SCIENCE NOTES

Waipawa Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 2499, 30 August 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

SCIENCE NOTES

The United States Court of Appeal has affirmed the constitutionality of tho law paused by the Now York State Legislature for exec itiug criminals by eleotricity. Ready-made straw plait for hats, which used to 1)6 made almost exclusively at Luton and Dunstable, is being largely imported by vessels from China recently. More tnun 10,<>00 bale* have arrived in London from China thi* year. The residence of the Due de la Tremouille, ia Paris, h is beeu lighted by electricity, which i* generated by batteries, and the question of stowage has'been solved by making the battery boxes in imitation of books, arranged iu a library. The alarm girdle for raen-of-w&r or harbour*, to protect them from tho sudden attack of torpoao boats at night, as proposed for use hi France, consists of wire supported by buoy* placed at intervals all around tho vessel. Should an enemy break through the line at night, a light flares up aud discloses his position. A moustache trainer lias appeared iu England. It is an elastic, curved strip of thin metal, at cither end of which is secured an adjustable plate, faoed on tho inner side with soft cloth, in order that tiie machine may comfortably clasp the ends of the moustache. The latter is carefully arranged ut night, or during periods of seclusion, and the trainer fixed upon it. Johannesburg is a nice place lor water drinkers. Dr. Matthews, who recommended that the Sanitary Board of that town should take the water supply iuto their owu hands and bring water from the Vital, a distance of thirty miles, declares that iu every 76,000 gallons supplied by the company there is a ton of solid matter, to whioli /act he attributed the abnormally high death-rate from typhoid fever. A human form has been discovered at Pompeii, under a doorway, which clearly shows the sandals ou the feet, and, whut is extremely uncommon in such remains, a pair of trouser*. A Naples archaeologist supposes it to be one of tho Alexandrian colony stationed at Pompeii during the period of its destruction. It ia evident unit the man was flying with a bundle, and fell suffocated. Most French and Belgian post-offices have * table and chairs for epistolary correspondence; and that at Luxemburg is fitted and furnished in oak, iu a manner suitable to the centre of the most complete telephone system in the world. In English post-offices, on the contrary, the stand-up desks are stringently reserved for inditing telegrams aud tilling up money-order forms. An attempt is bring made by tho Society of Antiquaries of London, to raise a fund, the interest of which shall be used from time to time to dofmy the expense of excavation, or to advance archaeological knowledge in such other ways as may seem suitable to the president aud council of the society. The object is one which ought to commend itself to all who interest themselves in arclueology. The society wants • capital sum only of £3,000. in the Indian Ocean the greatest depths appear to exist to the north aud west of th* Australian continent, where there are n»oi* than 3,000 fathoms in a number of widely separated spots, indicating a depressed area of considerable extent. In the southerly part of the Indian Ocean, or rather in the “ Antarctic reg on,” the Challenger obtained, in 1874,» maximum depth of 1,673 fathoms in latitude 6-ydeg. 42inin. S., longitude 79deg. 49rain. E. The height to which a surge will dash »*. course, dependent on many things ; but at th* Tallamock lighthouse, Oregon, L r . S.. the roof of tho keepers’ house was recently broken by » block of basalt weighing 021 b., which was oa*t up by the water. The roof is libit, ulove th© sea level, and water also came down the chimney of the boiler house in torrents, although J* elevation is 120 ft. above sea level. The *PPJ entered the cowl of the chimney over the laatwß of the tower, which is 160 ft, above the ***-