768 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



NOTES. 



According to an estimate made by the 

 Berlin Statistical Bureau, the total steam 

 motive-power actually in use throughout 

 the world is equal to 13,500,000 horse-pow- 

 er, or to the working force of 25,000,000 

 horses. 



Some grains of wheat left in Polaris Bay 

 (north latitude 81 38') by Captain Hall's 

 expedition, in the year 18Y2, were carried 

 to England by Captain Nares last year. 

 Though they had been exposed for four 

 years to the intense cold of that high lati- 

 tude, these wheat-grains germinated on be- 

 ing sown in a pot of earth at the Botanic 

 Garden, Kew. 



A Papier-mache coating for the bot- 

 toms of iron-ships is proposed by Captain 

 F. Warren, who states that weeds and bar- 

 nacles will not adhere to this material. The 

 special cement by which it is secured may 

 be applied cold, hardens under water, is 

 unaffected by high temperature, and pos- 

 sesses great tenacity. A plate thus pro- 

 tected on one side was immersed for six 

 months, and then the protected side was 

 found clean, while the unprotected metal 

 was covered with rust and shell-fish. 



The schooner Florence, avant-courrier 

 of Captain Howgate's proposed expedition 

 to the north-polar regions, sailed from New 

 London on the 2d of August, with the de- 

 sign of establishing a colony of explorers 

 on the north shore of Cumberland Island. 

 This island forms the western shore of 

 Davis Strait, and lies between parallels 64 

 and 68 north latitude and between the me- 

 ridians 62 and 78 west longitude. The 

 party which goes out in tlie Florence is 

 supplied with provisions sufficient for one 

 year, or until the arrival of the main expe- 

 dition under Captain Howgate, which is 

 expected to sail in .July of next year. The 

 ship's officers and scientific staff of the 

 Florence are as follows : Master, George E. 

 Tyson, of Polaris fame; first-mate, Wil- 

 liam Sisson ; second, Dennison Burrows ; 

 steward, Eleazar Cone; meteorologist, Or- 

 ray T. Sherman ; naturalist, Ludwig Kutn- 

 lin. Mr. Sherman is a graduate of Yale Col- 

 lege. Mr. Kumlin is sent under the aus- 

 pices of the Smithsonian Institution. The 

 vessel's crew consists of picked seamen. 



The first "telephonic line" for practical 

 use has been set up by Mr. C. Williams, of 

 Boston, connecting his place of business in 

 that city with his residence in Somerville, a 

 distance of about three miles. By this line 

 " conversation," Mr. Williams says, " can be 

 carried on nearly as well as if those con- 

 versing were in the same room." 



The "Transactions" of the American 

 Society of Civil Engineers for June contains 

 an interesting discussion on the subject of 

 the preservation of timber, besides minutes 

 of meetings and several articles of impor- 

 tance mainly to engineers. 



A YEAR or two ago. Prof Bolton, of 

 Columbia College, had some combustible 

 material in his laboratory set fire to by 

 rays of light concentrated by a globular 

 glass jar filled with water. A similar acci- 

 dent lately occurred in Paris, a number of 

 cartridges being ignited by solar rays con- 

 centrated by an " eye " in a window-pane. 

 A terrific explosion resulted. " Similar ca- 

 tastrophes," says iVa/M?r, "are more com- 

 mon than is generally supposed in sum- 

 mer, the windows of railway-carriages ignit- 

 ing sometimes over-dried plants, or even 

 leaves fallen on railway embankments. It 

 is known that fires sometimes occur in Al- 

 gerian forests through drops of water sus- 

 pended to the leaves and forming lenses." 



The climate of Victoria and other parts 

 of the continent of Australia has been 

 highly commended as of benefit to con- 

 sumptive patients ; but the official statistics 

 appear to prove the contrary. From an 

 " Analysis of the Statistics of Phthisis in 

 Victoria," it appears that the disease is as 

 common and as constant in Alelbourne and 

 its suburbs as in England, both among the 

 immigrants and the native-born whites. 



In 1843, as we learn from a writer in 

 the American Natttralist, a white-maple 

 tree (Acer dasi/carpum) in the town 

 of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, measured 

 twelve feet in circumference at three feet 

 above the ground. In October, 1876, the 

 tree was, at the same height fiom the 

 ground, fifteen feet nine inches in circum- 

 ference. Thus tlie average annual increase 

 of circumference was about 1.36 inch. 



The London Geographical Society has 

 declined to cooperate with the Interna- 

 tional Association for the Exploration of 

 Africa founded by the King of the Belgians, 

 and favors independent work by the Eng- 

 lish. To promote the accomplishment of 

 this work a fund is to be raised, and the 

 Geographical Society has already made a 

 special donation of 5(i0. It is estimated 

 that a well-equipped exploring expedition 

 will cost 1 IDs. for every geographical 

 mile of country traveled in Africa. 



The native trees, bushes, and shrubs, of 

 Southern France that are most sensitive to 

 cold during extreme winters are by Mar- 

 tins held to be survivors of the flora which 

 covered the same area during the Middle 

 Tertiary ; they are exotic as to time, as 

 other plants are exotic as to space. 



