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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



that we are often unable to give a reason for 

 its following a particular course, and the 

 action of this mighty force seems to us like 

 a mere freak. Such ideas, are, however, 

 entirely wrong ; and we may accept most 

 implicitly the statement that the flash will 

 always take the easiest path, and it must be 

 our duty to determine beforehand what this 

 path shall be, and to make it so easy and so 

 perfect that the resistance will not cause 

 the electricity to produce the slightest me- 

 chanical violence. 



NOTES. 



The Academy of Sciences in Bologna 

 has announced that a prize of 1,200 lire 

 (about $240), the " Aldini Prize," will be 

 awarded to the author of the best scientific 

 experimental essay on galvanism or dynamic 

 electricity. Essays intended for the compe- 

 tition must be sent in between July 1, 1872, 

 and June 30, 1874, and must be written in 

 Italian, Latin, or French. They must be 

 either written or printed ; but, in the latter 

 case, must Dot have been published previ- 

 ously to the two years above mentioned. 

 Each essay is to bear a motto, and to be 

 accompanied with an envelope stating the 

 name of the author. They must be ad- 

 dressed to the Perpetual Secretary of the 

 Academy of Sciences of the Bologna Insti- 

 tution. 



Harvey, the discoverer of the circula- 

 tion of the blood, is at length to be hon- 

 ored by the erection of a national memorial. 

 The townsmen of his native place, Folke- 

 stone, have resolved not to allow the ter- 

 centenary of his birth to pass unnoticed, and 

 it has been decided that a bronze statue, if 

 possible, of a very superior class, shall be 

 erected to his memory. A committee is in 

 progress of formation in London to assist 

 the Folkestone committee, and public scien- 

 tific bodies and individuals are being asked 

 for aid and cooperation. 



Repeated spectroscopic measurements 

 made last year by Profs. ZOllner and Vogel, 

 in Germany, show that the velocity of rota- 

 tion of the sun on its own axis is at the rate 

 of G60 miles an hour. 



Dr. Angus Smith gives a good rule for 

 ascertaining the amount of carbonic acid in 

 the air of houses : " Let us keep our rooms 

 so that the air does not give a precipitate 

 when a 10 ounce bottle full is shaken with 

 half an ounce of clear lime-water," a sana- 

 tory regulation which can easily be carried 

 out. 



A French doctor has recently been 

 making some curious experiments as to the 

 effect of alcohol on fowls. The birds took 

 to dram-drinking with evident delight, and 

 many an old cock consumed his bottle of 

 wine a day, so that it became necessary to 

 limit the allowance. They all lost flesh 

 rapidly, more especially those which drank 

 absinthe. Two months of absinthe-drink- 

 ing was found sufficient to kill the strongest 

 cock or hen. The fowls which indulged in 

 brandy alone, lasted, however, four months 

 and a half, while the wine-bibbers survived 

 for ten months. Their crests also swelled 

 to four times the original size, and became 

 unnaturally red. 



A German naturalist answers the ques- 

 tion, how many eggs a hen can possibly lay, 

 as follows : The ovary of a hen contains 

 about 600 embryo eggs, of which, in the 

 first year, not more than 20 are matured. 

 The second year produces 120; the third, 

 135; the fourth, 114; and in the following 

 four years the number decreases by 20 

 yearly. In the ninth year only 10 eggs can 

 be expected, and thus it appears that, after 

 the first four years, hens cease to be profit- 

 able as layers. 



It is proposed by the United States Sig- 

 nal Service to institute, during the present 

 season, a series of observations, in connec- 

 tion with balloon ascensions, upon tempera- 

 ture, barometric pressure, currents, etc., in 

 the higher atmosphere. Sergeant Schaeffer, 

 one of the corps, has been designated for 

 the service, and is now preparing for the 

 work, which is to be begun in the neighbor- 

 hood of Boston. 



The experiment of introducing salmon 

 into the Delaware River, though a failure 

 last year, through the death of the larger 

 portion of the young fish while on their way 

 from the hatching-houses to the river, has 

 this year been attended with success ; ow- 

 ing, it is said, to the hatching being done 

 near the river, whereby transportation for 

 long distances was avoided. 



According to Prof. Gould, electric waves 

 travel through the Atlantic cables at the 

 rate of between 7,000 and 8,000 miles per 

 second ; or, about half as fast as they trav- 

 erse the wires suspended on telegraph- 

 poles. 



A hundred thousand young shad have 

 been put into Lake Champlain during the 

 present season, for the purpose of determin- 

 ing whether they will five and multiply 

 when confined exclusively to fresh water. 



