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Show able length must be used. Dr. J. . Joiy, of Dublin, has announced a iw iri-,tru-ment, having the range of the g!jr ; ir,i-baronieter, ir,i-baronieter, bnt with a tube ouly rtbout eight feet long, instead of some ttt i-nty-flve feet. This resolt Is nttaiw-d by weighting the glycerine in ths- tube with a column of mercury abont twenty-seven twenty-seven Inches high, which reals on a disc supported by the glycerine. In a oui-form oui-form tube the mercury remains of Invariable length, and moves up or down as the varying almospuerie pros-sure pros-sure causes the glycerine to rise cr fall. Slight is as the lessening of the attraction at-traction of gravitation In going from the earth's centre, modern balances are capable of measuring the difference between two kilogram weights placed side by side and the same weights when one is on top of the other! This change of position causes a variation in the weight of 00015 of a gram, or loss than one 4000th of a grain. Bacteriology is said to ha e scored a practical triumph by putting an end to a plagne of mica which threifened to destroy the greater part , of the harvest in Greece. A fatal pandemic among the mice was caused by Prof. Loftier, a German follower of Pasteur whose aid was sought by the Greek Government, Mr. J.G.Baker states tlipl the aster embraces 200 or 300 species, which are concentrated in. the United States. Of these, forty species grow wild, in the Rocky mountains, and fifteen in California. Cali-fornia. Prof. See, of Berlin, finds evidence' that the star Slrins has changed from red to white since the days of the Roman Empire. Scientific Notee- CHANGING CLIMATE. That Europe is parsing through a cold period haa keen pointed out by M. Flammarion, the French astromer. During Dur-ing the past six years the mean temperature tem-perature of Paris has been about two degrees below the normal, and Great Britlan, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Austria and Germany have also been growing cold. It is uncertain whether this is a local and temporary effect, or whether the globe is undergoing general refrigeration. refrig-eration. The change seems to have been in progress in France for a long time, the growth of the vine having been forced far southward since 'be thirteenth century; and a similar cooling cool-ing 'haslbeen observed as far away as Rio Janeiro, where the annnal temperature temper-ature has been going down for some years. In Benmark, Norway, Sweden and Russia, on the other hand, the last (our years have been slightly warmer than the average. THE GREAT ATRICAN CATARACT. A late visitor to the great Victoria Falls of the upper Zambesi river which which were first described by Livingstone Living-stone states that their grandeur isjun-seen isjun-seen and for that reason it 1b impossible to compare them with Niagara. ( he immense river.about a mile wide at this place, suddenly contracts and disappears apparently Into the bowels of the earth, falling from a height estimated at about 400 feet into a gorge narrowing to abont 500 feet. A column of spray rlseB at least 300 feet above the level of the river, and may be seon seven miles away, while tbe roar can be heard for many miles. But in no place can the bottom of the gorge be seen, and in only one place was it possible to survey as much as 600 feet in width of the fallB at one time. A MERCURY-GLYCERINE BAROMETER. Barometers containing light liquids like glycerine or water indicate changes by a much greater movement than that of the ordinary mercurial barometer, but tubes of an nnmanage- |