The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1895-04-06
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

UND sHtOSI uts
/ Lord Kelvin contends that tn
earth might be white hot two thousap,
feet below the surface, or as cold AZ ic
fifty feet below, without changing on
present climate. He attributes the in
tensely hot climate of an earlier age t.
greater heat of the sun.
IA. M. Stimson, purchasing agent O
the Big Four, is in the market for $50
600 cross-ties. AS far as possible the
company will purchase these ties from
points on their lines,to help such sec
tons. On the Martinsville division II
has purchased $1,000 and on the Cairo
division 800, 900. 49,.
Twenty-Five years ago the value OF
the bananas exported from Jamaica
was practically nothing; last year it
was oyer two millions of dollars, ex-
ceedipg that of the exports of sugar,
rum, coffee, or dye-woods. The cult
walton of the banana trees has made it
possible to grow other plants under
their shade and to increase the pro-
duction of coffee, cocoa. oranges and
spices RIO
The psychological factors in dis
ease are getting more attention. the
more the methods of propagation of
infectious disorders are studied. Grief
and fear are believed to have DO
tency in lowering the physical .condi-
ton" similar to that produced by chill.
fatigue, inanition, loss of blood or sec
ton OF anerve; and this opens the door
Tor the entrance of those ubiquitous
agencies of evil, the bacilli.
aluminium has the property, when
used as pencil, ofleaving an indelible
mark on glass or any other substance
having siliceous base A deposition
Of the metal takes place. and while |
this may be removed by suitable acid |
wash, the mark itself cannot be re-
moved by rubbing or washing. This
property is susceptible of q variety of |
practical applications in decorating
rlass. tl
M. Tissander, the French physicist.
las succeeded in constructing an appa-
atus for measuring minute intervals
Il time, which consists of a spring.
uned to vibrate five hundred times
second, and carrying at its free end
eedie point that bears against a re-
diving disk. On this disk is carried a
Photographic plate, upon
'hich, by means of a magnesium light.
ne path OF the vibrating spring is
raced.
The rapidity with which certain
oecies of insects move is something
'uly astonishing. The common house
Y is known to make 600 strokes per
'cond with his wings and the dragon
l,5O0 In the case of the fly the 600
rokes cause an advance movement G
twenty-seven feet. These are figures c
| ordinary fight, and it is believed | v
lat the fly is capable of increasing &
'th the strokes and advance move
emit sevenfold. liz
1T is calculated that the nearest az. a
rnal universe is SO far distant from =
r system that light from it, travel y
z at the rate Of 1856, 600 miles a sec n
d, would take nearly ninety million q
ars to reach us. This calculation y
'uld seem to interfere somewhat
tn the old-time theory of a creative
ek OF six days Of twenty-four hours W
we assume that the light Ell
I'M these stars was set in space along pr
tn the stars themselves. OF
1T has been know that in MANY r
'ly-blooming trees the stamens can -,
excited to growth by much lower :.
nperature than will excite the pistil. % p
ew warm winter days will SO often -,
'ance the stamens in plum flowers -
t the pollen disappears before the wy w.
III is receptive. Plum crops often
tally fail for lack of the necessary
Practical men have LONG
'e discovered that south aspect is rh
as good for fruit trees as any of the
ers, without knowing the real rea-