The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-02-05
NUMBER 8.
POPULAR SCIENCE.

LONDON Foas.-The cause of th,
London fogs, SO notorious for thei
occasional pitchy blackness. is thu
speculated about in an English paper
A London fog does not in general ex
tend much beyond the height of tn,
houses. During its prevalence on,
may, by ascending st. Paul's cathedral
obtain a clear atmosphere, while under
meath the dark vapOr is rolling like
sea, through which the spires anC
steeples rise like the masts of stranded
wrecks. London fog is NOT equal il
density in all places; long, depressed
line marks the course of the Thames
and the deepest darkness hangs ovel
the most crowded neighborhoods. Be
fore the act of Parliament VS. passed
requiring the London factories to con
sumo their smoke. the fog was partieu-
larly dense in the localities of the great
breweries. The hight of the fog is
greatly determined by the nature of the
subsoil. If it is clay it stands high,
and low if il be of sand or gravel
Defrance states, in his treatise on va
por, that fog is occasioned by descend
ing current of air, which beats dow
the smoke and rolls it over the surface
of the hrth. At this time q current oi
air may be observed to descend through
the chimneys which have no fire. pro-
ducing a strong odor of SCOT thus prov
ing the existence of descending cur
rents in the atmosphere. Therefore, il
the smoke of tens of thousands of
chimneys be discharged into the air,
and there mingled with watery vapor,
and then again forced to descend, q
dense fog must necessarily ensue.
The GRAIN TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM
SoLvED.-A Michigan man has patented
what may be considered perfect god
send to the grangers in their fight with
the railroads. This idea is no less than
the construction of a mammoth grain tube
between Chicago and New York, through
which corn and wheat may be shot with
great velocity on the pneumatic princi-
pc. At the starting point. say Chicago,
says the sanguine inventor, we shall use
a fifteen or twenty horsepower engine
to drive a six-foot fan. The fan will
drive current of air through the tube
in which the grain is to be conveyed.
Ten, twenty or thirty miles from Chi
cago, perhaps even fifty, we shall place
another engine and fan, the fan taking
it's air from the tube. Now. the opera
tion of these two fans gives combina-
tiOn of force and action, producing a
very rapid current of air. It may be
objected that the tube will become
That is impossible, as the
grain is not admitted to the tube until
the current of air las been produced,
and then only in such quantities as will
pass without hitting the sides of the
tube. This may seem impossible, but
will become evident when the fact is
tiat the velocity of the air
will be greater in she center, Just as the
current of a river is swiftest in the
center, causing small objects floating
on its surface to move to the center.
Railroad iron, it is anticipated, will be
into plowshares and pruning
hooks when this millennial style of
is fully introduced.
THE CHAMPION TELESCOPES OF TEE
WORLD. Lick, the wealthy Cali
fornian, who has, lately delighted the
scientists of that state with his notion
of erecting a model observatory IN the
higher Sierras, has now fairly asthose
gentlemen beside themselves with JOY
by promising n million dollars to fur
nish il with the champion telescope of
the world. The new CLARK telescope at
Of so much descriptive writing, of late,
cost only a matter of $50, 900, and will
with this proposed monster as
the pocket spy-glass of the tourist with
The mammoth instrument of the observ-
tory. just how large the new telescope
san be made, il is impossible at present
10 say. Experiments must be made
with glass, and the most careful investi-
CATION will be needed in order to de-
.ermine the feasibility of constructing a
ems of the extraordinary diameter and
local length required. The Scientific
American p Jints out the capability of a
Twelve foot objective with a focal length
IF 100 feet which, with an eye-piece of
30 inch focus, would give a magnify
nR power of 28, 500 times the linear di-
or over 800, 600, 600 times the
surface of a body. This would bring
Mars, so TO speak, within 1000 miles Of
IS. and make it appear 100 times as
arRe as the moon. As for the mo9n, let
he reader seriously think of having
hat satellite within eight miles of him;
70 near that, IL inhabitants there be, he
an zee them. Even If no more aston
shing discoveries be made, the effects
# volcanic action upon the surface will
orm prolific field of study.
PROF. AaAssIz AS THE HIaH- PRIEST OF
rEILY-As an eminent embryologist,
le might properly be called the high
'riest of ''ieily. He was never weary
4 explaining that all living things
ach man, as we'll as every inferior ami
mails actually evolved from a little
mass of "jelly :. and, while he would
have agreed as to its shapeiess-
less, he certainly would have protested |
.qainst IFS I" loathsomeness." he who !
aid that "our philosophers and theO-
o0ians" land he might have added, our
,iitors) require to be taught that "A
physical fact is as sacred as a moral
would hardly have sickened
,ver the "loathsomeness" of that plas-
ic material which we know TO be the
starting point of all organic develop
nent. AgRssiz held that nature is 10
De regar led as the msterial embodiment
If divine ideas, and, after dwelling with
ielight upon the curious forms and con-
ititutiOns OF creatures composed almost
wholly of "jelly," he would say F:
9 These are the thoughts of the Al
mighty" On his view, Z" Jelly" was the
,hosen and specially honOred material
or the expression Of the divine concep-
ions. Prof. AgasBiz would certainly
rave con sidered the little protoplasmic
peek, which, IN the course of natural
operations, can evolve IN few years in
% a Newton, Shakespeare, or even
president of the United States, as an
exceedingly interesting portion Of the
livine order. II the germ contains po-
entially the future being, and II high
y-developed race transmits its aptitudes
Iud capacities from generation to gem
sration, then is Jelly" An institution Of
9od for the conservation Of perfected
nan, and the civilization that be carries
With him.
4 TENDER CoURrsHP.-Tn az ac-
count OF the marriage ceremonies oi
.he Esquinaux given by DR.. Hayes he
avs: " The match is made by the
parents OF the couple. The bridegroom
must 20 out and capture polar bear as
ln evidence Of mauly courage and
strength. Then he is told be can marry,
e go inclined, and like most bachelors
be is generally 50 inclined. he sneaks
behind the door Of his iDGmorata, and
when she comes out be pounces upon
her aud undertakes 70 bear her away 10
bis dog-sledge. She screams, bites,
kicks and breaks away from him. He
n n =