Science Notes - December 28, 1907

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Experiments made by Prof. Frederic Bordas, of Paris, showed that quartz and flint were tinted rose color by the action of radium, that uncolored corundum was tinted bright yellow and that pale rubies had been brightened. The experiments showed that oxygen of the air was not affected by the action of radium. A severe earthquake shock lasting six minutes was felt throughout the entire Japanese Empire from Hokkaido to the Bonin Islands. It occurred at 2.17 o'clock on the morning of November 22, and fortunately, no damage was done. Hokkaido and the Bonin Islands are respectively the most northerly and southerly islands of the Japanese archipelago. The earthquake area embraces over 1,000 miles of coast line. The report of Prof. Philip Schneider, geologist at Syracuse University, who has been investigating the diamond fields of Pike County, has been filed with the State Commissioner of Arkansas. The report states that much of the inspected land is of no value, but that a few acres, making up what is called the Huddle-ston and Money places, comprises the most promising diamond land. Surface indications in this territory very nearly duplicate those in the Kimberley fields of South Africa, the earth resembling in every respect the soil of that region. Prof. Schneider says that genuine diamonds have without doubt been taken from the Huddleston tract. The doctors of Vienna have organized an automobile club on a co-operative basis. It is proposed first to persuade the home manufacturers to build a ear specially adapted for doctors' work. Then upon payment of a moderate sum down, followed by monthly installments, the club will assist the doctors to become automobile owners. The monthly payments will be less than the present cost of hiring a two-horse carriage by the month, as most of the doctors do. The club will have its own central garage, and branch garages will be opened in various districts of the city as the demand increases. The promoters of the association hope to increase the number of motoring doctors from the present twenty or so to at least 200. In the side of an old well where it had lain undisturbed for 2,200 years, an earthenware jar containing live hundred pieces of the time of Alexander t*he Great has been found. One hundred of these were specimens of the silver tetradrachm of Alexander the Great, a coin corresponding in weight to our half dollar. The pieces are very thick and are made of silver of great purity. The obverse bears the head of Hercules in a lion's skin; the reverse shows Zeus seated in a chair. All bear the name of Alexander in Greek. Monograms and mint marks of great interest were found on many pieces of this lot, and some of the pieces bore the Greek word for the mint marks, designating the towns or cities where they were struck. The coins are all in very high relief, so that only two or three could be stacked together without their tumbling over. The find was made at Luxor.

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