The Opelousas courier., 1891-11-07
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

A wood carving machine is success
full.
Terrorits is more powerful than dyn,
amite.
A pound Of phosphorus is sufficient to
pit 1000, 900 matches.
A Swedish cavalry officer has invented
a Horseshoe on which the calks and clips
are changeable.
A street railroad to be operated by
motors run by fuel oil will soon be in
operation near Prague.
The Philadelphia mint has installed
an Eddy electric motor of twenty-five
horsepower, which is u by wires from
the street.
1t is estimated that twenty thousand
horsepower will be required for the
electric lighting plant Of the Columbian
Exposition.
Observation step-ladders are to be
used in the Belgian artillery, the OBJ.
ject being to enable a commander to
better direct the fire of his gunners.
The Michigan Central Railroad has in
use a new machine that does the work
of 800 men in scraping the dirt dumped
alongside of the track to the edges OF
the fill.
A spring has been discovered in
Greenville, N. H., which contains an
almost phenomenal amount of lithium,
even more, it is said, than the famous
spring at Londonderry.
Watch crystals are made by blowing
a sphere of glass about n yard in diam.
eter; after which the disks are cut from
it by means of a pair Of co npasses having
a diamond at the extremity Of one
leg.
A device has been invented by which
an engine may be stopped IN any
floor of a building by simply pressing
a button, thus making an electrical
connection with the governor of the en-.
CINE.
A toilet brush is made of two halves
which are hinged and are detachable,
one half being the brush and the other
half the mirror, while in the space be.
tween is a comb, a tooth brush and a
button. hook.
The Munich Poeller Physical and Op-
tical Institute have constructed for the
Chicago Exhibition an enormous micro
cope, manipulated by the aid of cleo
tricity. It has a magnifying power of
1000 linear perspective and has cost
$3.50.
It's stated that DR.. kehner, of Augs-
burg, Germany, has solved the problem
of manufacturing artificial silk. TIE
faoric is said to be superior in lustre to
natural silk, and cannot be distinguished
from it; and that a limited company is
to be constituted to work the invention.
If this is true, and is found to be
thoroughly practicable after q fair trial,
it will revolutionize the whole industry
of producing and manufacturing raw
| silk.
Mr.. II. Darwin, of the Cambridge
Scientific Instrument Company, has de-
vised a ecup micrometer' for measuring
the rate of growth of a plant. A thread
Is attached to the upper end OF the plant
md passes over a pulley. TO its lower
End is fastened a weight, which descsnds
IS the plant increases in height. The
amount of its descent is a measure of the
vertical growth of the plant, and it is
obtained very exactly by means of the
%micrometer in question.
In a paper read to the French Academy
Of Sciences, NJ. Colin discusses the action
Of cold on animals. The rabbit endures
considerable cold. Adults have lived
in ordinary hutches suspended from the
branch of a tree or standing on a heap
of snow, and their temperature has only
been lowered about one degree in five or
six days. when the outside temperature
varied from ten to fifteen degrees G.
Other individuals have lived in perfect
health for two months in cubical hutches,
completely open on one side, when the
temperature ranged from ten degrees to
twenty-five degrees. Sheep and pigs
are also able to live through severe
weather, but the dog and horse are killed
BY it.