Sept. 7, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



•23 



General &oU$. 



Stranded Whales. — A large whale, which had 

 stranded on the east coast near Snettisham, was last 

 week towed to Hunstanton. It is about 30 ft. long. A 

 smaller whale was also stranded at Heacham, near 

 Hunstanton. 



The Deepest Well in the World. — A well of the 

 depth of 3,000 to 6,000 yards is to be sunk in the 

 United States if Congress can be prevailed upon to vote 

 the necessary funds. The results of this enterprise, if 

 carried out, will doubtless prove exceedingly instructive. 



Native Gold in Limestone. — At a meeting of the 

 Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, Professor 

 Leidy exhibited a fragment of metamorphic limestone 

 from Eldorado county, California, having on its surface a 

 spot of native gold — the first instance he had seen of 

 gold occurring in limestone. 



Discovery of Minerals in Russia. — The Russian 

 Journal of Metallurgical Industries states that large 

 deposits of silver and lead have just been discovered in 

 the upper part of the Kouban and on the banks of its 

 affluents, the Douot and Outchkolan. Some oil springs 

 have also been found in the same quarter. 



Distinctions between Colours. — We may have 

 colours which if illuminated by daylight or gaslight seem 

 perfectly identical, but if illuminated by a monochromatic 

 light, such as that of sodium, will appear different, unless 

 the chemical composition of the colouring matters is 

 absolutely identical. In this manner cheques and other 

 documents which have been fraudulently altered may 

 sometimes be detected. 



Ship-canal across Italy. — A canal is projected inter- 

 secting Italy from west to east. It will begin near 

 Castro, on the Tuscan coast, and terminate at Fano, in 

 the Adriatic. The length will be 283 kilometres, its 

 mean width 100 yards, and its depth 12 yards. It will 

 be used to effect the desiccation of the lakes of Bolsena 

 and Thrasimenae. The expense is estimated at 500 

 million francs. 



Deterioration of Handwriting. — The Journal of the 

 Franklin Institute, noticing a circular issued by the French 

 Geographical Society calling an " International Geo- 

 graphical Congress "for 1889, remarks that of all the 

 signatures to this document " but one is clearly legible, 

 and two are absolutely illegible. It seems as if all over 

 the world the legibility of handwriting is decreasing. 

 There are few of the smooth and unmistakable hand- 

 writings of a century ago." A parallel fact is the de- 

 terioration of style, especially to be noted in English 

 writers. 



Photographs of Lightning. — M. Ch. Mousette, in a 

 communication to the Paris Academy of Sciences, sug- 

 gests that the peculiarities observed in the photographs 

 of lightning may be principally due to vibrations im- 

 parted to the apparatus by tremors of the soil, by the 

 wind, or by the rolling of the thunder. In support of 

 this view, he executed in black on white a design con- 

 sisting of points and lines variously inclined, and has 

 then photographed it, firstly keeping the camera free 



from all vibrations, and secondly exposing it to slight 

 shocks. In the second case the proofs present the form 

 of a striated band. 



New Appliance for Fishing by the Electric Light. 

 — A paragraph in Cosmos states that experiments have 

 been made on board the steamer President Herweg in 

 the North Sea to test a new apparatus for submarine 

 electric lighting, devised by an engineer of the name of 

 Pellenz. The results have been very satisfactory ; the 

 lamp acted without accident at the bottom of the sea, the 

 depth being 100 fathoms, giving a light of 100 candles, 

 whilst the vessel was steaming at the rate of four miles 

 per hour. The fishes, attracted by the light, floated to 

 the apparatus. This is said to have been the first ex- 

 periment of the kind made in the open sea. 



Mortality due to Lead. — According to Cosmos, Dr. 

 Carter, of the Board of Health at Baltimore, advances 

 the opinion that the use of drinking-water holding lead 

 in solution is a predisposing cause of scarlatina and 

 diphtheria. During the fifty-four years from 1830 to 

 1883 the average annual mortality from scarlet fever in 

 that city has been 225, and in the last year of the term 

 334. On January 1st, 1884, a new law concerning 

 plumbing work came into force, and the deaths have 

 since been — 1884, 104; 1885,68; 1886,32; and 1887, 

 36 ; or a yearly mean of 60. The mean yearly death- 

 rate from diphtheria prior to 1884 was 469; DU ' since 

 that date it has sunk to 234. 



The Mining Institute of Scotland. — This institute 

 held its annual summer meeting at Dalkeith, on the 

 23rd ult. The first part of the programme consisted 

 of a visit to Newbattle and Arniston Collieries. The 

 members were received at Newbattle Colliery by Mr. 

 Morison, when an examination was made of the works 

 above ground and under ground, the same programme 

 being carried out as at the visit of the Iron and Steel 

 Institute. Afterwards they proceeded to Arniston 

 Collieries, where they were received by Mr. Clark, and, 

 after seeing the works there, left by special train for 

 Dalkeith. In the afternoon a general meeting was held, 

 and the election of new members took place. Mr. James 

 Hastie was elected to the office of vice-president, and Mr. 

 Wallace Thorneycroft to the office of councillor. 



The Adulteration of Sherry. — In the last issue of 

 the United States Consular Reports the Consuls at Cadiz 

 and Jerez de la Frontera return to the subject of the 

 adulteration of sherry, on which they recently reported 

 most unfavourably. Mr. Ingraham, of Cadiz, sends a 

 translation of a circular from the Spanish Minister of the 

 Interior to the civil governors of the provinces, directing 

 prosecutions against the makers and vendors of adul- 

 terated wines, in accordance with a Royal decree against 

 adulteration. Adulterated wines are thus defined in the 

 decree — (1) Natural wines which contain impure indus- 

 trial alcohol and alcohol from husks (cascara), if they are 

 not rectified and purified ; (2) salicylic acid and other 

 antiseptic substances ; (3) foreign coloured substances, 

 those derived from the products of pit coal (sic), as well 

 as of vegetable or other origin ; (4) artificial glucose, 

 sugar from flour, or new wine ; (5) glycerine. 



Books as Transmitters of Infection. — According 

 to the Lancet, the municipal authorities of Dresden have 



