St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1881-03-19
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

""sheu ashore by the Lena
' n.Ser IN 1893, it is remarkably we'll
preserved, the skin being unbroken aud
covered with long hair.
Aiter a cruise of few months in the
south Pacific Ocean, q French man-of-
war was recently found to have speci-
mems OF living coral growing upon it's
num- which interesting discovery has
thrown some light on the question of
the rapidlty of growth of corals. The
evidence tends to show that the vessel
Oh passing reef of the Gambler Is
'ahas' against which it rubbed, had
PICKED up young .tungia, which adj
hereo TO the sheathing of the ship, and
grew to the size and weight it had when
ooserved-a diameter of nine inches
and weight of two and one-half
pounds-in nine weeks.
An Australian correspondent fur
nishes interesting proof of the provi-
dent and far-seeing instinct of bees.
Last year the drought in New South
wales was of long duration, and the
denlzens of the apiaries suffered much
from 1T. This year the bees have made
provision against similar emergency
by filling large number of the exter-
nal cells in every hive with pure water
instead of honey. 1t is believed that
the instinct of the insects leads them to
anticipate hot summer and to provide
against it.
By means of newly improved pumps,
it is possible to secure vacuum so
nearly perfect that given space will
contain not more than the hundred
millionth of its normal quantity of air.
The Journal dc PhysiQue-long edited
by NJ. d'Almeida, lately deceased-nar-
rates this interesting episode: During
the investment and siege Of Paris by
the German armies in 1901 M. DIAL
media took a prominent part in certain
attempts to re-establish telegraphic
communication between Paris and the
provinces, using the River Seine as a
conductor. This suggestion originated
with M. Bourbouze (of galvanometer
fancy, who was, after the war, created
a chevalier for his suggestion. 1t was
proposed to send powerful currents into
the River Seine from batteries at the
nearest available point outside the Ger
man lines, and to receive in Paris, by
delicate galvanometer, from the river
such portion of these currents as
might not have leaked into the earth.
After some preliminary experiments, it
was decided to make the attempt, and
accordingly on Dec. II, 1870, NJ. d'Almei-
da was despatched by balloon to the
provinces in order to try to establish
this novel mode of telegraphy without
wires. The balloon decended after sun
dry perils in the Arcadian solitudes
of Champagne outside the Prussian
lines. Thence lie proceeded to Havre,
where he was compelled to wait for the
arrival of apparatus from England
Tho instruments were conveyed te
Poissy, where NJ. d'Almeida arrived on
Jan. IA, 1871. Ice in the river now in
terfered, and ere the attempt at com
munication could be made the armis'
tice was proclaimed. 1t was too late
and the world missed famous scien
! tic exploit from among those which
made the siege of Paris notable beyond
all other sieges of history.
A late novel application Of electricity
is the construction of soldering iror
in which piece Of platinum is heated
by the electric current, and employed
; to fuse any kind of solder.
A new use for photography in con
) nection with the higher arts has beel
) found in the discovery that it may b
relied upon to detect any restoration o
) tampering with old paintings. On re
; Gently examining the first proof of a wei
, known Madonna, in the British Nation
; al Gallery, the photographer observer
a disfguring blur over the forehead. n
such blur was discernible in the origi
nal, except upon close inspection wit
the aid Of magnifying glass. The mi
croscopic examination showed that TIL
restorer had repaired some casua
damage with skill that reproduce
, the color and the texture OF the painter
but he had not used the same pigments
and this was instantly detected by tn
subtle chemistry Of light.
Recent investigations have shown til
, depth of the ocean between latitude
; sixty degrees north and sixty degree
= south to be nearly three miles, or 900
fathoms. The greatest depth whic
has been ascertained by sounding is fiv
miles and quarter, 1870 fathoms, an
OCCURS in the Northwest Pacific Ocear
D This represents thickness of the Wa
D ter layer nearly equal TO the height Q
y the Hottest known mountain,
The effect Of alloying certain metal
0 with certain other metals is quite re
8 markable. The presence of one-twen
Q tieth Of one per cent Of lead in standar
gold will render bar one inch thick
Z brittle that 1t may readily be broken b
Q a slight blow with hammer.
D Several electric railways will be es
hibited at the forthcoming exhibiti0
of electrical apparatus at Paris, and wi
doubtless attract much attention fror
! scrjentific men.