The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1893-12-23
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

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-Ascalculation of the avefage volume
of the gulf stream that passes Cape
Florida i'm one :hour gives the enormous
sum of 10000, 0oo,00) tons. Were this
amount evaporatcd the remaining salt
would require more than one hundred
times the number of seasgoing. vessels
now atioatin the world to carry it. z
The fruit ranch of Gen. John Bid
well, at Chico, Cab, contains s., SO ,
acres, and from it 100000 pounds of
dried fruit were prepared last yenr.
The 10. 900 peach trcss bore 2,soo,0oJ
pounds of fruit, and a single cherry
tree produced I, roo pounds of cherries
The popular idea that water is
purified by fire ezing has been again dis
proved by recent careful experiments.
which show that the average amount
of impurity retained by the ice is Sts
per cent. of organic matter, and 21.2 per
cent. of inorganic matter As organic
matter is the more objectionable of the
| two, the case is worse than was former
ly supposed. Y. independent
Prof Crew finds from experience
with the Lick telescopes that the
| smaller tubes are superior for the OBJ
servation of solar prominences- The
large instrument fails to give the proper
definitions: and this, he says, is probably
| due to the current of hot air risi ig from
the intensely heated canyons surround-
/ ing the observatory. so that the cfi-
cheney of the different sized telescopes
is just the reverse of what it is at night.
The gals of gall fly produced on
an oak attract, states DIR. Rathay, by
their viscid secretion, a number of small
ants, which he believes to be advan.
tageous to the tree, in killing quantities
of caterpillars and other insects which
are its natural enemies. He illustrates
the value of this protection by the
statement that the inhabitants of a
single ants nest may destroy in single
day upward of 100, 600 insects.
| Photography is now being made to
record the movements of the growing
parts of plants Especially curious are
the results with certain climbers, such
as the hop convolvuls, isomoea, etc.
The young stems move in succession
of irregular circular or elliptical curves.
which vary every moment, even in di-
rection, and are due to irregular growth
In different parts of the stem. During
the sleep of plants movements do not
cease, but consist of alternate upward
and downward vibrations
in experiments on the influence of
food and surroundings on the color of
animals Mr.. E. b. .Poulton reared cat
erpillars of the pepper moth under diff
ferent conditions. Those confined
among green leaves and twigs became
green, those having black or brown
twigs mingled with their food were
brown or black. and others were turned
light-colored by white paper. With
artificial colors, red and blue tended to
produce a dark coloration, though, very
strangely, painted twigs had not the
same effect as those with the same nat
uraT tints M f
"A stitch is sharp. spasmodic pain
| in the muscles Of the side like the pierre
ing of a needle and is very apt to be
produced if exercise is taken Immediate
| ly after hearty meal This arises be-
cause the nervous energy necessary for
! the proper working of the muscles in
exercise is engaged in another direction,
namely in assisting the digestion of the
food. Anything that interferes which
the proper supply of nervous energy re-
CURED for exercise; whether it be de-
! bility or the process of digestion, or ex-
haustion arising from: over-exertion, is
apt to cause this spasmodic pain.
The stagnation in the shipbuilding
, trade on the Clyde is apparently most
serious. The North British Daily Mail
estimates that there are at present be-
tween Glasgow and Greenock over 49,
900 men out of work, every one of them
willing to accept any occupation that
might Offer although skilled workmen
at their trades. This statement, how
ever, only partly shows the depression.
Out of las building berths on the Clyde
only forty-nine are now in use. The in
dustry employs, in good times, from 5O,-
| 900 to 60, 900 men, and it follows that
there are $4,000 or 40. 600 men not work.
ing on the Clyde, who would be en-
! ployed mere if all the yards were in full
operation. About one-third of this
number, it is thought, have migrated to
other shipbuilding centres in Great
Britain, but the Mail thinks $4,000 is
less than the number of men actually
idle on the Clyde at the present time.
OCEAN TRANSFORMATION.