Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-12-26
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The birds of Lapland are reported
by H. 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 ball 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, a distance of sixteen inches, re-
quires twenty-four hours. The ball is
then lifted again to the top.
The Highland Railway Company Of
Great Britain announces that it has
completed arrangements for telephone
communication between trains and sta
tons on it's line, thus not only greatly
lessening the danger of wrecks on the
road but also enabling It's passengers
to communicate with friends and bust
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 botanically as Orites excelsa,
r. Br.. and the aluminium is deposited
as a basic succinate. Other Towering
plants show only a trace Of aluminium,
although it seems to serve as food
Of cryptograms
Hugo Halberger, of Munich, Ger
many, has found that when an cleo
trio current is sent into the earth by
thrusting one Of the terminals into the
ground, the worms and snails within
radius of six 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 q directly beneficial in
fiuence upon the plants themselves.
A comparison between the he%ing
properties Of acetylene and coal gas
shows that the heat units developed
per cubic foot are 1850 and $50, re-
spectively, the temperature of the
acetylene flame being about 1900 de-
grees Fahrenheit. With an acetylene
ivy Of
gas per hour quart of water was
brought from a temperature Of about
80 degrees to the boiling point in about
eight and half minutes. Under sim
liar conditions it required ten and a
quarter minutes for the Illuminating
gas to accomplish the same results,
though the burner used sixteen cubic
feet Of gas per hour
King Menelik Of Abyssinia, 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 Up
at his capital, AddisAbaba. The last
stage Of the long journey of this ma
chinery will be by caravan, and a
month will be occupied in thus trans
porting it from the nearest railway sta
ton. 1t is said that Menelik, who for
several years has had a limited silver
coinage circulation in his kingdom
the coins were struck for him in
France-has accumulated more than
10000 pounds of gold bullion, besides
a still larger amount of silver, await
ing the arrival Of the minting-ma-
chimes.