Amador ledger., 1910-09-16
SCIENTIFIC
MISCELLANY
Reported weekly for the Ledger

Ascents by Kite-A Shoe with Toe
Pockets Preserved Hailstones-
Central Station Plow ing Ant Milk
ing Mosquitoes Light Rays That
Identity Proven by the Hands
Boats for Speed Abysmal Life.
For military observations. accents
by kite have advantages over those
by aeroplane or balloon, as the kite is
safer and more convenient, and can be
used even in the severest storm. In
his remarkable experiments at Bou.
logne, Capt Saconney, of the French
army has used cellular box kites,
which have bamboo frame covered
with oiled silk, have automatic rudders,
weigh very little, are collapsible into
very small space, and can be unpacked
and sent up within 20 minutes. From
8 to 10 kites are employed at the
station, with a heavy anchored winch
and two barrels of 1000 yards Of line
each. The principal line is drawn up
by pilot kite followed at intervals
of 50 yards by one to five other kites,
according to the force of the wind. and
this first battery, reaching height of
about 1900 feet. is the sustaining
power The second battery Of kites
pulls up the secondary line, threaded
to the first by rings. 1t carries a
frame work rolling up the aerial rail
way of the princip pal line, and it sup
ports the aeronaut suspended in a
basket. A man may safely reach
several hundred yards above the earth.
Communication may be kept up by
telephone, or by paper messages sent
up the cord by the wind, or down by
small weights.
A novel German shoe has partitions
to separate the toes. These terminate
in soft pads pressing against the foot,
so that the thrust in walking is taken
at the base of the toes instead of the
point. tanning of the toes into the
toe of the shoe is prevented. 1t is ex
pected that the deforming of the feet
now so common will he avoided by
this arrangement, and chat walking
will be more comfortable.
To keep hailstones for winter study.
Prof Weinberg, of Tomsk, Siberia,
encloses them in a little cell with
double walls holding ice and copper
sulphate. August hailstones so pre-
served were examined under the micro
scope in the cold of December. He
suggests immersing in oil to prevent
agglomeration.
Electric blowing outfits, each capable
of blowing from ~ to rs acres daily
with the small pillow and rs to 35
acres with the larger one, are Ger
man novelty. A single motor, of SO
to 72 horse power. is used, and COM
plete equipment includes a motor
truck, driving rope, anchor vehicle,
automatically moving rope supports,
pillow, electric cable and cable car.
The 1000 to 5000 feet of specially !
armored rubber covered cable supply |
ing the current is carried on an out
rigger of the truck or in the greater |
lengths on the cable car. The electric !
motor on the truck can: be coupled |
either to the rear wheels of the vehicle |
or to the drum driving the rope, and |
special device automatically stops the |
the motor if the tension on the rope |
becomes excessive. A pulley on the |
anchor vehicle is relieved of the load
of the rope when the pillow moves back |
to the motor truck. This slackening |
of the rope causes the pulley's rota-
ton to act upon the anchor vehicle,
and to move it automatically forward
to the next furrow-space. Electric
blowing is one of the steps in the
Transformation of German farming by
the central power station.
Some strange Java mosquitoes have
been discovered that do not bite. but
have the curious habit of milking"
ants in much the same way that ants
obtain honey dew from alphides. Ed
ward Jacobson has found that mos
quitoes, of the species Harpagomyia
splendens visit trees frequented by
ants of the species Cremastogaster
difermis. Tickling the head of an
ant with its forelegs and antennae.
one of the mosquitoes causes the ant
to emit drop of fluid, viii oh is
promptly sucked up by the bandit as
the victim of the hold-up is released.