Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-07-02
SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

All the railway companies of Great Bril-
tain have pledged themselves to send loco
motives to the typical exhibition soon to
be held at Newcastle in honor of the GEN.
tenary of Stephenson.
Prof. John Tyndall has been reelected
Professor of Natural Philosophy in the
Royal Institution of Great Britain, of
which the Duke of Northumberland is
President and Warren De La Rue is Sec
rotary.
For the first time Europeans have &C.
complished the journey from Bahmo into
China SO far as I-chan-fu, on the Yang tse-
Kiang, ON March 14th of this year. The
explorers were Messrs. Henry Soltan and
j. W. Stephenson, of the China Indian
Mission, and the time occupied by them
in completing the journey was about four
months.
Admitting that the winds cause shock
like vibrations in telephone lines of com.
munication, and so disturb at times the
distinctness of messages transmitted, M.
A. Giraffe thinks that remedy for such
perturbations can be found by causing the
telephones to speak by electric action of
sufficient power to completely subdue &C
cidental currents produced in the wires.
A scientific voyage to the whale fishery
of Vadso, on the east coast of Finmark, is
to be superintended by NJ. Pouchet, who
has obtained the use of the steam advice.
boat Coligny for that and other purposes.
The marine fauna and flora and the rocks
of the Veranger Fiord, in the northeast of
Norway, will be carefully examined, and
an effort will be made to settle certain
questions with regard to the biology OF
fishes.
In compliance with the requirements OF
the British Merchant Shipping Acts, the
tonnage of vessels is ascertained by meas.
uring the whole space which the hull OF
any craft may contain, and then finally
deducting certain quantities Any of the
ordinary pocketbooks for civil engineers
will give the exact details. The acts
named above are not very remarkable for
clearness and precision of expression, aud
a bill has lately been introduced in Parlia-
ment declaring that it is the intention OF
the statutes that nothing be included in
the deductions that has not been first in.
cluded in the measurement
To determine the facial angle, new and
simple instrument has been made by G. M.
Atkinson. a needle is inserted and fixed
in the center of each optic opening, and
both needles are connected by an axle with
fiat ends which slide upon the needles.
An index pointer in the same visual hori-
zontal plane is attached to the middle OF
the axle. A bar carrying a semicircular
protractor is constructed to be affixed at
the center point of the protractor so as to
move freely in a vertical plane alongside
the index pointer. If this bar protractor
be placed in position on the skull SO as to
touch the ophryon and alveolar points, the
number of degrees in the facial angle will
be indicated on the protractor by the
pointer.
Long ago it was customary for the men
employed at railway stations to convert
unoccupied spaces of ground near the sta.
lions into flower beds. The taste and skill
displayed melted people N the neighbor.
hood to try what they also might do with
the unsi Chilly and unused pieces of rocky
ground near their dwellings. In short
time the country all round the stations
underwent sort OF transformation, and a
study OF botany, in which book knowledge
and actual practice went hand in hand,
was greatly promoted. In this country
likewise on few OF the great lines OF rail
road there are some stations that present
magnificent displays of Horticulture, which
are grateful relief to the eye of the weary
traveller and source of elevating enjoy
ment to those who produced them.