The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1881-07-15
SCRAPS OF SCIENCE.

HERR TRoMHoIr thinks he can trace
connection between the frequency of
displays of aurora and the phases of the
moon.
DIR. RICoUx maintains that while
Spaniards, Italians and French can be
acclimatized in Algeria. people from the
North of Europe cannot This result, if
well established, may have very i'm
portant bearing upon the colonization of
Africa in the near future
Mr.. WIGNER, in the AndIvst states
that American corned- beef is twice as
valuable, as an article of diet, as fresh
boneless beef, and that the cooked OK.
tongues contain less salt and more nutri-
tive matter than the dried tongues usual
ly sold in European markets.
M GREHAUT proved in recent expert
ments that the quantity of carbonic acid
exhaled bv any one individual of an
animal species varies but little. Irrita-
hons and infiammations of the respiratory
mucous membrane decrease the exhala-
ton of carbonic acid, which then tends
to accumulate in the blood.
Mr.. w. II. PREEcE, the English cleo
trician, has determined with much ac-
curacy the area protected by properly
adjusted lightning-rod. His conclusion
is that the protection extends to conie
space whose height is the length of the
rod, the base being a circle having its
radius equal to the height of the rod
an opinion which has been held by scien-
tific men for long time.
CONSIDERABLE changes in the water
level of several lakes in California and
Oregon are reported. 1t il stated that
Goose Lake, thirty miles long, was
nearly dry in 1853 and 1854, but con
tanned ten feet of water in 1870, and its
depth has since been increasing. Clear
Lake is also ten feet deeper than in 1854,
while Tulie Lake, in the same region, is
now ten or fifteen feet higher than then.
THOUGH the invention of the barometer
is due to the mathematician Torricelh,
yet in England Sir Christopher Wren
was the first TO suggest that the varying
weight of the atmosphere was the true
cause of the variation in the height of
the mercury This was theory OPP
posed to that of the disciples of Des-
cartes, who ascribed the variation to the
influence of the moon.
NEARLY every year there falls in some
part of the world a greater or less
quantity of fine yellow powder, which
fall is popularly believed to be a shower
t.
shows the powder TO be the fine pollen
of a species of pine tree. The pollen
grains float easily in the air, and are
often carried by gales a thousand miles.
When they fall on snow the effect is
often startling.
For preserving the natural colors of
dried flowers and plants, this process
has been recommended by German
scientists: Dissolve one part of saHcyhc
acid in 600 parts of alcohol, heat the
solution to boiling in a shallow dish, aud
draw the plant through it slowly; shake
off any excess of liquid, dry between
blottiug paper, and press in the usual
manner. Natural colors are said to be
thus preserved in greater perfection than,
by other processes.
IT is believed that porosity is a prop
erty of all bodies. An experiment per
formed some years ago, to ascertain
whether water could be compressed, re-
suited in proving that gold is porous
the water inclosed in a hollow sphere of,
gold and forced by the violent pressure
applied passed through the sphere andap-
peared on the outside. The pores through
which the liquid was driven could not
have been more than the two-millionth
of an inch in diameter
A CERTAIN Count Hugo Won Engen-
berg, of Fratzberg in the Tyrol, is making
use of fmicrophones-sunk III the ground
on a declivity of HILL and connected
separately with n single telephone and
small battery-to discover a source of
watar for his castle He intends to CON
duct the experiment by night, when dis
turbing sounds and vibrations of the
ground are less frequent than by day.
If a stream of water flows near the APP
paratus it will pass the sound to the
telephone, and thus reveal the spring.