the confined gas be-
comes greater than the weight of the SUI
perincnmbent water, when an expulsion
takes place, and q column of water and
gas is thrown up to great height. This
occurs 1T present at regular intervals of
thirteen minutes, and the spouting con
tinues for one and half minutes. Meas
urements have shown the column to vary
in height from LOB to 1873 feet. The gas
Of the mixture can be readily ignited,
when, after nightfal1, grand spectacle
is presented. The antagonistic element;
of fire and water are SO promiscuously
blended: blended that each seems to be fighting
for the mastery. At one moment the
flame is almost entirely extinguished,
only to break forth the next instant with
increased energy. During sunshine the
spray forms an artificial rainbow, and in
winter the columns become encased in
huge transparent ice chimneys.
"A wick for petroleum and spirit
lamps IS now manufactured entirely Of
glass by German firm. It is said to
p1oduce more brilliant light than the
cotton wick. 1t is not consumed in the
fame, but wastes away slowly BY fusion.
Tho tremendous energy concentrated
in flash Of lightning is shown by Prof.
Mayer, of the Stevens Institute, in an OBJ
servation from which he concludes that
at least five hundred sauare miles Of the
earth's surface had it's electrical condi-
tiOn changed ut each fash of the light
ming.
"a new coloring matter, called er;cine,