The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1900-12-28
EkMNSClenCe
"A 4 7s No. NHp
: 9:s9:sgllveantiOn
-~~-~--~-~~-~~~~-


1t has been suggested that It would be
well for legations in barbarous regions
to have a wireless telegraphic appar-
atus. as communication could not then
be interrupted by hostile forces.
The number of stars distinctly Visible
without the aid Of a glass Is put by
Gould at 1888. Prof. Newcomb says
their number Is 7,647. These are up to
the sixth magnitude. Prof. Newcomb
estimates the number up to the l4.o
magnitude at two hundred million.
The new electric locomotive for the
steepest portions Of the Jungfrau
Mountain Railway will be the most
powerful electric rack-wheel locomo-
tive ever constructed. The two motors
will each have 125-horse power, and
will make 800 revolutions per minute
driving the toothed wheels.
A new application of electricity
comes from Portugal, where an inven-
ton has been taken out for facilitating
fox and badger hunting. 1t consists Of
small electric lamp fixed to the collar
of a dog, which Is to enter a burrOw.
The effect of this light is to frighten
"Br'er Fox" and cause him to come out
of his burrow.
Dr. Il. Larroque reports to the
French Academy of Sciences that his
studies of the action of sounds upon the
human ears prove that the auditory
apparatus of each ear operates indie
pendently of the other. This appears
to have a bearing upon the question
whether the loss of hearing by one ear
exercises an injurious effect upon its
mate.
Orchids are famous for beauty and
general attractiveness, but it is not gen
orally known that they have a place in
the arts that minister to the physical
wants of man. But in some parts of
the tropics where orchids abound, a
delicate fiber is prepared by the ma
tives, which they use in the preparation
of the many ornaments these races pre-
pare for trade with the paler races of
men.
Lack Of proper nesting places, too lit
tie water, the English sparrow, boys,
collectors, birds on hats and the cat are
among the causes of the decrease of
song birds enumerated by d. Lang.
He suggests protection and encourage
ment Of the birds by planting trees and
shrubs for them to live in, putting up
nesting boxes for breeding, providing
water for feeding and bathing, and
feeding in unfavorable weather.
A German physicist, G. Tammann.
has recently discovered some hitherto
unnoted facts concerning ice and the
freezing point of water. He finds that
not only does the freezing point vary
with the pressure, but that three differ
ent kinds of ice can be produced. each
possessing its own crystalline structure.
Thus water may now be said to have
five known forms, namely, water vapor.
water as a liquid, ordinary ice. called
by Tammann ice l., ice in Its second
form, or ice H.. and ice in its third
form, denominated as Ice III. Some
non-scienthc people would, in hot
weather, add a sixth form generally
known as ice cream.
Through the insertion Of inductance
coils into the electrical circuit. Prof
Pupin, of Columbia University. has
greatly increased the efficiency of long
distance telephony through cables. The
insertion of the coils enables the cable
to transmit 6,OO0 times as much current
as it is able to transmit without them.
With an experimental cable thus pro-
vided, it has been found possible to
carry on a conversation distinctly at n
distance of $50 miles. BY applying the
principle to oceanic cables. It is he
lieved that telephone messages might
be sent to and fro across the Atlantic
1t would also greatly increase the ra-
pidity with which ordinary telegraphic
signals can be transmitted by cable
The principle is likewise applicable for
extending the range of telephone COM
munication over aerial wires.