The Colfax chronicle., 1891-10-24
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

IA syndicate mas purchased q large
tract of brush land lying near vandalia,
Ill, and will begin clearing it with .
view to going into the Embarrassing
business on large scale. Between sew
cnty-five and one hundred negro fami-
lies will be colonized IN the township
and will engage in the work of clearing.
"A new and effective process of en-
ployment in the location of deficient
working in machinery. owing to fric-
tion, has been discovered. Take rub-
ber tube three feet long, place one end
at the ear, and pass the other around
the suspected spot or spots, and it will
be found ON easy matter to locate the
difficulty and note the periodicity with
which it occurs
The statistics of the average size Of
families in the various countries of Eu-
rope, which are of considerable interest
for the status Of public morals, are the
following: France, S.03 members; Dem
mark, s.61; Hungary, s70; Switzerland,
S.94; Austria and Belgium, 405; En-
gland. 4.0S; Germany, 410; Sweden.
4.12; Holland, 4.22; Scotland, 4 46; Italy.
4.56; Spain, 4. IS; Russia, T. So; ireland, s. 20.
The Overland cotton mill just COM
pleted at Denver, Col, is one of the
largest and best equipped in the world.
having 16.2Oo spindles, capable of q
daily output of %. 500 yards of sheeting.
As the Rocky Mountain region affords
an ample market for this output there
is reason to hope that the enterprise
will be Immediately and continuously
profitable. and that it will prove the
pioneer of similar and other manufac-
turing plants which shall be operated
to supply the wants of that great sec
ton. Post.
Mr.. Richard Thoma, of Dorpat. be-
lieves that he has discovered liquid
which will preserve the natural color of
geological specimens. After being
washed the parts to be preserved are
immersed in a solution composed of:
Sulphate of soda, 100 grammes; chlorid
of sodium. 100 grammes; chlorate Of
potassa. 100 grammes; nitrate of po-
tassa, 10 grammes; water, litre. The
parts should remain in the liquid from
eighteen to twenty -four hours after
which they should be kept in alcohol
which has been changed once or twice.
The color of the animals little deep
ened in tint, is thus preserved.-Paris
Revue Scientifique.
Many have heard q series of rap
people have concluded were spirit rap
pings, and which scientists have attrib-
uted to reasons scarcely less remark
able. One of our readers, Mr.. A. Ros-
signol, chemist at Paris, has sent us, in
a glass tube, two little insects which
were taken in the act of making their
nocturnal taps They were found in q
piece of heavy wrapping paper. but at
opposite sides, and about ten cent?
metres apart They raped loudly with
the head by bending it in sort of see
saw manner about six strokes per Sec
ond, and the one insect answered when
the other had finished. Paris la Nature.
-Archiv fur Eisen bahnen gives the
following list: At the end of 1889 there
were sos, ,767 kilometers of railroad in
the world, while ten years before there
were no more than $50. OBJ. OF the rail-
roads of 1889 America had S17. .925 kilo-
meters; Europe, 0,261; Asia, s1.024;
Africa, s,625, and Australia 1922. In
Europe the railroads of the principal
governments were divided in the fol-
lowing manner: Germany had 4l,793
kilometers; France, Sc, 34S; Great Brit
ain and Ireland, 81, loss; Russia, so, 140;
Austria Hungary, 26,5ol, and Italy. 1a-
g63.
"A consular report on the trade of
Kiungchow during 1890 makes mention
of a very strong ''silk," which is made
from grub called the celestial silk
worm," or locally, paddy insect" and
found on sort of maple tree. The in
sect, when fully grown, is thrown into
boiling vinegar, on which the head" of
the gut or ''silk' appears This is
sharply torn out with both hands, drawn
apart, and is as long as the space be-
tween them, say five feet The silk is
80 strong that one single thread of it
is sufficient to make line with which
to catch the smaller kinds of fish,"
AT last it is settled fact that the
water which has been so mysteriously
flooding the desert in Southern Califor-
mia comes from the Colorado river. A
party in a boat has made the voyage
over swift currents, lakes, rapids and
waterfalls, all the way from the river
to the Salton basin. There are crevas-
ses in the Colorado's banks about If
teen miles below Yuma, and the river
pours through at a great velocity, COW
ering the lowlands round about, apd
sweeping on in resistless pace into the
desert. What is more interesting yet
is the strong probability that this ar
rangement of things is to be q perma-
nent one, and that the river is moving
its bed and may soon, by the formation
of sand-bars below the mouth of the
crevasses, decide to throw all its waters
over this route instead of down to the
Gulf of California. -Philadelphia Tele-
graph.
Initiated Her Elders.
A big policeman found little four
year-old girl trudging along op Niagara
efreef one eveniuo and an sha nunparsHd