The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1890-01-16
POPULAR SCIENCE.

The three hundrcdth anniversary OF
the invention of the microscope is to be
celebrated in Antwerp in 1890.
Sir John Lubbock has just discovered
that the death rate i'll London is sixteen
and onc-half per thousand as against
seventeen and one-half in other English
cities.
In Moscow foundry castings are made
from metals fused in an electric furnace.
The operators work two hours per day,
the glare being greater than that OF the
sun, and uncomfortable for long time.
r--7A4n ircandcscent lamp arrangement Tor
showing the inttfiser Of boilers while un
der stclm has been made by a German
inventor. The device is likely to be of
practical, as we'll as of scientific, value.
The first astronomical observatory is
said to have been erected on the temple
of Belus, at Babylon; but one on the
tomb of Osymandyas, in Egypt, with a
golden circle 200 feet in diameter, and
one at Banares, also date from very
early period.
OF the first turkey in America, the only
records we have arc in the recently dis
covered fossils of the post-tertiary period.
These prove that the turkey not only
antedated Columbus, and even the Morse
man, but that in all probability he was
the original "oldest iuhabitant of Amer
ica."
An electric balance has been exhibited
in Paris. The placing in the pan Of the
object to be weighed closes an electric
circuit, when the current operates mo-
tor on the weight and carries the weight
out on beam until an equipoise is es-
tablished, breaking the circuit. With
the emptying of the pan, the weight re-
turns.
The attempt to acclinatize the Swedish
reindeer in the Harz Mountains of Ger
many has not been quite so successful as
was anticipated. The heat of the sum-
mer having caused the death of many OF
the animals. A new attempt is to be
made next spring in the Algau, which,
it is expected, will give better and last
i'm results.
1t has been shown very satisfactorily
that the banana plant contains greater
quantity of pure fibre than any other Of
the numerous vegetable products used in
the manufacture of paper. The adapta-
ton of the plant to commercial purposes
will, it is anticipated, rcvolutionize the
paper material market and largely affect
the industry.
1t is not q fact generally known that
the real inventor of the powder used for
the "Lebel" rifles is not the Colonel OF
that name, but NJ. Vieille, a young French
engineer. NJ. Vieille will be the fortu'
nate recipient ere long Of a prize of S1O,'
900 awarded every three years, under the
auspices of the Academy of Science, to
the author of the most important discov-
cry made within that period.
. A Honolulu paper thus describes
curious substance thrown off by the mol
ten lava and found close to the lakes o.
fire at the volcano: ''It clings to the ad
Joining rocks in fiber-lil1e threads of
f1axen color, and has the appearance o.
human hair; but mixed with it are SHARP
particles of black lava. Considering that
this substance is a mineral production, ii
is wonderful flexible and tough-bending
easily, but not ductile in its present STATE
or capable of being heightened. 1t il
peculiar to this volcano, and is certainly
a singular production"
According to DR.. S. S. Kilvington, the
Mississippi River received during tho
year 152, CTS tons of garbage and of all
1OS,25 tons of night-soil, and 376s
dead animals, from only eight cities; tht
Ohio, 46,7O0 tons of garbage, 81, Isl
tons of night-soil, and 500 dead AMI
mails, from five cities; and the Missouri
5000 tons Of garbage, 22, 400 tons o
night-soil, and 81 600 dead animals, from
four cities. DR.. Kilvington urges tn
cremation of most of the refuge, ant
twenty-three out of thirty-fivc healtl
officials consulted by him favored tn
nlan