Evening star., 1914-01-27
SCIENCE NOTES.

Glenn Curtiss, the American aviator and
aeroplane manufacturer Of Hammonds-
port. N. Y. has decided to move his fac
tory to France, on account of the court
decision on the Wright patents.
The Hungarian government will spend
Ss000.00O in this country in the purchase
OF telephone supplies. and has at this
time representatives in the United States
studying the American party line system
of telephoning.
The United States geological survey
has just determined the exact elevation
OF Mount Rainier, the famous Washing
ton peak. to be 14.40S feet, the second
! highest mountain in the United States.
1t takes only one-twentieth of second
Tor wireless signal to pass from the
Arlington radio station to San Francisco.
An fnexhaustible source of soda supply
has been found in British East Africa.
The soda deposits cover thirty square
miles.
The National Aerial League has COM
pleted plans for fight of a fotilla OF
aeroplanes across the Sahara or Great
desert. The start will be made from AL
gerta, and the final landing will be made
If this experiment is successful a regu-
| lar air mail line (French) will be estab-
| lished.
| The American Museum Of Natural His.
| tory is making the study Of bird migra-
( ton a special work for the coming spring
by marking living birds SO that they car
be identified wherever found. Agents OF
this institution and other ornitholog1sts
nave already marked over 1900 birds
In this way ornithologists hope to fine
how far an individual bird has Travelled
OF whether 1t will stop at the identica
farm. woodland or meadow where Il
mated and nested the past season.
| Sir William Crooks, the eminent Eng
| lish chemist. has given his report Of foul
years Of investigation to the Royal So
ciety of London. on saving the eyes from
| invisible rays, that is, to find a glass
that would cut off as much as possible
| of the heat radiation. and from the ultra
violet and transparency points of view.
| The completion Of the thirty-inch pho
| tographic refractor of the Allegheny OBJ
| servatory has long been delayed by the
dif1culty Of manufacturing suitable glas.
disks. These have now been delivered
1 by Schott & Co. of Jena, Germany, anG
| 1t Is expected that the telescope will bt
| In use early next fall.
In the Academy of Sciences Of St
Petersburg. Sir William Ramsay has beer
advanced from corresponding member
to an honorary member.
| Mrs. Agnes Chase, assistant in syste
matte agrostology. United States Depart
ment of Agriculture, has returned from
| Porto Rico where she has been collect
ing and studying grasses for about two
l
| DR.. L. J. Henderson of Harvard tells
scientists Of Johns Hopkins that he is
convinced that inorganic matter contain
| ed latent life: that the ocean is the ele
| ment which may contain conditions ia
vorably adapted to the origin of active
| matter which passes through innumer.
able phases of evolution. I'm the ocean,
| he says. I'VE see every degree Of devel
| opment from the highest to the loves,
forms Of life"
| The eighty annual meeting Of the
British Medical Association is to be helo
next July at Aberdeen.
i In the alcove Of the North American
archaeology hall Of the American Museum
of Natural History mural series has
recently been completed. II consists OF
fine poiychrome frescoes. three of which
are enlarged copies of the frescoes on the
walls Of the cavern Of Font de Gaume
in France and two are enlarged copies
from the ceiling Of Altmaiar. In Spain
| The originals Of these represent paleo.
| lithic art at its highest point of perfec-
| ton The copiaS were made by Mr.. AL
bert Operti.
At recent meeting Of the American
Ornithologists' Union, in New York city
it was decided to hold the spring meet
! ing in this city Easter week. beginning
| April g.
| The sixty-inch rejecting telescope al
| the Mount Wilson Observatory is at the
present time the largest in existence. and
its revelations have greatly advanced the
| knowledge of the stellar universe A
seventy-two-inch reflector is to be con-
structed by the Canadian government for
Ottawa, and will be nearly 90 per cent
| more powerful than the Mount Wilson
which is to say than any telescope in ex.