The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1874-01-14
evening State Sulsrmal.
WEDNESDAY EvEN'o, JAN. IA, 1874.


-Shultz's ehronoscope, used in estimat-
ing the initial velocity OF q cannon ball,
measures an interval of time to within one
fifty-thousandth Of q second.
The Baron Won Richtofen has been
examining the Loess which covers the
whole area Of Northern China. The
Baron is convinced hat it IS due entirely
to sub-aerial action. The only fossil re-
mains found 10 it ara land animals and
shells.
The great rise in the price of coal in
France has caused company to be formed
who propose to utilize the ocean tides by
means of proper machinery. The first ex-
pertinent is to be made at St. Malo, where
the tide rises about thirty feet.
DIR. Lynch, in The Sanitarian, prefers
asphalt or concrete pavements to wooden
ones entirely on sanitary grounds. He also
recommends the prohibition Of the use Of
well or spring water in cities as o means of
preventing the spread of typhoid fever.
Showers of blood, in ancient times
were supposed to presage great wars and
dire calamites. The shower of ink which
fell recently at Marlsford, in England,
must mean another Geneva arbitration, or
IL may Uc Jildb IL was iubCuuCu w supply
the dearth caused by the waste of that
material during the last one.
The bone found in the Settle Cave in
England, about the origin OF which there
has been considerable discussion, has been
finally decided to be human. A fbula
precisely similar has been found among
the museum stores Of human osteology.
The only question now remaining is wheth-
er the proofs of its preglacial existence are
sufficient to place it in that era.
"A Geneva physician has observed
that among populations dwelling at high
elevation above the level Of the sea, cases
of consumption are very rare, while on
the other hand cases of pneumonia are
very frequent. Having bestowed attention
also upon the therapeutic effects of a
change of altitude he comes to the conclu-
sion that given increase of altitude pro-
duces always the same effect, whatever the
altitude Of the starting point.
M. DeLesseps has abandoned his
scheme of Central Asian railway from
Orenburg to Tashkend, on account of the
difficulty of finding water and fuel on the
proposed route. He now desires to make
the railroad pass further north, near Eka-
tarinburg. He has also written to Lord
Granville, urging that the British govern
ment should not display any jealousy of
Russian railway enterprise in Asia, but
should join the Gar in forming great
system of lines, of which India and the
the whole East should have the benefit.
The experiment recently made to
transport cargo of fresh meat from
Australia to England has proved an utter
failure. The plan was to freeze the meat
solid and then to keep it ip that state by
surrounding the vessel in which it is kept
with ice and salt. The voyage took up
seventy4nine days, but as early as the
thirty-tourth day the greater portion of the
meat had to be thrown overheard. The
last Of the ice melted away when the ship
touched at the Azores. The experiment
will be tried again under more favorable
conditions.
In Canada burner is in use by which
residuum of crude petroleum is used in
stead of wood or coal in brick kilns. By
simple continuance, says The Oil Journal,
the nozzle of the burner is made to throw
the fame directly downward at the frs
firing, and after burning the head, as it il
termed, this nozzle is replaced by straight
one, the change being effected in few
moments. The flame is thereby thrown
into the arch any required distance, burn
ing the whole kiln from one end, and doing
it in much less time than by the ole
method.