1/6 



SCIENTIFIC NEW^S. 



[Feb. 24, if 



13,000 feet since a very recent geological epoch, and that 

 a great part of this rise must have been effected since the 

 existence of an advanced human civilization in South 

 America. 



The Weather of 1887. — According to del et Terre, 

 the past year in Belgium has been altogether exceptional 

 in its character. One month only, July, has been 

 warmer than the average, and another, June, has been 

 normal, whilst all the other ten have been too cold. 

 From July, 1885, to December last twenty-two months 

 out of thirty have had a mean tero,perature below the 

 normal range. There is no other such exceptional state 

 of the weather on record. In 1887 the months of 

 March and October were marked by the most intense 

 refrigeration, and next follow January and May. Since 

 the establishment of the Belgian Observatory, three 

 years only, 1845, 1855, and 1879, have had a mean 

 temperature below that of 1887. We must also advert 

 to the unprecedented frosts of June, July, and August, 

 experienced over a great part of the country, that of the 

 end of September, and the intense cold of the middle of 

 October, accompanied by unseasonable snows. In some 

 districts not a month has been free from frost. 



Analysis of Meteoric Iron. — -After the violent 

 thunderstorm which burst over London on August 17th 

 last year, a small mass of meteoric iron, commonly 

 known as a thunderbolt, was found in a garden at 

 Brixton. The mass had the form of an oblate spheroid, 

 and measured about two inches across its major dia- 

 meter. The substance has been carefully analysed by 

 Mr. J. James Morgan, analytical chemist, of Ebbw Vale, 

 who finds it to contain the following substances : — Silica, 

 0-566; nickel, 1-375 ; iron, 40-276; sulphur, 46053; 

 lime, 5-478— total, 99-748. The deficiency of -252 in 

 the 100 parts is accounted for as being due either to 

 experimental error, or to the presence of very minute 

 quantities of some metal or metals which the analyst 

 failed to discover. The results above given are the 

 mean of a duplicate analysis, and are interesting inasmuch 

 as Mr. Morgan is unable to find any analyses of meteoric 

 iron of which the composition is similar to the one under 

 notice. The only analysis that approaches it is that of 

 an impure triolite, given by Crookes in his " Select 

 Methods of Chemical Analysis," 1886, which contained 

 iron, 62-38; nickel, 0-62; copper, a trace; lime, 0-08 ; 

 sihca, 0-56 ; and sulphur, 35-67^ — total, 99'3i. 



The Problem of the Boomerang. — An exhibition of 

 boomerang throwing was recently given by a party of 

 Australian natives at Miinster before some German 

 scientific men, who are endeavouring to discover the 

 cause of the boomerang's curious flight. The instru- 

 ments used were of two sizes, the larger being a slender 

 crescent about 2 feet long, 2\ inches wide, and 5 -inch 

 thick, made of an exceptionally heavy Australian iron- 

 wood. This boomerang was jerked up into the air about 

 a hundred yards, when it flew straight away, then turned 

 to the left, and returned in a curved line back to the 

 thrower, whirling around constantly and whizzing un- 

 pleasantly. One badly-directed projectile passed through 

 a spectator's hat with a cut as clean as that of a razor. 

 We have not heard what conclusions the German 

 scientists have come to, or whether they have satisfac- 

 torily solved the problem ; but, according to a German 

 manufacturer, who has made some 11,000 toy boome- 



rangs, the mystery of the movement lies in the shape, the 

 boomerang having a sharper curvature in the middle, 

 with unequal length of the two arms, which must be 

 made of equal weight but of unequal thickness. The 

 peculiarity of motion is said to be due to the difference in, 

 the length of the arms, which diverges the curve of rota- 

 tion from the circular. — Iron. 



Moving an Hotel. — The ownership of real estate on 

 the south shore of Coney Island, New York, is so pre- 

 carious, on account of the freaks of the ocean, as to 

 partake of the character of a lottery. A year or two ago 

 the waves, during the winter, built up about an acre of 

 sand at a point on West Brighton beach, precisely where 

 the new land could be used to most advantage by the 

 owners of contiguous property. But, as a set-off to this 

 unexpected favour, the hungry sea has gradually eaten 

 away the foundations of the Hotel Brighton, an immense 

 structure, which was built on the sands, and which was 

 doomed to swift destruction. Its owners, however, 

 while there is yet time to save it, have determined to do 

 so. It is to be cut up into longitudinal sections, a triple- 

 track elevated railway built beneath each part, one 

 hundred flat cars run under, and a dozen or more engines, 

 coupled tandem-wise, are to be set to draw the hotel to 

 the desired place of security from the encroachments of 

 the ocean. This undertaking is an enterprise which will, 

 perhaps, be best understood by the mere statement that 

 the hotel weighs 5,000 tons, that it is three stories high,, 

 surmounted by five towers, with a frontage of 460 feet 

 and an average width of 150 feet. The bathing pavilion,, 

 which is 475 feet long and 75 feet wide, is to be removed 

 in a similar manner. The moral of it is that, if the 

 Yankee mind is ever short-sighted enough to build its 

 house upon the sand, it is also ingenious enough to de- 

 vise means to rectify its mistake. — Mechanical Progress. 



Utilisation of Water Power. — Switzerland pays 

 Germany annually for coals a sum of about ^^500,000,. 

 although hundreds of thousands horse power in rivers 

 and streams are running to waste. With the progress of 

 electrical science, something is now being done in the 

 direction of utifising these forces, and two projects are 

 now under consideration. The first of these is in con- 

 nection with the Goldach water works, now supplying 

 water to the town of St. Gall. It is proposed to add a 

 power plant to these works, and for this purpose it will 

 be necessary to build a large reservoir, so as to obtain 

 constant water power, which would by means of 

 dynamos be converted on the spot into electrical energy 

 representing 315 h.p. Of this 250 h.p. would be sent 

 to St. Gall for lighting purposes, and 65 h.p. for working 

 motors. The other proposal refers to the river Limmat,. 

 which is to be dammed up between Zurich and Baden by 

 a weir, so as to obtain an available head of from 26 ft. to 

 28 ft. The influence of the weir would be felt for only 

 about two and a half miles up the river. During the last 

 ten years the minimum quantity of water passing from 

 the lake of Zurich into the Limmat was 20 tons per 

 second. This occurred in the exceptionally cold winter 

 of 1879-80. At all other times the quantity was greater,, 

 but taking 20 tons as the minimum available, the 

 promoters of this scheme estimate that 1,600 actual horse 

 power could be obtained from turbines placed close to the 

 weir. This power would be converted into electrical 

 energy, and then transmitted for lighting and motor 

 purposes. — Industries. 



