SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XII, Issue 1172, 5 August 1893, Page 4

SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL.

01.488 BBIOKS Seventeen houses constructed entirely of hollow glass brioks will figure at the Chicago Exhibition, where they will be used as offices, workshops-, ani stor... A highly decorative effect will be obtai ed by using bricks of j variegated gloss, adhering to each other by i means of co'ourless comen*, a building of this I nature lit from within by eleotricity presenting a fairy liko aspect unapproachi-d by structures of .heefc-glass and iron. A 810 LUMP OT COAL, An enormous oob of cannel coal has been raised from the Abram Collieries Wigan, and sent for shipment to Boston It is Baid to be the largest block of coal ever dug from the earth, and weighs over 12 tons. It took nine months to hew it out of tbe seam, and tbe cost of obtaining it was JBIOOO, or abont .£B3 per ton. From Boston the coal wi Ibe conveyed by train to Cbic ig > /or the World's Fair. AN OLD AND STBONG TUBTLB. The great, turtle f.und iv the Artillery Barracks at Port-Louis m 1810, when Mauritius was ceded to Great Britain, is, although almost blind, still alive ; it weighs, a- ODrding to a Frenoh observer, 150 kilogrammes, and measures 2-59 metres (8£ ft) across the carapace. Its height from the ground to the top of the oampnce, when it walks, is about '.8 metres (about 2ft ). It is believed to be 200 years old. at least, nevertheless it carries two men on its back with ease. SMALL LUMINOUS POUNTAIKS. The su've^s of hi luminous fountains ut the F-ris Exhibition of 1889 has suggestion to M\ Trouve t he idea of producing the effeots on a small fc.lo und cboaply. Several forms of this small fountain are described m tho 'Bulletin de la Society d' Encouragement.' Instead of illu-_i-a'ing the water jets by lateral mirro-s, M.Trou*. ligh's up wit, h an incandesce: t lamp at the focus of a parabolic mirror a sort of inverted glass with ap.vtur 8 for the liquid EFFECTS OF A ' OOLD WAVE.' The' cold wave' which pass.d over Hong Kong m January last had disastrous effects on vegetable snd i> sicfc life. From a ' fairly green islnnd ' ITong Kong was turned by it. into 'a desert -looking land-' On the hills nm'.y species of plants were killed outright, and m some localities the banana plantations are reported a. ruined. Many species of butterflies and other insects had disappeared,, and of others, swarming m the previous spring only a few scattered individuals were to be ' seen. This refers to the state of things m the latter half of March, when matters were beginning to improve, HEIGHT OF THB AUBOBAExperiments made at the R>ynl Dmish ; Academy have demonstrated approxim >tely the height of tho auro-i borralis. M. Adim - Paulsen, a* Gl d-h-nb, hy means of t*o t heodo'itcs s t ;ated four ini'os upart, r O"i>d tint different auror i displa «s v»ried from on» to four miles m heig .. Experiments near Cape Farewell showed tbe height of different auroras to vary fro-n Ito 10 mile . At Spitzenburg the range of height was from onethird to 18 mi'es. In sotne of tha earlier experiments m thia direction the observers con* eluded thut the height of (he auroras varied from 90 to 500 miles. A NBW MAGAZINE BIKE. Some recent trials have been made with an automatic magazine rifle invented by Messrs Woodgate and Griffith. It is stated that with this gun the whole of the seven cartri.tfjes contained m the magazine can be fired within two seconds, and, allowiag ample time for substitutiug fresh cartridge cases m the magazine, 105 shots per minute can bo fired. At the same time a much greater accuracy of aim thin with other rifles is obtained, owing to the fact tbat it is not necessary to lower the weapon to reload until the seven cartridges m the Magazine are exhausted, wben the cisc, being empty, drops out automatically . THE ATTB AOTION OF LIGHT UK)* INSECTS. Mr L. Newitr, electrician at the Elswick Work?, m referor.ee to electrical search light?, said m a recent lectnre that it might be interesting to bear what happened during the late war around the coast of Egypt. Some of the ships had instructions to follow the movements of the Ancray by the aid of the search light, which m every cisc was more than two miles from tbe shore. However, m spite of this ereat distance, it was found tbat millions of winged insects were attracted by tin's beam of lig'it, and travelled alo^g the beam until they struck the glass m front ofthe projector and fell into the well around the search light where they accumulate into a mass 2 feet j deep. | THE NOVA AUBIG-I. The origin of the new star which appeared last yenr m the constellation Auriga has been much discussed among astronomers. Dr Huggins suggested that it was a dark body which had ' become suddenly enwrapfc m burning hydrogen ' — that, m short, it was a world on fire. Mr Monck thought the supposition of a star rushing through a gaseous nebula would bonl account for the phenomena, the star bursting into fl.ma as meteorites do when rushing through the earth's atmosphere. Mr Maunders idea that ' a long and dense swarm of meteors rushed through the atmosphere of a star ' is something similar. Mr Lockyer propou> ded the theory that the sudden out-blaze of light was produced by two swarms of moteoritps rushing with great velocity m opposite direction*, having came into collision. A writer m Nature examines the different hypotheses, and finds that the phenomena, telescop r e and spectroscopic are best explained on Mr I/v>ckyer .theory. From latesb observatory reports it would aeom that the * new star ' ia rapidly assuming the form of a nebula. LONG EXPOSURE STAB PHOTOGRAPHS. At a meeting of the British Astronomical Association, Dr Gill, of the Cape Observatory, exhibited, among others, a photograph of a portion of the sky taken with 12 hours' exposure. He stated tbat if a shilling were held at arm's length it would cover the extent of Bkv shown on this plate, yet no fewer than 200.000 to 250,000 stars had left distinct mirks upon it, hardly one of w'.ich was visible to tho naked eye. For the benefit of those who were but beginners m astronomy, Dr Gilt explained that, it was impossible to expose a plate continuously for twelve hours, sinoe , the change of position of the earth would be such that the telescope could not follow a star for that length of time. The particular photograph they had under consideration had been exposed for three hours on four different ' nightr, and ther. were also breaks m the cxl posure caused by clouds; still, so rigid were the , mountings of the guiding telescope, that it was possible to turn it back after each break, 1 so that the crossfires should biteot the samo guiding star, and it was impossible to trace any signs of movement ev.n m the smallest star. This showed that the whole instrument ' was as perfect as it could be.