Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-10-21
SCIENTIFIC, MISCELLANY.
! [compiled for the spEcrAroR.

~ r. &
-, SCIENTIFIC, MISCELLANY.
i y [Compiled for the SPECTATOR z
ANEW INsTKuMENr.-A new scientific
apparstus for measuring distances-the
| '.teletoponeter,-has been devised by Prof.
Cerebotani. of Verona, and is being -exhi
bited IN London. It's principle is that
known to surveyors a. @triangulation, but
the essential basesline is soashortened as to
be contained in the instrument itself, while
set OF tables enables the observer to read
off quite accurately the distance or height
of any object in view without trigonometri-
cal calculation. M
/ LONGEVITY OF ANTs.-It has been gen.
orally supposed that ants survive but a sin.
gle season, and one interesting result of Sir
John Lubbock's study of the creatures is
the finding of unexpected longevity among
them. Sir John has kept workers of L0sius
niger and Formic0 fusca for seven years.
while Two queens of the latter species must
nov be nearly twelve years old, and he
hopes to keep them in good health for q
considerable time longer.
i Water pipes of paper have been satisfac-
torily tested by DR.. D. Lewis, pine 1000
feet long and two inches in diameter having
been used for several years without leaking
or imparting taste to the water. Wound
into pipe form and soaked in tar the paper
becomes nearly as hard and strong as iron.
King Oscar, of Sweden, has notified the
Paris Academy of Sciences of his intention
to offer prize of $500 francs, with gold
medal valued at 1000 francs, to the author
of the most important contribution to math-
ematical science, the award to be made on
the Kings sixtieth birthday, JAM 81, 1889.
The temperature of the Gulf Stream has
been found by Capt. Pillsbury to range
from 49 to 81 degrees. The greatest veio-
city at the surface is four and one half
knots, but the fluctuations are frequent and
great.
| THE VALUE OF THEoRY.-''Davy," said
Sir Lyon Playfair in his late presidential
address to the British Association for the
Advancement of Science, described hy-
pothesis as the mere scaffolding of science,
useful to build up true knowledge, but capa-
BILE OF being put up or taken down at plea
sure. Undoubtedly theory is only tenn
porary. and the reason is. as Bacon has said,
that the man of science ioveth truth more
than theory" The changing theories which
the world despises are theleaves of the tree
of science drawing nutriment to the parent
stems, and enabling it to put forth new
branches and to produce fruit; and though
the leaves fall and decay, the very products
Of'decay nOurish the roots of the tree, and re-
appear IN the new leaves or theories which
succeed. When the questioning of Nature
by intelligent experiment has raised sys-
tenn of science, then those men who de ire
to apply it to industrial inventions proceed
by the same methods to make rapid pro-
gress in the arts"
| WHY ARE FISHES LUMINOUS ?-Phos-
phorescence is observed in a great variety
of marine animals, but Prof. W. C. Nc
lntosh remarks that the functions of the
luminosity cannot yet be explained, the
conditions under which it appears being
very diverse. The numerous views which
have been advanced to account for the phos-
phorescence itself range over wide area
from its production by electricity, by con-
tinued agitation of the water, by putrefac-
ton, by inhibition of light, to its manifes-
tation as vital action in the animals, or
secretion of phosphorescent substance.
An>attempt is being made to increase the
number of plants grown i'll Iceland. Barley,
whose cultivation there was long ago abar-
doned, has been reintroduced. and at Reik-
| javik botanc garden has been establish
ed, in which thu seeds of 3S2 kinds of plants
| from near Christ ania have been planted.
A paper on flying machines lately read
before the Royal Society of New South
Wales was illustrated with sixteen self sup
porting models varying in weight from
| three fourths of an ounce to three ounces.
VARIABLE STARS The brightness of
some stars varies periodically, more than
hundred SO called variable stars being
known, while many more are suspected
variables." The perioos range from few
days TO many years. The variation is usual
ly slight, but is very marked in the cases of
Algol and Mira, the former star alternating
from the second to the fourth magnitude in
little less than three days, while the lat
ter is still more remarkable variable, be
ing invisible most of the time and blazing
up to second magnitude brilliancy at inter
walls of eleven months The most interest
ing of stars of this class is our own sun,
whose brightness is affected by the immense
spots which appear on its surface and some-
times cover millions of square miles, and
whose period of variability is eleven years.
The ''new STAR in Andromeda is supposed
by Lord Rosse to be variable now shining
with abnormal brilliancy.
EVIDENCE OF MANS ORIeIN-The care
1ul ana laOOilOuS researches OF Prot. Fol, OF
Geneva, have resulted in proving to his
satisfaction that the human embryo has a
genuine tail, like that of the embryos of
other mammals, although it disappear- in
short time. The theory of mans descent
from the apes is based upon several anon
allies in the structure and growth of the
human body, but this discovery is regarded
as an important link in the chain of circum-
stantial evidence which makes the hypoth-
esis seem very probable to many students in
certain branches of science.
French authority asserts that the com
plaint known as ''hay fever" supposed to
be of quite recent origin, can be traced as
far back as the sixteenth century.
A school of arostatics is to be establish
ed in France. especial attention to be given
to teaching the use of the balloon in mill
tary operations.