The National tribune., 1904-09-22
SCIENCE AND INVENTION.
Work Of the Worlds Busy Brains in Discovering nvenng and
Creating
SCIENTIFIC NOTES.

Protective mimcry has curious illus.
| tration in an insect of British East Africa
described by Prof. Gregory. Some indi.
| viduals of each sex are bright pink and
others are bright green. and as they sit
mOtionless for hours sucking sap. the pink
| ones collect on the lower part of the stem,
where they look like dropping flowers,
while the green ones take a place further
out and are mistaken for foliage.
Ever since the beginning of the work
OF dredging out the mouth of the MiSsis-
sippi according to the Eads plan there has
been a great deal of trouble about the dis
position of the silt dug ND by the dredges.
1t has been loaded upon barges and then
taken out to sea, but this method has been
slow and costly. The success of the method
of dredging by suction pumps and pass
ing the water through a long pipe has led
to the adoption of that method to the Mis-
sissippi. The engineers have decided to run
a pipe out into the Gulf. supported upon
pontoons. and this plan is now ready for
practical application. Eighteen steel pom
toons % feet long and five feet wide have
been shipped from Chicago, and received
at New Orleans. Each of these will support
a section of iron pipe two feet in diameter,
making altogether a line of about 1000
feet. The pipes will be connected by hex-
ible joints of rubber or canvas. so as to
admit of considerable movement by the
pontOOns during rough weather. If this
plan works. as it is believed it will, ii
will immensely cheaper and facilitate the
work of keeping open the passes and by
means of it islands may be built which may
be useful for various purposes.
The New York Central Railroad is now
having built 30 electric locomotives which
are expected to haul trains of cars at q
speed of % miles an hour. These loco
motives will be capable of developing
$500 horsepower. The present steam loco
motives which haul the Empire State Elk
press have a horsepower of ], 500 when
running at 60 miles an hour. The weight
of one of these electric locomotives is s.
tons; and the length, 81 feet. The diam
eter of the driving wheels is A inches
and of the pony truck wheels, 80 inches
The New York Central has made the frs,
step among the railroads toward the re-
placing of steam locomotives with electric
Mr.. f. A. La Roche has made mon
3,4OO miles from New York to st. Louis
and back. This is the severest test YET
made of the tourist machine. The car rar
nigh. and day for 13 days, over the worst
kind of roads, without its motor having 8
seconds rest and without breakdown.
L. L. Whitman, who succeeded last yeal
in crossing the continent in an Oldsmobile
is now trying to repeat it with an air
cooled car. He reached Denver from New
York in 1917 days, or in 1872 days better
than any previous record. so that it is be
lieyed that he will beat his record of last
year OF 6lh days across the continent.
Elephants and deer are dying in India
Of the plague which has been carrying of
SO many of the people.
The Buckeye Traction Ditcher is SAID
to be phenomenal laborsaver. 1t is q
complete steam-engine which moves itself
| az Wptl az does ifs unrk n tho roar iS
an excavating wheel consisting of two cir
cular rims held together by steel bucket
backs, over which are hoods to hold the
earth cut out 1t will cut down to depth
of IL feet, and is said to cut at the rate
of three lineal feet minute at the depth
of three feet in ordinary earth.
The japanese have studied all the sig
| nal methods in use by other armies and
| while making much use of the wig-wag or
flag system, have developed the telephone
system to a greater extent and success
than has ever been thought practicable be-
fore. The telephone corps follows close
up behind the fighting line, Keeling its wire
off as it advances. The wire is especially
insulated to stand the hard treatment it
receives. and where wheels are not practi-
cable it is carried on the backs of men.
This year, for the first time, all the
children in the schools of Berlin were ex-
amined as to their health. There were
$4,000 children and SO examiners. The
results were astounding. Ten per cent
of the children were found insuficiently
developed in body or mind, and had to be
excluded for half year or longer; 16
per cent. were not strong enough to at
of scarlet fever and other diseases; Is per
cent. suffered from anRmia or scrofula;
per cent. had tuberculosis trouble, etc.
The three animals that are most widely
spread over the earth are the COW. horse.
and the pig. These animals did not
spread through their own efforts. but were
developed by man, and gradually rendered
adaptable to practically every place where
man himself can live. Cattle came to this
country simultaneous with its discovery
/ and Columbus on his second voyage
brought some of them over They were in
| troduced into Mexico as early as 1926, and
are the progenitOrs of the Texas cattle Ii
has always been question of wonder why
the camel is not more widely diffused, as
| they combine the work and meat value of
the OK and horse. they subsist on very lit
is of great value.
The Japanese Surgeons are working
wonderfully we'll, in the opinion of the for
eign medical men who have watched them
They are making many less operations
than is customary. and never operate until
the second day. The first thing they do is
to dress the wounds antiseptically. and
there is an astonishingly high percentage
of ~recoveries. The wounds made by the
bullets of the present day are aseptic, and
as rule heal rapidly.
There were only 1O5 victims Fourth of
July from lock-law this year, against 415
last year.
Nearly all of the Persian insect powder
now sold in this country is the product of
one farm of 300 acres near Stockton, Cal.
A few years ago this insect powder cost
SIG pound, whereas it is sold for 40 cents
| or less now. 1t had been known for CEN
turtles in Asiatic countries, where a small
tribe had the secret and made an immense
amount of money from it. 1t was at last
discovered that the powder was made from
the heads of the pyrethum. which grows
wild and very plentifully in the mountains.
1t is proposed to run a railroad between
Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
1t is believed that milk can be sterilized
| by electricity and not hurt it, as it is in the
ordinary process of heating it.
1t is asserted by sculptor that the hui
man foot is becoming smaller. The mascu-
line foot Of 20 centuries ago was about II
| inches long. The average mans foot of to-