The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1904-10-01
|,klNaSCience
.s@e7fveantion

The city Of Paris has this year
opened a scientific Information bureau
at the Sorbonne, and the inquiries al
ready reach as many as twenty In SIN
gle days. While special consideration
is given to scientific matters In Paris
and France, foreign subjects OF french
interest receive attention.
The recent excitement In the COTTON
market has served to attract atten-
ton to the possibilities Of cotton rals-
ing in various places where that lndus-
try has not yet been developed. from
Bogota, for instance, comes the In
formatio that in some parts OF Coiom-
bia cotton can be seen growing WIG
on land that has never been titled. ana
the newspapers Of that country are
trying to create a sentiment In favor
of the cultivation of cotton there.
A remarkable instance OF apparent
mimicry in Ceylon has been brought
to notice by DR.. A. Wiley. A hsn.
commonly known as the sea-bat, strlK-
ingly resembles decayed leaf. and
recent observer reports pursuing one
Of these fishes with small net when
the creature suddenly disappeared, ana
the pursuer saw only yellow jak leaf
gently and inertly sinking to the bot
tom. As he turned away, the sup
posed leaf righted itself and darted
off,
The appearance Of solidity in photo
graphs-the stereoscopic Effects usu-
ally given by two pictures taken from
a slightly different viewpoint. Dr.
Gradenwitz describes a new single
lens that shows q far-distant image OF
a photograph, free from distortion,
and, under the same conditions OF ap-
parent size, disdnctness, perspective,
light and shade as those under which
the objects themselves would be seen
with short Photographic objective.
This conveys to the eye a very natural
1 effect, suggesting unconsciously cor
rect perception Of relief and dis
! tances.
The steam-heating and electric
lighting combination now being tested
by Dresden promises to open a new
era in municipal economy. A huge
central station Of the Saxon govern
ment contains ten generators, produc-
ing over $4,000 pounds Of steam per
hour, and this is distributed through
street mains to the Royal Opera
House, the Picture Gallery, the Twin
ger Museum, the Royal Palace and
other buildings. After the morning
heating, little steam is needed to keep
up the temperature, 80 that most OF
the supply can be used for general
ing electricity, for lighting and other
purposes during the latter part of the
day.
In Germany, the home Of technolog-
ical instruction, there are seven spe-
cial schools devoted to the sole purpose
of training locksmiths and black
smiths They are in the cities of
Burgstadt, Grossenhain, Frankenberg,
Nielsen, Glauchau, Rosswein and Zit-
tau. Only graduates of public schools
are admitted. The course of instruc-
| ton in three Of the schools lasts three
years; in three of the others it is
shorter To the school at Rosswein
are admitted such students only as
have completed course in one Of the
| other six schools, and the curriculum
Is highly advanced, covering physics,
| chemistry and electricity, with par
J ticular reference to practical construc-
| ton of machinery. The schools are
supported by the blacksmith and lock-
| smith gilds, aided by subventions from
the government Of Saxony and private
benefcence.