The Bossier banner., 1894-08-16
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

Work has begun under the new
firman permitting the Palestine ex-
ploration fund to dig for two years at
Jerusalem. Mr.. Bliss starts on Zion.
and will proceed toward Ophel, explor-
ing the tract lying between the south
wall of the city and the valleys of Him
nom and Jehosaphat.
Tobacco culture is increasing rapid
ly in Queensland, Australia. The crop
has been found to be the most profita-
bic one raised in the colony, the local
demand from the tobacco factories sus-
tanning good prices for the leaf. Coffee
is also receiving increased attention in
the colony, and many trees have been
planted in the northern districts.
According to the Glasgow Evening
News it appears that the latest statis-
tics issued by the German imperial
health department give to Berlin the
honor of being the healthiest city in
the world. The death rate is given as
only 1863 per 1000. The unhealthiest
city is Alexandria, which, despite it's
unvarying fine weather, its three hun
dred fountains and its soft sea breezes,
has death rate of no less than $40 per
1000.
The talk about the danger of catch
ing disease from the wine vessels used
in the Protestant communion service
has led microscopic to institute an
inquiry whether there is not like
danger from the use of common drink
ing glasses and mugs in the liquor
shops. 1t is not at all probable that
this microscopic will find what he is
looking for, as the barkeepers wash
every glass or mug after it has been
used.
Miss Mary Westfall, of California.
during the past eight years has been
gathering, classifying, and exhibiting
Pacific sea MOSES and alge. Here is
probably the best and most beautiful
collection in the world. She has made
a special study of marine botany, and
has arranged with exquisite skill her
superb collection of more than three
Thousand specimens. Scientists who
saw portion of Miss Westfalls collec-
tion in the Woman's building at Chi
cago were enthusiastic in their praise
of her work.
-Peanuts-or as they are called
there, ground nuts-are largely culti-
waited in India, the area devoted to the
crop in the presidency of Madras alone,
ranging from 100000 to 2SO, 900 acres.
The methods of cultivation are very
rude and primitive. When the crop is
ready for harvest from forty to eighty
women are employed per acre for gath
ering the nuts, which they do by grub
bing them out of the soil. The average
crop ON unirrigated land is fifty bushels
per acre, on irrigated land about twice
that.
One of the latest uses of electricity
is in pulling teeth. To the battery are
attached three wires. Two of them
have handles at the end, while a
third is attached to the forceps. The
patient grasps the handles, the current
is turned on suddenly, and the dentist
instantaneously applies the forceps to
the tooth. The instant the tooth is
touched, it, as well as the surrounding
parts, becomes insensible to pain. A
quick jerk and the patient is relieved
of his tooth without pain.
The bumblebees which were intro
duced into New Zealand few years
ago have become acclimatized and are
spreading into neighboring colonies.
They are almost the only insects that
are capable of fertilizing the scarlet
clover which, being of annual duration,
must be fertilized every year, or else
the fields must be resown with inn
ported seed. This beautiful and valua-
BILE variety of clover gives q great
quantity of nutritious fodder, and for
this reason great efforts have been
made to introduce the bumblebee, so
that the fields may be naturally resown
from plants grown upon the field.
in his recent work, ''The Great Bar
rier Reef of Australia" w. S. Kent
states that the average annual value of
the pearl-mussel fishery in that region
is S296, 900. The profits of the fishery
are made out of the pearl shell only;
for the pearls, and often very valuable
ones, too, are frequent; they are appro-
priated by the natives. M. Kent dis
tinguishes two pieces of pearl shell,
the large white shell, Meleagrina mar
garitifera, and smaller black-edged
form which he names NJ. nigro-mar-
ginata. Mr.. Kent has proved that it is
possible to transplant living pearl
shells. Under favorable conditions the
shell is supposed to attain in three
years the marketable size of eight or
nine inches in diameter, and that in
five years pair of shells may weigh
five or six pounds.
The First Soda.
The good, old-fashioned drink, so la