The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1878-11-02
POPULAR SCIENCE.


circles of spiders webs are studded over
with minute globules of viscid gum,
sufficiently adhesive to retain any I'M
wary fly which comes in contact with
it. A net of average size is estimated to
contain 81 1850 of these globules, and q
large net of fourteen or sixteen inches
in diameter, 100, 600; and Yet such net
will be completed by one species of
spider in about forty minutes, if no in
terruption occurs.
A PRIZE of $SO,OOO is offered by the
Prussian Government for some SUBJ
stance suitable for making accurate
casts of celebrated works of art. 1t must
flow into molds easily without injuring
the molds more than plaster, and the
substance must undergo repeated clean
ings without previous treatment. Appli-
cations, accompanied by samples in the
crude and finished state, must be pre-
sented to the Government before De-
cember l, 1878.
A NEW composition of iron and steel
Is described in the Revue InduStyielle. A
cast-iron mold is divided into two Sec
lions by means of a transverse plate of
thin sheet-iron. The two metals are
then poured into the respective COM
partments. The sheet-iron partition
prevents the mixing of the metals and
facilitates the welding by itself being
brought into a state of fusion. 1t is
said that the product is well adapted
for safes. and that it resists drills.
IT is found by DR.. Arthur Downes and
Mr.. T. P. Blunt, that the development
of ordinary bacteria is greatly retarded
or even wholly stopped by exposure to
sunlight, that, in fact, a putrescible
fluid may be perfectly preserved, the
germs in it being completely destroyed
BY the unaided action of light. The au-
thors consider that this remarkable effect
is due to a gradual oxidation of the pro-
toplasm; they have shown that solu-
ton Of oxa'ic acid undergoes oxidation
by prolonged exposure to sunlight, and
they suppose that the effect upon the
comp lex molecule of protoplasm is sim
liar to that upon the simple molecule
of the acid.
RECENT borings made in different
parts of North Germany have proved
beyond denial that the. assertion made
by several eminent biologists, that a
mighty deposit of salt stretches from
the Lueneburg Heide to the coast of the
Baltic is perfectly correct. The deposit
begins near Luenebug, passes underneath
the Elbe, and extends right across the
Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg. Another
branch goes in the direction of the
Duchy of HOlstein, via Legeberg to
Elmshorn and Heide. Behring'S made
at Luebtheen, near Hagenow, by order
of the Mecklenburg Governments, have
now reached depth of 456 meters; the
basis, however, is not yet reached.
THE electric light seems in Europe to
be greatly favored for railroad purposes.
First it was heard of as used at the great
Paris passenger and freight stations,
then in some great workshops, and now
comes the news of its employment ON
trains. On the Crown Prince Rudolph
Railroad, in Austria, it has been applied
as headlight, $50 that the engineman
is enabled, even in the darkest night,
to see the track ahead to such dis
lance that he can discover any obstruc-
ton in time to stop the train before
reaching it." An exchange describes
the apparatus as follows: It is known
as Shukert's dynamo electric machine,
small three-cylinder steam engine and
an electric lamp. Ittakes SO little room
on the locomotive that one not knowing
of it would not be likely to notice it,and
it is said that those who have had any
thing to do with its operation are ex-
tremely pleased and do rot hesitate to
say that it answers the purpose per-
fectly.
A BELIEVER IN THE FORKED TwIG.
The attention of the editor of tho Bos-
ton. Journal of Chemistry has lately been
called to the ability Of some people to
find hidden springs Of water by means
of the traditional forked twig of hazel
or other material. 'The best results in
the hands of q clergyman friend" he
says, sswere produced by the use of two
sticks of flexible whalebone firmly con-
nected together at two ends, 30 that when
spread apart in the hands and held YER
tscally they represented ths letter V in