Junction City bulletin. [volume] (Junction City, Or.) 189?-1901, 1900-09-27
EkmsSCience
n ([ssIEilyentiOn


Cutting or obsifucting vegetation on
the upper Nile has had the astonishing
effect Of destroying enormous numbers
OF fish. This has been due 10 the lib
GRAFTON of stagnant water which has
sufrocnied through Itx lack Of air.
A bulletin Of the New York Zoolog-
ical Society reports tlat the expert
ment Of decorating the walls OF the
bird.house with paintings of landscapes
has hnd al least one Interesting result
the cranes have several times tried TO
walk through the walls
IL appears that the lifetime Of the
mosquito IL three months. Mosquitoes
have been kept alive In captivity for
eighty days II is said that the ordIn-
AIRY mlnnow, which feeds upon the
larvae Of mosquitoes, is highly efficient
as a means for keeping down their mum.
bers.
A non.freezing liquid IL often needed,
ns for brakes Of certain kinds for ar
tillery and other uses. Glycerine and
alcohol being somewhat expensive.
twenty-eIght per cent solution Of cblor-
ide OF calcium is recommended, the
cost OF this being slight. while II re-
mains unchanged nj 25 degrees II. be-
low zero, aud does not attack metals.
From shrub called yule. g:oNing
wild la central Mexico. new substI.
tute for iHdia.rubbrr has recently been
produced. The bark and wood are
ground M and macerated with gaso-
line, oil of turpentlne. naptha, or some
other hydrocarbon solvent. and the gum
thus extracted resembles crude rubber
II Is free from impurities and can read.
Ily be manufactured into yarions com
mercial forms. The shrub yields 40 per
cent OF It's weight In gum.
Prof Simon Newcomb. writing of
stars which are so distant that they
have no measurable parallax, remarks
that one OF these. the brilliant Canopus,
can be said. with confidence. TO be
thousands of times brighter than the
sun. Whether we should say 10000.
10000 or 1900, no one can decide" The
frst'magnitude stars. Rigel aud SpIca,
also are nt m immeasnrable distance,
and must. In view OF their actual
brightness, enormously outshine the
sun
DR.. Isaac Roberts, whose beautiful
photographs of nebulae and star clus-
tiers are well known, gives d somewhat
startling account OF the manner In
which the images Of faint stars and
nebulae disappear from the photo
graphic plates. On one Of bis plates. in
1855. he counted 403 staiS: the same
plate In 1906 showed only 27a stars. the
Images OF l3l having entirely dIsap.
peared. This leads 10 the suggestion
that celestial photographs. In order to
be OF permanent value, should be I'm
medlatcly reproduced by some process
yielding pictures not subject TO change.
The principle of wireless telegraphy
mas been applied TO the steering of tor
pedoes, and tests made in England re-
Gently appear TO show that the system
is practicable. Starting with the fact
that torpedoes canbe steered by electro.
magnets acting upon their helms aud
connected by wire with the shore, Mr..
Narlcas the inventor OF the new sys-
tenn, undertook 10 get rid of the wires
by substituting for them the Marconl
electric impulses. In the experiments
made near Weymouth, model torpedo,
four feet long. was employed In
swimming-bath, and the Marconi ap.
paratus was set up at the ends of the
bath. which Is 800 feet long. The
model also carried projecting wire
to receive the electric waves. II was
steered in every direction successfully.