The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-11-16
INDUSTRIAL NOTES.

A mortal enemy of the cotton
worm has turned up in Mississippi.
1t Is a reddish looking spider, and
attacks and kills large numbers of
the warns.
"Tripolite" is the name given to a
new building material which is in
tended to be a substitute for lime,
cement and plaster under certain cir
cumst ances. 1t is composed of sui
phate of lime, coke and oxide of iron
in some form or other.
An old Hungarian miller is re-
ported to have given this rule for
telling a good milestone: "When
about to select stone take flask of
gin and pour a little of it upon the
stone A; if the stone absorbs the liquor
SO that the surface appears dry, it is
good one; but if the gin re-
mains on the surface the
stone is good for nothing.
There is some talk of substituting
electricity for oil in lighting passen-
ger cars. The Pennsylvania rail-
road company recently ran a car
from Jersey City to Philadelphia
fitted with seven lamps of two burn
ers each, supplied with electricity by
means of Faure accumulation
placed under the center of the car.
The lamps, it is said, gave a soft,
steady light, and the test was pro-
nounced a success.
In order to make good printing
ink, which will not give forth dis
agreeable smell, dissolve forty-five
parts of fine rosin In twenty-five
parts of parafine oil by heating
them to eighty degrees, or by incor-
porating them mechanically at the
ordinary temperature, and when
this latter operation is complete,
fifteen parts of the lampblack are
added.
After all, NJ. Faye maintains there
is nothing very difficult about I'M
derstanding the reason why comets
undergo sudden changes of form as
they approach or recede from the
sun. Two causes are assigned.
First, solar attraction tends to de-
compose bodies of very small mass
and great bulk, when they
come within its influence. And
comets are concededly very light in
comparison with the quantity of
matter they contain. Secondly, there
comes into play the action of solar
repulsion, which arises from incOn-
descence of cometary materials when
freed from great pressure and sub
jected to intense heat. What was
relatively solid becomes nebulous.
But these theories do not appear to
cover the whole ground.
Among the various plans now re-
sorted to by English builders for
rendering wooden flooring resistive
to the action of fire, is that of con-
structing solid timber floors. COM
posed of ordinary joists placed close
to each other, and spiked or screwed
at intervals with bolts; the latter are
fixed alternately, and TO form
key for the plastering angular
grooves are cut under each joist,
these grooves forming series
of dove-tails. In similar manner
stairs are formed by series. of
joists screwed or spiked together,
which are cut to the form of the
soffit, the latter being prepared for
plastering by grooves. With regard
to partitions, preference is given by
many to the French plan of
contructinsg them with quar-
terings, filed in with rough
stone rubble, then lathed on each
side with strong lsths, and coat of
plaster applied and pressed through
the vacuities from each side. In the
construction of roofs, the laying of
solid concrete flats on iron joists, or
iron joists fixed on the inclination of
the roof, and then filed in with con.
crete On the French system, covered
with asphalt, is method highly APP
proved.