April 13, 1S88.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



343 



©General i^otess. 



Formation of Snow. — La France notes the formation 

 of snow in a ball room at St. Petersburg. A window- 

 pane had been broken, and the current of freezing air, 

 rushing in rapidly, congealed the moisture in the air of 

 the room, forming little snow-flocks. 



New Minor Planet. — A new minor planet, No. 274, 

 was discovered at 12 minutes past 11 on Tuesday night 

 by Dr. Palisa, of Vienna, in Right Ascension i2h. 

 5omin. 40 sec. (decreasing 48 sec. daily). North Polar 

 distance, 89° 9' 10" (decreasing 5' daily). 



" Cigarette Heart." — According to the Steven's Indi- 

 cator, of thirty-two young men of New York, lately ex- 

 amined for cadetships at West Point, only nine were 

 accepted as bodily sound. The majority of the rejected 

 candidates were said to have the " cigarette heart." 



Masses of Native Silver. — A number of pepitas of 

 native silver, according to La Nature, have been found in 

 the Mexican State of Mechoacan. The largest weighed 

 6o6| ozs. (troy), the others from 12 to 420 ozs. They 

 were found in a calcareous formation mixed with limo- 

 nite. 



Bicarbonate of Soda in Milk. — Hitherto, according 

 to La Justice, dairymen in France have been allowed to 

 add bicarbonate of soda to milk, to make it keep better. 

 This addition is now prohibited, as in certain cases 

 lactate of soda is formed, which may have dangerously 

 purgative effects upon young children. 



The Planet Mars. — According to the researches of 

 M. Perrotin, of Nice, this planet possesses an atmosphere 

 not unlike our own. The formation and dissipation of 

 clouds, and even the shadows which they cast upon the 

 body of the planet, have been recognised. The same 

 observer has studied those strange parallel marks, known 

 as canals, discovered by Schiaparelli, some of which 

 extend for 2,000 miles, but he can throw no light upon 

 their nature and origin. 



Globular Lightning. — L' Astronomic gives an account 

 of this uncommon phenomenon as observed on board a 

 ship on November 12th, 1887, at midnight, near Cape 

 Race. An enormous ball of fire was seen to rise slowly 

 from the sea to the height of seventeen or eighteen 

 yards, and move against the wind. It stopped near the 

 ship, and then changed its course to the south-east, and 

 disappeared, after having been watched for about five 

 minutes. 



posed removal of the Brighton Beach Hotel, Coney Island, 

 New York,which had been imperilled by the encroachments 

 of the sea. We now have to inform our readers that on the 

 7th inst. 120 railway cars having been placed below the 

 hotel and its foundations having been removed, locomo- 

 tives were attached and the building was carried a 

 distance of 100 feet inland. The difficulty of this 

 engineering- feat will be understood when we say that 

 the hotel covered an area of 92,000 square feet (about 

 two acres), and weighed 5,000 tons. 



Discovery of Iron Ore in Algeria. — Discoveries of 

 iron ore deposits have been made in Algeria, in the province 

 of Oran, which are reported by the experts sent to in- 

 vestigate the matter to be of great value, rivalling the 

 fnmous deposits of Mokta-el-Hadid. The ore averages 

 65 per cent, of iron. The deposits, which are of large 

 extent, ai'e situated within seven miles of the railway 

 station of Bou-Tlelis, at the mouth of the Madagre river, 

 where there is a good harbour and facilities for shipping 

 the ore. This discovery is likely to be of immense im- 

 portance to the French iron industry. — Industries. 



Exploration of Grfenland, — Considerable attention 

 is now being drawn to the proposed attempt of Dr. 

 Nansen to cross the mainland of Greenland, from east to 

 west, on snow-shoes. He will be accompanied by three 

 or four athletes, all accustomed to the use of snow-shoes 

 among the mountains of Northern Scandinavia. The 

 greatest distance as yet penetrated into the interior of 

 Greenland is only 140 miles. Eminences more than 

 6,000 feet above the sea-level have been already encoun- 

 tered in the previous attempts made by Professor Nor- 

 denskjold. 



Moving an Hotel. — On page 176 we noticed the pro- 



Glass-cutting by Electricity. — The cutting of glass 

 tubes of wide diameter is another of the almost innu- 

 merable industrial applications of electricity. The tube 

 is surrounded with fine wire, and the extremities of the. 

 latter are put in communication with a source of electri- 

 city, and it is of course necessary that the wire adhere 

 closely to the glass. When a current is passed through 

 the wire, the latter becomes red hot and heats the glass 

 beneath it, and a single drop of water deposited on the 

 heated place will cause a clean breakage of the glass at 

 that point. Contrary to what takes place with the usual 

 processes in the treatment of this frangible material, it is 

 found that the thicker the sides of the tube are the better 

 the experiment succeeds. 



People's Lectures. — The remarkable success of these 

 lectures was maintained on the 16th ult., at Waltham- 

 stow, where the first lecture of a course on "The Atmo- 

 sphere " was given by Mr. V. B. Lewes, at the Town 

 Hall, which was crowded in every part. The initiative 

 in obtaining the lectures was taken by the Local Board, 

 and there is every prospect that a permanent centre will 

 be formed in connection with the Society for the Exten- 

 sion of University Teaching as a result of these lectures. 

 This course is the twelfth and last course of people's 

 lectures to be given during the present session. The 

 results of the experiment have been so satisfactory that 

 the work will probably be continued next winter on a 

 still larger scale. 



A New Gas. — The Local Board ot Dalton-in-Furness 

 recently determined to experiment at Askam-in-Furness 

 with a new gas for the purposes of street lighting, house 

 illumination, etc., and with this view put down a Stock- 

 port patent apparatus for the production of gas from 

 scrap iron and sulphuric acid. The new gas was pro- 

 duced on Good Friday for the first time, and the streets 

 were brilliantly lighted. The light is bright and steady, 

 and of great illuminating power. So far as can be seen 

 the novel experiment is a great success ; but experience 

 alone can determine whether it will prove financially 

 economical. The patentees, however, claim that it is 

 much cheaper and more effective than ordinary coal 

 gas. — Industries. 



