Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1905-05-20
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|PoPule..E1I''. Sienoe.
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FROM experiments In Belgium. Leon
4homas gives reinsurance to dwellers
Few miles away from stores of high
explosives. Various quantities of dy-
Mantle up to ton were exploded, and
the destructive effects were confined
to radii of fifty to four hundred feet,
leading to the conclusion that the
greatest store of explosives that could
be collected would not endanger life
or substantial buildings beyond one
hundred to five hundred yards. Fur
Their away. up to three thousand yards,
an explosion would give a return shock,
with no more serious injury than bro
ken windows or dislodged tiles.
The novel theory that the difference
In the color of peoples eyes is pro-
tective adaptation to surroundings
comes from Professor Wallace, of
Kimberley, South Africa. Natives of
regions where blue light is predomi-
nant-Swedes, Norwegians and sail
ors, for instance,-haye blue eyes,
while near the equator, or in sandy
lands like South Africa, where intense
yellow light is experienced, the eyes
take rich dark yellow hue, as those
Of the Kaffirs and Malays, Italians
and Spaniards. Generally speaking,
the Scotch have blue, the English gray
and the French dark eyes. n
In the new process of d. Engecs
pprhnn 40 nd or n nd C4o to
obtained from carbides and certain
tiuXes. A mixture of sillcium carbide
and sodium sulphate for example, is
applied to the cold metal. and then
heated to redness with it, the reaction
being so rapid that an eight-inch steel
plate Is. made to resist the best tenn
pered steel tools on one side, while
the other side remains wholly soft.
Last years hydrophobia statistics
at the Berlin Institute show that of
PSI persons inoculated at once on be-
ing bitten by mad dog, ~ per cent
died. of those treated medically, 6 per
cent, and of those not treated II per
cent.
With the aid of $4,000 granted by
the Carnegie Institution the Yerkes
Observatory has sent an expedition
to Mount Wilson near Pasadena, Cal,
for special investigations of the sun,
under the personal direction of Pro-
fessor George E. Hale. A horizontal
rejecting telescope of 145 feet focal
length Is to be employed to produce to
n Of ~ IL, to
eter, which will be investigated with
a spectroheliograph of 80 feet focus
length. The spectroheliograp is an
instrument with which it Is possible
to study the solar surface in light of
certain selected wave-lengths, the
other light being shut out. Thus a
photograph Of the sun taken with the
light emanating only from the calcium
vapor in the photOsphere presents q
very different aspect from that Of a
photograph taken with the light of the
hydrogen vapor.
An interesting parallel is drawn In
a report to the Department of Agricul-
ture between the different varieties of
rubber-trees grown in the tropics and
those of maple-trees in this country
Out of about 1000 varieties of trees,
all of which produce more or less rub
Der sap, only 40 or 80 have been found
whose product is commercially valu-
able. When a would-be cultivator of
rubber goes to a tropical country and
sets out a plantation of rubber trees,
which the natives know do not belong
to the right variety, he causes amused
comment such as would be excited by
a South American who came to the
United States and bored holes in soft
naples with the expectation of OBJ
tanning sugar sap. Rubber-culture re-
quires great expert knowledge. Elk
perience has shown that excellent rub
Der trees transplanted from their ma
tive habitat to other regions having
apparently identical soil and climate
may flourish in growth yet lose their
producing power.