The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1879-12-19
SCIENTIFIC NOTES.

Prepared expressly for the EMPoRIA news
I'VE expect to keep this department up
every week
Berlin rejoices in the possession of
scientific cooking association, formed by
ladies of the city. 1t has school of in
struetion in cookery and qualified
chemist gives members of the society
lectures in practical chemistry. A la
boratory has been established, in charge
of the chemist, for the examination of ar
ticles of food and also of utensils en-
ployed in cooking
Although the near approach to the
earth of severed comets has been known,
the least distances of only two have ever
been determined with any degree of ac-
curacy. On July 1, 1910, a comet was
within 100000 miles of the earth-the
closest approach of one of these bodies
of which astronomers have any certain
knowledge. Its apparent diameter was
two and one-half degrees, or nearly five
times the apparent diameter OF the moon.
1t is not surprising that the apparition
of such monster should cause panic
of terror among unenlightened and su-
perstitious inhabitants of the earth.
After some $4,000 examinations, DIR.
Jeffries affirms that about one male in
twenty-five is color-blind to greater or
less degree. He finds the defect 10 be
largely hereditary, although sometimes
caused by disease or injury. In the
former case it is incurable, but in the
latter, it may be only temporary diff
Guilty.
The electric light has been found
useful signal in surveying. In late work
of t:iangulation in Algeria, it is stated
that the light was seen at distance of
one hundred and sixty-four miles.
From a study of the action of tea, Mr.
w. j. Morton has arrived at these con-
illusions: AS with any other drug, there
is a proper and an improper use of it. In
moderation it is mild and harmless
stimulant Its immoderate use leads
to serious SYMPTOMS, such as vertigo,
ringing in the ears, tremulousness, ner-
vOusness, exhaustion, irregular action of
the heart, and dyspepsia. Many of the
symptoms of excessive tea-drinking are
such as may occur without suspicion
of the real cause.
It is expected that this simple and in
expensive method of testing milk will
prove very valuable: The milk to be
- ra1 II. -
gypsum in sufficient quantity to give the
mass the consistency of paste. The
quality of the milk can be determined
by carefully noting the time this paste
requires to CONCEAL. If the milk's spe-
cific gravity at 60 degrees Fahrenheit is
1000 tue mixture will CONCEAL in ten
hours; with % per cent. of water two
hours only will be required; with 30 per
cent. of water, one and one-half hours;
and with - per cent of water, 40 min
utes
An English physician has applied n
stream of hot, dry air to cancerous
growths with the result, at the end of an
hours application, of considerable
shrinkage of the parts thus treated. 1t
is thought that this method of treatment
will prove an important and valuable
discovery.
Recent comparative measurements of
the crania of eminent men and of Grim
inals show that, while capaciouS intel
lect requires large skull, large era
mum is not always attended by high
order of intelligence. The crania of
considerable number of criminals were
found to have a capacity much above the
average.
A recently discovered fossil animal,
AmpAicdHidS .trdgilissimaS, is described
as a monster considerably more than
one hundred feet in length, with spinal
vertebre six feet across, hind legs forty
feet long, and large and powerful tail.
Imagine the monster in life, standing on
its hind legs in the water and catching
its prey with its fore paws, and picture
is presented to the mind from the ages
long agone.
The important part that the most mi
mute things may play in the economy of
nature is shown by study of the migra-
tion of fishes. Large or small, they are
found to frequent waters where their
natural prey may be secured. The food
of the herring consists of shrimps. The
latter exist on almost invisible crustacea,
and these in turn on microscopic crea-
tions. The presence of the microscopic
life attracts the crustacea, to be followed
by the shrimps, the herrings and the
sharks, in the order named.
BY the new system photography which
the American rapid telegraph company
is putting in operation it is claimed that
fifteen hundred words a minute can be
transmitted. The method consists in
passing a strip of paper, punctured with
Geographic characters, through an cleo
trio current, the paper opening and clos
ing the circuit according to the perfora-
tons. The message is received in dots
and dashes by the discoloration of
strip of chemically prepared paper pass
ing under pencil in the circuit at the
receiving end of the wire. The perfora-
tors are in the possession of business
men, who prepare their own messages.
Prof Marsh favors an estimate plac-
ing the antiquity Of man in Europe at
$50 900 years, according to data furnish
ed by study of the phenomena OF the
glacial epoch. There is a strong evil
dence ola yet earlier human existence in
America.
The great map of the moon upon
which DIR. Julius Schmidt, of Athens,
has been at work for twelve years, shows
1856 craters and ring-like formations
ON the lunar surface, and 34S rills and
clefts. DIR. Schmidt estimates that the
number of craters would be increased to
100000 in a complete chart representing
the moon as seen with magnifying
power of six hundred.
THE TELEPHONE AND THE BABY.
A telephone story of American life
has just been repeated to me with an assur
ance of its truth, and as illustrating the
future of Mr.. Bells recent invention:
A proud grandmama, who has just
haan pnODlnfaH IN that hannxy ralafiou