The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1873-11-23
Scientific Scraps.

A French veterinarian anoints the inside of
oade Can oily liquid obtained from the wood i Of
tsntperSs oryoedTss) IN order to save tho animal
from annoyance by flies. The oil need not be
eppiied more than once . week, and it is per-
A great railway bridge In to be bniit a,ro..
the Firth Of Forth (sootland) at Queens Ferry,
which will DO the most stupendous work of the
kind In the World y Is to cost sx and
tho cost Of tho great bridge now building over
in height, and will contain nearly ono hundred
five hundred and fifty feet, and the smallest
spans one hundred and fifty feet in width.
The almost incredible statement is made bv
q correspondent of the London Lancet, that in
som, Of the manufacturing districts of Eng
death-rate among infants under one year old
Is from so to 80 per cent. The cause Of this
fearful al mortality tho Trter ascribs to the fact
care of ignorant elderly women, who feed them
with starch. food, as boiled bread, Cruel, ground
rice, etc.; substances which the infantile stom-
ach cannot digest, and which prove their GER
tain destruction if given in sufficient quantity
On the 18th of August the inhabitants of
Elessingen, little maritime town in Holland
situated at the mouth Of the Hondt, saw a city
haze they distinguished houses and trees
sharply outlined on a grayish background.
The city in the sky appeared upside down, the
the heavens and their roofs toward the sea-
During the mirage the heat was extreme and
bright flashes of lightning shot over the heav-
ems, accompanied with the rumbling of distant
| thunder.
| DE-. Favre has communicated to the French
Association the results of his observations on
| Daltonism, or color-blindness in railroad en-
ployees. AS physician to the Paris and Lyons
Railway Company, he has enjoyed special IA
cilities in studying this question, which has
SO Important bearing on the safety of the
travelling public: In 1876 men examined be-
of insensibility to red rays, and one to green.
Seven hundred and twenty-eight men were
examined in 1928, who presented forty-two
moro or less clear cases of Daltonism. Dr.
Favre insists on the necessity of frequently
| examining the engineers. switchmen, and other
employees who are charged with displaying
and observing signals.
Formation Of Diamonds.-A valuable collec-
tion of diamonds and other gems was exhib-
tied by DR.. A. c. Hamlin at the Portland meet
ing of the American Association. The diamond
is regarded by Dr.. Hamlin as geologically the
most recent of all gems. He rejects the theory
that it takes its crystalline shape within solid
rocks, by the disintegration of which it is re-
leased, and is subsequently found among the
debris in river gravels and other similar places.
he asserts that the diamond is found in, or
rather upon, beds of gravel, usually modified
drift, and has never been found anywhere else.
The diamond placers Of South Americs, India,
Ceylon, and South Africa are all geologically
identical; the placer is usually filled-up la
goon of basin shape, with gravelly bottom.
slight depth, Embedded in the gravel. Nearer
to the middle of the lagoon the depth of the
gravel may be seventy or eighty feet and
dig to RHs
| of occurrence, together with other reasons,
leads to the conclusion that the formation Of
diamonds began long after the close of the
drift period, and that they are of undoubted
vegetable origin, and have been crystalized by
the crystallogenic forces pervading the gravel
in which they are fonnd.
The doctors must really agree now and
then, about some things. All at once we are
at sea about our sleepipg-rooms. Many people
have confidently relied upon what was sup
posed to be an established principle, that
open, that acknowledgement atmosphere
is necessary for the sleeper's health and COM
fort. But now we find writer in the London
BHilder asserting that the direct flow of night
We have DR.. Hall (Halps Journal Of Healthy
emphatically declaring that cold air in g Sleep
ing room is unsafe. The window, in winter
time at least, must not be hoisted at night.
1t is safer to sleep in @ bad air all night,
with temperature of over fifty, than in a
pure air with temperature under forty"
mosphere of forty, and even fifty degrees,
when the lungs are always at ninety eight, is
too great a change. Many persons wake up in
who went to bed we'll, and are surprised that
this should be the case. The cause may often
be found in sleeping in q room the windows of
which had been foolishly hoisted for ventila-
ton" So says DR.; Hall: But here comes
DR.. Leeds, in the Sdnitarian, who utters an
entirely different philosophy. According to
this sarGnt, q cold sleeping.room is not only
supremely wholesome, but the very thing to
cure one of cold. Pure air is everything.
With plenty of warm covering, one may even
sleep in cold draught to great advantage.
"The lungs are soon filled with the fresh,
cold, invigorating air, which, with the rapid
flow of blood induced by the extra excitement
of that cold air, quickly produces a genial
refreshing sleep" "Where the body is kept
warm, and pure air only inhaled, there is not
one particle more danger of taking cold in
sleeping directly between two open windows
all the year round, than there is in taking
oughly warmed by. wrapping of furs and
robes, and such q thing as taking cold under
| such conditions never occurs, providing al
ways the thorough warming of the feet and
back, which are often neglected" Thus speaks
| DR.. Leeds. But which of these wise men
| shall be believer
Some originality has at last found its way