Scientific American Supplement, No. 611, September 17, 1887Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 611, September 17, 1887
Various
Science -- Periodicals
Similar sights are met all through this western volcanic region, and
we can consider the mineral and acid springs, which are very numerous,
as the last traces of the former disturbances, the products of the
decomposition of the volcanic stones buried in the earth. At Bertrich
Baths there are hot springs which were known to the Romans, for
numerous antiquities dating from their time have been excavated here.
Near these springs, at Bertrich, there is a "Cheese Grotto," which is
a break through the foot of a stream of lava, the stones of which have
not assumed the usual form of solidified columns, but have taken flat,
round shapes which resemble the forms of cheeses.
Now we have completed our wanderings, which required only a few days,
although they extended over this whole volcanic region, and which end
here on the Moselle.--_Ueber Land und Meer; Allgemeine Illustrirte
Zeitung._
* * * * *
[NATURE.]
THE "METEOROLOGISKE INSTITUT" AT UPSALA, AND CLOUD
MEASUREMENTS.
The Meteorological Institute at Upsala has gained so much fame by the
investigations on clouds which have been carried on there during the
last few years, that a few notes on a recent visit to that
establishment will interest many readers.
The Institute is not a government establishment; it is entirely
maintained by the University of Upsala. The _personnel_ consists of
Prof. Hildebrandsson, as director; M. Ekholm and one other male
assistant, besides a lady who does the telegraphic and some of the
computing work.
The main building contains a commodious office, with a small library
and living apartments for the assistant. The principal instrument room
is a separate pavilion in the garden. Here is located Thiorell's
meteograph, which records automatically every quarter of an hour on a
slip of paper the height of the barometer, and the readings of the wet
and dry thermometers. Another instrument records the direction and
velocity of the wind.
This meteograph of Thiorell's is a very remarkable instrument. Every
fifteen minutes an apparatus is let loose which causes three wires to
descend from rest till they are stopped by reaching the level of the
mercury in the different tubes. When contact is made with the surface
of the mercuries, an electric current passes and stops the descent of
each wire at the proper time. The downward motion of the three wires
has actuated three wheels, each of which carries a series of types on
its edge, to denote successive readings of its own instrument. For
instance, the barometer-wheel carries successive numbers for every
five-hundredth of a millimeter--760.00, 760.05, 760.1, etc.; so that
when the motion is stopped the uppermost type gives in figures the
actual reading of the barometer. Then a subsidiary arrangement first
inks the types, then prints them on a slip of paper, and finally winds
the dipping wires up to zero again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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