The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1880-09-25
NUMBER 8.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

During late balloon ascent speed
of not less than 100 miles an hour was
attained.
IAN embslmed Egyptian asp, proba-
bly, three Thousand years old, is in the
possession of a Boston gentleman.
-" Life, !" says distinguished stras-
burg Psychologist, lis all that can not
be explained by chemistry or physics
I'm 1881 the American Association for
the Advancement of Science will meet
at Cincinnati, and at Montreal in 1882.
Late experiments have shown that
seeds thoroughly dried are much slower
in producing plants than the nndried,
while the crops yielded are considerably
greater.
At the Boston meeting Of the Ameri-
| can Association for the Advancement of
Science about six hundred new members
were elected. Two hundred and eighty
papers were entered for the meeting.
-Bisulphide of carbon, which has
proved an effective destroyer of the
phylloxera of the vineyards, has also
been found q potent agent for the de-
struction of many other insect pests.
1t is stated, ON The authority of one
who claims to have tried the experiment,
that handful of hay placed in pail of
water in Il newly painted room will en-
tirely neutralize the odor Of the paint.
The sorrowful tree, SO called because
it flourishes only in the night, is found
on the island of Goa, near Bombay. The
flowers, which appear soon after sunset,
close up or fall off as the sun rises. The
tree has fragrant ordor, and blossoms
at night the year round.
"A German physician entertains the
novel view that insanity is q boon to
mankind. He contends that the loss of
reason lands the sufferer from sea Of
trouble into state of comparative calm
often Of decided happiness; and at
tempts to restore such person to sanity
would be cruel rather than kind. More
over, he insists that certain amount OF
insanity is necessary to success in life.
ALI eminent men are decidedly more or
less mad. Many of them are dangerous
monomaniacs whom it should be decided
on public grounds to shut up, but who,
nevertheless, achieve grand careers and
are credited with doing q vast amount
of good. The general prevalence of false
notions of sanity he attributes to the.
fact that the greater mass of humanity
is also insane, and quite unable to dis
tinguish between good and evil.
The microscope shows variation in
thickness of human hair from one two
hundreatha to one six-hnndredth part Of
an inch, but, notwithstanding such fne-
ness, each hair is a massive cable when
| compared with some other fbers. The
thread of the silkworm, for instance, is
from one seventeen-hundredth to one
two-t -thousandth of an inch thick. Even
this, however, is far surpassed in slen-
derness by the spiders thread, which
has been found in some cases to be no
more than one thirty y-thousandth of an
inch in diameter. The fibers yielded by
the vegetable kingdom are also of aston
ishing minuteness. Every fiber of fax
is found to be composed of bundle of
other fbrils. which are about one twen-
ty-fve-hundredth of an inch in thick
ness. Similar fbers from the pineapple
plant have been ascertained to be No
more than one fve-thousandth, or even
one en-thousandth Of an inch in
diameter.
-Bagdad, according to medical au-
thority, is distinguished for curious
and mysterious malady, which affects
every inhabitant of the city, whether
citizen or stranger. 1t is sore, called
date mari, because after it has healed
it leaves an indelible mark about the
size and shape Of date. 1t generally
makes the appearance upon the face, lasts
year, and then disappears. The cheek
of nearly every man and woman in Bag
dad shows the inevitable mark. Some
times it settles upon the nose, and then
the Disagreement is great; sometimes on
the eyelid, when blindness results.
Strangers are attacked even after brief
residence, but fortunately, if they are
adults, the sore is more apt to appear on
the arm. In every case the attack runs
its course for one year, and no treatment
accelerates or retards it. DR.. Thorn has
examined the ulcer microscopically aud
finds it to be composed of fungoid
growth.
M. j. Plateau has suggested a method
of estimating approximately the distance
at which the moon seems to be to differ
ent persons. This plan consists in look
ing at the moon steadily until the re,ina
is sufficiently fatigued to produce an
" accidental " image or spectral appear
ance. The observer must then turn his
gaze to a blank wall, ON which he will
see the accidental image projected as
tented patch Or the same shape as the
moon. He is then to rrtrrat from, Or adj
vance to, the wall until tlis image ap-
pears to be Of The same size 81 the moon
itself did. The distance between the OBJ
server and the wall will be the same "a
that at which he unconsciousIy takes the
moon to be. A person who tried the ex-
pertinent found the distance in his case