Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1880-03-11
SPARKS OF SCIENCE.

y
vast areas of the suns surface at a veloc-
ity two hundred times greater than that
of cannon ball
A TWO HEADED "gopher snake" is on
exhibition in the museum of the Wood
gardens, San Francisco. 1t takes food
indiiferently through either mouth.
THE first friction matches were six
inches long and five cents apiece Con-
siderable prejudice was raised against
their use by their occasional explosion.
DYNAMITE has been tried at Monte
Catillo, near Tivoli, for pulverizing rock
adapted to. the cultivation of the olive,
and the experiment is described rs indi
eating satisfactory result.
EVERYTHING in nature INDUCES in
amusement. The lightning plays, the
wind whistles, the thunder rolls, the
snow flies, the waves leap and the fields
smile Even the buds shoot and the
.1vers run.
In one of a series of photographs of
the moon, taken by Mr.. George Berwick
on very sensitive plates, three well-de-
fined rings around the moon are shown.
The cause of the singular appearance
has not been determined.
The rare and beautiful phenomenon
of the rata m0rgd'1d WIS lately observed
Mt Freiburg, in Breisgaw. While the
sun was shining brightly, the fine pyra-
mid of the cathedral tower was reflected
in the atmosphere just above it's summit,
OF course with the point downward
MEASUREMENTS of trees, taken in Scot
land in the summer seasons of 1873 and
1879, show a growth from ten to forty
one per cent. less during the latter year
than in the former. The mean tempera-
ture of the summer of 1878 was fully five
per cent, higher than in the correspond
Ing period OF 1879.
IF n pound of common salt were di-
vided into half million parts, one such
part would equal a mililgram. The
spectroscope can determine with certainty
the presence of one three millionth part
of a mihgram of salt. Shaping the
leaves of an old book together in the
same room will produce line of yellow
light in the spectroscope, owing to the
dust in the book being full of sodium.
The annual prize of $4,000 francs,
given by the king of the Belgians for
works Of scientific character, is now
offered for the year 1881. 1t will be
awarded the author of the best work on
the means of improving seaports sltuat-
ed upon low aud sandy coasts such rs
Belgian ports. The competition is an in
ternational one, open to all. All works
must be sent to the "Mmistere de Pin
terieur," at Brussels, before January
next
Nh. Il. RUSSELL calls attention to the
fact that the essential conditions required
to enable men to iy to a moderate dis
lance now exist, namely, the means of
conveying force with ease, and, secondly,
the convertbility of force thus conveyed
into the mechanical potation or oscilla-
ton of vanes. {" cannot" says he,
"be wrong III assuming that a steam
engine sending an electrical current
through wires attached to rOtatory APP
paratus might cause the apparatus (bear
ing a man to direct it, to ascend to
considerable height above the earth. 3"
By planting the Eucalyptus, or Aus
trahan fever-tree, In the marshes about
Rome, Garibaldi has reclaimed a large
tract of country which heretofore was
sure death to journey across at night.
The leaves of this tree are used largely
IN California in place of quinine, as an
ague remedy. In Tasmania and Austria
Ia, the natives have used the leaves as
medicine, the fruit as an edible, and the
roots for obtaining from them the water
they contain in such great quantities.
In the dryest parts of that region the
Eucal yptus yields water wherever it
grows.
NJ. LIE Box, the craniologist, makes
some statements which hardly bespeak
for him popularity among the gentler
sex. AS the result of his observations
ard Comparisons he finds tho skulls of
men to be, on the average, 172 grammes
heavier than those of women. He as
selts that while newly-born girl has a
heavier brain than a newly-born boy
an advantage which she rapidly loses
the women of inferior races are relative
~ superior to those Of highly civilized
peoples. In other words woman does
not advance, and consequently the differ
ences between her and man are con-
stantly augmenting If NJ. lie Bon's as
sertions are to be accepted as facts, they
would seem to point to the necessity OF
greater attention to the educational I'M
provement Of women; but the learned
doctor predicts that the abomination OF
desolation will fall on society if women
De removed from the happy Ignorance OF
their domestic earths.
CoNCERSINo the possibility that Sodom
and Ciomorrah were destroyed by mete-
ors, Prof. Proctor writes: 1t can