The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1900-11-02
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s ) 81 invention

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Cutting or obsiruciing vegetation on
the upper Nile has had the astonishing
effect Of destroying enormous numbers
Of fish. This has been due to the lib
Grafton Of stagnant water. which has
suffocated through rs lack Of air.
a bulletin Of the New York Zooiog-
ical Society reports that the expert
ment Of decorating tie wallis OF the
bird-house with paintings Of landscapes
has had at least one interesting result
the cranes have several times tried TO
walk through the walls
1t appears that the lifetime OF the
mosquito is three months. Mosquitoes
have been kept alive in captivity FOR
eighty days II is said that the ordin-
airy minnow. which feeds upon the
larvae Of mosquitoes, is highly efficient
as a means for keeping down thesr num-
bers.
A non-freezing liquid is often needed,
as for brakes of certain kinds for ar
tillery and other uses Glycerine and
alcohol being somewhat expensive, a
twenty-eight per cent solution Of chlor-
ide of calcium is recommended. the
cost of this being slight, while it re-
mains unchanged at p degrees +. be-
low zero. and does not attack metals.
From a shrub called yule, growing
wild in central Mexico. new subsii-
tuie for india-ruBber has recently been
produced. The bark and wood are
ground mp and macerated with gaso-
line, oil of turpentine. naptha. or some
other hydrocarb0n solvent and the gum
thus extracted resembles crude rubber.
Is free from impurities. and can read
lily be manufactured into various COM
mercial forms The shrub yields 40 per
cent of its 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 Campus.
can be said. with confidence. 10 be
thousands Of times brighter than the
sun. Whether we should say 20.ONO
10000 or 5000 no one can decide" The
first-magnitude stars. Rigel and Spica
also are at an immeasurable distance
and must. in view OF their actual
brightness. enormously outshine the
sun
DR. Isaac Roberts. whose beautiful
photographs of nehulae and star clus-
tiers are well known. gives "A somewhat
startling account Of the manner IN
which the images of faint stars and
nehulae disappear from the photo
graphic plates. On one Of his plates. in
1856, he counted 4u3 stars. the same
plate in 1895 showed only 272 stars. the
images Of l3l having entirely disap-
peared. This leads 10 the suggestion
that celestial photographs in order 10
be of permanent value. shonl9 lac i'm
mediately reproduced by some process
yielding pictures not subject TO change
The principle Of wireless tclegraphy
mas been applied 10 the steering Of tor
pedoes. and tests made in England re-
Gently appear to show that the system
Is practicable. Starting with the fact
/, thatrorpedoes can be steered by electro
magnets acting upon their helms and
connected 10y Wire with the shore. Mr.
NaricaS. the inventor OF the new sys
TEN. undertook 20 get rid of the wires
by substituting FOR them the Maroon
electric impulses. In the experiment,
made near Weymouth. model torpedo
-Four feet long was employed In Z
swimming-baih. and the Marconi ap
paratus was Sc; uu at the ends OF tn,
bath. which is 800 feet long I'll,
model also carried a projecting wire
to receive the electric waves II was
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