Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1895-06-27
BRIEF NopEs or SCIENCE.

AANAA& - 1VAANNt w N4fC &OsiSl vi @NOIMd6.
Ebony wood is hardened after telling
by immersion in waiei, for periods
varying from six TO eighteen montris.
The Brockport, n ", electric light
plant has been equipped with ailto-
MATTE sprinklers in the boiler-roon,
and all wires in the dynamo-room viii
be run in porcelain tubing under the
floor.
The velocity of wind Is constantly
changing. 1t varies every second AMI,
while the average velocity may pc
rweny-three miles an hour, in the
course of one minute it win be altered
several times.
A 22-ton Armstrong rifle in lie
British navy throws solid shot
twelve miles, much further than It's re-
port can he heard. AT its highest
point for this extreme range the.shot
would be over three miles above the
earth's surface.
At 80 cents a cylinder, Silas Leach
man, of Chicago, has filled 100000
phonograpll cylinders with comic and
other songs. 1t is said that he makes
about $50 day, and that in the west
he is the only man that has been
found with a voice of the right quality
for the work.
At the Germany army manoeuvres a
new shoe sole for soldiers will ne
tried. 1t consists Of a kind of paste
Of linseed Oil, varnish and iron filings,
with which the soles of new shoes are
painted. 1t is said TO keep leather
flexible and to give the shoe greater
resistance than the best nails.
1t lis estimated that for every degree
OF change in temperature during the
cold half of the year throughout the
territory in (which anthracite coal is
used the consumption is influenced :
per cent. The temperature effect is
largely upon the coal used in heating,
and is a definite factor for calculation.
The outer ear of a mouse is a thin,
almost transparent membrane, AMI re
cent experiments show that II Is highly
sensitive to movements of the air
which to human cars do Not represent
sound at all. 1t is asserted on god
authority that mice are sensitive @
music. and the stories of their singing
have been fully confirmed. They have
a pleasant, musical note resembling
that Of the cricket
Lake Superior is in danger OF losing
jts distinction of being the largest
fresh water lake in the world. African
explorers begin to think Lake Victoria
Nyanza is larger. Superior covers
81 200 square miles, and Nyanza mas
been credited with about 10000; but
recent explorations have discovered a
hitherto unknown bay on It's southern
side. which so increases its known
area as to make ii a question wheUle.
it is net larger than Superior.
II is now believed, and with high
probability Of the truth of the theory,
that the shooting stars which some
times fall to the earth in a semi
molten condition are almost or wholly
devoid of heat when they enter the at
mospherc. They are set on ire by
friction against the air, due TO the
rapIdity Of their motion. 1t Is possiMe
that the force OF the ear;th's attraction
solidifies such meteors from a gaseous
condition in which they may exist II
space.
In hemp and fiax-spinning works
the noils as waste or by-product, have
always been used for paper stock; but
the price of wood pulp has reduced the
price TO very low figure. Belgian
inventor has now devised a machine
for spinning this into yarn which rs
said to be remarkably regular and
strong. and to be available for most
of the purposes for which vegetable
fibres are employed. 1t is expected
that the chief use of this yarn will be
in carpet mills, where cotton yarn has
been coming into general use on nc.
count Of it's cheapness.
An electric gun has just been in
vented for which the following adyan-
tages are claimed: 1t may be made
very light in proportion to its capacity
for throwing balls; 1t cannot possibly
explode: it lis economical in operation,
and the limit of the number Of balls
1t will throw within a given time y
the number of balls that can be put
into its breech. For field service It IS
claimed 1t will far sulpass anything
now in use. The inventor estimates
that from seven hundred to one thol-
sand shots per minute can be fired
Tests have already been made that are
said to have been highly successful.
The most powerful light in the world
Is now being set up on Fire Island
beach. on the. coast of Long Island.
1t will be ready for business July
/. 1t will be visible 10 ships 100
miles at sea. Not the light itself, Of
course. but an intermittent glare may
be observed by a watchful skipper that
distance from the shore. The light
viii be electric, having power of
50.OO0,O00 candles without the lens.
The lens. which was made in Paris, Is
Of enormous size--ahout ten feet IN
diameter. 1t will increase the power
60 250.0O0.000 candles. The light 8