The Bossier banner., 1891-10-22
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

1 .
"A syndicate has purchased a large
traGt Of brush land lying near Vandalia,
Ill, and will begin Clearing 1t with
view to going into the Embarrassing
business on large scale. Between sew
enty-fve and one hundred negro fami
lies will be eolonized in the township
and will engage in the work of clearing.
"A new and effective process of EN-
| ployment in the location of deficient
working in machinery, owing to .fric-,
| ton, has been discovered. Take rub
Der tt1be three feet long, place one end
at the ear, and pass the other around
| the suspected spot OF spots, and it will
be found an easy matter to locate the
difficulty and note. the periodicity with
which it occurs.
| The statistics of the average size of
families in the various countries of Eu-
rope, which are of considerable interest
for the status of public morals. are the
following: France, &o3 members; Den
mark, SOL; Hungary, $40; Switzerland,
8.94; Austria and Belgium, 4.05; En-
gland. 4,0S;a Germany, 4.1O; Sweden,
4.12; Holland, 4.22: Scotland, 4.46; Italy,
4.56; Spain, 4. s.; Russia, A. .S3; Ireland, $50.
The Overland cotton mill Just com
| pleted at Denver, Col, is one of the
largest and best equipped intthe world.
having 16,20O spindles, capable of a
daily output of $500 yards of sheeting.
AS the Rocky Mountain region affords
an ample market for this output there
Is reason to hope that the enterprise
will be Immediately and continuously
4 profitable, and that it will prove the
pioneer OF. similar and other manufac-
turing plants which shall be operated
to supply the wants of that great sec
tion.- Washington Post. ...........
Mr.. Richard Thoma, of Dorpat, be-
lieves that he has discovered a liquid
which will preserve the natural color of
geological specimens. After being
washed the parts to be preserved are
immersed in a solution composed of:
Sulphate of soda, 100 grammes; chlorid
of sodium, 100 grammes; chlprate OF
potassa, 100 grammes; nitrate of po-
tassa, 10 grammes; water, / litre. The
parts should remain in the liquid-from
eighteen to twenty -four hours after
(which they should be kept in alcoho,
which has been changed once or twice
The color of the animals little deep
ened in tint, is thus preserved.-Pari:
Revue Scientifque.
Many have heard a series of rap
pings in their rooms, which imaginative
people have concluded were spirit rap
pings, and which scientists have attrib
uted to reasons scarcely less remark
able One of our readers, Mr. A. Ros
signol, chemist at Paris, has sent us, il
a glass tube, two little insects whicl
were taken in the act of making thei
nocturnal taps. They were found in
piece of heavy wrapping paper, but a
opposite sides, and about ten cent?
metres apart. They raped loudly wit
the head by bending it in sort of see
saw manner about six strokes per sec
ond, and the one insect answered whel
Fthe other had finished Paris la Nature
-Archiv fur isenbahnen gives tn
following list: At the end of 1889 ther
were 595, 767 kilometers of railroad i
the world, while ten years before ther
were no more than $50, ,031. Of the raj
roads of 1889 America had 317.925 kilC
! meters; Europe, 220, 261; Asia, 81, ,O2.
Africa, S,625, and Australia 1892.
Europe the railroads of the, princip;
governments were divided in the fo
lowing manner: Germany had Al, Is
kilometers; France, So, 34S; Great Bri
. ain and ireland, 81 OSs; Russia, 3O Ia
Austria Hungary, 26,501, and Italy, 1S
, | O63.
"A consular report ON the trade {
Kiungchow during 1890 makes mentio
of a very strong 'silk," which is mac
from a grub called the celestial sill
: worm," or locally, paddy insect" an
: found on sort of maple tree. The il
: sect, when fully grown, is thrown I'M
= boiling vinegar, on which the head (
the gut or silk appears. This
| sharply torn out with both hands, draw
apart, and is as long as the space
tween them, say five feet. The silk
$50 strong that one single thread of
!. is sufficient to make a line with whiC
: to catch the smaller kinds of fish"
AT last it is a settled fact that Il
o water which has been so mysterious
flooding the desert in Southern Califc
MIA comes from the Colorado river.
= party in a boat has made Ghe voya
y over swift currents, lakes, rapids al
- waterfalls, all the way from the riy
= to the Salton basin. There are crevs
= ses in the Colorado's banks about
8 teen miles below Yuma, and the riv
pours through at a great velocity, &C
= ering the lowlands round about, a
III sweeping on in resistless pace into t
. desert. What is more interesting J
y is the strong probability that this
!, rangement of things is to be a perm
~ nent one, and that the river-is@ nleEi
. its bed and may soon, by the forrnati
of sand-bars below the mouth of
y crevasses, decide to throw all its watt
over this route instead Of down to
= Gulf of California. Philadelphia TIE
"a graph. -, = -, =. '1--''7'