Gloucester County Democrat., 1878-12-31
Scientific Notes.

PerrOdOn connects a Ruhm korff coil
with the plate of telephone, and en-
ploys the loud continuous sound thus
produced as telephone call.
The suggestion is made in Mature
that the microphone might possibly be
employed with good results to ascer-
tain whether insects communicate with
one another by any audible means.
At the principal seat of the tack
manufacture in England it is not an
uncommon feat for the workmen to
forge / 200 tacks so small as to be con-
tanned in the barrel of an ordinary
goose quill, their weight being about
tWenty-four grains.
1t is proposed to erect central West
Indian observatory on the hills near
Kingston, Jamaica. Besides attend
ing to astronomical and meteorological
observations, it is intended by those in
charge to distribute time signals and
storm warnings over the West Indian
Islands.
The largest diamond hitherto found
at the Cape is the ''Spalding'' diamond,
found in the river diggings some years
since, which weighed 2604 carats. AT
Dutoitspon field another large diamond
has been recently found, weighing pa
carats, which is said to be free from
flaw, and will cut we'll
Hydrogen gas, the lightest of all pom
derable substances, may, when cooled
to 220o Fab. below zero, be then con-
densed, by pressure of $3.50 lbs. to
the square inch, into liquid form. To
produce this great reduction of tenn
perature and enormous pressure in
combination is difficult experiment.
The value of tin ore exported from
New Zealand has increased from $35,-
900 in 1873, to nearly $1,300,0 600 per
annum at the present time. This large
increase is chilly owing to the discovery
of the lodes at Mount Bischoff, and the
more recent discovery of the metal in
vast quantities in Mount HemskiIk, on
the west coast.
M. Greffhule, the French resident at
Zanzibar, has travelled by land from
Lamu southwark to the Pangani River.
The Geological Society of Marseilles
have published his route, which so far
presents nothing new. Should, how
ever, this hardy traveller strike west,
his communications may be Of decided
interest.
An italian has constructed an ap-
paratus which determines the purity
of oils by the amount ofresistance they
offer to the passage of electricity. The
apparatus may also reveal the presence
n 1,1l 70 al,-,o
small portion Of cotton in silk tissues
greatly increases the eonductivity of
the latter.
1t is curious fact, if the newspapers
that report the item may be believed,
that the paper ON which the official
catalogue OF the Paris Exposition is
printed, was manufactured in Con-
necticut paper-mill; that the Speaker
of the House of Commons wears an
American watch, and that most of the
engineers on the British railways use
American time-keepers.
DIR. Schliemann states that his ex-
cavations on the island Of Ithaca have
resulted in the discovery, on the south
east part of the island, of ninety houses
of eyclopean construction, belonging to
the Homeric city of Ithaca. He states
that the winter rains have washed into
the sea all the ancient treasures, but
that, nevertheless, he has made a
valuable discovery in finding the
ruins.
A singular case of poisoning from
Paris green occurred in Rutland (Vt.)
recently. Mr.. Stitt piled up the potato