The Bossier banner., 1891-12-03
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

The Academy a of Medicine has
awarded the Orfila Prize to NJ Kaufman,
professor at the veterinary college OF
Abort, for the discovery of specific
for viper bites. 1t consists of one part
of chronic acid diluted in hundred
parts of water and applied to the wound.
One of the recent inventions for life
saving apparatus is the Irvine pneu-
matte gun for throwing line to ships
in distress or to persons in a burning
house. The air is admitted from reser-
voir to the chamber behind the projec-
tile at pressure of 2,400 pounds to the
square inch.
The rate of growth of coral is diff
cult to estimate At the meeting of the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila-
delphia, Prof. Heilprin, exhibited
specimen of Porites astrmoides which
had been taken from an anchor cast in
the autumn of 1885. He estimated that
the annual amount of increase was
scarcely one-twentieth of an inch.
An improved kind of soap for metal
work has lately been described, of some
special advantages, it is said, as COM
pared with those usually employed in
this line-that is, mixtures of vaseline,
oleic acid and fat combined with a
small quantity of rouge = and which,
when freshly prepared, leave nothing
to be desired, excepting, unfortunately
that such compositions soon turn rancid
and become unfit for use.
Wheat was recently bought in San
Francisco for shipment to Australia.
Three colonies of the latter country pro-
duce more wheat than they can consume,
while the other four produce less.
Naturally the former would supply the
latter's deficiency, but the foreign de-
mand for particular brands of Austria
lian wheat is so peremptory that the
colonies figure both as exporters and
importers of wheat.
The Suez Canal is being widened in
some parts to the extent of fifty feet.
The widening had been completed at
the close of 1889 for distance of about
10 miles from Port Said. In the course
of last year the widening was completed
, for further distance of miles. By the
close of 1891 the widening works are ex-
pected to reach point 2214 miles from
Port aid.-Engineering and Mining
Journal.
, In silvering iron a recent process in
troduced in Austrian workshops consists
, in plunging the iron article into hot di-
lutte hydrochloric acid, whence it is re-
! moved to a solution of mercury nitrate
, and connected with the zinc pole of a
Bunsen element, gas carbon or platinum
! serving as the other pole. 1t is rapidly
/ covered with layer of quicksilver,
when it is removed, washed and trans
! ferred to a silver bath and silvered.
q The number of hogs marketed in
n the United States has increased from
!. 14474, 900, in 1852, to 1896, 600, in
v 1S9O-91; and the amount shipped abroad
i has shown a corresponding increase.
{ The shipments in 1886 included 36T, 600,
600 pounds of bacon, and $4,000 600
pounds of ham; and in 1890 the ship
ments of bacon were $50, 900, 900 pounds,
and of ham 81, OOO 600 pounds. Mime.
apolis Spectator.
<; Steam pipes have recently beer
made of ramie fiber, hardened under
tremendous hydraulic pressure, and
possessing tensile strength equal tt
> two and one half times that of steel
The ramie fiber, or China grass, ha:
:, the property of being unaffected 10y
= moisture: it will not shrink nor swell
!, it is non-conductor of heat. 1t car
= not rust, and these features, together
- with its great strength, are all desir
:. able in steam pipes, its utilization il
= = this line being regarded, therefore, a.
:" one of the possibilities of the future.
Recently published statistics show
the enormous wealth and power of th
:" foreign steamship companies which d.
business out of the port of New Yorl
and maintain offices in that city. Their
e are about fifty foreign lines in all, wit
= an aggregate tonnage Off, $50, 249. The.
include thirty British lines, with 1913,
y 051 tons; five German lines, with 345
500 tons; five French companies, wit
u u 27S, ,521 tons; one italian company
with 162, ,27S tons; three Dutch con
= panies, with 1858 tons; one Danis
E company, with 1898 tons, and on
!. Belgian company. with 2,879 TONS.
Boston Journal.
John w. Bookwalter, who owr
60 900 acres of land in Nebraska, prt
= poses to initiate great reform in farl
life, at an expense Of S75, 900 or 500
~ 600, to be met out of his own purs
~ His idea is to bring the farmers home
- together into a tastefully arrange
n village near each ones land, instea
- of having them on the individui
= farms. He has already started tt
= experiment on a small scale, and say
81 am going to build town ha
and establish a free circulatir
library. This scheme is in vogue amor
ia the farmers of France, Spain, Italy, al
at. owltzerlano' ana Is greaI succeSS'
wv Albany Journal
is. Questionable Advantage.
he Lord Houghton said to himself: "Ha