Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-07-01
Science and Industry.

Science and Industry.
A REPORT is circulated at Harvard
that Huxley has been invited to accept
the position made vacant by the death
of Agassiz.
ANOTHER discovery of rich gold veins
near Dahlonega, G., wherein the ore is
said to be rich and in immense quanti-
ties, has just been made.
RAILROAD receipts on old established
lines are apparently quite as good in
proportion at this time as the receipts
of any branch of mercantile business.
FROM one grain of muscle taken from
deceased person in Flint, Mich. who
had died of trichina spiralis, 102 tri-
chime were taken, looking like snakes
under 2OO-power lens. .
PROF. HITCHCOCK, of Dartmouth Col
lege, is expecting from New Zealand
two skeletons of the dinornis, an ex-
tinct bird of gigantic size. They Will
be the only ones in the country.
PROF. TYNDALL exhibited his fire.
mans respirator at recent meeting of
the Royal Society in London. It is at
tached to a mask, and consists Of an
iron cylinder packed with cotton, wool,
glycerlne and charcoal. The wearer is
enabled to remain in an atmosphere of
smoke, which he could not otherwise
breathe, for quarter to half al hour.
SILK thoroughly impregnated with
the bicarbonate of potash presents a
very sensitive Photographic surface.
Thus prepared, any shapes cut out Of
tin and laid upon it may be beautifully
imprinted thereon by the sun, and in
tints according to the color of the silk
itself. A white or very light silk shows
adelicate'pale red impression; a reddish
tint takes a still deeper shade of red in
the pattern, etc. Fern leaves, arranged
to suit taste and kept fiat by piece of
plate glass, can be imprinted in the
same way.
AN exhibition Of American plants
(rhododendrons, etc. J was. latelyheld in
the gardens of Russell Square, London.
The plants were arranged in a spacious
tent 200 feet long. Several new
varieties of rhododendron made their
appearance for the first time, among
which one named "Kate Waterero ap-
peared to be a novel and distinct one.
tus globulus, which is said to render
healthy the atmosphere Of miasmatic
localities. The exhibition will remain
Oh view during the month.
A FEW days since Mr.. Downie made
some interesting experiments with the
explosive substance called dynamite, in
Sir Gilbert East's park, near Maiden
Head, England. It has been asserted
that dynamite would only explode in
two ways, either by conclusion between
iron and iron, OF the decoration Of q
cap To prove this Mr.. Downie rolled
up some of it in a piece of paper, laid
1t on the stump of a tree, and struck it
with a sledge-hammer. It was only
iattened and did not explode. Some Of
the dynamite was then exploded in
proper manner, and three stumps and
boulders we're torn asunder.
PROF. B. A. GOULD, director of the
National Observatory Of the Argentine
Republic, has obtainedleave of absence,
and is on his way to his former home in
Boston. Some idea of his indefatiga-
BILE industry in his profession may be
gathered by the following summary of
his work He has made observations
embracing 10000 stars. and expects to
have completed, in few months, his
1,70O maps, comprising in all about
IS, 900 stars. From three to six hours,
every night, were spent in observations,
and for every nour of such work at
least four hours were required, next
day. to work out the computations.