The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-03-05
sCIEETIFTe NOTES

hat is scarcely visible By daylight, but
which stands ont in startling relief in
The dark.
1t is claimed by an Italian botanist
that the perfumes of plants and flowers
exert a healthful influence upon the at
mosphere by creating ozone, and thus
adding to its oxidizing effect His ex-
periments indicate that no ozone is pro-
duced by inodorous plants.
The eminent Berlin physicist, Prof.
Siemens, lately prophesied that "the en-
ergy of the solar rays, manifested in cur
rents of air or in falls of water, may,
by and by, through the electric current,
furnish all heat necessary, and render us
independent of ordinary fuel"
In South Africa the curious phe-
nomenon is observed of riyer-the Zoo
ga-whieh flows at one time to the east
at another to the west This explana-
ton is given by an eminent traveller and
explorer: When the shallow Lake
Ngama is filled up by the streams fall
ing into it from the west, its waters pass
through the Tooga to the salt lakes on
the east, but when these streams do not
pour in such an amount of water the
level of the lake becomes very low, and
the Zooga, often largely increased in
volume from the overlooking salt lakes,
sends its waters into Lake Ngama.
a diver engaged in submarine opera
tons is constantly exposed 10 The risk of
suffocatiOn through the entangling and
crushing of the tube by which the air
reaches him from above. \ new appar-
atus has been exhibited in London by
means of which the divers oxygen is al
ways carried about his peis son, enabling
him to breathe an hour or more without
connection with the external air. An
| ordinary divers suit is worn, the lair
food being enclosed therein. DR.. b. w.
Richardson is very enthusiastic over the
new process, the secret of which the in
ventor has not yet revealed. fits claims
are sustained, it certainly must prove
very valuable.
An exceedingly simple test for butter
has been communicated to the Belgium
Academy When heated IN shallow
vessel to a temperature between one hun
dred and fifty and one hundred and sixty
degrees, artificial butter produces very
little froth, but the mass undergoes a
sort of irregular boiling, accompanied
by violent jerks, which tend to project
] Of l,a Int Of
Tie Gaseous matter separates in brown
clots on the sides, while the fatty portion
of the sample retains Its natural color
Natural butter, on the other hand, sim
ilarly heated, produces abundant froth
the jerks are light, and the mass take:
on uniform brown color.
"If asked, +" says Prof. TyndalI, "wheth
er science has solved, or is in our day
likely to solve, the problem Of the uni
! verse, must shake my head in doubt
Behind and above and around US tn,
real mystery of tie universe lies unsolv
? ed, and, so far as we are concerned, i
incapable of solution. The problem O
. the connection of the body and the sou
5 is as insoIuble in its modern form as
was in the pre-scientific ages. Their
, ought to be clear distinction made be
tween science in the state of hypothesi
|. and science in the state OF fact; and in
d asmuch as it is still in its hypothetica
stage, the ban of exclusion ought to fal
$ upon the theory of evolution"
r The largest land animal which
known to have existed on the globe la
a been described by Prof Marsh. It's name
l. AtldHtOsdurus imDaaHis. The thigh bon
II Of the monster is over eight feet lonl
: with thickness at the largest end c
d twenty five inches. 4 comparison of tn
5, bone with the fcmur of a crocodile woul
l. indicate that the fossil saurian, If of sin
Il liar proportions, had n total length I
f one hundred and fifteen feet. That I'll
N reptile was at least one hundred feet Ion
~ when alive is probable. The other bon,
~ of the animal which have been foun
IS are 'proportionately gigantic. Oh
ii of the caudal vertebre measures mo-
~ than sixteen inches in transverse diar
in eter.
It Somebody has ascertained that
y smallpox poor people are pitted less tn;
,g the rich, and no classes are pitted und
their dress. Poor people have less lig
d; in their homes than the rich, while u
~ "a der The dress ihcre is of course lit
40 light in any case. The explanation, F.;
Its cording TO this observer, is q scienti
ly one. The sunlight consists of three p
IL mary colors. The red, the blue and t
yellow rays have distinct and charact
istic properties; the red gives heat, t
yellow gives light, and the blue gives
at tinism or chemical effect. Now, the p
ne ne of variolar pustuies absorbs, by its y
= low medium, the actinic rays, which
he suits in corrosion of the tender flesh
lat the base, thus leaving pits.
All At late meeting of the Liverpool /
tie giHeeFing Society a paper was re
rec touching the probable exhaustion of I
aays coal supply, in which the author ad
ed Gated the substitution of the tides a,
ire producer of motion which would O
y IlNal all olh0t souICeS VI heCHdHl
~, power. This opinion is shared by
of other English writer. A compressed
nd chamber filed by the tide at Bright
MS for instance. would, he is confident, I
we we an atmospheric railway from that pl
ich to London. If the tides could be Il
lily utilized, all English railways and fac
oSt ries, in fact al the work done by
e a steam engine, could be performed
in them. Be this as it may, the extent
lar application Of the plan must be limi
'ar, in countries where power is required
of distance from tide-waters.
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