The Opelousas courier., 1890-04-05
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

lit loI2CSO JIIllS tAAIAo 10
an incandescent lamp to burn is l0,ooS
hours.
Professor Newbury declares that no has
discovered sigus that a man lived So,OOO
years ago.
Silk thread is soaked in acetate of lead
to increase its weight, and persons who
pass it through the mouth in threading
needles. and then bite it off with the
teeth. have suffered from lead poisoning.
Strangers travelling through or sojourn-
ing in districts known to be Astounding In
malarial fevers and ague, should dress IN
flannel clothing, avoid raw fruits, open
air bathing aud night air, and drink tea
and coffee, or only water that has been
previously boiled.
The relative values as foods of the
grains named below are given by Profes-
sor Wiley as, first, wheat; second, sor-
ehum; third, maize; fourth, unhulled
oats. Sorghum-seed furnishes ahour like
buckwheat, that makes passablo bread,
and is coming into considerable use.
Vermilion wood has recently been used
to some extent in decorative art work,
being of a finer grain and darker color
than mahogany, and taking a polish
equally beautiful. A native of Sumatra,
it does not grow to a large size, and, as
the supply is limited, its commercial value
is consequently enhanced.
A compound of one part Greek pitch
and two parts of burnt plaster is ap-
proved by French electricians as an insu-
lating substance, having the advantage OF
being unchanged in its Insulating prop
crty by great heat and moisture. When
hot it can be applied with a brush, or it
can be cast, turned and polished.
Crushed Stag is said to be greatly su-
perior to dry earth as an absorbing and
deodorizing material for earth closets,
both on account of its extreme porosity,
which makes the use of a smaller guam
tity possible, and from its value as a fer
t~ilizer, which is vastly increased by using
it for the purpose suggested. 1t is also
cheap and plentiful.
1t appears that tempering drills need
no longer be a painstaking and pro-
tracted process. According to the dis
covery made by a workman in the Car
son (Nev.) Mint, drill points may be so
tempered, electrically, that they will
penetrate the hardest steel or plate glass
by being heated to a cherry red and then
driven into a piece of lead.
Experiments by DR.. Pinel show that
hypnotic patients will obey the direc-
tions conveyed to them mechanically by
the phonograph as readily as they will
obey living words. Hence, he argues,
the theory of animal magnetism-that is,
of a magnetic current passing from op-
orator to subjects b~aseless, and the
real cause of the phenomena of hypno-
tism is a disordered mental state.
Bosworth Smith, in a report IN the
Kolar gold field, in Southern India, re-
cords some finds of old mining imple-
ments, old timbering, fragments of bones,
an old oil lamp, and broken pieces OF
e~arthenware, including a crucible, the
remains of ancient mining operations. He
expresses establishment at the fact that
the old miners were able to reach depths
of two hundred OF three hundred feet
through hard rock, with the simple ap-
planes at their command.
The brilliant and beautiful white satin
enamel applied to some of the French
papers and cards is a composition con-
sisting of twenty-four parts by weight of
parafine and one hundred parts of pure
kaolin, very dry, and. reduced to a fine
powder. Before mixing with the kaolin
the parafine is heated to the fusing
point, and, on cooling the mixture forms
a homogeneous mass, which, when re-
duced to powder, is worked into a paste
in a paint mill with warm water; this is
the enamel readily for application, and
can be tinted as desired.