Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-02-05
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

To Change Britain's climate-Heat
InsuIation-Tobaceo's Poison-Emo'
tions Photographed-The Worlds
Observation-Disclosures and Distribu-
tion of the Stars-A Now Dust Fixer
Tho Latest Telegraph.
British farmers having suffered from
excessive rainfall, Mr.. ]. H. Knight or
Barfield, suggests a plan for chang
ing the climate. He would have trees
planted in all available spaces In the
west and south of Ireland and In parts
of Cornwall, and he believes that In
fifteen or twenty years these trees
would draw much Of the rain from the
clouds coming from the Atlantic, caus-
ing the interior Of the country to be-
come drier. The winter would perhaps
become little colder, though not with
the present damp cold. A similar for
est was planted $50 or 200 years ago
along the coast Of France to stop the
inroads of sand and now serves as an
effective barrier for more than 100
miles.
The heat lost by radiation from bare
pipes containing steam at 100 pounds
pressure has been estimated by Prof.
S. P. Thompson to be that of about
two tons of coal a year for each ten
square feet of pipe surface. Another
experimenter has found that SS per
cent of the loss is prevented by the
best mica covering, but that asbestos
covering is much inferior to mica,
and cements are less effective still.
Carbon monoxide has been recently
found to play more important part IN
poisoning by tobacco smoke than ntco-
tine. This poisonous gas forms con-
siderable part Of the smoke, and as
much of the smoke from cigarettes Is
inhaled, 1t is thought to explain the
harmfulness Of this use Of tobacco.
Thunder clouds sometimes reach a
thickness of eight miles, with varying
strata Of damp mist and frozen snow
and ice particles.
Up to 1903 a total Of 6S4 meteorites
"A stones were from the western hem
isphere and 299 stones and only 79
irons were from the eastern hemis-
phere. The falls Of only about $50 OF
these meteorites have been recorded
the records dating back to the fifteenth
century. Despite this small number or
known specimens, Prof. Berwerth OF
Vienna, has calculated that about 900
meteorites-not counting shooting stars
that disappear in the atmosphere
must fall upon the earth each year,
and that at least IS Of these should
come under observation. Prof. Ber-
werth has noted some interesting facts
concerning the distribution Of the
known falls. He finds that meteorites
have been chiefly recorded in civilized
countries, but that they are sometimes
more numerous in thinly settled than
in thickly populated areas, and that
they seem to be specially attracted to
mountainous regions.
The camera records Of human emo
tions obtained at Geneva by DR.. E.
Magnin and M. Edward Flegenheimer
are Of remarkable artistic and scienti-
fic value. The experiments have been
made upon a very susceptible hypnotic
subject who has been ipaHsaed by
both musical and oral suggestion, and
the entire range of human passions
joy, anger, fear, sadness, gluttony,
greed, etc.,-have been recorded IN
about 500 photographs Of the woman
under the various forms Of suggestion.
The intensity of the expressions IS
said to have been rarely equalled by
the great artists.
A curious effect of the Ismailia canal
in Egypt has been the making of a
desert Of certain lands formerly fer
tile. The canal has not only raised the
general level of the subsoil water. but
it has brought to the surface more or
less injurious salts Of soda
The wanderings and migrations Of
insects is a new subject of study
which has been begun at the Eddystone
lighthouse by Mr.. w. E. Clarke.
An investigation at Harvard college
observatory has shown that the milky
way has about twice as many stars as
any other equal area of the sky. This
ratio does not increase for faint stars
down to the twelfth magnitude, but the
proportion of stars of any given mag
nitude Is the same as in other regions.
The milky way covers about one-third
of the sky, containing about one-half
of the stars. About 10000 stars are of
magnitude sc or brighter, 100000 Of
magnitude 81, 100000 Of magnitude
II, and 100000 of magnitude 11.9,
while 1t is thought-but not certainly
known-that about 100000 stars are
visible in a telescope of Is inches oper-
ture, that is, down to about the 18th
magnitude. There is no evidence Of
any limit to the faintness of the stars,
although the proportionate increase
becomes less for each successive mag
nitude.
Westrumite, the invention of Herr
van Westrum is a mixture Of oil, which
may be diluted as desired and sprink-
led over a road with an ordinary wat
ering cart. The water evaporates,
leaving the westrumite as a moist film,
which absolutely prevents the rising
of dust. Tested in London on a dry
roadway where every vehicle raised
clouds of dust. the material so affected
the surface that several automobiles
at highest speed raised no dust what
ever.