The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-06-07

plate to be hardened TIE carbon disap-
pears into the metal. and a superior pate
In a third OF the time now taken In claimed
Electricity Is USED BY DR.. Lawson TAFT
OF Birmingham. England. to arrest BLEEDING
In surgical operations. A platinum wire IN
sulated In burnt pipe-clay Is inclosed In The
blades OF a pair Of steel forceps or some sinh
age is passed through II from the street main
or from q portable battery. The artery -
seized and compressed. and In a few seconds
its tissues are so coagu,ated and It's walls
agglutinated that further passage on blood
Is rendered impossible. Ligature for either
artery or vein Is made unnecessary.
Experiments with a herfneticaily sealed
rubber bottle containing water have shcwn
that the rubber is not absolutely water tight.
The filed bottle weighed seventeen ounces
four drachms: at the end OF one year the
weight was seventeen ounces two dacams;
nine years, sixteen ounces; eighteen years.
fourteen ounces two drachms: twenty-three
i've years. seven ounces eight drach1s:
twenfy-eight years, three ounces fourteen
drachms. thirty years, three ounces twelve
drachms. the water being entirely gone.
TIE problem Of the suns temperature has
been attacked in a. variety OF ingenious
ways Rosett has recorded a temperature
up to 10000 degrees c.. using a thermopile:
LeChatelier. 7.c0 degrees c.. by comparing
the absorption of solar rays with that from
a hot object: Wilson and Gray. 500 degrees
c.. by balancing in a boys acknowledgements.
the radiation from the sun against tha
between 1000 and 10000 degrees. by measur.
ing the breadth Of the magnesium lines In
the spectrum. Professor Paschen. the latest
maximum energy In sunlight as inversely
proportionate TO the absolute temperate
OF an incandescent body and gets $3.50 de-
grees c.
The fossil, remains of more than fifteen
species of great wingless birds. resembling
those of Madagascar and New Zealand.
have been collected by Carlos and Floren-
tino Ameghino from the most ancient
tertiary strata of southern Patagonia The
best known of these species is the phoror-
hacos ~infiatus. comparable 10 the ostrich
in size, but more robust, and with a vulture-
like BIZ resembling that of the dodo. a
Mauritius bird that became extinct near
the close of the seventeenth century. An
other species OF the same genus. the p.
Longissimus, was larger. Its skull was
twenty-s.x inches long, being much greater
tnan that OF the horse, camel or giraffe OF
the present day. and its stature was scarce
Madagascar. but the giant OF al, and the
most gigantic bird yet known, was the
Brontornis Burmeisteri. This bird was OF
massive build and must have been more
than thirteen feet tall, the total length OF
the leg being sixty-fhree inches, or about
go longer than that of the Aepyornis
lngens, while the femur was three inches
in diameter and the head Of the same bone
was not less than seven inches. Its bill
was strong and hooked. and it is believed
that, unlike the Aepyornis and Dinornis. IL
fed upon mollusks and reptiles as well az
vegetable products. and was really a fero-
cious beast OF prey
Heat and moisture are the conditions on
which the electrical activity Of the atmos-
phere chiefly depends. and A. Klosserky, di-
rector of the meteorological service OF south
western Russia, has found that a rough gen.
erai chart of the distribution of thunder
storms over the globe might be traced from
a map showing temperature and amount OF
rainfall. Ana electrical zone of great in
tensity extends on both sides of the
equator, expanding from northwest to south
east over each continent crossed. The first
division Of this zone-that OF Asia with
Oceanica-extends from the beginning of the
Sunda islands to New Guinea. The storms
number from ninety 10 a hundred or moro
annually. The second continental area in
the zone OF great intensity passes across
equatorial Africa, where the storms range
from nearly 200 a year at Bismarcksburg to
forty-six. at Zanzibar. On the southern
coasts Of both sides of this continent the
thunderstorms are much more frequent than
on the northern. The third continental sec
non or the electrical zone Is tropical Amer
lea. where the thunderstorms average 100 q
year or more between 90 degrees and % de-
grees north. The general course of the zone
Is southeasterly TO 25 degrees south, includ-
ing the West Indies In higher Southern
latitudes a great difference exists in the
electrical activity and rainfall Of the two
sides of the continent. the minimum being
found in the warm region OF the western
coast, where are places, as at Lima, of no
thunderstorms. North of the equatorial
zone the thunderstorms decrease. The
region of continental deserts offers little
moisture, and is marked by weak electrical
activity: but north of the zone of deserts
the thunderstorms are more numerous,
though easily affected by temperature ard
local conditions In Europe the annual av-
erage of thunderstorms Is from fifteen TO
twenty.