The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-09-01
POPULAR SCIENCE.

NJ. Estrada, a French engineer,
building forty-ton locomotive, which u
expected to attain a speed of seventy
eight miles an hour. The driving wheel
are to be eight feet in diameter.
The strongest wood in the United
States, according to Professor Sargent,
is the nutmeg hickory of the Arkansas
regions, and the weakest the West In
dian birch. The most elastic is the tam
aTack, the white or shell-bark hickory
standing far below it. The least elastic
and the lowest specific gravity, upon
which in general dep nds value as fuel,
is attained by the blue-wood of Texas.
An ingenious astronomical theory is
that of Alr. Monck at Dublin, who sug.
gests that as shooting stars arc known to
be dark bodies rendered luminous for a
short time by rushing through our at
mospherc, new stars are dark or family
luminous bodies viii h acquire short
lived briliancy by rushing through some
of the gaseous masses visible, perhaps,
as nebule, which exist in space.
have been asked the question: "Does
friction increase with speed, or de-
crease" Both. Where the speed il
slow, increasing it may decrease the
friction FER turn; but where tie speed is
fast, it may be- found that increasing
speed increases the friction per turn also.
There are two sides to almost every ques-
ton, and particularly so in this case.
The more v:scous the lubricant, the
greater pressure can be carried upoa the
Bearing Grimshaw.
Many think that by cutting the hair
short they increase its growth. But this
is doubtful. Women rarely become bald !;
yet they never cut their hair as do men.
May not their immunity from shining
pate be partly due to the fact that they
do not patronize the barber, nor wear
tight head gear? If in early life our
young men would look after their scalps,
even while they do not appear to need
attention, it mi ght save them the trouble
of looking after them in sorrow at a
later period, when it will not do much
good. If they do not, the time will
come when we shall have race of human
beings without hair.
The first storm ever followed day by
day from the Pacific to Europe has been
described to the Royal Meteorological
Soc.etr of London, by Mr.. Harry Har-
ries. 1t originated as typhoon near
the Philippine Islands on September 81,
passing over Japan and the Aleutian Isl.
ands, entering the United States on Octo.
Der 10. Crossing the Rocky Mountains,
it proceeded through the Northern
STATES and Canada to Labrador and
Davis Strait. Encountcring two other
disturbances in its pas age of the Allan
tic, it reached the French coast on Octo
ber 81, causing extensive >truction,
and on November 1, in the Baltic, it
quietly disappeared, after accomplishing
IL, 900 miles in thirty.si1 days.
The Lewiston (Me. Journal says that
curious natural phenomenon that puz-
zles everybody of more or less preten-
sions to scientific atta;nments has oc-
Cured in the town of Dubois, in Wash
ington County-just when, nobody
knows. A large body of earth, Oh 'efy
sand, by some action of nature, was re-
moved from the side of dry sandy hill,
called the Pineo Field, leaving an open
channel or hole extending into the hill
about 200 feet, being 80 feet deep at the
head and perhaps ~ or so feet wide, as
near as could be judged without meas
uring After the land in its course left
the base of the hill land here the chan
mel was co 1tracted and quite narrow it
extended o long distance into piece OF
woods, spreading1 over wide space.
burying the underbrush and leaving the
trees standing intact.