Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-11-15
POPULAR SCIENCE.

| Inst Icur.
The total weight of the great thirty
six-inch telescope at the Lick Obscrva1
tory is forty tons.
The metre il the French standard of
measurement, and is equal to about forty
inches, or, TO be cxact, 39.37079.
Mr.. Oscar Montclins estimates that tho
stone age ended $500 years ago in Swcdi
TN, where it reached very high deyclop.i
mcnt.
Every electric motor manufactory in
ihc United States is sail to be crowded
to its utmost capacity TO meet the dei
mands for electric power.
The transmission Of an electric current
by IN insulated wire was shown by Watt
son and others us early MS l7l7, nearly u
century before Morse gave to the world
the telegraph.
Professor Ayrton says that tho powcl
which runs Ia waste nj Niagara Falls OK.
cccds that which could bc produced by
the annual consumption of $50, 000, 00u
vf tons of coal.
An invention has recently been per,
fcc;cd by Professor Thomson whereby
rails of street or steam railways can bt
welded together 10y electricity after bu
ing placed in position.
In France they now uSc for steam ami
water pipe joints, gaslicts made of wood
pulp, which are boiled in linsccd oil!
They give satisfactory results, and nrc not
subject to decomposition nj high tcmpcra.
turc.
M. Conrlnn, chemist, produced re.
Gently Mt the sitting of the French
Academy of Sciences sealed envelope
containing description of an apparatus
by means Of which objects may lie seen
al vnst distances, the vibrations of light
being transmitted through wire
II is affirmed that The large quantities
Of snails which appear in the chalk PAS.
lures after rain, and which are ,cvourcd
10y the sheep along with the short herb.
age on which both feed, have II consider
ablc share in imparIing that peculiar ila-
vor To which South Down mutton owcs
30 much OF lis celebrity.
Among the latest life saving devices
appears lifcboat with machinery for
hydraulic propulsion. The hull is built
of steel and strongly brncrd, and tho
and ready for service will not exceed
twenty tons. The boiler is calculated TO
carry very high pressure
The head measurement Of 107 students
at Cambridge University show II small
dimnuiion in the heal capacity ~ tho
individual grows one year older, but this
is 40 smnll compared with the probable
error TIM, the observations are quite con.
slslcnt with the hypothesis that the head
remains quite stationary.
Accurate observations inkcn quite T.,
Gently in England with reference to clcc.
tric phenomena connected with thunder.
stoins nrr said 10 show that each flash oi
lightning is in reality mndn up of thrca
separate and distinct discharges Of fluid,
though they are SO closely connected "a
to present the appearance Of continuity
To the naked eye.
A Swiss inventor has perfected
method of making artificial boards and
is advocating their use in building.
They ARE made Of II mixture Of plaster of
paris and reeds pressed into shape 10y
hydraulic process. The material hns thu
advantage of incombuslibility and light.
ness, and will resist the warping action
If atmospheric changes.
AT the close Of June there were twenty,
three crcmal0rics in Italy, ten in America,
one III Germany, one in England, one in
France, one in Switzerland, one in Den.
mark and one in Swcdcn-n total OF
thirty-ninc. In Italy two corpscs wcra
burned in 1876, fifteen in 1877, sixteen
in 1878 md 22G in 1888. Since 1876
III corpscs have been burned in Italy,
and 1863 in the other countries. The
whole number burned in June was fifty.
Cramplng of Womcn's Feet In China.
A nntiyc Chinese Journal, discussing
TIM practice Of crnnping ladies' feet, snys
that in 1864 the great and enlightened
Emperor kanghs issued an cdict forbid