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Show JPQP3EJU2. 1 - SCIENCE I Improvement in Miners' Lamps. One of the most practical inventions of the last century was the miners' lamp, with its sheet of gauze surrounding surround-ing the flame, enabling the miner to work in coal mines where gas was liable to be found without danger of causing an explosion with his light. One objection to such a lamp is that the gas might increase in volume in the chamber so gradually that the miner would not be aware of its presence, pres-ence, continuing to work with the assurance as-surance that there was no danger of an explosion and not detecting anything any-thing wrong in the atmosphere. As an improvement over this lamp a Pennsylvania inventor has suspended nightly Review for March set forth that the universe was finite; that the solar system was situated at its centre; and that consequently conditions con-ditions for the favorable development of the human race were presented on the earth not to be found elsewhere. One of the most complete rejoinders to these theses is by Prof. Turner ol Oxford,' who points out (also in the Fortnightly) that it is not yet proved that the universe is, in fact, finite; that there is properly speaking, no physical centre to the universe; even if it be limited; that even if the solar system occupied its geometric centre at a certain instant it would not long remain there, since the sun and the whole solar system is in rapid motion; and, finally, that there is no good reason why life may not be developed at one as well as at another situation within the universe as we know it. The controversy is probably ended and should never have been begun. New York Sun. Automatic Picture Machine. The nickel-in-the-slot idea has been applied to almost everything under the sun until you can pay your money and get anything from a stick of candy to a square meal. Now an Ohio man has made an automatic photographic photo-graphic apparatus, which will take your picture and finish it while you wait. The only portion of the process which depends on the person to be photographed is the dropping of the money in the proper slot and then locating lo-cating himself in a position before the lens. With the devices provided it is an easy matter to place the face at the proper height to make the exposure. Gas Detecting Attachment Above the Flame. above the flame a series of wires, which become heated and become red in proportion to their distance from All that is necessary to take a seat on the stool in front of the machine and adjust the body until the head and shoulders are visible in the mirror above the lens. Then a slight pressure on the button of the circuit-closer, circuit-closer, which is held in the hand, makes the exposure and starts the) machinery whion develops the nega.- the blaze, and also in ratio to the quantity of gas mixed with the atmosphere. at-mosphere. The operation of the devise de-vise is apparent. The sensitive wires are adjusted on the harp to positions determined by experiment; in which they represent percentages of gas present by becoming reddened with the heat of the flame. The user of the lamp will, of course, be informed of the danger limit, and when the strands are heated to an unusual or dangeroushe!'iA wfl' abstain frorn 'orkiL in such gaseous quarte.';.""It Is statei that this gas detector may be easily attached to the lamps now in use, and it should prove a very practical arrangement for men who are compelled to labor in the mines. Temporarily Blinds Horse. It has been known and put to practical test time after time that to get a horse out of a fire the best plan is to blindfold him and many an animal has been saved in this way which it was impossible to remove from the burning stable in any other manner. It is now proposed by a Nebraska inventor to apply practically the same principle to control fractious or vicious horses and to stop runaways runa-ways which are caused by the animal taking fright at some object on the street or road. 1 While the blinder in common use on bridles prevents the horse from seeing objects on either side, there is nothing to shut out the view of anything any-thing approaching which might tend to frighten"' the animal, and it can also turn its head if it hears a noise; but with this new device the driver or rider has only to pull a cord lying parrallel to the reins and a bellows-like bellows-like curtain is drawn over both eyes to shut out the sight completely. In this condition the animal can only stand and tremble until the object Seat Yourself and Push the Button. tive and finally completes the picture and delivers it to the waiting customer. cus-tomer. To insure a proper exposure an artificial light should be provided, which is automatically turned on during dur-ing the time the shutter is open, as the varying degrees of daylight would render correct timing of the length of exposure almost impossible. The Law of Gravitation. Newton's law of universal gravitation gravita-tion announces that two bodies attract each other with a force inversely proportional to the square of their distance (their masses being equal). Half the distance the force is increased in-creased four times; increase it ten-' fold the force is . diminished WO times. As the positions of heavenly bodies become known with greater accuracy ac-curacy the test that can be put upon this law becomes more severe. Prof. E. W. Brown of Haverford college, an authority on the theory cf the moon's motion, announces that his calculations calcula-tions show that Newton's law represents repre-sents the motion of our satellite to within one one-millionth of one per cent, and that no other physical law has been expressed with anything like the precision of its simple statement. Power station Up to Date. There is now in course of construe tion for the district railway system of London, a great power station that is remarkable for being the first large electrical power station to be operated operat-ed entirely by steam turbines. There will be ten turbines, each of 7,500 horse power. Only four field-magnet poles are employed, and the generators genera-tors run at 1,000 revolutions per minute. min-ute. In consequence of the rapid revolution and the small nrmber of poles, the diameter of the djnamos is only nine feet, whereas It would have to be more than thirty feet, with reciprocating engines running at seventy-five revolutions per min-nte, min-nte, as at the metropolitan power station sta-tion in New York. Design to Prevent Runaways. causing the fright has passed, when the curtain is lifted by releasing the cord and the horse travels on as before. be-fore. The curtain Is housed in a small semicircular leather casing passing over the animal's forehead just above the eyes and the operating cords are inserted in the bit rings befor passing back with the reins. Place of Man In the Universe. The ideas of Alfred Russel Wallace upon the place of man in the universe were set forth in The Sun for March 8 with a commentary which showed that they were, in the main, untenable. unten-able. The same questions have been widely discussed In England. Mr. Wallace's original paper In the Fort- |