The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1891-04-02
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

Possibly the rarest fern in the
United States is AsptenGuBs ebenoidss. II
MAS the first found as solitary plant
along the Schuyllxill, near Philadelphia,
forty years ago.
A European engineer has invented
and brought to perfection an instrument
by which he can readily locate water
underneath the earth's surface, At a
late trial in this country, he surprised
our engineers by correctly tracing sew
eral aqueducts of whose location he
could have had no previous knowledge.
Compressed carbonic acid gas is now
used on ship-bo for freezing meat,
brine being cooled by the expanding
gas and circulated in pipes. On a
steamer which carried SO, 900 carcasses
of mutton to Liverpool from South
America, the meat was kept in excel
lent condition, with saving of four
ffths of the former coal consumption
for working the refrigerating machin-
cry.
Nearly 1 900 miles of railways are
under construction in France, of which
about 500 miles are expected to be
opened in 1891. This is good showing
for France, but it looks insignificant
compared with the construction record
of the United States, and falls below
that of any one of good many indi-
vidual States.-Railway Age.
The mines of the world, says the
Economists Franchise, in the year 1888
produced of metals of all kinds, of coal,
salt and petroleum, a grand total Of
sos, 939, 900 tons, with value Of 81, 776,-
| 600, 900. To this vast sum Goals con-
tributed almost S7O0, 900, 900, or about 40
per cent, while the entire value Of the
gold and silver products was but $780,
OO0, 900.
After awhile, perhaps, says the
| Southern Lumberman, timber land
owners will cease selling valuable TIM
Der forests by the acre and adopt the
system of sale by tree, or so much per
thousand feet estimated The time IS
coming when the bills will be made out
for so many trees, so many inches In
diameter, at so much per tree.
The Home Journal says; sit is no.
ticeable of the statues in our museums
of art, supposed to represent the perfect
figures of ancient men and women, that
their feet are disproportionateiy large.
Even the masculine foot of to-day Is
smaller than that of the ancients, but
the feet of women show a greater re-
striction in size as a result of cramped
shoeing. To the artistic eye, the SYM
metry and proportion of the foot Of
olden times is to be preferred" !"
Clay which is pure white, and that
also which is discolored, and has been
washed to bring it to a uniform shade
of color, is used by the manufacturers
of paper hangings to give the smooth
satin surface to the finished paper. Il
is used by mixing it up with a thin size,
applying it to the surface of the pieces
of paper, and then polishing it by means
of brushes driven bv machinery.
The meteorological Institute Of
Vienna has been conducting expert
ments on dirt taken from finger nails,
and seventy-eight examinations have
been made. The process was to put the
dirt in ''cultivating mixtures, " such as
are used for supplying germs with food
on which to develop. The crop that
grew from the germs in the dirt was q
varied one, and included thirty-six kinds
of micrococci, eighteen of bacili and
many others.
Professor Henderson, who accom-
panied the late exploring expedition to
the Olympic Mountains, and who is a
recognized authority on the flowers OF
the Pacific coast, gives some interesting
data of the trip to the Portland Oregon
ian. In speaking of the traces Of the
glacial period in the heterogeneous dis
tribution of plants, he says; ''We found
flowers in the Olympics at an altitude OF
10000 feet that would be found in
Alaska on the ocean level. was very
much impressed with the grand mix-up
not only of the mountains, but Of the
fora as well. Flowers that we find
here around Portland we found buried
among the timber of the 0lympics near
the snow line. Among these were vio-
lets.