The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1893-10-06
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

| WHICH anu Wnere IL should have done.
Evidently it had been smashed up and
prediction was 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 the problem of the I'M
employed in London have proved a dis
heartening failure. At one Office some
800 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 a 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 hows no evidence of animal
or vegetab life. 1t is from two to ten
times as thick as the united thickness
| 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 s, 450, OF tons. an increase
of 239, 537 tons over the first quarter of
1892. and of %, IS4 tons over the first
quarter of 1891. The average price of
the exported fuel in 1898 was Sa.36: in
1892, 81 So, and in 1891, 1898.
In support of the modern theory
that sound does not consist of a given
number of counta BILE wavebeats, we'll
known writer adduces the fact that
plate of iron. even an inch thick. when
used as the diaphragm of Il telephone,
will respond to and transmit perfectly
the sound vibrations of the human
voice. 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
lection of diphtheria. and now they
stand arraigned on another charge OF
a similar uatur.. A surgeon (says the
London correspondent of the Manches
ter Guardian) has just distinctly traced
an outbreak of scarlet fever in house
to the intrusion of 4 cat from an in
fected household, and it is even said
that a case has come under the notice
of medical officer of health in which
smallpox was so conveyed.
-Comte ChardOnner some years age
invented process for the manufacture
of silk from Nood pulp by a method
similar to that employed for converting
wood into paper. Large works were
built at Besancon, and some remarka-
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 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 81. 700, 900. The gambir
plant is a climbing shrub and It's stems
are from one to three inches in diane
ter IN the cultivated plant, but more
Iender when it grows wild.
Francis 2. Pascoe. who died in En-
gland few days ago. had been known
to limited circle for nearly half 4
century as one of the most eminent 20
ologists of the age. He was an init
nate friend Of Owen and Darwin, and
heir enthusiastic and valued fellow
worker, Mr.. Pascoe possessed one of
he finest private geological museums
n the world. He was the author of
he following works: Geological Clas-
Notes on Natural Selection
md the Origin of Species" List of
British Vertebrate Animals, and An
llytical List of the Orders of the Ami
nal Kingdom"
Prof Zuntz, at the Physiological
society Of Berlin, definitely explains
he making of sugar sweeter by the
addition of salt. From his experiments,
lie finds that if to solution of sugar
here be added a slight amount of salt
md water. so weak that it excites no
saline taste, the result is extra sweet
,ning of the sugared water. The weak
st of quinine solution is said also to
produce similar results. The explana-
ion given of the above seeming incon-
,ruity is that the ever so feeble salt
ness bitterness imparts an increased
to the sensation of taste by
he simultaneous stimuli. and hence
IN appreciation of additional sweet
lcss-British Medical Journal.
A Queer Thing About Camels.
Some years ago. when the British
roops were fighting against the forces
# the Mahdi in the SOudan, oppor-