Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-24
BITS OF SCIENCE.

A pearl, weighing nearly two hundred
grains, has lately been found ON the line
Of the Panama canal. 1t will be called
the Lesseps.
An Indianapolis man, who claims to
know, says that an iron girder will lose
it's stiffness under heat which would not
ignite an oak beam.
During the year 1888 the Siemens
brothers fitted, or commenced to fit. the
electric light in twenty steamships. The
total number OF lamps was over 1000. or
more than 200 per vessel on the average.
The height and velocity of clouds has
been determined in England by means of
photography. Two cameras, placed about
800 feet apart, are provided with instanta-
neOus shutters simultaneously released
by electricity. The observer measures the
angle of inclination of the cameras and
the position of the clouds as photographed
on the two plates, and from these data a
trigOnometric calculation gives the dis
lance and height Of cloud with great ac-
curacy.
In the Northeastern island Of Terra del
FuegO the Ia people, who intermarry
frequently with the more southern Yah
gans as they are called by the English
missionaries }, are the tallest race on the
globe, according to the French Mission to
Cape Horn report, presented to the Acade-
my of Sciences, Paris, by DIR. Hahn. In
stock and speech this tall people appear
closely related to the Patagonians of the
Continent.
Paris is regarded as foremost in the
absolute provision for manual training in
connection with primary schools. over a
hundred schools in the French capital are
now provided with workshops. At present
thQV fur0 OUf arfiQ1pS Of xvood f-o,,,
planning benches and lathes. 1t is pro-
posed soon to add iron to the material to
be operated upon. This manual training
is an addition to the ordinary studies of q
primary school,; the boys appear to like
1t, and it gives new form of activity to
their minds and valuable exercise to their
muscles.
The driving of piles by means of dyna-
mite has been successfully resOrted to, it
seems, at Buda-Pesth, where some of the
piles sunk for the public works were sub
sequently found to require a greater
depth. The piles were cut square, and
wrought-iron plate, 10 inches in diameter
and ~ inches thick, was placed on the
top OF each. On its centre, and immedi-
ateiy over that of the pile, was placed a
charge OF No. , dynamite, in the form of
cake inches in diameter, and weighing
y ounces. This was wrapped in parch-
menJ paper. covered Win clay, and fired.
the effect produced being, on an average,
equal TO five blows from a 143l hundred
weight monkey falling from height of
about ten feet. The iron plates stood
from twenty to twenty-fOur explosions.
Though not adapted to the case of piles
standing considerably out of the ground.
this system saves much expense when
piles already driven are to be sunk deeper.
From personal experiments DIR. Speck
maintains that cold bath. besides caus-
ing very perceptible diminutiOn of the
temperature of the body, is the direct in
fluence of producing a moderate increase
in the rate OF respiration with, of course.
corresponding alteration in the absOrp-
tion Of oxygen and eXcretIon of carbonic
acid, aud very slight increase in the ac-
tivity of the oxidation processes in the
body. The latter increase occurs about
twenty minutes after taking the bath, and
then this effect is succeeded by a slight
diminutiOn. The respiratory rate, which
is slightly increased during the bath. re-
sumes it's normal condition after it, or
sinks below the normal rate, and again
rises in about twenty minutes after the
bath, when the rate remains at the re-
turned rate of increase for a long time
with unusually deep respirations. DIR.
Speck failed to notice the marked increase
of the oxidation processes which most
other eXperimenters have observed ais one
of the results of the cold bath in the
course of their tests.