The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1900-09-27
kM0SCienCe
AsiivesS1tion

The director of the Paris Obserys
tory states that the map of the heavens
on which work he's been progressing
for nearly .er years Is nearly COM
sleted. 1t will show nearly thirty mill
ION stars down to the fourteenth mag
hitude.
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, aud 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 dsepes, casts and regis
tered the two deepest temperatures
ever recorded. The depths are 5,l6O
and 5,269 fatnoms, AID the tempera-
lures are 800 degrees at 5.0T0 fathoms
and thirty-si degrees at Sol fathoms,
The new double telescope of the Pots
dam Observatory WIS recently dedl-
Gated. 1t consists OF two very large
telescopes arranged side by side on one
mounting. The larger. of 80 inches
aperture and 39.4 feet focal length, Is
Tor Photographic use; the other, OF 20
inches aperture and Alp 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 recedlng from the earth.
The California Miners Association
has recently published a treatise on the
mineral wealth of that State which
brings out some facts that are not gem
orally known. Gold, of course, holds
the lead, but II 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, aud
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 tilter-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-filtered
water-supply, and the result, 1t 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
he bubonlc plague has led to new
Interpretation of passage in the First
Book of Samuel, describing a fatal
sickness which affected the Philistlnes
after they carried off the Hebrew Ark
pf the Covenant. Mice are mentioned
IN connection with the epidemic, and
this fact, together with the descrip-
tion 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
than 1t had previously been recorded.