Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1881-08-18
POPULAR SCIENCE.

Becquerel has proven that frost pen
etrates grass-covered ground much
more slowly than bare ground.
For several years French chemist
has been engaged in the interesting ex-
pertinent of raising plants in soil pro
duced artifcially. His plants have
been unusually thrifty.
The largest photographs ever pro
duced have been made by photogra-
pher in Sydney, Australia. Among
his subjects are two panoramic views
of the cities of Sydney and Melbourne
each composed of about dozen sepa-
rate sheets tremendously united. One
picture printed from single negative
is five by three feet.
A special form of the Swan electric
lamp-which lamp is constructed on
principles almost identical with Edi-
son's-has been designated as a salty
lamp in coal mines. 1t is perfectly
safe so long as the glass is not broken
and there is no sparkling" from broken
wires. This method of underground
lighting is soon to be tried experiment
ally In an EngllSn cOlllery.
Faure's new secondary or storage
battery brings that valuable agent, cleo.
tricity, within easy reach of the sur
geOn. A practical application of the
new battery has been successfully made
by DIR. George Buchanan, of the Uni
versity of Glasgow, in the removal of a
tumor from the tongue. AS the new
instrument enables one to carry stores
of electricity in small compass, DR.
Buchanan believes the use of the cleo
trio current will now be greatly ex.
tended.
The personal interest taken in scien
tific matters by the Emperor of Bra
I'll is shown by note which he has re-
Gently transmitted to the French Acad.
envy upon the time of Jupiter's rota.
ton. The sharpness of outline and
distinctness of color of the great brown
spot which has been so long visible up
on Jupiter's surface has enabled a
Brazilian astronomer, Mr.. Grail, to de-
duce from nearly LOO rotations pc.
Rod of Oh. 52m. 36s. as the length of a
day of the huge planet.
A Roumanian engineer is reported
to have produced a new :ubmarine
boat capable of remaining under water
twelve hours, and which may be sunk
to depth of seven or eight hundred
feet. Examinations on board the yes.
sci enables its officers to see for a dis
lance. of one hundred and thirty feet
under the water. In the light of re-
cent progress, the realization of Jules
Vernes' Twenty Thousand Leagues
Under the Sea" seems an almost prob.
able event Of the near future.
A discovery of more than usual inter.
est in connection with the history of
ancient man has been made In spain
Some lead mines in the province OF
Segovia, about seventy miles northwest
of Madrid, recently broke into an i'm
mense cavern, in the interior of which
they found, upon an argillaceous de
posit and in the midst of Stalagmites
the remains of about five hundred hui
man skeletons Of both sexes. Clipped
stone and quartz implements, and frag
ments of rude pottery, were also OBJ
tanned. Ten well shaped and perfect
skulls of a prehistoric type were re
covered.
The tracing of the revolution of TIT
tides" is work in which Mr.. G.. II
Darwin, son of the great naturalist, ha.
long been engaged. The result of hi.
labors formed the subject of recen
lecture by DIR. Ball, the Astronome
Royal for Ireland. The effect of tn,
tide on the earth is to reduce its rota
ton and lengthen its days. As tn,
earth from this cause turns slower an,
slower the moon must be gradually re
ceding from it. This has been goin,
on for ages, and millions of years ago
how many millions cannot be told-th
earth must have revolved on its axis il
two or three hours, while the moon
then very near to the earth, must hav
whirled around the larger globe in
period equal to the earth's day. MI
Darwin traces the tidal evolution &
this primeval condition of things
Farther back is uncertainty, but h
conjectures that in very remote pc
Rod a mass of matter must have beer
violently thrown off from the earth
forming the moon. In the early day
of the latter, its effect on the earth SUI
face must have been tremendous. pro
ducing tides thousand or two thous
and feet high.
1t is asserted that the common
black ant is largely cultivated by tn
leading orchardists of northern Ital
and southern Germany. They believ
the insect to be the fruit-grower's bes
friend. They establish ant hills il
their orchards, and leave the trees il
the exclusive care of the tiny colonists
whose time is devoted to climbing tn
stems of the fruit trees and cleansin.
their bark and leaves of all malefac
tors, mature as well as embryotic. TIL,
spoils thus secured are brought to til,
ground, and consumed or safely storeC
away. They never NEEDLE with sounC
fruit, but invade only such apples
pears and plums as have already beer
penetrated by the canker, which the,
remorselessly pursue to its fastnes
within the very heart of the tree. No
where are apple and pear trees SO fire,
from blight and destructive insects a.
in the immediate neighborhood of /;
large ant hill five or six years old. TIL,
favorite food of the ants appears to b,
the Larvae and pupe of those insects
most destructive to the tender shoot,
and young leaves of fruit trees.