Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1900-03-15
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.
The reason why the Great Salt Lake
in Utah is growing smaller, according
to Professor James E. Talmage, is that
the volume of water from its fonr trib-
utary rivers is being moro and more
diverted by irrigation.
According to some observations made
by Mr.. J. w. Post, chief engineer to
the Netherlands state railways, rails
made of soft steel are apt to be more
durable than those of harder material.
At the beginning the hard steel rails
are less subject to wear than the soft
ones, but the latter are apparently
toughened to marked degree by the
cold rolling effect of the passing trains,
SO that in later years they actually
show less wear than the rails of harder
steel.
Among the glaciers found in the
Rocky mountains is Grasshopper glac-
ier, which derives its name from the
enormous quantity of grasshopper
remains that are found on aud in the
glacier. Periodically the grasshoppers
take their fight southwark, and must
cross the mountains. Their favorite
route seems to be across the wide
glacier, and in the passage scores of
thousands of them succumb to the
rigor of cold and wind, fall helpless
upon the snow, and are finally en-
tombed in the ice.
A serious pest has appeared within
the last few years in the cotton fields
of the South. It is spreading with
great rapidity, and threatens to ruin
the industry, if it cannot be success
fully combated. The disease is fun
gus which attacks the roots. causing
the plant to wither and die. 1t is
most destructive in the vicinity of
Charleston, s. c., and on the islands
adjacent to the coast. The depart
ment of agriculture has appointed
William A. Orton, botanical expert,
to Investigate the matter, and it is
hoped that practical way of eradicat-
ing the pest will be devised.
DR.. Finsen of Copenhagen Den
mark, who is Investigating the effect of
light in the treatment of diseases and
who has made many wonderful cures
in the treatment of skin affections,
now reports that certain kinds of bald
ness, which are caused by bacteria,
are readily cured by submitting the
bald head to the influence of the rays
of the blue end of the spectrum. A
beam of sunlight, or electric light, is
filtered through hollow glass lens
1 filled with copper sulphate solution,
which allows only the cold blue rays
to pass through, and this light when
focused on the diseased skin kills any
diseased bacteria present, even though
under the surface.
A peculiar industry Of the Island of
procida is the manufacture of fine silk
threads from the stomachs of silk
worms. The worm, just before the
time of its metamorphosis, is cut open,
and the membrane of the stomach is
carefully removed and picked by
secret process. Holding one end in
the teeth and drawing the other with
the hands, the work people then work
the tissue into threads of considera-
bic length. The threads are priced
for strength and hexibility, and find
market in Northern Italy at about SIS
pound. They are used for fishing
tackle, brushes, etc. Production is
expensive, as the worms must be taken
at the time of their greatest value for
silk making, and the various opera
tions demand much labor by skilled
hands.