The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1903-12-04
SCIENTIFIC NOTES.

Accommodating evidence proves that
the moon is not the changeless body
usually supposed. Crater Lime,
charted early in the last century as a
I deep crater four or five miles across,
now appears as white spot of vary
ing size. Pickering supposes it to
contain frost deposit, which is par
italy melted during the lunar fore
noon and again condensed as the day
wanes. Hyginus N, near the center
of the disc, was not mapped until 1877,
but has been conspicuous object
since then. Numerous craters con-
/ tain variable dark spots These dark
en- soon after sunrise, in variable
way, and fade toward sunset, and the
belief seems to be strengthening that
they represent some kind of vegeta-
tion. 1t is suggested that sufficient
water vapor and carbonic acid gas to
support vegetation may be emitted
from the small craterlets and cracks
in the surface.
A Glasgow museum is forming an
important collection of railway ma
terial, intended to cover the period
from the time when the Romans
brought over the system of stone
roads. Between go and 70 different
exhibits will be included
The mysterious working of the
diyining OF dowsing rod has been made
psychological problem by Prof. w.
f. Barrett. an English Investigator.
He finds that the slight Involuntary
and unconscious movements so marked
in some persons, and so Strikingly
shown by the dowsing rod, can be
cultivated, but that it is absurd to
attribute the motion of the rod to a
special stimulus from the presence of
underground water. He believes the
success of many dowsers may be ex-
planned by trained keenneSs in de-
tecting surface signs of underground
water or metallic ores. All successes,
however, are not made clear by this
nor by coincidence, and Prof Barrett
concludes that some persons have a
mental power hitherto unnoticed-an
extra acute perceptive faculty that
receives an impression when an object
sought is approached. He suggests
that the dowsing rod might be super
seeded by an apparatus for registering
changes in the blood circulation of the
susceptible person.
Freezing mixtures, containing more
than one ingredient, are inconvenient,
and A. Demarest, French chemist,
has sought to overcome the disadvan-
tage by producing a single salt OF con-
siderable cooling power by boiling a
sodium salt at 250o f. The crystal
lized product, called 'boreol, " is odor-
less, and can be preserved indefinitely
When mixed with copper cent. of water
it gives a temperature about 30o be-
low that of the water, and pound
will cool three pints of water to about
500.
The systems Of lines on the finger
tips remain unchanged through life,
and 50 characteristic Of the individual
is each set that no duplicates have yet
been found, although the police of
Paris alone have preserved over a
million imprints. Not long ago the
only trace Of murderer found was
faint thumb impression ON window
sash Bertillon photographed and
enlarged this, and it was compared
with the recorded finger-prints until
duplicate was discovered. identifying
the murderer.
The contested theory that pearls
are due to a parasite in the oyster was
first advanced by Filippi in 1852.
Several recent observers have con
tirmed the view.