The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1880-04-15
SCIENCE AND ART NOTES.

In the Vatican library at Rome there
is book of accounts which records the
fact that between 1886 and 1889 Pope
Sixtus V expended 5,339 scudi (about
$S3 500) to have portion OF The baths
of Diocletian destroyed to their founda-
tions, and that in less than three years
3 100000 cubic feet of masonry were
broken in pieces
Mr.. G. A. AsHBURNER is the authority
for the statement, that since the dis
covery of petroleum by Col. Drake, in
1859, Pennsylvania had produced no to
the end of 1879, not less than 1873 262,-
G39 barrels of crude oil, valued at $780,
700 G72. His theory of the origin of the
oil is that the oil sands are the mere
reservoirs which contain the product of
the decomposition of vegetable and
animal life of the Devouian epoch.
DYNAMITE has lately been put to a
new use. 1t is said that in the Bernese
Oberland this winter the ground is so
hard that before a grave can be dug
great fires have to be made in the
Church.yards to;loOsen the soil, but in
some instances the heat could not pene-
trate sufficiently far, and the grave-dig-
gers had to complete their work with the
aid of dynamite.
The interesting fact may b. noted
that the Cortes has recently demon
strated the existence of glycogen in in
fusoria, having treated them with
iodised serum, the substance with which
Mr. Ranvier proved glycogen to exist
in lympathic cells. This veriies still
further the application of the general
law formulated by Claude Bernard, that
wherever we find nutrition i.c. lie we
lind glycogenesis.
NJ. PERUCHE has invented new
electric candle, which consists of three
carbons, two being cylindrical, 4 mn.
in diameter, and applied to each other.
The third square nm. thick, placed in
the angle formed by the others. The
holders a'e capable of oscillation, the
square carbon being held by a spring in
contact with the others, while no circuit
passes, but when the current begins
takes itsseparate position.
The immense coal fields of the
Chinese Empire are being slowly deyel-
oped, .he superstitions of this strange
people being overcome. In a district
near Ichang, on the Upper Gang-tse-
Kiang, coal-fed extending over
seventy-fve square miles has been
tapped. At Wo-tse kow ten beds of
coal have been discovered one of them,
lying only 100 feet below the surface, is
being worked, and at least, 100000
tons of anthracite have been exposed.
As evidence of the enlightened con-
dition of the japanese as compared with
their neighbors in China, it Is interest
ing to learn that the duplex system of
teegraphy with the Morse instrument
has been in successful working for some
months past OH one of the longest OF the
government lines, that between Goko-
hama, Kobe and Nagasaki.
The French Chambers at the instiga-
CATION of NJ. de Freycinet, have voted a
sum of 600, 900 francs for the sending
of exploring missions into the remoter
parts of AIgiers and Senegal. Their
Immediate object is to trace the lines
of future railways, but the indirect in
huence on the extension of our geo.
graphical knowledge is most important.
THE "damposcope" is the name given
by its inventor to and instrument de-
signed to detect the presence of fire
damp in mines. The principle embodied
in it is that, when tuning fork is
sounded and brought near tube of a
certain length full of air, the tube will
resound to the note produced by the
fork. BY this machine the fire damp in
q mine can be estimated to the amount
of 0.5 per cent. 1t has already been
adopted in some of the miles OF Lanark-
shire, Scotland.
AN ancient mound resembling the
Aztec mounds of the Mississippi Val
lev, has been discovered in Japan. A
scientific examination of the remains
that have been dug up from it furnishes
reason for believing that cannibalism
was practiced by the japanese in pre-
historic times. The human bones that
were found among the bones Of beasts
gave evidence that the flesh upon them
had been cooked, and the marks still
left upon the joints are such as could
have been made only by human teeth.
A KEEN competition promises to take
place between the competitors in India
for the prize of $4,000 rupees for the
best invention, and 5000 for the second
best of machine to work and prepare
the Rhea fiber, which is worth $500 to
$3.50 per ton in England. The judges
will be called upon to describe the pro.
cess and determine if the conditions OF
the Government notification have been
complied with, while the quality OF the
fiber produced will be left to experts at
home.
APAPEE on longevity, by DR.. Richard
son. of England, reminds us of report
made by DR.. G. Beard, of New York, in
1874. He then stated that his researches
led him to conclude: /. That brain
working classes-clergymen, lawyers,
physicians, merchants, scientists and
men of letters-live very much longer
than the muscle. working classes. 2.
Those who follow occupations that call
for both brain and muscle are longer
lived than those who live by occupations
that are purely manual. 8. That the
greatest and hardest brain.wOrkers of
history have lived longer, on an average,
than workers of ordinary ability.
4. That clergymen are longer lived than
other brain-workers. 5. That longevity
increases very greatly with the advance
of civilization, and that this increase Is
too marked to be explained merely by
improved sanitary knowledge.