The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-12-26
POPULAR SCIENCE. !.
A Norwegian savant estimates the age

A Norweg' an savant estimates the age
OF the world at one million years. .
A raitlesnake bite on Virginia boy
has been cured by the use of mud.
An electric fire engine, to be operated
by tapping electric light circuits, is q
new invention.
The statement is made that an italian
has taken out patent for making build
ing blocks of corn-cobs.
steel is wound on q spool, placed in
an oil bath. and by elccric currents
kept at the exact degree Of rcdness neces-
sary for the temper required.
Pomades are made of purified lard
and tallow which have been placed in an
inclosed place where they have absorbed
the odors Of the petals of lowers.
The fifth meeting OF the International
Geological Congress will be held in
Philadelphia in 1881. The lrevious ses-
>ions have been: Paris, l675; Bologna,
lcSI; Berlin, 1885, aud London, 1888.
Cn&sel's Magasine tells about q new
electric in cntion; it is electric lighted
spectacles for surgical examination. The
rim shuts out other light and strong
beam falls on the spot under examina-
ton.
The discovery and utilization of nat
ural gas have proved a powerful stimu-
lus to the manufacture OF iron pipes and
tubes in this country; there are now
200 miles of mains in tie United States
for conveying natural gas.
A list of the discoveries of chemical
elements in eleven years Q817-1S8O has
been compiled by Professor II. Caring
ton Bolton, and shows that no less than
tifty-eight supposed new elementary SUBJ
stances have been announced during that
period. ...
it is just century since the first
fuchsia was introduced into Europe.
Snce that time travellers in the mount
aims OF tropic America have discovered
numerous varieties and broughc back
specimens. NOW there are fifty distinct
species known.
DR.. Donald C. Hood has collected
many facts relating to the use of salicylic
acid for rheumatism. Uf 1873 patients
treated with salicylates 523 were relieved
of their pains within seven days, whereas
OF 613 patients treated by other methods
only 14O were relieved within the same
time. ,,,.
Mr.. Gladstone computes that the
habitual speakers of English Eave in
creased from Is, 900, 900 to l05, 100000
during the last 100 years, that they will
number 40, 700, 900 by the year Loo, and
at that rate of increase. seven times in q
century, they will include S4O, 00U, 600 OF
people by the year. 2OOO.
Twenty guinea pigs were placed by
NJ. L. Poincarre in the most dusty part
of o flour mill, in order to test the effect
of the constant inhalation of the dust.
At the end of two years ten pigs sur
vived. The Others, mostly young ones,
seemed to have died from catarrhal
pneumonia, and in no case from con.
sumption. Little dust was found beyond
the passages of the nose. .,
A bark on any plant is but mass of
the specks or earth that is cast upon the
surface of the plant by the power Of the
plants construction. Its color depends
upon the degree of decomposition of the
specks while in the cells of the plant.
These specks are what the scientists call
the nuclei of plant cells, described in .
description of proto plasm. All the
specks not wholly decomposed arc finally
cast out on the surfaces of perennial
plants.