The Opelousas courier., 1901-06-29
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

SCIENCE AND NDVSlnIs
IN the manufactures of Great Brit"
ain alone thS power which steam
exerts is estimated to be equal to the
manual labor of 1000. 100000 men, or
more than double the number of males
supposed to inhabit the globe.
There have been rapid strides IN
the iron and steel industry in South
Russia during the past five years:SNo
fewer than IA ironworks have been
started, while the quartet OF p~re-exlst-
ing works have doubled the number
Of their blast furnaces.
The consumption of ice in Brazil Is
constantly increasing. This Is u
principally to the demand for ice in
restaurants. hotels and other pubic
places. Foreigners are most 1ns1stent
in their calls for ice. Our consul at
Santos Is of the opinion that an ice
company would prove a profitable I'M
dertaking in that place. the use of ice
being practically unknown in the fish,
vegetable and meat markets. He also
thinks the American refrigerator
would sell well in Brazil.
Spiders are met with in the forests
| of Java whose webs are so strong that
1t requires a knife to cutthroughthem,
we are told. A spider weighing four
| pounds, which has taken up her resi-
| dence in a cathedral at Munich, re-
gales herself with a large supply OF
! lamp oil. A Texas spider weaves a
| balloon four feet long and two feet
| wide, which she fastens to a tree by a
| single thread. then marches on board
| with her half dozen little ones, cuts the
| thread, and away goes the airshiD to
| some distant point on the prairie.
In the light of the recent report OF
Major Reed, regarding the failure OF
the Electrical publication" of the
harbor of Havana, which is practically
an enormous cesspool. it is worth re"
Numbering that the Hermite electro
lytic process for the publication OF
| sewage which Is practically 1dentl-
| cal with the Woolf process used at
Havana, was carefully tested and
found unsatisfactory some years ago
in ENGLAND. Major Reeds report says
that the publication of the Woolf pro-
cess is ~"inadeuuate" and the better
| results at a less cost could have Deen
| obtained by the simple use Of chloride
of lime. A little time spent in looking
up the literature of the subject Would
have evidently saved some disappoint-
ment, if nothing more.
Professor Pictet of Geneva is report
ed to have devised a new plan by
which oxygen may be produced on the
commercial scale and at a cost which
will greatly increase it's use. While in
New York City. Professor Pictet DEM
onstrated on the small scale a method
for the production Of oxygen, by bub'
bling air through liquid air, by which
the. air separated into it's two constit-
uents; the nitrogen flowing out
through a tube at the top of the cham
Der, and the oxygen through a tube
at the bottom. Apparently. practical
difficulties were encountered which
prevented it's application. His new
method Is to drive the air into a con-
denser, which Is cooled on the outside
by liquid air. The low temperature
causes the oxygen Of the air to sepa-
rate by gravity from the nitrogen. 1t
is then drawn of from the bottom oil
the condenser. and, the nitrogen from
the top, while any carbonic acid pres
emit, made liquid by the low tempera'
ture, is drawn into tubes. AS a 500
horse power engine will make 100000
cubic feet OF oxygen a day. It seems
that the process 10 not expensive.