The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-04-19
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

p
A low estimate puts the number
supported by all the forms of employ
ment furnished by electricity at 5,o00,-
900. ''f Te gsz;oT
1t has been discovered that wool
previously saturated with ten per
cent. solution of glycerine can bear a
prolonged heat of some 275 degrees
without injury.
Gum of Bassora is insipid and
tough and of a yellowish white color,
and comes from Asia. and is used to
adulterate the lower grades of traga-
canth before expectation.
The greatest velocity ever measured
by man was that of the electric dis
charge of Leyden bottle through a
slender copper wire. which was COM
puted to be $4,000 miles a second.
Professor Cones, the welI-known
ornithologist, wholly denies the alleged
discovery that the wings of birds were
capable of being '.locked" so as to al
low them to soar without muscular
effort. He states that the locking does
not take place. and that if it did take
place flight would be impossible - n
Experiments with east iron show
that when it has been immersed for a
long period in sea water its qualities
undergo very great changes. A can
non bah that had been thus immersed
for fifty years, was changed into "a
porous substance which became
strongly heated when exposed to the
air for quarter of an hour" &
"A Pittsburgh mechanical engineer
has invented novel movable dam. by
the use of which, he claims, boating
stage of water may be obtained in shall
low rivers at all seasons of the year.
The invention has been examined by
old river men and pronounced practi-
cable. The inventor is eighty-two
years old.
The old idea that sufferers from
heart disease should avoid physical ex-
ertion has been dispelled by Prof. Ger
tel. who has successfully employed
| regulated exercise in the treatment of
some forms. In large proportion of
cases, the nutrition of the cardiac mus
/ Gle, as of the muscular system, gene
rally, is thus improved. z anz
Barrels are made in jersey for the
use of tho Channel islands farmers
which will fold up when empty, and
thus. having been sent to market, can
be packed into small space on the re-
turn. The slaves are fixed upon the
hoops so that the heads being removed,
they may be rolled up. They are made
perfect cylinders, and therefore occupy
less space for the same capacity thar
ordinary barrels.
Scientists in England have long
| sought to have the education of me-
chanics and other laborers placed on a
scientific basis. An effort, backed by
half million of dollars. is now to be
made in Manchester to found an insti-
tuition whereby 1.-The physical energies
of the population may be maintained
at proper level. their moral state be
cared for, and by which there may be
some days of hope and pleasure in their
lives, and the sole prospect of a life of
labor may not be an old age of penury."s :"
Cotton. according to scientific au-
thority, is not fiber, but a plant hair.
1t holds to be spun into a thread be-
cause of peculiar twists in each hair.
shown under the microscope. especially
in polarized light. Linen thread may
be spun, because the fax fibers have
certain roughnesses on their surfaces,
which enable them to cling together.
Hence it is impossible to make rs fine
linen as cotton cloth, but it Is much
stronger
Veneer manufacturers having been
put to much trouble and expense to Sc
cure from the natives of Persia or from
French markets, even, fancy wood
burls from which to carve ont veneers
for manufacturing purposes, have dem
onstrated by recent experiments. that
red wood stumps possess meritorious
| qualities for such use, and will un.
doubtedly be substituted for the more
costly woods in the future The de.
mand for burl and curly red wood for
finishing work has already reached
large proportions in the. West. The
large butts of trees now being slain in
California forests win be used to q
great extent.
Tho Na~,. I a4oet H;cL s