The Bossier banner., 1893-11-23
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY,

pared with "a, 452, 900 acres for the pre-
vious season, an increase of over per
cent. This years yield amounted to
rather more than 267, 900, 900 bushels as
compared with 2O6,640,OO0 bushels
year ago, being an increase of 80 per
cent. for the latest season.
-Washington's hop crop this year is
one of the largest and finest ever
known. 1t is estimated at about so, 900
bales. Germany reports the shortest
hop crop for half century, and, while
the Washington farmers are not re-
joicing in the German hop growers.
misfortune, they think it is an espe-
cially fine season for American hops.
-Sei-i-Kwai, a medical journal of
Japan, points out the benefits to both
mother and child of custom of that
countryside sucking of child till its
sixth year. The mother is herself bene-
fted by unusual care of diet and
health while nursing, and the children
are remarkably free from ricketts,,
tubercular meningitis and wasting dis
eases.
The statistics of the senior class at
Yale college this year, furnished by the
class history, raise the ore ition as to
the effects of hard study on the eyes.
Out of class of 1S5 there are 81 who
wear glasses, and of these 25 have
taken to their use since entering col
lege. The average age of the class is
about twenty-five years, and yet nearly
one-third of them are compelled al
ready to reinforce their eyes.-N. Y.
Medical Record.
Some very industrious students of
microscopy, as applied to medical prob
lens, have been offering pretty strong
evidence that parasites are the origin
of malignant and cancerous tumors; so
the Pathological society of London ap-
pointed a committee to investigate the
evidence, which committee unanimous
ly reports, that Notwithstanding the
labor expended, the point is not proven
the parasites are not demonstrated.
"A recent writer in the Magazine of
Natural History asks whether ants
talk, and relates that he saw drove
of small black ants moving apparently
to new quarters. Every time two met
they put their heads together as though
they were chatting. To investigate
the matter he killed one, and the eve
witnesses of the murder hastened away
and laid their heads together with
every ant they met. The latter imme-
diately turned back and fed.
According to Mr.. Tegetmeier, the
rabbit in Australia has been forced by
his environment to alter his European
habits The fore paws of some have
already become adapted for climbing
trees in search of the food which they
cannot find on the ground, and others
have begun to litter on the bare earth.
The antipodean rabbit also enters the
water and swims very well, both dur
ing his migrations and when he is pur-
sued.
The seventh report of the Massa-
chusetts bureau of labor statistics af
fords striking evidence of the trend of
modern industry to abandon a great
number of small local concerns in favor
of large and well-equipped establish
ments. 1t is stated that the total value
of the goods made and work done in
Massachusetts in 1885 by 19,072 estab-
lishments was 1929, 444, 927; on the other
hand, the value of goods made and
work done in the same state in 1892 by
1885 establishments was S675, ,621, 503.-
Boston Globe.
Malaria is responsible for half the
deaths of all mankind, according to
DIR. II. M. Clark. From his experience
in India he learns that malaria is not
confined to rich, low-lying soils, but is
found even in sandy deserts. The ne
groes of the grain coast of western Afri-
ca and the Taurus of northern India are
the only races proof against it. Both
modern medicine and sanitation are
powerless in dealing with it. Sug-
gested preventives are the flooding of
swamp lands and the planting trees
that will retain water and shade the
soil-such as the plantain and banana,
but not the eucalyptus.
The use of coffee as disinfectant
is generally known, but it is doubtful
if the majority of people are aware of
it's true value in this direction. They
probably know that it is handy and
harmless; but besides these qualities it
is really one of the most powerful and
effective agents known, as has been
shown by repeated experiments. In
one case quantity of meat was placed
in a close room and allowed to decom-
pose. A chafng dish was then intro
duced and 500 grams of coffee were
thrown on the fire. In few minutes
the room had been en- tirely disinfected.
In another room the fumes of sulphur
eted hydrogen and ammonia were de-
velopcd and the smell-which no words
can express-was destroyed in half a
minute by the use of ninety grams of
coffee.-Good Housekeeping.
There is lobster farm-or pound,
as it is calle twelve miles in extent
at Southport, Me. This pound is the
most successful on the coast, whence
1000, 900 Holsters are shipped each year.
The pound is formed by building a
solid dam across a tide-water cove.
| This dam does not quite rise to high
water mark, but across the top is
| placed fence of iron rods, permitting
daily change of water and prevent
ing the Holsters from escaping. In the
| spring and fall business is most brisk.
When the fishermen bring the Holsters
| to the pound the fish," as they are
| called, are hoisted to the dam, meas