Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1900-09-21
EkjMxSCienCe
: SssllveTntion

The director of the Paris Observa-
tory states that the map of the heavens
on which work has been progressing
for nearly ten years is nearly COM
pleted. 1t will show nearly thirty mill
ion stars down to the fourteenth mag
nitude.
Frank NJ. Chapman, in speaking of
the migration of birds, says the birds
which do not fear attack may migrate
boldly in the daytime, but the timid
birds of the forest wait until dark,
then mount high in the air, and fly in
large numbers, keeping in touch with
their fellows by constant calling.
The Pacific Submarine Telegraph
Survey, aboard the steamship Nero,
has taken two deepest casts and regis
tered the two deepest temperatures
ever recorded. The depths are $3.50
and 5,269 fathoms, and the tempera-
lures are 1863 degrees at 500 fathoms
and thirtysix degrees at 5101 fathoms.
The new double telescope of the Pots
dam Observatory was recently dedi-
Gated. 1t consists of two very large
telescopes arranged side by side on one
mounting. The larger, of 81 inches
aperture and 1914 feet focal length, is
for Photographic use; the other, of 20
inches aperture and 412 feet focal
length, is for visual observations. The
primary object Of this telescope is to
measure, with all possible accuracy,
the velocity Of stars that are approach
ing or receding from the earth.
The California Miners Association
has recently published treatise on the
mineral wealth of that State which
brings out some facts that are not gen.
orally known. Gold, of course, holds
the lead, but 1t will probably surprise
many to learn that the value Of the
quicksilver annually produced in Cali
fornia Is 80 per cent. greater than the
value Of the silver found there, and
that even the petroleum output of the
State exceeds the silver production in
value. Copper and borax rank among
the important minerals Of California.
The filtration Of the water supply of
cities by means of sand filter-beds, or
mechanical contrivances, has rapidly
advanced in this country during the
past ten years; but it Is far more gen
eral In Great Britain than here. Allen
Hazen, an authority on sanitary engi-
neering, AYERS that the fact is fully es-
tablished that the death-rate from ty-
phoid fever Is materially lowered by
the filtration of the water-supply. In
Great Britain, cities containing an ag-
gregate population of more than TO-
100000 people use sand-tiltered
water-supply, and the result, it is
claimed, is shown in London's freedom
from typhoid. In this country only
one-tenth of the towns and cities have
filtered water.
The discovery of the part played by
infected rats in the dissemination of
the bubonic plague has led to a new
Interpretation of passage in the First
Book Of Samuel, describing a fatal
sickness which affected the Philistines
after they carried off the Hebrew Ark
of the Covenant. Mice are mentioned
in connection with the epidemic, and
this fact, together with the descrip-
tlon of the effects of the disease, leads
Doctors Tidswell and Dick of the Roy
al Society of New South Wales to the
conclusion that the epidemic described
in Samuel was an outbreak Of the bu-
bonic plague. This carries the history
of that disease 800 years farther back
thnn II hnd previously been recorded