The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1880-09-11
VOL 5.
POPULAR SCIENCE.

LIZ. ben1Amln ward Richardson, who
is given to somewhat hasty and wide gen.
civilizations on insuficiently isolated,
imperfectly observed, and very few in
stances, has this to say about cases in
which persons have lived long time in
water: "The facts of these examples,
painful as they are, are not without their
use. They indicate that, water being
admitted into the body, life may go on
for periods far beyond any that might be
expected, and they expose altogether the
fallaey about the value of alcohol, when,
with large quantities of water, it has
been administered as supposed life
sustaining food" Unfortunately for
DR.. Richardson's conclusion, at the end
of the recent alleged instance of q forty
day fast in New York, although no alco-
hol was used while the deyitalizing
process was going on, the person who is
said to have totally abstained from food
other than water and carbonic acid for so
long time took not little, but great
deal of wine for his stomach's sake and
for his complete restoration TO health.
NJ. Marcel Duprez has just brought
out, says The Nature, new electric
motor in which q piston of soft iron is
attracted up and down in a hollow cylin.
dricsl electromagnetic coil with motion
like that of an ordinary steam engine
| piston. The main principle is not new,
| and it has been utilized by other inven-
tors, but, unlike the other practical
attempts to embody it, there is no re-
version or interruption Of the magnetism
of the soft iron core or piston Of the
Duprez machine. This improvement
has been effected by dividing the
solenoidal coil into sections, like the
separate coils of the ring armature of the
Gramme machine, the current being
thus transmitted FIRST to one part of the
| cylindrical coil and then to another.
The commutator which distributes the
| current successfully to the various sec
tions is worked by an eccentric on the
shaft of the fiy-wheel in the usual way,
but the lead" does not require to be so
much as quarter revolution.
NJ. Jansen communicated the follow
| ing note to the French, Academy of
| Sciences on July 8 (Gomptes Re5adus,
No. /, 1SSO): By pursuing the method of
reversing images by prolonged exposure,
which I announced to the Academy at
| its last session but one, it seems to me
that we may succeed in obtaining pho.
| tograph of the chromoscope. The lumi-
nous solar action must be continued long
enough to become positive to the borders
without going beyond them. The chro-
| mosphere then appears in the form of o
black circle, the diameter of which COR
responds to eight seconds or ten seconds.
have compared positive and negative
solar photographs obtained the same day
with the same instrument, and the mea-
sure of the diameters show that the
black circle in question is clearly outside
the disk of the sun.
G.. LeBow and g. Noel find the smoke
Of tobacco contains hydrocyanic acid. an
alkaloid as poisonous as nicotine, and
various aromatic principles. The
alkaloid has pleasant odor, but it is
dangerous to inhale, and it has proved
fatal to animals in doses of about the
twentieth of drop. They consider it
identical with collidine, the existence of
which has been traced IN the products of
the destructive distillation of several
organic substances.
A now torpedo boat, built in England
for the Italian Government, is mainly
constructed after the Lightning type
Its chief peculiarly is the arrangement
of its two tunnels. They are placed well
/ aft, and can be lowered so as to discharge
the smoke and sparks on the water, thus
greatly lessening the probability of being
discovered by vessel about to be at
tackled.
The difference of the intensity of two
lights is better observed when they are
burning near each other at the same
time than when they are exhibited il
succession, because, as Mr.. Charpentiel
notes, the differential sensation of the
eye is seven to eight times stronger il
the latter case than in the former, il
which it is not more than 1-100th part.
It is estimated that the coal fields o.
India extend over an area of 81, ,00(
square miles. Some of the seams ar,
100, 12O and 160 feet thick. Mr.. Oldham
believes there are not less than 10000,
tons of coal in that Empire.