The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1890-04-18
POPULAR SCIENCE.

In the purest air subjected to test for
the causes which produce the dimming
effect of haze there were about "a, 900
dust particles found in each cubic inch.
It is said that ten per cent. of alum,
added to plaster of paris while being
burned, renders it as hard as marble on
setting, and capable of taking fine
polish.
Iodide of nitrogen is the most sensi-
tive substance in existence, and when in
dry state explodes from the weight of a
fly descending upon it, or on being
touched with feather.
Signor Schiaparelli, the eminent Mil
anese astronomer, well known for his
researches on the canals of Mars, says he
has ascertGined, after ten years investi-
CATION, that Mercury has rotation like
that Of the moon.
A new botanical garden in the Alps
of Valais is situated on q cone-shaPed
knoll about 200 feet high, at an alti-
tude above sea-level Of more than 5000
feet. Plants from all the alpine regions
of the globe will be cultivated.
The French cavalry have adopted
small steel claws to be screwed into the
horseshoes during the winter months
when the roads are frozen and slippery.
Two claws are placed in each shoe, the
men being furnished with complete
set of eight.
Experiments on the mental powers Of
hundreds Of spiders have beer made by
Nessrs. G. W. and E. G. Peckham. Evil
dence was gwen that faculty of smell IL
fairly developed in all but three out of
twentv-six species, but the position Of the
organ OF smell was not found and Is not
known.
A member of the California Micro
scopical Society, Mason Kline, of San
Francisco, has been making some re-
markable experiments, the results of
which have caused the gentleman to de-
clare his belief in the hypothesis that all
atoms, whether mineral, animal or vege-
table, are male or female.
The average weight of the male brain
IS forty-nine and half ounces; of the
female forty-four ounces-a difference Of
over five ounces. Woman's brain has
higher specific gravity. The man has
larger brain in proportion to stature
(MarshalD, but woman's brain Is larger
in proportion to her weight.
Recommended as very strong cement
for iron is a mixture of equal parts of sui
phur and white lead with about one
sixth part Of borax. When used, the
composition is wet with strong sulphuric
acid, and a thin layer is pressed between
the pieces of iron. In five days it will
be hard and appear like Welding.
When Sir J. Herschel was defending
the character of astronomical science
in view of an error of nearly 4, 600, 600
miles in estimating the suns distance,
the correction was shown to apply to
an error of observation so small as to be
equivalent to the apparent breadth of a
human hair at distance of 125 feet.
A letter from Port Spain, Trinidad,
speaks of the recently discovered curative
qualities of plant locally known as
cousin mahoe, whose botanic name Is the
triumfetta semitriloba. In cases of dys-
pepsia, indigestion and liver complaints
the therapeutic effects of this plant have
been simply wonderful. The doctors on
the island prescribe it largely, knowing
its valuable properties.
It has been shown that the duration of
a lightning flash is not infnitesimal, but
that the flash lasts measurable time.
For example, if one sets a camera in rapid
vibration and exposes in it plate so as
to receive the impression Of the flash, it
is found that the impressions appear
widened out on the negative, showing
the negative to have moved during the
time the flash was in existence.