Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-03-19
roPULAE SCIENCE.


Ammonia - q strces cars.
Bitumea trccti eve great satisfac-
ton.
1t is crT:e tai butterflies all beei
have tastes aA.a to those of the human
family.
The microscope shows 1000 muscles
in the body of the common caterpillar,
and that the eyes of the dragon fly con-
tains 5000 polished lenses.
Jules Verne, the French novelist, pre-
diets the invention Of ''se.ephote, =
which will enable pc ople at the distance
of thousands of miles to sec one an
4 other.
The effort to obtain electricity direct
| from heat, without the Intervention of
boilers, engines and dynamos, goes on,
but without satisfactory commercial re-
suits as yet.
A velocity as Sigh as 2SS7 feet per
second has beea obtained by projectile
from a rapid fire guu. This is at the
rate of 1868 miles an hour. 1t Is the
highest velocity yet recorded.
The largest electrical mining plant in
/ the West is that at the Poorman mines,
Idaho. 1t saves the company $50, 900 a
year that they would pay for fuel, and it
is, besides, in all respects superior to the
old methods.
An instrument has sheen invented in
Germany by which the profile of a river
! bed may be taken automatically with
sufficient accuracy. A curved arm rests
on the bottom of the river snd by means
of a recording mechanism the depth is
automatically aud precisely registered on
revolving drum.
| In new method of hardening plaster
of Paris, communicated to the French
Academy of Science, the plaster is mixed
with one-sixth of its weight of fine,
! freshly Stacked lime, aud used with as
little water as possible. When thor.
oughly dry it is treated with solution
Of zinc sulphate or iron sulphate. With
the first the color remalns white, while
the second, by gradual oxidation, yields
the color of the iron rust.
An important piece sof work has been
done in the observatory in Potsdam,
Germany. Professor Duner has obtained
hitherto unknown exactitude iu the
measurements of the sun aud finds that
that body moves round its axis at the
rate of mile and 242 feet in a second
of time. The suns day lasts, therefore,
at its equator, twenty-five days aud
I txuQ of Inf
what is remarkable in DIner's measure
ments is that they result in difference
of revolution in ditfere 1T parts of the
body OF the sun, regularly increasing in
len ,th from the equator to the poles, so
tdat those parts of the suns surface lying
near the two poles have day as long as
forty-six of our days. This is possible
only with movable and gaseous surface
| like tlat of the sun.
An Investigation has been held in
Austria With a vie to determine whether
the organs of the body undergo any
change in temperature during the nat
ural process of decomposition after burial
in the earth, and especially whether any
difference appears in tae case of infected
subjects. The results show that the
putre!active process is invariably ac-
companie1 by rise of Temperature
above Tat of the soil around aad that
the rise is hi CHER waen the parts exam,
lined have been taken from DO lies tina.
have succumbed to infectious diseases
than from other bodies. 1t was found
that typhoid bacilli may retain their
vitality in the disconposlng spleen for
three months aud are annihilated only
by rapid putrefaction. 1t is therefore
urged that the part played by the soil ia
the origin of epidemics should not be
| underestimated.