The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1906-01-12
|k3k$cience
SS&Ef1Venti0n
~~~~~~~~

Herman, a Hungarian ornithologist
70 surprised to find that swallows take
100 days to complete their passing
from Gibraltar to Lulea, In Sweden.
That electricity Is soon to replace
tho manual labor Of the housemaid is
the prediction of Col. R. E. Crompton,
the English electrician. 1t is capable
Of washing dishes, kneading dough,
chopping meat and even doing the
family washing. as we'll as many other
things. The use of the motor to COM
press air may give a cold storage
room for every mans house. Domes-
tic motors have been greatly cheap
ened and electric lighting companies
are profiting by selling current for day
use at reduced price.
At a recent meeting Of the Torrey
Botanical Club in New York, DR.. c. 8.
eager reported tho results Of expert
ments with tho action Of radium on
growing sesds. It was found that the
rays act as a stimulus, varying in In
tsnsity with their strength az we'll AZ
with the thickness Of tho seed coats
and the amount of intervening moist
soil. II the stimulus, IL not pushed
beyond q certain limit, termination
and subsequent growth are accelerat.
ed Above that limit tho results are
unfavorable. The growth of plants IL
retarded, and may be stopped, by plac-
Ing them in an atmosphere containing
the emanation Of radium, such as may
be drawn from a cylinder lined with
Lieber's coating.
Ingenuity was manifested to a nota.
Bile degree in Spain and France at the
time Of the solar eclipse Of Aug. 30.
The shop windows in Madrid, Paris
and other towns were filed with a
great variety Of devices for viewing
the passage Of the moon across the
suns disk without danger to the OBJ
servers eyes. There were black glass
spectacles, black glass monocles, black
glasses set in pasteboard handles of
20 different forms, and also devices
for viewing the phenomenon by re-
Election. But the people made many
contrivances Of their own. such as pin
holes through paper, or through the
tops Of Derby hats. Some viewed the
eclipse in tho streets or on the roofs
BY reflection from pals or pans of
water to reduce the glare, and some
saw It through cambria handkerchiefs
Or thin umbrella tops. The book shops
abounded with paper-bound treatises
on eelipses.
Airship travel seems to be already
popular. W. de Fonvielle estimates
that seven or eight hundred balloon
voyages are now made annually, and
states that the members Of the French
Aero Club alone made more than two
hundred hast year. The forms and
eolers Of the clouds. the brightness and
the new views Of the earth give a won
derful charm to sky automobiling.
This u Increased at night, and Camille
Flanmarion, whose wedding trip wal
made in q balloon. has expressed his
surprise at the splendor Of the lights
Of 4 great city-in this case Paris-aa
well a. at the brilliancy Of the con-
stellations. The number Of the stars
IL unbelievable, the dog star becomes
a. bright a. Venus, while some Of
tho nebulae appear like gas jets. The
shooting stars are terrifying. Their
explosions seem to be heard. and this
may be really true, as the balloon acts
like a gigantic ear trumpet, and
catches such earthly sounds as the
whistling Of locomotives and barking
Of dogs. Hygienically the complete re.
newal Of the air in the lungs 10 a de-
lightful sensation.