Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-06-02
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
TCompiled for the SPECTATOR. |

SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
TCompiled for the SPECTATOR.
NOTHING Observation-Disclosures photog-
raphy, generally supposed to be of very
recent date, is said by Mr.. W. Mattieu Will
liams to have been successfully achieved
thirty years ago by the late Charles Breese,
the secret of whose process died with its
discoverer. His picture of the moon, an
eighth of an inch in diameter, was pronounc
ed painting by many, who demonstrated
mathematically that the actinic rays of the
moon could not possibly produce an effect
on the sensitive plate instantaneously, as
would be necessary to preserve the circular
form of the image from elongatien by the
earth's motion. The genuineness of the
photograph was established by the magic
lantern, the magnifed picture revealing de-
tails which could not have been painted.
WORK FOR THE TELEsCoPEs.-Besid
Venus, Mercury and the suspected intra-
Mercurial Vulcan, Mons. J. G. Houzeau, of
the Brussels Observatory, thinks there may
be another planet between the earth and
the sun. A telescope object has seven
times been observed near Venus, the last
time in 1854, and an examination of the
data thus furnished makes it appear proba-
BILE that this body is an unknown planet
with an orbit about equal to that of Venus
or little larger, the latter case making it
our nearest planetary neighbor. 1t must
come in conjunction with Venus at inter-
walls which are multiples of a little less than
three years. The hypothetical planet is
called Meth, and ambitious amateur astron-
omers are advised to search for it,
The fatness of Denmark is something re-
markable, recent geographical discussion
having shown that the loftiest mountain Of
the country is only 535 feet high.
In nine years oaken piles at Mieres, Spain,
have taken on the appearance of stone-coal.
A SINGULAR METEoR.-An account has
just been given of some remarkable phe-
nomena observed at Tschembar, in Siberia,
on night of last January. A meteor sud-
denly rushed across the town, accompanied
by gusts of wind, and burst with great
report, killing horse on the highway. Ten
minutes later a loud report as of an explo-
sion was heard, and was followed directly
by still more terrific report, which shook
the ground, overthrow several houses, and
broke the thick ice on an adjacent lake.
At the same time shock and report were
observed at a town a dozen miles away.
OPENING New TRADE.-An. important
experiment has just been successfully made
in transporting fresh fruit over the long
route from South Australia to England
The fruit-various kinds of apples, pears and
grapes-was packed in sawdust and placed
in cold chamber kept at uniform tenn
perature of forty degrees. 1t arrived in
London in excellent condition.
A spring balance for measuring terrestrial
gravity was exhibited at late meeting of
the Royal Society of Edinburgh by Sir w.
Thomson. The apparatus is SO sensitive
that it will indicate a variation of forty
thousandth part in the force of gravity.
An italian physician recommends the
daily administration of about rs grains of
borax as preventive of cholera, his OBJ
servations having shown that workers in
borax factories in cholera districts always
escape the disease.
Little is known of the effect of solar
eclipses on our atmosphere. To add to our
knowledge, Norwegian seamen happening
to be in favorable localities have been re-
quested to make barometric and thermomet-
ric observations during the total eclipse of
August Goth next.
The worlds "a geographical societies con-
tain As, 600 members.
JAPANESE SEIsMoLoGY.- Regular earth
quake observations are now made in japan
according to Prof. Seikei Sekiya, of the
University of Toxic, at over 600 stations
throughout the empire. From the reports
sent in by different observers maps have
been made showing the disturbed area in
every shock, and summary of observa-
tons during last year has been compiled
The total number of earthquakes in Japan
in 1885 was 1882, or 1.3 day. In Toxic
alone oS shocks were registered. They are
most prevalent in the northern and central
portions of the main island and on the Pa
cific coast, while they are few in provinces
bordering tine Japan Sea. Of the whole
number, 235 local disturbances were record
ed, which extended over not more than 100
miles of land area. The maximum area of
one earthquake was "a, 700 square miles,
The aggregate area of disturbance during
the year was 796. 900 square miles, which is
equivalent to saying that the whole of
Japan has been shaken "a times during
the year.
THE PHOTOGRAPHED PLEIADEs.-A re-
cent photograph of the Pleiades shows 1921 |
stars, while carefully drawn chart, pre-
pared with about the same instrumental
power, gives only 625. Many small objects
seen in the photograph do not appear in di-
rect-eye observations. The Importance Of
the accurate Photographic method of star
mapping is indicated by the fact that the
hand drawn chart gives ten stars which have
no existence.
About midway between st. Petersburg
and Moscow, Prince Putiatin has made the |
important archaeological discovery of an
image of the constellation of Ursa Major
on grindstone of the Stone Age |
"A similar discovery had already been made
near Weimar in Germany.
Two human vertebrate found at Sarasota
Bay are re garded by Prof. Heilprin as con-
proving the existence of prehis-
toric man in Florida at very remote
period.