The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1880-10-30
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY,

Elastic, springy wheels o! the bicy-
Gle pattern can be used very advantage
ously on carriages, it is said. Made of
steel, nickel plated, and with Rubber
tire, they cost about Il third more than
the best wooden whee.s. bat are more
durable and easier for riding.
TIE proposed tunnel through Mont
Blanc is being seriously talked about in
France, and the French Government
have commissioned NJ. de Lepnayc to
draw up report of the scheme. The
estimated cost is $lSo, 0oJ.oNO, and the
extreme length would be about eight
miles.
TIE Balloon Society of Great Britain
has been formed, its principalobiect be.
ing to bring together members Of the
learned professions, scientific bodies,
and practical acronauts, with a view to
having observations made in different
parts of the world wherever accents take
place, whether by means of captive OF
free balloons.
AFTER the execution of Mencsclou in
Paris the other day for the murder of
the little girl, Louise Deu, his remains
were conveyed to the anatomical thea
ter, and subjected to Il singular expert
ment. DR.. Sappcy injected under the
cutaneOus tissue of the head some fire 81
drawn blood from the carotid Of q dog.
The result was startling, for the color
returned to the cheeks, there was II per-
ccptiblc nervous tremor, while the lips
Slightly moved. The same treatment
applied to the body produced no effect.
A PENNSYLVANIA manufacturing
company has received a large order for
machinery to be used in the develop
ment of an extensive salt mile at New
Iberia, La. The salt deposit is said to
be 800 feet thick, and extends under an
area Of III acres. 1t lies at Il depth OF
100 feet from the surface, and it is pro.
posed to mine it much after the manner
of anthracite coal. The salt bed is said
to be the greatest in the world. The
farm of Joseph Jefferson adjoins the
territory under which the vein extends.
BALTIMORE packs more oysters than
any other city in the world, fifteen firms
with a capital Of $2,33S, 800 beng enga.
ged in the business. During the season
from September 1, 1879, to May Is,
1880, 7,277,972 bushels were brought to
the city by 9,541 vessels, and G,4j9, 1888
bushels were packed, the value of the
product being SS,5l7,349. The firms in
the business pack fruit in the summer,
employing 6,G27 persons. The total
catch in Maryland last season was TO-.
569,Ol2 bushels, G,G5O, 1872 being packed,
2,O22,S40 shipped out of the State and
the balance used for local consumption.
SIR Robert CHalsTlsok, the great
Scotch chemist, has made some curious
observations on the effects of a cold,
wet season in diminishing the normal
growth of trees. He makes out, on
careful measurements, that comparing
1879 with 1873, eleven deciduous trees
not oaks--made on an average forty
one per cent. less growth in last year
than in the year before. Of seventeen
pine trees, the average deficiency was
twenty per cent, and of seven oaks the
deficiency was ten per cent; SO that
heat appears to have more to do with
the making even of wood than moisture
has. 1t is strange that the growth of
the oak, which drops its leaves, seems
less dependent on heat than that of the
pine, which we usually associate with
very cold regions; but, perhaps, it need
not be the tree which is most stunted by
cold which is most easily killed by it.
The arrest of growth may sometimes
be q safeguard against vital injury.