The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-04-28
January.

OOSSOOS SANO 4CoOAOO 44ANAONRO414Ss IL O11C
triangulations are accurate, that the
earth is not a perfect sphere.
A case of cholera in a dog has been
observed by Prof. Ogata, of Toxic. The
dogs vomiting and purging first at
tracted attention, and after its death
an abundance of the comma bacilli
were obtained from the small intestine.
On a small surface of about 1900
square metres, at Mont. Dol, in Brit
tany, the remains of about a hundred
elephants have been discovered. The
bones are all broken, and it is believed
that the animals were eaten by prehis-
toric men.
A Swedish metallurgist, @. A. Cas-
PERSON, tests the hardness of iron or
steel in process of manufacture by
electrically melting a sample of certain
size, and comparing the strength of
current necessary with that known to
be required to fuse standard pieces of
metal of determined hardness.
A German electrician, Herr Gulcher,
has made a thermO-electric battery
giving electric power equivalent to LOS
per cent. of the heat employed, and
hopes to exhibit at Frankfort a battery
which will yield at least 5 per cent. net
effect. With an economical source of
heat, he believes that his thermo-elec-
trio battery will even excel the dynamo
machine in efficiency.
A recent discovery by Mr.. F. II.
Varley should prove of great import
ance from an economical point of view,
and opens a promising field for further
investigation. By associating iron
salts with suitable s~ensitizers, he has
succeeded in preparing Photographic
films quite as sensitive as any of the
modern gelatine emulsions, and con-
tanning no trace of any silver com
pound.
In 1868, according to a recent paper
by Mr.. G. J.Symons to the Royal Me
neurological Society, Sir Christopher
Wren designed not only the first rain
guage, but also the first recording
guage, although the instrument was
not constructed until 1870. The earliest
rainfall records were made at the fol
lowing places: Paris, 1868; Townley,
in Lancashire, 1877; Zurich, 1908; and
Londonderry, I'LL.
THE LENSES OF SCIENCE.-At the
jubilee meeting of the Chemical So
ciety of London, Lord Salisbury offered
these definitions: Astronomy is largely
composed of the science of things as
they probably are; geology consists
mainly of the science of things that
probably were a long time ago.; and
chemistry is the science of things as
they actually T at the present time.
An electrical journal adds that cleo
tricity represents the science of things
as they probably will be.
SUICIDE AMONG CHmDREN.-In a
period of six years-1883 to 1S88-there
were no less than 289 cases of suicide
among school children in Prussia, the
number for each year ranging from
So in 1883 to 40 in 1885. In Sc cases nc
cause is known; but so cases are at
tributed to fear of punishment; 10 to
disappointed ambition; Is to fear OF
examination; % to insanity and melan,
cholia; 5 to love, and 7 are supposed to
have been only partially intentional.
Only 49 of the 289 suicides were girls.
GREENLAND's DUsT.-The cosmic dust
collected by Nordenskjold in Green.
land, in 1888, has been submitted tC
scientific examination, and found tC
consist chiefly of f~eldspar, quartz, mica
and hornblende, with a smaller proper
ton of some other common minerals, g
heterogeneous organic substance, and
some particles similar to those obtained
in deep-sea soundngs. 1t is believed
that the last named material has come
from space, and that the other sub.
stances have been carried in the all
from a region of crystalline schists. II
the dust taken from the Greenland
snow represents the fall of one year,
the total annual fall on the earth's en-.
tire surface is equivalent to a cube OF
81 yards on a side.
HAIL IN CENTRAL EUROPE.-The rec.
ord of injury from hail in Wurtemberg
for sixty years Q828-80 has been in.
vestigated by Herr Buhler. The yearly
average of days with hail is found to be
10, July having the largest number Of
any month, and June the next. About
O.92 per cent. of the cultivated land
was affected, damage being done to the
extent of 5000, 600. Of II hailstorm