The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1881-02-23
r uiar Science Notes.

In Brazil, large quantities OF the
bert u; lity of pottery are being
manu- tcl ured from the ashes of the
hard, ilicious bark of the caraike
tree, aich is powdered and mixed
with the purest clay obtained from
the beds of the rivers. The ware is
said to be extremely hard and
smooth and in:every respect superior
to that do by any other process.
An eleci ric railway is being con-
structed by Siemens & Helcke,. of
Berlin, between Lichterfelde and
Telton, with branch line to Crosse
Kadettenhaus. A company is also
being organized in Paris, France, for
the purpose of establishing lines of
electric street railways in place of
the present system of horse-rail-
ways.
NJ. Lullman, a French Savant, has
discovered that an oil can be distill-
ed from American grape-vines which
refuses to CONCEAL at a temperature
above eight degrees Fahrenheit,
while other oils are solid at twenty
seven degrees. He recommends the
oil as especially valuable for watch
making and similar purposes.
There are now four comets visi-
bic to this earth, through good tel
escope, none of which can be seen
with the naked eye. The first was
discovered by Mr.. Schaerbele at Ann
Arbor, Mich, the second by Mr..
Hartwig, at Strasburg, Germany, the
third by Mr.. Lewis Swift, at Roches-
ter, New York, and the fourth by NJ.
Faye, of Paris.
A scientific society in Paris has
condemned Oleomargarine as a sub
stitute for butter. 1t is claimed that
the fatty particles are absorbed in
the oganism in state of emulsion,
and that the absorption of the mar
garine will not be SO favorably eff
fected as that of butter. Another
ground for condemnation is that the
substitute in the hands of some
manufacturers is liable to be adul-
terated and made unwholesome by
the use of impure fats and vegetable
oils that are difficult to digest.
A considerable number of very
ancient tombs and objects of antique
art have been revealed by recent
land slide ON the right hand of the
river Simet in Sicily, near the town
of Catonia. Investigations having
been made, it is generally believed
that these tombs bell nged to the an
cient town of Simeatus, indicated by
Pliny and Ptolemy, the situation of
which historians have never been
able to agree upon. The discovery
is of great archaeological importance
and will no doubt prove of value in
throwing more light ON the geolog-
ical history of the wide valley of the
river SiMet.
The scheme of Capt. Rondaire for
letting the waters of the Mediterra-
mean into the great low-laying basin
of the Schatts, and turning the great
North African desert into an inland
sea, is thought to beinexpedient and
impracticable by many scientists
and engineers who have been can
vassiEg the matter and surveying
the territory. Itwould take canal
rivaling that of the Suez to attain
the end in view, while Looser, Nep-
tina, and other of the most flourish
ing cities of the Schatt region, would
be submerged by the deluge, and as
result, it is feared the large date
forests of the Djerid would be de-
stroyed by the production of a
change Of climate, which would nat
urally follow.
The wonders Of the telegraph are
shown in the recent sending of a
dispatch of sixty-nine words from
Australia to London, a distance of
IL, ,36S miles, the time occupied in
its transit being thirty-three min
utes. The message was dispatched
at p. m.., and reached its destina-
ton at 3:43 a. IN. on the same day,
or 8 hours and II minutes before
the hour of its dispatch. The route
of the message was over the lines of
the Victorian and South Australian
Colonies, the cables of the Eastern
extensions, Australasia and China
Telegraph Company, the lines of
the Indian Government, the cables
of the Eastern Telegraph Company,
and the lines of the Egyptian and
French Governments.
One who has been experimenting,
predicts the day not far distant when
seeing by electricity will be looked
upon with no more wonder or
amazcment than the present mode
of talking and send off the human
voice hundreds of miles, and that
instantaneously. by means of the
telephone. In fact, the former has
actually been accomplished, and the
inventor asserts that the electric cur
rent takes up and. transmits the
features of person, landscape or
writing, as it does modulations of
sound, and is confident that when
his invention shall have been per-
fected, it will be an easy matter to
take the photograph of person or
landscape though they are hundreds
of miles distant. We shall await
anxiously for further developments
of this invention.
Scientists have for some ii me been
experimenting to determine the vir-
tue of the Australian Fever tree,
known as the Eucalyptus, in banish-
ing the Embellishments of malari-
al districts, and the results are said
to be very satisfactory. In many
fever-plagued regions in Southern
Italy, Corsica, and Algeria, where,
during certain seasons, the atmos-
phere has been literally pestilential,
the planting of these trees has al
most literally banished epidemic fe-
vers, and large tracts Of low grounds
near Algiers, heretofore unoceupied
on account of the unhealthfulness
of the repion. have been transform