The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-01-30
SCIENTIFIC NOTES

Prepared Expressly for the EMPoEIA SEEs
Dr. Siemans, the eminent scientist, ha
5 estimated that the entire coal supply O
the world would be required To- furnisi
sufficient power t. pump back the waite
which flows over Niagara Falls in
single year
In the north of England habit OF eth
: er-imbibing is said 10 prevail. As Il
drunk" on snlphuric ether is less ex
pensive than on alcoholic liquids. The
practice is increasing.
A puzzle to scientists is the reniar.s,a
bic persistence of certain cdors. More
than one Thousand years ag, the mortar
used in the construction of the Mosque
OF 81. Sophia, in Consianiinople. was
charged with musk, the perfume Of
which perneates the building 10 this
day.
The first minor planet, or asteroid,
was discovered January LIST. 1851. the
first day of the nineteenth century. Over
NV" hundred of these minute worlds
probably varying from ten TO three hum
| dred miles In diametcr--are now known.
and as everybody is well aware. The
number is being rapidly increased.
Able Moigno regrets the selection. as
the unit of metric measurement of the
ten-millionth of a meridInal quadrant
as the meridians vary in length and the
unit must be an uncertain standard As
better standard he proposes the cubit
oil the great pyramid, which represents
the ten-millionth of the earth's polar
axis Sir John Herschel made this same
suggestion nearly thirty years ago
1t is stated that NJ. de Brazza, who
has charge of an expedition to Senegal,
carries an electric battery in his pocket
communicating with two rings on his
hand, and with other apparatus about
his person. When he shakes hands
with "A savage chief that individual will /
he surprised by an electric shock run. /
ming up his arm, and lightning PLAYING |
about the head of his visitor. He will /
naturally believe the stranger to be the |
devil, and treat him with due respect.
During the excavations now in pro.
gress in the bed of the Rhone, near Gen
eva, many interesting objects, assigned
by arch9ologists to the age of polished
stone, have been unearthed. The most
interesting OF these relics is scraDer of
jade, highly finished and as perfect as
when it left the hands of the workman.
As the mineral is found in natural
state only in Asia, the learned archaolo-
gists are earnestly trying to learn how
Inc instrument found was transported to
he Rhonc gravel ut Geneva Was Jade
ever an article of trade between the east
md the west in prehistoric times? A
of the problem is calculated to
hTow much light on the habits of GER
ain prehistoric peoples.
Meteorological observations have nov {
become so extended that evidence is rap-
dly accommodating to enable us to de- I
ermine positively the source of the cold '
erial waves which sweep across our {
ountry during the winter season. The
Indications are that we owe them 10 the d
reat area of high barometer in north I
astern Siberia, where the pressure some c
ines exceeds 3l.50 inches, and the TEN !.
erature falls as low as 20 degrees below a
Gro. The pole of greatest cold is IN the fl
of Yokutsk, on the Lena, a
here the average thermometrIc reading II
January Is Al degrees below zero, and Il
here the scverest cold exceeds by 10 il
agrees that experienced in high arctic d
'glons. This is also the region of the " y,
lghest barometFic pressure known in h
inter, and from it doubtless proceed ! W
e waves of intense cold which play so IL
rye a part in our winter experiences. Il l