The Hickman courier., 1878-06-14
SCIENCE GOSSIP.

FROM the annual reports of the luna>
tic asylums of Bengal it appears that net
less than 3066 per cent. of the total
number of cases of Iunacy can be traced
TO the excessive use of gunga, one of the
most deleteriOus preparations made from
Indian hemp.
MEUNIER and Tissander have noted
facts showing that the sediment of exist.
ing seas contains magnetic globules like
those which constantly fall from the
upper atmosphere upon the earth, and
that these globules must have formed
part OF the deposits Of the oceans of the
ancient geological epochs.
IN q paper on famines, Cornelius
Walford, of the I&ondCn Statistical So
ciety, showed that periods of excessive
I destltutlOn had given rise to several of
the most important OF English institu-
tiOns first, the Poor law, in the reign
OF Elizabeth, and its equivalent in India
IN 1871 3 second, the system Of govern
ment relief works in India; and third,
The laws regulating the importation of
corn.
SALICINE has been found to be cura-
tive OF ague, coryZs, and some cases Of
neuralgia IN which quinine has failed.
quinine, the best remedy for fever, grows
IN countries where it is most needed, and
now we have salicine extracted from the
willow, which grows in localities where
fever aud ague most abound, This is no
doubt accidental, but it is nevertheless q
curious coincidence.
It has been proved in regard to rail-
ways that rails placed in the direction Of
b..
/ differently from rails placed at right
angles to this direction the former
/ oxydize and do not become brittle the
latter DO not oxydize, but do become
/ brittle in intermediate directions rails
participate more or less in the qualities
of those which are placed in the two
extreme directions.
Although China has long been known
/ to possess enormous csal fields, the
suDerstitions OF the people have prevent
! ed all attempts 10 explore and use them
up to the present time. 1t is worthy OF
note that a mandarin bas at last obtained
permission TO form company to work &
coal mine about enc hundred and twenty
miles west Of Cheefoo, with all the
modern scientific appliances, and also to
construct a Uramway 70 the sea fol
transportation.
Mr.. Stab, corresponding member o
the society Of arts at Smyrna, report
that the plague of field-mice, or rats, ha'
again broken loose, and that they ar'
wasting tie fields far and wide, diggins
up the seed-corn, and devouring all they
can This is the plague from which
Homer records that Apollo Smythiu
delivered the Greeks. As the Smythial
Apol.o no longer has believers, Mr.. StaI
wishes to know what remsdy can b
recommended. The western states c
Americs suffer much from this pest.
PRor. STEVENSON, from an examina
tiouof the sur ace geology of fsouthwester
Pennsylvania and the adjoining portion
of Naryland and West Virginia, con
z c!udes that, after the submeTgence foI
, lowing the glacial period, the continen
rose 70 n greater height than it had at
. tained before submergence, or that th
ocean was dawn of TO a lower level thA
before, the result in either case bein
! the same-to depTess the mouths OF th
> great rivers, to increase the fall OF III
streams. and therefore to cause the rap
, deepening Of the water ways.
A Paris correspondent OF Nature says
, d" On March 10 a parricide was guile
r tined at Evreux (Eure), and & fraternit
r for burying the dead existing in tn
2 place, the body was not, as usual, throw
ints a large basket and sent hurriedly
2 its grave. An ordinary coffin was pre-
e pared, and as soon as the execution VS.
z completed the corpse was laid in it. I
p the horror Of the spectators the body va
Z seen to be- agiteted by spasms so powe
= / tul that it almost jumped twice out (
r the coffin, and it was necessary to III
r ! force IN order to contrsl its motion
D. ! These coDtractions were, of course, una
. companied by consciousness"