Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-06-25


The peat coal now being turned out
on considerable scale in Norway i:
made by the process Of Rosendahl,
Norwegian engineer. which consists IN
heating the peat in closed retorls TO $50
c. Tor seven hours. The finished product
retains SO per cent OF the original tar and
gas. Analysis shows this coal to consist
OF 6s pr cent of carbon. 10 per cent OIL
oxygen, per cent OF hydrogen, 3. Z per
cent of water, and only S per cent OF
ash, and is heating va ue Is that OF aver
age biumin u Co u. The cost OF .mann-
fac ure i, about 60 cents per ton, the
selling prics b.iug a little over sI.oo pr
ton, or about quarter OF the COS in
Norway OF natu al coal The peat coal
has proven suitable for foundry work,
and rooms have been heated with ] al
exactly half the cost OF the same eiiec,
from Ordinary coal.
The scheme of covering the Sahara
with forest /, pronounced bY NJ p. Pri-
vat ID, schenel ii terry impracticable, the
arid plat aus lei & hopeless desert. On
limited scale, however, the Valleys
mo I of which are favoryd with a small
amount o. water may be succ .ssf lly
painted with tamaisk, &C ,cil. eucalyptus
and pop ar, the last named tree ha ing
Unexpectedly proven the most sui a ole.
In the forest shelter, vegetables and
ruit trees may be grown.
In some late experiments on the
bursting OF small fy-wheels, the first
wheel tested. I51s inches in diameter,
burst at a speed OF 6525 revolutions per
minute, or a rim speed of over five
miles minute. A timber casing around
the wheel was completely demolished,
and a piece of the rim was snot like
bullet through four inches OF pine and
AZ inches into the hardwood floor.
A new x-ray tube, with adjustable
cathode, shows that the exact position
of the cathode enormously affects the
penetration Of the rays, change OF
third oil an inch giving range OF pene-
trative power from the highest almost
to none at all.
The use OF ether for forcing plants has
given Mr.. Johannsen, oil the Agricultural
High School at Copenhagen, results so
decided as to suggest great possibilities
for florists and market gardeners. The
plants are ethetized by being placed for
twenty -four to ninety-sX hours in a
closed vessel filed with ether vapor,
cylindrical glasses being used for small
plants and oil-paiuted boxes lined with
iin-ioil for larger ones. The cost of
etherizing lilacs is said TO have been
from cent to cent and one-hali for
each plant. In the experiments of the
last three years, tulips, lilacs. etc, ether
lied late In the fall and then placed in a
dollhouse developed much more rapidly
than usual, and had pretty color and
great durability. Little benefit was had
from ether applied before the middle of
September. Trials on a greater variety
oil plants are planned for this year, and
a study Of the effects OF varying and re-
peated doses OF ether will be made.
he ether being very inHammable. great
care must be taken TO keep it away from
lighted matches or any flame.
An incandescent lamp OF three or four
candle power is used by NJ. Paul Noel, a
French entomologist, for capturing IN
sects that swim in ponds at night. The
lamp is connected by wires to small
sofage battery on the bank OF the
pond, weighted by a semicircle of iron,
anu placed over net having an open
ing two Zee, and hall across. The net
is OF coarse pack-thread, closed by a
string. the weighted amp and the net
are slowly sunk in the wafer, The lamp
is lighted, and ins cts fish lizards, frogs,
tadpoles and larvae OF every kind rush
up to ii. The striug is pulled, quickly
capturing several pounds OF victims.
Flourine, remarkable both as The most
active Of the chemical elements and as
the only one forming no compound with
oxygen, was with great difficulty isoldt.
ed by Moissan in 1887. Its liquefiction
just announced by Professor Dewar, adds
new and extraordinary detail 10 the
chemistry Of cold. The gas llquefies at
temperature of 1859 below no cent,
and the product i, yellow mobile liquid
which has lost the intense chemical
energy and become entirely inert.
New discoveries OF rocks dangerous
to navigation show no signs OF dimiuish-
ing, NOT less than 2o9 rocks and shoals
not before known having been reported
10 the British photographer in 1896.
"A singular eruption was witnessed
early this year by postman VINO was
crossing the sands OF Skeidara, 10 tue
south of Iceland A sudden long,
grooming sound Grew his attention to a
glacier about two miles in front OF him.
when he saw huge masses of ice thrown
into the air from the glacier followed by
a flood that swept down upon the level
sands. carrying everything before it
Turning his horse, he fed 10 the station
Of Nupsstad. On returning 10 the sands
six days later, he found them covered
by belt of ice-flo5s or waves about
four miles wide aud seventy TO ninety
feet high, reaching from the glacier c
the sea, distance OF at least twenty-five
miles. Six newly formed torrents rush
ed from the glacier on the opposite side
OF the ice-heid. The eruption is sup.
posed to have some connection with tn-
severe earthquakes OF last summer.
A scorpion carrying flower ID II
curious sight seen not loug ago by al
Alden correspondent OF nature Th.
flower was large blossom OF what i.
locally known as the white gold mohu
tree, and the creature held il over it.
back by one claw curing up its tai I,
assist. The nearest tree ( ON which tn,
flower could have been Obtained wa.
thirty feet away, with TWO or three step
and a low stone parapet intervening
This fact seems 10 prove that the scor
pion carried the flower through intention
though whether as concealment, L
shield itself from the bright lamp light
or for some other purpo,e is unknown
Scorpions are SGT known 10 feed Of
vegetable substance nor to construC
nests.
1t might puzze many 10 say why tn
feathers OF biris rest closely az llust tn,
hooy even in he stroEges wind.
German naturalist has made * pertinent