Mar. 23, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEAVS. 



271 



QS^mtvtil M^tt^- 



The Alleged Occurrence of Sugar in Corn. — Accord- 

 ing to the recent investigations ol Professor von Asbotii, no 

 kind of grain contains sugar, either saccharose or glucose. 



New Welding Process. — Mr. W. B. Middleton, of 

 the Pen Iron Works, Lancaster, has discovered that if 

 pieces of steel, at a welding heat, are covered with 

 silicate of soda, they will weld perfectly. The method 

 has been patented. 



Action of Light upon Selenium. — The crystalline 

 form of selenium has its electrical conductivity strongly 

 .affected by light ; under favourable conditions, its resist- 

 ance in bright sunlight is not more than six or seven 

 per cent, of its magnitude when the metal is in a dark 

 chamber. 



Temperature of the Soil. — According to del et Terre, 

 the temperature of the soil at the depth of 14 yards was 

 found by Dr. Stapff to vary more considerably than that 

 of the air, sometimes, in sand, as much as 104° Fahr. 

 These experiments were made in South Africa, and we 

 may doulat whether their results will be found to hold 

 good universally. 



Real Strength of Wrought Iron. — Mr. F. A. Paget 

 .{ArckiUciJ concludes that the apparent increase of ulti- 

 mate strength through successive breakages is referrable 

 to a diminution of elasticity. The breaking strength 

 alone does not indicate the quality, but must be taken 

 -conjointly with the elongation. 



Poisonous Principle of the Hop. — The acid bitter 

 principle of the hop, lupulinic acid, is, according to H. 

 Dreser [Biedermayin' s Central Blatf), an energetic poison. 

 One quarter of a milligramme kills a frog, and twenty to 

 twenty-five milligrammes injected into the blood proves 

 fatal to a rabbit. In warm-blooded animals the action 

 bears upon the medulla oblongata, with ultimate arrest of 

 respiration. 



Intensification of the Sense of Smell in Hypnotised 

 Subjects. — Dr. Sauraine {Humboldt) mentions that eight 

 persons, four of them entire strangers, were presented to 

 a hypnotised patient, and she was allowed to smell the 

 hand of each. The handkerchiefs of the whole party 

 were then mixed together, and the patient, in spite of all 

 precautions, succeeded in distinguishing that belonging 

 to each person simply by the smell. 



Pre-historic Remains. — The Ganulois describes some 

 interesting archaeological discoveries made on the plateau 

 of Champigny by MM. Riviere, Carbonnier, and Le 

 Rey des Closages. The specimens consist of arms and 

 tools oi flint, earthenware, stone rings, clubs and bones 

 belonging to the neolithic epoch. All these objects have 

 been found in the vegetable mould at a slight depth, and 

 in excavations not more than two yards in depth, and 

 containing also charcoal. The materials from which the 



objects had been made seemed to have come from a dis- 

 tance. 



Artificial Rubies. — The rubies manufactured by 

 MM. Fremy and Fell, identical in all points with the 

 natural stones, are figuring very extensively in the 

 French press. The specimens exhibited at the Academy 

 of Sciences are not larger than a pins head, but they are 

 beautifully crystallised and hard enough to scratch the 

 topaz. It is not thought by competent judges that this 

 successful experiment will affect the price of rubies, as 

 the care and attention required in producing the arti- 

 ficial stones are excessive. M. Verneuil passed tv;o 

 days and a night watching a crucible, to guard against 

 any undue fluctuation of temperature. 



Fluorescence and Phosphorescence. — Prof. E. Wiede- 

 mann has made a new study of these phenomena. He 

 proposes the general name luminescence for evolutions of 

 light which do not depend on the temperature of the 

 substance concerned. Fluorescence and phosphorescence 

 he groups together as photo-luminescence, the light 

 occasioned by electric discharges he names electro- 

 luminescence, that appearing in chemical processes he 

 terms chemi-luminescence ; the light which appears on 

 gently heating fluor-spar is thermo-luminescence, and that 

 developed by friction and crystallisation is respectively 

 tribo-luminescence and crystallo-luminescence. 



Curious Geological Phenomena. — The Cordillera ot 

 the Andes has for some time been exhibiting a curious 

 phenomenon. It results from observations made upon 

 the altitudes of the most important points, that their 

 height is gradually diminishing. Quito, which in 

 1745 was 9,596 feet above the level of the sea, 

 was only 9,570 feet in 1803, 9,567 in 1831, and was 

 scarcely 9,520 in 1867. The altitude of Quito has there- 

 fore diminished by 76 feet in the space of 122 years. 

 Another peak, the Pichincha, has diminished by 218 feet 

 during the same period, and its crater has descended 425 

 feet in the last 25 years. That of Antisanahas sunk 165 

 feet in 64 years. — La Gazette Geographique. 



Solder for Glass, Porcelain, and Metals. — A pecu- 

 liar alloy has recently come into use in France as a 

 solder for substances which cannot bear the application 

 of a high temperature : copper in powder, obtained by 

 treating a solution of this metal with scrap zinc, is 

 put in an iron mortar, lined with porcelain, and mixed 

 with strong sulphuric acid (spec, gravity i •850). From 

 20 to 36 parts of the powdered copper are taken 

 according to the desired hardness of the solder. To the 

 cake thus formed add 70 parts of mercury, stirring 

 constantly. When the amalgam is formed it is washed 

 with hot water, and let cool. For use it is heated 

 until it takes the consistence of wax. 



Carbonic Acid in Schoolrooms. — Experiments have 

 been recently made by W. Fossek on the quantity of 

 carbonic acid in an unventilated schoolroom before and 

 after the meeting of the class. In three determinations 

 made before the pupils entered, he found the air to con- 

 tain respectively 0-078, 0-092, and 0-088 per cent, by 

 volume. After three hours' occupation by the class of 



