The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1895-10-05
scIeNcE AND INDUSTRY.

over one-half the population OF
Rhode Island and nearly one-half tnet
of Connecticut is employed in the
mills.
in 1890 the United States took the
lead in iron production over Great
Britain: in that year producing ., 2oS'-
7o3 long tons of pig iron, while Great
Britain pr oduced only 7,9o4,2l4.
Last year the world produced Sss'.
700. 900. tons of coal. To this total
Great Britain contributed lSo,Ooo,ooo
tons; the United States, 17o,ooo'ooo'
Germany, "A, OOO, 900; France, g, 25O.ooo;
Belgium, 10, SOC, 900, and Austria-Hun-
gary, 10, $50, 900 tons. Five million tons
were raised in Australia, 1000, 900 In
Canada and 5000, 900 in British India.
The dangers of watching solar
phenomena, even with the partial pro-
lection of colored glasses, have been
pointed out by DR.. George Mackay, OF
Edinburgh. Calico lost his vision IN
this manner. Sir Isaac Newton's retina
was perman emily injured. and Dr.
Mackav has himself met with not less
than seventeen cases of impaired sight
as result of viewing with unprotected
eye the eclipses of 1890 aud 1s9i
Sir John Herschel has pointed out
that the so-cailed running uphill OF
the gulf stream is strange perver'
sion of language" The warm water
of the gulf stream is more buoyan'
than the cold water of the North At
lantic and floats on its su rface. II
spreads out as it moves northware
and necessarily forms a layer, becom
| ing thinner and thinner. Some portion
| of it, it is true, rises to higher level
| but this is not motion against gravity
The following simple formula viii
purify ordinary water, especially II
reservoirs and filtering basins: Cal
cium permanganate, one part; alumni
mum sulphate. ten parts; fine clay
thirty parts. These are thorough.
mixed and one part is added to .abou
10000 parts of water. 1t is said tina
even sewer drainage is almost com
pletely purified by this mixture.
ecipitates all of the impurities an
| living organisms, and the clear portiol
may be drawn off and used with pei
feet safety.
Arsenic has been known from YER
early times as deadly poison. 1t
believed to have been the means en-
ployed by Nero to remove his enemie.
and there is little doubt that it wa
also known to and employed by Mess;
lima and Agrippina. During the middl
ages it was extensively used as
secret poison, being sold by alchemis'
and prisoners of Italy under the nam
of widows powders or ''successio
powders" Its properties were de
initely ascertained and made public
Brandt in 1888
The remarkable change for tn
better in the iron trade is shown IN tt
official statistics for the first half {
1895 The production of pig iron
the United States for the period name
reached total of 4,OS7, sos gross ton
against ., III. 1888 tons in the first ha
and 1899, 4o5 tons in the second half I
1894. According to the present outloo
1t is safe to estimate that the produ
ton in the last six months of Isl
will be over 1000, 900 tons and that Il
,, output for the year will equal that
. 1890. which was the banner year in II
history of the trade. The stocks
. pig iron on hand June 80 showed r
: duction for the six months of 1885,
tons, which affords another evidence
.. the increased activity in this industr
ti