The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1879-08-29
. SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

btiENifflO mlOtEIIANIs
An International exhibition of fisl
and fisheries is contemplated at BerliI
for next year. .tHaL ~
II is stated that German manufac
tory turns out one thousand pounds O
grape-sugar per day, made from oil,
linen. The old linen, which is pur,
vegetable fibrine, is treated with sui
phuric acid, and converted into dex
trjne. This is washed with 1ime-water
then treated with more acid, when i
almost Immediately changes and crys
talllzes into glucose or grape-sugar.
In response 10 Mr.. Edison's ipouirie
for platinum, California Journals asser
that the hydraulic miners of the Pacifi,
coast are able to save enough of tha
metal to supply any demand that may
arise.
An English inventor has receptl,
patented in this country a railway
sleeper made of cast glass.
The geologist, DR.. Moesta. has dis
covered the remains ofan oak forest. al
depth of seven TO eight feet. near Ro.
tcnburg. The number of weII-nro.
served trunks is very large. One OF
them measures about sixty feet in
length and five feet in diameter. -
Alter measuring nine hundred and
seventy human hearts, Prof. Bcncke.
OF Marburg, Germany, has concluded
that the growth of that organ is great.
est during the first and second wears al
life. At the end of the second wear IL Is
doubled in size, and during the next
lvc years is again doubled. Its growth
Is tnen much slower, though from the
iiiteenth to the twentieth year its size
increases by two-thirds. A very slight
growth is then apparent up TO the age
OF hity, when it gradually diminishes. s.
Except in childhood, mems hearts are
decidedly larger than those of women.
A late application Of electricity is an
attachment to street letter boxes which
SOUNDS an alarm at the nearest police
station in case an attempt is made to
Two hundred minor planets are now
known-that discovered by Prof Pe-
ters on the night of July IL being the
two hundredth. '
A German patent has been issued for
iamo-wlcks of a glass thread covered
with cotton. A wick lasts as long as
inc lamp containing it is in use.
Further experiments in electric light
ning on the Thames Embankment.
London, indicate that the liz hit NAV be
produced much cheaper than was
deemed possible at the time the official
report was made. 1t now appears that
the cost may be reduced by existing
appliances and machinery to something
not greatly in excess of that of gas. y
Opponents of DIR. Schliemann declare
it to be impossible to identify Hissarlik
with the Homeric Troy, for the reason
that at the time of the great epic war
the site must have been covered by the
sea- Berlin geologists, however, pro-
nounce all the building stones brought
from Hissarlik to be of fresh water for
nation, thus confirming DR.. Schlie-
mann's conclusions.
Complies Rendus gives the results of
some experiments recently made by M .
Arloing which throw much light on the
mechanism of accidents which fire.
quently occur in the use of chloroform
and ether as anaesthetics. Deate some
times suddenly occurs in the course of
the excitation caused by the first inspi-
ration OF these substances. q In this
case, M. Arloing says, it is due to re-
f1ex stoppage of the heart and the res
piration, arising from irritation of the
nerves of the first respiratory passages.
Later, when the anaesthetic has spread
through the circulation, death seems to
come through arrest of the heart. If
the anaesthesia has lasted long time,
or the anaesthetic been given in large
dose, there is poisoning, and death
commences by stoppage of the resplra-
ton, stoppage of the heart following.
All the cases of death may be referred
TO one ofthese three categories. In the
first phase, then, attention should be
given both to the heart and the respira-
ton, and this with ether as we'll as with
chlorotorm. In the second phase the
heart should specially be looked to.
vigilance being doubled in the case of
chloroform. In the third phase the
respiration is to be watched with care.
and, as the denOuemeat of poisoning by
ether is the more sudden, the surgeon
should prefer chloroform where the
operation is likely to prove a long one.
Two German scientists, Victor and
Carl Meyer of Zurich, claim to have
made most important chemical dis
covery. Experiments conducted by
them have led to the conclusion that
chlorine, instead of being itself an ele-
mentary substance, is an oxide ofa new
element to which they have given the
name Murium. ~
Jewish negroes have been found in
numbers in Central Afri-
CO. They trace their origin to the first
captivity, when some of the Hebrews
fled to the desert and intermarried
with the natives. Nearly every family
possesses the law Of Moses OH parch-
ment. Il -i a'At4
DR.. Companys, French physician,
who had charge of tho sanitary ar
of the Suez canal works, |
has been sent to Panama TO study the |
subject of health regulations on the |
isthmus canal. 49, '. HH ]
Recent trials at the Royal Agricul- |
tural toilegc, nave shown carbonate of
baryta TO be the most effective poison
for rats and similar vermin. In these
experiments the poison was mixed with |
four times its weight of barley meal, |
pellets of the paste being introduced
into the holes of the rats, and house and |
field mice. A small quantity proves
fatal. NiH
phofooranh;c pattarps m, s;il-
ing introduced by a Lyons (France)
manu- featuring firm. ,l.f
The invention of cork shoppers for
bottles is attributed to the Benedietine
monk, Peignon, who from 1868 to 1715
was butler at the farm of Hautvillers,
belonging to his order. For long
thousand years-bot- |
ties were stopped with fax stopper
dipped in oil. ana rr.F -
A x..sow~o.o-;~ o.,s.o.... Y,