May 25, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NE^VS. 



487 



©^meral 0oU^. 



Exploration of New Guinea. — Mr. Cuthbertson has 

 ascended Mount Obree, one of the highest summits of 

 the Owen Stanley Range. He finds its height only 8,000 

 feet instead of 10,460, as determined by the Rattlesnake 

 expedition. 



Action of Explosives. — Trauzl {Humboldt) states 

 that if 10 lbs. of gunpowder be ignited upon an iron 

 plate of 19 millimetres in thickness, the plate is not 

 bent. If I lb. of dynamite be exploded upon a plate 

 of 26 millimetres in thickness the plate is perforated, the 

 pressure exerted being more than 10,000 atmospheres. 



Meteorites. — Dr Reusch {American Naturalist) con- 

 siders that in the structure of some meteorites we have 

 a direct proof of their orbits being of the same form as 

 those of comets, which alternately approach close to the 

 sun, and again recede. He agrees with Mr. Newton, that 

 " a meteorite is a bit of a comet." 



New Falsification of Cod Liver Oil. — According 

 to Prof. Peel, of St. Petersburg, cod-liver oil in Russia is 

 very frequently sophisticated with a petroleum product 

 to the extent of fifty per cent. Neither the colour, the 

 taste, nor the smell betray the fact. But after it has 

 been swallowed the patient perceives a recurring after- 

 taste of petroleum. 



Extensive Subsidence. — It is now alleged, though the 

 exact authority is not given, that the northern parts of 

 France, in common with Belgium and Holland, is sub- 

 siding at the rate of about 7 feet in a century, and that 

 in twenty centuries, if this rate is maintained, Paris will 

 have completed its last cmeute, and be resting in peace 

 beneath the ocean. 



Hardening Wood. — A process has been patented by 

 M. Stockhardt, of Leipzig, for making ordinary soft wood 

 as hard as lignum vitce, thus rendering it suitable for 

 bearings exposed to considerable pressure. This is 

 effected by first impregnating the wood with oil, 

 and then subjecting it to great pressure, whereby its 

 density is considerably increased. 



Apparent Earthquake. — The American Naturalist 

 gives an account of a phenomenon occurring at Akron, in 

 the state of Ohio, where several smart shocks occurred 

 in the night of February loth, cracking the walls of 

 houses and opening long clefts in the ground. The com- 

 motion is ascribed not to seismic causes, but to an under- 

 ground explosion of natural gas. 



Exploration in North America. — Dr. Dieck, of 

 Zoeschen, is arranging a scientific expedition for explor- 

 ing the country along the Northern Pacific Railway. 

 Dr. Roell, of Darmstadt, accompanies the expedition as 

 botanist. The party will set out from Duluth, on Lake 

 Superior, to the Pacific, and will afterwards make a 

 prolonged stay at Deer Lodge, in Montana. 



Thibet. — General Prjevalsky will start in August next 

 on his fourth journey in Central Asia. He will be 



equipped for two years' travel, the ultimate destination 

 of his expedition being Lhassa, the capital of Thibet. The 

 General will be accompanied by an escort of twenty- 

 eight persons, including twelve Cossacks, and two scien- 

 tific companions. Lieutenant Robrowsky and Sub-Lieu- 

 tenant Koslow. 



Brittleness of Human BoNES.^According to Mr. 

 Mason {Popular Science Monthly) the increasing brittleness 

 ot human bones with advancing years cannot be due to 

 an increasing percentage of inorganic salts, as compared 

 with gelatinous matter. From analyses of the bones 

 of fifty subjects of different ages he finds that after reach- 

 ing maturity no variation in the quantity of ash takes 

 place with increasing age. 



Detection of Margarine in Butter. — M. Dubernard 

 director of the Station Agronomique du Nord, has dis- 

 covered a process for detecting margarine in butter. The 

 method is based on the fact that margarine at the tem- 

 perature of boiling water when mixed with a small 

 quantity of a strong solution of ammonia produces a 

 thick froth, while pure butter under the same conditions 

 forms only a few bubbles. 



The Cramp of Pianists. — Dr. Vivian Poore (^British 

 Medical Journal) has observed in pianists certain 

 functional disorder of the arms and hands. He 

 finds that this affection is eight times more common 

 than the well-known " writers' cramp." It is most 

 frequent when the so-called " Stuttgart " method of 

 performance is adopted, i.e., when the wrist is kept 

 immoveable. Cold, a sedentary life, anaemia, rheu- 

 matic and gouty tendencies rank as the predisposing 

 causes. 



New Ice-Making Machine. — A new patent domestic 

 ice-making machine, of very neat and compact design, has 

 been recently brought before the public. It is known as 

 the " Zero " ice-making machine, and is the joint inven- 

 tion of Messrs. Connacher and Williams. It consists of 

 a double-acting vacuum pump, an acid-resisting enamelled 

 iron absorbing vessel for containing sulphuric acid, and 

 an automatic feed arrangement for admitting in small 

 quantities the water to be frozen. 



The Noise of Meteorites. — The sounds which these 

 bodies occasionally produce has been hitherto 

 {Humboldt) ascribed to explosion. Daubree calls this in 

 question on account of the great rarity of such sounds 

 and their peculiar character, which resembled rather the 

 discharge of small arms, the rolling of a train, or the 

 tearing of linen. Hirn shows that it is merely an 

 intensification of the whistling of a bullet. The 

 meteorite moves from 80 to 120 times as rapidly as a 

 bullet, and makes consequently a louder sound. 



Effects of Glaciation. — " The faith in glaciers," says 

 Professor Spencer {American Naturalist), " as great 

 erosive agents, has been so severely shaken that few 

 geologists who personally study those still existing now 

 attribute to them greater power than that of removing 

 soft materials, and of this power many are sceptical." 

 Herr Pavp, w^o has studied the glaciers of Franz Josef 



