Science Notes.

Freethought Review, Volume II, Issue 21, 1 June 1885, Page 11

Science Notes.

Sir Henry Bessemer says that by the use of a very pure charcoal pig-iron and its treatment by a special method a Bessemer steel is obtained which on analysis is found equal in purity to the highest brands of steel made from blistered bars. Baron von Mueller has sent to the Victorian WaterSupply Department a long report as to the powers of the eucalyptus-tree to absorb water, and to condense into water the moisture in the air. He speaks highly of the remarkable powers of these trees in this direction as well established, and urges judicious tree planting as an auxiliary measure for maintaining and augmenting the water-supply. Sir William Thompson’s proposition to use the water power at Niagara Falls for the purpose of generating dynamic electricity for supplying light and power round the State, has been realized in a faint degree by a dynamo in the mill at Quinby and Company at Niagara Falls, which supplies the electricity for 3000 telephones in 300 cities and towns, 1500 of the instruments being in Buffalo, 25 miles from the falls.—‘ Engineering.’ The height and velocity of clouds have been determined by means of photography. Two cameras, placed about six hundred feet apart, are provided with instantaneous shutters simultaneously released by electricity. The observer measures the inclination of the cameras and the position of the cloud is photographed on the two plates, and from these data a trigonometric calculation gives the distance and height of a cloud with great accuracy. Experiments have been made in Belgium for preserving wood by exhausting the air from the pores and filling them with liquid gutta- percha. The guttapercha is liquefied by mixing it with paraffin and subjecting it to heat. After it is introduced into the pores it hardens as it becomes cold. A Paris engineer proposes a system of pneumatic transmission between Paris and London, involving the employment of two tubes—one for sending and the other lor receiving telegrams, letters, and postal parcels weighing up to nib. The time taken in transmission, according to the sanguine projector, would be but one hour, notwithstanding stoppages at any stations which might be established on the way. Canvas bags can, it is said, be made as impervious to moisture as leather by steeping in a decodtion of one pound of oak-bark with fourteen pounds of boiling water, this quantity being sufficient for eight yards of stuff. The cloth from which the bags arc made has to soak for twenty-four hours, when it is taken out, passed through running water, and hung up to dry. The ‘ Pall Mall Gazette ’ says—To the number of curious plants, such as the carnivorous and fly-catching plant, a new specimen has lately been added, which is described as the travelling plant. It is said to be of the lily of the valley species (Convallaria polyganatum), and has a root formed of knots, by which it annually advances about an inch distant from the place where the plant was first rooted. Every year another knot is added which drags the plant further on, so that in twenty years ’ time the plant has travelled about twenty inches from its original place.

The most powerful dredger in the world was launched, for the Melbourne Harbour Trust, at Renfrew on Feb. 17• She will lift goo or 1000 tons of silt an hour, and will dredge to a depth of 35 feet below the water line.