The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-04-03
POPULAR SCIENCE.
TIE idea of using carbon for dynamo
1rl,shes Is AGAIN attracting attention

The idea of using carbon for dynamo
brushes is again attracting attention.
Electrical experts say that the next
census is to be tabulated by electricity.
The sounds of the heart have been re-
corded and reproduced by the phono-S
graph.
Thick brass wire has been made as
brittle as glass by being kept extended
and subjected to vibrations.
The Atlantic liners accomplish their
speed with consumption of II to IL
pounds of coal per horse power.
A new electric danger signal, as an
additional signal to the present visible
signals, has been lately introduced.
A submarine telephone line is being es-
tablished between Buenos Ayres and
Montevideo by Belgian Company. rs
There are in Vienna at present six
companies who make business of hir-
ing out steam boilers to small manufac-
turers.
Recent researches show that the cleo
trical organs are really modified muscu-;
lar organs or the examinations OF nervous
structures In muscles.
A one. .thousand-m submarine cable
is to be laid from Bsnjoewaugie to:
Western Australia to avoid Interruption
from volcanic upheaval. @
Files can, it is said, be recut by clean
ing them in acidulated water between
two plates of carbon and closing the
circuit so as to form real voltaic cell
Ventilate the cellar. If no efficient
means of ventilation exist, throw open
the doors and windows on warm days.
Disease and death lurk in many cellars.
The discovery of q new glass for max.
ing lenses is announced from Sweden,
which is stated to possess five hundred
times the magnifying power OF the
lens in use at present.
Helmholtz has shown that if an in-
visible Jet of steam be electrified or
heated it becomes visible with bright
tints of different colors according to,
the potential of the atmosphere.
While the summer of 1888 was unusu-a
ally cool and moist in the United States
and most of Europe, the people OF Nor
way endured a heat which is said to have
surpassed the highest before observed
during this century. 80
The temperature of Siberia was once
much milder than at present. This,
change of climate is said to account for
the conversion of what were once seden-G
tary birds there into birds that migrate
to South Africa and elsewhere. &
From time immemorial the practice OF
massage has been known to the Fijians,
from whom the Samoaus first, and then
the Tongans, learned the art. The pro-
cess consists in rubbing and kneading
the part, the operation being sometimes
continued for hours; it stimulates the.
circulation and relieves pain, and is COM
monty used in abdominal disease. The
native doctors have great faith in mas
sage, and it is always practiced by them. Z
DR.. Ludwig Wolf relates that while
the natives Of Africa usually meet the
white man with suspicion and hostility,
the Baluba people at once showed his
party q blind, child-like confidence, !,
They greeted them as former deceased
chiefs and relatives of their King Kalam-
ba Mukenge, Dy whose names tney III
ways called them. This was in pursu-
ance of their belief that oil distinguished
warriors and chiefs will return to them
metamorphosed after death.
The Indian system of weights and
measures IS described as being exceed
ingly confusing, because of the numer-
Gus different designations of the stand
ards, and because the same designation
may be applied to different standards
according as the articles differ, or as the
transactions are held at different places;
A maund of barley is not the same as a.
maund of indigo or cotton, and Bonn
bay maund is different from Calcutta
maund. A seer is 5040 grains. while i've
seers are not five times 5U40 grains, but
five times 1900 grains, to make them
commensurate with the Bombay maund.