The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-04-13
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

l ne loud-talking telephone, easily heard
IN any part of large room and bv large
auolences, seems to have received special
attention from French inventors IN tha
APPARATUS of M P. Germain Ia+a eii
ADOPTED by the statesto some extent the
tE&nSmltter contains delicate membranes
OF slIlcate Of potash and magnesium.
MLIcn are extremely sensitive to sound
IpldIlohs' The ordinary induction coil
completes the naicrophone The receiye1,
may ne heightened by a trumpet a ward
long, and throws the sound fifteen or
sIAl cen YARDS at normal tone, even out
OF DOORS. The voice is heard clearly
Singing and musical sounds being more
intense than spoken words A short dis
lance form of this telephone is intended
10 connect the departments of factories
ana oth9r large establishments and has
important advantages for noisy places
A combination of loud talking telephone
biiities. P'7'i
IN IN q striking experiment Illustrating a
la1e royal Institution lecture by Prof
:. r thompson, an iron ring cut in half
was linked without touching with a coil
OF copper wire, around which an electric
edtir was passed. The induced mag
netlsm in the iron ring was SO stronc.
that the two halves could not be pulled
apart This is one of the familiar COM
mcnpIaces of science said the lee
tti er4-nDut say 1t is an absolute mir
acle- There has been nothing like If
since the walls of Jericho fell down. blt
because It IS so common we think moth
ing of it." -
Dwarf plants are reported by a Ger
man chemist by a process altogether diff
terent from that of the Japanese. 4
secret fluid is injected near the roof the
erect being to stop growth although the
appearance OF the plant continues I'M
changed, and flowers are produced as
usual -
Off the dangerous Cornish coast. states
olr William Preeoe, the compass has
varied whole degree in ten years
An organized effort to COnouer thu
greatest problem of the age is urged bv
Prof. John Perry. The worlds present
comfort depends upon coal, but our
steam engines are wasting from 30 to %
per cent of their fuel, while the store of
ccal is vanishing at such a rate that in
another 100 years the English hamIets of
cof4tented working folk that have he
come cities of luxurious people. will de-
cay again into hamlets, inhabited by a
Glscontented. poverty stricken population
Taking the value OF human labor as the
nominal value of energy, England is
wasting 800 times it's national debt every
year. The yotaic cell wastes less than
16 per cent of IFS full energy, and paths;
have been opened that seem to lead to a
conversion of the energy of coal into me-
chanical work through electricity, with
ike small luSs,a but the efforts Of Scien-
title men are discouraged by the difficult
ties and the small prospects of personal
reward The investigation must be ma
tional or international. Il feel sure
Prof. Perry concludes, that If one or
two chiefs like Lord Kelvin or Lord Ray
leigh were entrusted with the expendi-
ture of 4f,0e00ee year for two or three
years y with power to impress
the. services of all scientific workers
likely to be of use they would
bring the invention within the reacn
of the ordinary engineer
Tantalum has been known hitherto as a
more or less pure powder, with a density
of about 1880 By heating ten minutes
In very. powerful electric arc. M. Henri
Moissan has succeeded in reducing tan
tale acid with powdered carbon. and has
obtained the metal in a fused state. 1t
has a brilliant metaL-e appearance and