Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-12-05
scIENTIr1o soRAps

on tho sun.
a great cruiser named the "Cccille.n
just launched,in France, has speed
of 10 1-2 knots.
In some portions of the world, at
the time of full moon, there is said to
be a tendency toward diminution of
clouds.
Experiments made in Austria show
that the addition of soda to Portland
cement enables it to withstand the &c
lion of frost.
The great progress mado of late
years iii veterinary surgery is shown
by the fact that the mortality is but q
trifle over one per cent.
Uranium is now classed among the
rare metals. On account of its cleo
trical resistance it is peculiarly adapt
cd for use in electrical insulation.
The electric spark has been photo
graphed by means of a specially-con-
structcd camera in which the sensitive
pinto rotated 25oo times minute.
Trees do not suffer from electric
lights, as has been supposed. DR..
Siemens is said to have proved by ex-
pertinent that the electric light aids
vegetation.
An officer in tho English navy has
designed flash signal lantern by
means of which the Morse code can be
used moro quickly than by any other
means now i'll use.
Captain Williams, of Jeffersonvillc,
Penn, twenty years blind, is recover
ing his sight. Hc thinks the glare in
his room of an electric light has some
thing to do with his recovery.
An English lady, Mrs. Watts
/ Hughes, stretches membrane over q
receiver, spreads on it a sort of paste,
and makes musical sounds write their
vibrations on this prepared surface.
The greatest marvel in telcgraphy is
said TO be the synchronous mIltiplex,
an instrument by means of which six
messages can be transmitted upon one
wire, either all from one station or in
opposite directions.
The size Of battle ships has greatly
increased i'll recent years, the compile
ment of men has decreased and the
total number of guns has also de-
creased, but the broadsidc weight,of
metal has immensely increased. ~ -
A recent survey of the highest ot
California mountain peaks shows that
cold Badly" or more properly Mount
San Antonio, is 9935 feet in height.
The highest point on the eastern part
Of Catalina island is 2110 feet.
Ecls contain as much poison rs
vipcrs-according to one sludious
italian scientist. After careful invcs-
tigation, he finds that an eel. weighing
four pounds possesses enough venom
to kill ten mon. When the fish is
cooked, however, the poison loses its
power.
AT the last conversations of tho
ROYAL Society, London, England, a
new brontomcter was exhibited which
will, on one slip of paper, note the be-
ginning, variation in intensity and
termination of rain and hail, the in
slant of each lightning flash, and tho
beginning and duration of n thunder
clap.
A Scotch writer says that he has
sprinkled wasps and bees with rose
colored powder and has found that
thus handicapped they could with ease
keep up with the fastest trains. They
were not carried along by the. rush of
air caused by the train, but would en-
ter and leave the cars by The windows,
sometimes disappearing for n minute
or more and then returning.
The function of the lightning-rod is
generally misunderstood; its purpose is
not to receive and carry off the shock
of lightning-fash but to prevent that
flash. The flash is an effort to restore
the equilibrium between the positive
and negative electricity of the ground
and the clouds respectively. The rod
promotes silent and gradual flow of
electricity and tends to maintain the
balance.
Hts Clerks Had Music
One of New York's dry goods mer-