The Colfax chronicle., 1889-02-23


About $50 species Of fishes arc
known In the waters of Indiana. ac-
eording to Profs. Jordan and Ever
mann, and about fifty may be regarded
as food fishes:
The interesting and important dis
covery has been made that the Ma
ments Of incandescent lamps soon break
when used near moving belts or other
sources of frictional electricity. The
life of such lamps may be greatly In
creased by covering them with wire-
netting connected with the earth.
"A new material is announced, un-
der the name of culluvert, being made
by passing paper, or any form Of cellu-
lose through q beth Of nitric acid; the
glutinous surfaces thus produced are
then pressed together and washed,
forming q very tough and hard sub
stance, useful in some of the industrial
arts.
Science has claimed the sponge
| fishery OF the Mediterranean. The ma
tive divers, who could stay under
water not more than two minutes, are
being driven out by men in regular
diving armor, who can work by the
hour. A German professor has origin
ated a method of planting cuttings
from sponges, and it is being prose-
cuted with success.
Old as is the theory that trees pro-
mote regularity and pleptitude of rain
fall, and generally accepted as though
an axiom in natural philosophy, it Is
being vigorously attacked. says the
Sanitary Nesos. The trouble has been
that only facts favorable to this hy-
pothesis have been available. Now
the result Of impartial investigation
seems to show that cause and effect
have been badly mixed.
-Masons will be interested in the
invention by an Eastern man of two
kinds of plastering composition. That
to be used for the first coat consists OF
sand, sawdust, plaster of paris, Stacked
lime. sugar and carbonate of soda.
while that for the second coat is made
of cream of tartar. pumice stone, sugar,
lime, and plaster ct paris, each compo-
sition being compounded and applied
in proportions and after q manner de-
scribed. Both compositions have been
patented.
Professor Brown. Sequard has been
making experiments to determine
whether the human breath was capa-
BILE of producing poisonous effects.
From the condensed watery vapor Of
the expired air or breath, he obtained
q poisonous liquid, which, when in
jected under the skin of rabbits, pro
duced almost immediate death. The
rabbits died without convulsions. the
heart and large blood vessels being en-
gorged with blood. This seems to
show that human breath contains q
volatile poisonous principle which IL
more deleterious than carbonic acid.
"A Belfast machinist has discovered
q process by which the fibers of the
plant rheea can be readily separated
from their woody and gummy cover
ing. thus producing fiber at q low
price which will admit of being used
for the manufacture Of rope, cordage
and woven goods. Rheea is PLAN
grown very widely in Southern and
Eastern Asia, and one capable of cul
tivation in the temperate parts o
Europe and America. 1t is the strong
est vegetable fiber that has yet beer
discovered, and is. besides, the smooth
est and most lustrous.
| There are few, il any, branches o
manufactures. in which labor-savin(
aud time-saving devices are more gen
orally used than in boot and sho'
making. and in none of them has in
ventive genius been more generousl.
rewarded than in this. The inventor
who can save . few cents in the cost o
making pair Of shoes Is sure of |
handsome fortune. often greater thai
anyof the people who use the produc
of his ingenuity can hope for. For th
one object of lasting shoes by ma
chinery no less than 295 different de
vices have been patented. Shoe an