Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-01-30

PoPule.:7s;sE 5ienee.

Blast furnace gas Is to be utilized In
RUSSIA for power purposes. La So.
ciete DIES Acleries de Donetz is substl-
tuting u number of large gas engines
for steam engines.
At mild red heat, good steel can be
drawn out under the hammer to fine
point; at bright red heat 1t will
crumble under the hammer, and at a
white heat II Will fall to pieces.
An ingenious beacon is located at
Arnish Rock, Stornoway bay, in the
Hebrides, Scotland. 1t is n cone of
cast iron plates, surmounted by an ar
rangement of prisms and a mirror
which reflect the light from the light
house on Lewis island, 500 feet distant
across the channel.
At recent conference held at the
ministry Of commerce, st. Petersburg,
II was decided that agricultural ma
chinery required by peasant emigrants
TO Siberia and other portions of the
Russian empire would have to be or
dered abroad this year, as the Russian
factories would be unable to deliver in
time. Next year an attempt will be
made to introduce Russian machinery
among the settlers.
An instance Illustrating the exact
methods now followed In all branches
of science is furnished by the recent
upsetting of all the results of the Goe-
detic Survey Of Algeria based upon the
station Of Voirol, which had been cho-
sen as the point Of origin Of co-ordi-
mates. 1t has been found that, owing
to some subterranean popularity af-
fecting the direction of the plumb-line,
there is strong deviation from the
vertical at Volrol, and as result, a
new starting-point for the triangulation
must be chosen and new calculations
made. The discovery was made by
comparing the astronomical latitude OF
the new observatory about three miles
from Voirol with its geodetlc latitude
as calculated from the yoirol data.
"Welwltschia Mirabilis," plant
which Is described as one of the Won
ders of the vegetable kingdom, illus
trates the adaptations which sometimes
render life possible amid conditions
that seed to forbid Its existence. The
plant gets Its name from its discoverer
Welwitsch, who found 1t in the sandy
deserts of Southwestern Africa. Its
short conical trunk Is buried In sand
and Its only leaves are the two cotyle
dons, or seed-leaves, which persist dur.
ing the life of the plant, and in old
specimens attain length of from six
to nine feet. The. trunk measures three
or four feet in diameter at the crown
The plant derives water for Its growth
partly from the dense night fogs, but
principally through very long roo:
which taps subterranean water-sources
The terrible earthquake in Chile, fol
lowing SO soon after that in California
enormously increased popular interest
in the science of seismology. Among
the interesting facts brought into prom
lnence by the many discussions tc
which these disasters have led In the
scientific journals, is the clear distinc
ton that seems to exist between earth
quakes like those that destroyed Sar
Francisco and Valparaiso and thu
shocks that damaged Charleston Ii
1886. The Charleston disaster i.
thought, at least by some biologists, t.
have been due to overlooking of the
earth's crust by accumulation of de
posits on the ocean floor near the coast
The New Madrid earthquakes of 1911
~ were ascribed to similar cause, re
sulting from depositlons made by thu
Mississippi River. But the Californian
and South American earthquakes ar,
believed to have been due to the noun
tain-buildlng forces which are still ii
operation along the western edge O.
North and South America.