The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1890-09-13
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.


"A method Of soldering tin cans by
electricity has recently teen devised.
and it bids fair to be quite generally
used.
1t is relief to know, upon so good
an authority as Professor Charcot. OF
France. that only one person in 100, 900
is subject to the hypnotic influence.
"A very ingenious instrument has
lately appeared for showing the velocity
and pressure OF the wind. The effect
is produced by the rising or falling in
level of mercury in trough.
"A new electric lantern has been de-
signed in Vienna for the use of lecturers
and medical classes. By combination
of lenses the magnified image of an OBJ
ject is projected on white screen in its
natural color.
Artificial musk is new product OF
! the chemists. 1t is an oily liquid OF a
brown color, and smells so much like
musk that perfumers are able to use it
as substitute for that article.
"A new industry is proposed for Flor
ida, the cultivation of the camphor tree.
There has been an increase in the price
of the gum of late, and large demand
is anticipated in the future for the man.
facture of smokcless gunpOwder, OF
which camphor is necessary Ingredient.
1t will not be long before all the
waste water-power in the land will be
converted into electrical energy, and
conveyed anywhere to point of from
ten to one hundred miles on a small
copper wire, in ornaments Of from ten
to five hundred horsepower. The cost
of construction per mile would not ex-
coed SO, 000 Long distance distribution
has already been practically successful
in the Western States, but more par
ticularly in Switzerland. = Inventive
Age.
According to present appearances
electricity may be superseded for rapid
suburban transit purposes, under certain
peculiar conditions, by the sliding rail-
way, to experiment further on which an
overhead line is to be constructed in
Paris, between the Place Cliachy and
La Villette, capable of carrying 49,
passengers an hour each way. The dis
lance (about four miles,, including stop
page at three intermediate stations, is
intended to be traversed in seven min
utes. The experimental line exhibited
recently in Paris is to be re-erected at
the Edinburgh exhibition.
To the condemnation of tight lacing
Professor Virchow added his strong
!. word in recent lecture, at Berlin, on
diseases Of the liver. He pointed ont
that ''the outward pressure of tight lac
ing so surely affected the internal or
gans that from the shape of liver one
could determine to what period Of fash
ion the possessor belonged. Excessive
lacing caused whole portions of the
liver to disappear. Others grew abb
normally, causing changes of the most
vital Importance to the patient"
Mr. Nayemura Sakusaburo. drug
gist of Hikone, in Omi, Japan, has sue
seeded in converting wild hemp tysch-
yo) into substance possessing all the
essential qualities of silk. Nothing is
said about the process, but it is asserted
that trial of the thread has been made
at the first silk-weaving establishment
in Kioto and at other factories, with ex-
cellent results in every case. The plant
in question grows ON moors and hill
sides. It's fiber is said to be strong and
glossy, in no wise inferior to silk when
properly prepared. Cultivation on an
extended scale would present no difH
culties Scientific American.