The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-03-22
POPULAR SCIENCE.

At Cherbourg, France, an electrical
canoe is in operation.
About one.third of the weight of an
egg Is solid nutriment.
The composition of the sun is nearly
the same as that of the earth.
The earth only intercspts one 2,Ssl,-
600, ,0O0th part of the total amount OF
of heat given off by the sun.
An ingenious Boston man has just
patented an electrical device designed to
automatically play banjos, maAdolins,
guitars and harps.
A ton of sea water yields grain OF
gold, SO that there must be far more gold
held in solution that has as yet been OBJ
tanned from the earth.
For countless ages the salts of the
earth have been carried down in solution
BY the rivers to the sea. But no salt is
carried back again by evaporation, and
the sea tends to become more and more
salty every year.
Digestion in the case of carnivo-ous
plants is due to the activity Of certain
micro.organisms, which are always pres
ent in the sap of the mature plant, and
that their secreti9ns are favorable to the
development of such minute organisms.
Sea fowls eggs have one remarkable
popularity, they are nearly conical in
form, broad at the base and sharp q. the
point, so that they will only roll in
circle. They are laid on the bare edges
of high rocks, from which they would
almost surely fall off sa. for this happy
provision of nature.
The prevalence of sun spots is inti-
mately connected with the occurrence of
magnetic storms on the earth's surface.
| The sun gives US of its heat but one part
in %, 100000. How to get one part
more, how to further utilize the solar
energy that is going to waste, is one OF
the great problems to be solved.
1t is now claimed that there is such
thing as electrical sunstroke." The
workers around electrical furnaces in
which the metal aluminium is produced
suffer from electrical sunstrokes." The
intense light causes very painful conges-
tions, which cannot be wholly prevented
| by wearing deep colored glasses.
Calculations, based on the observation
| of the retractiou of light, have caused 1t
I to be supposed that the air becomes so
rare at the height of about sixty miles
that the distance may be regarded as the
limit to its sensible extent, but other CAL
culations made during the present CEN
tury, of the distance of the earth atwhich
meteors ignite, indicate that the atmos-
phere extends upwards of 100 miles.
The line of the new overhead electric
railway in Liverpool, which was recently
opened, extends along the whole length
of the docks of Liverpool from north to
south, distance of six and half miles.
On the trial trip the journey, though
stopping easily and precisely Mt the vari-
GUS stations, was accomplished in seven
and half minutes. The cost, including
eouipment, was about S425, 900 per mile.
A Government official sent out to the
northwest long before there were any
railroads in that part of the country says
that the glaciers of the selkirk range
were pure white and blue then. Now
they have a grayish color, and in soma
lights reddish appearance, and on ez-
amining the surface of the ice it is found
to be covered with little lunps of what
seem to be clay. The official says that
this substance is ashes from forest fires.