Arizona republican., 1901-05-23
BRIEF NOTES OF SCIENCE.


 The metcorite which fell at Porto Alegre, Brazil has now been measured. and the results are most astonishing. It measures fifty-six feet from the base and is eighty-five feet high.
 Great Salt Lake is beginning to show the drain upon it due to irrigation, and Is receding. IA canal to the lake from the headwaters of the Snake river has been suggested as a possible remedy.
 The Ermak will make another voyage into the Arctic regions next summer to test her efficiency against the polar ice. She has been furnished with a new, longer and more powerful stem. which it is supposed will enable her to break through ice of enormous thickness.
 A workman in a German chemical works has invented a substitute for coal, which costs about 25 cents per 220 pounds to manufactures. Peat is the basis of the fuel. It gives out great heat, burns with a bright flame. and leaves no slag and only small quan- tity of white ash. The peat is dried, ground by machinery, mixed with chemicals and pressed into brick shape.
 Experiments by Prof. F. D. Adams. at McGill university, Montreal, show that at temperatures of 300 to 400 degrees centigrade, and under the pressure of hundred tons to the square inch. mar ble flows readily, SO that a solid block can be caused to assume an entirely new shape without being cracked or broken. The inference is that in the depths of the earth marble, hemmed in by surrounding rock, flows as in the experiments.
 The cold storage of furs, clothing, rugs. etc, is quite an industry in many of our larger cities. As the tempera- ture is constantly kept below the freeZ- ing point, it is obvious that this is q perfect method of storing garments and, furs when they are not required. They are removed from the racks free from the odor of tar, camphor, cedar, etc, and the furs are improved by hanging in the cold, dark, dry rooms. The wear and tear of frequent examination, beat ing, combing and brushing Is avoided. The equipment of some of the plants is quite extensive.
 Approaching summer will soon bring to many of our readers that weighty problem as to the best means for the obliteration of the mosquito. In Vene- zuela the castor oil plant Is said to afford complete immunity from the pest While in more temperate eli mate the castor oil plant attains a height of only four or five feet, in Ven- czula 1t grows to the size of a hee and Is perennial. In the opinion of the v,,;t al Ta,l,, a1,. ( Maracaibo, the plant would be equally effective against mosquitoes anywhere. It is recommended that branches and seeds of the castor oil plant be kept in room to drive these insects away.
 Describing the headlong descent of the garnet when It plunges into the water in pursuit of it's prey. Mir. R. Kearton, the English naturalist, says that the shock produced by the sudden striking of the body of so heavy a bird against the surface of the sea, after it's swift descent from a considerable elevation. would kill some species of birds on the spot: but the gannet is preserved from injury by the extraor- dinary thickness of its breast shield which consists of very strong feath- CTS. whose quills are buried In a pad of close-set down which acts like a buffer when the bird strikes the water On the other hand the heron. which fishes while standing in the water. has it's breast covered with fluffy and loosely attached feathers.
 In dredging navigable channels at the mouths of the Moruya and Shoalhaven rivers, in New South Wales. gold dust was discovered in the mud. An auto matic gold saver was then attached to the dumping machinery, and it is thought that the amount of gold thus obtained will more than defray the ex- penses of keeping the channels open. Owing to the advance of chemical knowledge. artificial indigo now threat ems the natural article with very seri- Ous competition, and the East Indian cultivators of indigo are urged to call in the aid of oeience to improve their methods before it Is too late. One ad- vantage Is still retained by the natural over the artificial product in that it has certain substances which facilitate the operation of dyeing which the other lacks.