The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1902-06-26
{Ex]NsxSCience
y sgezfllVeantion
~~OO0~~O

Whether Hertzian waves reach us
from the sun is question that the as
tronomers are about to investigate.
Reasons are found for believing that
the sun must emit such waves, anu
Mr. Charles Nordmann shows that the
emissions must be particularly intense
during violent eruptions and at periods
of maximum sun-spOts. This view Is
made to explain the form Of the solar
corona and the spectra Of comets.
The possibility of poisoning from ar
senic in the soil has been studied Dy
Messrs. A. and A. F. Angel, BRITISH
chemists. The arsenic impurity OF a
superphosphate of lime was increased
to one-half of one per cent, about sew
enteen times the usual proportion, ana
this manure was applied to various
crops in two lots, part at time Of sowing
and part when the plants were well
above ground. 1t was found that somt
arsenic was drawn up mechanically
into the young leaves of rhubarb and
the grasses and into the green pods or
beans, but no trace reached the fruit or
seed Of any plant.
H. w. Odds, speaking before the Bio
logical Society Of Washington about his
studies Of the songs Of birds, said re-
Gently that the wOod-thrush, the Caro-
lima wren, the chickadee and the che
wink use the intervals Of the modern
musical scale. The songs Of birds are
often rhythmical, and may be divided
into regular measures properly accent
ed. Mr.. Odds added that several OF
the formal rules Of human music may
be found governing the music of the
BIRDS" He gave an example Of song
by wood-pewee in which the rules OF
construction governing many Of our
ballads were followed.
Scientific study Of the storm Of dust
that swept over southern and central
Europe from March 8 to March II,
1901, shows that it was one Of the most
remarkable phenomena Of the kind ever
on the borders of the Sahara, crossed
the Mediterranean Sea, swept over the
chain Of the Alps and extended as far
as Denmark, thus traversing % degrees
Of latitude. The dust was sand from
the desert, and the particles that fell
became finer and finer as the storm
progressed northward. The advance
was at the rate Of more than forty
three miles an hour. high atmos-
pheric current carrying the dust along
the course of barometric depression
moving toward the Baltic Sea. In Aus
triaHungary and farther north the
dust was accompanied everywhere by
rain, snow or sleet.
Wendell Phillips would have found
an interesting item for his Lost Arts"
lecture, which he frequently remolded
as new facts came to him, In the story
Of the Wardwell V-wound cop. A COD
is cylinder Of wound thread or yarn.
an the Vwind is superior in compact
ness and uniformity Of tension. The
method was invented by s. ]. Ward
we'll In 1891. His patents becoming the
subject Of a lawsuit, it was discov-
cred that the National Museum in
Washington and the Natural History
Museum in New York had cops Of cord,
made years ago by Fiji Islanders, pre-
cisely similar in appearance to the
Wardwell cops. So the patents were
declared invalid. But since the mu-
scum authorities refuse to have their
cops unwound, 1t is impossible to prove
that the same wind extends through all
the layers, and for this reason the pat
ent office has reissued a patent to Mr..
Wardwell for his method.