The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-12-27
SCIENTIFIC
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The mass of Saturn's ring. as com.
pared with that of the planet, is found
by Prof. Hall to be as 1 TO 1892, or
only about two-thirds the mass of tt
tan, the largest of Saturns satellites.
Kissene pepper, a new species de-
scribed as quite unlike any other.
grows abundantly in a wild state in
Guinea. Rich in piperine and volatile
oil, it is claimed to be valuable both as
a spice and condiment. Its small
grains, characterized by a ped!cle at
their base, give reddish brown pow
der, highly perfumed, and of peculiar
aromatic SAVIOR.
The Sophisticated also the electric
battledore and Shuttlecock-is a novel
Partisan game. The sylphs, or shuttle
cocks, are butterflies or feathers made
of collodion; and when one of these is
thrown into the air it floats, and is driv-
en- back and forth between the two
players. Instead OF striking it, however,
the players repel it from some distance
by wands previously electrified by fric-
ton.
For a number of years tetanus has
been Enthusiastically in Italy-with
hypodermic injections of dilute phenol
solution. The disease is usually ar
rested, and at the end of several days
the symptoms begin to diminish. From
the eighty cases thus far recorded, DR..
Croft finds the mortality to be about
thirteen per cent, while with treatment
with anti-tetanic serum the deaths have
reached thirty per cent.
Balloon photography as a means of
military map-making is being developed
by Rev. J. M. Baker, the English aero
naut. He uses small balloon, and, to
avoid the trouble and expense of hydro
gen, this is quickly inflated by hot air
from petroleum heater A small auto
matte camera is carried. In a recent
trial the ascent was made in two min
utes after beginning to initiate the ball
loon. and as everything is so simple and
easily portable it is predicted that the
system will revolutionize army observa-
lions.
Flowering plants have been shown by
DR.. H. T. Brown and Mr. F. Escombe
phere containing 3 parts of carbon
dioxide in 10000. A slight increase of
the carbon dioxide proved surprisingly
unfavorable to growth and reproduce
ton, and the experiments made it evil
dent that an increase to two or three
times the present amount would result
In the speedy destruction of all lower
ing plants. If the airs composition has
greatly varied since the advent of the
plants, the change must have been slow.
The balloon constructed by the
French War Department for crossing
the Sahara is to carry no passengers
except six pigeons, whose safe passage
will show the feasibility of travel by
this means in the desert. AS the trip
may require four or five days, the re-
cording barometer thermometer and
barometer have clockwork to operate
five days; and a camera, carrying a
long strip of film, is SO arranged that
exposures will be made by clockwork
at intervals of fifteen minutes during
the time. Leakage is to be balanced
by water ballast, released by a valve
when the ground is touched by ball
hanging from the car.
The birth and death rates of Italy for
forty years have been reviewed by
Prof. Giuseppe Sormani The births
reached their highest point of 1894 per
1000 in 1876 and their minimum was 33.49
in 1898, while the corresponding limits
of the death rate were 34.39 in 1867 and
21.S7 in 1899. Both birth and death rates
have been diminishing, although there
has been a constant excess of births
Or in m
1880 in 1897. Assuming the lessened
death rate to be a result of better con-
troll of infectious diseases, it is estimat-
ed that 100000 persons have been saved
from death and at least twenty times
as many have been saved from illness.
The tuatara, the curious lizard of
New Zealand islands, is supposed to
represent the Oldest living type of ami
mails in the world, and is of further in
| terest as being the first vertebrate in
which was discovered a survival of an
eye OF inyertebrate kind in addition to
the ordinary seeing organs. The third
eye mas more recently been found by it's
| original discoverer, DR.. Dendy, in an
other New Zealand creature. This is the
New Zealand lamprey, a favorite food
! OF the Maoris, and the third eve cover
ed with thin skin and probably of no
present use for seeing, is exactly on top
of the head. Dr. Dendy believes that
far back in the earth's history this eye
was one of a pair of useful ones, both
the iamprey and the tuatara having
then two eyes on the back of the head.
In the tuatara it is the left eye that
still remains, but in the lamprey it is
the right one.
The rapid changes that are taking
place in the production of motive pow
er were made evident in two striking
papers of the late British Association
meeting Mr.. H. A. Humphrey pointed
out that a 500 horsepower gas engine
| shown at Paris in 1900 was of great
interest on account of its size, but the
| same makers now build engines of
$500 horsepower and are ready TO be-
gin upon motors of twice that capacity.
OF gas engines larger than 200 horse
power, British makers last August had
| a nv hoa