Nevada County picayune., 1890-01-08
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

The first notice of coal was in B. C 571. It was first used in London m i24O. Coal gas was first made use oi practically in 179S.
 Mushrooms are familiar article of food, but they are only ono of the many edible fungi in this country. The Ia miliar giant white putf-ball, iycoperdon giganteum, is, for instance, as good eat ing as any.
 The result of the recent experl- ments in tho Mediterranean showing how far daylight penetrates the waters were obtained by the use of gelatinc' bromide plates. The greatest depth at which daylight could be found-l,5lS feet-is 827 feet short of the limit as- signed some years ago
 Prof. Elihu Thompson has perfected an invention by which the rails of street or steam railways may be welded to- gether by electricity after being placed in position. A dynamo propels over the track an electric welding machine, which welds the rails into one continu- ous line after it passes over them.
 Prof. Lintner estimates thatif all the species of insects inhabiting the world were known their number would reach 1000, 900. He states that he has himself seen at one glance, within small eX- tent of roadway, more snow-fieas of single species than there are human beings on the entire surface of the globe.
 The grading of fresh fruit before 1t is packed or sent to the cannery from ul. ards in no is done cheaply and successfully by several rival machines. Raisins are stemmed and graded by machinery. AL monds are hulled by very useful and cheap contrivance in use in most of the orchards. The parers, corers and varl- ous kinds of knives used are nearly all of the Pacific coast styles.
 Prof. Scribner, of the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station, has discovered a new disorder of the potato tuber, which promises to prove serious. The tubers are marked with many small pimples, and they finally wither and be. come worthless. The disease is caused by nematode, or true worm, allied to the pork trichina and vinegar ell"
 A French paper gives a description of pen made of glass, which, 1t says, steel pen makers will not look upon with a favorable eye, as it's merits are such as to insure its adoption in lieu of the steel pens which have so long held the field. With the new pen, says the writer, one can write as freely as with a pencil, and on the smoothest paper while its durability is so great that, unless the pen itself is broken, it is in deStructible.
 The African elephant, according to Herr J. Mengis, is quite as docile as the Indian elephant, and much stronger. No modern attempt to tame the animal has been made, though it seems to have been put to work in ancient times, and would. if properly trained, be of inn mense service in the opening up of Africa. It must be protected, however, or it will soon be quite extinct.
 --Bosworth-Smith, in a report on the Kolar gold feId, in Southern India, ls- sued by the Madras government, records some finds" of mining implements, fragments of bones, an oil lamp. and broken pieces of earthcnware, including a crucible, the remains of ancient min ing operations. He expresses astOnish- ment at the fact that the old miners were able to reach depths of two hun dred or three hundred feet through hard rock with the simple appliances at their | command.