| Show N irv I 1 P POPULAR SCIENCE dawm 11 II log reflector in the operation of a sawmill the sawyer customarily takes his stan I 1 near the sa v from which position he is able to reach all the levers which control the carriage and saw and to adjust the logs in position for cutting it Is important that the sawyer should know with the least possible loss of ind nd cates the most econom cal cut t time her there are splits or cracks in the ends of the log and part ot of the value of a skillful mill say havyer yer lies in his ability to judge the logs under his hand with reference to cutt ng them up to the best possible adan advantage tage heretofore it has been necessary for him to walk the entire length of the log to s scrutinize rut inize the opposite end before the L wing begins but ut with the invention just placed on the market by william T S diggins of centralia Cen W va it is unnecessary for him to leave his station beside the saw the device consists of a glass reflector divided by cords to indicate the line the saw will take in cutting the log the sawyer has only to adjust the re sectors tors by a simple simpie mechanism within easy reach and both ends of the log are shown in conjunction with the in di cating lines enabling him to turn the log to cut to the best advantage the picture shows the rear end of the carriage with the log in place and also the III aror and log reflected there in indicating several splits or checks similar to those wh ch are found in large logs municipal control of telephones an old contention which seems to be losing ground says the electrical review Is the agitation which has for a long time been working toward the municipal control of telephone ex changes in a number of instances several exchanges which started un d der er municipal management with the fairest conditions back of them have within a short time given up the ghost and their lines either been bought up bs the competing company or have lapsed into disuse not only in the united states has this been the case but only recently have we been confronted by the spectacle of the tunbridge wells corporation selling out to the national telephone corn com pany of london england it Is being realized more to day than ever be fore that it requires a combination ol 01 minds to effect a profitable plan for the worling m orl ing out of a system of tele phone service capital requires the aid of technical I 1 knowledge now ledge and tech knowledge requires the assist ance of practical mechanics the mechanic the technician and the capitalist place their combined facial lies ties at the disposal of good busi business ess n sense and this comb nat on is one that although aia s available is rarely faunl in a department of muni mu ni cipal control orn tholey so some me very interesting observations from balloons have been made ing to ornithology says the aeronaut world inquiry resulted in the assumption that metres feet was the limit to which birds rise above the surface of the earth and that there was therefore no ground for the assertion of a well known zoologist that there were birds which raised themselves S metres 26 feet above the surface of the earth the lowest limits of the clouds seem to be the highest of bird flight more afore comprehensive observations are yet necessary especially in countries where many birds of passage cross as for example italy A gas jet flatiron the accompanying cut from the ir iron on age represents a gas jet flatiron which can be heated by slipping it over an ordinary gas burner tt t Is 1 0 constructed on the bunsen burner prin ciple the air being furnished by a hole in the branch of the handle leading to the flame chamber the handle does doe s not get hot and two or three minutes suffices to heat the iron the spectra of the nebulae the spectrum of a nebula contains three principal lines all in the green or blue regions of the spectrum one ot of which the third nearest the blue end corresponds carr car esponda to hydrogen the substance that gives rise to the other two Is as s yet unknown measure meats of the relative brilliancy of lines 1 and 2 at potsdam show that tl e ratio of brightness of these lines in the neb ilae exam ned Is constant IS esrom rom this fact it Is fair to conci conel ide that both lines are produced by a single substance the ratio of the brilliancy of the li hydrogen drogen line line 3 to that of line 1 has been measured in nine of the brightest nebulae and this ratio is found to vary by large amounts from neb ila to nebula it is therefore fair to conclude that the hydrogen in the different nebulae ex exists either in different physical conditions in the different cases or else in different quantities the first measurements of the sort were made at the I 1 lick ick observatory atory by keeler insects As about eight thousand new cies 8 of insects are came name I 1 annually it is not surprising that our knowl edge of these forms of life must have increased very greatly since the issue of the ninth edition of the En ea dia britannica in the supple supplement sup e tary volumes dr sharpe in his ai article 1 tic ca e insects presents a summary of recent progress in entomology it is estimated by some authors that the entire insect world numbers some thing like forms of which many are still to science As a large number of species must be in process of extinction dr sharpe con eludes that it is probable that a con demable proportion of the species of insects now existing will have digap feared from the face of the earth before specimens of them have been either discovered or preserved it is interesting to reflect that science omnivorous and all collecting may be distanced in the mere attempt to catalogue ata logue the inhabitants of a very benall earth A conven ent hose rack A simple and convenient rack tor for garden hose just put upon the market is here illustrated the picture being taken from the iron age it Is made entirely of heavy galvanized iron sim pie in construction and strong it is designed to keep the hose in good con 0 v t ag k WV C i jy ipg ditmon and out of the way but always alway s ready for immediate use the rack may be attached near the sill cock to the bouse house in the stable or cellar or wherever most convenient to keep the hose which is colled coiled and hung on the rack electricity in mines apayer A paper on th tho various method of transmitting power to the interior of mines was read before the glasgow engineering society by mr T L galloway the author considered that the electrical method of power distri button would be most serviceable in the futuik and pointed out that the danger at of explosion from sparks could be avoided by the use of the altermat alt ernat ing current system he also pointed out that the alternating current motor was more suitable for rough handling than the continuous current motor compressed air h said had many advantages especially for percussive drills but ice was liable to collect on compressed air motors and the meth oj 01 which workers had adopted for removing this had occasionally been the cause of fires engi engl sh summer weather 1902 A note in the observatory on the meteorology of the Efi english glish summer of 1902 shows that it was nas remarkably cold and sunless the total number umber n of hours of sunshine te recorded corded at the royal observatory at greenwich for five months may to september was but which is hours less than the average for the years and less than the number of hours for 1901 on only nine days did the temperature rise above 80 degrees fahrenheit the highest recorded temperature was 86 1 degrees on july 14 on may 14 the thermometer fell at night 0 22 6 degrees the total rainfall for the five months was twelve inches one inch greater than the usual rainfall during the sum mer season tree trunks with mastodon remains the bones of a mastodon were ex burned near newburgh N Y in october last and along with them were found a number of tree trunks that had been buried in the muck and marl surrounding and below the remains in many instances the trunks and the bones were touching one atthe of the trees was of polygonal cross section the polygon having from fourteen to six teen sides and the trunk was nine inches in diameter other tree trunks were easily recognized as spruce and red cedar and some of them showed the marks of the teeth of animals probably of beavers protected from dust an automobile seen near roslyn long island recently by a reporter tor for the motor world was mas equipped w with I 1 th a canvas frame being virtually an extension of the rear portion of the body it was carried up to a height of probably thirty inches and while it cut off iny any rear view it also protected the occupants of the ton neau two women from tae swirling clouds of d it |
