Popular Science Monthly/Volume 49/August 1896/Notes
Since the photographic method of observation was adopted, Prof. Max Wolf, of Heidelberg, has discovered thirty-six asteroids between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, not one of which has he seen through the telescope.
The total output of gold in the United States in 1895 was approximately $46,740,000. South Africa comes next, and Australasia third, with $45,835,000. Russia shows an increase in output over 1894 of $7,350,000, the 1895 production being $35,405,000. The estimated production in Mexico was $5,835,000.
In recognition of his labors in connection with so eminent an American Institution devoted to the Encouragement of the Arts and Manufactures, and of services rendered to that Government, the French Government has named Dr. William H. Wahl, for many years Secretary of the Franklin Institute, "Officier d'Académie," and has conferred upon him the decoration of the "Palmes Académiques."
Closing a description of Lake Louise, in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, Mr. Walter D. Wilcox observes that the characteristic features of the region of Mount Temple (11,658 feet high) and of the Canadian Rockies in general, as differentiated from other mountain regions, as the Alps, Andes, and Himalayas, "are found not so much in the geological age and nature of the strata as in the extent and character of those erosive forces which have resulted in forming narrow, deep valleys, often with precipitous rock walls of great height and grandeur, thus making the mountains relatively very high. Added to this, climatic conditions sufficiently moderate in summer to tolerate, and humid enough to encourage, a rich vegetation, there results a fortunate combination of beauty and grandeur which has already begun to attract the attention of travelers. The by no means excessive precipitation of snow is offset by a long period of nearly ten months for accumulation, resulting in extensive glaciation on the higher peaks. As these points are favored by the addition of a clear, cool, and invigorating atmosphere, there is but little doubt that the Canadian Rockies will enjoy an ever-increasing popularity and favor among travelers and mountaineers."
In the numerous scientific balloon ascensions he has executed, Dr. A. Bersen has met all the types of meteorological situations, and has found in all seasons that the temperature at great altitudes diminishes more rapidly than, or at least as rapidly as, at lesser altitudes, and that at heights exceeding seventeen thousand five hundred feet lower temperatures exist than those deduced from Glaisher's ascensions. So the increase in the velocity of currents with the elevation is also larger than has been supposed. A marked preponderance of winds with a westerly component is established for great altitudes—a fact that agrees with the results of cloud observations made from below.
The movement for the introduction of horseless carriages is represented by two periodicals, the Horseless Age and the Motocycle, in the United States; the Autocar, in London; and La Locomotion Automobile and La France Automobile, in France. The Automobile Club of France, organized a few months ago, already counts nearly five hundred members, and has recently opened a hall in one of the most frequented quarters of Paris. It is arranging for races, competitions, exhibitions, conferences, and congresses, and will form a library for the use of its members. The French have bestowed a nickname on the automobilists, and call them Chauffeurs, or Warmers.
La Revista Literaria (the Literary Review) is a new bimonthly literary periodical of twenty pages, published at Buenos Ayres, under the editorial direction of Manuel B. Agaste. Office of publication, Peru, 69.
The death of M. Daubrée, the eminent geologist, is announced. He was born in Metz, educated at the Polytechnic School of Paris, and from 1839 to 1855 was a professor at Strasburg University. He was then promoted to a chair at the School of Mines and the Natural History Museum, Paris.