The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1888-10-25
SCIENCE AND PROGRESS.

The Suez canal takes in about 81, 900, 900 {
month in tolls.
Spain is to build five or six ironclads il
her own country. I
A canal will soon be built between tn
Black and Caspian seas.
There are $500 miles Of mains for convey
ing natural gas in this country.
The sights of the new British rife allow
for an elevation up to $500 yards.
Texas is putting down artesian wells, ont
of which is to yield million gallons per day
The probable cost of the Nicaragua cana
is put ct between $40, 100000 and $50, 0OO 900
The first eclipse upon record was lunal
one, and was observed at Babylon 72l B. C.
An American company has leased Aboukir
bay from the Egyptian government to gro"
oysters
The apparent objections to twin screws for
great ocean ships have produced call for
ocean paddle wheels.
Toulouse is to have a new electric light
and power installation, driven by "a water
fall Of about 1000 horse power.
An artesian well sunk under the salt
waters of New York bay, on the Jersey side,
produces pure fresh water in abundance.
At 26O yards the Lepel rifle would go
through two men. The French aTsenals have
enough ammunition to supply each soldier with
$500 cartridges
In France there are @, S13 national schools
for girls and 1924 for boys. The first
named are conducted by female teachers and
the last by males.
The greatest shooting ever done IN single
day was by Lord Walmingham on his moor
on Aug. So He killed LOSS grouse in thir-
teen hours, there being forty drivers.
The range of 10000 yards, attained by ele-
waiting one of the newest breech leaders to
45 dogs. has led to the calculation that the
Ill ton gun fired at that elevation would
carry twenty miles.
A railway from Visp to Zermatt, Switzer-
land, hitherto considered impracticable, is
about to be commenced. Its length will be
twenty-eight miles and its grade 3,16O feet.
1t will be narrow gauge without any cogs
The quickest passage ever made from land
to land across the Atlantic was made in
L
Tory Island, off Neville, to Belle Isle took
four days, seventeen hours and ten minutes.
The latest thing in barometers has three
little landscapes representing stormy, fair
and variable sky. The rise or fall of the
mercury causes thin mica plate to cover or
reveal these pictures, in accordance with the
Indications
hICtn httr,, 30,
found in volcanic rock in Nicaragua. The
prints are described as being on inches long,
4 inches wide at the heel and AZ inches at
the toe The apparent length of the foot
itself IS inches
The German military authorities have ex-
perimented successfully with night attacks
by the aid Of electric light. The beam of
light is reflected from a mirror 200 yards
distant from the lamp so that the enemy
cannot tell where the battery is.
When the great gun which has thrown a
ball eleven miles happens to be aimed north,
a lateral deviation of 200 feet must be taken
into account for the difference in rotating
speed between the spot where it is fired and
the spot where the missile will strike.
The greatest span of a cantilever bridge is
that Of the Forth bridge, which will be fin
ished in October, 1889. 1t has two of LILO
feet each. Its extreme height will be 361
feet above high water, the foundations going
ninety-one feet below high water.
The telephone was allowed to be used on
Sunday for the first time in London a few
weeks ago. The managers of the company,
it is said, had grave doubts about the result
of such an innovation, but the large use that
was made of the privilege satisfied them.
Australia, it seems, has her transconti-
mental railways too. Even now one may
land at Freemantle or Albany and take train
across country" for the other colonies-and
when the proposed West Coast line is built,
the continent can be traversed without a
break.
There is lake in Nevada which contains
the largest deposit Of natural hair dye in the
world. By bathing regularly in it it is pos
Sible to change the color of your hair to a
golden blonde, and if the bathing be per-
sisted in any length Of time, to beautiful
shade of red
During the last thirty years there has been
marked decrease of pauperism in London
there being now about twenty-five per 1000.
This, however, says The British Medical
Journal, does not imply corresponding
diminution of poverty. 1t comes mainly
from the stricter administration of the poor
laws.
Some fellow of mathematical turn of
mind has been to the trouble to calculate that
the light of the full moon is equal to that of
1000, 900, 000,000,000 candles, and that
within one or two of that number of candles
could be set up on end on one-half the surface
of the moon. This information will enable
any one to figure up how much every full
moon is worth to us, putting candles at, say,
10 cents 4 dozen.