The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1881-08-27
OF Su3SCEsPTI0Fa.
so Year, invariably in advance: rs cents
RATES OF AuvERT.ssMo.
SCRAPS OF SCIENCE.

CERTAIN sounds from q musical instru-
ment viii affect the flame from gas jet,
causing it to dance about.
IT IS claimed that more rain falls now
in Nebraska than formerly, and that this
rainfall is increasing with the march Of
settlement and consequent cultivation.
A MACHINE for making lacos hitherto
produced only by hand-wo1k Is reported
In Franco. Even old styles of laces, the
art OF making which has been lest, can
readily be produced. The machine en-
ploys from 1900 to 1000 spindles, and
from 200 10 800 pins. The M9aitelr deS
Fle ct TisS0 speaks in high terms of the
machine aud its products, Which is said
to be fully equal to the best handmade
laccs.
Al VARIOUS points IN the teavcns there
are clusters of stars, some of these con-
tanning as many as z, 900 distinct orbs.
Astronomers have established the fact
chat the smallest of these stars has a
diameter of 1870, 900, 900 of miles-orbs
compared with which our earth is rs an
orange to the dome of st. Pauls; and
yet there are thousands Of such sylps, in
one of these faiEtly luminous clusters,
scarcely visible to thc eye!
TIE eject Of tho virbrajioll o. sound
is very pecrliar Here is en- example:
a plate Of glsss or metal may be held
between tho finger and thumb at one
corner,s having been previously strewn
over with fine sand, then iiddle-bow he
drawn near one of its angles, The sand
becomes agitated, AID finally resolves
itself into the form Of Latin cry 81, II
the bow be drawn near Che middle 90 caa
Of the sides, st, Andrews cross u s,s
fegpal.
IN CoLonApo is c ton acre field which
is no more nor less than subterranean
lake covered with soil about eighteen
inches deep. On the soil is cultivated a
field of corn which produces thirty or
forty bushels to the acre. Ii one Will
take tie trouble to dig holo tie depth
of spade handle he will find it to fill
with water, and by using a hook and line
fish four or five inches long can he
caught. The fish have neither scales
nor eyes and are perch-life shape
MEFEoReLoGIsTs have found that
United States storms usually advance
from the Upper Mississippi Valley to-
ward New York and New England, less
frequently toward Virginia and seldom
toward the CaroiiDas. American storm
centres most frequently pass off the coast
between IS and so degrees north latitude.
The great waves Of high barometer, with
fierce northwest winds in their front,
usually advance from the Rock Noun
tains toward Virginia and the Carolinas,
but less frequently toward New England
BIZ KEEprNa the soil beneath charged
with moisture, forest regions tend to
make gradual and constant the supply of
waters to the rivers and give uniformity
to the flow; and hence, when forests are
cut away, the rains reach speedily the
streams, making them liable to alternate
periods OF wastcful violence and worth
less feebleness. TIE cutting away of
the forest has led, in the French Alps, to
uncomfortable foods, despoiled fields and
an impoverished people; and, III America,
to annual seasons Of dry mill ponds, an
immense sacrifice of available water
power and The deaeltion of many mill
site.
WHILE our knowledge of the regions
surrounding the North Pole has been
greatly extended by the energy and ell
terprise OF modern explorers, compare
lively little has been done in the explo-
ration Of corresponding portions of the
southern hemisphere. At the head of
an American expedition Lieut.. Wilkes
believed that he had established the ex-
istence Of an Antarctic continent; and
this discovery was verified year later
by Sir James Ross, who found the extern
sive Victoria Land, with mountains IA, :
900 feet high and an active volcano.