Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1882-10-12
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


A disastrous FIRE 10 Sicily sulphur
mine had q very curious origin. A
rope broke when drawing heavy load
a wagon up an Incline, and the rapid
motion Of the wagon as it rushed back
into the mine developed heat enough
to iniame the highly combustible ore.
The 6re spread SO quickly through the
mine that thirteen workmen were un-
able to escape, aud many others were
injured.
Mr.. w. II. Preece, the electrician
of the British postofiice, has tried the
interesting experiment Of telegraphing
without the aid OF wires across the
channel separat ng the Isle Of Wight
from England. Large metal plates
were immersed in the sea at opposite
ends OF the Solent-namely, at Ports
mouth and Ryde, separated by six
miles Of water, and at Hurst Castle and
Sconce Point, with one mile Of channel
separation. The Portsmouth and HURT
Castle plates we're connected BY wire
passing through Newport, the circuit
being completed by the sea. Signals
wsrs readily passed by the Morse sys-
tenn, but telephone speech was imprac-
timblc.
DR.. Constantine Fahlberg recently
described to the German Technical
Society new substance which he es-
Inmates to possess from twenty to thirty
times the sweetness Of cane sugar. In
chemical language the new body would
b called neutrality-suspicious.
acid"
IN IN experiment described to the
French Academy by Mons. Bergeron,
miniature imitation Of the craters in
The moon i produced by sending a
current Of hot air through brass tube
into . mass Of melted but gradually
cooling metallic alloy. Mons. Bergeron
looks upon the experiment Is sugges
tion Of the manner 10 which the lunar
Orators may have been formed.
Concerning electro horticulture, Or.
9. w. Sismens, 10 his address ss Pres.
ident Of the British Association for the
Advancement Of Science, stated that
be had only to add to his previously
recorded observations that wheat, bar.
ny, oats and other cereals sown in the
open cir had shown . marked accelera.
tior Of growth under the influence Of
the electric light This was not very
apparent until towards the end Of Feb
ruary, whom with the first appearance
Of mild weather the plants under the
influence Of an electric lamp Of 1000
candle power, placed about sixteen
fsst above the surface, developed With
extreme rapidity, SO that by the end Of
May they stood four feet high, with
the cara in full bloom, when those not
under the influence Of the lamp were
less than two feet in height, and show
ID no sign Of the ear.
The observations upon trce.growth
in Mexico made BY Mons Charney tend
70 show that in damp tropical climates
the concsntric rings, from which the
tseei ago is usually calculated, may
Torn ct the rate Of one month instead
of one ) year.
= "bent equatorial" telescope, an
invention Of Mons. Lawy, is now in
opssstion At the Paris Observatory.
The popularity Of the instrument is
snaf, IN consequences Of the bending and
ths use Of two rejecting mirrors, the
astronomer can observe all the celestial
bodies without rising from his table.
The medical officer Of the Ezra ex.
petition, Mr.. w. H. Neale, expresses
the opinion that Arctic explorers may
escape scurvy BY living on the meat
q the country-that Is. walrus and
bsar-evsn without vegetables.
Mona Camille Flammarion. the
French astronomer, endeavors to &C.
oesnt for the recent remarkable changes
which have appeared on the surface.
q Mara by supposing that inundations
and other movements OF great bodies
Of water arc more extensive Oh that
planet than on the earth.
Mons. Dessans claims to have con-
verted oxygen into ozone by the drec.
action Of intense light.
A picture representing the judgment
Of Solomon has been unearth he'd at Pom.
psii. Archaologists will doubles re-
gArd this relic with peculiar interest,
a 1f In feDOPted IN Ia tho crst ,,:..