Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-12
POPULAR SCIENCE.
PHENOMENA OF A GENERAL
RAIN OVER TEXAS.
Why Texas Rivers are Small-Advanta-
geous Arrangement of TEXAS Waters,
Must Our Ice Factories Go:

! irrigation in TIE United States, Professor
| Robert 7. Hill says, in substance. page 2lT,
| if ii were possible 70 view the mountains.
staked plains tI.lano Estacado,, red reds,
! chalks and sands of Texas while Z rain was
| falling uniformly over the whole region the
! following dive Sc phenomena would be
| seen: First, torrents would come pouring
! down the inperyious mountain sides on to
| the sta6cd plains and here diSappearin..
! beneath the level surface: second, the le.e-
! surface of the plains would be vod o..
| streams on surface drainage, but most OF
| the water would be imbibed almost immedi-
| ately, or temporarily formed on The
! surface in ponds or lakes. like liquids in the
| chemist filter until II can pass downward;
| third. the red bed country would be GOV
| cred with rills rivulets and torrents, laden
with sediment, which would soon empty
| into the arteriai drainage OF to the Red,
! BrazoS or Colorado rivers; fourth, the rain
| fall upon the chalky regions and the oolites,
| as about Fort Worth. would be imbbed with
! great rapidly save in the clay areas. The
flush streams flowing from the red beds OF
| coal measures would rapidly diminish in
volume as they rolled ON. AMI finally almost
wholly disappear as swollen stream, the
extra amount of wafer given them having
been imbibeI by the lands over which THEN
| course was laid
| This clearly explains why cur Texas riy-
ers are comparatively small. II the grca,
| amount of waters rushing down from the
! mountains along our northwestern borders
struck an impcrvious formation instead OF
| the porous 5, akcd plains, and the lands sN-
tending thence to the gulf of Mexico were
similarly impervious. we would have rivers
| swecpingacrosS the country III volume a.
large as that of The Ohio, the Tennessee or
| the Alabama. a..
! But these absorbed waters are not lost.
| A great wisdom is displayed in us az
rangenent for absorbing them, so far as
relates to the good Of man. Al 4 j'p,h
| easily within the reach of human ingenuity
! lie beds of impe1viOus rocks to check the
| downward course Of tine waters, and hold
them subject to orjer. as it were. spread
| ing them out beneath vast areas. Artesian
wells readily bring them TO the
| surface whcra needed Theu this
umderfow entirely beyond atmospheric eff
| fects cuts of all chances Of loss by evsp-
Grafton. Nearly all the waters that faI
upon Texas territory are laid away in safe
keeping for the use of man when he applies
for them. Our great artesian areas, which
we could not have with an imperrious sur
face, are worth far more TO the state thar
could be the same waters collected in large
rivers flowing far apart on the surface.
\ great river cannot water any very
broad extent of country, but tue sanIr
waters distributed through wide water
carrying strata can. IN times past rivers
We're OF vast importance as arteries Of com
merce, but railroads have vastly cut down
that Importance in modern times. A riyeris
now most valued for the water it contains.
as a rule We have the water where il can
| be- of most value to US, under these circuIn-
stances, and hence the waters Of Texas
are worth far IIore to her than are their
waters to those regions through which
great rivers flow over inpervious forna-
| tons
The scientific paper are still having
| much to say about the new chemical dis
covery known as frigeriue. They claim
that it will eventually do away with put
ting up ice for the winter, and will cause
all the ice factories to go. There is nothing
| very unreasonable in the claim, provided
| frigerine is as represented. They say the
| person desiring TO keep cool will buy
little urn-shaped vessel holding about one
quart, and made Of silver or some other
material not liable to corrode. Into this he
will place two small cakes of the material
| qualified to produce frigerine-oue Of 4
kind-there being two kinds employed He
will then fill the little vessel with water,
which will dissolve the cakes and SET
| the chemicals to acting upon each
other. This action will promptly form
frigerine and carry the temperature Of tbs
vessel far below the freezing point AL
| necessary, then, will be 70 cork or close the
| vessel tightly and set it in your water
bucket Or cooler-ice-cOld water will be the
result for at least twenty-four hours. The
frigerine will be much less expensive than
ice is now. they say.
Bone grating appears TO be the latest
| rapidly developing new interest in surgery.
A prominent Cincinnati surgeon is at the
head of it for this country. He has made
several very successful tests and says there
is now no need that 4 limb should be LOST
on account of shattered bone, II
the bone is so badly crushed that
the pieces cannot DE correctly put together
the crushed section may be removed AID
the bone of "a lower animal grated into
its place. He finds it necessary to graft
the bone of a oarnivOrous or partially car
| nivorous animal upon the bone OF an animal
of like character in this respect. In his Of.
fee is an evidence OF the correctness
of his CAIN, in the bone of an ami
NAL firmly and nicely united to tn,
| hnna of another animal Of different sneciex