The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-08-14

the horse. In the year 1873 paddle
wheel tugs, worked 10y horses, were
in use both on the Thames and the
Tyne for towing vessels, and it is on
record that between GraveSend aud
London they would take a ship of 200
tons against the stream at speed OF
three miles an hour. No land vehi-
Giles, similarly worked 10y horses carried
ION board" appear to have been ever
tried; but in these days of high-grade
steel, roller bearings, and rubber tires,
ii would be interesting 10 ascertain
eXperimentally whether the perform
ance of sturdy little Shetland or lee
land pony, carried on wheels instead
of his own legs, could not be quadru-
pied, as that OF his weaker master has
certainly been.
In the scientific literature of the i'm
mediate future, references 10 cloud
forms will be expected 10 conform to
the International Cloud -iildS, contain
ing IS views, which has been published
in Paris. Ii is now the official cloud
atlas of the world. The types of clouds
adopted as standards were selected
from over 500 photographs collected
from all parts of the world, the work
having been done by the international
Cloud Committee, appointed by the
International Meteorological Confer
ence held at Munich in 1891.
The bears of North America have
been hitherto assigned 10 three groups
the polar bear type, the grizzly bear
type. and the black bear type. DR.. {.
Hart Merriman adds 10 these the Sitka
bear type aud the kadiak Dear type.
In his preliminary study made on the
skulls and teeth of 100 animals. he rec
ognizeS eleven species and sub-species-
the black and grizzly bears each in-
cludIng four species-with probably
two additional sub-species.
To test the assertion that magnet
poles emit light rays, Mr.. y. y. {.
Swinton, of London, placed a sensitive
plate on s. powerful electromagnetic for
ten minutes. but obtained 10 effect
whatever.
An English writer, Or. John Bed
doe, contends the proportion of blondes
to brunettes is decreasing, and that
the former are more susceptible to the
maligp influences of modern city life.
From Basler's great work on the med
ical statistics of the Civil War, he
finds that, in America at least, there
is greater liability of blondes 10 GER
tain diseases. Ii also appears that OF
the accepted soldiers from among the
white natives Of the United States, 66
per cent. were light and 81 per cent.
dark, while the proportion for English.
Irish ana Germans Is 20 10 So. This
shows a smaller proportion OF blondes
among men of American birth than
among the races contributing 10 their
ancestry, indicating that the Ameri-
cans are more generally dark complex
toned than were their ancestors. Sta
tisticS concerning school children in
Germany, Austria, Switzerland ana
Belgium, aud adults in Italy and the
British Isles, afford pretty conclusive
evidence that In great part OF Europe
the jewellers in cities are darker than
residents Of the country.
a new Australian method OF pack
ing butter consists in enclosing il IN
box made of six sheets OF ordinary
glass, the corners being covered with
gumme6 paper, and the whole envel-
oped in lSyer Of plaster Of Paris,
3 quarter of an inch thick. The plaS-
ter is protected by covering OF speci-
ally prepared paper. The cost of pack
ing is ABOUT two cents per pound, and
q saving Of . per cent. IN freight aud
packing is claimed, IS compared with
the uSuSl method of carrying in refrig
orators. The plaster being poor con-
ductor of heat, the inside temperature
Is Unaffected by external changes. But
ter made in Melbourne aud packed in
this way has been sent across the SeS
10 Kimberly, via Cape Town, Snd was
found perfectly fresh when the case
was opened.
From experiments of Pnofs Dewar
aud Fleming with magnets Of various
kinds of iron aud steel, il appears that
cooling in liquid sir 10 about S15e be-
low zero Fair. permanently decreases
the power OF most magnets. but that
after the permanent magnetic condI-
ton has oeen reached, subsequent cool
lug temporarily increases the magnet
ism Steel containing 10 10 - per cent.
Of nickel is an exception to the
latter rule, the permanent magnetism
having maximum 81 about 1902 Fair.
end Oeiug temporarily diminished by
cold.
High authority states that horse
flesh supplies one half of the meat
eaten in Germany.
In an Investigation of earth move
ments in the Isle of Wight, Prot. ].
Milne has found evidence of various
causes, some disturbances appearing to
be genuine local earthquakes, some Of
them faint echoes of very distant earth
quakes. while Others seemed TO be at
tributSble TO meteorological conditions
AS the last suggested that 3 heavy
shower or snow might 81 distort the
earth's surface as 10 Sffect the stability
OF astronomical instruments. an earth
bending experiment has been made at
Oxford. The effect of sudden shower
was initiated by marching 20 persons
IN various degrees Of compactneSs up TO
way from the slate slab support
l-e registering apparatus, the re-
>. eng an lnvariabse depression to-
the crowd, but exceediugly slight
er more than halt 8 second when
the crowd was concentrated close to