St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1892-07-02
POPULAR SCIENCE.

ament for an incandescent lamp can b
made from the root of the rice plant.
The experiment is to be tried of send
ing telegraph and telephone message;
simultaneously over the London and
Paris telephone circuit.
The New York Central Company is
about to lay the first 100 pound rail ever
rolled Or used IN the United States, aud
it will be laid on steel ties
A French inventor has devised a sus.
pended camera, by means of which pho
tographs may be takon on board of a
ship, even when the sea is running
high.
Tests in electrically welding rails for
horse OR steam cars show that the i'm
portance of allowing for the contraction
and expansion at the joints has been
overated.
The French Minister of commerce has
issued decree authorizing tic employ
nent of pure nicklc for the manufacture
of measures of capacity intended for the
use OF liquids.
A polFcycle omnibus, which is in effect
an elongated tandem tricycle., has been
Invented in London, England. 1t is so
arranged that each passenger will have
to assist in propelling it,
How best to protect wire ropes from
the corrosive influences to which thew
are subjected is one of the practical
questions of the day. It is now pro-
posed to cover the wires with a lcal
coating.
1t is apparently the settled purpose Of |
the Chinese to construct complete |
plant for tie manufacture of iron and |
steel, the very latest types of Bessemer
and Sienens-Martin plant being included
in the venture.
The Falls of the Arno at Tivoi, italy.
are to be utilized for the lighting of
Rome. The current will be carried
across the Campagna for sixteen miles
and transformed into currents of lower
pressure for the service of public and
private buildings.
A novel idea for producing electricity
cheaply consists in surrounding any con.
venlent source of heat, such as stove or
furnace, with series of thermo- piles and
by charging accumulators with the cur
rent thus produced throughout the day
to light the house at night.
A lifeboat of aluminium has recently
oeen built. 1t is a matter of considerable
curiosity to see how this boat will
answer when thoroughly tested, as it is
bought to be more than likely that its
obvious good points will be more than
by various disadvan- I
ages. {
The "official adoption by Russia of :
be Cauet quick-fring guns has, it seems, r
o be reduced to the order of one quick :
ring coast gun, with carriage and pro- +
ectiles. This order was made with tho r
lstlnct understanding that, in case of q
be adoption of the system, Russia would h
erself manufacture toe guns required. G
Long-distancc photography is rendered a
ute successful by new camera with a il
'lescope objective, which consists of a Ct
oncave lens of short focus and convex "
ms of considerable length of focus. Il
he5e are put at certain distance apart, sy
spending on the difference of the two m
cl. By the laws of optics this arrange o.
cnt projects an inverted image of an ii
'ject ut long distance from the m
uses. = vi
Herr Klinge has been studying the m
upton of peat boys and the stream of P1
rN mud these give out He rejects n
e explanation that it is due to cxces. IN
re absorption of water by the peat, OF q
at 1t is caused by exploding gases, but nc
tributes it to land slips of the ground cl'
der the bog, and remarks that in Ire or
Id TIE eruptlons are most frequent in
lestone formations with caverns and
dies OF underground water.
Milk from the ordinary COW contains an
hty-seven per cent. of water. There cal
e, If cow drinks 100 pounds of i'm. ma
re water eightyseven per cent. of the rul
puritles of that water will be found in Sp
milk, as the COW has no filter in her pre-
purify the water which she drinks. car
nsequently every farmer will see the sur
oortance of providing his cows with mo
nty of pure water, and not permit fee
3 them to drink from marshes or the
rnant noolc eve