Union gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1899-1900, 1900-01-19
firJMs@9ClenCe
III a. No.. p
s |ss9I1VentiOn

Sir Robert Ball makes the statement
that of 30,OO0,0OO suns the existence
can be proved scientifically. Around
each sun its planets revolve. The cleo
tric fash which girdles the earth seven
| travel straight ahead for eighteen hun
dred years and not reach the farthest
Of these known suns.
The earth's orbit, like those Of such
other celestial bodies as can be closely
| studied, is elliptical, but not to such
an extent that the variation from cir
Gle could be detected by the eye We're
the orbit reduced to proportions that
the eye could grasp. Its long and
short diameters differ only in the ratio
of fifty-nine to sixty. The moons
greatest distance from the earth's cen
ter Is 252, 600 miles, it's least distance
221, 100 miles.
In the BatignolIes tunnel, near Paris.
incandescent electric lamps, arranged
in rows along the tunnel walls, are to
be automatically illuminated and ex-
tinguished by passing trains. the rims
of the car wheels operating the electric
switches. The lamps, being each of
ten-candie power, and placed at the
height of the car windows, will serve
to illuminate the interior of the pass
ing coaches, thus superseding the use
of lights in the train.
A French scientific journal, L'Elec-
tricien, describes an electric substitute
for the BARRIERS scissors. 1t consists
of comb, carrying along one side of
its row Of teeth platinum wire
through which flows an electric cur
rent. AS the comb passes through the
locks to be shorn, the heated wire in
simultaneously sewers the hairs, leaving
them of even length, and sealing the
cut ends as in the ordinary process of
singeing with a taper. A similar de-
vice is curling iron, kept at an even
temperature by an electric wire In the
interior.
Prof. E. G. Pickering of the Harvard
Observatory suggested a few months
ago the desirability of constructing an
extremely long telescope for the pur-
pose of photographing stars and PLAN
cts. He now announces that the money
needed has been given by anonymous
friends Of science. and that telescope
Of the desired kind, having an aperture
Of twelve inches and length of at
least 100 feet will probably be ready
within few weeks for trial at Cam
bridge. The instrument Is to be placed
In a horizontal position, and nova
Bile mirror will reflect the light of the
stars into the object glass.
Figures are sometimes impressive
simply by being SO stupendous that
the human mind grasps them with diff
Guilty. An English physicist in recent
lecture, in order to bring to the COM
prehension Of his hearers the idea Of
ultimate particles of water. said that
If he were to empty tumbler contain
ing half a pint of water, letting out
each second a number equal to one
thousand times the population of the
earth, 1t would require somewhere be-
tween 100000 and $1,000, 900 years to
empty the tumbler. Lord Kelvin says
that If a drop of water were magnified
to the size of the earth the particles
would be between the size of cricket
balls and that of footballs. If that
statement is correct. the drops of wat
er in all the oceans are not many times
as numerous as the particles, or mole |
cules, in a single drop.