Holbrook argus., 1901-08-17
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Aluminium and 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. 1t is named
magnalium.
DR.. Ludwig Mond has discovered a
method for producing Illuminating gas
and coal gas at an expense of 4 cents
a thousand feet. 1t 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 sun
spot period. Auroral displays and dis
turbances of the earth's magnetism
have similar period, and the pictures
of the corona which have been obtained
show markedly characteristic varieties
of form dependent also upon the sun
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
tafns, is that of a species of marine
plant, called grasswrack, at an eleva-
ton of $500 feet, more than 10000 feet
higher than the summit of Mount
Washington. The plants We're not
growing, but were found, with their
leaves and fruit, deposited in bed ten
or twelve feet thick, which was COW
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.
Mr.. Beddard, of the London Zoologi-
cal Society, calls attention to a 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. Mr.. Beddard suggests that
when the tiger is sleeping in the dim
light of a cave or thicket the spots on
Its ears may appear to an enemy, look
ing in, as the CLEAN Of Its watchful
eyes, and thus save the sleeper from
an unexpected attack.
The earthquake waves due to the Jap
anese shock of June 10, 1896, were re
corded on the self-registering tide
gauges at Honolulu and at Saucelito, il
the bay of San Francisco. DIR. Charles
Dawson 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-foul
minutes after the shock, having trav
ersed in this time the distance of 4,7SI
miles at an average velocity Of 664 fee
a second.
1t has been observed that on account
of the absence of an atmosphere on the
moon, and the consequent lack of grada
ton in shadows, the eye of the observer
is seriously misled in judging the actu
al relief of objects forming the lunal
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 &c
centricity Of its orbit produces the eff
feet Of a slow Hbration, or balancing t.
and fro, which causes Its face to bt
inclined now little one way and now
a little the other way, Professor Prin,
makes two photographs of the lunal
object to be studied, at oppositep points IL
the libratlon, and then combines then
in stereoscope, whereupon the objec
stands forth in full relief. This prin
ciple has hitherto been applied only t.
photographs of the moon as whole
and not to particular craters or regions