SCIENCE AND ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6255, 3 December 1881, Page 3

SCIENCE AND ART.

WAKENING FIREMEN BY ELECTRICITY. A somewhat curious instance of the manner in which electricity is nowadays used for the purposes of civilised life is seen in the arrangements adopted at one of the fire-engine stations in Ciuciunati. In the sleeping-room the beds are arranged as radii of a circle, having a space in the centre to which the feet of the bedsteads point. The coverlet of each bed is connected to o cord, and the several cords are gathered into a rope which passes over a pulley near the ceiling. A heavy weight is attached to the rope, and the latter is held firmly by a clutch that can be released by a magnet. When a "call" is received, the watchman on duty touches a button, which sets the electric current in motion, ringing the belU of the station, pulling the coverlets ofT the beds, and suspending them in mid-air clear of the awakened firemen. It is not pretended that more than a few seconds of time is saved by this device, but it is by a number of seconds saved here and there that the lire-brigades of the United States have earned the title to be considered the first of the kind in the world.

MUSIC BY ELECTRICITY. The marvels of electricity are being practically brought home to us by the wonders of the eleetrical exhibition in Paris. Messrs Siemens 1 electrical tramway is now in full working order between the Place de la Concorde and the Palace cf Industry. The journey can be made for a few pence, and the tramway is largely patronised, King Kalakaua being one of the earliest passengers. This tramway runs on the street level like the ordinary horse-cars, but the electrical system appears to be better suited to an overhead line. It is easier to insulate, while the advantage of its relieving the street traffic will be added to those of construction. Electric tramways will probably be largely adopted in all the cities before long. Another remarkable feature of this exhibition is the extraordinary application of the telephone and microphone to the transmission of operatie and theatrical performances. This was tried with success at the Leeds musical festival last year, but on an extended scale it is to be seen in Paris now. Two rooms are fitted up in the exhibition to which ten persons are admitted in turn —one is connected by wire witli the Theatre Francais, the other with the Grand Opera. In both the result is described as most marvellous. The actors are heard with as much distinctness as if the listeners were seated in the stalls ; the voices of the singers come " undiminished in purity, beauty and force." The further development of this extraordinary invention is certain, and soon we shall be able to hear our favourite preacher or listen to our favourite opera without leaving our armchair. NEW SHEAF-BINDING REAPER. A protracted harvest experience with oue of the sheaf-binders which competed at the Royal Agricultural trial in August has led to a transformation of the machine, alike in the mode of separating the sheaf-bunch and in the knotting, string holding, and delivery of the bound sheaves. In the new machine of Messrs. J. <fe F. Howard, of Bedford, the needle arm, instead of binding in its descent, grips and binds the sheaves in its ascent ; and a very simple device, the invention of Mr. James Howard, M.P., secures perfect squareness in the but-end of every sheaf. The newly-patented machine has been exhibited at work upon oue of the Crown farms at Great Stoughton upon spring-sown wheat. The crop was very weedy, but the sheaves were bound, it is said, with the utmost regularity, tightness, neatness and uniformity of size and shape. The binding material employed is Manilla twine.

That fish sleep has been well determined by observations conducted by Dr. Hermes and others in the Berlin Aquarium.

In penetrating the earth Professor Everit finds that the rise in temperature is more rapid in the older and harder rocks. Pliny tells us that Dcedalus invented the saw. The earliest saw-mill of which we have mention was built at Madeira in 1420.

According to a French medical journal whooping cough has been successfully treated by Dr. Barety, of Nice, by turpentine vapour. Several years ago Ericsson predicted that the Nile and the Ganges would be lined with cotton and other factories driven by solar lieat. A French engineer in Algiers is already contributing to the fulfilment of this prediction by pumping water and making it boil by solar force alone. When the earth in which a plant grows is much warmer than the air, the plant grows very thick, ceases almost altogether to increase in height, and finally shows deep transverse rifts which make further growth an impossibility, These effects were prduced by M. Prillieux, who used a large dish of earth, in which he planted the seeds, and kept the earth ten degreei warmer than the moist air of the chamber.

Several cinerary ui'ns, sun-baked and of great antiquarian interest, have been unearthed at Hampton Wick, England. They were found at a depth of from eighteen inches to two feet. Some persons who had examined the fragments of the urns, which were unfortunately broken by the pickaxes of the labourers who accidentally discovered them, are of the opinion that the vessels were made before the Komans occupied the country. Air. Van Rysselberghe's idea of using the microphone in observatories has been adopted in the observatory at Geneva, and by the aid , of the instrument', in combination with the telephone, the sound beats of the normal pendulum can be heard in every part of the building. The observatory is also connected with the Hotel Municipal, so that that the beats of the electric clock regulator in that building can be heard and compared with the pendulum beats. " Can tlie electric light be made use of for submarine explorations ?" Edison was asked. " Oh, yes. 1 have an electric lamp made for submarine work on exhibition at I'aris. The water can be lighted up as well as the air. I could lay a cable from here lo Sandy Hook, with lamps about fifty feet apart, and light up the whole channel." "Would it be lighted up so that a pilot could see all the rocks and shoals"Yes. He could pick liis way along just as you can along the '' An Epping Forester" writes to an English scientific magazine giving an instance of tv o distinct ateins of a tree coming together and uniting in one without the intervention of man. He says:—"'lf any one leaves the Chingford branch of the Great Eastern Kauway at Wood-street station, makes for Chest-nut-walk, and takes the first turn leading to Epping forest, lie will find, keeping to the left, the remains of a tall, straggling hedge. Two stems of the hawthorn, which rite separately from the ground and remain distinct to the height of about three feet, coalesce completely into One," 4