The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-10-17
POPULAR SCIENCE.

Natural gas is being used for great
variety of purposes. .s.
A Spanish astronomer thinks he has
seen it snow in the moon.
1t is very injurious to eat cologne ON,
sugar to brighten the eyes.
NJ. Babiana, French scientist. claims
to have discovered organs of sight in the
vegetable growth called pandorina.
James Wallack. an Australian en-
gineer, is at work upon steamship
which he says will make sixty miles an
hour.
England claims the largest electric
light in the world. 1t is in the light
house at st. GATHERINGS, and its capacity
is 80, 900 candle power.
Some people are inauiring why M.
Pasteur, the originator of innoculation
for rabies, does not devote his attention
to studying yellow fever germs:
A late invention of Thomas A Edison
is an electrical meter by which the flow
of electricity can be measured with as
much ease az gas now is by gas meter.
The editor of the Die Bepotseruy, Ger
man, estimates the population of the
world to be !, ,434, 0u0, 600. N. Levasseur,
French, puts it at l, 4S3, OO0, ,000,a differ
ence of AZ, OOo,o 900. ....s..,.s =
Tobacco, being narcotic, naturally
benumbs the nerves. When the nerves
are thus benumDed people do not see as
distinctly, and this defectivehess of vision
tends to increase and become permanent.
French physicians are reporting great
success with the prompt internal use OF
antiseptics in cases of typhoid fever.
After disinfection Of the. intestines, ac-
cording to this method, the disease runs
q short course. .,.,.s,s
DR.. Younger's plan of implanting
natural teeth in place of those lost has
proven less successful than was hoped, as
the roots gradually undergo absorption,
causing the teeth to loosen and fall out
after a year or two. ..,,. ,r,. r. ,.sE
A curious fact revealed by the phono-
graph is that people generally do not
know their own voices. The husband
will recognize his wife's voice in q
phonogram, and the wife will recognize
the husbands, but neither will recognize
their own speech.
The Brazilian pottery tree contains SO
large an amount of silica that the bark
is much used for pottery-making. The
ashes of the bark are mixed with clay
in varying proportion, producing
superior and very durable ware. The
fresh bark cuts like soft grindstone. 81
Professor Pickering, of the Harvard
College observatory, regards the called
canals Of Mars as areas of vegetation
possibly immense cultivated tracts. The
canals are usually some 30 to 150 miles
broad by 1000 to 5000 miles long, and
most of them appear in parallel pairs.
At the Council of Electricians, an es-s
sayist stated that an alternating current
is more likely to destroy life than q
direct c-rrent of double or triple the
strength. The number of volts by which
the alternating current is usually meas
ured is no criterion in regard to its
dangerousness. ~, .5
A specimen of volcanic ash collected
recently on the coast Of Ecuador, South
America, 12O miles from Cotopaxi, has
been analyzed The ash fell in July,
1885, and formed deposit to the depth
of several inches. The interesting feature.
in the composition OF the material was
the presence of small amount of silver
probably as silver chloride; the result OF
several experiments showed that silver
was present to the extent of one part In
SO, OOO of ash. This is believed to. 'ba
the first instance in which. silver has
been identified in material elected from
q Volcano. -