The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-26
MISCELLANY
CLEAR-sPEAKING TELEPHONE ORGAN or A NEW SENSE.
HGsteerolegy h Maa-schoelboy Dis- cOvery-sunspot Study in . vel-
 Oao0-The Danger Point. Chemlstry's CvmtrOyersy.

The new telephone miorophone of M. ocheer of Brussels Is to be known as the "isophone." and 1t is claimed to s1ivs . much softer and more accu- rate reproduction of the voice, music, etc. than the ordinary transmitter. It ts essentially a hollow disc sounding box enclosing simple carbon system. The carbon granules are contained In . movable leather receptacle. which is adjusted behind the vibrating plate so as to receive the vibrations through . small blunt point of ebonite, and which has also at its opposite sides two small sticks of carbon terminating the poles of the battery. The sensi- tive and certain action is attributed to the readiness with which the gran ules adjust the pressure between the carbon sticks by their own weight.
 The snakes tongue proves to be most remarkable organ. A Maryland lady student finds that its chief func- ton is connected with a sense of feel Ing without touch and may be finer development of the sense that enables some people to avoid striking obstacles h the dark. The forksd tip and the numerous folds behind 1t greatly in- crease the surface exposure. The cells of the epidermis are interlaced by a wonderful network of extremely fine nerve 6bers which enter in a deep plexus beneath the epidermis and ex- tending out into the folds.
 An indication of tho degree of hu- midity of the atmosphere is found by Paris meteorological in the state of the pavements. When these remain muddy there will be nc immediate change In the weather, but a change h indicated when they begin to dry.
 
 Though birds are credited with some sense of smell, an English observer nnds turkeys indifferent to all odors.
 A new law. in physics is the outcome of an original observation, by a bright boy. named Van Erpecum, in the high school at Batavia. Java. He noticed that when a glass Is filled to the brim with water and floating ice there is no overflow on the melting of the ice, and two years ago He called the atten- ton of his principal, Dr. C. M. van Deventer. to the fact. Other physi- cists were notified, who brought the matter before the Royal Academy of Amsterdam. It has now been shown that the water neither rises nor sinks. and the proposed law of the perma- nent leyeP' teaches that when a ves- gel contains a solid floating in its own iiauid. the level of the latter does not change by the melting of the solid"
 In his remarkable collecting experi- ence at Vesuvius. Professor Janssens lowered into the crater a receptacle that could be opened and closed when ever desired. by an ingenious arrange ment of valves. and in this way he drew up samples of the gases at diff ferent points down to a great depth study of these gases Is expected to throw light on the emissions from the craters of the sun.
 The explosion of a petroleum vessel tn French harbor has led to an in- vestigation of the explosiveness of the mixture of petroleum vapor and air. With one part of vapor to five or less of air, the mixture proved to be non- explosive: with six parts of air it is feebly explosive; with seven to twelve parts, violently so; with sixteen parts, feebly explosive; and with twenty parts explosion is not likely.
 The electric waves of Herz were found by him to measure 150 feet from crest to crest; but those used by Mar conf in telegraphing across the Atlantic are 500 feet long. or more. These waves travel at about the same rate as light waves-which measure only a few millionths of an inch-or with teh almost inconceivable velocity of lS4.ooo miles per second.
 Pioneers in science often fix more than one set of standards, to the infinite embarrassment of their successor. Just now chemists are seeking to decide up- cn the important matter of a unit of atomic weights, and after much con- troversy have agreed to disagree. Prim- Hive chemistry was satisfied to give hydrogen the atomic weight of 1 ana oxygen 16. This is not sufficiently ex- act for modern requirements, for if hy- drogen be fixed at 1 oxygen will re- ally be only 15.SS, and If oxygen be rated at Is then hydrogen will rise to l.008. This small difference has be- come important. After it's years of de- liberation, the International Committee on Atomic Weights still finds chemists about equally divided between the two standards and so, instead of selecting one, they have published two lists of carefully revised atomic weights of all clements now known, one list placing oxygen az 16 and the other based upon hydrogen at l. It is interesting to note that while the report was being printed the German Chemical Society decided emphatically in favor of oxy- gen at 16.
 An anemometer at San Francisco showed a wind velocity of over 12O miles an hour on May 19 1902. At the mountain observatory on Puy de Dome. l56 miles an hour was recorded on De- cember g. 19o1..
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