The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-05-22
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.


The first iron works in colonial
America were established in 1921 in
Chesterfield, Va.
Electric wires strung through tuoes
of paper, it is said, are made impervious
to fire and water.
An important industrial departure
In PHI ladelphia is the establishment of
trade school for young women.
Many OF the laundries of Paris are
said to use soiled potatoes in preference
to soap for cleansing boiled linen.
The okra plant is likely to come for
ward in prominence as substitute for
jute, the fiber being superior, and the
cost of production much less.
The berries of the maqui plant, q
small evergreen native of Chilli, where
1t grows along the banks of mountain
streams, are being used to a considera-
Bile extent for coloring wines on the Con-
tinent. France is by far the largest con-
sumer.
Experiments with new explosive
called ocrasite, which is to dynamite as
100 to 20, have recently been made in
Australia, and are said to have succeeded
SO well that the invention has been pur-
chased for military purposes exclusively.
An English inventor claims to have
a system by which coal gas can be com
pressed into eight per cent of it's natural
bulk, and in that shape carried about
and turned into an illuminant at any
time by simply turning stop-coek and
lighting the evaporation.
Potato paint is a novelty which Is
said to adhere we'll to wood and plaster,
and to be very cheap. To make it, boil
one pound of peeled potatoes, mash,
dilute with water and pass through
sieve; then add two pounds of Spanish
white in four pounds of water. Different
colors can be had by the use Of the
ordinary mineral powders.
1t is difficult to find an industry for
which, where power is used under
system of distribution, the electric mo-
tor is not eminently qualified. A strik-
ing instance of its Versatility has Just
been recorded in Minneapolis, where
the motor not only runs the sewing
machines in an oyeralls factory, but
does all the cutting. More than this,
the current warns the irons that do the
pressing on the goods. Electrical World.
Sir Frederick Abel recently deliy-
cred a lecture on smokeless powder at
the Royal Institution in London. He
said that the smokeless powder now
being manufactured in Europe was q
gelatinous substance shaped into threads
and strips under pressure. 1t is made
by dissolving gun cotton or some SINH
lar material with ehampor or other sol
vent, and forcing the compound, when
properly prepared, through perforated
dies.
French meteorologists, it appears,
have just discovered that the Eifel
tower will prove far more valuable to
them for observation than was at irst
imagined. Indeed, it is said that it pos
sesses most of the advantages Of an OBJ
servatory built upon a mountain. IN
confirmation of this. it is stated that,
recently, while a severe frost prevailed
in the city, strong, warm breeze was
blowing at the summit Of the tower,
and it was three days before this tenn
perature reached the ground.
AN artificial sponge industry is
being developed as an outcome Of ex-
periments made by DR.. Oscar Schmidt,
of the University Of Gratz, in Styria..
Small pieces of living sponge planted
by the experimenter in favorable spot
have yielded large sponges in three
years, at very small expense. In one
trial the cost Of the cultivation Of 1000
sponges was not more than 225 francs,
including interest for three years on the
capital expended. The new industry
on the coast of Dalmatia is regarded OF
such Importance that government pro
lection has been extended to it.