Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/288

 [Tot. V.

��their price ; and Itien Ihe sysleni of gas-heating, whicU tr being i^itnted, will be iutrudaced Into houses, and finally, without doubt, Into factories; and thus tUfl sjBlem of pouring out Immenw quantities of smahe luto the air of our cities will ceasa.

— Dr. WIese, the Gernan agricultural chemist, re- cently employed by the government to study suitable vegetables fur cullivaliori In the sandy soil of East PruBsta, left Berlin for the Cameroon coast during Sfarch. The object of his journey ia to study the plants of the country, with a view to their cultivation in Germany.

— During the Austro-Ilallan war of 1SS6, in order to protect tbelr porta from the attack of Italian ships, the AuB-

is placed tor- pedoes in many concentric eir-

mouths of the harbors. Each torpedo had a

nee ted by i with the represented i n the accompany- ing Illustration from La Ifature, and each had a separately numbered itey in this ehamber. The building In which the cham'

ber was sltuaWd ■*" '"•■i"*" '■'-• ran wiTCB"

was placed uu the

side of a hill, ao as to overtook the port. The cham- ber was lighted only by a lens, which bad a field cov- ering the harbor. The rays of light coming from outside were then reflected into a prUm which directed them down upon an unpolished glass pi ale placed horizontally upon a table, where an image of the bar- bor was formed. The black marks In the figure point out the eiact place of each torpedo, and bear num- bers corresponding to those on the keys. An em- ployee watched the plate constantly, and observed every motion of approaching ships. By pressing a button he could at any time eiplode the correspond- ing torpedo.

— The municipality of Paris has at last approved the suggestion of a grant of land tor the new central laboratory of electricity, to be built out of the profits of the Paris electrical eihlbitlon of 1881. These proBCs amounted to no less than $6S,(iOO.

— Among recent deaths we note the following : Mr. John Francis Campbell of Islay, in his sixty. fifth year; Mr. Thomas C. Archer, curator of the museum of science and art, Edlnbui^b; Mr. Poydes- sau, French engineer, at Panama, Jan. T; Louis

���Godard, aeronaut; Rodolphe Heyer-Dur of Zurich, entomologl«t, March 2, In his seventy-fourth year; Dr. Julius Miinler, director of the botanic garden of Greifswald, Feb. 2; Dr. J. C. G. Lucae, anatomist and anthropologist. atFrankforta.-M., Feb.8; H. W. Blair, assistant in the U. 5, coast and geodetic survey, at Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 16.

— The Dollfus prize of the Entomological society of France was aivarded, on Feb. 25, to Mr. Leon Fairmaire, for his work on the Hemlptera of Prance.

— The first numtrer of Minil In nature, which Is ' to furnish In a popular manner information regarding psychical questions,' appeared this month. Those who are willing to accept the marrellous on the

slightest evi- dence will take pleasure In read- ing the article OB metaphyisLCB, by Bishop Samuel Fellows, and that on Christian Bcieiice, by Dr. S. J. Avery. The article on pre- sentiments Is ot

vlnclng charac- ter. A paper by Oliver J. Lodge, on eiperimenia In thought-trans- ference, with one oriwoby Ed- mund Gurney and others, are reprinted from the Proceedings of the English society for psychical research.

— In No. 180 of the ZoologUcker anzHger there ara some interesting notes upon spiders by P._ Dahl, He claims that their sight is imperfect, except at Tery short distances; and, in consequence of this, their sense of touch is so well developed, that, when sm object falls into their net, they can tell upon exactly which radius the object has fallen, though to ascer- tain Ibis they must first go to the centre of the web, even though the object may have fallen near their original position. Their smell and hearing are also eicelleni, the former so much so that they can distinguish odors. The remarkable Instinct pos- sessed by the geometrical spiders is shown by the fact that the first web made by the young is perfectly geometrical. That they reflect, is proved by the (act that ihey despise certain kinds of tough, chltlnoos Insects, which they have unsuccessfully attacked before. This reflection is to be distinguished from the instinctive dread which they have tor bee-like files.

��I

�� �