Sacramento daily record-union., 1883-10-24
SCIENTIFIC NOTES.

From experiments at Caracas, Nene-
zuela, Mons. V. Marcano concludes that
the sap of tropical vegetation ciroulates
completely through the plants within
period of twenty-four hours.
Thomas Urquhart has made careful
comparison of the cost of wood, anthra-
cite coal and petroleum refuse as fuel for
locomotives on Russian railways, and finds
that petroleum is at least 80 per cent.
more economical than either wood or coal.
From paper by DR.. Fritz Muller it
seems that the protection derived by in
sects from an evil odor is not always abso-
lutte. He found about thirty specimens of
| a very common and exceedingly offensive
Brazilian species, whose wings were SEEM
ingly pierced by the beak Of some bird or
other.
The electric clocks in Paris number fif.
teen, and seven are upon one circuit and
eight upon another. But their working is
not quite satisfactory. During the past
year they have gone out of order from
various causes, and lost as much as two
seconds from the vibrations OF the streets
upon the regulators.
That the wild horse is not of exclusively
Asiatic origin is disputed not only by DR..
A. Mehring, but by Professor Morse, the
latter showing conclusively that the natural
country of the horse was America but
there is reason for the belief that the ami
NAL existed nearly in its present form as
far back as the tertiary age.
The knot or nautical mile is variously
reckoned at from 6,076 to 6, l25 feet. Ac-
cording to the standard Of the British Ad-
mirality the knot Is the length of one min
ute OF longitude at the equator. or 6.086
feet, |. 1927 statute inches, or ], 855 meters.
The mean length of latitude, sometimes
reckoned as a knot, ia 6076 feet l.l5l
statute mile, or l $50 meters. A marine
league is three of these sea miles.
For considerable time the Belgian War
Department has been testing a process Of
waterproofing soldiers uniforms in which
the cloth is soaked in solution of acetate
of alumina. The medical authorities are
said to have satisfied themselves that the
articles of dress thus treated permit the
perspiration to pass off freely, and chemi-
cal analysis has proven that the solution
does not injure the fabric or its color. The
cloth may be washed without affecting its
waterproof quality.
A new electrical instrument has, it is
said by the London Times, been perfected
by A. NJ. st. George. 1t may or may not
prove grand success. Time will tell.
The London Times says that this invention
of Georges is only supplementary to the
George telephone. Every message will not
only be conveyed, but can be reproduced
at any future time. a circular plate of
glass is coated with collodion and made
sensitive much in the same way as photo
grapher's plate. This is placed in dark
box to which there ia slit for admitting a
ray of light. In front of the slit is a
small telephone diaphragm, which, by its
vibrations, opens and closes a small shut.
ter, constantly passing and making faint
dark lines on the glass. Vibrations on the
glass cause the lines to vary in thickness.
The glass. work is revolved by clock-work,
and the whole conversation as it leaves
the telephone is received on the plate,
the spoken words being recorded as in
photography. What is most astonishing
is that the original plate can be taken
back, put, if need be, in communication
with distant telephone, and made to
repeat the original conversation.