Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 28.djvu/591

Rh short wire, obtains a spark, without having; to employ strong currents, which in of sufficiently high temperature to give the spectra of all the known elements. Atmospheric lines of the second order are not obtained with it, and the nebulous bands of nitrogen and the lines of the electrodes only rarely.

of Philadelphia, has been announced a laureate of the Société Américaine de France, and awarded the medal of the society, for his works on the "Aboriginal Tongues of America."

in a paper on the "Pythagoric Formula in Cosmical Evolution," published in the Italian quarterly, "La Nuova Scienza," holds, in general, in opposition to Herbert Spencer's theory of mechanical causes, that all evolution is due more to internal energy than to outward conditions.

invention of binocular opera-glasses is generally attributed to the Bohemian Capuchin, P. Schyd. M. G. Govi, an Italian investigator, has, however, found that the first glasses of the kind were presented to King Louis XIII, by an optician of Paris named Chorez, in 1620.

has made investigations of the adaptations with which plants are provided for making the most of the water that comes to them in the shape of rain or dew. He has classified them as follows: Depressions in the shape of leaf-cups or of grooves in the epidermis; hair-formations, in tufts or borders; hydroscopic membranes in the shape of larger or smaller spots or stripes on the epidermis; and anatomical adaptations, such as water-absorbing textures and swelling glands. It is a noteworthy fact that all of these adaptations arc wanting in the submerged parts of plants.

who is connected with a light-house at Pondicherry, India, tells of a fog-cloud about six feet broad which appeared at the top of the room-wall he was facing, while simultaneously a quick, sharp, and loud report was heard under his table. It sounded as if the whole underside of the table-top had been struck a hard blow, yet the table did not appear to have been moved, nor anything upon it. After the report, his plate took to spinning around on the table without any noise, showing that, though it had been thrown up from the table, it had not ceased to be touching it. This account is a part of the proceedings of the French Academy of Sciences of November 5th, and is designated a "meteorological phenomenon."

has discovered some very extensive deposits of phosphate of lime in the Tertiary strata of Southwestern Tunis.

has propounded a now theory of the formation of coal. He believes it is produced by the sinking of floating islands like those which now occur on many lakes and rivers, and which are conspicuous on the Upper Nile. These islands are composed chiefly of turf, which, being swallowed up by the water, becomes fossilized at the bottom.

has described to the French Academy of Sciences a phenomenon of a beautiful green ray which he has observed to follow the disappearance, for a quarter of a second after sunset, of the upper limb of the sun's disk. The flash of the ray is as quick as that of lightning, and can be seen only under unusual conditions of clearness of the sky. The author explains the appearance under M. Chevreul's theory of the simultaneous contrast of colors.

announced to the French Association the completion of his work in the "Paleontologie Française," on the fossil crinoids of France. He has described and figured 209 species, 89 of which are new to science. In the same work M. Cotteau has described 523 species, belonging to 50 genera, of Echidnæ. Nearly all of these species are characteristic of the beds in which they are found.

has observed that atmospheric air in liquefying does not follow the laws of liquefaction of a simple gas, but behaves like a mixture the elements of which are subject to different laws. If air so behaves that it has been possible, on superficial observation, to speak of its own critical point, it is because the difference in the curves of tension of the vapors of oxygen and nitrogen is so slight as easily to escape notice. Air may be made to give two distinct liquids, of different appearance and composition, one above the other, and separated by a distinct meniscus; the lower liquid containing by volume about 21 per cent of oxygen, and the upper one, 17 or 18 per cent.

sepulchre has been discovered near Montceaux, France, which seems to be so far unique in its way, and is supposed to date from the fourth or fifth century. It contained a mummified Prankish warrior, with his arms and clothes. The sarcophagus was made of a soft, calcareous stone, and had lids of the same material. The mummy was wrapped in a linen shirt and a woolen robe, with a belt-buckle in perfect preservation, and an iron sword. The shoes were also in good condition, and fastened with narrow straps of leather. At the feet was a funereal vase. The discoverer had replaced the sarcophagus and covered it up, so as to have it in safe keeping for future observation; but thieves came