The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-21
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY
CHALDEAN uRRIGATToN-FREEz-
 ING IN WARM AIR.
Hat-Plume Farming-New Views on the Winds-Brass Founding Made Safe - Italian Science = Re- markable Perfume-Form- ing-Peat as Q Build
 ers' Material-Hot
 Water Life.


 about 800 miles along the Tigris. is des- ert in which Sir William Willcocks nnds the same engineering opportunities thai are being improved in Egypt. As late as 970 A. D. this land of Chaldea was made one of the most fertile and prosperous centers of agriculture through a great ir- rigation system, with main canal 70 miles long and an immense number oi subsidiary canals. For the first ten miles the great canal, with width of bS feet
 was cut through hard conglomerate rock to a depth of 30 feet. With neglect of the works, the main stream of the Tigris be- came diverted, the old bed of the river silted up. the irrigation system fell into ruins, and only mounds on the barren plain mark the sites of the ancient vil- lages. To reclaim nearly three million acres by a ne wirrigation system Is Sir
 Williams hope.
 The freezing of leaves and buds on clear Spring nights when the air tenn perature Is above freezing-point has been superstitiously looked upon as an effect of the moons light. An English experi- menter finds that, while all objects have the temperature of the surrounding air on cloudy nights, rapid radiation may pro- duce a difference on clear nights, and a piece of cotton proved to be at times six and even eight degrees colder than the air. Plants may be similarly chilled be- low freezing. with the air above.
 Pointing out need of protecting egrets. or white herons, an English naturalist calls attention to the possibilities of egret- farming. This has been successfully es- tablished at Tunis. and as egret-plumes are worth more than their weight in Hn 4ts ha faof h CTS from the birds should be large.
 
 Certain balloon explosions are attrib- uted by W. de Fonvielle to electric sparks as the aeronaut grasps the valve-rope. The use of gloves in stormy weather is suggested.
 The general circulation of the atmos- phere has been outlined from late report by H. Hildebrandsson. the Upsala meteor ologist. Above the thermal equator, and constant throughout the year, is an east ern current. which carried the dust of the Krakatoa eruption of 1883 around the world from east to west in 12 to 13 days. showing an average velocity of 37 meters per second. Above the region of trade winds is an upper oontra-trade wind cur rent. from the southwest in the northern hemisphere and the northwest in the southern hemisphere. The contra-trade wind current gradually deviates until it becomes western current above the ba- rometric maximum of the tropics, and at the crest of this high pressure 1t descends to feed the trade winds. Near the equa- tor are regions belonging to the belt of equatorial calms at one part of the year and to the trade winds at another, with corresponding overlying monsoon ex- tending the contra-trade wind in Winter and the equatorial eastern current in Summer. The high pressure of the trop- ics steadily diminishes toward the poles, and the air of the temperate zones is drawn into a vast polar whirlpool turn ing from west to east, the circular move ment reaching upward at least 10 or Il miles. The influence of surface irregu- larities mostly disappears at the height of the lower or intermediate clouds.
 Few trades. If any, are more dangerous
 to health than brass-casting, on &C., count of the fumes of zinc oxide that sur- rounds the workman on pouring the metal. In the new apparatus of w Lynes. a Birmingham brass-founder the is covered with a hood, which leads to the outer air through a length of flexible tubing and a galvanized iron pipe, and both skimming and pouring are done under this hood. The foundry Is kept free of poisonous fumes, while the zinc oxide condenses in the iron pipe and is collected and utilized.
 Meteorology owes its origin to Italy which, as Dr. H. c. Bolton notes, pro- | iuced every one of the fundamental in- | ;truments now used in weather observa- l ions. The hygrometer was invented l about 1450 by Nicolas de Cusa; aremo- | meter, 157S, by Egnatio Dante; thermom- | tier, 1895, by Calico; raingauge, 1889, by | barometer, 1643. by Torricelli.
 common method of extracting per | tunes from flowers Is enfieurage, which | consists in placing the blossoms in con- act with purified lard for a few days. | When saturated with the perfume the | ard itself may be used, or the essential ,il may be extracted under strong alco- lol. The process being tedious. many unsatisfactory-hav 'een made to obtain the essential oil di- ect from the flowers by means of light | petroleum. A curious recent discovery is hat perfume making still goes on in the lowers during enfeurage, and Dr. Albert Jesse reports that ton of tuberose blossoms only yielded 66 grams of oil by 'etroleum extraction, but gave up S0f | rams to the embedding fat in enfieurage nd yielded 7S grams more when the aded blossoms were distilled. The flow ITS appear to have contained more per- tune after exhaustion by enheurage than when first gathered.
 The new peat wood of Joseph Hemmer- Ing of Dresden takes a high polish and 5 S3 to 50 per cent. cheaper than oak. { is especially recommended for panels, arquet flooring and ceilings. The ma erial is produced by adding to the wet eat some binding material up to 5 per ent- of it's total weight. then forming nto cylinders under high pressure, and nally drying at high temperature for our or five days.
 An effort to determine from geysers the pper temperature limit of life has led 'rof. W. A. SetcheIl to conclude that no nimals exist in strictly thermal waters r those heated above 43 degrees or 45 cgrees c. G09 degrees or 113 degrees F.). filamentous plant one of the bacteria, Ias found at 80 degrees C.. and a few ther simple forms were found at 77 de- rees and below. How the protoplasm of lese organisms is made to resist the \ AEsHEs~ n~HI~~~