The Kendrick gazette. [volume] (Kendrick, Idaho) 1892-1968, 1908-10-16
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Metals get tired a. we'll az living
things, q scientist declares. Telegraph
wires are better conductors on Monday
than Saturday. on account Of their
Sunday rest, and a rest Of three weeks
adds 10 per cent to the conductivity Of
wire.
Alien is the name given to 4 new
metal. which Is composed Of two parts
Of aluminium and one part Of zinc. 1t
10 said to equal cast iron in strength,
but Is much more elastic. Alien is
superior because it does not rust and
takes a high polish.
The singular phenomenon Of hard
steel being cut by a rapidly revolving
disk Of soft steel has been somewhat
puzzling. A microscopic examination
by an English engineer, F. w. Hartford,
has now shown that the metal acted
upon Is heated nearly or quite to the
melting point Of steel, but only at the
9oint of contact with the disk.
A section Of the Canadian Northern
Railway, running northwest from Sud
bury and crossing the Vermillion River,
Ia unique In that 1t Is ballasted with
gold. Every yard OF the gravel used
for ballast has been found to contain
from 80 cents worth to 81 worth of the
precious metal in the shape of fine dust,
and syndicate Is installing machiaery
for its extraction.
There was recently brought to the
British museum about half a peck of
stones asserted to have been taken from
the stomach Of an African elephant
The stones are angular and unworu
Other instances Of the same nature are
known to hunters. The man who gave
the curiosities to the museum has dem
onstrated the existence Of the stone.
swallowing habit in crocodiles.
During the year 1907 the Nile reach
ed the lowest level know in Egypt since
1877 and but for the existence of the
great dam at Assuan and the vast vol
ume Of water impounded by 1t to sup
plement the low Nile during the season
OF drought the country would have beer
plunged into the horror of a famine
The year 1907 was the eighth successive
lean year, 20 far as the Nile food was
| concerned.
So great is the part played by birds
in disseminating seeds and in protect.
ing plants by the destruction of noxious
insects that II. w. Hanshaw reaches
the somewhat astonishing conclusion
that II all birds were cxterminated. LOT
only would successful agriculture be-
come impossible, but the greater par'
Of the vegetation Of the earth would
eventually be destroyed. A permanent
reduction in the bird population, HI
says, could not but have disastrous con
eQuences.
One Of the most remarkable Of tn.
high flights achieved by the free bal
looms, now employed in many countries
for scientific exploration of the uppel
air, was made on July Is, 1907, neal
Brussels. The tandem balloons left tn,
village Of Uccle at Z o'clock in tn
morning, and one hour and six minute.
later they had attained an elevation
as indicated by the self-recordint
barometer, Of almost exactly 1917 miles
At that point the upper balloon burst
and the flight was arrested. At tn,
height Of about ~ miles, as usual, tn,
fall Of the thermometer was arrested
and a sudden rise of II degrees oc
Cured in the temperature. At a little
less than 81a miles an isothermal zone
was encountered; above which another
rise Of temperature began. and contin
ued until the balloon burst. The last
temperature recorded was about II
degrees Fahrenheit.