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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



images, analogous to the alternations pro- 

 duced by increase of distance. This re- 

 markable fact Prof. Mayer proposes to 

 employ in measuring temperatures, and 

 particularly the high temperatures of fur- 

 naces. This is to be accomplished by in- 

 terposing a coil of porcelain or other fire- 

 proof pipe between the resonance-sphere 

 and the jet, and introducing it slowly into 

 the furnace. By this method, Prof. Mayer 

 expects to be able to measure tempera- 

 tures with an accuracy equal to about 

 twenty-five degrees of the Centigrade ther- 

 mometer, or even less. 



A New Species of Rhinoceros. A writ- 

 er in Nature is disposed to see, in the 

 hairy-eared, two-horned rhinoceros at pres- 

 ent in the menagerie of the London Zoologi- 

 cal Society, a new species, which he proposes 

 to call R. casiotis, the hairy-eared rhino- 

 ceros. When this animal arrived in Eng- 

 land, it was taken to be the Sumatran 

 rhinoceros, though naturalists were sur- 

 prised that a Sumatran rhinoceros should 

 be taken so far north as was this specimen 

 Chittagong, the northern extremity of the 

 Bay of Bengal. There is a fringe of long 

 hairs on the posterior rim of the otherwise 

 naked ears, and the tail is long, and tufted 

 at the extremity. The head is very broad, 

 and the skin comparatively smooth. 



Nothing new sndcr the Snn. Humboldt, 

 in his " Cosmos," states that the Chinese 

 had magnetic carriages with which to guide 

 themselves across the great plains of Tar- 

 tary, one thousand years before our era, on 

 the principle of the compass. The proto- 

 type of the steam-engine has been traced to 

 the eolipyle of Hero of Alexandria. The 

 Romans used movable types to mark their 

 pottery, and indorse their books. Mr. 

 Layard found in Nineveh a magnifying lens 

 of rock-crystal, which Sir D. Brewster 

 considers a true optical lens, and the origin 

 of the microscope. The principle of the 

 stereoscope, invented by Prof. Wheatstone, 

 was known to Euclid, described by Galen 

 fifteen hundred years ago, and more fully in 

 1599 a. d., in the works of Baptista Porta. 

 The Thames Tunnel, thought such a novelty, 

 was anticipated by that under the Euphrates 

 at Babylon ; and the ancient Egyptians had 



a Suez Canal. Such examples might be in- 

 definitely multiplied, but we turn to photog- 

 raphy. M. Jobard, in his "Nouvelles In- 

 ventions aux Expositions Universelles," 

 1857, says a translation from German was 

 discovered in Russia, three hundred years 

 old, which contains a clear explanation of 

 photography. The old alchemists under- 

 stood the properties of chloride of silver in 

 relation to light, and its photographic action 

 is explained by Fabricius in " De Rebus 

 Metallicis," 1566. The daguerreotype pro- 

 cess was anticipated by De la Roche in his 

 " Giphantie," 1760, though it was only the 

 statement of a dreamer. 



The Snn as a Borer of Mountains. 1. 



The universe is filled with rays of heat and 

 light, which vibrate among the heavenly 

 bodies perpetually without loss or gain, and 

 which, on alighting upon a heavenly body, 

 pass first into common sensible heat, to 

 be reflected afterward as cold, invisible 

 rays. 



2. Of the inexhaustible supply of these 

 rays, our sun receives at every instant of 

 time as much as he radiates back again. 



3. A portion of his rays fall upon our 

 earth, where they are converted into sen- 

 sible heat. 



4. By means of this sensible heat, water 

 is converted into aqueous vapor ; the sen- 

 sible heat being at the same time changed 

 into so-called latent heat, or chemical mo- 

 tion. 



5. Aqueous vapor having less specific 

 gravity than air, it ascends and represents 

 a lifted weight. In this process, heat is 

 converted into motion the ascent of the 

 weight. 



6. The expansion of the air (during 

 which heat is converted into mass-motion) 

 causes the aqueous vapor to be spread over 

 the surface of the earth. 



7. By the condensation of the aqueous 

 vapor, chemical motion escapes as common 

 heat, and the resulting water is deposited 

 on the mountain-heights in the form of 

 snow ; thus, again, representing a lifted 

 weight. 



8. The warm winds from the Mediterra- 

 nean melt the snow and glacier-ice ; sensi- 

 ble heat is thus converted again into insen 

 sible chemical motiom 



