The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-11-19

Near Sebastopol the pedestal of bronze
statute has been dug up. 1t is covered
with Hellenic inscriptions belonging to
the second century before the Christian
Era.
The ammoniacal Fehling solution, for
estimating glucose, is made by mixing
120 cubic centimeters of the ordinary
Fehling solution with 800 C. of ammo
MIA, having the specific gravity of 0.SS
and diluting to 10000. C. Pavy says 100
C. C. of this liquid is pable of oxidizing
O.O5 of gramme of glucose.
Professor Edwin Klebs, having as
pirated the air of malarial districts
through suitable apparatus, obtained Or
ganisms of about 0.95 micro-millimetres
in maximum diameter, capable of pro-
ducing malarial fever on incubation. He
named them Bacillus Malarie. As they
are developed in presence of free oxygen,
they belong to the Erobii of Pasteur.
Among the articles exhibited at the
General Congress of German Arothe.
carries, held at Hanover on September
4th, were specimen of genuine Oriental
bezoar, goblet of metallic antimony
formerly used for imparting purgative
effect to wine or beer, venerable sam
Pile of Album Grecum, and selection
of chemical apparatus inscribed with
alchymistic symbols.
A work by Berthelot is in press in
which he discusses the principles of me-
chanics which preside at the generation
of organic compounds and, generally, of
all chemical reactions, of which such
generation is but a particular case. By
this evolution, he maintains, chemistry
tends to leave the ranks of the merely
descriptive sciences and to pass over and
unite with those of the purely physical
and mechanical sciences.
Some time ago it was here noted that
the experiments of Grandeur and Le-
clerc on maize and tobacco appeared to
show that the withdrawal of atmospheric
electricity was injurious to vegetation.
Naudin has made similar experiments on
kidney-beans, lettuce, tomatoes and the
nerbaceous cotton-plant and found ahat
they were benefited by the withdrawal of
electricity. He concludes that the action
of electricity, like that of light, heat and
moisture, varies upon different species of
plants.
The diagometer, an instrument de-
vised by Prof. Palmieri, is undergoing
examination in order to ascertain its val
lie in determining the purity of olive oil.
The principle ON which it is based is the
difference in the electric conductivity of
various oils. Seed oils conduct better
than olive-oil, and all oils conduct better
when impure or adulterated. Linseed
and cotton-seed oils are among the best
conductors. But the oils of pine-seed
and hazelnuts are as feeble conductors as
the best olive-oil. Fortunately these two
oils are too rare and costly to be used to
adulterate olive-oil.
The weighting of silk is ruinous to the
silk-growing departments Of France.
Their high-class products are no longer
in demand, as inferior and cheaper for
eign silks serve equally we'll for loaded
tissues. Hence, these districts, already
suffering from the phylloxera and from
the loss of the madder trade, are in the
ostdistress Marius Moyret proposes
that in the sale of silks, as in that of
gold and silver, the proportions of the
real article and of the weighing mat
ters should be exactly specified, and that
a central office for the cheap and rapid
assay of silks should be opened in Ly-
ons.
A remarkable case of surgery has been
reported to the French Academy of
Medicine. A carpenter nearly cut off
the big toe of his right foot with an ak.
The toe was held to the foot by small
thread of skin only. DR.. Ganey detached
the toe completely, and having washed
it and the wound on the foot, brought
the surface together again and held them
in place by strips Of lint, soaked with
collodion. When the collodion had set
another strip was wound round. An ap-
paratus was used also to keep all parts of
the foot immoyable. Twenty-four days
after the accident the cicatrization was
perfect. ,.
Mr.. Kingzett finds that the sanitary
properties Of the eucalyptus are not
owing to its drainage powers, but to the
oil which is evaporated from its leaves.
The oil is practically identical with the
oil of turpentine derived from pine trees,
and with most Of the so-called essential
oils or perfumes. All these oils, when
subjected to the action of atmospheric
oxygen, produce peroxide of hydrogen
and a number of camphoraceous sub
stances having marked antiseptic charac-
teristics What is true of the eucalyptus
is true also Of pine, and on an immensely
larger scale, for pine forests are distrib-
uted freely over both hemispheres, and
the oil of turpentine, which is natural
product of the pine, undergoes the same
chemical changes in the atmosphere as
the oil Of the eucalyptus.
DIR. Allen Thomson, or London, gives
the following account of the scorpion
committing suicide by means of its own
poison: While residing many years ago
during the summer months, at the baths
of Lucca, in Italy, in somewhat damp
locality, my informant, together with the