The Opelousas courier., 1891-10-24
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

Porpoises are said to exist in Lake
Nyanza, Africa.
Pleuro-pneumonla seems to be quite
prevalent in Great Britain.
The atmospheric pressure upon the
body Of a moderate.sized man amounts
to about fifteen tons.
Leading European physicians express
the belief in yeiy positive terms that
Bright's disease is durable.
A civil engineer has been looking
Niagara Falls over, and his conclusion is
that it is good for 5000, 900 years.
Waste sawdust and shavings are being
utilized by Mons. Claimant, of Paris,
France, for the production of fine vege-
table charcoal.
The cracking sound of freshly ignited
wood or coal is caused by the air or
liquid contained in the pores expanding
by heat and bursting the covering in
which it is confined.
nj. Alder, of Paris, after expanding
more than 500, 900 on a flying machine,
has produced one in which he flew about
100 yards. He says it is propelled by a
sscombination of vapors."
The addition of a compound called
stepanite to the charge of iron and coke
in a furnace changes the output to a
compound of IRON and steel without
changing the metal to any further treat
ment.
Experiments upon the phosphores-
cence of gems shows that it varies &C.
cording to the origin of the stone.
Cape diamonds show blue, Brazilian
stones red, orange, blue, or yellow; and
those frcm Australia yellow, blue, or
green.
The great seltzer spring at Saratoga,
N. Y, has been sounded to a depth of
$500 feet without touching bottom or
e~ncountering any obstacle. This strength
ems the belief that this great northern
summer resort is built over a subter-
raneau sea.
England supplies the plant for the
vast new harbor works now in progress
at Yokohama, Japan. The quick. firing
guns now supplied to the japanese navy
are also of British make, and it is in
England that the japanese order their
railway plant.
aGuyacol, !" an extract from lockwood
aud the active principal of c~resote, has
been successfully used by DIR. Max
Schiller, of the Berlin University, for
twelve years in the treatment of tubar-
c%ulosis, affecting the joints, bones,
glands, lupus, etc.
Smokeless powder was used at the
Wimbledon England) volunteer review
before the German Emperor with great
success, The guns emitted a brilliant
red flame on the discharge, unlike the
smokeless compound adopted in France,
which produces q pale flash resembling
the electric light.
A new system .of house-wiring for
electric lighting consists Of fitting the
building with continuous tubes Of insu-
lated material, through which the wires
are drawn. The tubes are made of
paper soaked Ia d hot bath Of btu min.
material, and are said to be hard,
strong and tough.
The French manufacture a paper linen
so c~leverly that il IS almost i'm possible
without examination to detect the diff
ference between ii and damask: and
even to the touch TIE articles made OF
papier lingo are very much like linen,
and are used for many purposes to which
linen is applicable.
Through experiments made III Eng
lish military authorities, il has been
that whenever the atmosphere is
laden with smoke i mfst the power OF
an electric light is greatly diminished By
crossing the beam of light BY that of an
other at q certain angle. Az the point
Of intersection the illuminated space Is
practically made a screen.