Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1880-03-08
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Iure bnan now Delongs 10 any udliVe
tribes, have been found in the interior
of South Africa. Among the remains
are seen workings of ancient mines, some
even of gold, and the ruins of rude for
tifcations. These evidences remind the
great traveller of the African empire. Of
Monomatapa, as mapped on old Portu-
guese charts.
The announcement that Balmain's
luminous paint is soon to be offered
in the market. has aroused much inter-
est in England. The preparation is
based upon the well-known phosphores-
cent property of sulphide of calcium, the
principle being that lately applied to
producing self-luminous clock-dials.
Articles coated with the paint continue
to emit gradually decreasing phospho-
resence for some hours after exposure to
strong light, and it is claimed that
this property will be retained for eight
or ten years. The range of application
of this invention is great, but it must
prove especially valuable in spirit-yaults,
powder magazines, mines, and all places
where ordinary lights can only be used at
considerable risk. It has been sanguine-
ly suggested that the time may come
when gas and electricity will be super
seded by the use Of a coating for walls
which during the day will absorb suAi-
cient light to continue luminous through
out the night.
Carbonic acid, when pure, is most
active and fatal poison, destroying life
and extinguishing fame, not from the
absence of oxygen as is often supposed,
but from the presence of active qualities
which are destructive to life and to COM
bustion. If inhaled pure, instantaneous
death results.
/ The topophone is a new scientific in
strument for determining the direction
from which sound waves come. Aside
from its value in acoustic Investigations,
it must prove practically useful at sea in
locating fog-signals.
A remarkable popularity of the ma
tives of Southern China is that the great
toe of each foot is separated from the
others like the thumb of the hand, and
can be used in much the same manner,
although not to an equal extent.
The surface of Great Salt Lake has
risen eleven feet since 1867. Prof.
King believes this rise to be due not to
the cultivation of the surrounding coun-
try but to climatic oscillation that be-
gan about 1860, and which is the first
of its kind and extent that has occurred
within at least two hundred and fifty
years.
Ammonia, SO useful in agriculture
and the arts, is compound of nitrogen
and hydrogen and for long time some
method of utilizing the nitrogen of the
air in its production has been sought.
The desired result has at last been at
tained by two European chemists, who
cause hydrogen to combine with atmos-
: pheric nitrogen in suitable apparatus by
I the aid of electricity. The economy of
this process remains to be shown.
A quantity of -four was exposed by a
French experimenter to a pressure of
three hundred tons, reducing it to one
| fourth its original bulk. A portion of
it was then placed in cans and sealed,
; the same being done with some Impress
: ed flour. A year afterward the cans
were opened, when the impressed -four
was found to be spoiled, while the press
; ed was in excellent preservation.
A Frenchman has succeeded in max
I ing watch which, in addition to the
time of day, indicates the day of the
week and month and each phase or the
l moon.
Among some mineral specimens from
South American mine, the remarkable
discovery has been made of an ammonite
"a fossil shelly transformed into native
4 silver. Long ago the chemical action
between the shell and the silver ore with
! which it was in contact resulted in the
0 gradual disappearance Of the original
: she'll, metallic silver being deposited in
! its place. ao
8 That certain insects possess power
akin to reason is illustrated by Gleditsch,
; a German naturalist, who relates that he
\ one day spitted toad on a stick which
he fixed upright IN the ground. The
: odor of the decaying body of the reptile
\ attracted number of burying beetles
but as they found they could do nothing
y with the toad while in the air, they
f mined under the base of the stick until
f it fell, when they buried toad and stick
r together. Such an engineering attempt
3 would seem to indicate the presence of a
definite purpose. i
. ->-s-s
e VALUES ARE INoREAsING.- Every
J, relic of the long continued depression
e the seven lean years-now happily gone
e by, is passing away. Prices are advanc.
s ing. and every purchased thing costs
e considerably more than year ago. The
y farmer who values his land and stocl