Hillsboro recorder., 1888-01-12
POPULAR SCIENCE.

y E----~-.-- lt hat55
Profs. Trowbridge and Hutchins, Of
Harvard college, report that their exten.
sive and careful researches tend to dis
prove the view that oxygen exists in any
part of the sun. M
Prof. Thomas Carnelly and Mrs.
Holdam of college at Dundee have
been investigating sewer air, and report
that it averages as pure, so far as germs
are concerned, as the air in ordinary
houses. IT
A Pittsburg paper describes a new
telephone on exhibition in that city that
does away with the necessity Of speak
ing. A sensitive plate presses against
the larynx aud glands of the neck, and
as the jaws are moved in conversation
the motion sends the words along the
WIRE as distinctly as the telephone now,
in use.a 6M# &
Mr.. w. Mattieu Williams thinks that
the instinct which guides the swallow
southwark in autumn is probably of
very practical and unpcetic kind. It's
food is chiefly flying insects, whose
development ceases with the advance OF
cold from the North, and in migration
the bird is merely following its retreat
ing food supply. 81 8
DR.. II. Lane, Of Portland, Oregon, be
gan digginga large well some time ago
and it promised to furnish an unlimited
supply of cold water. Indeed the water
came so fast that one pump could not
keep il out of the way of the workmen,
and a second was to be put in. But in
one night the temperature of the water
changed, and in the morning clouds of
steam rolled up from the we'll, which
was found to contain about twenty-five
feet of water almost boiling hot At
last accounts the temperature had not
lowered. #
During midsummer in Northern Alas.
ka, according to a recent traveller, the
sun shines twenty-five hours out of the
twenty-four, and on the high mountain
peaks for period-cf several days in June
it is not entirely out of sight during the
twenty-four hours. In July and August
the weather becomes very warm. After
this time the days gradually shorten
until the sun shines but four hours out
Of the twenty-four, but at this period
the aurora is exceedingly intense and
helps very materially in dispelling The
darkness.
At recent meeting OF the Academy Of
Natural Sciences the president, DIR. Leidy,
stated that he had recently received
for examination from the Geographical
Survey in Washington collection of
bones from ten miles east Of Archer, Levy
county, Florida. The specimens are
generally much broken, although the
original texture is mostly preserved and
they show no trace Of being rolled OF
water worn. They consist chiefly Of the
remains Of rhinoceros, mastodon and
llama. A new species of horse was also
indicated by teeth and ankle bones, fol
which the name Hippotherium plicatilt
was proposed. s... -.
From various experiments made to de.
termine the force and effect Of terrestrial
contraction il has been calculated that 8
mass OF sandstone mile in thickness,
raised in temperature some 200 degree:
Farenheit, would have its upper surfacs
elevated ten feet; and that portion oi
the earth's crust fifty miles thick, raised
COO 10 500 degrees, might produce ar
elevation Of I 900 to 1900 feet; cooling
again would reverse the result; sucl
cooling having actually taken place, ant
the contraction has given the earth its ir
regular surface and gigantic mountain
| wrinkles, and that the process is still 60
ing on frequent evidence is thought Il
be afforded in earthquake phenomena
According to this theory, the earth
shrinkage, in changing to solid fors
must have been much greater, as tn
common minerals lose from 3 to II pc
cent. in hardening from melted state.