The Colfax chronicle., 1891-06-13
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

Il
An immense quarry of lithograph
stone has been discovered about one
hundred miles from San Antonio, Tex.
The fishing interests at Grand
Haven, Mich, employ eighty men, five
steam tugs and seven sail vessels, and
dispose of 1900, 900 pounds of fish an
nually.
There is nothing which will auelch
an oil-fed fire in its incipiency more
| quickly and effectually than sand-and
there are no afterclaps in the way of
water damage, either.
In these days of so many alleged
cures for consumption, oysters are COM
mended and are given to consumptive
patients because they contain iodine.
The treatment is quite common in the
south.
| The Finn belongs to race which
was active and civilized before the
Greek or the Indian, the Hebrew or the
Persian was heard of, race one of the
branches of which worked in metals,
built Babylon, practiced the arts of
magic there, and enacted laws in favor
of women's rights long before the first
Semitic king took his seat.
| The earliest known lens is one made
of rock crystal, unearthed by Layard at
Nineveh. This lens. the age of which is
to be measured by thousands of years,
now lies in the British Museum, with its
surface bright as when it left the
makers hands. BY the side of it arc
very recent specimens of lens which
have been ruined by exposure to Lon
don fog and smoke.
/. There are thousands of wives and
mothers in New York who make ends
meet by sewing on overalls that pay
seventy-fve cents, shirts sixty cents,
vests ninety-five cents. trousers three
dollars, flannel shirts one dollar dozen.
They are obliged to find their own
thread for the overalls and shirts and
carry the work to and from the shop
| If they take a street car one-tenth of
their earnings is gone
The city of Toronto will lease its
street car plants. Under the lease no
employe can work over ten hours day.
A class of tickets must be sold at the
rate of eight for twenty-five cents, the
same only to be used between the time
daily runs commence at eight a. m. and
between five and seven p. m. Another
class must be sold at the rate of twenty
five for one dollar and still another
class at the rate of six for twenty-five
cents.
AT Straubing, in Bavaria, some
Celtic tombs have been opened and
found to contain most interesting bronze
ornaments and iron weapons belonging
to the people of Rhetia before the
Roman conquest. The long sought-for
Roman cemetery has also been discov-
cred = through the unearthing of a
Roman tomb containing cinerary urns--
fianking the old military road from
Serviodurum (Straubing) to Abusina,
both situated on the Danube.
The Smithsonian institute, along
with-the sages Of the land, has con-
cluded that many valuable animals are
fast becoming extinct. Instances in the
past occur to us, the buffaloes, for exam
pie, to mention singular notable case,
and touching the future, we all have been
fearful lest the seal should follow him
to the happy swimming grounds. The
forthcoming publication of the Smith
sonian will substantiate these melan-
choly forecasts
Possibly the rarest fern in the
United States is Asplenium ebenoides
1t was first found as solitary plant
along the Schuyllill, near Philadelphia,
forty years ago. About ten years ago
number were found by Miss Tutweiler
at Huntsville, Ala. Recently s. l..
Powell, of Johns Hopkins university
has found it in considerable abundance
on Kulp's hill, part of the famous
battle field of Gettysburg.
The consumption of the flesh of
swine in the United States is enormous.
The number of hogs in the country last
year was estimated at SO, 200, 900 in
round numbers, of the value of $24S,-
10000, and these figures give an idea
of the amount of hog product consumed
by the people. Hog products constitute
very important item of the export
trade of the United States. No fresh
pork is exported except some incon-
siderable quantities to Mexico and Can
ada, but bacon, hams, picked pork, and
lard make fine showing.