The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-06-26

as bright as any other star in the northern
heavens is a remarkable telescope binary,
with a period of a little less than hfty-two
years. Its companion long suspected 70 ex-
list, was first seen in 1862 by Avian G: Clark,
and a few months ago it was picked up by
the Lick telescope after having been out
Of telescope range for six and one-halI
years.
OF about fifty species of electric fishes.
only three Of special importance-the tor
pedo, kind of skate Of the Mediterranean;
the gymnotus or electric eel, of the Orinoco.
and the malapterurus or thunderer-fsh, of
the Nile. Interesting facts concerning the
electric organ have. been lately brought to
light. This most remarkable of all batter
les, whose results are said to be more eco
nomically obtained than any yet reached by
man, acts only at the will of the animal,
which also controls it's intensity. and the
discharge seems to depend upon some chem
zeal process in the plate where the electric
nerve flaments end. In the full grown
gymnotus, whose shocks may stun man,
tie voltage is probably between 800 and 800.
they are without insulation. The discharge.
which does not affect the fish Itself, is used
for protection and for securing food.
The question of placing electrical conduc-
tors in or near powder magazines has been
submitted to a committee of the French
Academy of Sciences. who make these
recommendations: All underground electri-
cal conductors as well as gas and water
pipes, must be kept at least thirty feet from
the magazine. Aerial lines should not be al
lowed within sixty feet. and must be ar
ranged so that no broken wire can fall upon
the magazine If light is required inside the
magazine, all wires are to be III strong me-
tallic pipes and all switches fuses. etc, are
to be on the outside of the building. Only
fixed lamps, protected by a second envelope
of glass. may be used. and no current should
have voltage higher than ITO. Electric
s oells; only those using ., very
be at least twelve feet from the powder.
AS all wires are liable to be struck by light
ming, no distinction is made between tele-
graphic conductors and those carrying the
powerful currents needed for light and
power.
Not the least interesting of the phenom-
ena now being studied by astronomers is
the little-observed Gegerschein, or counter
glow, faint light 20 or % degrees in diam
eter that is seen by the naked eye only in
the zodiac and always exactly opposite or
$50 degrees from the sun. 1t bears some
resemblance to the brighter and more IA
miliar zodiacal light. DR.. E. e. Barnard
has noticed, in fact, that late in the sea-
son the two appearances become joined by
a band of light or degrees wide, al
though this is not visible when the Gegen-
schein first appears in autumn. The cause
of the weird glow in the blackness of night
is like that of the zodiacal light mystery.
One astronomer suggests that the phenom-
enon is due, like the luminous redness of
the eclipsed moon, to the refraction by the
earth's atmosphere of sunlight, which is
made to converge in the shadow of the
earth, and is refected-in the one case by
the moon and in the other by the cosmic
dust that is believed to be distributed
throughout the ether. Spectroscopic evil
dence tends to prove that the conical 20
diacil light-which is seen in the west after
sunset in autumn and winter and in the
cast before sunrise in spring-is sunlight
reflected from ring of solid particles ac-
companying the earth.