The St. Johns herald., 1901-09-28
ltsln1CleflCef Eg 9se AND
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Aluminium ana magnesium have re- gently been combined in Germany to produce an alloy which does not rust, and which is as light and tenacious as pure aluminium, while it can be worked with the file and the lathe. It is named magnalium.
 pr. Ludwig Mond has discovered. a method for producing Illuminating gas and coal gas at an expense of cents thousand feet. It is thought that this will effect a revolution by cheapening electric power and it will also have an important bearing on the production of open-hearth steel.
 The suns surface is known to be sub- ject to greatly increased disturbances every eleven years, known as the sum- spot period. Auroral displays and dis turbances of the earth's magnetism have a similar period, and the pictures of the corona which have been obtained show markedly characteristic varieties of form dependent also upon the sum- spot period. So one of the principal efforts of scientists of late years has been to obtain pictures Of the corona with as much detail as possible.
 A remarkable discovery by Captain H. P. Deasy, in the Kuenlun Noun tains, is that of a species of marine plant, called grasswrack, at an eleVa- tion of $500 feet, more than 10oO0 feet higher than the summit of Mount Washington. The plants were not growing, but were found, with their leaves and fruit, deposited in bed ten or twelve feet thick, which was GOV cred and interspersed with strata of blue clay. The explanation offered is that the deposit once formed part of the bottom of a salt lake,
 MT. Beddard, of the London Zoologl- cal Society, calls attention to peculiar ity of the ears of tigers which he thinks may be classed under the head of pro tective markings" On the back of each ear is very bright white spot, and when the ears are directed for ward these spots are conspicuous from the front. MT. Beddard suggests that when the tiger is sleeping in the dim light of cave or thicket the spots on its ears may appear to an enemy, look ing in, as the gleam of Its watchful eyes, and thus save the sleeper from an unexpected attack.
 The earthquake waves due to the Jap anese shock of June 15, 1896, were re- corded on the self-registering tide gauges at Honolulu and at Saucelito. in the bay of San Francisco. Dr. Charles Davison has recently compared the cal culated velocity of the earthquake waves with the velocity formerly cal culated from the usual formula. He found that at Saucelito, for example, the first crest of the waves reached the tide gauge ten hours and thirty-four minutes after the shock, having trav- ersed in this time the distance of 4,7S7 miles at an average velocity of 664 feet a second.
 It has been observed that on account of the absence of an atmosphere on the moon, and the consequent lack of grada- tion in shadows, the eye of the observer is seriously misled in judging the actu- al relief of objects forming the lunar landscapes. Professor Prinz, of Brus- sells, has recently developed a method of avoiding this difficulty, and of seeing the craters and other details on the moon in their natural proportions. Tax ing advantage of the fact that as the moon travels around the earth the ec- centricity of its orbit produces the ef- feet of slow hbration, or balancing to and fro, which causes its face to be inclined now~a little one way and now a little the other way, Professor Prinz makes two photographs of the lunar object to be studied, at opposite points in the libration, and then combines them in stereoscope, whereupon the object stands forth in full relief. This prin- ciple has hitherto been applied only to photographs of the moon as whole, and not to particular craters or regions.