SCIENTIFIC CLIPPINGS.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 1, 26 November 1877, Page 2

SCIENTIFIC CLIPPINGS.

The Scientific American givca the fol* lowing particulars of n Iwo-foat ftlitftfp | railway which is being constructed in tho i United States :— The two-feet gauge rail* i road between Billerica and Bodford i» \ making good progress, and will bo «oon | finished. The passanger cars., now building at Lacouia, JS.H., will bo a decided uovelty, as they will have a row of siuglo seats on each side. The road is eight and one half miles long, aud will cost about SftOOO dollars, or less than G.OOO dollars per mile, being ouly one-eighth tho cost of the ordinary railways. Mr Ollivier, in bis Journil des Dobat9, gives the following experiment iv illustration of the conversion of motion into heat :— One end of a square bar of steel, in this instance 15. mm, plus 70 or 80 cen » is held by oae hand iv the middle and pressed strongly against a rapidly revolr* ing emery wheel, by which means the extremity so applied becomes considerably heated. The. hand at the middle of the bar doe 3 not feel any chauge of temperature, but that at the other extremity is soon obliged to let go, tho temperature rising to the point of burning the skin. M, Olliver thus explains this effect, which appears paradoxn-al at the first glance. The heat that burns the hand is uot generated at the other extremity of the bar and transmitted from, thence, but is pvoduced directly at the place. Movement and heat being synouy« mous, the movemeut; destroyed by th.c baud at the outward extremity of the bar by the stoppage of the vibra:ions is converted into heat, while, thero being au interval of repose at the middle or the bar, do heat is perceived. A curious feature of the experiment is that at the oucer extremity the thermometer does not- show any exceptional temperature, because the thermometer does not stop the vibration. To produce the burning effect, tho baud should grasp tho end of the bar <vith force eujugh to arrest the movement. One of the most simple and ingenious contrivances, fur tho purpose of investing a fleet with a zjue o\ light through which no enemy could pass without being observed (says the Times) has been devised by M. Ferdinand Silas, of Vienna, whose experiences with lifebuoys at Portsmouth have been reported in these columns. M. Silas 1 iuextiuuuishable lightning shell is similar to a common she 1, can be made to fi\ any gun, and can, accordingly, be projected to any distance. The projectile cousists of three parts, one withtu the other. W'iihin the shell proper is a lining of wet sponge, aud wiihiu this is a wet sponge, and within this is a glass bottle, which fills the whole cnvity ; the bottom of the shell unscrewing to admit of its entrance. This bottle is filled with various charges of phosphide, none of which, however, is to be less than ten pounds. A suinll chaniiel is bored through the sharp point ot the shell in order to allow the cir to mis freely with the wet sponge, and tbeie are a couple of apertures in the head which are plugged with wooden stoppers covered with leather, Through the movable bottom of the shell a steel striker is inserted, which is fitted with a spring, and communicates with the glass bottle within. When the light sir 11 is fired, the spring ftriker is driven forward by the explosion like a glass check and so breaks the bo We.;, the water contained in the jacket of sponee then peneo trates through the broken, glass and saturates the phosphide ; phosphrelt,ed hydrogen is immediately generated in large quantities, by the pressure of whjqh the stoppers are forced out and two streams, of illuminating matter are poured upon, the sea. The light burus with great brik lianoy for a considerable time, and it is claimed to be inestinguishable.