The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1881-02-27
scIKsTIFIC MISCELLANY
Compiled for the Leader.

eleven year cycle in the occurrence Of
great financial panies corresponding to
the sun spot period; 1t is believed to be
well established that a relation exists
between the activity of the SUMS pho
tosphere and electrical activity on the
earth. 1t has beer shown through a
long series of years that the periods of
magnetic variation coincide with the
period of sun spots; not rigidly, but
sufficiently close to prevent the proba-
bility Of a chance connection. In one
case at least, when observers have been
looking at the sur through telescopes,
and have recorded the exact instance of
solar activity, the magnetic needles over
the earth were violently affected, rigid
ly pointing out a new meridian. Auro-
a were noted, even in southern lati-
tudes. Telegraph lines refused to work,
and shocks were given to the operators.
In a recent note to the French acad-
envy, NJ. j. Seure announced some very
successful experiments in the preserva-
tion OF meat by dextrine. He exhibit
ed three specimens of meat which had
been perfectly preserved by dextride for
the space of twenty months.
NJ. Mercadier has devised a form OF
electric lamp suitable for the produc-
ton Of intermittent luminous signals.
1t is operated by a cam, which sepa-
rates the carbons at each revolution.
The cam is turned by clock work, for
regular signals, or by hand, at a yaria-
BILE rate, for the irregular ones
News from Cairo states that TO the
north Of Memphis, near Saggarah, two
pyramids have been discovered which
were constructed by kings of the sixth
dynasty, and the rooms and passages OF
which are covered with thousands OF
inscriptions. The discovery is said to
be of great scientific Importance.
A public chemical labatory has been
opened in Paris for the analysis Of any
substance used for food. The fees are
moderate, varying from five to twenty
francs.
Prof. Maska that among
the remains Of posteriary animals (such
al the mammoth, rhinocerous. horse,
lion and hyena) found in the Schipka
cave. near Stramberg, in Moravia, the
jaw bone Of a supposed diluvial human
being has been discovered. 1t was i'm
bodied in the immediate vicinity Of a
spot where carbonized animal bones,
stone implements, and bone utensils
were found. The Jaw bone is of colos-
sal dimensions.
A medical gymnasium was lately
opened in Paris, having been built at a
cost of 100000. Physicians find it at
times very desirable to give special ex-
ercise to certain muscles Of the body,
and for this purpose about seventy-ive
mechanical c~ontrivances Of different
descriptions have been arranged in a
series Of rooms. The greater number
of these are worked by a steam engine,
and all of them can be graduated by
screws, 70 that the extent, duration,
and velocity or motion can be regulated
according to the direction of the physi-
clans.
There are at present sixty-five geo.
graphical societies in the world. The
Oldest is at Paris, and was founded in
1921.
DIR. Siemens claims that wherever
strength and magnitude are both re-
quired, the use Of steel is without a
rival. He asserts that even for an Or
binary house, steel gives more security
than wood, is six to eight times as
strong, and costs less. He thinks that
ere the lapse of many years steel will
be introduced into buildings of all
kinds, and that it will gradually sup
plant iron, in the same way that iron
already tends to take the place of wood.
Where the tide moves in all at once
from the ocean the phenomenon is
called an eagre or bore. According to
Dana, the most perfect examples are
found at the mouths of the rivers Am
azon, Hoogly lone Of the mouths of the
Ganges), and Tsientang, in China. In
the case Of the last mentioned river,
the wave plunges on like an advancing
cataract, four or five miles in breadth
and thirty feet high, and thus passes up
the stream to a distance of eighty
miles, at the rate Of twenty-five miles
an hour. The change from ebb to flood
tide is almost instantaneous. Among
the Chusan Islands, just south of the
bay, the tidal currents run through the
funnel shaped firth with a velocity of
sixteen miles an hour. In the eagre
OF the Amazon, the whole tide passes
up the stream in FIVE or six waves, fol-
lowing INT another in rapid succession.
and each twelve to fifteen feet high.
Just before his death, the late Prof.
Watson, of the Wisconsin, University,
was engaged in the experiment of gaz.
ing at the stars down cellar, on the
principal that stars a be seen at noon
day from the bottom of a deep we'll.
He built his new observatory over a
cellar twenty feet deep, into which the
light of the heavenly bodies was thrown
down a large tube from reflectors on a
neighboring hill.
The colossal bronze staue of Victory
which stands in the park at Lowell,