Aug. 24, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



i7- 



General Mott$. 



Earthquake in Maine. — A sharp earthquake shock was 

 felt in the vicinity of Winthrop Maine, on the night of 

 the 14th inst., but no damage was caused. 



Geology of the Balkans. — Professor Toulo, of the 

 Polytechnique School of Vienna, has been sent to Bul- 

 garia to make a geological survey of the eastern slopes 

 of the Balkans. 



Earthquake at Honduras. — This catastrophe, though 

 occasioning great damage, has not proved destructive to 

 life. Curiously enough, it coincided in time with the 

 eruption of Takamatsa, in Japan. 



Exceptional Heat in Northern Europe. — Whilst 

 Britain and France have lately suffered from abnormally 

 low temperatures, the thermometer in Norvvayhas reached 

 heights such as have never been recorded in the present 

 century. At Christiania the readings in the shade have 

 several times been 30 to 32° C. = 86 Q and Sg° Fahr. In 

 Varanger Fiord, near the White Sea, the temperature at 

 the end of June reached 95 Fahr. ! 



The Scottish Astronomer-Royal. — Mr. C. Piazzi 

 Smyth, Astronomer-Royal for Scotland, and Professor 

 of Practical Astronomy in Edinburgh University, has 

 resigned these offices after holding them for forty-three 

 years. His reason for retiring is, he states, not only 

 advancing years, but " despair of ever being able to do 

 anything good or compete with other observatories when 

 the Government continue to refuse to do what their own 

 Commission recommended." 



The " Henry " Respirator. — M. Henry, of the Brussels 

 Fire Brigade, has devised a respirator which enables men 

 to remain with safety in places filled with smoke, 

 ammoniacal gas, mephitic emanations, etc. It consists 

 of a light metallic mask, covering the nose, the mouth, 

 and the chin, whilst its sides form a double screen. In 

 one there is wadding saturated with glycerine, and in the 

 other a layer of sponge, which at the moment of use is 

 sprinkled with an appropriate liquid, such as lime-water, 

 which absorbs carbonic acid in case of burning buildings, 

 or a solution of sugar of lead if it be necessary to enter 

 cesspools, sewers, etc. 



A New Comet. — From a circular just issued from 

 Lord Crawford's observatory at Dunecht, we learn 

 that another new comet has been discovered by that 

 most indefatigable and successful American dis- 

 coverer, Mr. W. R. Brooks. The present comet 

 was found at his new station, Geneva, U.S., on August 

 7, when its position was R.A. rohr. smin., Dec. 44deg. 

 30mm. north. The place is near the third magnitude 

 star Lambda, in the Greater Bear. No particulars are 

 given of brightness, but it is stated that it is moving 

 eastwards. 



Electric Conductivity of a Vacuum. — According to 

 Cosmos, as certain physicists, such as Goldstein, Edlund, 

 and others, have maintained that a vacuum is a good 

 conductor of electricity, Prof. A. Foeppl has resolved to 

 verify this supposition. The circuit having been formed 

 of homogeneous gases, highly rarefied, the passage of the 



current ought to manifest itself in various manners 

 whether by its action upon a magnetic needle or by the 

 production of induction currents. The experiments, 

 though carried out with great skill, led to a conclusion 

 absolutely opposite to that of Goldstein, that a vacuum 

 does not conduct electricity. 



Fires Extinguished on Ship-Board. — A process 

 devised by Messrs. Coates and Carver, of Manchester, 

 has recently been tried with success at Liverpool. The 

 process consists in turning the products of combustion 

 from the boiler-furnaces into the hold where the fire is 

 raging. A French contemporary remarks that the 

 carbonic acid and carbonic oxide gases given off by the 

 furnaces come here in play: Now that carbonic acid gas 

 extinguishes fire is well known, but no reliance can be 

 placed upon carbonic oxide, which is distinctly inflam- 

 mable. It must not be inferred from this comment that 

 we question the value of the invention, which in the trial 

 made was splendidly successful. 



Government Aid to Agricultural and Dairy 

 Schools. — The Lords of the Committee of Council for 

 Agriculture have awarded the following sums out of 

 ,£5,000 granted by the Government for the present 

 financial year in aid of the agricultural and dairy schools, 

 viz. : — The Cheshire County Dairy School, ^150 ; 

 Aspatria (Agricultural) School, ^250; Edinburgh Uni- 

 versity, ,£300 ; Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical 

 College, ^200 ; Kirkcudbright Dairy Association, ^70 ; 

 Ayrshire Dairy Association, ^125 ; Wigtownshire Dairy 

 Association, ^101 10s. ; and to Dumfriesshire Dairy 

 Association, ^28 10s. The applications from the British 

 Dairy Farmers' Association, the Norfolk Chamber of 

 Agriculture, and others were deferred for further con- ' 

 sideration. 



Falling Stars and Meteoric Dust. — Apropos of the 

 now recurring showers of shooting stars, a correspondent 

 of the Vossischc Zcitang mentions the probability that 

 Professor Nordenskjold's experiments have decided in 

 the affirmative the question whether the remains of 

 shooting stars that have been burnt in our atmosphere 

 are found on the surface of the earth. Nordenskjold 

 caused large masses of snow to be melted, and found left 

 behind a very fine powder, which proved to be metallic 

 iron. The first experiment had been made in Stockholm 

 so that it was not impossible that this iron dust might 

 be of terrestrial origin ; therefore the experiment was 

 repeated in the Finnish forests, with a similar result- 

 Still more decisive was it when the experiment was 1 e- 

 peated with the snow in Spitzbergen, more than 400 

 miles from any human dwelling ; and metallic iron was 

 found there also in the form of a fine dust, which makes 

 it extremely probable that the cosmic significance of this 

 iron is connected with the shower of falling stars. Of 

 whatever kind the combustive product of these falling 

 stars may be, it is certain that it must fall on the earth, 

 and that it gradually increases the mass and weight of 

 the latter in a manner which is not unimportant, con- 

 sidering the ages during which the earth has existed and 

 is likely to exist. 



International Geological Congress. — This Congress 

 meets only once in three years, and it is to hold its next 

 meeting in London from September 17th to the 22nd. 



