Morris tribune., 1899-02-11
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Power--Blast Furnace Gas--The
Best Heat InsuIator--A Safe Sea
Trip--A Winter Phenomenon Exc
pIained--Where the Soul Abides
Wheat Oil,
A curious optical effect seen on the
artillery ranges of Sydd, Eng was
mentioned by Mayor Z. A. MacMa-
hon in a lecture the other day, on
Mirage On hot, sultry day an
officer was firing from an ordinary
Maxim machine gun at target about
600 yards distant, and as the firing
went on he.saw a great wedge-shaped
gap in the top of the target, apparent
ly due to destruction by the hail of
bullets. To his amazemeut, however,
the gap disappeared when he stopped
firing. Maj. MacMahon attributes
this to mirage, concluding that the
heated gases from the gun formed a
medium of gradually increasing dem
sity upwards, and that through this
medium negative refracdon SO bent
the rays that a wedge shaped portion
of the sky appeared between the OBJ
server and the upper part of the tar
get. The phenomenon, however, has
given rise to some controversy, which
is likely to continue, as this theory IS
not accepted by all.
i
A comparison of races by their ana
tony has beer attempted by two
European anthropologists late
Prot. Giacomini, of Turin, and NJ.
Theophile Chudzinski a recently de-
ceased Polish assistant of Broca. The
results seem to show beyond a doubt
that the muscular systems of the
white, the yellow and the black man
differ in many features, and that the
muscles of the white are considerably
better arranged for erect progression
Of the body and accurate use of
the hands than those of the negro.
In muscular anomalies especially the
negro shows far more simian charac-
teristics than the white man,
i
A chemical and pharmaceutical la
boratory has been established at Raj
kote, Western India. It's object is to
improve the practice Of native medi-
cine, and to make known to Western
science the valuable Indian remedies
as we'll as the possibilities of yet I'M
familiar native herbs.
i
Al astronomical blotting book,
giving two star maps for each month
for the latitude of London, is an adj
vertising novelty of the Scottish
Provident Institution.
In the German Empire, according
to an English summary of the latest
avaiIa lie statistics, there are 10000
establishments using machine power
for manufacturing, mining and com
mercial purposes. Excluding wind
and electric motors, the aggregate
capacity of the motors is more than
1922, 900 horse power, Of which steam
supplies 1914 per cent, water power
1874 per cent, and gas engines only
l.6 per cent. Petroleum, benzine
ether, hot air and compressed air fur
nish an insignificant part of the pow
or. For transportation on the Ger
m N railways rating the locomotives
of ordinary gauge at al average of
$50 horse power and those of narrow
gauge at $50 horse power an aggre-
gate of z 100000 horse power is avail
able. The power employed in agri-
culture is not stated, although it is
known that steam is used at 259,O00
places for agricultural purposes,
without counting steam plows and
diaries. The machine power used
averages 81 horse power for each 100
hands employed, reaching 1854 horse
power for each 100 hands in the min
ing industry, and being 1922 in the
chemical industry.
i
Experience is making it evident
that the utilization of the waste gases
OF blast furnaces now being tried in
small way,is matter of no small i'm
portance. Mr.. FL Allen, an English
engineer, states that the gas is never
t 10 poor to burn satisfactorily in the
gas engine, that it is very uniform in
quality, and that each cubic foot
representa- 22.372 foot pounds of