Abstract

Scientific

The article presents information related to science. People find in the proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, at Boston, a description of a new dynamometer, which has been invented by S.P. Ruggles, the curator of the museum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This admirable invention accomplishes two objects; first, it measures the exact amount of power which is being consumed, at any instant of time, in driving a machine or set of machines, indicating every change in the force required, as the work done varies from instant to instant. Secondly, the apparatus adds up and registers the total amount of power which has been used by any machine or set of machines during a day, a week, a month, or any desired time. Scientist M. Duchartre has communicated to the French Academy some interesting observations on the relative growth of plants by day and by night. It has generally been taken for granted that plants grow most rapidly during as daytime, but exact measurements have not often been made, and the results of the few botanists who have given attention to this point are contradictory and inconclusive.