The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-03-15
lCe~efied for 7x< <rkGas9r TrspeE-y SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY


 to the inventor of the best method ., transmitting electricity to a distance.
 pr. Konig has attempted to show ,b., the first real observation of case of col. or-blinduess vas made by Goethe.
 The relative efficiency of elec,re;.v gas and oil for lighthouses is 10 b. thoroughly tested in England.
 Lieutenant Julius von Payer, one Q, the discoverers of Franz Josef Land. has given up Arctic exploration for ar,. and has just completed series of four pain. ings illustrating the last polar expedition of Sir Iohn Franklin
 The number of volcanic vents in e,;s,. ence on the globe was placed by Hum. boldt at +o7. of which 22s had been ,r. tive within century. The Asiatic islands were supposed to contain about hal, o, the latter. More recent estimates alloa over 900 volcanoes to the Indian Arehi- pela 70 alone.
 A recent calculation shows tha, raar weighing 10 pounds and running a mile m SIX minutes performs work abou. equal to that of a half horse engine. while a walker sustaining five miles an hour for long day does work equal to ,ha: oi l quarter horse engine, and consumes only one-twentieth of the weight of food a, fuel
 In Berlin electricity has been applied to the matching of chickens. The eggs are placed in circular box. or incu5a- tor, over coil of wire, and the wire k heated by the electric current. 4 ,hcr mometer automatically regulates the temperature by cutting the wire coi, ou. oi circuit when the heat becomes too great.
 Changes have been observed in the spectrum of Sirius which indicate tha, the star IS moving away from the earth much less rapidly than formerly. anG that II must therefore be travelling in closed and comparatively small orL,; forty-hve stars were studied with ,he spectroscope last year at the Greenwich observatory, for the purpose of de,eeting any changes which may occur ir ,be,, apparent rates of movement.
 A British scientific expedition is abou. to undertake the exploration of New Guinea. which, although the larses, island on the globe excep, Australia and possibly Borneo, Is one Of the ear,h's little known regions. \ route of sa97 or I zoo miles across the island has been mapped out by the party, and il is eN- pected that the trip will OCCUPY more than year. Places which have already been visited by Europeans vii be avoided
 Several accurate photographs of l.gh; ming flashes have been secured by Mons Robert Haensel. of Reiehenberg, Bohe. mia. The flashes are sho~n as Iong continuous sparks. and in one of the pictures the point where the spark me, the earth may be seen. The landscape IS clearly defined in the photographs. atfordlng means for caleula,iny he length ot the lightning's path through the air, which, in one instance, was es,i- mated at more than a mile.
 Not only has oxygen been obialred in the form of crystals. as was la,e;y an nounced. but Prof $. Non Wroblewski of Krakow. has also succeeded in cars. ing nitrogen to fall like snow when sub lected 'o temperature of 70, deprees below zero; and in solidihying hydrogen. The extraordinary cold measured in these experiments was produced by the boiling ot hquehed oxygen on freeing i, from pressure, and IS probably the fowes; temperature ever recorded.
 In view of the liability of steamships to collision with icebergs in crossing inc Atlantic, Mir. K. A. Proctor suggests the use ot the sensitive heat -measurers of Edison or Langley for giving warning of the proximity of ice at night or in fogs. One of these instruments in the bow of vessel would indicate a change of ter- pera,ure with the iceberg a quarter of mile or more away. and nigh, be made to attract attention to the presence of in visible danger by causing a g-horn 10 be sounded-or otherwise, as migh, he necessary. The keen perception of science, MT. Proctor thinks. may thus he put on guard over our safety when our senses fail.
 We'll may we doubt the success of thr alchemis,s of old in their search for the " elixir of life. but. if the views published Ia England by MT. w. o. Dawson are correct. modern science at least appears to be able to retard the progress of old age. Mir. Dawson tells us ,ha, ,br changes which produce old age are due to an excessive action of the oxygen we breathe and to the accumulation of lime salts in the body. He does not state whether the oxygen effects may be in any degree enumerated, but he believes thai life may be prolonged by reducing the calcareous deposits to a minimum. This he would accomplish by plan suggested by Mir. DeLacy Evans. The plan is ,o avoid food containing large proportion of earth salts such as the mea, from old ,nimals-and to use daily. af CT middle tie, several glasses of distilled water con .ining few drops of phosphoric acid. Distilled water IS necessary on accoun, 'f its great solvent power.