Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1902-03-01

bNS
NJ. Floresco has communicated to the
Academy Of Sciences ut Paris proofs
that there Is a fixed relation between
the quantity Of iron in the liver OF
animals and the color of their skin
and hair. Animals Of dark hair con-
tain nearly twice the amount Of Iron
and pigments in the liver and skin as
those OF the white hair
As the Ice grows colder it gets harder
and more brittle. There can be no
hickory bend on Il skating pond on a
zero day, for the Ice then Is too brittle.
Slvers Of Ice dipped into liquid air
become so hard that they will cut
glass. Water thrown on ice in the Are
tic regions will shiver 1t like pouring
boiling water upon cold glass. This
Is because the ice Is SO much colder
than the water.
In describing the career Of the Colo
RADIO potato beetle, Professor Tower
relates that during the rush Of gold
seekers to California in 1S49 and 1850
potatoes which took roor, until there
was more or less continuous line of
potato plants from Council Bluffs
along the Platte River to the canOns
of the Colorado region. The beetles,
which had been confined to the potato
patches of the canOns. took advantage
of the situation, and along the highway
of invasion thus opened for them be-
gan their triumphant and destructive
march eastward.
Some Of the astronomical photo
graphs made at the Harvard Observa-
tory reveal the fact that in April,
1899, a new star appeared in the con-
stellation Aquila. AT first its spectrum
resembled the spectra Of other new
stars, but in October photograph
showed that the character of the light
had changed, and now its spectrum
was that Of a gaseous nebula. Last
summer telescope observation of this
curious object was made by Professor
Wendell at Cambridge. and he con-
firmed the evidence Of the photograph
showing that it had become a nebula.
Such occurrences are rare, and one
explanation Of them is that they are
the result of collisions in space, the
heat developed being sufficient to turn
solid matter into gas and vapor.
In 1895 a steel rail on the Great
Northern Railway in England broke
into seventeen pieces, causing ser-
Gus accident A committee Of the
board of trade appointed to investigate
the cause of the breakage has only
recently made Its report, after four
years Of work Oh the subject. The
committee ascertained that the par
ticular rail- which broke OH the occa-
sion described possessed certain abb
normal features the precise origin of
which remains undetermined, but the
investigation led to several discoveries
Among these is the surprising effect
of cracks in the upper surfaces of rails,
1t was found that Il rail nicked with
chiscl to a depth Of Gath Of an inch
broke under Il weight of 600 pounds
falling from a height Of twenty feet,
while the same rail not nickcd resisted
the fall Of Il ton weight from height
Of twenty feet.
Professor Roberts-Austen, In n re-
Gently delivered lecture in the Royal
institution in London, called attention
to the fact that metals may be burnt
for the sake Of the light and heat they
produce, just the same as ordinary
fuels are burnt. There is one great
difference, however, In that the prod
ucts Of combustion are not gaseous,
but solid. The burning of aluminium,
for instance, gives off sapphires and
rubies. This metal is specially valu-
able fuel for producing an intense heat
to be used in welding. An instance
Of burning metal for the sake of light
is furnished by the magnesium star"
u contrivance by which a shell pack ed
with magnesium and attached to par
achute, is fired electrically, high in the
air, thus producing an illumination of
the ground beneath at night. This
finds its use in warfare. Metallic fuel
has assumed much industrial import
ance at Essen, Germany, where. 1t is
said, metallurgy has entered on new
phase.