The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-10-02
written for the C1T1zEN.3


Ruined temples are stated by Mr..
Robert M. w. Swan, an English an
thropologist, to be SO numerous in
Mashonaland that one might safely
undertake to find hundred within
ten miles of Salisbury, while the num-
Der in the entire country between the
Zambesi and LimpopO rivers must be
enormous. These remains of the PEG.
pie who built Zimbalwe take the form
of circular arcs, if not of complete cir
cles. One of the temples visited
about three hundred yards east of the
Lundi river-is 1859 feet 81 inches in cir
conference, and the foundation di-
verges only few inches from true
circle. 1t is of small rectangular, nat
urally shaped blocks of granite, laid in
very regular level courses in a finely
ways are 60 feet 81 inches apart. One
of them forms with the cNutre of the
temple north and south line, SO that
it is supposed that the wall between
sun at the summer solstice. 1t is sug-
gested that these remarkable structures
were not temples in the ordinary
sense, but simply religious symbols.
The phenomena of rain are initiated
by Professor Errera, of Brussels, Uni
of i'm hco no
glass, inches tall by 5 inches in di-
ameter, is half filled with 81 per cent.
alcohol covered with a saucer, and
thoroughly heated over water hath
without boiling the liquid. 1t is then
carefully removed to a wooden table.
Soon the alcohol vapor is condensed
into visible clouds by the cooling saul
Ger, innumerable minute Groplets of
rain fall, and the clouds become gradu-
ally lowered away from the saucer.
The miniature storm may last halt an
hour. The action is intensified if the
warm saucer is replaced by cold one.
Whirlwiuds and squalls are produced
when the alcohol is very warm, and il
the liquid is warmer on one side the
clouds may be seen to rotate around a
horizontal axis.
The worlds population is said to av-
| erage 100 women to every 100 men,
while eight-ninlhs of the sudden
deaths are of males.
|
One of the latest of the numerous
coutrivances for enabling the mini rs
engineer to detect the presence OF
marsh-gas, or fire-damp, depends upon
the variation in sound produced by the
density change of a gas. The air under
test is forced through a small organ
pipe, and the note thus obtained COM
pared with one given out by a second
| pipe fed with pure air, the number OF
beats per second giving a measure OF
the methave present. Carbonic acid,
moisture and possible variation in tenn
perature are prevented from having
any effect upon the result. In the
fixed type of apparatus, microphones
on the organ pipes are placed in con-
nection with a telephone at any con-
venient place, enabling the manager in
his office TO count the beats and in
stantly to recognize the presence of fire.
damp in the part of the mine from
which the air is being drawn-one per
cent of lnethane giving about three
beats per second. Two other t. pes
the portable and the self-recording-are
constructed. The appal atus, which is
described by the French Society for the
Encouragement of National Industry,
Is somewhat expensive, especially i'll
the self-recording type, but is extreme.
ly simple and convenient in use.
"A new fire-proof paper, made in Der.
lin by l.. Frobeen, is reported to be Ca
pable of resisting even the direct inf1u-
ence of flame, while it may he placed
in white heat without harm. 1t con-
sists Of 95 parts of the best asbestos fl
Der, which is washed in solution OF
permanganate of calcium and then
treated with sulphuric acid, and 5
parts of ground wood pulp, the entire
mass being placed in the agitating box,
| with the addition of some lime water
and borax. After thorough mixing,
the material is pumped into regula.
ting box and allowed to flow out of a
gate into an endless wire cloth, where it
enters the usual paper-making machin-
cry.
1t has been suggested that the recent
extraordinary death-rate in New York
from heat apOpleXy was due more to
the use of ice and iced drinks than 10
| the uSdl alOnc. mo UNUSUAL Ueat n-raLe,
it is pointed out, was reported from
the British-African Army in the Sou
dan, though the troops were working
at the same time in shade tempera-
ture Of13O0
The light of the glow-worm has been
found capable of penetrating blacken-
ed paper and affecting sensitive plate
underneath.
The copper mines of Sinai, the most
ancient mentioned in history, were the
subject of recent communication by
M. Bertbelot to the French Academy
of Sciences. Authentic documents
show that these mines were worked
since the time of the Egyptian dynasty
(about 5000 years B. G. until the end
of the Ramesseides (about 1900 to 1906
B. g. While their possession was the
object ST several wars, they have been
abandoned for 1900 years on account
of the poor quality of the ores. From
these mines came the sceptre of Pepi /,
a king of the sixth dynasty, which is
now preserved i'll the British Museum,
aud which Berthelot's analysis showed
to be of pure copper. The adits still
exist. as do ruins of the furnaces, the
cruCihies the huts of the miners and