The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-05-14
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY

4h. tict, vi tut IfcUcH ACADEMY
has determined ths value of different
Substances in manure for bccts TO be III
the following order: let, phosphori,
acid 2nd, magnesia; Sd, lime; 4th
potash; 9th, soda; 9th, nitrogen.
The great map Of the moon complet-
ed by DIR. Julius Schmidt, of Athens
after twelve years of labor, shows 32. S5f
craters and ring-like formations on the
surface, and clefts. DR.. Schmidt esti.
mates that the number would be in.
creased TO 100, 900 craters in complete
chart, showing the moon as seen with a
magnifying power of six hundred.
A French physician, who has studied
the effects of turpentlne on some three
, hundred painters, ,sarrived at the conclr.
sion that the Injurious effects produced
! by turpentinc fumes can never be sufIi-
cienty severe to cause death unless
T, they are contained ina very confined
space. With good ventilation no fear
need DO entertained of fatal effects from
this cause. ''~ ''I l'7
Toughened glass seems to be capable
of a great variety of applications. Glass
railway sleepers have already been tried
and now an English manufacturer pro.
poses using this material for drain and
water pipes, as well as for transparent
bricks and several other articles.
A Berlin inventor has produced new
kind OF cloth, consisting principally or
entirely ofsponge.
BY means of relays, it is stated that
London has been placed in direct CON-
mnnication with Calcutta, over 1000
miles of wire.
The forests of the globe are estimated
to cover about one-fifth of the land sur
face.
Some time ago Prof. ID. E. Hughes
noticed that when iron or steel wire
was immersed in acidulated water for
even few minutes only it became ex-
cessively brittle, and that this effect
was invariably produced upon all kinds
OF iron or steel. lie has since perform
ed some experiments to learn the cause
OF this phenomenon, and has become
convinced tina. it arises from the absorb
ton of hydrogen by the wire. He,
therefore, calls the product "hydrooen-
lied iron" Another observer has
proven the curious fact that, notwitb-
standing the brittleness produced. the
tensile strength of the wire remains un.
affected. When the hydrogenized wire
is heated the hydrogen is expelled, and
Mr.. Roberts finds that the quantity of
gas thus evolved amounts to twenty
times the volume of the wire. It is ex-
pected that useful applications NAV be
made of this new compound.
During last winter, whenever zone
OF high barometric pressure covered
France, it was found to be warmer at
the mountain station of the Puy-de-
Dome observatory than at the Clarmont
station, which is $500 feet lower. This
remarkable fact is attracting much at
tention from meteorologists. ....s...
1t is reported that in the Azores the
entrance of smoke into conservatories
has been found to hasten the Towering
of certain plants.
In the height of the season, queen
bee lays from 1900 to 5000 eggs in
twenty-four hours.
1t has been a quite general belief that
extremely cold winters exert a power-
ful effect in reducing the numbers of in
sects, but observations during the last
two years show that cold produces little
A tube of "Cantons phosphorus
or sulphidc of calcium, prepared more
than century ago, is found to be still
capable of phosphoresccnce. As it is to
this substance that the phosphorescent
of the new luminous paint
are due, the durability of the latter
seems to be thus assured. -4.a.tf
To illustrate a recent lecture, Mr..
Isaoul Pictet coined medallion weigh
ing thirty-three pounds from frozen
quicksilver. ...
In a recently published work, Count
d'Ursel asserts that in Bolivia, Peru
and other South American countries, he
has met with an insect which after its
death is transformed into plant. lie
describes and figures this creature as a
thick, hard grub, with distinct articula-
tions. When about to die it buries
itself in the earth, and there gradually
increases in circumference until it pre-
sents an appearance somewhat similar
10 that of u potato. A stem is them
put forth, which in the spring months
bears a crop of blue flowers. 'iel"
Under the auspices of the King of the
Belgians an establishment is tobe form
ed in Eastern Africa for the capture and
training of elephants. aiI E-a1
DIR. Carpenter considers it possible
that at some remote geological period
a connecting strip of land may have
existed between Europe and America,
and that New Zealand, Tasmania and
South America may have been linked
together by rides of dry land, while
Madagascar may have been joined in
similar manner to the African conti-
nent. Biologists have supposed that
great continent, which they have call
ed Atlantis, once existed between
Africa and America, but DR.. Carpenter
regards the evidence, of it as very un-
satisfactory. - y" 700 '""