Amador ledger., 1907-12-13

CIONu1uS Gu0 SuuulJ VI mOut DlduC,
at height of 1870 feet. Tho
observatory of Prof. Jansen, finish
ed in 1893, is two-story truncated
pyramid, with a base measuring Ii by
51s yards and double walls of wood
and canvas, and the structuI weigh
ing 80 tons-has no foundation, ex-
cept the permanent snowcap of the
mountain; which is at least IL yards
thick. To guard against settling
rigid sub-base was provided with
jackscrews for levellng. The latest
inspection has shown slight move
ment of the building, with practically
no settling, and the success of the
remarkable experiment has put to
shame the prophets of disaster. The
observatory is visited only at inter-
walls of many months. 1t mas fine
telescope, with two-foot mirror, for
astronomical work, and a registering
meteorograph automatically records
the barometrio pressure. temperature,
humidity, and velocity and direction
of the wind for periods of eight or
nine months at a time. A meteoro-
graph to give continuous record for
much longer time is now being
worked out.
AS an illustration of how chemistry
is aiding plant Improvement, Prof.
| II g
beet sugar, which has grown from
hopeless beginning into one of the
worlds chief industries. For one
ton of sugar, IL tons of beets were
required in 1886, but roots have been
so developed by selection and analyses
that only ~ tons were necessary in
1891, and even less will suffice now.
Of the IL, 000,0 tons of sugar pro-
duced in the world in 1905, beets
supplied 1000, 700 tons.
Steel shot so hard as to take the
place of diamonds for some kind of
drilling are made by spraying molten
steel into cold water, chilling it in
stantly.
When a glass cylinder of pond
water with a wisp of pressed hay at
the bottom is placed in sunshine for
few weeks, reddish-violet deposit
begins at the bottom and slowly ex-
tends upward. This deposit is made
up of purple bacteria, which grow
best when film of oil on the water
keeps out air, and are specially re-
markable for requiring much light
and little oxygen. In recent study
of both moving and inert organisms
of this kind, Prof. H. Molisch has
found that if a colony of an active
species is placed on a microscope
slide in strong light, the bacteria
scatter in all directions when the
observer places on the center of the
slide single aIga-about 1-5OO0 OF an
inch in diameter from the green de-
post on trees. Brought into the
shade, the bacteria fill the center of
the slide within half minute. The
repulsion is due TO exhalatIon of an
lnhnitessimal amount of oxygen by
the alga in sunlight and serves as an
extremely delicate test for traces of
oxygen far too minute for chemical
detection. The constituencies to light
AS we'll as oxygen is marvellous.
Corkscrew-shaped bacteria brought
under magnifying power of $40
diameters are seen to rotate and dart
to and fro in strong light, but cutt-
ing off the illumination for fraction
OF second causes frantic and
astonishing reversal of motion.
The total number of patents taken
out in the world since the beginning
OF patent laws is found by A. Fitch,
from French statistics, to reach p
800, COO. of which 1900, 200 have been
granted in the last fifty years. The
government fees have amounted to
STAG, OOO, 900, of which the United
States has received s56, 1000, 900; but
publication. legal study, etc., bring
the cost up to at least $1,000, OOU, 600.
Unsuccessful inventions have pro-
badly brought loss of 81, 500, 600, 600.
Losses from infringement suits, pro-
moters. etc., are estimated to have
reached Sl5, 900, 600, 900 in sixty years.
and 80 per cent of patentees have
reaped little profit.
Special schools for backward pupils
now exist in 1l6 German cities.
Berlin has 81 of the 203 schools, and
the total number of pupils enrolled
is not less than Is, 100.