The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1892-05-26
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY,

Efforts are Delng gmdue III JdpSlu "
supply the street railways with cars OF
home construction instead OF importing
them from the United States. Some
elaborate cars have been built in Hita
at cost said to be less than ione-third
the price Of American cars. {,e-Yan
Cores of carbon are now being used
in castings o5They are made similar to
electric arc carhons, but are softer and
more porous, They are said to be very
durable, do not lose strength or shape,
and the work from them finishes up
better than thai from sand molds. i,..,.
Prot Rudolph 1Virchow, the great
| German scientist, has reached his sew.
entieth year. Prof. -Virchow., is the
originator of the cell-growth theory of
disease, which has been characterized
'the most important stepin pathology
| of the period, in that it has little less
thanrevolutionize pathological study"
| Boston Traveller. a.a.-: l.r. ..sat.
in the South Atlantic it rained on
one occusion for over an hour when the
| sky was entirely free from clouds. In
the Mauritius and other parts OF the
southern hemisphere this is not rare
occurrences; butin Europe it is, and'the
| greatest known length of its duration
was ten minutes in Constantinople.
| l7s-Commons wheat bran, or any kind
of mill feed is recommended for eXtin.
gushing oil fires Oh burning in a YES
sell or on the Surface of water can not
be extinguished by sand, as it sinks too
quickly; but if a handful of bran be
thrown on it will smother out the flame
before it gets saturated and sinks. Even
wood ashes or road dust is better than
sand. +5f:f - -
OF the III, ,044 miles of ra Dad now
completed in the United States, AZ, G53
miles, or 33 per cent. liav> cen built
since the end of 1885. Placing the cost
of this work at the low figure of $50, 600
per mile these figures indicate the ex'
penditure of s, ESQ, 600, ooOin railway con-
struction during the last six years, and
an addition of from six to eight times
this amount to the country's wealth.
There are two factories in Philadel.
phia that use up in the season 100 horse
hides q week each to cover base balls.
They are alum-tanned. One hide will
! furnish covers for'te dozen No. balls
and five to eight dozen inferior ones
Horse hides for this purpose sell from
ST. 50 to S4 each, rs to size. Kips are
also used. They sell at IA cents {
foot and sheepslsins So. so to IS dozen
The best regulation balls sell at S1.2'
to 81. so each. A piece of rubber form:
! the. center, around which yarn il
, wound by hand. Then they are GOV
cred. They are 'dead balls and won
! bounce" ..,.t .1,I& Il, ef...u gE
/ The expedition fitted out some tim'
ago by Sir Thomas Elder for the ex
: ploration of Central-Australia has com
= pletcd it's task, after many hardship
t and discouragements, and has submit
: ted preliminary report, which show
81 that nothing has been gained beyon'
' the qualification ola little geographica
+ curiosity. The country explored i
S practically desert, almost destitute O
: water or vegetation. TT contains n
a traces of gold, diamonds, or anythin
4 else worth having, and seems to pre-
8 duce scarcely anything but spinife&: L
t this desolate region number OF 9blac
E fellows as the natives are called, cor
: trite to exist, and as they have nothin
- that anybody can ENVY, they are nc
likely to be disturbed in the interest
"a civilization. IN 7. Post.
Il, 1T is, estimated that.the bones of &c
n moas were recently found in. New Zes
g land Occasionally charred remains {
d this now extinct bird have also bee
# found, which. points to the fact, ais
III limited at in tradition, that the early il
n habitants of New Zealand must hay
: hunted and eaten it. The moa was a
q immense wingless bird of the ostric
Il type which, according to Sir Richal
/, Owens, stood at Least ten feet .higl
-, There was another wingless bird four
r in Madagascar, whose eggs have bee
" discovered. They measure from twel'
n to fourteen inches IN, diameter, and al
le three times as large as the egg Of q
lg ostrich Nearly all wingless birds ha'
NJ been found south of the equator and {
I islands, which latter fact seems to fu
N nisha good reason for their not havir
- sooner become extinct ~