Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-06-01
SCIENCE.

AuO AlSucoO SidClcI SCIdtCutiS o. |
served in the Catskills, according to
Julien, are on Overlook mountain.
about 3, LOO feet above the level of the
sea-
A station on the west coast of the
island of Madagascar is to be occupied
oy one of the British astronomical ex-
petitions for the observation of the
transit of Venus.
A petition signed by ten thousand
persons has been presented to the British
Admiralty, requesting that all light
houses of shore be connected with the
mainland by telegraph lines, so as to
AFFORD means of communication during
severe storms.
Several forms OF fungus introduced
from Australia are proving very des-
tructive to other plant life in England.
Thus, one species, botanically known
as Cdpnodiunl GuStrGle, has attacked
coniferous trees with fatal effect; and
another, IsGriG .tiIciformis, is exceed
ingly injurious to growing grass, and
is believed to occasion disease resem-
bling diphtheria, which kills cattle.
A curious herbarium Of plants made
up from garlands on the breasts of
mummies has been formed by DR..
George Schweinfurth, the well-known
German botanist and explorer of Africa.
There are leaves of the Egyptian will
low and Of the common watermelon.
and flowers of an acacia. The water
melon leaves still retain their green
color, although they are probably thirty.
| five centuries old.
The first part of a synopsis of the
North American ichens, by Professor
Edward Tuckerman, is the beginning
of work much needed by botanical
students in the United States. The
author enjoyed the friendship and cor
respondence of Elias Fries, who is
spoken of as "the most learned and
acute ichenologist of his time" Some
of the groups of lichens are very diff
cult subjects of study, and it is doubted
whether any other American botanist
but Mr.. Tuckerman is qualified to give
instruction concerning them.
On several occasions recently astron-
omers have observed series of narrow.
dark streaks intersecting the so-called
continents on the surface of the planet
Mars. They were first noticed during
the opposition of 1878, and lately
they appear to have increased in num-
Der, so that the equatorial region of the
planet resembles gigantic network.
These changes, in conjunction with
some others, have led the Rev. T. W.
Webb to predict that the idea of a
close analogy between the condition of
Mars and that of our earth will not be
entertained much longer.
Mr.. Chamberlain, the president of
the British Board of Trade-which is
a department of the Government
lately stated in Parliament that all
persons applying for certificates as
masters or mates of vessels have to
undergo an examination for color
blindness. The tests consist of colOred
glass, colored cards, and in some in
stances colored wool. No provision is
made, however, for testing the acute.
ness of the eyesight. Ordinary sea
men are admitted to these examina-
tions if they wish, but are not required
to be examined for cOlor-blindness.
An eleventh list of American earth
quakes is contributed to the current
number of the American Journal Of
Science, by Prof. G. G. lockwood, Jr.,
of Princeton, N. J. It contains notices
of ssventy-one distinct earthquakes
reported from this continent and the
adjacent islands since September %,
1880. Of these, thirty were on the
Paciac coast and fourteen in New
England. but six of the latter are spok-
en- of as doubtful items. The author
remarks that only two items in his list
are from South America, and asks
whether the war between Chill and
Peru has caused any earthquakes there
to remain unreported.
Two interesting metallurgical inven.
tions have been brought to the atten-
ton of scientific circles in Paris. One
is a process Of augmenting the resist
ance of iron to strains. by heating it to
a cherry red and then plunging into a
mixture of water and sulphuric acid in
equal parts. Here the metal is left un.
til it is as cool as the liquid, and then
it is placed in a second bath, this time
of hot water. The other process is a
method of tempering metals by heat
and compression. They are first ex.
posed to a temperature high enough to
produce tie same cherry red color, and
are then strongly compressed and al.
lowed to cool. Steel treated in this
manner assumes the appearance of
nickel when polished, and becomes fine
grained and excessively hard.
i A correspondent of Nature says that
many men perish in colliery explosions,
not from burning or injury, but simply
from want of fresh air. cit would
now be easy, or might soon become So .
he adds, "for every collier, at a small
cost, to keep near him always when at
work little vessel full of compressed
air, which being provided with a rather
fine nozzle and st0p-cock, and small
niapp Of India r1lhhor knho might ho o