, 1882-01-27
SCIENTIFC MISCELLANY.

Concerning the cause OF London fogs,
1t is now suggested that they are largely
due to the burning Of sulphur, 200 tons
of this substance being daily burned IN
London.
Even so inlammable material as cot
ton can now be used for the construction
Of tireproof buildings. 1t is converted
into paste by chemical treatment
which becomes as hard as stone. 1t Is
nodded into large slabs, and designated
Us architectural cotton.
An old Baptist minister enforced the
necessities of differences of opinion by
argument: "Now, If everybody had
been of my opinion, they would all have
wanted my old woman" One of the
deacons who sat just behind him re
sponded: Yes, and If everybody was
OF my opinion nobody would haye her"
NJ. Colladon has found that any tall
tree may serve as q lightning conductor
to protect house, providing its roots
enter damp soil. In the case, however,
where the house stands between the tree
and pond of water, the shortest path
for the lightning from the tree to the
liquid conductor may be through the
house.
A Hungarian chemist has lately shown
some surprising experiments in Paris
with new light-giying substance which
burns with so little heat that its flame
will not set fire to q handkerchief, carpet
or other fabric with which it may come
III contact. A person may hold the
burning liquid in his band without in
jury. This new illuminating fluid is
prepared from petroleum.
Prof, Perosino and DR.. Licht who have
both experimental upon the principles
of transmission by telegraphic wires of
the forms and colors of objects in the
same way sounds are transmitted by tel
ephope, hope to ultimately succeed in
contriving an apparatus by which two
persons who are separated by an ocean
will be able to both see and hear
each other.
Atmospheric pressure has very de-
cided influence upon the melting point
of various substances. Under ordinary
circumstances ice melts at thirty-two
degrees Fahrenheit, but, in some recent
experiments, DIR. Carnelly is said to have
heated 1t in vacuum to $50 degrees be-
fore it became liquified. At much
lower temperature the ice rapidly disap-
peared, however, passing directly from
solid state to that of vapor.
At the Castle of Simonette, about 20
miles from Milan, a surprising echo is
produced between the two wings of the
building. The report of pistol is re.
peated by this echo sixty times, and Adj
olson. who visited the place on some.
what foggy day, when the air was most
unfavorable to the experiment, counted
fifty six repetitions. 1t is stated that the
sound of musical intrument in this place
resembles great number playing in
concert.
A matchmaker at Copenhagen is re-
ported to have made a watch which re-
quires no winding up, inasmuch as it
performs that work itself by means OF an
electric current. An electromagnetic
fixed inside the watch keeps the spring
perpetually in state of tension. To
keep the watch in running order all that
is necessary is to preserve. the battery in
proper working condition, for which
purpose one or two inspections year are
said to suffice.
White light being the sum total of the
various colors, it has beer generally be-
lieved by physicists that the sensation of
white light is simply the sum total of tho
sensations of its constituent colors. On
the ground that the sensitiveness of the
eye for white light may be increased
as for instance, by the previous absence.
vf all light-without the sensitiyness for
color being increased, Prof. Charpentier
urges the novel theory that there is
color sense as distinct from that of light
as is the sense of touch from the sense of
heat.