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A thunderstorm observatory
_044
CURRENT "I'OPICS.
the body of the ship, leaving them with a permanent sin. ])2vidence of the enormous stresses to which the ship was subjected is afforded by the stanchions and solid steel bulkheads below the deck, which buckled out of the vertical as they yielded beneath the load above. W e are inclined to agree with her captain that many smaller and less stoutly built sbips, which have disappeared utterly at sea, may h a ( e been sent to the bottom bv the crushing in of their decks under so-called " tidalw a v e s " of these dimensions. (Sci. Am., Jan. 2 9, L9~o.) A T t t U X D E R S T O R M O B S E R V A T O R Y has been established in Spain by Sefior G. J. de Guillen Garcia in which atmospheric discharges, both local and distant, are detected graphically and acoustically. A wireless telegraph instrument is used for tbis purpose, because each lightning discharge is accompanied by electro-magnetic waves similar to those used in wireless telegraphy. If there is a storm anywhere within a radius of 5oo miles, the observer is notified by the recording instrument. As all barometric depressions that pass over Western Europe come from the Atlantic Ocean, the new observatory gives meteorologists due warning of the approaching" disturbance. By noting the intensity of the sounds produced in the receiver and observing whether they grow more distinct or less, it is possible to determine the approximate course of the storm. (Sci. Am., Jan. 29, J9~o.) THE
I N V E S T I G A T I ( ) N O F T H E S P E C T R A of tim planets, which was begun at Lowell Observatory in 19o2, has been continued. V. M. Slipher found a combination of dyes which renders the sensitiveness of the commercial dry plate fairhuniform into the red as far as to wave-length 7ooo, bevoncl which point it drops rapidly, but is sufficient at A to record that line faintly in the prismatic Solar spectrum. With the aid of this plate, the spectra of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune have now been photographed with greater extension into the red than any previous photographic or visual observations, and a number o'f lines and bands have been discovered. (Sci. Am., Jan. 29, I9to. )
A N E L E C T R I C A L L Y H E A T E D H O U S E . At a recent meeting of the N. Y. Electrical Society one of the speakers referred to a certain house that had been designed to be heated and lighted by electricity alone. The house contains no chimneys, stoves or coal storage room, and the saving in these requirements of the usual coal-heating system was sufficient to pay for the entire electrical installation. In regions where coal is dear and water power plentiful, electric heating and lighting is no doubt more economical than coal heating. (Sci. Am., Jan. 29, I91o.)
CURRENT "I'OPICS.
the body of the ship, leaving them with a permanent sin. ])2vidence of the enormous stresses to which the ship was subjected is afforded by the stanchions and solid steel bulkheads below the deck, which buckled out of the vertical as they yielded beneath the load above. W e are inclined to agree with her captain that many smaller and less stoutly built sbips, which have disappeared utterly at sea, may h a ( e been sent to the bottom bv the crushing in of their decks under so-called " tidalw a v e s " of these dimensions. (Sci. Am., Jan. 2 9, L9~o.) A T t t U X D E R S T O R M O B S E R V A T O R Y has been established in Spain by Sefior G. J. de Guillen Garcia in which atmospheric discharges, both local and distant, are detected graphically and acoustically. A wireless telegraph instrument is used for tbis purpose, because each lightning discharge is accompanied by electro-magnetic waves similar to those used in wireless telegraphy. If there is a storm anywhere within a radius of 5oo miles, the observer is notified by the recording instrument. As all barometric depressions that pass over Western Europe come from the Atlantic Ocean, the new observatory gives meteorologists due warning of the approaching" disturbance. By noting the intensity of the sounds produced in the receiver and observing whether they grow more distinct or less, it is possible to determine the approximate course of the storm. (Sci. Am., Jan. 29, J9~o.) THE
I N V E S T I G A T I ( ) N O F T H E S P E C T R A of tim planets, which was begun at Lowell Observatory in 19o2, has been continued. V. M. Slipher found a combination of dyes which renders the sensitiveness of the commercial dry plate fairhuniform into the red as far as to wave-length 7ooo, bevoncl which point it drops rapidly, but is sufficient at A to record that line faintly in the prismatic Solar spectrum. With the aid of this plate, the spectra of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune have now been photographed with greater extension into the red than any previous photographic or visual observations, and a number o'f lines and bands have been discovered. (Sci. Am., Jan. 29, I9to. )
A N E L E C T R I C A L L Y H E A T E D H O U S E . At a recent meeting of the N. Y. Electrical Society one of the speakers referred to a certain house that had been designed to be heated and lighted by electricity alone. The house contains no chimneys, stoves or coal storage room, and the saving in these requirements of the usual coal-heating system was sufficient to pay for the entire electrical installation. In regions where coal is dear and water power plentiful, electric heating and lighting is no doubt more economical than coal heating. (Sci. Am., Jan. 29, I91o.)