Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1882-03-17
scNT1LLArIoNSs OF SCIENCE.
Curios ties and Discoveries In Il
World OF Progress.

World OF Progress.
A Cincinnati factory makes eleven
miles of candles day.
Berlin has nearly 1000 miles of tele-
phone wires.
A Pittsield, Mass, mandatory is to
furnish sleeping car blankets for an
Italian railroad.
An international exhibition of fur
niture is to be held in Paris this year
from August to November Is.
New Orleans last year sent to Europe
100000 gallons of "pure olive oil"
made from cotton seed.
At Genoa all dead bodies may now
be legally burned instead of buried.
The crematory furnaces are in full
working order.
The invention of fire-proof paper
seems to leave no excuse for the de-
struct;on by fire of public records and
other valuable manuscripts.
According 20 calculation made by
Nj. Auguste Felsch, a theatre or concert
hall lasts on an average only twenty
two years, and is then destroyed by
fire.
Although the wealth of Great Britain
Is nearly double that of the United
States, this country leads in production,
while the value of manufactures is
about equal in the two countries.
A swarm of bees in Sweetwater Val
ley, Cal, settled on rattlesnake six
feet long, II inches in girth, with %
rattles, and stung it SO that it was blind
ed and afterwards easily killed with a
spade.
Two kinds of preservative paper
have recently came into use. One of
them is for wrapping fruit to prevent
It's decay, and the other is a preventive
OF the action of moths. Both are said
to be effective.
The oyster fishing and packing in
dustries of Maryland and Virginia give
employment to 1861 hands, who re-
ceive yearly wages to the amount of
Sc, 956, IA yearly. The amount invest
ed In the business is $7,606,976.
To take stains from silk mix to-
gether in a phial two ounces of essence
of lemon and one ounce of oil of tur-
pentine. Grease and other spots in
silk are to be rubbed gently with linen
rag dipped in this mixture.
M. Border has been investigating the
history of the plague called sweating
sickness, with view of showing that
the blonde races of Europe have q
special aptitude for it 1t first appear
ed in 1915, during the wars of the races.
Among the results of a journey across
the Sahara, DIR. Oscar Leng reports that
no depression below sea-level could be
found. The schemes entertained for
tioodlag the desert with water from the
sea are therefore hopeless and mis-
leading.
Observers of the sun believe that the
maximum of sun spots in the eleven
year period" will be reached during
the present year, although M. Dupon-
chel thinks it may be delayed until
1890 or 1892, on account of planetary
influences.
j. scientific expedition, consisting OF
the members of the Russian Geograph-
ical Society, the Imperial Academy of
Sciences and other bodies, is nearly
ready to make historical and ethno-
graphical researches in Bulgaria and
Roumelia.
A German paper says that roof can
be made fireproof by covering it with
mixture of lime, salt and wood ashes,
adding little lampblack to give dark
color. This not only guards against
fire, it is claimed, but also in m easure
prevents decay.
During the year 1880 Sweden export
ed about 100000 pounds avoirdupois
OF matches. One firm employees S72
persons, of whom 339 are women. The
boxes to contain the matches are made
by the prisoners in the jails of Stock
holm.
The people of Kansas under the
forestry laws of that state, have planted
$4,000 acres in trees. The cotton wood
Is the most abundant, as it grows the
most rapidly. About 5000 acres have
been planted in black walnut and will
make a handsome return in eight or
nine years.
An electric signal apparatus on a
French railway causes the blowing OF
a steam whistle upon locomotive APP
preaching a danger signal The en-
gineer is thus warned. This apparatus
is found valuable in fogs and snow
storms, when ordinary signals often
escape notice.
The spruce gum industry of Maine is
represented to be in a highly flourish
ing condition. Men who range the
woods collecting the gum make good
wages selling the article for 40 cents
a pound. Altogether residents of the
state obtain $4,000 yearly by the sale
of the article.