The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1894-01-06
SCIENCE AND tNpus1kH

Europe quarantine has been every
where Intellectual. 1t has been dis
carded for twenty-seyenA years. The
substitute for it is proper system or
medical inspection" Cholera should
be dealt with by sanitation, disinfec-
ton and isolation of cholera patients
The last annual report Of the COM
missioner of the general lands ofice
shows that during the year the aggre-
gate Of public lands disposed OF was
II sol. 14s acres. of which 1; 404, 956 acres
were sold for cash, 10, 500, SN acres was
miscellaneous entries and 80, acres
Indian lands. The cash receipts OF the
Office during the year aggregated "a
479, 7S4. 81
The Philadelphia County Medical
society has appealed to the city's board
of health to place tuberculosis, or con-
sumption, upon the list of diseases 70
be treated as contagious. They assert
that it has been proved by long and
careful investigation that the disease
is infections in its character, though it
takes longer time to develop than
smallpox and typhoid fever. ssii' G.
President H. s. Haines, of the
American Railway. association, says
that gradually the rate. pf ,yages Of
railway employees has been raised until
now the percentage of payrolls to total
operating expenses is higher than ever
before. Sixty per cent. ~of the rail-
roads paw no dividends, and there is no
hope of a change for the better until
the rate per ton-mile increases. or the
cost per ton-mile decreases l. ;,
An interesting statement with re-
gard to railroad construction this year
is made by the Railway Age, OF Chi
cago. The total new mileage laid dur
| ing the first nine months of the year,
as obtained from official sources, was
s,O4O IS miles. Ordinarily, at least fifty
per cent. more track would be laid dur
ing the remaining three months, but
from the present outlook it is regarded
as doubtful if the total for the year ex-
ceeds $500 miles.
When glass stopper sticks in the
bottle, pass a strip of wooden cloth
round the neck of the vessel and seesaw
it backward and forward. This fric-
ton heats and causes the neck to ex-
pand, so that the stopper becomes
loose. On this principle of expansion
by heat a. tight screw may be with
drawn from metal socket by sur
rounding the socket with a cloth
dipped in boiling notwithstanding
American. .f4 .sslf 81 81
The observatory method of deter
mining time is very simple in primer
pie. The observer turns 70 his cata-
logue of stars, and chooses one for his
observation, the catalogue giving him
the time Ito the hundredth Of a sec.
ond) at which that star will be on bis
meridian; he then turns to the tele.
scope, and at the instant. the. stat
crosses the meridian records the, time
indicated by his clock. The catalogue
gives the true time of passage, and un
less the clock gives the same it is u
error.-Popular Astronomy. llfi
The fastest mechanism, artificial
or natural, made to penetrate water
for any considerable distance is, &C
cording to Mr.. jeremiah Head, Thorny
croft's torpedo boat, Ariete, which OF
trial made 80. 16 miles per hour. Aeria
mechanisms are capable of very mucl
greater speed. Canon Tristram toll
the biological section of the British. as
ISOLATION in his address that Her
Gatke holds that goowits and plover
can do their $40 miles an hour, and tn
spine-tailed swift, according to ID
Jerdon, can breakfast in Ceylon an
sup in the Himalayas ON the same day
knowledge for October.
-Laverand, in writing Of disinfe'
ton in the Journal des Science Med
, cal, states that, theoretically, we ar
now thoroughly equipped for Q vi
I torious struggle against all forms
/ infectious and epidemic disease, br
: that, as matter sof' fact, there is
, antiseptic, which, in its practical al
| plication to daily life, will give tn
: same results which the experiments
: obtains in the laboratory. He mel
: tions as the most reliable chemic
. agents, 5 per cent. solution of ca
, bolic acid, bichloride of mercury (co
4 rosive sublimate) in Oh per cent sol
1 ton and fresh chloride of lime.
. "A remarkable geological substan'
found in Finland is q stone which for
= tells, by change Of color, the prob
2 BILE character of the weather in Il
{ near future-a natural Barometer
d known by the name of semakuir, al
: which is said to turn black shortly b
, fore an approaching rain, while in fl
): weather it is notified with spots
d white. For loug time. it appear
6 this interesting phenomenon was inc
# plicable, but on an analysis OF Il
o stone it was shown to be a fossil mix
T. with clay and containing portion
% rock salt and inter. This fact bell
n known, the explanation of the chang
became easy; the salt, absorbing t
i moisture, turns black when the con-
n tions are favorable for rain, while t
lie dryness of the atmosphere must as NJ
= urally bring out the salt from the
N terror of the stone in white spots
| 4 - u +. u