The Opelousas courier., 1890-01-18
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

The Webster process for the treatment
hf sewage by electricity is about being
experimental with in the Midway River.
England.
Cardite is a new powder which damp
mess does not affect, which causes no
smoke and which greatly increases the
explosive power.
The Danish Government is taking the
lead in matters relating to establishing an
electrical connection with lightships and
isolated lighthouses.
By the new welding process, in which
electricity is used, the rails of street OF
steam railways can be welded together.
it is said after being placed in position.
: Variations in the downfall of snow have
from recent observations in the Himalava
Mountains been found to exercise an i'm
portant influence on the monsoon rams of
Upper India.
The relation of a rising to a falling
barometer with rain points to the con-
illusions that at Philadelphia the amount
of rain which falls while the barometeris
descending is nearly three times as great
as that which falls while the barometer is
rising.
Asmall Goldfish will produce nearly two
millions of eggs. A single pair of her
rings, if allowed to reproduce undisturbed
and multiply for twenty years, would not
only supply the whole world with abund-
ance of food, but would become incon-
veniently numerous.
! Refrigeration has become an indispen-
sable factor in domestic economy, both on
land and sea, and many of the ships now
sailing on distant voyages are provided
with steam refrigerators. in which milk
and other foods may readily be preserved
for any length OF time.
A. recent invention is a machine for
riveting stovepipe. In the old way each
of the six or nine rivets in a piece of
pipe was drawn or driven separately, but
by the use of the apparatus all the rivets
are drawn by one drop of the hammer, it
being entirely practicable for one man to
turn out with this machine from 600 to
1000 joints of pipe per day.
An English scientist has been making
experiments to determine the important
part which light plays in the develop
ment of animal life. A dozen tadpolcs
were confined in a box from which every
ray of light was excluded. The result
was that only two of them developed in
tofr0gs, and these were short lived. The
others increased considerably in size, but
never left the tadpole form.
What we call absent mindedness is
temporary suspension of the faculty of
memory. The mind, intent upon some
present thought, obliterates or obscures
the record of the past. We may even
regard it as a temporary and partial form
of insanity, and if we find absent-mind-
edness most common with persons of
great mental powers we may accept the
fact as another illustration of the near
alliance between great genius and mad
ness.
The Russians have recently improved
ON the sleeping-coaches of the railway
and the perambulating schoolmaster of
the rural regions. They have provided
aAchool wagon, which is furnished with
a room for the teacher, a classroom or
study, and a library, all suitably supplied
with the necessary material. This wa
gon will be on the line of the Transcas-
plan Railway all the year round, remain
ing as long as may be deemed necessary
at districts which are not provided with
Q school.
The latest invention in cheap mouth
Instruments comes from Austria, and is
generally called the s'sweet potato"
though its right name is the ocarina. It
Is made of clay, and exactly resembles q
sweet potato in shape. 1t is a kind of
combination of the flute and clarinet, but
Is, Of course, very much shorter. The
ocarina Is made in every key and can be
played without difficulty, being probably
the easiest learned musical instrument
ever invented. 1t is very clear in its
tone, and answers well for experiments
with the phonograph-