Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-12-03
POPULAR SCIENCE.

Electricity was first transported from
place to place in portable fern in 1881.
About twice as much power is re-
quired to stop an express train as to start
one.
A mountain of carbonate of zinc is the
latest discovery near HiIlsboro, New
Mexico.
Powdered stone is being used very ex-
tensively BIZ the Pennsylvania Railroad
instead Of sand on the road bel.
John Aitken has invented aa insiru-
ment by which the degree of impurity
which may exist in the air of any room
or place can be determined easily and
accurately.
The glow worm laws eggs which are
themselves luminous; however, the
young Matched from them are not pos
sessed of those peculiar properties until
after the FIRST transformation.
NJ. Marcy, the well known investiga-
tor OF animal movements by means Of
instantaneous photography and the zee
trope, has now succeeded in rendering
the beating OF living heart visible to
the eye
A Photographic developer made with
water which has been freshly boiled will
keep much longer than that made Of
distilled water, and Photographic prints
soaked in such water before toning are
free from blisters.
Some flies thrust their eggs into the
bodies of caterpillars, but always in such
parts OF the body that when the larva
are feeding on the flesh OF the foster
parent they will not eat into the vital
part. Can the fly reasonl
A new use for aluminium is mentioned
by the journal des InventeuTs, which
consists of intercollating a very thin
plate of this metal between the two soles
of boot, with the object Of preventing
the penetration of damp while retaining
the warmth cf the foot.
A Scotch Journal, in recent issue, re-
ports that not long since gentleman,
who was on visit to the coast, while
bathing, was seized with a cranp aud
sank, being two minutes below water.
When rescued he was thought to DO
dead, but after two applications of the
electric current animation wGs restored.
The current was passed between the napc
of the neck and the heart.
The little RATS of eggs that gHats set
afoat on the water are kept from sinking
and from being upset from tas fact that
the tiny eggs have their points ill up.
ward, and they are glued together so
clo:ely, that while there is opeE space
all around the point of each egg, yet the
width of these spaces is so slight that
water cannot readily pass through. You
may again and again upset suca sn egg
raft, but it will right itself every time,
aud the upper surface will remaip dry.
The common daphne grown il flower
gardens is one of the most deadly pois-
ons known to the botanist. Three or
four of the berries will kill a man as
soon as strychnIne, aud one has been
known to kill child in half al hour.
There are numerous towering plants
which are perfectly harmless both IN
leaf, flower and seed, and as long as
these can &c readily obtained there is no
excuse for florist allowing suci plant
as the daphne to grow on his premises.
Photography is now being used to
record the movements of the growing
parts of plants. Especially curious ara
the results with certain climbers, suGa
as the hop convolvuls, isomoei, etc.
The young stems move in succession
of irregular, circular or ellipticll curve1,
which vary every moment, even in diref-
ton, and are due to irregular groSth in
different parts of the stem. During the
sleep of plants movements do not cease,
but consist of alternate upward and
downward vibrations.