The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1872-05-23

SCIENTIFIC MEMORANDA.

SCIENIHklC
Brain-work costs more food than
hand-work. According to careful esh-
mates and analysis Of the excretioDs,
three hours Of hard study wear out the
body more than whole day Of physi-
cal labor. Another evidence of the
cost of brain-work is obtained from the
fact that though the brain is only one
fortieth the weight Of the body it re-
ceives about one fifth of all the blood
sent by the heart into the system.
Brain. workers therefore require a more
liberal supply Of food, and richer food,
than manual laborers. Il
Every iron rail on north and south
railroad, 80 far as have been able to
examine, is perfect magnet, the north
end attracting the south pole and the
south end the north pole OF a magnetic
| needle. So also in T rail OF such 8
railroad the lower flange attracts the
south pole and the upper fange the
north pole Of a needle. Or. Richard
Owen, of Indiana State University
The st. Gothard tunnel is now the
great engineering project in Europe.
The success oftbe Mt. Gents tunnel has
aroused the fears of Switzerland and
Germany regarding the future Of the
Asiatic trade. In order, therefore, to
be on an equal footing in this respect
with France, it ia proposed to pierce the
Alps near the ST. Gothard Pass. The
estimated cost is $37, 100000; the tun-
mel will be twice as long as the Mt.
Cents, and the rocks are much more
difficult to manage, but it is thought
that with the experience which has
been gained in other works, it can be
constructed in much shorter time than
was required for the Mt. Gents tunnel.
A balloon capable of certain degree
of guidance through the agency Of
rudder and screw worked by four men.
has been constructed at Paris, by NJ.
Dupuy de LONE.
To Prof. J. D. Dana, of Yale College,
the council OF the Geological Society has,
awarded the WolTaston medal OF the
present year.
The spectrum of hydrogen has been
recently made the subject Of experiment
by Prof. Angstrom; he states that it
presents only four lines and considers
that the other spectra that have been
given are in error from the presence OF
impurities. He also examined the
spectra of atmospheric air under differ.
ent degrees of rarefaction, add found
that at first it was that of air; then OF
nitrogen; then Of corbonic oxide, and
when the exhaustion had reached its
utmost limit the spectrum obtained was
that of sodium and chlorine.
The were-wolves, or man-tigers and
man.hyenas of by-gone popular super
stition were, according to Mr.. A. Il.
Wallace, probably men who had excep-
tional power of acting upon certain
sensitive individuals, and could make
them, when 80 acted upon, believe they
saw whatever the mesmerizer pleased.
A rival to tea and coffee is said to
have been found in guarano or the seeds
of the PauEnas Sorbit;s which contain
an active principle similar to that found
in tea and coffee.
Strawberry plants should he set out
as soon as they are received II the
ground is not ready and the planting
has to be deferred, open the box or
package at once. The plants may have
become heated, and, as the temperature
in the package increases, a few hours
delay may destroy their vitality.-(Dr.
F. NJ. Hexamer.)
That railway axels break less fire.
auently in summer than in winter is
shown by the recent report Of the Ger
man Railway Association, In which it
is stated that during the summer half
year fifty-five axels broke, while during
the winter half seventy-seven broke,
although the traffic was less.
Mineral cotton, to be used as nom
conducting packing for steam boilers
and pipe, may be made by blowing a
jet OF steam through current Of liquid
Stag. ..
Stag answers admirably for rod maxi
ing and for preparing concrete.
Petroleum has been successfully ap-
piled in St. Louis to the refining Of crude
cast iron and it's conversion into bar
and malleable iron. Common Iron
Mountain pig iron is said to have been
converted into the best flsnge boiler
iron by single application Of the liquid
fuel in the pudding furnace.
Perfect anesthesia may be produced
and sustained for long time without
the usual danger by administering q
simultaneous injection OF hydrochlorste
OF morphine about halt an hour be.
fore the inhalation of chloroform.-
MRS. L. Liable and g. Guyon.
There are no leeches or mosquitoes
in Thibet, nor are maggots or feas
ever seen there, and in Dincham or
Thibet proper there are no bees or
wasps. A curious disease, known as
goomtook, or the laughing disease, at
times attacks both the men and women
of this country. 1t is attended by ex-
cruciating pain in the throat, and often
proves fatal in a few days.-(Dr. Camp
bell, Superintendent Of Dsjeelling)
The diving-bell has been successfully
used in mines in Westphalis that were
flooded with water, for the purpose Of
repairing the valves Of the pumps. u
The restoration of the writing on
manuscripts chsrred by fire may, it is
said, be accomplished by separating the
charred paper into single leaves, i'm.