The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1880-10-16
NUMBER 6.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

| Prof. Silyestri fluids that the summit
OF Mount Etna has been lowered abont
| forty feet as result of recent volcanic
activity.
1t is probable that the st. Gothard
tunnel will ere long be illuminated
throughout its entire length by the cleo
trie light
Under favorable conditions, the chest
nut and the oak will live thousand
years. The beech and the ash live less
than half as long.
The attraction of the earth upon a
magnetic needle at its surface has been
found to be about the same as that of q
strongly lnagnetized hard steel bar forty
inches long at a distance of one foot.
"A method Of removing the bark from
trees, when the sap is not flowing, BY
treating the wood with snperheated
| steam, has secured for its inventor a
prize offered by the French Agricultural
Society.
1t has been proposed to utilize the
swift current of rivers by systems of an
chored floats carrying current wheels
connected with dynamo-e1ectric appa-
ratus. The electricity thus generated
might be used for almost every purpose
for which power is required, as well as
for lighting towns
During a late thunderstorm near
London, Eng, great ball of fire was
seen to descend from the clouds into a
lake. After the storm over hundred
dead fish, including two carp weighing
together nty-three pounds, were found
floating on the surface near the spot
where the fre-ball was seen to strike.
| From the Comstoek mines 4,2OO,OO0
tons of water are annually pumped. The
average temperature is 135 degrees Fab
renheit, aud to heat this mass of water
! by artificial means consumption Of 5O,-
| 600 tons of coal yearly would be neees-
sary. The water in some Of the deepest
shafts has temperature of 157 degrees
Fahrenheit.
The northern magnetic pole Of the
earth is at present near the Arctic circle
on the meridian of Omaha. Hence the
needle does not everywhere point to the
astronomical north, and is constantly
variable within certain limits. At San
Francisco it points about II degrees to
the east Of north, and at Calais, Me-, as
much to the west.
One of the emperors of ancient Rome
devised q perfectly secure retreat during
a thunderstorm in the form OF sub
terranean vault of iron. He was proba-
bly, led to this BY thinking of q modesof
keeping out missiles, having no notion
that thin shell Of soft copper would
| nave been quite as effective in resisting
the lightning as the massive iron walls.
The size attained by icebergs is some
times prodigious. From measurements
made upon one, DR.. Hayes estimated it
to contain about q 100000 feet, while
its weight must have been not less than
100000 tons. It was grounded in
water nearly half a mile in depth. What,
then, must have been the thickness and
size of the glacier from which this mass
had become detached
A remarkable solar protuberance
was lately observed by NJ Thollon at tie
Paris Observatory. The protuberanee
rose vertically as thin luminous jet,
moving at the rate of about twenty miles
per second, to a height equal to one
fourth of the suns diameter, or about
215, 900 miles. After rising, it gradually
decreased in brightness, at the same time
enlarging to prodigions dimensions.
A very curious proof Of the identity
Of animal and vegetable protoplasm has
been supplied by Claude Bernard, who
has shown that both are alike sensitive
to the influence of anaestletics. Ex-
posed to ether, a sensitive plant no longer
closed its Leaflets when toiiched. Assim-
ilation and growth, as well as gerlaina-
ton, are arrested by cllioroform. Schut
zenberger has proved that the fresh cells
Of the yeast plant breathe like an aquatic
animal.
The distance required for stopping
railroad trains increases very rapidly
with the increase of speed. In expert
ments made in England, the Westing-
house brake stopped a train moving at
the rate of ALI miles an hour at point
only 4s5 feet distant from the place
where the brake was applied; but when
the speed was increased to 81 miles an
hour the distance run after the appliea-
ton Of the brake was 11a5 feet, and at u
speed of 81 miles an honr the train ran
zoos feet after the brake was applied.
in the performance i'll Paris of Le
Pied de Moasoa, a candles.iek bearing
two lighted candles is brought upon the
stage One Of the characters in the play
blows out the candles, but as he moves
away one of them becomes Iejightea.
The actor again blows ont this light,
when the other one becomes kindled;
and, becoming enraged, the man takes
up the candlestiek and blows flrionsly
without being able to eStinguish the
lights permanently. This effect, which
creates considerable astonishu.ent, is pro-
daeetl by means Of an electric spaiss
from an induction coil, which inhames