The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-10-30
[special to the Citizen.l

vi the great SciSHlilc pFOOleHIS VI Oue
day. Of the numerous inventions to
effect this object, one of the most prom
Using appears to be the new furnace OF
M.ssRaoul Pictet, which is Designed to
economic electric currents by using
other sources of heat for part of the
work of forming calcium carbide. The
furnace is vertical one, divided into
three parts or zones of temperature.
The charge of lime aud coke is supplied
from the top, and the materials de-
scend gradually through two prelimi-
nary zones, where a hot blast raises
them to progressively increasing tenn
peratures, until they reach the floor,
where au electric arc flashing between
two strong electrodes completes the OPP
Grafton. The carbide flows through an
Orifice to the receptacle provided.
The prediction is made by Sir James
Grant that the gold output of Canada,
especially of British Columbia, will as
tonish the world at no distant date.
In Nova Scotia where gold mining
has been lucrative during the last ten
years, the total production had reached
$11, $780, 900 at the close of 1885, In the
Province of Quebec, where gold has
been known since 1847, an examina-
ton brought out enough of the metal
to cause fever of excitement and an
eager taking up of obtainable land.
A remarkable popularity in the law
of solar rotation has been reported by
Mr.. Lewis Jewell as result of spec
troscopic work at Johns Hopkins Uni
Versity. The outer and inner portions
of the suns atmosphere are foun t.
have difference in rotation period of
several days, the period increasing as
dhe philosophers is approached. The
measures also show much the greatest
equatorial accelleration for the outer
atmosphere, there being little differ
ence at lower levels in the period for
different ATTITUDES.
The high note of the cuckoo has
been determined by an English OBJ
server to be usually from f Efiat, the
low note from d to b.
The very ingenious theory has been
advanced by M. G. Fourlinne, a
French chemist, that the differences
in the properties ofthe chemical ele-
ments can be explained by differ noes
in the geometrical form of the atoms.
Limiting his research to the nOn-met-
ais, he has reached the conclusion that
the members of one family of non-met-
ais possesSatoms of the same form but
of different dimensions, while the nom
metals of different families have dis
similar atoms. He reasons these that
these atomic forms must be regular
poiyhedra. Comparing the different
regular polyhedra Inscribed in the
same sphere, he finds that the volume
of the heXahedrOn, the octahedron, the
dodecahedrOn aud the icosahedron are
relatively the numbers IS, Is, Ia, and
az, which are relatively the atomic
weights OF f1uOrlne, oxygen, nitrogren
and carbon. He therefore concludes
that the atoms of the fiuorine, oxygen,
nitrogen and carbon groups have the
above forms respectively, while, by ex-
clusion, the regular tetradedron is .as-
signed to- hydrogen. Applying the
theory to chemical phenomena, it is
found that certain anomalies as
bhe double atomicity of oxygen and
triple atomisity of nitrogen-aTe easily
explained, as the atoms in combina-
1ion would arrange them themselves
in q state Of stable equilibrium, which
might be determined sometimes by the
surfaces and sometimes by the apices
of the geometrical forms.
The improved field glass of London
Inventor may be carried in the pocket,
and put on and worn like pair of
spectacles The spiral telescope tubes
are very light. being made of alumni
mum, and close up into small space.
A head-strap holds the glass in place
for use. The apparatus is designed eS-
pecially for officers in the field, for cor
respondents reporting military man
Oeuvers, and for all persons who make
observations at a distance and take
notes at the same time. g0i 80 81
su1a a
The four great tunnels of the world
are cited as an illustration of the
marked elimination of the cost of en-
gineering works during the last quar-
ter of a century. The Hoosac tunnel,
the Oldest of the four, cost $500 foot ;
the Mont Gents, the next in date, $475;
the st. Gothard, 1855, and the Arlberg,
the most recent, only 5000. i"it
80
Specimens of firedalnp have been re-
Gently collected from many sources, all
containing nitrogen, with apparently
about the same proportion of argon as
rs obtained from the nitrogen Of the
air,
For long time, says M. Henri Par
vile, we believed that life of any de-
scription ceases between 500 and 500 e.
4122o-140o). but in the solfataras, or
hot sulphur springs, of the Pyrenees,
some fiiamentous algae have been.
found thriving at SO c., and this is not
yet the rxtteme limit. Nj. Miguel, of
the Montsouris Observatory, has re-
ported a living organism, the Bacillus
therD1o1hytus |, found at a temperature
of 70-7l0 @. Now comes Van Zieghem
and reports another micro-organism
which thrives in water at tempera-
ture of 74o (165o f. j, and M. Glabig
has found several analogous 0 ganisms.
Finally, NJ TIL. Schoesing, .Jr., reports
that in making some Investigations as
to the heat developed by decomposing
dung-piles, he found a putrifaction fer
menr In intense activity at 1879 F., and
that the activity of this ferlnent does