The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1890-08-23
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.


The unusually large number of 11s
species of migratory birds have been
seen in the vicinity of Philadelphia this
season, according to the Delaware Orni-
biological Club
"A new red glass has been recently
produced in Germany. Besides its use
Tor the manufacture of bottles, goblets
and vases of various kinds, it is applica-
bic in photography and in chemists and
opticians laboratories.
Northern manufacturers are inter
'ested in the statement that the finest
brick made in the South are from the
refuse OF slate quarries. They have
double resisting power and absorb only
one-third as much water as ordinary
brick.
"A new German water-pipe is made
OF glass covered with coating of as
phalt and hne gravel. The advantages
claimed are resistance to ground moist.
nre and to acids and alkalies, and inn
permeability to gases.
Professor Thompson, who was a
teacher in Philadelphia, when he made
the discoveries which have made him
millionaire, predicts that sooner or later
the problem will be solved OF getting
electrical power from fuel direct, with
out the aid of steam.
"A new disinfectant has made It's APP
pearance under the name of Thiocamph.
1t is combination of camphor with
sulphurous acid, containing over sixty
times its volume Of sulphurous acid gas,
which, upon its exposure in warm
room, is gradually evolved.
M. Jablockoff, of electric candle
fame, makes a strong argument in favor
of going back to chemical reactions for
the production of electricity as motive
power. The dynamo machine does not
utilize more than ten per cent. of the
fuel, while more than ninety per cent
can be obtained under favorable circum-
stances in electro-chemical combina-
tons.
An employee in the Office of the arch
itect of the Capitol. Washington, has in
vented an electric musical machine.
The keyboard is similar to that of an
ordinary typewriter, and its keys are
connected electrically with a number OF
electric bells arranged beneath tie
table. Pressure on each key closes the
circuit of an electric bell, and when the
keys are operated by an expert any tune
may be played on the machine.
There are at present |, 800 beet-sugar
$4,000 900 tons of beets every year
Their annual output of sugar amount:
to 1000, 600 tons 1t is said that ovel
$50, 900, 600 are expended for labor and
fuel, and that Sl0O, 600, 900 are paid tt
farmers for beets. These figures are
probably too high, but they serve tt
throw light upon the magnitude and i'm
portance of the industry.
The use of electricity as a motive
power for street cars will be an i'm
portant section of the census investiga
ton of the electrical industry. None o
the many forms of the application o
electricity has been developed NOR
rapidly or been accompanied by NOR
satisfactory results than that of tn
transmission OF power for street car pur
poses. The plan Of investigation tina
has been adopted is designed to make
comparison between the different motiv
powers employed-animal, steam dun
my, cables, and electricity-to show tn
relative economic value of each.
Professor E. l.. Nichols foreshadow
very agreeable picture. He says tina
in all probability the day is not far di:
tant when brine, cooled below the free;
ing point of water, will be carried unde
the streets in pipes, as steam is nov
supplying from central stations a yer
convenient substitute for ice in tn
domestic household. BY freezing in on
own houses water which has been prev
ously boiled it will then be possible fc
us to avoid contagion from disease germ
contained in ice gathered from impur
sources.