The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-03-27
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.


To neutralize the sting of gnat or
mosquito rub the part affected with
little cerumen; that is, the wax of the
ear.
An effort is making to secure tele-
graphic communication between Paris
and the principal cities of France by a
system of underground wires.
We hear sound furthest Just before
storm, when the atmosphere Is light
est. Two reasons are given for this
phenomenon: one is, that the air being
moist, has more than its normal con-
Quoting power; the other is that the
low lying strata of clouds confine the
sounds to the earth.
The ILIaSstrirte Zeitung gives the
following statistics concerning the tele-
graphic wires of the world: Those Of
Europe measured at the close of 1873,
76o, 1856 English miles; those of America,
ia, 157; Asia, 1921; Astralia, 1852,
and Africa, 8,14S. The Geographic net
that embraces the world comprises,
therefore, 9So,170 English miles, or
1,5l3, 683 kilometres.
The Wanted superiority of English
over American steel rails does not seem
to be borne out by the facts. OF the
American rails laid on the Pennsylva-
mia Railroad and used from 1858 to
1873, but 6.26 per cent. were removed
in that period. OF the English rails
laid from 1864 to 1876, when their pur-
chase ceased, 1927 per cent. were re-
newed. On the Philadelphia, Whining
ton & Baltimore Line, American and
foreign rails seem to wear about equal
ly well.
"A few days ago a man was digging
in the earth near Norwalk, Conn,
when he came upon what he supposed
from its worn, corrugated appearance,
to be an old six-pound cannon-ban. On
taking it to town, it was decided by q
gentleman familiar with such matters
to be a genuine @rolite, composed
largely of magnetic iron, and probably
OF recent origin. At the suggestion Of
a bystander, the operator at a tele-
graph office attached the wires of his
battery to it so as to form circuit,
when it instantly threw out shower of
sparks and gave forth loud humming
sound, similar to that heard in plan
ing-mill. The specimen is to be sent
to the Smithsonian Institute at Wash
ington. ... .. Co.
1t is great convenience to know
the comparative value of different kinds
OF wood for fuel. Shellbark hickory is
regarded as the highest standard of our
forest trees, and calling that 100, other
trees will compare with it for real value
as fuel for house purposes as follows:
Shellbark hickory, 100; pignut hick-
DRY, 80; white oak, "a; white
ash, n; dogwood, Is; scrub oak, 10;
white hazel, y; appletree, 20; red oak,
81; white beech, 65; black birch, 81;
yellow oak, 60; hard maple, SO; white
elm, 5S; red cedar, Sc; wild cherry, So;
yellow pine, "a; chestnut, 50; yellow
poplar, 81; butternut and white birch,
43; white pine, so. 1t is worth bearing
in mind that in wood of the same spe-
cieS there is great difference, accord
ing to the soil on which they grow. A
tree that grows on wet. low, rich
ground will be less solid and less dura-
BILE for fuel, and, therefore, of a less
value than tree of the same kind that
grows on dry poor soil. To the ordi-
nary purchaser oak is oak, and pine is
pine, but for house use the tree grown
on dry upland, and standing apart from
all others, is worth great deal more.
The vast cavities in the sun which
we call "spots" are not solid things,
but rather rents in that bright cloud
surface of the sun which we call
photosphere, and through which we
can look down to lower regions. Their
shape may be rudely ikened to fun
mel with sides at first slowly sloping
and then suddenly going down into the
central darkness. This central dark
ness has itself gradations of shade, and
cloud forms may be seen there obscure
ly glowing with reddish tinge far
down its depths, but we never see any
solid bottom, and the hypothesis of
habitable sun far within the hot sur
face is not utterly abandoned. 1t has
been observed that portions of the
bright general surface of the sun have
been drawn into a spot, much as any
floating thing would be drawn into a
whirlpool, and then. though the sur
face portion may occupy by measure
ment over 100000 miles in area,
completely break up and change so as
to be unrecognizable in less than twen-
ty minutes. These observations show
that the actual motion must be rapid al
most beyond conception, speed of
from twenty to fifty miles'a second be-
ing of common occurrence and very
often exceeded.