The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1895-06-08
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

Some idea of the extent Of the
trade in chewing gum may be gained
from the shipment recently of three
cars of one kind of gum to Louisville.
Inc Shipment was one single order
and was not considered especially note
worthy by the firm making the ship
ment from Chicago.
The trunk lines are beginning to
realize that the immigrant business is
on the wane and are disposing of their
second-class coaches or converting
them into cabooses- 1t is stated that
forty per cent. fewer immigrants were
handled by the trunk lines in 1894 than
in 1898, and this year that class of
travel is even lighter.
lin the manufacture Of artificial
whlebone the raw hide after being
treated chemically is stretched out
upon frame to prevent contraction
and exposed to a bright light and a
temperature of from fifty to. sixty de-
grees. After drying the skin is SUBJ
mitted to a strong pressure, which
gives it the hardness and elasticity of
genuine whalebone.
Fifty large quarto volumes, con-
tanning nearly 10000 pages and over
5000 plates, represent twenty-three
years of work on the scientific results
of the Challenger expedition. While
afoat the expense to the government
for the scientific part of the work was
100000; since then $4,000 have been
spent, but the cost is Insignificant when
compared with the scientific results OBJ
tanned.
The young of the frog and toad
leave the egg as tadpoles, which not
only differ from the mature form in
shape of body, but also in having gills
on either side of the neck, whereby the
young animals breathe in water, while
they only acquire lungs for breathing
air later on. Most efts, when they
leave the egg, also have n tadpole
stage of existence, during which they
breathe by gills, which are subsequent
ly absorbed when the lungs become
fully developed.
1t is stated by the London Lancet
that "the English professional classes,
who head the list as the tallest of adult
males, attain the average height of five
feet nine and onc-fourth inches. Next
on the list come the American males,
and minute fraction behind them
come the English of all classes. Most
European nations average for the adult
male five feet six inches; but the Aus
TRANS, Spaniards and Portuguese just
fall short of this standard"
The official report of the meat sold
in Paris during 1894 gives total of
l60,31S tons of beef, mutton and veal,
which is. with two exceptions, the
highest figure ever recorded, while the
consumption of pork, slightly below
the average of the last few years. was
$1,000 tons Calculating by weight,
the sale of all kinds of fish was 10000
tons; poultry and game, $500 tons;
eggs, $4,000 tons, and butter 10, QUO tons
"a very respectable bill of fare for
twelvcmonth.
BY themselves both aluminium and
bioxide of sodium are harmless enough,
but mix the latter with aluminium in
powder and you produce, it seems,
formidable explosive which detonates
not only upon contact with drop of
water, hut even If placed in paper, the
humidity sufficing to infiame it. In
state of freedom it does not burn with
the slowncss of dynamite, but projects
flames instantaneously in all directions
and even to melt copper wire. NJ. Ros-
sci discovered this explosive last De-
cember, injuriug his right arm in the
first experiment
Very many of the lower order of |
creatures are said to live without sleep.
Many short-lived insects do SO, and
fishes are not generally supposed to
enjoy sleep, although m any species do |
periodically rest for about couple of |
hours at time. Experiments have
shown that the salmon, pike, goldfish |
and angler fish do not sleep at all. |
Fishes have no eyelids like the higher
mammalia, and their brain is very
small in proportion to their size. Ami |
mails which have no real brain cannot |
be said to enjoy true sleep, the chief
feature of which is the cessation of au-
tomato activity of the brain. On the |
other hand, there are some animals |
which obtain an excessive amount of |
sleep, such as snails, which have been |
known to sleep for four years at time