The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-01-23
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

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culture is to become profitable pursuit
in that country.
They are now raising English wal
nuts out in California, and single trees
Weld $50 worth of nuts, which is lar
better than can be done in England.
The wholesale price of whalebone
Is now $4,000 n ton. A project Is Oh
foot to organize whaling expeditions
from Australia to the Antarctic seas,
where it is believed plenty OF whales
are to be found. 1t is an almost I'M
touched whaling notwithstanding
American.
From an official document just pub
lished Italy is the greatest consumer Id
Europe of English Goals. The follo"
ing is the proportion of Goals provided
yearly for the principal powers; ltal y
/ .465. 600 tons: France, 1899 tons;
Germany, 9O2, 957 tons; Russia, 6l3'99'
tons; Spain, 724,972 tons.
M. Prouho has been studying the
sense of smell in star-tishes. and con
cludes that these animals, when excited
by the presence of bait, are guided by
sensations perceived by the ends OF their
arms. The sense of smell is not dlttuse
in star-fishes, but is localized in the
suckers, useless for locomotlon, situated
at the back of the eye-plate.
Ingenious machines for the various
operations of manufacturing matches
have been in use in Scandinavia for
some time, and more are expected. Ma
chimes for packing the matches have
recently been introduced; one of these,
the invention of two young Norwegian
engineers, having capacity of 1000
boxes per minute.
Humping or knocking in piece of
machinery is often hard to locate, and
the following has been suggested as
means of discovering the difficulty, A
rubber tube about yard long is used,
one end of which is placed in the ear,
and the other end passed over the sus-
pected spots The vibrations from all
other parts than the one covered being
excluded, it is said to be an easy matter
to find the Earring noise.
DR.. Mcpherson states that it has
been conclusively proven that distilled
water is of a blue color. A demonstra-
IlOn Vi tllt ldCJ DC llSlNt ~ wv y
into water metal tube. open at the
top and closed at the bottom, with Il
clear glass plate. close to d white object
twenty feet below the surface. Looked
at through the tube this object has a
beautiful blue color, whereas it woulC
appear yellow if it's color were due tc
light reflected by suspended particles IL
the water.
1t is only during the last few de
cades of this age that we have become
accurately acquainted with the nature
and works of those minute living form!
which we now designate as micro
organisms, microbes, germs or bacteria
For much of this knowledge, and more
especially for the ground work OF it, We
are indebted to the indefatiga Die energy
and mastery genius of Louis Pasteur
whose name is so familiar in every cor
ner of the globe where civilization ha
made itself felt.
1t is generally taught that the do
nestle cat was first doInesticated il
Egypt. the Greeks and Romans not pos
sessing it, and that the cat was no
known to have lived in Italy earle
than about nine centuries before tn
Crusades. Rolleston claimed that tn
domestic cat of the Greeks and Roman
was marten. Virchow. having exam
ined the mummies of Egyptian cats
find that they had nothing in common
with our household pet, and that tn
Egyptian cat was simply tame Great
ure, or domesticated savage. like tn
. monkey or gazelle.-N. y. Independent
7 Prof. +. W. Putnam. the well-know
permanent secretary of the America
Association. recently made an interest
, ing discovery which furnishes fresh ev
= dence in support of the theory that ma
in America was cOntcmporaneOuS wit
the mammoth. III communication
the Boston Society of Natural History
= Prof. Putnam describes Il shell found b
him in the State of Delaware. Upon
? portion of this shell is scratched til
: rude outline of what without doubt rcl
- reSentS a mammoth. The shell wa
] found under peat, and near by wer
: human bones. charcoal. bones of az
S mails and stone implements.-phila
: phia American.