Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1902-02-20
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

1t appears that the greatest velocity
Of rife ball is not at the muzzle, but
some distance in front. An average
OF 10 shots with the German infantry
rife has shown a muzzle velocity Of
20GS feet per second, with a maximum
velocity of 2132 feet per second at 10
feet from the muzzle.
The extension of the use of e1ec-
tricity in British warships in place
or steam for subsidiary purposes is
to be made the subject of series Of
experimental tests. At the present
time the capstan, steering engines,
ventilating fans and derrick boists
are worked by steam power.
Arsenic is very brittle metal. steel
gray in color, and of no great impor-
tance in the arts. Metallic arsenic is
found native in veins in metamorphic
rocks in Saxony, Bohemia, and abun-
| dainty at Chanarcillo in Chilli Ar
senic is widely disseminated, as few
! sulphur ores are free from traces of
| it, The white arsenic Of commerce is
arsenious acid.
A striking proof of the lasting quail
| Hies of cedar wood mas been discovered
in the state of Washington. Near Ac-
me is forest of hemlocks, which has
| grown up over buried forest of ce-
cars. 1t has been lound that the
| trunks of ceuar are we'll preserved,
although they have been lying in damp
soil for at least $50 years. The rings
of growth on the hemlock show that
they have been growing over the ce-
dars for that length of time.
| Mr.. Birkeland has continued his cali
culations to determine whether the
periodic changes in the area of the
| spotted regions of the suns surface
are in any degree due to gravitational
disturbances produced by either of the
planets Mercury, Venus or Jupiter. llis
latest calculations cover the period
1926, and his conclusion is that We
must seek for other causes than plan
etary influence to explain .Ae sun spot
! period and that in future it is idle to
| look for the cause of this period out
side of the solar sphere itself.
Professor Georgeson, who is IN
charge Of the agricultural experiment
stations in Alaska, sends encouraging
reports of the conditions there. He
made trip into the interior and
! down the Yukon early in August and
/ found new potatoes, cabbages, cauli-
! flowers and other vegetables ready for
the table, and gardens blooming with
variety of annual flowers. On the
| lower Yukon he found extensive tracts
| Of land covered with luXuriant grasses,
six feet in height in places, and appar-
/ emily well suited to agricultural pur-
! poses.
The following item relating to the
Manila observatory is taken from Prof.
Barward's account of his trip to Su-
natra: The observatory is equipped
! for both astronomical and meteorologi-
! cal purposes. 1t has a fine refracting
! telescope of 19 inches aperture, the
| object glass being by Steinheil and
| the mounting by Saegmuller. On ac-
count of the troubious times of the
| past three year the object glass had
been removed and hidden away during
| that period, so that the telescope was
not in a condition to be used when the
| observatory was visited by the Ameri-
can eclipse observers during their stay
at Manila. Father Algue, the director
OF the establishment stated that they
had large percentage of clear nights
| curing the year, and that the atmos-
| phere was steady much of the time.
| This observatory is doing very valua-
| BILE meteorological work. The study and
| prediction of typhoons-so destructive
| in the China sea, and of which Father
| Algue has made special study-is of
| the utmost importance to navigation.
| The work was spoken of highly by tho
officers of the various vessels on which
| the expedition sailed.
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