SCIENCE, LITERATURE, &c.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6099, 4 June 1881, Page 3

SCIENCE, LITERATURE, &c.

The -bloodthirsty mosquito takes fortyeight hours to digest-the life fluid of its human victim; ■ One thousand and ninetyseven magazines are published in Great Britain, Ireland, and the Channel Islands, ■ ■ Lord Houghton has accepted the nomination to the office of President of the London Library, made vacant by the death of Mr. Carlyle. '"-...-]" The life and letters of John T. Delane, late editor of the London Times, by Sir George W. Dasent, D.C.L., is in preparation by Scribncrs. . ._ . ■ A volume shortly to be published in Paris, from the historical archives, will contain a large number of hitherto unknown letters from Richelieu. Household Words will shortly be revived by Mr. Charles Dickens in a different form, though without interfering in any way with ■Ali the Year Round, which will be continued as heretofore. The oil-painting of John Milton, sold in ; London the other day for twelve hundred dollars and more, once belonged to Charles Lamb, and was bought by his brother for a few.shillings. Messrs. Hurst and Blackett have in the press a volume from the pen of the author of "John Halifax," containing a reprint of her story styled " His Little Mother," and other tales and sketches. ■'•'.'• Mr. Corby, at a meeting of the Manchester Scientific and Mechanical Society, condemned .the screw-jack as a relic of barbarism, and predicted that before long it would be superseded by the hydraulic jack. After four years'; hard work, Jefferson Davis ha 3 completed his memoirs, having done the proof-reading witli the greatest care. A secretary was used, who copied the original manuscript for the use of the printer. In Great Britain there has been no instance during the past 100 years of any three consecutive Januarys having so low a mean temperature as those of 1579-Sl, the mean for these last three being only 32.2 degrees John Francis will shortly enter upon his fiftieth j ear as publisher of the London Athen.-cum, a fact unprecedented in periodical literature. It is believed that only one of the original staff of writers now isurvivcs. : The California State mineralogist lately almost lost his life while investigating the mud volcanoes in the Colorado desert. The ciust surrounding one of the craters gave way, and, as the San Francisco Alta says, he " almost sank" into the boiling cauldron. It is said that during a hailstorm in Geneva on January 19th Professor Collation observed that the hailstones repelled each other as they fell, and that after lying quiet for a moment or two on the ground, bounded about like the electric hail experiment of Newton with pithballs.

Whenever a well is sunk in London, says Mr J. Lawrence Hamilton, cither a hundred feet from the surface, or deeper down in the green sand, alkaline water is sure to be reached, having the charactei'of thespa waters of Carlsbad, which is almost a specific for the gout. A ■ number of valuable letters, written by Gcorje Elliot at the age of 20, have just been brought to light in Sheffield. They are in the possession of a grandson of "Dinah Bede,". now resident in that town, and were written to Mrs. Elizabeth Evans and Mr. Samuel Evans, aunt and uncle of the novelist, andthe " Dinah Morris" and " Seth Bede" of her novel, "Adam Bede." They are pervaded by deep religious sentiment, and betray a keen anxiety about her spiritual condition. Dr. Siemens, whose thorough competence is universally known, claims that in every case where strength and magnitude are both required the use of steel is without a rival. He asserts that even for an ordinary house steel gives more security than wood, is six to eight times as strong, and costs less. He thinks that before many years elapse we shall see steel introduced into buildings of all kinds, and that it will gradually supplant iron, in the same way that iron already tends to take the place of wood;'" The words of the angel to the prophet, " Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased," are receiving almost daily verification. It seems probable that ere long engines driven by atmospheric power will supersede the horses that draw our tramwaycars and the sulphurous locomotives that make the underground railway a perpetual abomination. A practical experiment with an air-engine was made at Woolwich last week, and a skilled observer ventures the belief that "the application of atmospheric power to the science of travelling is a thing of the near future." •■ - ! By the use of the electrical spark and a photographic apparatus the presence of very minute quantities of certain substances" in certain liquids may be readily detected. The liquid to be examined is placed in a vessel, the sides of which are composed of quartz,

which is one of the few purely transparent substances. If one part, by weight, of the colouringmatter known as anthraeeneismixed with fifty million times its weight or alcohol the presence of the colour may be detected by a gelatine plate photograph taken as above, which will show the characteristic bands of the absorbed rays pertaining to anthracene.