On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
A telegram has been received at the Harvard Col lege Observatory from Prof. W. W. Campbell at Lick Observatory stating that a sixth satellite of Jupiter, suspected by Perrine in December, was discovered by him January 4, 1905. The position with respect to Jupiter from previous plates taken in January, is as follows: Position angle 269 deg., distance 45. The distance is decreasing 45 sec. daily. The apparent mo tion is retrograde and the magnitude 14. Derived from observations with the Crossly reflector on December 3, 8, 9, 10, and January 2, 3, 4. A clock which will run for two thousand years has been invented by Richard Strutt, son of Lord Rayleigh. The motive power is a small piece of gold-leaf which is electrified by means of a very small quantity of radium salt. It bends away from the metal substance and keeps moving under this influence until it touches the side of the containing vessel. At the moment of contact it loses its electrical charge and then springs back and is again electrified, and the process repeated. Sir William Ramsay considers that this may be made into a very reliable time-piece at an expense of about $1,000. President Roosevelt has become the honorary presi dent of a committee representing the United States, which is to be a portion of an international organiza tion, including the heads of all of the Powers of Eu rope, to make excavations at Herculaneum, which, to gether with Pompeii, was destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79 A. D. Prof. Waldstein has secured the consent of the King of Italy to act as the head of the international committee. King Edward will be at the head of the committee in England, Em peror William in Germany, President Loubet in France, and King Oscar in Sweden. The international com mittee will have headquarters in Rome, over which the King of Italy will preside. Representatives of every nation will be at Herculaneum, and, once started, the work will be pushed rapidly. E. Demoussy has made a series of experiments to show the growth of plants in an atmosphere charged with carbon dioxide gas. In this case the plants reach an increased development over the plants growing in ordinary air. He used two glass boxes each of over one cubic yard capacity and containing a number of pots. The first was not entirely closed and was used for the plants growing in ordinary air. The air supply was sufficiently renewed to give the average conditions, and a number of tests gave the normal amount of carbonic acid, or 3-10,000ths. In the second box a certain amount of carbonic acid gas was introduced each day so that the proportion reached 18-10,OOOths. In the evening this became less, but never fell below 12-10,OOOths, so an average'of 15 could be admitted, this being five times the amount contained in ordinary air. During the day the plants were protected from the sun's rays by cloth covers, and at night the boxes were opened so that they were well aired. For the experi ments he chose four sprouts as nearly alike as possible, placing them in ordinary flower-pots in garden earth, one pair in each box. The observations were made from the end of May to the end of July, at which time the plants were cut and weighed. The following re sults show the increase in growth due to the carbonic acid. The weights are those of all the part of the plant lying above ground. At the beginning the weights were very small, as the plants had just sprout ed; only the geranium, mint, and fuchsia came from buds. The first figure gives the weight in ordinary air and the second in the air charged with gas. Coleus, 34 grammes; 50 grammes. Lettuce, 21; 36. Gerani um, 45; 118. Castor, 26; 45. Mint, 28; 36. Red to bacco, 30; 54. White tobacco, 51; 101. Poppy, 21; 30. Fuchsia, 30; 29. All but one, the fuchsia, show a great increase, with an average of 60 per cent. The appear ance of the plants is the same in both cases, but the dimensions are somewhat greater in the latter case. For many of the plants the flowering is more rapid and abundant in the charged air. The fuchsia alone does not show any difference, but this may be due to the fact that the plants were but little developed in either case, as the conditions of high temperature and moisture were probably unfavorable for its growth.
