The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1903-12-10
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The birds of Lapland are reported
by II. Goebel to number 1913 species
OF these 1873 certainly breed in that
country, thirty-four probably DO So
seventeen are stragglers and six WIN
ter visitors, one Is an ocean species
and seven are seen only In the Solo
vetski Islands.
A novel watch In Zurich is in the
form Of a bali which moves impercept-
IDLY down an inclined plane without
rolling. There Is no spring, the sliding
giving motion to the hands, and the trip
from top to bottom of the inclined sur
face, distance Of sixteen inches re-
qulres twenty-four hours. The ball IS
then lifted again to the top.
The Highland Railway Company of
Great Britain announces that 1t has
completed arrangements for telephone
communication between trains and sta
tions on its line, thus not only greatly
lessenlng the danger Of wrecks on the
road but also enabling its passengers
to communicate with friends and busi-
ness associates while travelling from
place to place.
A tree using aluminium almost to the
exclusion of other mineral elements
has been reported In New South Wales
by H. G. Smith, of Sydney. 1t is
known botanlcally as Orites excelsa,
r. Br, and the aluminium is deposited
as a basic succinate. Other Towering
plants show only trace of aluminium,
although 1t seems to serve as a food
Of cryptograms.
Hugo Halberger, Of Munich, Ger
many, has found that when an elec-
tric current is sent into the earth by
thrusting one of the terminals into the
ground, the worms and snails within a
radius Of ak feet or more crawl out
and get away from the affected area.
Their behavior seemed to him to indi'
cate that they were distressed by the
electricity. and he suggests that the
remarkable effect Of an electric cur
rent In stimulating the growth OF
plants may be really due to the exter'
mination of parasites about their roots
rather than to a directly beneficial In
nuence upon the plants themselves.
A comparison between the heating
properties of acetylene and coal gas
shows that the heat units developed
per cubic foot are 1850 and $50. re
spectlvely, the temperature Of the
acetylene 1ame being about 1900 de
grees Fahrenheit. With an acetylenC
, burner consuming two cubic feet Of
, gas per hour quart of water was
, brought from a temperature Of abou
! so degrees to the boiling point in about
/, eight and a half minutes. Under sim
liar conditions it required ten and {
quarter minutes for the Illuminating
gas to accomplish the same results
though the burner used sixteen cubic
feet of gas per hour.
King Menellk of Abysslnia, propos
ing to take advantage Of the scientific
methods of minting coin which prevail
; in the civilized world, has just import
ed from Germany an outfit Of machin
cry for his mint, which is to be set II
q at his capital, AddisAbaba. The las
: stage of the long journey of this ma
= chinery will be by caravan, and 1
a month will be occupied in thus trans
= porting 1t from the nearest railway sta
e ton. 1t is said that Menelik, who TO
+ several years has had limited silve
coinage circulation in his kingdom
! the coins were struck for him Il
France-has accumulated more thai
;. 10000 pounds Of gold bullion, beside
:. still larger amount of silver, await
ing the arrival of the minting- ma
= chimes.