San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-12-14

The telehone newspaper, which
has been in successful operation
over two years at Budapest, has
become almost indispensable to it's
5000 subscribers. The service has
a main wire of 16S miles, which is
connected to private houses and
various public resorts. Between
z 80 in the morning and $3.50 in
the evening % editions are spoken
into the transmitter, ten men with
loud, clear voices acting as speak
ers in shifts of two. The news is
classified, and given In accordance
with a regular program, so that
any subscriber knows when to
expect the kind of items OF interest
to him. A short summary OF all
important items is given at noon
and again at night, and subscrib-
ers are entertained with music
and lectures in the evening.
Mirror writing-that is reversed
writing which must be held before
q mirror to be resd-is said to be
cultivated by many persons for
private correspondence by postal
cards. 1t is not difficult to do
especially with the left hand and
3eft-handed persons sometimes
write in this way naturally. An
Erglish physician, DR.. G. Clap
ham, mentions the case OF a
partially paralyzed female, who
taught herself to write with the
left hand, and who wrote toward
the observation-disclosures first, and
afterward learned at school to
write in the usual way. In mo-
ments of forgetfulness she would
write one line toward the LETT and
the next toward the right.
A baby alarm, or means for
signaling the crying of an infant
which has been left asleep in a dis
tant room, is one of the recent
boons offered by science. A sensi-
tive microphone, connected to a
battery and to the primary Of an
induction coil, is placed near the
child's cot. The secondary OF the
coil is connected by two wires to
small electromagnetic at the place
where the alarm is to begiven, and
on the crying of the child the
microphone sets up an undulatory
current in this circuit, causing the
electromagnetic to defect a deli
cate steel balance and close an
electric bell circuit.
A reason for doubling that
oxygen is an element has been
given to the London Royal So
ciety by Mr.. E. G. G. Baly. I'm
der the silent electric discharge,
the gas that goes to the cathode
with long sparks in less dense
than unelectrified oxygen, while
with short sparks it is more
dense.
A very successful artificial
larynX for a man who had lost his
voice is credited Prof. Anderson
Stuart, Of the University of Sgd
ney. The changing OF certain reeds
makes the voice soprano, tenor,
or bass, at will.
The experiments of Lieut.. B.
Baden-Powell with military kites |
have been sufficiently encouraging |
to give interest to the curious sug-
gestion in aireal navigation made
by him to the British Association
for the Advancement of science.
He pointed out that the wind is
nearly always stronger at an ele-
walton than near the earth, often
at 1000 yards with three
times its velocity just above
ground. He proposes to take ad-
vantage of this difference by con-
Meeting two kites by a long line
md sending them up to different
heights, the weight carried being
to the line near the low
.r kite. The lower kite would
;hus supply a retarding medium
% the upper, the effect being the
same in principle as is the upper
Kite were held to the earth by a
,tring and the lower kite were
owed through the air by boy
'unning with the string in his
land. Both kites would be kept
lying although not held to the
'arth by string in the usual way,
md it ia quite possible that they
night be navigated considerably (
tut of the winds cource.
The Chaparro tree Of the United {
states of Colombia is credited by
dr. Robert Thomson, in a report :
o the British Foreign office, with !
phenomenal endurance of fire.
he tree-botanically known as {
hopsala obovata-grows to {
eight of Is to 20 feet, and its dis c
orted trunks measure from 8 to s