The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-03-09
sCINTILLATIONS OF SCIENCE.

The railway through the st. Gothard
Tunnel will, it is thought, be open for
traffic by the LIST of October, this year.
DR.. Wynne proposes the introduction
of an automatic switch in "a telephone
circuit, so that any one in connection
with telephonic exchange may com.
munieate with any other person, SINH
larly connected, without the Intervention
Of an assistant at the central Office.
The microphone has been successfully
employed by Prof. Milne OF Toxic, Japan,
to announce the premonitory signs of an
earthquake. He places the instrument
in pits remote from roads, and he is care
full also to exclude all insects, the move
ments Of which would, of course, affect
the indications and lead to false infer
enees.
The brilliant experiments and i'm
portant discoveries, heretofore noted in
this column, Of Mr.. Crookes, the editor
Of the Chemical News, in molecular
physics. and radiant matter, have won
substantial recognition from the most
eminent scientific organization in the
world. They have been awarded an ex-
traordinary prize of 5000 francs by the
French Academy of Sciences.
An improvement on the Plante vol
taic condenser is reported to have been
effected by M. D'Arsonval. The modif-
cation, which stores up a much larger
quantity Of electricity than the original
appliance, consists in forming a coupleof
plate of zinc and plate Of coke sur
rounded by finely granulated lead i'm
mersed in concentrated solution of sui
phate Of zinc. A layer of mercury is
also substituted for the zinc
The Engineer states, that the designs of
the Forth bridge-a much more daring
undertaking than the Tay bridge-are to
be- reconsidered, and that it is, very
doubtful if the gigantic scheme, as at
present conceived by Sir Thomas Bouch,
will be carried out. 1t proceeds to re-
gret that more pains were not taken to
elicit from large number Of engineers
designs for the crossing of the Forth es-
tuary, for not until more substantial
structures are proved to be impossible
should suspension bridge for railway
traffic be permitted. To hang up from
towers considerably higher than St.
Paups Cathedral two huge spans Of six
teen hundred feet may be very grand
scheme, but hardly one to be risked with
out urgent need.
Language saysProf. A. H. Sayce,
"enabled man to create and record ideas ;
the pictures he made were pictures of OBJ
iects. Until he couldrepresent the eye
ideas as we'll as objects, his writing was
poor affair indeed. 1tisonly by cour-
tesy that it can be called writing, at all.
But a time came whensa great step. for
ward was made. The ideas had to be
supplied when combining the pictures of
several objects into a story gradually
came to be read into the pictures them
selves. A pair Of legs, for instance, came
to signify not only mans legs, but the
ideaiof walking as well. Writing began
to pass out of the infantile stage; to cease
to be merely. pictorial, and to become
The criticism by Prof. Rowland of the
much discussed theory of terrestrial mag
netism lately advanced BY Profs. Ayrion
and Perry has led to a modification of
their views They admit, that, the Balti-
more Professor had disclosed to them an
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