The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-09-21
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

JULIEN AlElO " " Ne
There are at present four large and
about a dozen small companies in Cali
fornia engaged in the distillation of
iborax, of which about 5000 tons are
annually produced.
Perack, in the Malay peninsula,
nov produces about as much tin every
year as Cornwall. Last year Perack
exported not less than 1000 tons of
that valuable metal. In the mining
works there are 10000 Chinese en-
ployed at present.
To insure the safety of any one COM
PEELED to descend into ~cesspools or
places filed with foul gas it is neces-
sary to lower, by means of a string or
wire, a tin pan Cor other flat vessel)
containing a small quantity of ordinary
gunpowder, and then ignite that by
dropping live Goals on it. After the
explosion it is well to lower a lighted
candle to the bottom. If it continues
to burn it can be taken as a sure test
that all danger is removed, and the de-
scent can safely be made.
~ Ferns, of which several thousand
species have been described, formed a
very important part of the earth's veg
citation in early geological ages, as is
apparent from remains brought to
light in tie coal fields. They now
grow all owe the world, but especially
in the warm and moist climates. In
the Antilles they comprise about one
tenth of the vegetation in Oceanica,
about one-fourtb or one-fifth in st.
Helena, one-third in Juan Fernan-
dez, one-half, and in England, one
thirty-fifth.
The following statistics as to the
number of men employed in various
branches of activity are published by
the minister of M in France:
342 coal mines, employing 1O6,415
hands; 1,035 turf cutting works, en-
ploying 27,977 hands; 355 iron mines,
employing 0,46S hands; 60 other metal
lurgical mines, employing 4,422 hands;
and 359 iron works, employing $1,000
hands. There are Alp establishments
employed in the manufacture of china
and pottery, employing 17,40S hands;
162 of glass and crystal, employing
23,421 hands; $50 of paper and cards,
employing 32,659 hands. There are
619 gas works, employing 1888 hands,
157 candle works, employing 1908
hands; 339 soap factories, employing
$500 hands: SO sugar factories, m
ploying 63,526 hands; and 5,O24teXtile
works, employing 3j3,3S3 hands.
The Union Medica7e asserts that
some persons are sensitive to impress
sions of color from sounds. 1t states
that Doctor Nussbaumer, of Vienna,
was the first to note this popularity,
which existed in one of his brothers.
Doctor Pelrono, an ophthalmologist of
Nantes, has studied it recently in one
of his friends with these results A
sharp note produces a brighter and a
flat note a darker impression Of color.
Music from different instruments gives
different chromatic sensations. A
melody played upon the saxophone
gave the impression of yellow upon
The clarionet, red; upon the piano,
blue. All sounds, musical or other
wise, give impressions in these cases
proportioned to their intensity. The
human voice gives more delicate i'm
pressions in chantingth were more
marked, the predominating colors
being yellow, green, red and blue.
F'The seat of the COLOR" said NJ. Pc
Irons patient, sis seen where the
sound comes from but whether 1 see
the person or not the color is the same.
With my eyes closed | think Of the
color produced, and there is no change,
whether the sound comes through par
Fitions, walls or other obstacles. In
,hoir singing, l notice a multitude of
folors formed in small points above
he head of the choiristers.'