The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-06-14
FACTS OF INTEREST.

Metallic chrome is found to be, of all metals,
the worst conductor of heat
The texture of sponges is said to become
denser and finer the higher the latitute of their
place of growth.
M. Corson, in the journal de Pharmacie says
that piece of borax weighing two or three
grains will, if allowed to dissolve slowly in the
mouth of a singer, relieve all traces of hoarse
ness.
A portable oil-mill has been invented which will
enable cotton planters hereafter to express the
oil from cotton seed without taking it off their
farms, thus saving the refuse valuable for fer
tilzing purposes.
Polar spots observed on Venus by M. E. L.
Trouvelot seem to be permanent, although they
vary greatly in briliancy, and are often rem
dered invisible by the distance of the planet to-
wards superior conjunction.
A photographer at Versailles is said to have
invented method of taking photographs which
retain all the colors of the reflected on the
lens. Similar discoveries have previously been
announced from Germany and England.
There has lately been constructed by NM
Challiot and Gratiot, of Paris, new tool to
which they have given the name of the bi-radial
drilling machine. The arm is joined hinged
in the middle so that the drill can be brought to
any point the table without shifting the latter.
Devil gear transmits the power.
Plans have been prepared for the construction
of large hail. to be called the Sale de Travail,
in Paris close to the Hotel de Vile, where men
can meet employers and arrange their terms
There will be, besides the central hall, eighty
rooms for the syndicates of different trades. The
cost of construction is borne by the city.
Pine trees in some portions of North Carolina
are dying in large numbers it is supposed, from
injuries inflicted by the 'bore worm or SAW
yers," which played havoc with the pines in
that State about thirty years ago Their raw
ages are not confined to the old trees, the young
ones dying just as rapidly and numerously.
ing The following have just been awarded by
the Academy of Sciences: NJ. Legrand du
Saulle, So, 900 for medico-legal studies on cpl
lepsy and the value of wills made by insane or
studies on cholera; NM. Strauss, Roux, Nozard
and Huillier, each $1,000, for studying the
cholera in Egypt; and MN. CASTOR Tissandier,
Duroy du Bruignac and V. Jatin, 5000 for ad-
vancing the science of aeronauticS.
DR.. N. A. Randolph in paper on the di-
gestion of infants, reprinted from the ''Trans-
actions of the College of Physicians of Phila-
delphia," proves experimentaly that many in
fants under three months can digest starch
foods that no broad and general statement can
be made as to the period at which infants begin
to digest starches; and that the physician can be
absolutely certain that farinaceous ingredient
in the diet of a young infant is beneficial only
by an analysis of the dejecta under such diet.
Considerable attention is being given to sor-
ghum and its possibilities. 1t has been found
difficulty, but it is thought that to grow and man
ufacture the sugar further north than line
stretching from Baltimore to Cincinnati st.
Louis, and so West, would, as a rule, be i'm
\ practicable The belief of some persons that
sugar in paying quantities can be got from corn
stalks as well as from sorghum, recalls the fact
that the State of Connecticut gave to Edward
Human patent for making molasses from corn
stalks in October 1717, or nearly 167 years ago,
NJ p. Reynard has communicated to the
French Academy of Sciences some important OK
periments on the influences of great pressures
upon various forms of animal and vegetable life
Beer-yeast, after an exposure of one hour to a
pressure of 1000 atmospheric was not killed,
and was afterwards able to set up fermentation
in solution of sugar. Alg@, after exposure for
an hour to pressure of 600 atmospheres, were
still able to decompose carbonic acid in the sun
light Infusoria were submitted to 600 atmos-
pheres for half an hour; they appeared at first
torpid, but rapidly recovered. Mollusks SINH
larly treated recovered more slowly. Leeches at
the same pressure appeared to be dead, but re-
covered in a few hours. With crustaceans such
as gammarus puba, the phenomena were identi-
CAL but the recovery more rapid. Fishes with
out swim-bladder survived a pressure of 200
atmospheres, but persisted at 300. These ex-
periments illustrate the conditions of life at
great depths in the sea-