Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-06-17
Three ANNOUNCEMENTS MADE
BYNAT'L ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Boston, Mass, June 16.-Progress in
the work of exact determination OF
the amount Of heat received by the
earth from the sun, which has been
the object of experiments recently
conducted by Messrs. c. G. Abbot, F.
E. Fowle and L. B. Aldrich of the
Smithsonian Institution, at Washing
ton, is described by these scientists in
the June number Of the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences.
They have found that the amount of
heat is 1893 calories per square cent?
meter per minute: that is to say,
enough heat is received from the sun
on each square yard to heat a pound
of water to boiling in 212 minutes. The
heat which is received at the earth's
surface is somewhat less than this,
namely by the variable amount that is
absorbed by the earths atmosphere.
The remarkable discovery has also
been made that the heat received from
the sun is not constant but variable
from month to month or year to year
by perhaps as much as 10 per cent.
This variation might be expected to
make pronounced differences in the
growth of vegetation or in the general
climate from year to year; but for
some reason. perhaps through the
variable effects of the earth's atmos
phere. the variations in the heat re-
ceived from the sun seem to be unim
portant so far as crops are concerned.
The National Academy of Sciences
has recently made an appropriation
of $3.50 to DR.. Abbot for the purpose of
enabling him to complete and test, on
Mount Wilson in California, an APP
paratus consisting of concave
cylindrical mirror Of about 100 square
feet surface for concentrating the
suns heat on tubes containing oil,
which is then made to circulate
through a reservoir containing ovens
and water pipes. so as to utilize solar
radiation for cooking and heating
water for domestic purposes.
Breeding Of Pigeons.
The National Academy Of Sciences
announces. through the June number
Of its Proceedings. some interesting
results on the breeding of pigeons.
There has been a general belief among
pigeon breeders that from the two
eggs, which are laid for Matching, one
male and one female are produced-if
not always, at any rate, in most in
stances; that Of this pair the male
matches from the egg which is laid
first; and that for some reason in the
adult pigeons there is an excess of
male birds Elaborate records kept
for a period of seven years, first at the
JS1o or
Station and later at the Experiment
Station at Madison. Wis, and now
printed in the Academy Proceedings
by L. j. Cole and w. F. Kirkpatrick,
settle number of questions connect
ed with these belief of breeders.
The observations show that there
are Matched about los males to 100 fe-
males, and that there is higher NOR
tality among the young adult females
than among the males. These facts
justify the common belief that there is
considerable excess of males in the
adult population. 1t is found, how
ever, that there is no foundation for
the belief that one male and one fe-
male are Matched in each brood, on
the contrary, the number of the broods
in which the two squads are both male
or both female exceeds that in which
the sexes are equally divided. Final
ly. there is no ground for the idea that
the male is Matched from the first egg
laid and the female from the second.
Functions Of the Pancreas.
An announcement made in the Pro-
ceedings Of the National Academy Of
Science this month tells Of the
progress which investigators at the
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re-
search in New York are making in the
study Of sugar in human blood and
the function Of the pancreas in elimi-
mating it.
In diabetes the amount Of dextrose
(sugar) in the blood Is higher than
normal. and. when 1t is sufficiently
high. it escapes through the kidneys.
Messrs. kleiner and Meltzer of the
Rockefeller Institute Of Medical Re
search announce that experiments on
animals from which the pancreas has
been removed show that the ability of
the animal to get rid readily of sur
plus of sugar injected into the veins is
greatly impaired, and that the ability
to get rid Of the sugar can be tenn
porarily restored by injecting a pan
create emulsion into the veins. The
authors are still at work upon the