The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1888-09-15
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

"A new perfume is named sOpopo-
hax,' and is highly esteemed in Paris,
1t has modified odor OF carrots, and
Is chiefly made from that vegetable.
What may be of great value in
ship-building and matchmaking is the
discovery that steel, mixed with twen-
ty-four per cent. of manganese becomes
non-magnetic.
The fabric known as Chinese grass
cloth is made from the fiber of nettles.
The cloth is peculiarly glossy and
transparent, and as betting for ma
chinery has double the strength of
leather
Electric rifles are the latest. In
stead of the ordinary percussion firing
device, a dry chloride of silver battery
and a primary coil will, so it was lately
stated before the American Institute,
fire the rife $4,000 times without re-
charging.
Experiments are being made on
RUSSIAN railroads with axle-boxes fit
ted with bearings of vegetable parch-
ment in place of brass. The claim is
made that these compressed paper
bearings make a tough material that il
superior to metal.
According to the Electrical Rsyieu,
medicine may be introduced into the
human system by electricity. The
electrodes of battery are saturated
with the medicine and applied locally
to the skin. Experiments show that
there is an actual absorption of the
medicine into the system.
= Russian observations have shown
that teeth decay in a quite regular
order, the lower third molar being the
hrst attacked. then the upper, then the
lower fourth molar, and so on, the
lower, incisors and canine teeth being
the last affected. Upper teeth, as
rule, are more durable than lower,
right than left, those of dark persons
than those OF blondes, those of short
persons than those of the tall.
Investigations made by Sohneke
have led to the conclusion that the cleo
trioity which is discharged during a
thunder storm is produced by the fric-
ton of water and ice-that is, the ice
Is electrified by friction with water;
just before thunder storm, water
clouds (cumuliD and ice clouds (cirri,
cirrosrati) appear simultaneously in
the sky, and the friction of these parti-
cles of ice and water is, according to
this theory, a sufficient cause of the
electricity which is generated.
Artificial sponge-rearing is being
practiced in Syria. From report to
the Austrian Board of Trade it appears
that the s'sponge-farmer," by taking
small pieces of living sponge and
planting" them in favorable spots,
has obtained large specimens in the
course of three years. 1t is stated that
1000 sponges cost no more for cultiva-
ton and interest on capital than 225
francs rorty-five dollars.) and the
Acknowledgements Government has
authorized the protection OF this new
industry on the coast of Dalmatia.
1t has been estimated that the walls
of a building in which fifty thousand
bricks are used require nearly five
thousand gallons of water in the con-
struction; this being stored in the pores
aud spaces OF the bricks and mortar
until dispelled in the form of vapor. 1t
can not be too we'll known that until
this large quantity of water is SO dis
PEELED, the house is not habitable.
The town OF Basic, in Switzerland, has
recently adopted a wise regulation
which forbids the occupation of newly
built houses until four months after
their completion.