Union gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1899-1900, 1900-03-30
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From north to south Alaska stretches
1000 miles, or 300 miles further than
from the great lakes to the Gulf of
Mexico. Its width is greater than from
Chicago to London.
To run an eighty car freight train al
twenty miles an hour requires over
10O,O00,0 0,00O-foot pounds of energy. AT
thirty miles it requires 222, 2,O0O,0 ,000-foot
pounds, which is equal to the energy
whose projectile weighs 1920 pounds,
and fired at 1000 feet velocity
The possibility of the ostrich being
used for a kind of two-legged saddle
horse, as the natives of Abyssinia are
said to have employed it, was demon
correspondent of the Scientific Ameri-
can. He not only mounted a full-sized
male ostrich and rode 100 yards on its
back, but also had photographer make
picture of him on his feathered steed.
In Germany the granulated Stag from
blast furnaces is being utilized for the
manufacture of brick. The making of
Stag brick is not new thing, but here
tofore fluid Stag has bee nemployed for
the purpose, and the brick thus pro-
duced has been found unsuitable for
building purposes because it is imper-
meable to air and steam. But the Stag
bricks made in Germany are, it is said,
not open to this objection. On the con-
trary, while exceeding the strength of
bY.ioIyc nj ~ nv
traordinary resistance to heat, they are
more permeable to air, and consequently
are well suited for the building of
houses. They do not absorb water as
rapidly as ordinary bricks.
Recent examination by Prof. T. G..
Bonney of powders containing dia-
monds from the famous 'blue ground"
rock of, South Africa leads to new
views of the origin of the gems. Prof
Bonney considers that the diamond is
not produced in the blue ground, as
some have heretofore thought that it
was, but is present in it as derivatiye
from older rocks. The powders exams
ined were evidently water-worn. and
consisted of garnetiferous rock. The
diamond and the garnet, Prof. Bonney
remarks, are brought into very close
relations by the discovery of two speci-
mems showing the diamond apparently
embedded in the garnet. The blue
ground, in which the diamond and gar
net bearing rocks are found, is vol
canic product.
In Central America are many strange
birds with stranger habits, but prob
ably none are more interesting than a
little brown wren who may be seen
along the roadsides or on fences. This
little bird, about the size of a canary,
builds nest out of all proportion to
his apparent needs. He selects a small
tree with horizontal branches growing
close together. Across two of the
branches he lays sticks fastened to-
gether with tough fiber, until plat
form about six feet long by two feet
wide is constructed. On the end of
this platform nearest the tree trunk he
then builds huge, dome shaped nest a
foot or so high, with thick sides of in
terwoyen thorns. A covered passage
way is then made from the nest to the
end of the platform in as crooked a
manner as possible. Across the outer
end, as Well as at short intervals along
the inside of this tunnel, are placed
cunning little fences of thorns with
lust space enough for the owners to
pass through. On going out, this open
ing is closed by the owner by placing
thorns across the gateway, and thus
the safety of eggs or young Is assured.