Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1884-01-24
SCIENTIFIC ldIscELlAnY,


probable tracks OF large s.c.h. /: i
stated, however. that Or. Hardness sill
insists tina, the impressions w,Fe loft by =
species of man, and thst be finds bib
theory strengthened By fresh dis:oTefi-s
Of tracks even more clear y ttia-d than
those frst uncovered
Mons. Faye has shown that tao vhisl-
winds of dust observed by prejevalsly in
Central Asia, like those OF Mexico, India
and the Sahara, have the same origin and
mechanical action as the tornadocs of the
United Stztes and oil water spouts. They
are all alike spiral movements descending
With upright axis and always travelling
Aori.oatally;iu nearly straight line. TAa
general belief that the dust en- land and
tho water at sea ascend from the surface
high into the air is due, Mons. Faye tells
Us, 70 an optical illusiou.i
Attention has again been callcd-ihis
time BY Mons. J. Girard-to the suppos-
cd changes Of level Of the eaF,hs surface
reported from certain parts Of Europe.
Villages in the Jura which were hidden
from each other no longer than forty
years ago have gradually risen in sight,
while i. . village Of Bohemia the inhab-
itants now see half Of distant church
spire Of which only the top was visible
thirty years ago. The apparent rising
Of these places :must, it is thought, be
result Of the varying of the solid crust
Of the earth. To detect further changes
in the Bohemian locality line Of loycl
has beea run.
Following tho example Of Paris, tht
municipality of Algicrs has established
chemical laboratory for the analysis o
food substances and the detection Of adul
teraties.
Previous to 1870, according to new
work BY Prof Wittrock, the so-cal!ec
"redlsnow" was thought to be the only
plant growing on ice and snow. Since
that time, however, Nordenskjold ant
Berggren have discovered several ice ant
saow algae in Greenland, one Of them
Ansylenema Nordenskjoldii, being vcr.
abundant. Still later Investigation ha
proven these plants to be more numcrou
yet, Dr.. Kjellman finding at Spitzberse1
not only "rsd snow" but "grceu snow
which contained more than doscn plan
forms. The snow dora now includes 3
species, and the ice fora ten species
These plants are almost entirely algae o
microscopical size and very low orsaniIa
ton, growing sometimes singly and some
times in colonies. They are general,
Of bright colors-rcd, purplish-brown ant
green being common. Under the dar'
nass Of the plants the ice melts very rap
idly, and Nordenskj old even suggests tina
the very abundant Ancylonema may hav'
greatly fastened the disappearance Of tn
ice deserts which once covered % large
part Of Europe and America.
Herr Weller, experimenting at Tubin
gen, has discovered that the growth @
plants is more rapid under diminished at
mospheric pressure-all ether externa
conditions being the same--than at nor
NAL pressure. On the other hand, iucreas
ing the pressure lessons the rate Of growth
the minimum being reached at two OIL
two and one-half atmosphcres.
In recent lecture before the Roya
Institution, Of London, Sir William
Thompson presented four lines of argu
nent by which physicists have been en-
ablsd to estimate the size Of molecules
the invisible particles which are supposed
10 constitute all matter. Stated roughly
it Is shown by this reasoning-with a
high degree Of probability-that, in ordi-
nary liquids, transparent solids or seem
ingly opaque solids, the average distance
between the centres Of contiguous mole
eules is less than one two-millionth Of an
inch and greater than one four-hundred-
nillionth part of an inch. II a globe of
water or glass six and one-third inches in
diameter were magnifed to the size Of the
earth, the slze Of each constituent mole
cule being increased in the same proper
ton, then the magnifed mass would be
more coarse grained than heap of small
shot, but probably less coarse grained
than heap Of six and-a-third-inch globes.
A novel method is adopted in China
to protest carrier pigeons from birds of
prey. An apparatus made of about ten
small bamboo tubes is acAsched to the
pigeons tail in such way that sl,rill
whistling sound is produced by the rush
Of air across the tubes.