The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1881-09-11
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY

| Compiled for the Leader.
1t Is estimated that a force OF three
million horse power might be obtained
from Niagara Falls IL it were practice
able to make use of it.
Not only are the Chinese becoming
greatly interested in modern scientific
development but Chinese scholars are
entering into original research.
The death-rate in Paris during the
hot period of July from the 18th to the
2lst rose 80 cent. The average number
of deaths per day In the French capital
varies from u to 125. During the heat
it rose to 1872. There was no epidemic,
but 500 people died In Paris that week
who would have survived II the temp
erature had been normal.
At the Paris electrical exhibition a
great variety of relics Of the instru-
ments used by Galvani, Volta, and 9TH
er pioneers in electrical science are
shown, including a magnet armed by
Calico. There is also included among
the relics an autograph letter from
Volta to Sir Joseph Banks, which con-
tains the first description Of the Voltaic
battery ever written by its inventor.
Large forests of a peculiar tree called
the grease tree" are said to grow In
China, and to have been cultivated to
some extent In India. The grease forms
the source OF a considerable local trade.
1t is believed to be very valuable as a
lubricant. and DR.. Jameson, a chemist
In tho Punjaub, has taken measures to
have its qualities thoroughly tested on
railway machinery especially exposed to
friction. The grease forms an excel
lent tallow, and burns with . clear and
brilliant white light, without emitting
any unpleasant odor of combustion.
A. Renouard has lately experimental
with greasy rags to determine the de-
gree of their infiammability. Cotton
rags saturated with boiled llnseed oil
and placed in a box at a temperature of
ITO degrees F. became heated to $40
degrees and took FIRE in an hour and a
quarter. In another experiment, cotton
saturated with crude oil and kept in a
room of the same temperature, ignited
within five or six hours. Rape-seed oil
caused ignition in ten hours. In a
room at 100 degrees F., cotton mixed
with a little oil burned In six hours.
Castor oil, required more than
twenty-four hours; whale oil, only four
hours; and fish oil, two hours. Sper-
maceti oil, free from slycerine, did not
ignite at all; neither did heavy tar,
coal tar, or slate oils.
The original source and formation Of
coal-oil is a problem which has long
agitated the scientific world. Among
the many theories p%ropeunded a recent
one by Prof. Mendeljeff has attracted
some attention. He believes that vast
reservoirs of inorganic iron and carbon
were formed in the interior of the earth
In its earliest stages of development.
These were reached in time by the
water which condensed on the newly
formed land and ~percolated beneath Its
surface. The heat decomposed the
water into its component elements-ox-
ygen and hydrogen-the first uniting
with the iron to form oxide Of iron, and
the hydrogen combining with the car
bon to produce petroleum and other
hydro. carbons. Vast oceans of petro.
leum must yet exist at the centre Of the
earth, il this theory be the true one.
The claim of DR.. Hahn that he has
discovered fossil animal organisms in
meteorites has excited much discussion
and an eager interest on the part Of
n~aturalists to get at the truth Of the
matter. 1t is asserted that those who
have examined his microscopic prepar-
atoms of these remains have become
convinced of the geneuiness Of this dis.
covery. Charles Darwin, the greatest
of evolutionists, is said to have started
from his seat on viewing one Of the fn-
est of these specimens, exclaiming:
almighty Godl What a wonderful dis
covery. Wonderful" And Is 1t not
wonderful. These fossil remains, found
in a bit Of stone, are a message to us
from the regions Of space, telling of an
exploded world once peopled with these
very organisms in life, and proving,
moreover, that ours is not the only
world in which animal forms have ex-
listed.
1t was recently stated by DR.. Leidy
that the dreaded trichinae was first dis
covered by an English surgeon in 1883,
but Its presence in pork wal first detect.
ed by DR.. Leidy himself in 1910. He
remineds the public for their comfort,
that all food animals are liable to have
parasites, and that the tape-worm has
been conveyed in rare beef; that only
about one hog in ten thousand Is infect.
ed with trichinae; that thorough cook
ing will kill all such parasites and rend-
or them harmless. He thinks it prob
able that the Mosaic prohibition of