The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1911-07-20
stars can be measured IN full DAYLIGHT.

stars can be measured IN full daylight.
M. Salet, of the Paris Observatory, has
lately been investigating method. Most
of the sunlight which reaches the earth s
atmosphere is scattered and diffused by
the air particles, and in pure air the light
waves are directed into certain paths.
In more scientific phrase, the light is
''polarized. - Starlight, on the contrary,
is not polarized. Therefore by placing
an appropriate instrument for filtering
light waves Ia Nicol prism) in the tele-
scope M. Salet can stop most of the SUM-
light waves, while the light waves from
the stars pass through with undiminished
intensity. Stars up to the fifth magni-
tude have thus been observed in daylight
on the Paris meridian instrument.
A contribution to the belief that the
Dogger Bank is the remains of a SUBJ
merged plateau, and that the existing
fens of East Anglia are the last relics Of
far greater Fen-land which once Joined
England to the Continent, is made by
Mr.. Whitehead and Mr.. Goodchild in the
Essex Naturalist. They have been ex-
aiming a quantity of the substance
called ''moorlog," the peaty deposit
which fishermen find, at great inconven-
fence to themselves, mingled with their
travis. 1t usually occurs in small pieces,
but, according to a note by Mr.. Massee
in Knowledge, some slabs attain length
of five or six feet and thickness of
rather more than a foot. Moorlog varies
from coarse messy deposit to fine
texture as close as wood. 1t readily
splits into layers both when wet and dry
1t consists chiefly of plant remains, stems
and roots of trees, seeds, leaves, and
MOSES, and is essentially a fen deposit
with no trace of inorganic mud. Re-
mains of beetles are found in some speci-
mems. The vegetation is exclusively that
of swamp species, with no traces of
fruits such as birds bring, and none of
wind-borne plants. The plants are chiefly
of the sub-arctic kind; and the evidence
on the whole points to the belief that
these deposits do not drift from any land,
but are the products of a submarine fen.
The flowers that bloom in Covent Gar
den and in the florists of Paris and Lon
don are made to bloom in and out Of sea-
son by various scientific methods Of fore
ing and of retardation. Johansen sug-
gested some years ago a means of forcing
plants to premature bloom by means Of
ether spray, and this is used now on
commercial scale. Retardation can be
effected by other agents or by expedients
similar to those of cold storage. But
following the publication of pamphlet
by Professor Molisch, "Das Warmbad,"
the ether process may possibly be super
seeded by one much simpler and cheaper.
The only treatment required is that of
immersing the shoots, by inversion, in
warm water at a temperature about
blood heat for nine to twelve hours. The
plants are thereafter kept in dark,
moist chamber at temperature of about
25 degrees Centigrade until the leaves
begin to appear, after which they are
grown under ordinary greenhouse con-
ditions. Lilacs, azaleas, and spir8as
treated in this way during the middle of
November will be in bloom at Christmas
or early in January.
So often has it been declared that the
peat problem has been solved, and that
a process has been found which will rem
der the use and exploitation of vast
stores of peat commercially profitable,
that criticism must hesitate to endorse
new discovery. The objections to peat
as fuel are that it contains too much
water and that its calorific intensity is
low. Weight for weight its heating
power is not more than half that of coal,
while bulk for bulk it is much less. The
water has also refused to be squeezed
course has been had usually to very I'M
satisfactory heat-drying. The reason
for the difficulty in pressing the water
out has recently been the subject of a
paper by DR.. Ekenberg, read before the
American Iron and Steel Institute. In
the peat there is a considerable quantity
of a Jelly-like hydrocellulose According
to DR.. Ekenberg, this can be eliminated
by raising the peat to temperature of
$50 deg. c., when the hydrocellulose
splits up into water and kind of sugar
When the jelly has disappeared the peat
substance may be mechanically con-
pressed to hardness in the same way as
any other spongy material.