The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1892-07-09
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.
The Scientific American thinks that
the devices for sending torpedoes to de
stroy any vessel three miles from shore
in safety, through any kind of sea, may
also be used in sending lifeboats an
equal distance to rescue passengers from
! o wreck.
Two marked improvements have
recently been made in the use of gas for
lighthouse illumination. One is process
of enriching gas made from ordinary
colzing coal by the addition of hydro
| carbon and heated air. The other is the
new dioptric lens.
| MIR. Sinclair has discovered a new
mode of respiration in myriapods, the
breathing organ in scutigera holding
d position intermediate between the
trachen of myriapods and the lungs of
spiders. He holds that the trache@
have developed into the lungs of spiders
and scorpions.
| 1t is stated that German firm has
perfected means of making profita-
BILE disposition of sawdust by which it
is applied to a mechanical use and has
thus far been attended with success.
An acid is mixed with the sawQust and
the whole mass nodded into blocks or
any other form, resulting in fine ma
terial for building purposes. The blocks
assume extreme hardness of surface and
are practically non-combustible.
-Double-headed snakes have been
known to occur; and in German jour-
nal DIR. Collins, of Berlin, describes and
figures double-tailed earthworm, and
mentions four other cases of such NAL
formations. Double-tailed lizards have
occurred, also double-headed and dou-
| detailed fishes. DIR. Collins infers that
| all such cases as double tails are due to
abnormal processes of regeneration,
| after the original tail has been lost.
1t has been finally settled that the
shoe and leather industry will have
separate building at the worlds fair.
Representatives of that industry have
accepted the site offered them, and will
erect, at an expense of 500, 200, build
ing measuring $50 by 600 feet, in which
they will show an almost endless array
of leather products, and every process
in their manufacture from the raw hide
to the most finished article.
The Schweizerische Bauzeitung pub
fishes very interesting note concern
ing the influence of steam on magnets.
When heated by steam they lose from
% to 81 per cent. of their magnetic
power. But if, after being remagne-
tiled, they are again submitted to the
action of heat, the loss of power is insig-
nificant, and diminishes as often as the
operation is repeated. This would seem
to point to the means of permanently
magnetizing pieces of steel.
Honey could be immensely i'm
proved by the planting of the flowers
known to yield fine favored nectar.
Everyone knows the difference in the
quality of the comb contents in differ.
ent parts of the same country and in
different regions. The Narbonne honey
obtains its fine flavor by being harvested
chiefly from labiate plants, such as rose
mary, etc, and though it appears that
the Maltese honey does not, as often
stated, owe it's fine aroma to orange
blossoms, the latter undeniably per-
tuIneS the Greek money.
The census bulletin shows the total
area of land devoted to the cultivation
of hemp in the United States in 1889, to
have been 25;054 acres, and the produc-
ton of fiber 11,511 tons, valued at
81, 102 ,602. The average yield per acre
is ], 029 pounds, and the average value
per acre s44.01 or s95.79 per ton. Ken
lucky produced 93.S7 of the total hemp
cropof the country. Illinois produced
4.s3 per cent. and the remaining six
states from which hemp was reported
had an aggregate yield of only 1871 tons.
Following are some interesting sta
tistics of the rapidly developing industry
Of Argentina. The area of the cane plan
tations this year is AZ, 800 acres, which, at
the usual rate of production, will yield
l, s79, ZOO, 900 pounds of cane. The area
of cultivation in 1889 was "a, $50 acres
and the yield was 1907, 900 pounds of
cane. The gross value of the crop this
year is estimated at s12, $50, 900, as COM
pared with 60, 165, 900 in 1889. There are
thirty-six sugar factories, representing
a capital value of about $40, 000, 900 in
gold. The actual production in 1889
was 77,0OO.0OO pounds, and this years
yield is estimated at 10000, 900 pounds,
Or $4,000 hogsheads. Chicago Herald.
A MECHANICAL PHYSICIAN.
Doctor Who Confines His Practice to
TyPewriters.