The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-02-27
NEW DESIGNS.
SCIENTIFIC NOTES.

Prepared expressly for the ENPoRIA NEWS
An electric log for sailing vessels is
among the late practical applications of
electricity.
Cyclones are observed to sweep across
the vast areas of the suns surface at a
velocity of two hundred times greater
than that of a cannon bail
The International conference on Artic
exploration, which has been in session at
Hamburg, advocates the gradual estab-
lishment of chain of stations towards
the polar regions.
Dynamite has been tried at Monte Ca
tillo, near TivoH, for pulverizing rock
adapted to the cultivation of the olive.
and the experiment is described as indi-
eating satisfactory result
Mr. Henry f. VeEnor claims to be fast
reducing TO rule the principle of recur
ring periods in the weather, and expects
to soon be able to prognosticate the gen
eral behavior of entire seasons.
A large workshop in France has been
lighted during the present winter by
means Of Clamond's thermo-electric
light, the electricity being generated by
the heat used to warm the shop.
In one Of 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 f,tta lnorgaaa was lately observed
at Frciburg, in Breisgaw. While the
sun was shining brightly, the fine pyra-
mid Of the Cathedral tower vas reflected
in the atmosphere just above its summit
Of course with the point downward.
Wasps' nests arc frequently ignited by
some chemical action, supposed to be
that Of the wax upon the paper-likc sub
stances of which the nests are formed.
Spontaneous combustion of this nature is
believed to have been the cause Of the
many mysterious fires in haystacks and
farmers buildings
Measurements of trees, taken in scot
land in the summer seasons of 1873 ana
1879, show growth from ten to forty
one per cent. less during the latter year
than in the former. The man temper
AZURE of the summer Of 1873 was fully
five per cent higher than in the CORE
spending period of 1879
The inhabitants of the Andaman is
lands carry necklaces composed of frag.
ments of the bones of deceased relatives,
while the widows among them are stated
to actually wear the skulls Of their late
husbands on their shoulders. Ina recent |
lecture on Cthnology, Prof Flower exhib
tied the skull OF an Andamese man, to
which was attached very elegant webb |
ed sling by which it had been suspended
from the neck of the widow.
The annual prize of $4,000 francs, Civ
en- by the king Of the Belgians, for works
of a scientific character, is now offered
for tie year 1891. 1t will be awarded
the author of the best work on the means
of improving seaports situated upon low |
and sandy coasts-such as Belgian ports. |
The competition is an international one,
open to all. All works must be sent to |
the "Ministere de L Interieur'' at Brus- |
sells, before January LIST next
Mr.. r. Russell calls attention Il, the
fact that the essential conditions reauir- |
cd TO enable men to fly 10 moderate !
distance now exist-namely, the means |
of conveying force with ease, and. sec |
ondlY, the convertability of force thus
conveyed into the mechanical rotation or
oscillation of vanes. Il cannot" saws |
he, "be wrong in assuming that steam |
engine sending an electrical current
through wires attached to a rotary ap-
paratus might cause the apparatus (bear- |
ing man to direct it TO ascend to a |
considerable height above the earth"
III. lie Bon, the craniologist makes !
some statements which hardly bespeak |
for him popularity among the gentler
sex. As the result of his observations |
and comparisons he finds the skulls of
men TO be, on the average, 172 grammes
heavier than those of women. He as |
serts that while a newly-born girl has a
heavier brain than newIy-born boy
an advantage which she rapidly loses
the women of inferior races are relatively
superior TO those of highly civilized peo-
pies. In other words, woman does not
advance, and consequently the differ
ences between her and man are constant
" augmenting. If II. lie Bon's asser-
lions are to be accepted as facts, they
would seem to point to the necessity of
greater attention TO the intellectual i'm
provement of women; but the learned
doctor predicts that the abomination of
desolatlon will fall on society if women
be removed from the happy ignorance of
their domestic hearths.
Concerning the possibility that Sodom
and Gomorrah were destroyed by me-
teors, Prof. Proctor writes: at can read
lily be shown that Trempers comet, in
whOse track the November metsors trav