NOTES ON SCIENCE, MECHANICAL INVENTIONS, ETC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9022, 7 April 1888, Page 4 (Supplement)

NOTES ON SCIENCE, MECHANICAL INVENTIONS, ETC.

THE TELEPHONE FROM PARIS TO MARSEILLES. Some interesting experiments on long distance telephony were made a few days ago in connection with the proposed telephone line Irom Paris to Marseilles. In order to obtain a line 1000 kilometres long the line from Antwerp to Brussels was connected with that from Brussels to Paris; these were connected with the line from Paris to Brussels via Moraignies, which had been previously connected with that from Brussels to Verviers. Thus the total length from Antwerp to Verviers was about 1000 kilometres. Speech was clearly understood on this line, which is composed of bronze wire of tolerably high conductivity. The work of erecting the line from Paris to Marseilles has already commenced at some points. The wires, of siliciura bronze, will be subterranean as far as Nogent-sur-Marne, after which they will be carried on the posts along the railway. The line is expected to be in operation about July next.

ELECTRIC LIOHTINO IN CLUBLAND. The electric light is being installed, established, and developed at most Londoncluba, says the Country Gentlenisji. For a while the committees at the Old World establishments hesitated to follow the lead given by such dashing youngsters as the men of the Naval and Military and the Junior Carl ton. The Carlton proper was electrified in October last, and who knows that but the Senior and the Athenwum may not have a shock one day soon ? The steadygoing St. Stephen's Club is no longer to be lit by gas and lamps, as specifications are now out for electric lighting tenders The new light in most cases is admitted not for light, but because it is cooler than gas and sweeter than oil. The atmosphere at most clubs during the fogs of a fortnight ago was really intolerable.

ALARM THERMOMETER.

Mr. J. E. White, of Syracuse, New York, USA., has patented an alarm thermometer. In this invention the terminals of the alarm are both placed at the top of the bore, to prevent the corrosion that occurs in one usually inserted in the mercury of the bulb. The bore of the thermometer is spread out at the top into a conical chamber, the outside of which is formed into a lip. The top of this chamber is plugged by a cork, through which the terminals of an electric alarm are led, and the whole ia secured by a cap of cement. When the mercury rises into the conical chamber the circuit ia completed for the alarm. ELECTRIC LIGHTING OF A YACHT. The Lyra, steam yacht, belonging to Sir William Brown, Bart., has been supplied throughout with the electric light. Motive power is produced by a small engine, and not only have the saloons, cabins, and every nook of the little craft been illuminated, but the riding lights at the mast head and the coloured side lights are also fed in connection with the electrical system. A successful trial of the electric apparatus was made a few days since while the Lyra was at her moorings in Portsmouth Harbour. THE TREATMENT OF SEWAGE BY ELECTRICITY.

The Metropolitan Board of Works, at a late meeting, resolved to permit Mr. W. Webster, jun., to carry out an experiment on the sewage of Crossness, with his system of electrical purification. For this purpose he is to have the use of one of the tanks ; the trials to be made at Mr. Webster's own expense, and under the supervision of the officers of the Board. DISTRIBUTION OF MOTIVE POWER BY COMPRESSED AIR. M. Victor Popp is making good progress with his system of distributing compressed air for motive power purposes. The works for compressing the air in the Rue St. Fargeau, at Menilmontant, are of considerable magnitude. They cover an area of 15,000 squares metres, of which an extent of 2000 metres is roofed over. There are already fixed and in operation seven steam engines of 400 horse-power and two of 100 horse-power each, a total of 3000 horsepovser. The conduits have already been laid over the whole area comprised between the line of the Boulevards and the Rue de Rivoli. These are sometimes laid in trenches cut for the purpose, and sometimes in the sewers. The total length of pipes laid was, at the end of last December, a little over thirty miles. This source of power is used for working electric light machinery in a large number of establishments, among which may be mentioned the Cafe Amencain, the Cafe de Paris, the Caf<s Anglais, the offices of the Figaro, and the Jardin d'Hiver. A NEW STORAGE BATTERY. M. Carriere has taken out a patent in France for a new method of constructing the electrodes of storage batteries. The object of his improvement is to reduce the weight of lead required for a giving capacity, and to make the plates absolutely rigid, so that no short circuit can occur through buckling. In his patent the inventor points out that in batteries of light weight the lead frame of the plates must necessarily be mechanically weak, and if made sufficiently thick to resist transportations and rough usage, the battery becomes too heavy. Moreover, the frame is continually subject to oxidation, and just when the battery gets into the condition of maximum capacity the plates are near mechanical destruction. Whatever may be the scientific value of these arguments, the inventor has certainly produced an ingenious combination, which is not open to the same objections, though perhaps practical use may reveal other and possibly more important faults.

INSECT REPRODUCTION. Perhaps no more striking illustration of the wonderful reproductive power of certain insects could be given than that contained in a work recently published by Theodore Wood, an English entomologist. It is assumed, first, that 100 aphides weigh no more, collectively, than a single grain ; and second, that only a very stout man can weigh as much as 2,000,000 grains. Then it is found that if multiplication were entirely unchecked, the tenth brood alone of the descendants of a single aphis would be equivalent, in point of actual matter, to more than 500,000,000 very stout men, or one-third of the human population of the globe, supposing each person to weigh 280 pounds. THE FOUR ELEMENTS. The evolution of chaos into earth, air, fire and water can be represented in the following manner :—ln a narrow phial or glass tube, pour mercury to the height of one-fourth of its capacity ; for the next fourth, add a saturated solution of eubcarbonate of potash; next fourth, methylated or pure spirits of wine, tinted blue ; and lastly, turpentine, tinted red. On shaking this mixture together, you will have a representation of chaos; but soon, on resting, the elements will separate themselves, and the mercury will represent earth, the blue spirit air, the red turpentine fire, and the colourless potash solution water.

In the Comptes Rendus we find an account of a meteorite which is said to have Htruck the earth at Than-Duc, and to have rebounded so as to disappear. The track made in the soil, and the fact of two Bounds being heard, a loud crack followed by rumbling which gradually died away, are taken as confirmation that such was actually the case. From some experiments made by U. W. and E. G. Peckham, and described in the American Naturalist, it would eeem that wasps remember the locality of their nests for ninety-six hours. The horizontal parallax of the sun at its mean distance from the earth in now determined at 8"-808. If the earth were steel, and fully magnetised, its power would be about 7000 times as great as now. If the earth were of soft iron and magnetised by a sufficient amount of current, it would be about 15,000 times as strong a magnet as it is now. The Wisconsin Senate has concurred in a Bill to provide for the punishment of any architect, by a fine of not over £20, who shall design any public building or factory, and neglect to design outward swinging doors or fire-escapes. Extended observations at Paris and at Munich indicate that the sanitary condition of a locality depends on the amount of water contained in the ground. The years in which there has been a large quantity of ground-water present have invariably been the healthiest years, while those in which there hae been a smaller quantity have invariably been the unhealthieet periods. Aluminum is coming into favour as dental plates. It is better than rubber and less in cost than gold ; is bright, strong, odourless, and as healthy to the gums as gold or platii num.