Scientific.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2131, 6 March 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

Scientific.

A Ni.w Volcano.— Mr Shipley, the American Tons il at Auckland, tepoits to the State Dcpntmcnt the following fact* about a new volcano in the Southern Pieifio Ocean : "At daylight on October l.'{, «c observed dense \ oliimes of Hte.un ami smoke-clouds ascctidihg. Wo bailed suHi<ie.ntly neai to see that it was a submarine volcanic eiuption. Considering that it was not prudent to approach any nearer that night, we lay-to until morning. We then appioached to about a distance of two miles. I have not words to express my wonder and surprise at its chang'iig splendour. Eruptions took place e\ery one or two minutes, changing in appeirance every second, like a dissolving view. I can only say that it was one of tlie most awfully giand sights I ever witnessed on the high seas. As near as I wa-> able to calculate the position of the \olcano it is about fourteen miles fiom the island of Honga Tonga. As to the sue. of the island thrown up, I am unable to state it correctly, there being "0 much steam and clouds hanging over it ; but I judge it to be at least two or tin co miles long and CO feet high, in latitude 20 deg. '2l sec. south, longitude 17.") de<». 2Sm-c. west." — MMIKKH'AL M JURORS FOR SOLAR SlO vai.mvc — The panoramic mirrors or silvered balls frequently seen in gardens are, ad vacated by Mr H itt iv a note to the French Academy of Sciences for heliographic purposes in preference to piano miirorn. Their advantage lies in tho greater intensity of the luminous point, which can therefore be seen to greater distances. Fiom experiments made by him during the pust summer, he found that with a sphere of small diameter theimage penjoived at lo kilometres with a lunette had a splendour comparable to that of a star of the second magnitude in a field feebly lighted. Suoh an image, which can be produced nt little expense, would, lie think*, be useful in topographical triaiikMilation. — Anisic Acid — Thejilready long list of new antipyretic remedies has been increased by the addition of anisic acid, a substance obtained from the oil of anise s i ed. It exists under the form of colourless prismatic crystals, soluble in alcohol aid ether. It possesses antipyretic and antiseptic pi operties similar to those of salicylic acid. It also increases arterial tension. It has, however, a mild toxic effect in large doses, for when it was injected in lar»e (|inntities into the veins I of animals epileptiforin com nlsions were caused. It has been employed with success iv an antiseptic in the treatment of wounds, and seems when employed in this way to cxeit no poisonous effect. ■ — Gn7zetta Metlica. — HYniiouKX ix Zixc Di^t.— lt has ! long been known tint &hipptra are ut> j willing to cany large quantities of zinc 1 duht in tlicii vessels owing to the danger ; of its getting moist and becoming heated !to a dangerous extent. Mr Greville 1 Williams, F. R. S., has recently made some researches which throw light on this matter. He finds that wetted zinc i dust, after drying, gives off nearly double ] the hydrogen that unwetted dust gives, I Hydrogen is absorbed from a moist atmosphcic at moderate tompcratuic by ' zinc dust. It has, in fact, the power of occluding hydrogen after the manner of spongy platinum. j — Blkvciiixo by Electricity.—Otj ton nvauufa turers in St. Petersburg ure said to be becoming much intero-teJ in the application of electricity for the pur- , pose of bleaching co f ton and flax fibres las well ah tissues. The material is I steeped in water, which is then decom1 pobid by electiicity, the oxygen which i.s • thus set free at enco aciinjr on the fibres. p This process, which has already been deI scribed iv our columns, hu* been found to 1 occupy very considerably less time than ■ the ordinary one. j PIIOTOURAI'IHM! ISY V FLASH OF Lkjhtxivo — At iho hf-t ineetiiifjr of the Fiaukliu Institute, l'rofe.s-or Houston presented two photographs taken on u ilnk nifrht by tho liijht produced by fl i^hcs of liLrhlnirijj 1 , in which a buiMiojr and tivr-s u ere distinctly »hown. They were thrown m .1 .sc.een by Ihe aid uf PiofeSso.' H'llin in's I m'ci it miero-eop\ The diiMtiou of the fl I^l ly which the pi itc^ s\ civ seemed w i-> e-ti n i f ed at the one-tin ei -hundredth pnrt. r.f a spoond