Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-03-22
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cally beyond feminine powers. After
careful investigation, the principal Of
girls college finds that a larger and
lower-setting collarbone makes the
movement of the girls arm less free
than that Of the boys, SO that she
cannot hope to throw well.
Pneumatic fabrication" Is what
Dr. Carlo Del Lungo, of Genoa, calls
his new plan for increasing the speed
of ships. 1t consists in reducing the
density of the surrounding water by
pumping air into it, creating foamy
stratum in which the vessel slips for
ward against greatly lessened resist
ance.
A Norwegian engineer has recently
invented new apparatus for sea
sounding by which it is not necessary
to touch bottom. This is accomplished
by an acoustic method. The depths
are also registered graphically upon Il
revolving drum. The operation Of the
device depends upon the time which
sound takes to travel to the bottom
and return, and the measurement Of
the time thus gives the depth to which
the exploring apparatus is lowered.
A safety device for the protection Of
persons from the electric current upon
the rupture of a trolley wire has been
invented recently. By the employment
Of this arrangement the current Is cut
off and the wire rendered harmless.
The device is fitted to each section Of
the wire and consists Of an ordinary
connecting ear held in it's proper po-
sition by the strain on the trolley wire.
AS soon as this tension Is released,
as by the breaking Of the trolley
wire, the current is Immediately cut
off at the broken section without any
''shorting" sparks whatever.
Gales and high tides have remind
ed the Englishman that his little
island is being gradually swallowed
up by the sea. 1t has been found
that Great Britain lost 14S,9O6 acres
between 1867 and 1880, and 29,155
acres between 1880 and 1890. A sur
vey in the reign Of Edward I. gave
the Duchy of Cornwall 100000 acres,
but the Ordnance Survey some years
ago showed that this had been re-
duced to $4,000 acres. Villages have
disappeared in the ocean, as in the
case of Danwich, of which nothing
remains but a ruined church on the
edge of cliff.
Dr. Walther Thorner has invented
an apparatus by which photographs
may be made of the retina Of the
human eye. Heretofore, says the
Scientific American, it has been posi-
BILE to study the retina and it's dis
eases only by direct observation with
the eye speculum. The fixed image
furnished by the Photographic appar-
atus enables the physician to study
the condition of a diseased retina at
| his leisure. Previous attempts to
| photograph the interior Of the eye are
| said to have failed because of the
| difficulty Of securing a proper illu-
mination without pain and injury to
the patient.
Telegraph and telephone lines Of
the Belgian Kongo region in Africa
show some interesting peculiarities.
Where the lines run through the for
ests the wires are placed as much as
possible upon trees and in other cases
upon iron poles. The wire, which is
Of phosphor-bronze, is painted black,
so as not to attract the attention Of
the natives, who lay hands upon all
the copper they cap find. A cutting
thirty feet wide isfmade through the
forest for the fine. The first hours
after sunset are the best for tele-
! phone. After 10 o'clock in the morn
ing the heat makes it impossible to
use the telephone, especially in the
! rainy season,