The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1858-12-15
Contradiotiols and Curiositles of
cienco.

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Contradiotiols and Curiositles OF
oienco.
The curiosiii and contradictions of sci.
ence, while the go show the "eternal ft.
ness of things, lso prove that we live in
world Of para |oxes and that existence
itself is whirl Of contradictions. Who
would suppose, for instance, that water
which, every body knows, extinguishes fire
may become fuel to a fame, or that the
looming man" who is to "set the Hudson
river on fire." may not be far of. With
the resistance of water and fire, elements
which have befriended the magicians of
every age, contradictory wonders Of a
marvellous character may be exhibited,
and even the hitherto secret art Of hand
ling red hot iron and other metals, and Of
walking through Gerry furnace may be re-
vealed.
FIVE take some mystical looking gray
globules Of potassium. and sprinkle there.
upon water, that fluid will instantly ap.
pear to ignite the potassium has SO inor-
diuate a desire for oxygen, on the princi-
Pile Of afinties or attraction, that the mo-
ment they come in contact, the oxygen is
abstracted, and hydrogen-an inAammablc
gas---is set on fire.
Again, if we tako platina ladle and
hold it over furnace until it becomes of
a bright red heat, and then project jet
of water into its bowl we shall find that
the water will remain quiescent, and give
no sign of ebullition--not 70 much as
single fzz but the moment the adle
begins to cool, the water will boil up and
rapidly evaporate.
So, also, if q mass Of metal, heated to
whitcness, he plunged into vessel of cold
water, the surrounding fluid will lemain
comparatively tranquil rs long as the
glowing white heat endurcs: but the mo.
ment there is q sufficient fall in the tenn.
perature of tie metal, tho water will boil
briskly.
Ifwater he poured upon an iron sieve,
tie wires Of which are rc3-hot, T. will no-
run through but On the sieve cooling, it
will run through rapidly,
The above contradictory effects are
easily accounted for. The repelliug power
of intense heat, keeps the water from i'm.
mediate contact with the heated metal,
and the PARTICLES OF water collectively re.
tain their globular form but when the
metal vessel cools, the rephlsiye power
diminishes, and the wat coming into clo-
ser contact with the heltel surface, it's
particles can no longer retain their globu.
lar form, and eventually expand into
state of vapor. This globular condition Of
the particles of wator will account for
many very important phenomena perhaps
it is best exhibited in tho dew-drop and
SO long as these gobules retain their form,
water will retain its fluid properties. An
agglomeration of these gobules will carry
with them, under certain circumstances,
so much force that it is hardly contra.
diction to call water itself solid.
The chemical action Of certain posons
(thc most powerful Of ell agents. upon the
human frame, has plunged the Faculty
into maze of paradoxes indeed. there is
actually a system Of medicine advancing
in reputation) which is founded on this
cur'ols principle. A famons Saxon was
the fourder Of It; and, curious enough
medical men (who are notorious for enter
talninr contrary notions for doctors will
diffcr,") are still specializing among them-
selves whether he was very great quack
or very great philosopher. 1t is not our
purpos to attempt to decide this apparently
complex question but We can gather up
from his experience some curious contra
dictions, which h lp us still further into
the mysteries Of chemical science. While
engaged it translating an article upon
Ozark" from Culen's famous Mateyia
Me1ica, he experimentslly tasted some of
this medicine, which had long been celebra.
ted as n cure for the ague, and not long
afterwards he began to experience agueish
symptoms. This led him to the inference
that medicines which gives rise to the
symptoms of disesseare those which will
specifically cure it; pnd curious as it may
seem, several subsequent experiments have
confirmed this theory. Jenner's discovery
of vaccination for the small box-the me.
thod usually adopted in the treatment of
frostbitten limbs-the administration of
stimulants and opiates to persons whose
constitutions have become enervated, whose
limbs totter, and whose minds have sunk