Science. Scientific Facts.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1866, 21 June 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

Science. Scientific Facts.

In Professor John Colletts Geological Eepotfc of Indiana, he expresses the belief that the niastbdon was alive in North America] much more recently than naturalists com-, monly imagine. No fewer than thirty indi-' vidual specimens of this enormous creature have been discovered in the marshes and toiry places of Indiana. In excavating the, bed of a canal in Fountain County, a skeleton was discovered embedded in wet peat. Another skeleton found six miles north-west of Hoopston, Iroquoie County, Illinois, the Pfoiessor consider<Uo. practically settle the qu^stion, not only that the mastodon was a recent animal, but that it survived until the life and Vegetation of to day prevailed. The tusks of the huge creature herd referred to were nine feet long, twenty-twO inbhes in circumference at their base, aiid weighed— saturated with water as they were f6und~-one-hundfed and seventy-five pounds. It ia stated that the preservation of some of these remains ia so complete that the larger bones contain a quantity of marrow, which is used by the bog cutters to grease their boots. Sines the discovery, a year or two ago, of a viking's ship bnried beneath a mound on the shore of a Norwegian fiord, no arehraologleal find of anything like similar interest has come to light, until the recent examination of a somewhat similar, though much smaller, mound in the quiet churchyatd of Taplow, near Maidenhead. This tumulus, upon which many archraologists have doubtless cast longing eyes, has been completely excavated, and has yielded come treasures, which, wo are glad to learn, are to find their way to the national collection. First, at abont twenty feet below the top of the mound was found a quantity of gold fringe, lying obliquely across what was originally a burial chamber. This fringe, once forming the trimming of a cloak or mantle, had been fastened at the shoulder by a large gold buckle of exquisite design and workmanship. A double-edged sword, or rather the remains of one—for it broke into pieces when handled— some spears, knives, and shields, completed the personal belongings of the dead man, whose body was represented by h few fragments of bone, pieces of vertebr/e, much broken and decayed, lying parallel to the eword. Ornaments and other articles, too numerous to mention in detail, were also found in abundance; and the decoration of these admits of little doubt that they are of Scandinavian origin. This tomb is considered to be the most complete example of the method of interment adopted by the early invaders of Britain which has yet been found in the southern counties ; and we shall look forward with great interest to the conclusions arrived at by experts, when this collection of relics of thirteen hundred years ago has been duly arranged and catalogued. A German medical paper gives an account of a series of observations carried out by Professor Gerhardt, of Wureburg, on the liability of pheasants, pigeons, turkeys, domestic fowls, Ac, to the attack of diphtheritis, and the possibility of the communication of that disease by this means. As a case in point, it is related that in September, 1881, some hundreds of fowls were sent from the neighborhood of Verona to Nesselhausen in Baden, where there is a fowl-rearing establishment. Some of these were affected with diphtheritis before they started on the journey, and in the end nearly half of them died. Five cats caught the malady, and a parrot was also invalided from the same cause. A diseased hen bit a man's wrist, and he presently became ill, and had a most tedious recovery. Many of the workmen afc Nesselhausen caught the disease from the fowls, and in one case a man conveyed it to his children. Of the many uses to which paper is now applied, perhaps the most remarkable is boatbuilding. The Westinghouse Company in America have now for some time been prodaoing small paper boats — indeed, the original patent specification was taken out so long ago as 1868— but now they are turning their attention to craffc of larger size, and are constructing an experimental steam-yacht or pleasure-launch. The method of manufacturo ia briefly as follows i— A full-steed model is first of all constructed of wood, and to this sheet after sheet of thick Manilla paper is successively attached, until the wb.6le forms a compact cardboard-like skin. This is afterwards detached from the mould, waterproofed, varnished, and finished for use. It is claimed for these boats that they are stronger, more durable, and stiffer than ordinary boats ; that, being without joint or seam, they are not subject to leakage by any sudden strain; that they havo no grain to crack or split ; and that they are not affected by extremes of heat and cold. The paper industry in Germany has lately afforded an instance of one of those curious coincidences by which two different minds widely separated will work out and patent the same idea. For some years, a German professor took out a patent for a process of transforming wood-pulp into paper, and the process was so successful, that it was adopted by most of the German manufacturers, and brought into its inventor some twenty-five thousand pounds sterling annually in the shape of royalties. A few months back, a paper-maker discovered that the process was really identical with one patented long ago by an American, and brought the matter under the notice of the Imperial Patent Office. The patent of the German professor has been now declared to be null and void ; so that his income suddenly comes to an end, and the German paper-trade has received a very welcome impetus. M. Gaston-Tissandier and his brother have recently constructed and tried a balloon of a somewhat novel character. It is cigar- shaped, about thirty yards long, and ten yards ia diameter. Filled with pure hydrogen, carefully dried, a great ascensional power is obtained. But the novel feature of the balloon is its electric motor, whioh by means of a battery carried in the car will act for three hours. The two aeronauts ascended from Auteuil in October last, and at a height of five hundred metres, met with a breeze travelling at the rate of three metres per seoond. The electric propeller allowed the balloonists to outspeed this wind, and, after a manner, to steer their strange craft. But we need hardly say their course was with the wind, and not against it. Mr. Walter Besant, the well-known novelist, has pointed out a new employment for girls. Most of ou* readers know what a type- writer is — a little machine with keys like a miniature piano,' the pressure of which will produce letters in printed characters. Now, several of the New York publishers are adopting the system of submitting proof-sheets to authors printed in this manner, bo that they can be corrected and handed to the press as fait copies. It is found cheaper to do this than to correot the work when actually set up in type. Young ladies are employed to work the type-writers, and get good remuneration for their services. The work is far lighter than that of an ordinary sewing-machine, and it is pleasanter, in being far less of a mechanical nature. Basy writers, who torture compositors by compelling them to decipher a cramped handwriting, would do well to take a hint from this new employment of the type- writer. Each year brings in regularly its lamentable crop of gunshot accidents, and one is often tempted to ask how it is that such carelessness can exist among persons used to handling deadly weapons. But a new theory has been started, which, if true, would account for some of these disasters. Mr. James Howard believes that the individual shots in a charge travel from _tke gun-barrel with different velocities, and that, therefore, they " cannon," like billiard balls, , against one another, and so take erratic courses. He quotes the oase of an accident whioh, -he says, oould only be accounted for on this hypothesis. With a view to ascertaing the " spread" of different charges at varying distances, Mr. Howard set up; a target' twenty 1 'feet square, and Las published the results b.e obtained. .We need only quote one measurement, which- will enow -ttiat^the % area of

I danger near a gun is far larger than people I commonly suppose. Firing at a distance of sixty yards from the target, the distance between the extreme shot-marks was no less than seventeen feet. These experiments, however, did not prove in any that the " cannoning" theory is right. Indeed, it is difficult to see how any proof can be obtained "in Bupport of the statement that the shots of one charge travel at different speeds.