The record-union., 1899-11-23

ship, made of aluminium, and contain
ing a large number of balloons. at
tached to this frame are cars or tnS
same metal It's total lifting capacity
is about ten tons, enabling vessel 10
carry stores sufficient to remain in the
air several days. The sum of tlO,ooo
has already been spent in the construc-
ton, the plans having been approved
by the German Government. MAJOR
Baden-Powell says it is hoped to drive
the vessel at the rate of twenty-five
miles an hour. This, according to
royal engineer and flying machine eX-
pert, kills the force of Major Baden
PowelFs previous assertions, for the
British authorities hold that no flying
machine can hope to attain success un-
less a speed of thirty miles is reacneo
Navigation, even short distance Iroin
the earth and under normal conditions
is held to be impossible unless the pow
er developed is equal to the currents
which circulate on the average at
speed of thirty miles an hour and often
above that figure.
London Chronicle: The President of
the Geography Section of the British
Association for the Advancement OF
Science this year is Sir John Murray OF
Challenger expedition fame, whose
opening address dealt with the floor OF
the ocean and the result of it's investl-
cation on various speculatlons. he
said it was the desire to establish tel
egraphic communication between Eu-
rope and America that gave the nrst
direct impulse to the scientific explora-
ton of the great ocean basins, and at
the present day the survey of new
cable routes still yielded each year
large amount of accurate knowledge
regarding the floor of the ocean. Since
the Challenger expedition there had
been almost a revolution in the methods
employed in deep sea observations. The
most profound abysses of the ocean
were now being everywhere examined
by sailors and scientific men with in
creasing. precision, rapidity and sue
cess. The recognition of oceanography
as a distinct branch of science might
be said to- date from the commence
ment of the Challenger investigations.
Depths exceeding. four geographical
miles had now been recorded at eight
places. Depths exceeding 5000 fathoms
had been hitherto recorded only in the
South Pacific, being about 1000 feet
more below the level of the sea than the
summit of Mount Everest, in the Hima-
layas, is above it. The deep sea was a
region of darkness as well as of low
temperature, for the direct rays of the
sun were wholly absorbed in passing
through the superficial layers of water.
Discussing the antiquity of hospitals,
Medicine Moderne," Baden, says: eve
cannot find anything in the classical
writer's of Greece that would point to
the existence of hospitals. 1t is true
that Hippocrates speaks about various
forms of disease witnessed by him in
the temple of Esculapius, but it is very
difficult to infer from what he says that
the temple was used like our hospitals.
A short time ago excavations We're
made in Roman ruins near Zurich.
where traces of fourteen little rooms
were discovered, containing a great
number of articles used by Roman ply
sicians-nippers, pincers, miniature
spoons, shovels, and jars that had con-
tanned some kinds of salve. This indi-
Gates that the place was hospital,
probably a temporary one. Archeolo-
gists infer, from the fact that among
the numerous objects found were Ro-
man coins Of the Emperor Hadrians
time. that this hospital must have been
prepared for the seventh and eighth le-
gions who had then been stationed in
that vicinity
Any machine that is likely to give off
electric sparks has been considered
dangerous for use in localities where
those sparks might ignite explosives or
gas. "The Electrical Review tells us,
however, that motors have now been
constructed that are absolutely free
from sparkling, so that they have even
been installed in a powder-mill. 1t
says: What a holding up of the hands
in horror there would have been ten
years ago if anybody had suggested
electric motors as the prime movers of
a powder mill. Yet the art of con-
structing these machines has advanced
so far that the induction motor is to-
day. considered the safest power ma
chine for such uses. The description of
the new powder factory of the United
States Navy Department is of interest
in showing the feeling of safety that
has been engendered by the perfection
of the electrical transmission and dis
tribution of power. The induction mo-
tor has been said to be as simple as
grindstone.' Likewise it is as spark
less as a water-wheel, and in a dan
gerous place like a powder factory as
safe as a block of ice." Of interest
along the same lines is the conclusion
of two German experts, Herr Heise and
DIR. Theim, that sparkling machines or
motors are especially dangerous in
coal mines. 1t would seem, however,
that in the case of motors this danger
need no longer be feared; that is, if the
confidence of those in charge of the
Government powder factory is tusti-
fed.
When a train is rounding a curve,
the ordinary locomotive headlight is off
the course, and is uselessly peering into
the surroundings of the line In order
to remedy this, John S. Thurman, the
mechanical engineer of the Missouri
Pacific Railway" we are told in en-
dustries and Iron," November 18th,
has devised an attachment by means
OF which the light is maintained in line
with the track. 1t is an electrical head
light having the motor and dynamo
mounted together on a table. on the
under side Of which the turning mech