The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1881-02-17
POPULAR Science.

Popular Science.
The first electric railway in Europe
built for ordinary traffic was opened
to the public on the LIST of February.
1t is situated in the city and suburbs
of Berlin, and it was constructed by
Siemans and Halskle.
A PATIENT in one Of the New York
hospitals was by physical examination
during life found to have lateral
displacement Of all the internal or
gans, the heart and spleen being upon
the right side, the liver upon the left
and other parts similarly changed
from their usual position.
Two frogs put in an earthen Jar
with a little water by psychologist
who intended to use them for expert
mentation, were overlooked for nine
months, during which time they were
without food. Yet when found at
last, they were s'alive and kicking
The tea plants grown by Count de
Amigo on his estate near Messina pro-
duce leaves which are said to be as
good as those of the plants raised in
China. There is to be a systematic
attempt now made to grow the tea on
commercial scale.
The French Academy of Sciences
have appointed a commission, under
the presidency of M. Dumas, to make
the necessary arrangements for OBJ
serving the transit of Venus in 1882.
It is thought that Mr.. r. A. Proctor
will be entrusted with the superintend-
ence of the English arrangements.
A Mr.. ST.. GEORGE LANE Fox has
been working on an electric lamp, on
the same principle as Mr.. Edison's,
and it would seem from a report of a
private exhibition of the efficiency of
this lamp, that Mr.. Fox has been very
successful. The tests were made on
January 18th, at the Office of the Brit
ish Electric Light company, London.
It is claimed the Fox incandescent
lamp will last for years if subjected
to ordinary average use.'
THE first application of electricity
to permanent. street-lighting in Glas-
gov has just been made a portion Of
Buchanan street. The lamps used
we're those invented by Mr.. Brockle.
Gramme machines supplied the cleo
tricity, and they were driven by an
Otto gas engine--gas thus curiously,
it was remarked, superseding itself as
a means of Illumination. Some of the
leading newspaper Offices in Glasgow
have made arrangements for lighting
up the business and composing rooms
with electricity.
A MATERIAL which has been pro-
posed for the filtering and decolorizing
of sugar and other substances consists
of dried or baked granulated clay
mixed with blood in the proportion of
three parts OF clay to four Of blood.
Sometimes vegetable charcoal is add
ed. The mixture is nodded into
humps of any convenient form, dried,
broken into small pieces, mixed with
an equal bulk Of granulated clay, and
after having been carboniZed in a re-
tort, carefully screened. The screen
ings are said to answer admirably the
purpose for which they are designed.
SOME French physicists contend
Prof. Bell in disks of mica, india-rub-
Der, metal, and wood, by holding them
in the path of a rapidly interrupted
beam Of light, are really due to heat
and not to light. M. Mercadier has
obtained like sounds from ordinary
gas lamps, without employing lenses
to concentrate the interrupted beam,
by simply bringing the receiving disk
near the source Of light. Eyena plate
Of copper heated to bright red produced
very distinct musical notes, which
died gradually away as the plate cooled
to dull red. Disks coated with sill
yer on the side exposed to the ray gave
very feeble sounds, but when coated
with lamp black the sounds were
strong.