The Hickman courier., 1873-02-08
SCIENTIFIC AND CURIOUS.

A RICH naptha spring has been discov-
cred in the Province of Caserta, near
Naples, and according to the Society of
Arts Journal it is now being worked by
a Milanese firm.
NJ. DUPoNcHEL ascribes the origin of
auroras to the modification of the calo-
rife waves to traverse the atmosphere
and become nearly tangential, especially
in the neighborhood of the poles, he
supposes that they produce the well
known effects
Two new mineral species, from the
Province of Los Bordos, in Chill, have
been described by NJ Bertrand in re-
cent number of the 'Annales des
Mines. One of these is a double chic
ride of silver and mercury, called bor-
dosite the other is native oxide of
mercury, termed hydrargyrite.
THE " ATLANTIS " OF THE ANcIENTs.-
Plato's tradition of the lost continent
is being verified by leading geologists,
and that the space now occupied by the
Atlantic Ocean was once the continent
Upon the Rocky Mountains abundant
evidence of the theory that they are
outskirts of it are found in the aquatic
plants and shells strewn over them.
THE London journals state that that
interesting young stranger, the hippo
potamus recently born in the Zoologi-
cal Gardens, is being brought up en-
tirely by hand. Like children general
ly, he is giving considerable trouble TO
his keepers. As an instance of his ju-
venile precocity, it is mentioned that he
can already remain under water twice
as long as his mother
ACCORDING to DIR. Carpenter, if we go
deep enough In the open sea we shall
find the temperature as low as thirty
two degrees, but inclosed seas, such as
the Mediterranean, the deeper and cold
er- water, circulating from the poles,
can not enter therefore the lowest
bottom temperature is determined by
the lowest winter temperature of the
surface. Scarcity of life in the Medit-
erranean he considers to owing to a de-
ficiency of oxygen in the water, due to
Its combination with large quantity of
organic matter brought down by the
rivers and empting into it.
BATHING IN COLD WATER. Nothing
is more common than custom of many
persons to have a cold water-bath i'm
mediately on leaving their beds, as
daily habit DelicateIy oreanized la
dies not unfrequently have established
the same course, considering it condu-
Give to health. There is au impression
that it invigorates the individual,
hardens the muscles and Strengthens
the constitution. The sudden abstrac-
ton of caloric or vital warmth in that
way has hot only injured but destroyed
more than were ever benefited thereby
A reaction, as it is called, glow of
warmth that subsequently follows, is
direct draft upon the system to meet a
sudden loss of vitality, and is by no
means so beneficial as theoretically
imagined. A tepid bath makes no such
injurious demands, and, therefore, is
not injurious or perilous for those of a
frail structure
THE BEdINEIG OF LIFE. Speculative
are inundating the world |
with theoretical speculations about the |
probable way life first commenced.
But they have no facts to sustain their
nor can the most ingenious |
of them prove single circumstance to
sustain their best conjectures. How |
life commenced is Divine secret which
mans wisdom will never unfold. That |
it had a beginning is morally certain.
That life terminates with each and every
however high or low in the
organic scale of existense, admits of no
question. This then embraces all That is
known of our origin or our final exit
rom the stage of vital activity, beyond
,he revelations of the Bible. These
refer exclusively TO physi-
al existence, wholly disconnected with
hose aspirations, revelations or Chris
ian expectations, of conscious, never
ending, spiritual life, wholly indepen-
lent and disconnected with matter.