Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-07-15
POPULAR SCIENCE.
One heat unit equals re foot poun,

One heat unit equals 772 foot pounds.
Fog has been known to explode dar.
ing earthquake.
Tapioca, used in buildings, is ex-
tracted from deadly poisonous plant
The cry of the gray squirrel is an
exact imitation of that of young
baby.
There is no doubt that persons arc
often moonstruck, particularly in the
tropics.
Water boils at different temperc.
lures, according TO the elevation above
the sea level.
The Simplon tunnel from Brieg in
Switzerland to Isela in Italy, will be
twelve and one-half miles long.
Australia has extreme heat in sum.
mer. A scientist says that matches ac-
cidentally dropped on the ground there
were ignited.
The shadow cast by any color does
not show that color but its compile
mentary color, thus a red object shows
FAINT tinge of green in its shadow, red
and green being complementary colors.
Some extensive experiments have
recently been made in connection with
the German Army, the object ofwhich
has been to provide continuous cleo
trical illumination at night from ball
looms.
In the good old times. when oil was
used in lighthouses, a 6000-candle
power lamp was considered immense.
The latest electric lighthouse, built in
France (Heve, at Havre, will have the
power of $500, 900 candles.
A horse can draw on the worst road
four times as much as he can carry on
his back. On good macadamized
road he can draw ten times, on plank
road twenty-five times, and on street
railway fifty-eight times as much.
A Rhode Island sculler rejoices in
possessing an aluminium shell, made
wholly of that metal, that weighs only
twenty three pounds, all rugged. Ii
measures thirty-one feet eight inches
over all, but is less than foot wide.
Many deep sea fishes are covered with
phosphorescent spots, which act as
portable lamps. These fish live at
depth of two to five miles Their soft
bodies are made firm by the tremen-
dous pressure of the surrounding water.
A German authority ASSERTS that
writer's cramp can be avoided by hold.
ing the pen or pencil so that the move
ments take place at the brachiocarpak
articulation, but the new reporter says
he thinks he'd rather run his chances
as to the cramp.
The rudy color of Mars is thought
by Herschel to be due to an ochery
tinge in the soil by others it is at
tributed to peculiarities of the at
mosphere and clouds. Lambert sug-
gests that the color OF the vegetation
on Mars may be red instead of green.
A novelty in Thermometers is in the
form of sensitive paint, which at the
ordinary temperature is bright yell
low, but if submitted to heat gradually
changes color until at 220 degrees
Fahrenheit it shows brilliant red.
On being cooled it returns to its pris.
tine hue, but remains rs sensitive to
heat as ever.
In the southern part of the Indian
Ocean, between twenty degrees and
fifty degrees east longitude, cold ant.
arctic current has greater influence
than has been attributed to it on the
maps. It's effects are plainly manifest
far to the north by abnormally low
temperatures. the northern drift OF
icebergs and the low salinity of the
water.
In the whole field Of natural science
there is nothing more astounding than
the number of times fly can CHIP it's
wings in second. As the fly passes
through space at the rate of six feet in
q second, it must in that point OF time
vibrate its wings 500 or GOO times. But
in rapid fight we are required to be.
lieve 5000 is a moderate estimate. The
mind is stupefied if it attempts TO
realize these results.