The Opelousas courier., 1891-07-18
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

Excellent wool has been made from
the fibre of the fir tree by means of cleo
tricity.
In Europe steel-tired wheels for rail,
road cars are used more generally thar
in the United States.
The maximum power of an electro
magnet is proportional to the least
sectional area of the entire magnetic Cir.
cults.
With an electro-magnet mechanical
actions are produced at a distance under
control by the agency of electric cur
rents.
The magneto-motive force equals the
product of the number of spirats and the
number of amperes of current multiplied
by 1857.
A comparatively small dynamo may
be arranged to light a greater number
Of lamps by the use of an accumulation
than can be obtained from the machine
direct.
Professor Elihu Thompson wears a
unique watch chain, the links of which
are welded by electricity. In part of
the chain links of gold and platinum
alternate Other links are made of Sec
tons of these metals.
Asphalt paint is rapidly coming into
faye for ironwork. It's oils are not
volatile, as is the case of the various
c%oal-tar products, and it is this per-
manent character of the material that is
the secret of its value.
The works of watches are now plated
with palladium, which is a whittier,
lighter and more fusible metal than
| platinum. About one-~seventeenth of
a grain of palladium will, by electrical
deposition, coat the works of an ordinary
| watch.
In a vestibule car recently invented,
instead of the folding-doors and the
usual iron gates that are so likely to i'm
prison passengers in case of an accident,
there are doors that slide into the car,
and which leave the platform unob-
stEucted.
The thickness of ordinary gold leaf is
about one two-hundred ~thousandths of
IN inch. Accordingly, one ounce of
gold can be beaten out until it covers
100 square feet. 1t can be beaten out
still thinner, but the process is not COM
mercially practicable.
Neither the submerged chain system
nor the endless rope system of canal
boat haulage has proved satisfactory in
Germany, so that experiments are now
being made in the use of heavy towing
cars drawn by locomotives similar to
those used in mines.
A most singular relic was exhibited at
a meeting at Calcutta of the Asiatic So
ciety of Bengal, consisting of a piece of
cable, the rubber covering Of which had
been pierced by a blade of grass. The
piercing was so complete, and the con-
tact with the copper core SO perfect,
that the efficiency of the cable was de-
stroyed.
A great event in the annals of Indian
telegraphy was the completion recently
of the new copper wire between Calcutta
end Bombay, along the line of the Ben
gal-Nagpore railway. The total length
of the circuit is nearly 1900 miles, and
the Indian Department can now boast
that it works the longest aerial circuit in
the world.
Vegetation in the Alps recedes from
year to year. Alpine roses were at one
time found at an altitude Of $500 feet;
they are. seldom found higher than
$500 feet, and are stunned at that. Var
ious species of small fruit which used to
be gathered at $500 feet above the level
now are rarely found beyond two-thirds
height.
Russian scientists are about going to
Northern Africa to make a study of the
methods employed by the natives in re-
the inroads of quicksands. This {
is the result of Intellectual efforts
on the part of Russian engineers to
counterfeit the effect of quicksands in
trans Caspian sections, where thousands
Of acres of the best arabic soil are an
nually used up.
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