The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1888-05-26
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.


"A low estimate puts the number
supported by all the forms of employ
ment furnished by electricity at $780,
900.
1t has been discovered that wool
previously saturated with ten per
cent. solution of glycerine can bear
prolonged heat Of some 275 degrees
without injury.
Gum of Bassora is insipid and
tough and of 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 well-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 fight would be impossible.
Experiments with cast iron show
that when it has been immersed for a
long period in sea water its qualities
undergo very great changes. A can
non ball 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
tho 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.
crtion has been dispelled by Prof. Der.
tel. who has successfully employed
regulated exercise in the treatment Of
some forms. In a large proportion o.
cases, the nutrition of the cardiac mus
Gle, as of tho muscular system, gene
rally. is thus improved.
Barrels are made in jersey for thu
use of the Channel islands farmers
which will fold up when empty, ant
thus. having been sent to market, Cal
be packed into small space on the re
turn. Tho slaves are fixed upon thu
hoops so that the heads being removed
they may be rolled up. They are mad
perfect cylinders. and therefore occup.
less space for the same capacity thai
ordinary barrels. a.
Scientists in England have lon:
sought to have the education OF me
chanics and other laborers placed on
scientific basis. An effort, backed b.
half million of dollars. is now to b
made In Manchester to found an inst
tuition whereby .'the physical energie
of the population may be maintaine'
at proper level. their moral state b
cared for. and by which there may b
some days of hope and pleasure in thei
lives, and the sole prospect of life Q
labor may not DO an old age of penury.
Cotton. according to scientific au
thority, is not fiber. but plant hail
1t holds to be spun into thread b.
cause of peculiar twists in each hail
shown under the microscope. especial
in polarized light. Linen thread ma
be spun, because the fax fibcrs hay
certain roughnesses on their surface
which enable them to cling togethe
Hence it is impossible to make as fir
linen as cotton cloth. but it is muc
stronger.
Veneer manufacturers having bee
put to much trouble and expense to s
cure from the natives of Persia or fro
French markets. even. fancy woo
burls from which to carve out venee
for manufacturing purposes. have der
onstrated by recent experiments tn
red wood stumps possess meritorio,
qualities for such use, and will u
doubtedly be substituted for the mo
costly woods in the future. The d
mand for burl and curly red wood
finishing work has already reach'
large proportions in the West. II
large butts Of trees now being slain j
California forests will be used to
great extent.