OCR Text |
Show SCIENCE ANDPROGRESS Boientifio Brevities and Popular News of the Day Concerning the Many Branches of Scionoe. EXPERIMENTS THAT APPEAB HA.ED But are Easy Enough When Once the Principal Prin-cipal of Accomplishing Tham is Known Miscellany. ' The center of Rravity Is the center of the leaning figure It muy be defined as that ' point in the body upon which the body, acting solely by the force of gravity, will balance Itself in nil positions. We see , that animals as well aa men are continually continu-ally altering the position of the center of BALANCING A WEIOIIT ON A NAIL AND K KY. gravity. If a man hears a load he will lean forward, and if be takes up a can of 'water in one hand he will exteud the othci to preserve his balance. The experiment shown In the accompanying accompa-nying illustration is apparently very difficult, diffi-cult, but it will be found easy enough in practice if the hand be steady. Take a key, and by means of a crooked nail or "holdfast" attach it to a bar of wood by a string tied tightly around the bar, as in ' the picture. To tho othercxtremity of the oar attach a weight, and then drive a large headed nail into tho table. It will he found , that the key will balance, and even move , upon the head of tho nail, wahout falling. - The weight is under the table, and the ' center of gravity is exactly beuoath the point of suspension. Another simple experiment may prove ' amusing. Into a piece of wood insert the ANOTIIER SIMPLE EXPERIMENT. ' points of two knives, and at the center of the end of the bar insert a needle between the knife handles. The wood nnd the knives may then be balance.! on another , needle fixed lu a cork nt A. Electricity in Agriculture. . Experiments mado at the Cornell Unl- ersity experiment stntlon in forcing plants with electricity huvo given interesting interest-ing and definite results that uupcnr to sub- -. ataotiate the reports of N. Speenew, of Russia. Speenew's exporlmsnts extend over a period of five year:), aud it Is claimed show that by submitting different eeds to the action of an elei.tric current their development is rendoraii more rapid ud complete. One scries of experiments was made with pot herbs and (lowering plants. The influence of the electrical jreatmont was shown by n larger crop and ly the growth of vegetables of enormous dimensions. In another series of experiments experi-ments electricity on a largo scale was applied, ap-plied, stutio electricity being usml instead of current electricity. The results were quickened ripening anil larger growth. Barley ripened twelve days sooner with electro-culture. Potatoes treated In the same way seldom showed disease. An important im-portant factor in this treatment is that vines which have been subjected to It possess pos-sess immunity from phylloxera. The New dlfl'ard Gun. In the new Giffard gun the projecting power is liqueflcd gas, which is stored in a teel cylinder attached to the underside of the gun barrel. This cylinder, us described by TheRevuelndustricllo.contiilnsonough liquid for 150 shots aud is easily detach-ablo. detach-ablo. The hammer drives back the piston and closes the chamber ugainst the pressure of the gas and of a spriug, so that a little of the liquefied gat may escape. Tho instant the fluid pusses out the chamber closes. The ball or. which tho escaping pis acts is conical. The firing of the GifT;ird gun causes no heating of tho air or of tho mechanism, and makes a noise little louder than tho popping of a chanipague cork. The gun is very light. At Giffard, tho inventor of tho gun, has long been a famous man in France. IIo is best knowu as the inventor of the Gilfnrd Injector, although his other inventions ara numerous and iugeuious. The Sues Canal by Eleoti-io Light. Judging by statistics given in Aigineev Ing, tho number of vessels passing through the Suez canal at night by moans of clco-trie clco-trie light is rapidly increasing. The regulations regula-tions for the uso of tho eloctrio light went Into operation March, 1887, prior to which diite the privilege of traveling by night with electric light had been restricted to vessels carrying the mails. Since thon all ships which conform to the regulations are allowed to proceed by night. In 18SU the number of vessels using electric light was 8,445. The average time of transit has been considerably shortened, lu 183(1 it was !W hours; in 1837, S3 hours 58 minutes; in 1888, 81 hours 15 minutes, nnd In 188U it had been reduced to 35 hours 50 minutes. The average aver-age time for vessels using the electric light in 1889 was hours. The shortest time taken by a steamer in the transit of the canal in 188!) was U hours, which is ten minutes loss than the fastest time on record previously. I Artificial Musk. A process for the production of artificial musk has been patented In Germany. In the process, as described by nature, pure butyl-toluol is treutod with a mixture of sulphuric aud nitric acid, and the nitro compound is purified by crystallization from alcohol, the yellowish white crystals smelling strongly like musk. Curiously, a one percent, ulcoholicsolutionhasnotthe smell of musk. Only after dilution with water does this come out, and the dilution may be carried fur before the smell is lost. With 1 in 5,000 it is still quite distinct. I Saccharin a a Sweetening Agent. 1 The Royal Academy of Medicine nt Madrid Mad-rid has given the opinion that the addition of saccharin to food and drinks should be regarded as an adulteration, aad that articles arti-cles of food or drink so treated should bo refused entrance into Spuin. A similar judgment has been given by the Academy of Medicine at Riode Janeiro. France has adopted laws forbidding its use in foods. |