OCR Text |
Show SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. Col. Ventokoff, a Russian traveler, estimates that a third of Asia, as well as a thirteenth part of Europe, still remains to be explored. A rumor of the existence of a race of pigmies in Africa, to the southeast of Kaffa, has reached Dr. Schweinforth. Unthinking individuals deal these often cavil at the dissolute lavishness with which [unreadable] expenses are [unreadable] stowed by scientific men upon apparently puerile studies. They forget there human knowledge is built up from the tiniest fragments, and that these fragments have been laboriously brought for one by one from the most diverse sources To the physicist, or the inquirer after truth, trifles are unknown, for he sees an importance in everything. To him a principle is as much a principle if discovered in the [unreadable] as if revealed by the bones of the megalosaurus, and he feeds the possibility that the speck covered by his microscope may be the key which shall ultimately unlock one of the great and helpful secrets of the universe. Prof. Blyth, lecturing at Glasgow, has called attention to the ads [unreadable] of the oxyhydrogen light for generature. The illumination is very brilliant and beautiful, the gases may be stored and delivered in the same manner as [unreadable], and he believes that the system may be made economical by using wind or water power to produce the gases. A Spanish physician, Dr. Olive, makes use of powdered cobwebs as a remedy for fevers. An interesting experiment is said to have been made with a hibernating hedgehog, in which the brain of the sleeping animal was removed, then the entire spinal cord, but for two hours hardly any change was noticeably in the action of the heart; and a [unreadable] that organ contracted when touched by the operator. During an address by Prof. W. B. Aarton on the "storage of power," the lecture theatre was lighted, a circular saw driven and an elevator operated by means of electric energy which had been stored the previous day in Faure accumulating batteries. The total equality of energy was 50,000,000 feet-pounds-a little more than twenty-five [unreadable] power exerted for one hour. A single eel, containing 81 pounds of lead and [unreadable] is found to store [unreadable] foot-pounds of energy. Paper made from strong fibres can now be compressed into a substance so hard that nothing but the diamond can scratch it. The ground in the Jura mountains is in a state of movement, as is shown by some [unreadable] observations pointed out by M. [unreadable] Villages that were invisible to each other at the beginning of the century or even shirts or fonts years ago, are now visible. First the roots appeared, and then the upper part of the walls. Such is the case with the villages of Doucier and Marigens, Important changes have been noted even within ten years. The story is told of the famous German scientist, Alexander von Humboldt, that, laying engaged in experiments with Gay-Lussac in Paris and needing a large number of glass tubes on which a very heavy dot was impassed, he instructed the manufacturers to seal the end of the tubes and label them "German air." The air of Germany was on the list of duty paying articles, and the [unreadable] duty passed the customs officers without any demand. The desirability of connecting lightning conductors with gas and [unreadable] bus been recognized by the Saxon Government, which has issued instructions as to the test methods of making the connections. Assays of several hundred million dollars' worth of the native gold of California have shown an average proportion of 800 thousandths of pure metal. The gold of Australia gives an average of 900 thousandths. The element calcium has been seconded in an isolated condition by a German chemist, Herr Setterberg. It is found to be a silvery-white metal, resembling alkium and potassium in general behavior. Calcium had resisted all efforts to separate it from its combination with oxygen. Prof. Dufour has presented a new and interesting proof tha the earth is round. The [unreadable] of distant objects reflected in the lake on Geneva in calm weather show just the degree of distortion which a careful mathematical calculation would predict on account of the shape of the earth. Mr. W.H. Preace, F.R.S., states that the explanation of a cannon can be heard of a distance of twenty to twenty-five miles and instances are known where the bombardment of a town has been heard at a distance of one hundred miles. It is very well known, he thinks that the roar of the guns at Waterloo was heard on the English coast, more than on ehundred miles from the battle field. The sand of the Sahara desert is sometimes heated to a temperature of 200 degrees Fahrenheit by the [unreadable] rays of the sun. This gives rise to a search-wind-the dreaded [unreadable]-which is rendered still more terrible by the [unreadable] particles of sand it carries along in 1813, Burkhart recorded 122 degrees in the shade during the prevalence of this pestilential [unreadable]. The ventilation of the great Alpine tunnels under Mont Genis and the [unreadable] so as to free them qui cker from the smoke of trains has been a work of much difficulty. It has been proposed to create a current of [unreadable] by the keeping of large fires at one end, but the experience has been found excessive. A French engineer, M. Pressel, suggests that the [unreadable] object may be attained by cooling the air at some point in the tunnel by water, which would give the difference in density of the atmosphere necessary to cause a draught. Cool mountain streams are numerous in the Alps and could be readily applied to the purpose. |