Condon globe. (Condon, Gilliam Co., Or.) 189?-1919, 1903-07-30
IkNsSCieflce
'NsIiivefltiorl
oAooo>oooN

II has been noted that vessels may
fioat down stream faster than the wa
ter. The explanation is that both the
water and the floating object are being
pulled down the hill by gravity, but
the water Is much more retarded by
friction.
Pointing out the need Of protecting
egrets, or white herons, an Englisn
naturalist calls attention to the possi'
bilities OF egret farming. This has
been successfully established at Tunis'
and as egret plumes are worth more
than their weight in gold, the pronts
from cutting the feathers from the
birds should be large.
Meteorology owes Its origin to italy,
which, as DIR. H. @, Bolton notes, pro
duced every one Of the fundamental
instruments now used In weather OBJ
servations. The hygrometer was IN
vented about 14Co. by Nicolas de
Cusa; thermometer, 1878, by Egnatis
Dante; thermometer, 1895, BY Galileo;
raingauge, 1889. by Cartelli; barometer,
164S, by Torricelli
The new peat wood Of Joseph Hem
merling Of Dresden takes & high polish,
and Is thirty-three to nfty per cent
cheaper than oak. II is especially rec
commended for panels, parQuet nooring
and ceilings. The material is produced
by adding to the wet peat some bind
ing material up to ave per cent OF Its
total weight, then forming into cylin'
ders under high pressure, and finally
drying at a high temperature for four
or ave days.
An effort to determine from geysers
the upper temperature limit OF life
has led Prof. w. A. Setchell to con-
clude that no animals exist in strictly
thermal waters, or those heated above
4S degrees or IS degrees Q. (1Oe de-
grees or 118 degrees F.. A filamen-
tous plant, one Of the bacteria, was
found at SO degrees O.. and a few 9TH
er simple forms were found at n de-
grees and below. How the protoplasm
Of these organisms Il made to resist
the coagulation that usually destroys
life at a little above 10 degrees @. is
not clear.
BY means Of crosS-breeding Mr..
Luther Burbank Of Santa Rosa, Cali
fornie, has developed variety OF
blackberries which are perfectly white.
as bright as snow In the sunshine, and
30 transparent that the seeds can be
seen inside the ripe fruit. The seeds
are said to be unusually small, and
the berries are as sweet and meitingly
tender as the finest Of the black varie-
ties. The familiar Lawton berry is
described as the great-grand-parent Of
the new white variety, to which has
been given the name of Iceberg"
The white berries are as large as the
LawtonS.
There has been some talk In Eng
land lately Of endeavorlng to shorten
the voyage across the Atlantic by de-
veloping the harbor of Galway, on
the west coast of Ireland, and connect
ing 1t by swift steamers with st. Johns
In Newfoundland. The distance from
Galway to ST. Johns is 1915 miles;
that from Liverpool to New York Is
3,116 miles, and from Southampton
S,0o5 miles. 1t is assumed that transit
between New York and st. Johns,
nearly all by land, could be performed
so rapidly that the time from London
to New York would be cut down a
whole day below the present fastest
records.
Many naturallsts believe that ami
mails possess senses unknown to hu-
man beings, something not included in
our ivefold range Of seeing, hearing,
feeling, tasting and smelling. Insects
especially give evidence Of possessing
powers of perception peculiar to them
selves. The wasp Bembex, says j.
Garter Beard, makes her nest in sand
banks that are sometimes acres in ex-
tent On leaving she covers it up 80
carefully that It is lndistinguishable
from the surrounding surface, and yet
on her return she flies direct to 1t
without hesitation. Another wasp, as
If possessed of a kind Of X-ray sense,
unerringly locates the hidden eggs of
the masOn-bee under a thick layer of
sunbaked clay, and deposits her own
eggs in the same cells.