The Arkansaw traveler. (Little Rock, Ark.) 1882-1???, 1889-03-09

At the intelligence bureau OF the u. 8. Navy
Department large map shows by colored tags the
present location Of the worlds vessels which
include about $50 belonging to Great Britain, 100
TO France, 40 to Germany, and 40 to the United
States.
Large quantities Of corn husks are now used In
Austria for making coarse cloth and very tough
and durable paper. Wood, also, IL made into
cloth, Mitscherlich having devised o process by
which the fibre may be strengthened and prepared
for spinning
Late researches tend to show that persons short
OF TODD In mid ocean might support life indefinitely
Ii provided with appliances for capturing the small
marine fauna, which 10 very abundant in the At
lantic, and probably in all temperate and warm
marine waters.
A well polished glass rod, rendered luminous
throughout it's length by q small electric lamp 1T
one end Is used by two Vienna physicians for FLU
minating, from the outside, some of the cavities of
the body, such rs the larynx and the nose. Placed
against the skin OF the throat Il lights up the inte-
rior of the arynx sufficiently for surgical opera
ton.
Experiments made since the late explosion of
petroleum vessel in French harbor show that a
mixture of one part Of petroleum vapor to five or
less Of air does not explode With six parts of air
the mixture is feebly explosive, with seven to
twelve parts violently 30, with sixteen parts eebly
explosive and with twenty parts of air is not
likely to explode.
certain sloths was found some years ago to be due
TO parasitic growth of algae upon the hair.
Two genera and three species of these minute
plants-one genus green, and the other, with its
two species, violet-have since been described by
Madam Weber Won Bose. A single hair may have
upon 1t from 10000 to 200, 900 individuals.
LIGHT WEIGHT MoToRs.-Some electric motors
made by NJ. Trouve for aeronautical experiments
are remarkable for their lightness. One-made of
aluminium, except the magnet--weighs but
little more than three ounces, and develops one
fOrtieth of q horse powei lifting itself seventy
two feet In one second. Constructed on the same
scale one-horse motor would weigh less than
eight pounds.
A VALUABLE CEMENT.-A new cement has been
used to renovate many stone buildings of Paris,
and Is likely to prove useful for various purposes
powder 10 made of two parts of oxida of zinc,
two of crushed hard limestone, and one of pulver-
lied grit, with a certain proportion of ochre q
coloring agent. liquid to use with the powder
consists of six parts of zinc dissolved In commercial
muriatic acid, with one part Of sal ammonac the
whole diluted with two-thirds of its volume of
water. A pound of powder to two and halt
pints of liquid gives q very strong cement.
METEoRIC VELoCITIEs.-Meteorites have been
known to weigh many tons, while IL has been esti-
mated that some shooting stars-which have been
proven to be Of like composition-weigh not more
than two grains and not one In twenty reaches q
pound. These bodies often begin to glow when as
high eighty miles, and, though the smaller frag-
ments completely burned and disappear while
high in air. their rate Of travel In atmosphere
has been pretty accurately measured. The lowest
velocity yet determined, states Prof. j. Norman
Lockyer is something like two miles per second,
the highest some fifty miles q second, and the
average probably thirty miles q second, which Is
about $50 times faster than shell leaves one of our
most powerful guns. Our meteoric bombardment
would be serious without the protecting air
cushion.
A GRAND INSTITUTIONAL German organization
of scientific has for its chief object the spread
of astronomical, geographical and physical knowl-
edge. The society Is called "Uania," and il has
begun its work by establishing . unique popular
observatory, with an illustrated journal in con-
nection. Instructions will commence In the scien-
tific theatre where will be represented eclipses