The national leader., 1889-03-30
SCIENTIFIC.

rent number OF the Transactions of
the Berlin Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde.
1t embodieS some of the results OF
Prof. Virchow's chronological researches
during his recent visit to Egypt, 1t
has hitherto been thought that the
fellahin of to-day are of exactly the
same physical type as that of the most
ancient known Egyptian population.
Prof. Virchow, however. holds that the
evidence afforded by the Oldest sculp-
ture, as we'll as by the skulls of the
earliest period, tends to show that the
primitive type in Egypt was brachy-
cephalic, whereas the types which
exist at the present time, and hs >
existed for ages. are dolichocepha 9
and mesocephallc.- Whether t.
change was produced by the influence
of environment, or by the influx OF
new races, cannot. according to Prof.
Virchow, be definitely determined by
the evidence at present at our disposal.
but. of the two views, the latter, he
thinks, is the more probable.
Professor I0uezH has published the
result of his studies concerning the
colors of twilight, from which it ap.
pears that red and orange tints predom-
mate when the air is dry; on the
contrary, yellow, and especially green.
characteriZes air charged with vascular
vapor. Observation had already shown
that the warmest coiors of the spec
trum predOminate during period of
fine weather, while a yellow tint, fol-
lowed by greenish twilight, is the
index Of great humidity. Again, the
atmosphere may be considered as
formed by two strata, the lower OF
which contains clouds and dust, and
the upper of which is more transparent;
these two strata, as regards their,
refranglbility and absorption, appear
differently in the presence Of the rays
that traverse them.
The su|phate or copper process of
rendering wool uninfammable is open
to the objection that If the wood splits
the damp enters by the cracks and
destroys it. A new process consists In
injecting the timber with water in
which soap IS dissolved, with the addi-
ton of small proportion Of sulphuric
acid. The soapy water forms in the
substance of the wood fatty acid,
which impregnates all the fbres, and
thus prevents, it is said, the damp from
penetrating into the pores.
One Of the troublesome questions
which architects have never been able
to settle is the placing of permanent
foundations under large buildings.
The very latest experiment tried. ac-
cording to the American Architect, is
to cover-before commencing the foot
ing-tbe entire area or the excavation
of the building with a thick stratum of
concrete, laid directly upon the top of
the clay hard-pan. The depth of this
course Is nearly two feet, and its object
is to strengthen the clay, that the set
tlement may be reduced to a minimum.
Il medical journal states that new
experlme It's have changed cid theories
upon the best methods of treating
frost bites. A physician froZe sixty
dogs into a condition Of completely
suspended animation, twenty of these
were treated by the usual method of
gradual resuscitatiOn in a cold room,
and of these fourteen perished; twenty
were treated IN warm apartment,
and eight OF these died; while of the
twenty. which were put at
once into hot bath. all recovered,
The Chesapeake 1& Potomac Tele-
phone Company is laying five hundred
Fifteenth street, Washington. as an
experiment. Two kinds of cable are
used, the Philips and the Western
Electric Company's patterns, both be-
ing lead pipes containing insulated
copper wires. The cables are laid in
box and covered with tar. The num-
Der of wires LAID is large because it is
cheaper to adopt this plan and aban-
don them as they fail than TO under
take repairing. The operation costs
S30. 900.
Writing in the Bulletin of the Royal
Academy of Belgium, M. E. Delavaux
from blocks of Scandinavian
granite found in Iinberg, in East
Flanders, at Wachtebeke, and other
places, that during the ice age glacia-
tion extended over the whole of Meth
erlands Belgium and the shallow or
exposed lands now flooded by the
North sea, terminating on the pla MS of
Norfolk and Suffolk, in England.
Mtrine reckoning is generally as
signed TO the meridian from which the
longitude Is reckoned. The chrono-
meters keep the time at such meridian
without regard to tie position Of the
vessel in longitude. The log-book days
are from sun TO sun, and are series
from the commencement of the vovape.
If the vessel has sailed round the world.
a day has to be added or deducted at
some point Of the voyage for a new
re koning. This is usually done at
lSUo from Greenwich. which Is about
the middle of the Pacific.
Good Chinese ink, better known az
Indian ink, improves with age. and /