SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL NOTES.

Bush Advocate, Volume V, Issue 330, 21 June 1890, Page 6

SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL NOTES.

The rainfall on-Ben^Nevia -^xingriftaaaa^^ amounted t4W<XM%J®mg\ 16'10in: abow the mean o<v&ft^hth«noe-tra : o)&vratoajCX 1 . . IbiAßtfttod that a.G«rman enginecr^/H^t^. < Bohec!i r ,vha6 Itieett lnstafudteii fp <wi^i«arwjjfc'?v i ifti&e A jßteitin*ena I :6f iWiea^^M^^ '■?, ' 'Matwap^^^Kuj) Coaal. I £'£■&%' ■ t ?&fri&''i}'-'\'-'-' < ..' for;^^;/JSmgpTg^fih, ; . ! ,t|ieß|itscli system $pf , Ughting -i^way<b««r '■''?. ! , rj^e^wfth gaa,> the , diireStora of { th© Nonfcp r Eastern Railway have decided to adopt Wait i .apply*!; throttghoW;>th^ir <$ &# ; : : ' ■ i- iThe<r&pld increase in the business* _ , 'and^proijjrerit^qf the .United Stated dtuinip ■'■''' , the/tiast -iJeii^veia^ Js sinlply mjirye|ioa». Acpp^ing^t^'lhe" 'published figures,.jthe'tbtaXwealth 6f foe cbuniry is now 7i,4Ss,(fo6#Qft • ..to 1 < nearly ; 1,00,0 dollars ••<■ pec capita,., ( ; r X;hi& JB.:an , increase in tea yeara-of lSiOOO^Qi^idbitars,; or 42 per cent.^ ;' I . i The; -.' Japanese '■ Government ;■ is about t» estabUsh'a ineteorological obserratory, itf til*. lidoohooi'lslahds.^ *Tliis is one' of ':ifia.,;naaßfr.;, impoi^an^poaitions, in the East, for, iheiepror* logical Jp^rpokjS^'Jpr ;it \fflb.'"up..(ihe'.;^<s(f" large; gap^^l'vpresent existing between- ; SKanghai Manilla in one direction;, and HoiigTjkb.ng, aacl^kioiin #ie other. ;•< / .«' * A , petition has been presented to tt» | Dominion Parliament on behalf of a numtiat ) of prominent Canadians, asking for \(£|xr , incorporation as the Canada Cable Company. Power 'is' 1 asked ~'to construct, equip, work, maintain, and operate a submarine electro | telegraph; liie, from a point in the^Unitjed | ,Singdpiii, ; across j; the Atlantic, to. a point m 'tieurovinbepf, Quebec, on the, north shore '.'■ 64. the ,St, |liawrehce,r through the straits of , Belle Isle, and to connect the same with the telegfaph.Bystein of the Dominion. V ; V -! Tidings of another great volcanic erupliott . have come f rdjn Japan. Mount Zoo, near the town of Fukuvama,\in the Bingo district, • began to rumble .at. eight o'clock on the ' evening of the' 16th January, and the top of, tho mountain is said to have been soon .5* liftedoff." There was a noise like a dynamite ex--plosion,-and sand, and stones --wero belched forth.- Scones and • earth also fell at'-Mid-sunomimura, a village six miles away. Ne previous eruption of Mount Zoo is recorded. Only one man 4 lost his life, but some, cattle were' " killed,'-, and fifty-live . horses .jsvere destroyed. The total loss entailed by, jjie , eruption is estimated at nearly 3,500, OOOdoL , ..Since. -the.' oldest rwoman. in Yieuna,died ; a few days ago,, says the Daily News' correspondent in that city, a most animated competition has been in progress for recognition as to her successor/ The competition show? that the Austrian capital has no fever -than five LadieW-who are all over a hundred. , T£e one wKo has apparently the strongest claim to the 'pension of £24 granted by the municipality, to the late Magdalona Fanza is said to be. upwards, of 115 years old. She lives on 12a. a month, without nurse or attendant; does all her own housework, and even runs her own orrands when the neigh bonrs' children, with whom she is very popular, airte not available. ' . '■.-■ \ The \ tnie remedy for the abuses , whicE seemed to imperil that glorious national property, the Yosemite Yalley in the XFoitecl States, appears at last in a fair, way to -be recognised. .Not.only must the park'be/pre* served, but the- grand and beautiful warrounding landscape' must be saved from tile ravages of tlio lumbermen and the sawmill settlements. In brief, it is proposed by'thd Yosemite commissioners that the national Government, who in .1864 placed the valley* perhaps. iinitvLsely, . under the protection of : the State of California instead /of umler that of the nation, as in the case of the Yellowstone Park, should.bpldly enlarge theYosemite Park from eight to nfty square mijes of lakes, plains, and mountain forests. Dealing with the natural history of locasta generally, Mr. Coles, of the Indian Musenm, Calcutta, observes i^iat all the, different species which ofcciir in various paiis of the world breed permanently in barren elevated tracts where the vegetation is sparse.'-' ''la years when thoy increase inordinately they descend in flights from their permanent breeding gtotmds npon cidtivated d^hipfa»T where they destroy the props, lay /fchoir eggs, and .maintain the/nselyes through; one completo generatibn,"but are unable to establish.' themselves/pormanently, usually disappearing in ; the year following the invasion; 1 to'. b&F succeeded, after an interval -of- years^ [ hj frcih Hwarnis- from the pftvmanent breeding; ground. Generally speaking', the life/carda, of a locust extends through one year, h inwhich period it passes through' its various stages of egg, young wingless larva;,', active pupa, and winged looust, which dies after laying the eggs that are. to produce the next generation. The eggs are laid in little agglutinated 'masses in holes,- which the female lores with her ovipositor in' the ground. Much attention is now being paid to the new product called " cocoanut batter," prepared from the fat^contained in tho cwoannfc. and from other vegetable fats. This," butter • i9 said to bo richer and more palatable'eventhan m^ny margarines of low- grades:' Nevertheless, " butter" is a misnomer^ as the new product is not intended for competition with dairy butter, but exclusively for cooking purposes. At present it is nofc manufactured in Holland at all, but only at Mannheim, where . the invention of : Dr. Schlemk, at Xiudwigshafen, is worked '-fcy a private faotoiy, wh^ch in 1889 turned 1 oat 1 ' about l,oookilogTamraes ef "cocoanut butter** a day, tho. market value thereof being 1 about Is. 2d.' a kilogramme. But a faotoryupon^a; somewhat larger scale is at present iii course' of erection at Amsterdam, and the pitatnoteraof tho Dutch Vegetable Butter Company: believe that their article lias great possibilities in the near! future.