The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-09-13
INvINCiBLE CREATURES.

The lion is the king of beasts, but all
all his magnificent strength and ferocity
would avail him nothing when he faces
a mere ant. But this ant is not the usual
kind which peacefully goes about his de-
nestle duties day by day. 1t is the ter
rible driver, or soldier ant. said to be the
most invincible creature in the world.
NJ Coillard, a French missionary in
the Barotse Valley of South Central At
RIGA, thus writes of these terrors there:
zone sees them busy in innumerab,e
battallions, ranked and disciplined. wind
ing along a broad black ribbon of water
ed silk. Whence come they? Where are
they going? Nothing can stop them nor
can any object change their route. IL IL
is an inanimate object they turn aside and
pass on If it is living they assail it ven
onously, crowding one on top of the other
to the attack while the main army passes
on, businesslike and silent. Is the obsta-
Gle trench or a stream of water, then
they form themselves at its edge into
compact mass In this a deliberate as
sembly? Probably, for soon the mass
stirs and moves on. crosses the trench
or stream and continues in its incessant
and mysterious march. a multitude of
these soldiers are sacrificed, for the COM
mon good, and these legions. which know
not what it is to be beaten, pass over
the corpses of these victims TO their des-
tination.'
Against these tiny enemies no man nor
band of men, no lion or tiger. or even
herd of elephants can do anything but
hurriediy get out of the way. Among
the Barotse natives a favorite form of
capital punishment is to coat the victim
with grease and throw him before the
attacking army of soldier ants. The
quickness with which the poor wretch Is
dispatched is marvellous when 1t is con-
sidered that each ant can do nothing
more than merely tear out small paru-
Gle of flesh and carry it off. Yet In
surprisingly short time the writing VIC
tim will have been changed into a skele-
ton of clean and polished bones that will
make the trained anatomist envious.
A coacoanut grove begins to bear fruit
after six years, the crop being gathered
about two years later. Almost every part
of the tree can be utilized. The coarse
fiber of the bark is woven into the famil-
lar cocoa mating and used for all sorts
of rough purposes. The leaves will serve
as a thatch, and the strong midribs make
excellent brooms or Irvine. The big cen
trail leaf bud is. cooked and eaten, tasting
much like cabbage.
The production of nitric acid by cleo
tro-chemical methods is a new process
that promises extensive changes in ag-
riculture The manufacture of nitric acid
from the nitrogen and oxygen of the air
in sufficient quantities for commercial
use has been the dream and hope of sci
entists for years. At Niagara expert
ments have been conducted successfully
in producing commercial nitric acid by
using a high tension current in an air
chamber, by which yield of one pound
of nitric acid is obtained for every sew
en- horsepower hours.
That great majority of all deaths &C.
cur between l and o'clock a. m. was
shown by the record of 5000 cases pre-
scented to the British Medical Association
by DR.. Haviland. Forty per cent more
deaths occur in the first hour of the morn
ing than in the tenth hour.