Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-06-03
Scientific Miscellany.

/ thiCo az VIC aIG CAulpltiOuo III ais,
and the effect upon sculptures was
uniformly pleasing.
Attempts at submarine photogra-
ply have been made with some de-
gree of success. One negative, Sc
cured at depth of several fathoms
beneath the surface of the water,
showed several boulders covered
with sea-weeds, an old anchor, and
mooring cables of three yachts.
A curious and interesting applica-
ton of magnetism has just been OBJ
/ served. By writing upon a thin
plate of hardened steel with mag
nstized iron style, a tolerably per
manent magnetism is communicated
to the parts of the plate covered by
the writing. If iron filings are then
brushed over the plate they will ad-
here to the magnetized portion, rem
dering the writing visible.
NJ. Prot has called the attention
of the French Academy to the fact
that neither insects, scorpions, tar
antulas nor rattlesnakes ore, so far
as his knowledge extends, ever OBJ
SERVED among the absinthe plants
with which large tracts in North
America are covered. This leads
him to suggest that the manuring of
land with absinthe might be fatal to
the development of the grapevine
phylloxera.
1t is we'll known that if long
dry tube, open at both ends, be held
over a jet of burning hydrogen, a
musical sound is produced, the pitch
and quality Of which vary with the
length, thickness and diameter of
the tube. It has been proposed to
adapt such a tube to the safety
lamp used in mines, placing it near
a telephone in communication with
another telephone in the managers
office. The alteration of the sound,
due to greater or less admixture of
gas with the air of the mine, would
warn the manager of the state of the
atmosphere in the workings.
From observations made during
nearly twenty years in a forest in the
Jura, it appears to be proved-first,
that when light strikes the ground
without having been sifted by foil
age, it stimulates the production of
carbonic acid in the soil; secondly,
that the growth of wood is diminished
when the underbrush is 80 thick
and tall as to impede the passage of
sunlight to the soil, and its reflex
action on the branches of the trees;
and, thirdly, that mould in too
great thickness becomes inert, and
thus remains for many years, as is
the case with barDyard manure when
too deeply buried.
The electric light in London is
undergoing thorough test. From
the southern side of Blackfriars
bridge to the eastern end of Cheap
side the thoroughfare is brilliantly
lighted by thirty-two electric lamps,
each replacing FIVE gas lamps.
From London Bridge to the Man
sion House thirty-two electric lamps
are to be substituted for 1873 gas
lamps. The Jablochkoff system,
when first introduced, cost at least
four times as much as gas. The
Brush light, after deducting the cost
of providing and fixing the electric
machinery and lamps and removing
them at tho expiration of the ex-
pertinent, will cost as nearly as pos
sible the same amount as has hither-
to been paid for gas. The Siemens
light. from London Bridge to the
Mansion House, after making a sim
liar deduction, shows a saving for
the year over which the light is to
be maintained of $500 as compared
with gas; whilst the London compa-
MES system remains to be tried.
Gas shareholders are therefore not
unnaturally becoming again alarmed
at the prospect before them.
When the rustic youth-says DR..
Andrew Wilson - lettering along
some lane, comes to a standstill to
contemplate with awe and wonder
the spectacle of a mass of the famil-
lar {" hair-eels" or hair-worms"
wriggling about in q pool, he plods
on his way fully convinced that be
has just witnessed the results Of the
transformation of some horses hairs
into living creatures. And the the
DRY of such Transformation is often
accepted by persons of considerable
culture. The hair-worms certainly
present the appearance of long, del
icate black hairs, which move about
with great rapidity amid the mud Of
pools and bitches. These worms, in
the early stages of their existence,
inhabit the bodies of insects, and
may be found coiled up within the
grasshopper, which thus gives shell
ter to guest exceeding many times
H. - Az - 80, h4ek