Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1898-03-03
POPULAR SCIENCE.

At Toulon, france, recently the bed
of the sea was lighted up from q bal
loon attached to tug. IN the hope
The experiment was successful.
The magnetizatio( limit of iron has
been found by Henry Wilde, F. r. s.,
to be 422 pounds per square inch,
with no gain in the power of magnets
by the double-pole or horse shoe form.
Routgen rays have proved of great
assistance to the surgeons Of the
British Army in dealing with gunshot
wounds among the troops engaged in
the luckless expedition on the Indian
frontier.
The total foreign patents issued
from the earliest times 10 1890 are es-
timated by the L nited States Paten.
Commissioner at 23S, 10S; since 1870
to the close of 1896, at Sl9, ,120. The
United States patents for the same
periods numbered 120, ,573 and 1885,
72o respectively.
Detachable pneumatic tires are be-
ing made in England which require
no special rims to hold them in place,
the edges of the outer cover being
stilfened by interlocking metal bands,
which have projections to engage the
wooden rims when the tire is inflated
and keep it from twisting.
Nervous folk may be relieved to
learn that DR.. Falb's prediction OF
collision of the earth with Temples
comet on November 13, 1899. resulted
from, an error DR.. F. Bidschof, of
the Vienna Observatory, calculates
that the nearest approach Of the comet
in 1899 will be II 900, 900 miles.
| The Termite mounds Of Australia
are quite as wonderful examples of in
/ sects architecture as the more familiar
nests of the African white ants Mr..
| W. Saville- Kent describes three dis
tinct types of the large mounds. The
! largest ant nests known are doubtless
the buttressed columnar "termitaria. .
Improved methods Of signaling will
be an important feature of future polar
exploration. The apparatus of +. S.
| Bruce, as described at the London
Imperial Institute, includes small
captive balloon lighted inside by in
candescent lamps, and this is to be
fixed to the ship or taken away by an
exploring party, in either case serving
an a beacon that under favorable cir
cumstances could be seen eighty
miles or more Such balloons can be
inflated with compressed hydrogen
carried in steel cylinders.
Father Tacchini, Director of the
Royal Observatory At Rome, las re-
Gently published resume Of his OBJ
servatioEs on sun spots Tor the first hall
of the present year From this it app
pears that the surface of the sun Is be.
coming more and more quiescent as
the minimum Of the suns spot period
approaches Il have observed no
eruptions during six months says
Father TaccLiDi; and he adds after
speaking OF other indications Of lack
of activity, ''One might therefore al
most affirm that the constitution q
sun-spots has undergone : change
In his repor. on the reindeer in
Alaska, Commissioners Harris thus de-
scrlbes the useful qualities OF the ami.
+ NAL: Providence seems to have
adapted the reindeer to the peculiar
conditions Of Arctic life, and made
him at once the best helper TO man IN
the transportation Of g 1pplies, the
surest source Of animal f oil, and the
producer Of the warm st clothing.
His horns and Loofs furnish the best
material for the making CT & ue his
hair, on count Of lts extreme light
ness, is the best for use In the con-
struction Of lifcs saving apparatus, and
he also furnishes the possibilities for
large aud wealth producing indus.
tries -