The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1881-12-01
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


ALPHA CENTAURI is the nearest Of the |
fixed stars, and its distance exceeds the |
suns 23O, 200 time.
EXPERIMENTS have been made in Paris
with new kind of military telegraphy,
which consists simply in reading large
letters by telescope. It is hoped to
succeed at 60 miles distance.
A NEAPoLrTAN gardner, after years Of
experiment, has produced o camella with
delicate perfume, and think it probable
that these flowers may in the near future
be so cultivated as to rival the rose in
fragrance.
M. FnEIsHEN has made comparison
between the bark of young oaks grown
respectively upon sandy loans, upon
peaty soil that had been once burned,
and uponsa similar soil that had been
thrice burned, and found the proportion
| Of tannin highest in the product Of peaty
soil.
A NATURALIST asserts that cranes carry
small migratory birds-unable to perform
the flight of three hundred and fifty miles
| ACROSS the Mediterranean Sea on their
backs. In f1ocks ofcranes travelling SOUTH
ward across this sea, little birds OF many
species are observed, frequently flying
from their perches only to return mo-
ment after.
MARBLE is generally considered to be
very rigid material. A remarkable case,
however, is given by M. Guebhard, in
which marble slab at one side of door
IN the Alhambra of Grenada has been
! nent considerably out of shape by super
incumbent weight, without breaking.
The slab is ten feet high, nine inches
broad and two inches thick.
M. TRoUpEAu has lately made numer-
Gus experiments with head-gear in it's
relation to heat from the sun. He
reaches these conclusions, which may
serve as useful hints l. Head coverings
OF conical and rounded form are cooler
than those of fiat shape; the helmet
is accordingly preferable TO the kept in
hot climates. 2. A thick body, formed
OF substance which conducts heat
suns rays. 3. No metal should be used
in the construction of head-gear. T.
Good ventilation, obtained by means of
lateral air-holes Mt the top and gallery at
the base, isolating the head, causes q
very sensible lowering Of the interior
temperature. A head cover of bad con-
struction may be made cool by good VEN
tilaton.
IN HIS address before the British AS
soclatlOn of Science at its recent fifty
first annual meeting, Sir John Lubbock,
the President said "Summing up the
principal results which have been OBJ
tanned in the last half-century, we may
mention (over and above the accumula-
tlon OF facts) the theory of evolution, the
antiquity of man, and the far greater
antiquity Of the world itself fhe cor
relation of the physical forces and the
nrSyof nf
alysls and its application to celestial
physics, the higher algebra and the mod
ern geometry; lastly, the innumerable ap-
pllcatlons OF science to practical ife-as,
Tor instance, in photography, the locomo-
tive engine and electric telegraph, the
spectroscope, and most recently, the cleo
trio light and the telephone"
LEsCHMIDT, whose observations have
been confirmed by Stoney and Sir w.
Thompson, calculates that each mole
| cule OF hydrogen measures, at the most
not more than fifty -millionth Of an inch
in diamoter--a minuteness of which we
can form absolutely no conception.
with the most powerful microscopes,
lines ruled on glass the nineth- thous-
andth OF an inch apart can be perceived,
although confusion of the lines begins at
the seventy-four-t -thousandth of an inch.
rendering distinct vision beyond that
limit impossible with any instruments
now known. Soreby believes that a
length of one eighty y-thousandth of an
inch would contain from five hundred to
two thousand molecules say, Ave
hundred In albumen and two thous
and in water. It appears, therefore,
that the smallest spere of organic mat
ter clearly visible in the most power
full microscopes would contain MANY
millions of moleculuS Of albumen or
water.