The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1901-10-18

kAS
A number OF the Western railroads
have taken 10 growing the catalpa for
tie purposes. One company has set
out 165, 200 Of these trees In the last
few years, and another road recently
planted 1900 for the same purpose.
The Investigations which were car
ried on In the Hawaiian Islands under
the auspices Of the United States Fish
Commission during the past summer
were very successful. The fishery
methods, laws and statistics were care
fully studied, and large and important
collections OF fishes were made. Up
ward OF 800 species were obtained.
among which are many species new
TO science.
A telephone cable has been laid
through the Gottbard Tunnel The
entire length OF this cable Is 1850
metres. of which 1898 metres are
laid In the tunnel. On the northern
and also on the southern side Of the
pass the cable is taken through spe-
cial iron piping from the mouth Of
the tunnel, and through the stations
Gosehenen and Airolo, for a distance
OF about 7T5 metres, and the connec-
tion with the air lines is formed in
hut.
The coke ashes from gasworks are
now being made into bricks. The pro-
cess OF manufacture is very simple,
says the London Engineer. The ashes
are reduced 10 fine powder, mixed
with one-tenth part Of slaked lime, and
after the addition Of water, plugged
until the mass form stiff paste. Then
it is treated like ordinary clay, and
formed into bricks by the use of suita-
bic presses. The bricks are then
stacked, protected from rain, and dried
in the air, no artificial heat being used.
One OF the chemical papers reports
an experiment by which an artificial
asphalt was produced, which closely
resembles the natural substance.
Fresh herring and oily pine wood were
distilled in an iron retort and the pro-
duct was condensed in Liebig con-
deDser. The experiment seems to con-
firm the theory that asphalt and pc
troleum are the products of natural
distillation, by which the remains OF
early forms Of animal and vegetable
life have been transformed in the
hauta prngt nf thn anrth
II was formerly supposed that life
could not exist in the ocean depths
because there was a lack of oxygen
there, but recent discoveries have
shown that there is always an abund-
ant supply of oxygen even at the bot
tom. Professor Nutting says that
the cold water Of the polar regions,
charged with oxygen from the atmos-
phere, creeps along the bottom Of the
ocean toward the equator, from both
north and south, and thus carries a
supply of the lifegiving element over
the whole floor. u is this world cir
culation, he says, that keeps the ocean
from becoming too foul to sustain life.
Five Of the leading cement makers
of England recently visited the United
States to look into our method of max
ing cement, and they went back sat
isfed that England cannot hold her
trade in that commodity except by
promptly adopting American machin-
cry Ii seems that we produce cp-
ment at less than one-half the cost OF
the English article, and do it in eight
hours, whereas in England it takes
three weeks. The process used here
is a secret, but one feature of il Is "A
rotary roasting mill which simplifes
and cheapens the work. These mills
are springing up all over the States.
Good Wages and Honor.