The Opelousas courier., 1890-02-01
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

A scientist states that medical science
is keeping alive unhealthy people to breed
unhealthy children.
Sir William Gull says that when tagged
out by professional work he recruits his
strength by eating r%aisins, and not by
drinking wine or brandy.
The disinfecting power of animal gas
is such that when introduced into sewage
it very quickly destroys the microbes OF
putrafaction and of many diseases.
Hollow bricks are coming into very
general use in building. They crush at
10000 pounds and cost one-third less
than the ordinary form, while making
the walls proof against fire, moisture and
frost.
While the use of electricity in London
for illumination is steadily increasing, the
use of gas is also rapidly on the increase,
the demand for the latter for heating and
cooking being greatly in excess of former
years.
A planter in South Carolina has sue
ceeded in propagating the male cotton
plant by itself, until he now can raise
cotton seed without the lint Or cotton.
The gain appears t, be in the increased
yield of seed.
It is known that the bellows were used
in Egypt in the time of Tothmes Ill,
one of the Pharaohs 1890 B. G. From a
picture on a tomb of that date bellows
made of leather bags, worked by men
standing upon them, are shown.
The two sides of the face are by no
means alike. AS a rule, the want Of
symmetry is confined to the upper part Of
the face. Among other singular eccen.
t~ricities is the fact that the right ear il
almost invariably higher than the left.
Fish-meat does not contain more phos.
phorous than ordinary butchers meat.
The benefit which brain-workers are said
to derive from a diet of fish should there
fore be ascribed, not to the phosphorus,
but to the greater di~gestibility OF the
fish.
An electric bell-buoy is proposed, one
of its chief attributes being that the
action of salt water produces a current
sufficiently strong to ring a bell. A
secondary bell, to be rung in rough
weather, is also an attachment to the
buoy.
The manufacture Of sugar by the diffu.
sion process in Louisiana has resulted in
q great increase of output. Moreover,
there is already growing up a more
scientific agriculture, a better knowledge
of tbs problems of sugar manufacture, a
more scientific method in the sugar
house, aud the introduction of improved
machinery.
A Dutch physician declares that a
close connection exists between the exer-
, else of mental faculties and disorders of
the nose. He says that if it were gener-
ally known how many cases of chronic
headache, of inability to learn or to per-
form mental work, where due to chronic
disease of the nose, many of them would
be easily cured.
Extralite is the name of a new ex-
plosive patented by Rudolph Ericsson, a
young Swede. 1t is claimed by its in
ventor to be not only of great power, but
also to be absolutely harmless when not
properly confined in an air tight and
rigid receptacle. The extralite is an in
nocent-looking granulated substance OF
about the color and general appearance
of coarse corn-meal.
The BIektrotechnische Eehe is responsi.
BILE for the following explanation of why
oaks are more frequently struck by
lightning than beech trees. The leaves
of the beech tree are, it seems, covered
with a fine down, which is a better CON-
ductor of electricity than the smooth
leaves of the oak. According to the
same journal, experiments with dis
charges from influence machines tend to
confirm this theory.
In the new process of making white
lead the ore as it comes from the mine is
volatilized and oxidized by the air, the
fumes are condensed in q slightly acid
liquor, and the resulting sludge is washed
and dried for the market without having
been touched by the men. Quickness OF
manufacture, starting with ore and not
with the purified metal, and avoidance
of danger to tie workmen, are among
the advantages of the new system.
Cement should never be disturbed af-
ter commencing to set. 1t should be
| kept moist and wet until hard. Cold re-
tards, heat quickens settings. Brick OF
stone should be wet or moist, or cement
| will not adhere well. Portland cement
requires less water than natural or
American cements. 1t sets in from three
to twelve hours. 1t must be kept dry,
or it will become lumpy and spoiled. II
need never be used pure, but should al
ways be mixed with sand.