The Arkansaw traveler., 1889-11-02
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 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

cut on tho fAce.
 On Maiden Island, in the Pacific, guano is con- veyed to tho coast over q tramway about Ave miles long, on which the loaded trucks driven by ail power.
 The Unter den Linden of Berlin. with three lines to be the best illuminated in the world The wires arc under ground.
 After immersion in water fer thirty-seven days. specimens of pine were found by Prof ID. ". Wood to have been heightened 0.166 per cent, oak 0.0e5 per cent and chestnut O. 0e5 per cent the lateral swelling being 26 per cent for pine, S.5 per cent tor oak, and 3.66 per cent for chestnut. An emigrant cartognpher declares that the map of Africa is changed by every mail. Fresh geog- raphical news from the dark continent twice made changes of parts of the great globe of the Paris Exhibition during its construction and two years ago some Belgian map makers i've times compelled to take from the press s large map of the Congo State for additions and corrections. METALLIC IMPURiTY.-Itappears that ordinary nickel and cobalt both contain about three per cent of hitherto unknown element, whose presence has just been detected by Dr. Kruss, of Munich. The removal of this substance somewhat modifes the properties of the cobalt and nickel salts as to color etc. The discovery is expected to explain certain discrepancies which have been noted in the various determinations of the atomic weight of nickel and cobalt.
 EARTHQUAKE MovEMFSr.-"There is . great mistake" remarks California astronomer, "as to the actual amount of movement of the earth Tn an earthquake. In the Chabot Observatory this morning the earth moved little less than quarter of sn inch, and In East Oakland, where the shock
 that of Jaly sil was heavier, 1t moved about i've six teenths of an inch. An earthquake in which the motion was . half-inch would prove very dis astrous, and yet people do not hesitate to say that they saw the earth move at least foot" LIGHT LosT IN WINDOWS The loss of light In passing through glass has been tested by two phy- sicists of Berlin. A simple translucent but not
 transparent glass diminished the light twenty seven
 per cent; cathedral glass, both white with slight ground tint, twelve and two thirds per cent plain white Rhenish double glass;" ten per cent; and
 plain thin mirror glass, ten per cent Ground glass with cut stars and white glass background, such as Is found In house fanlights obstructed sixty per cent of the light and plain ground glass with the
 background, forty per cent.
 PKRMEABILTY OF CKMESrs.-Experisnce has | shown that brick tunnels and drains cannot be
 made water-tight when exposed to considerable
 pressure. as water Is forced through not only the l bricks but the cements and mortars In experi-
 ments last year by MT. J. B. Francis, about four
 teen gallons of water per square foot of surface
 passed through thickness of nearly sixteen inches of cement in twenty -four hours, under pressure Of seventy seven pounds per square inch. Other engineers have concluded that 1t is practicable to build a tight bulkhead of cement laid bricks when the pressure exceeds sixty four pounds per square inch.
 HEREDrrY OF MYoPIA The question of the here dity of short-sghedness has b.en carefully studied | by D. Motais in three hundred and thirty eases occurring in the young. He concludes that the
 hereditary influence Is manifest the families in 219 out Of the SS0 cases being afflicted with the Ame disease. Hereditary myopia is far more serious than the acquired form, from which 1t is distin- guished by Its earlier appearance, more rapid de- velopments, greater severity, and by being more frequently followed by other complications. Myo- pia is usually transmitted from the father to tho daughter, and from the mother to the son. Bad hygienic surroundings are among the causes that favor It's transmission, and if care is not taken by those In charge of the education of the younx ac- qured myopia will be transmitted to the children.