The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1880-08-22
-scrExrIvIC ~nIscELLAxY,


SCIENTIFIC MIsCELLANY.
Compiled Cor the Leader
A Partisan ophthalmist has invented
n lens with q variable focus
Experience has shown the average
life OF submarine telegraph cables 10 be
10 or ~ years.
Gunpowder In contact with metals
Is found 10 undergo considerable de-
composition in the course of years, by
which change its power Is much dimin-
ished.
Ladies' who are threatened with bald
ness ON top Of the head can sometimes
arrest the misfortune by clipping on the
hair on the top OF the head and brush
ing II smooth, 80 as not to show the
shingling.
Carbonic acid in n liquid form has
been found In the pores OF the Uralian
amethyst. The pressure which must
have been exerted 10 liquefy the car
bonic acid Is estimated ut s~eventy-three
atmospheres.
The German African society has at
present not less than six different expe-
ditions engaged in exploring Central
| Africa. Add TO this the work being
performed by others In the same field,
and 1t may well seem that the dark
continent" must soon give up some Of
Its secrets.
II has been estimated that n single
pair OF Cyclops qiadricornis, a micros-
copic c-rusracean, will produce n pro-
geny numbering 1900, 5000 in the
course OF six monthsl This Is, how
ever, but one OF many marvels which
the microscope has shown in the I'M
seen world about us.
Among the ANIMALS inhabiting the
bottom Of the Caspian Sea are found
several species having well.developed
organs Of sight. This Ia taken Is al in
dication that sven at great depths light
is not completely absorbed, ms in total
darkness the eyes OF animals are reduc-
ed to n r~udimentary form.
Two eggs Of the extinct great aux
were recently sold by auction In Edin-
burgh, one at .elO0. and the other ut
1O2 guineas. The latter is probably the
largest sum ever paid for n single egg,
with the exception OF That OF the moa,
a single specimen Of which was sold nj
the same place in 1856 for GOO.
Experiments have proved that wood
en posts put In the ground in the posi-
ton rs that In which they grew, top up
wards, will become rotten several years
sooner than they would II placed top
downwards in the soil. The theory is
that the capillary tubes in the tree are
80 adjusted as TO oppose the rising mois-
ture when the wood is inverted.
The mixture used by Mr.. Hannay in
the production Of his first artificial dia-
monds consisted Of ninety per cent Of
rectiGed bone-oil, ten per cent of par
ATTN spirit, and four grams Of lithium.
These substances were placed in a tube
four inches In diameter, with n bore Of
half m inch, and after the open end
had been securely welded up the tube
was exposed to n red heat for fourteen
hours.
In n communication TO the British
royal society Of literature, Mr.. J. w.
Redhouse combats the generally accept
ed theory that the Aryan races OF man
kind originated in the Pamier highlands
Of Central Asia, spreading in a north
westerly direction into Europe, and
southwesterly into India. He believes
that the polar regions, which at one
time possessed n tropical temperature,
formed the original home Of man.
Copper is widely diffused over the
face Of the earth, and man has for many
ages adapted 1t to his wants. 1t was
one Of the most important articles Of
commerce OF the Ph~oenicians, who de-
rived n large supply from the mines Of
Nubia,-that ut one time supplied the
whole OF the known world.-and CON-
bined with It the tin obtained from the
islands Of Great Britain. It was used
by some Of the northern nations Of Eu.
rope in the fabrication Of weapons, at O
period and under circumstances when
steel appeared TO be more precious than
gold. This has been Illustrated In Den
mark by the opening Of many Scandin'