SCIENCE GOSSIP.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1192, 4 January 1895, Page 10

SCIENCE GOSSIP.

MINES 03? WOOD. A curious source of wealth is repotted 'Jby the French consul at Mongtzo, in upper Tonquin. It lies in wood mines. The wood originally was a pine forest, which the earth ,-swallowed in some cataclysm. Some of the trees are a yard in diameter. They lie in a slanting direction, and in sandy soils which cover them to a depth of about eight yards. A.s the top branches are/well preserved, it is thought that the geological convulsion which buried them cannot be of great antiquity. The wood furnished by these timber mine 3 is imperishable, and the Chinese gladly buy it for coffins. THE PHONOGRAPH AND LEARNING TO TALK FRENCH. It is suggested that the principle of the phonograph might be used to provide teachers of pronunciation for private students, or even schools where good examples by the living voice are not procurable. When learning French, for example, the student could now and again set Ins phonograph working, and it would supply him with the real Parisian mode of uttering common phrases, and the proper sound of numerous typical words and combinations of words. The phonograph would, of course, have been charged by being spoken into by some excellent French epeaker. CYCLONES AND ANTICYCLONES. In meteorology a “cyclone" is an atmospheric system in which the air circulates round a central point at which the barometric reading is low, getting higher as the central point is receded from. In an “ anticyclonic ” system the air circulates 'round a central point at which the barometer is high, getting lower as the centre is receded from. In thi3 case the wind blows round the centie in the same direction as the hands of a watch move, and the weather is generally whati3 called “good ”or settled. In the case of a cyclone the wind blows round the centre in the contrary direction, and the weather is generally what is called bad often stormy. ' LONG DISTANCE HOUSE MOVING. A curious case of house moving was recently witnessed in Oregon. A man who owned a residence at Seattle, which cost him 5000 dollars to erect, removed to Olympia and did not have sufficient funds to build another house. He bought a lot, and concluded to remove the building he owned at Seattle. Everyone laughed at him, but he persisted. Rolling the house down to the river, he loaded it upon a scow, and it was soon at Olmpia, a distance of about 60 miles. Then he had it rolled upon his lot, and, strange to say, nob a timber was strained, nor even a piece of furniture broken, 'although he had nob removed the contents before \tarting the house upon its unusual journey. SUBMARINE DETECTOR. The- submarine detector of Captain McEvoy has been tried in the effort to discover the position of a Russian man-of-war which foundered some months ago in the Gulf of Finland. The detector has, it appears, found the vessel, thirty fathoms deep. The apparatus is based on the principle of Professor Hughes’ induction balance, and consists of an electrical arrangement and a sinker, which is trailed along the bottom. In the searching vessel there is a telephone, which is included in the secondary circuit. The “searcher,” after being adjusted so that little or no sound is heard in the telephone, is sent on its mission, and when it approaches or comes in contact with a mass of metal the indicator sounds loudly, and the trials being repeated with similar results, diving operations are then commenced. The detector is very useful for finding torpedoes and submarine mines.

DANGER OF ELECTRIC LEAKAGES. The serious nature of the leakages from electric leads is shown by the death of a young man who grasped a handrail in front = of a dwelling-house in New York. Accidents of a similar though not identical character have occurred in several cities of the States where the current is used for lighting and for the propulsion of tramcars. HIGH-SPEED PROJECTILES, In the course of the experiments this season with the Maxim gun at Lydd camp, bamboo screens were set up as targets. The greater the velocity obtained with the gun the less was the effect on

the screens, it being sometimes almost impossible to see where the bullets had passed through. The inference is that, provided a bullet struck a human being i l a fleshy bub nob vital part, the injury would be much less serious than if he were struck with a projectile of less Velocity.

INSTINCTIVE ATTITUDES. Dr Li vingstoue makes this interesting observation :—“ Manyuetna children do ' not creep, as European children do, on their knees, but begin by putting forward ' one foot and using one knee. Generally a Manyuema child uses both feet and both hands, but never both knees. . One Arab child did the same ; he never crept, but get up on both feet, holding on till he could walk." (“Last Journals," p. 381) The last instance suggests arboreal survival, the Manyuema style being pure plantigrade, but rarely seen in civilised life. C eeping of infants as instinctive activity certainly throws light on evolution, and it may be that - iffcial differences will be revealed- by investigation. It would also be interesting to inquire how far idiosyncrasy in walking is connected with peculiarity in creeping. / Swinging the arms seems quadrupedal, survival. Looking down from a high 7 building nn people walking below, their movements thus projected on a plane are . strikingly suggestive of a quadruped, and the professional pedestrian who makes the utmost use of arm swinging to / accelerate gait suggests the rapid shuffle of a bear. Againy the various attitudes instinctively assumed by persons for sleep are significant for the evolutionist. I know those who naturally dispose themselves flaten the stomach, with the limbs placed much like a dog asleep. So far as r habits of creeping, walking, and sleeping' ; have not been taught, but are purely instinctive, they throw light on the history of man. It is very desirable that travellers and residents in all countries secute photographs of these attitudes, and -V deposit them with anthropological societies, where they would be of great use to the investigator.—Hiram M. Stanley, in! . Nature.