The Republican., 1893-09-21
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

In 1874 Dlela comet was Spllu ID
two and in 1872 it failed to appear
when and where it should have done.
Evidently it had been smashed up and
prediction wGs made that there would
be great meteoric shower composed
of the remains of the lost comet. This
prediction was fulfilled.
Labor bureaus which were ex-
pected to solve che problem of the ur-
employed in London have proved dis
heartening failure. At one office some
500 applicants in search of work Of any
kind registered, and only three en-
plOyers applied for help; so that after
three months work the bureau found
employment for only two men.
The most curious thing about the
butterfly is the size of the case from
which the insect proceeds compared
with the size of the insects body. The
case is rarely more than one inch long
and a quarter of an inch in thickness;
the butterfly covers surface of nearly
four inches square.
Granite is the lowest rock in the
earth's crust; it is the bed rock of the
world. 1t shows no evidence of animal
or vegetable life. 1t is from two to ten
of all the rocks. 1t is the parent rock
from which all other rocks have been
directly or indirectly derived.
The total quantity of coal, coke,
cinders and fuel exported during the
first quarter of 1898 from the United
Kingdom was 6, $50, or tons. an increase
of 239, ,537 tons over the first quarter of
1892. and of 2S asa tons over the first
quarter of 1891. The average price of
the exported fuel in 1898 was 1896; in
1892, 81 SO, and in 1891, S2.93.
In support of the modern theory
that sound does not consist of given
number of countable wave beats, a we'll
known writer adduces the fact that a
plate of iron, even an inch thick, when
used as the diaphragm of telephone,
will respond to and transmit perfectly
the sound vibrations of the human
voice, a result which it is almost incon-
ceivable to suppose could be effected
by mere mass vibration.
Cats have for some time been known
to be the means of conveying the in
fection of diphtheria, and now they
stand arraigned on another charge of
similar uaturr. A surgeon (says the
London correspondent of the Manches-
ter Guardian) has just distinctly traced
an outbreak of scarlet fever in a house
to the intrusion of a cat from an in
fected household, and it is even said
that a case has come under the notice
of a medical officer of health in which
smallpox was so conveyed.
-Comte Chardonner some years ago
invented process for the manufacture
of silk from wood pulp by method
similar to that employed for converting
wood into paper. Large works were
built at Besancon, and some remarla-
BILE specimens of silk were shown, but
it was found that the fabric could not
be woven successfully in large pieces
and that it was so highly infiammable
as to be source of danger. The ex-
periments were dropped, but COM
pany has now been organized at st.
Etienne and is at work with the object
of making the process practical
of all the vegetable products of
the Malay peninsula, gambir is OF
second Importance. 1t is indispensable
in the tanning and silk trades, and is
used to a small extent in medicine.
The larger portion of the drug that
finds it's way to market is exported
from Singapore, and the average value
of the annual exports for the last five
years was nearly -, 700, 900. The gambir
plant is climbing shrub and It's stems
are from one to three inches in dame
ter in the cultivated plant, but more
slender when it grows wild.
Francis p. Pascoe, who died in En-
gland a few days ago had been known
to limited circle for nearly half a
century as one of the most eminent 70
ologists of the age. He was IAN inti-
mate friend of Owen and Darwin, and
their enthusiastic and valued fellow
worker, Mr.. Pascoe possessed one OF
the finest private geological museums
in the world. He was the author of
the following works: Geological Clas-
sificaton," ""Notes on Natural Selection
and the Origin of Species" List of
British Vertebr Animals" and "An-
alytical List of the Orders of the Ami
NAL Kingdom"
Prof Zuntz, at the Physiological
society of Berlin, definitely explains
the making of sugar sweeter by the
addition of salt. From his experiments,
he finds that if to d solution of sugar
there be added slight amount Of salt
and water, SO weak that it excites no
saline taste, the result is extra sweet
ening Of the sugared water. The weak
est Of quinine solution is said also to
produce similar results. The explana-
ton given of the above seeming incon-
gruity is that the ever so feeble salt
ness bitterness imparts an increased
sensibility to the sensation of taste by
the simultaneous stimuli, and hence
an appreciation of additional sweet
ness. British Medical Journal.
Queer Thing About Camels.
Some years ago. when the British
troops were fighting against the forces
of the Mahdi in the Soudan, oppor-