The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1888-11-24
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

Cabbage and saw-grass palmetto Is
the material that a Florida gentleman
is desirous OF turning into fiber.
-Cedarwood pulp is now made into
paper for undertaking carpets, wrap
ping up wool, ETC., and preservative
against moths. The wood used is the
heretofore wasted chips of the pencil
manufactory.
Among the products which science
has put to valuable service is the net
tie, weed which is now even being
cultivated in some parts of Europe, its
fiber proving useful for variety of
textile fabrics. In Dresden thread
is produced from it so fine that a length
Of sixty miles weighs only p pounds.
Sheep are now being successfully
sheared by machinery in Australia.
The wool mower can be run by either
steam or horse power. There is now
very little poetry left in farm opera
tions-if there ever was any poetry in
the hard work that prematurely wore
out the old-time husbandmau.
building blocks made of corncobs
form the object of new Italian pat
ent. The cobs are pressed by machin-
cry into forms similar to bricks and
held together by wire. They are
made water-tight by soaking with tar.
These molds are very hard and
strong. Their weight is less than one
third of that of hollow brick, and
they can never get damp.
The method of inoculation for the
prevention of splenic fever and other
fatal diseases in domestic animals,
which was discovered by Pasteur, has
spread to Asia, where it is now applied
to elephants, with success. Those
huge creatures, in a domesticated state,
are liable, it seems, as well as other
animals in the service of man, to fatal
epidemic diseases.
Some physicians have warmly in
dor5ed the suggestion that massage,
as an employment is peculiarly suited
to the capabilities of the blind, in whom
the tactile sense is so strongly de-
veloped. Indeed, in Japan massage
has, for a long period of time, been
the streets with a lageolet, drawing
attention to themselves and their occu-
patton. 1t is thought that superin-
tendents of blind-asylums will find this
possible avenue 10 employment for
their pupils.
1t has been estimated that an aver
age Of five feet of water falls annually
over the whole earth. Supposing that
condensation takes place at an average
height of 5000 feet, remarks General
Strackey, the force of evaporation to
supply such rainfall must equal the
lifting of 322, 100000 pounds of water
5000 feet in every minute, or about
800, 900, 900, 000-horse power constantly
exerted. OF this great energy a very
small part is transferred to the waters
that run back through rivers to the
sea, and n still smaller fraction is util-
lied by man; the remainder is dissi-
pated in space.
Some curious maritime discoveries
show that the ocean teens with life at
depth of more than one thousand
fathoms. AT north latitude fifty de-
grees thirty-two seconds, west longi-
tude twelve degrees two seconds, there
were brought from twelve hundred and
twenty fathoms n perfectly black fish.
with white eyes, specimens of that
strange genus of echinoderms, cal
veria, and few silicious sponges and
rare, beautiful cassideria. tyrhena, and
some large and exquisitely colored sea
anemones, and also quantity Of car
maria and pteropoda, which were cap
tured in surface nets.