Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-03-04
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

| SClEN ~ mIoS6IIN'N''
Weather CycIes-Hardened Aluminium
Tracing a Ships Path-A Furnace
Microseope-An Irish Mystery-An
ALLEGED New Radioactive SUBJ
stance-The Pulse Resister-count-
ing by Animals.
The most obvious changes on the
sun are those marked by spots, and
it has been long understood that the
cycle of eleven years in which these
spots occur corresponds to similar
cycle in rainfall on the earth. More
recent study of solar influence, says
Lockyer, shows that it is the promi-
nences instead Of the spots that are
chiefly associated with atmospheric
and magnetic disturbances on the
earth. The prominence cycle OF 81
wears is especially conspicuous in the
meteorology of India, while a third
cycle-S5 years in length-has been
traced recently in the climates of the
whole earth, each 11-year cycle being
different from that Immediately pre-
ceding and that following.
"Meteorit" is the name given to the
new metal of w. Rubel, German
chemist, which is said to be aluminium
hardened by a chemical process. the
specific gravity is practically the same
as that of aluminium; the metal is not
affected by weak acids, the atmosphere
or sea water; it can be cast like iron
and has per cent greater tensile
strength than cast iron; and 1t can
be recast indefinitely. 1t can be roll
ed cold, is nearly as conductive as
copper, retains a high polish, and can
be plated.
Oysters are examined by X-rays for
pearls by Raphael Dubois, a French
investigator The oysters are not In
jured, and those containing pearls toe
small to be of value are returned alive
; for further growth.
The ostrich is being acclimatized In
; Southern Europe by M. Octave JUS
tice, whose eighty specimens from
South Africa are thriving on farm
near Nice.
The automatic compass of M. Heit
which has been brought to notice ir
Marseilles after a test Of severa
months, is claimed to offer an impor'
tant new aid to navigation. The basin
: Is divided into isolated sections, and ar
electric circuit is so arranged that q
flexible wire moving over a small Sill
ot+ m tho Par1 gives
record minute by minute of the an
gle of the needle with the meridian
thus supplying a complete register ol
;. the ships course and Of the time OF the
helmsman's changes. Certain sections
2 are connected to call-bells, which sig
nal to the commander any unusual de-
viations. The apparatus shows the
speed of the vessel by registering the
I revolutions of the screw, and 1t alsc
S indicates the time Of departure and Of
every stop and start.
;, A novel microscope for viewing melt
ed or intensely hot substances has
l been described to the Vienna Acade'
e my of Sciences by Prof. c. Doelter
5 An electric oven two inches high Is
). mounted on the object stand, ant
!, Yields temperatures up to 1900 G. II
2 use the lens is separated from the
heated object by about one inch
: Even at the highest temperatures o.
: the substance under examination
i however, both, microscope and objec'
tive are kept quite cool by specia
: arrangement of asbestos plates and
l spiral tube carrying ice-cold water.
Lough Neagh, covering $50 square
miles in northern Ireland, has twice
shown a remarkable phenomenon, a:
reported by Mr.. w. S. Smith of An
trim. On Feb. %, 1895, most Of the
ice in the lake broke up, leaving in
tact a strip third Of a mile wide
. along the southeastern shore, and
mile of this strip was raised at inter
walls of a few yards into bridges ol
= tunnels. from which large and smal
masses of ice were projected upor
; shore. forming ridge to IA fee
high. An aged woman recalled sim
liar occurrence of the cold winter Of
1S14-15. Where the ice-miXed witt
- boulders-came from, and what sho
the blocks upon shore. are problems
awaiting solution.
Rddium's rays are Of three kinds
Delta rays, hardly penetrating solid:
at all; Beta rays. moderately aD'
Y sorbed by solids ana powerfully de-
fected by the magnet: and Gamma
rays. difficult of absorption and not tc
be DETECTED Radio-tellurium, the very
e active new substance that Prof. Mark.
2 wald of Berlin has found in exceeding.
:, ly minute quantity in pitch-blende
gives off only Alpha rays. These were
stopped by sheet of paper, but the!
S passed through very thin sheet OF
+ aluminium, and they showed In higf
degree the power of making air 4
good conductor of electricity. An cleo
!. trolytic precipitation Of some hundred
D thousandths of gramme of the new
, substance was placed on copper
plate. With this Prof Markwald stop
=. ped n set of electric chimes. caused 6
{ Leyden jar to discharge through the
, air without sparks, and rang an cleo
trio bell by a current passed through
the air from Il condenSing machine tC
? the copper plate. A sheet of paper be-
, tween the plate and the machine inter.
rupted the current and stopped the
bell.
Watching the pulse adds seriously
to the strain upon the surgeon dur
ing an operation under chloroform. CO.
cline or ether. This is done automati-
5 cally by the new pulse register OF
l DR.. G;rtner of Vienna, which consists
f of watch-like box to be attached tc
the patents forearm, the hands upon
a graduated dial being made by ar