Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1891-05-02
POPULAR SCIENCE.

Only enc man in 100000 lives to
be 108 years old.
An Australian photographer photo
graphs objects at distance of sixteen
niles.
Celluloid in solution Is said to make
fne lacquer for metal and good wood
varnish.
An instrument called the hanatokrit,
based on centrifugal action, has been in
vented for determining the volume of
corpuscles present in blood.
One of the mechanical curiosities of
The gramophone is the fact that the
etched record itself is the screw which
propels the diaphragm from periphery to
centre.
An arc lamp with four carbons ar
ranged radially in a nearly horizontal
plane, but having their centrally meeting
points slightly depressed, has lately ap-
peared in Paris.
To obviate the waste of steam in steam
hammers an improvement has been in
troduced In fitting the hammers with
two pistons ef different diameters, COM
pounding them in fact.
The olfactometer recently exhibited to
the Academy of Sciences in Paris is a
little apparatus for testing the smelling
powers of individuals. It determines
the weight of odorous vapor in cubic
centimeter of air which is perceptible by
the olfactory sense OF person.
In relation to his scheme for tubular
railway across the Straits of Dover, Sir
E. j. Reed points out that, unlike the
tunnel, the tube can be destroyed il re-
quired with torpe1oes or mines by the
fleet, aud hence could never be used by
an enemy to maintain the communion
tons of an army of invasion.
Experiments with strawberries indi-
cate that pollen-bearIng is an exhaustive
process, and that larger yields of fruit as
d rule may be expected from those
varieties which produce pollen SO spar
ingly that smaller proportion of other
varieties producing pollen abundautly
must be planted with them in order to
insure a full crop.
A new system of electric railway
signaling has recently appeared in Eng
land, in which, if two engines come on
Same section of line, bells are auto
matically set ringing in each engine by
an electric current. The same arrange.
ment allows telephone communication
between the engineers and also with the
signal men.
Inquiry into the subject of explosions
in mines being caused by dry coal dust
has led to some very valuable exneri-
ments and plans for clearing the galleries
of foul air. One of these consists il
moving open water butts through the
affected localities. The coal smut col
lects in the water, and the air is there.
by cleared before the danger limit il
reached.
A well-known scientist in Paris has re.
Gently carried out series OF expert
ments to show the comparative strength
of men and women. OF fifty robust mer
the strongest was able to produce will
his right hand a pressure equivalent tt
about eighty five pounds. Among fiftJ
women the force of the strongest onll
amounted to forty-four pounds.
The influence of food upon the rate o.
formation of carbonic acid has beer
made matter of study in France, and il
has been found out that during the tirsI
hour after meal the quantity OF carbonic
acid exhaled increases till it reaches a
maximum, three or four hours after the
meal, when it falls off again Plenty OF
fresh air is desirable from one to three
hours after meal.
1t is a curious fact that water pipe
under ground will often freeze during
the warm spell that follows cold sap.
The explanation made for this interesting
phenomenon is that after a cold wave .
large quantity of heat is taken from the
ground in the work of changing tht
frozen moisture into water, and thus, OF
the principle of the ice cream freezer, tht
pipe is chilled, enough heat being taken
from it to freeze it.
The first sign of the Matching of 6
snake, according to DR.. Walter Sibley
is the appearance of a slit at the par
of the eggshell which happens to BIZ
uppermost. The young reptiles snout
appears at the crack, and after time
the head protru1es, and may remain thui
several hours before the body an tail are
Matched. If disturbed, the head is
withdrawn into the shell, while fully
hatched snakes often seek their shells as
a safe retreat. These infants are smooth
and velvety to the touch, with eyes open
from the first, and begin to hiss at the
age of few days.