The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1881-02-01
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

The rare phenomenon Of an inverted rain
bow was observed at Prussian town on the
morning Of November 25th. The ends of the
semicircle, the centre of which was the sun.
rose and moved westwards with the latter for
some thirty minutes, when the appearance van
ished.
new theory of the cause of earthquakes has
been propounded by DIR. Nouak, of Pesth. He
considers that, besides the rotation of the earth
on its axis and its revolution around the sun,
multiplicity of motions of the earth appear in
space, in virtue of which the earth's axis, and
with it The equator, shift their position. This
causes a variation of the forces centrifugal and
centripetaD influencing the earihs form, and the
earths crust has a tendency TO adapt itself to
this change.
Speaking in recent lecture OF Herschels dis
covery that the sun is rapidly moving toward a
point in the constellation Hercules, Professor
Ball, the Astronomer Royal for Ireland, told his
audience that at the end Of the lecture they
would be 5000 miles nearer 10 it than they were
at the beginning.
Paris has a Young Mems Scientific Society
1t holds weekly meetings, and each member in
turn gives lecture upon some scientific topic
On August Isl an International exhibition of
OF electricity will open in Paris Every descrip-
ton OF electrical apparatus will he shown. II is
considered quite probable that the Prince of
Wales will act as president of the exhibition.
"A new French appliance is an electric brake
which is made 10 operate on The wheel brake by
means of electricity, generated during the mo-
ton of the train and applied at pleasure. Exper-
imcnts thus far made with this apparatus have
been entirely successful.
A Nuremburg chemist has devised new
method of decorating silks and other fabrics,
which is expected to supersede embroidery The
art is called eidographie, and the operator uses
hollow pencils which are charged with fluid
metallic compound On exposure to air the
compound instantly hardens. Every color can
be produced, and the designs traced with the
pencils are exceedingly durable, lasting as long
as the materials on which they are traced Glass
Can he stained and woodenware and pottery dec
GRATED by the same process The manufacturer
of the pencils has already become a considerable
industry in Germany.
| Whereas previous Investigations have indi-
Gated height of about 250 miles as the greatest
extent of the earths atmosphere, NJ Jose J.
Landeur in recent paper places it at not less
than 90 900 miles.
DIR. Werner Siemens has applied electricity
TO the operation Of elevators. His system, which
operates through the transmission of power by
the dynamo-electric machine, is as safe as the
hydraulic system, and is claimed TO be far less
costly and inconvenient.
| Trials with the electric light in navigation
at night have lately been made on the Rhine.
1t is hoped that the new results of these trials
will lead to new phase in river navigation.
| Extensive observations of the aurora borealis
have been made in Europe, from the results OF
which Herr Tremhot infers that the aurora is a
local phenomenon, circumscribed by narrow
limits, and manifested at inconsiderable distan-
ces from the earihs surface. The light is usually
white, less often rcd or green. That sound often
accompanies The aurora Herr Tremholt believes
TO be an indisputable fact.
| 1t is a fact known to cloth manufacturers
that vegetable fbers mixed with wooden fibers
cannot be equally spun, dyed or woven together
An Australian scientist claims, however, to have
discovered chemical process by which this
combination OF varying fbers may be rendered
amenable TO the operations mentioned.