The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1881-01-29
1oualoson6ille Chief.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Two Dollars a Year.

Paris has " IOHng mems oCithti"o
Society. It holds weekly meetings anu
each member in turn gives u lecture up
on sorns scientific topic.
Trials with the electric light III nav
ignition ut night have lately been rnaa'
an the Rhine. 1t is hoped that the re-
su,ts Of The trials will lead to new
ul,ase in river navigation.
Whereas previous Investigations
have indicated height Of about 2aV
miles 40 the greatest extent OF the earth s
atmosphere. M. Jose J. Landeur ~
recent paper places it at not less than
% 900 miles.
On August l, an international exh'-
bitjon of electricity will open IN Paris.
Every description Of electrical apparatus
will be shown. 1t is considered Hn1'e
probable that the Prince Of Wales Will
&C. "a president OF Tie exhibition.
DIR. Werner siemens has applied cleo
tricity TO the operation Of elevators. HIS,
aystem, which operates through the
transmission of power by the dynamo
electric machine, is as safe rs the ny
lrauIic system, and is claimed to be tar
less costly and inconvenicnt.
A now French appliance is an e'ec-
trio brake which il made to operate on
tho wheel brake by means OF electricity
!, nf
and applied at pleasure. Experiments
thus far made with this apparatus have
been entirely successful.
A rare phenomenon of an inverted
rainbow was Observed at Prhsslan
town on the mor,iing Of November 18th,
Tho ends Of the senicircle, the centre OF
which was tho sun, rose and moved west
wards with the latter for somc thirty
minutes, when the appearance vanished
The experiment Of irrigating lands
IN the neighboflIood of Paris with
water FROM the sewers is said to be work
ing successfully. Sterile tracts OF land
have been converted into tcrtil" plains
while no increase Of sickness among the
inhabitants has followed, rs was appro
hcnded.
-Spoakng, in o recent letter, of Her
sche|s discovery that tho sun is rapidly
,nnying toward u point in the coIsstella
ton Hercules, Prof. Ball, the Astronomer
Rnval for Ireland, told his audience thai
mt the end of tho lecture they would b'
5000 miles nearer to it than they were II
tho beginning.
1t il II fact known to cloth manntac
tuners that vegetable iibcrs mixed will
wooden fbcrs can not be equally spun
dyed or woven together. An Austrian
scientist claims, however, to have dis
covered IL chemical process hy which tl'i
combination Of varying tihcrs may b
rendered amc,ablc to the operation
mentioned.
-Extensivc observations of the anror
horeals have been made in Europe
from the results Of which Herr Tremhol
infcrs that the auror,. is Il local p',enom
cnOn, circumscribed by narrow limit
and manifested ut incnnstlnr;,hic di
tances from the rartll's surface. III
light is usually white, less "itan red I
green That sound often accom-, 'anlf
the aurora Herr Trcmllot believes to |
an indispensable fact.
"A new project is to be tried Tor d
nlinishin. the fogs OF Lnndon. Ey II
plan proposed about 5000 cubic feet
gas would he extracted from each ton
coal burned in the city, The coal l"i,
thus rendered s,uokcicss. The gas wn,ll
lc used for illuminating purposes.
this manner, the perfect combustion
both tho coal and the gas would be q
s,lrcr, and Londoncrs would no long
have an atmosphere thick with particle
of uncons,lmcl carbon.