The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1880-09-12
SCIENTIFIC ~MIscELLAxY.

burg phlsiolOgisl. IL Al thai cannot De
explained by chemistry or physics"
In 1881 the American association for
the advancement Of science viii meet
ut Cincinnati, and at Montreal in 1882.
Late experiments have shown that
seeds thoroughly dried are much slower
in producing plants than the undried,
while the crops yielded are considerably
greater.
Bisulphide Of carbon, which has
proved an effectual destroyer Of the
phylloxera Of the vineyards, has also
been found a potent agent for the de-
struction Of many other insect pests.
At the Boston meeting OF the Ameri-
car association for the advancement Of
science about six hundred new members
were elected. Two hundred and eighty
papers were entered for the meeting.
II is stated on the authority Of one
who claims to have tried the expert
ment that u handful Of hay placed In a
pail Of water in a newly painted room
viii entirely neutralize the odor OF the
paint.
The sorrowful tree, SO called because
IL hourishes only in the night. Is found
on the island Of Goa. near Bombay.
The flowers, which appear soon after
sunset, close up or fall on as the sun
rises. The tree has a fragrant odor,
and blossoms at night the year round.
A German physician ~entertains the
novel view that insanity is n boon to
mankind. He contends that the loss Of
reason lands the sufferer from a sea OF
trouble into a state Of comparative
calm-often Of decided happiness; and
attempts TO restore such a person 10
sanity would be cruel rather than kind.
Moreover, lie insists that n certain
amount Of insanity Is necessary 10 sue
cess in life. All eminent men are de-
cidedly nor or less mad. Many OF
them are dangerous monomaniacs
whom it should be decided on public
grounds to shut up, but who, neverthe-
less, achieve grand careers and are
credited with doing u 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 unable 10 distinguish
between good and evil.
Bagdad, according TO n medical au-
thority, Is distinguished for a curious
and mysterious malady, which affects
every inhabitant Of the city, whether
citizen or stranger. 1t is a sore, called
a date mark" because after 1t has
healed 1t leaves an indelible mark about
the size and shape Of a date. 1t gener-
ally makes its appearance upon the face,
lasts a year, and then disappears. The
cheek OF nearly every man and woman
In Bagdad shows the inevitable mark.
Sometimes 1t settles upon the nose, and
then the Disagreement is great; some
times on the eyelid, when blindness
results. Strangers are attacked even
after a brief residence; but fortunately,
IL 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
1t. DIR. Thorn has examined the ulcer
microscopically, and finds 1t TO he c,m-
posed Of a fungoid growth.
The microscope shows n variation in
the thickness OF human hair from one
two-hundredth to one six-hundredth
part Of an inch, but Notwithstanding
such fineness, each hair Is q massive
cable when compared with some other
6bers. The thread Of the silkworm, for
instance, is from mi seventeen-hun-
dredth to one two-thousandth Of an
inch thick. Even this, however, Is
far surpassed in slenderness by the spi-
der's thread, which has been found in
some cases to be no more than one
thirty-thousandth Of an inch in dame
ter. The fibers yielded by the vegetable
kingdom are also Of astonishing mi
nuteness. Every fiber Of fax Is found
to be composed of n bundle Of other
fbrils, which are about N twenty-five
hundredth of an inch in thickness.
Similar ibers from the pineapple plant
have been ascertained to be M more
than n fve-thousandth, or even one
seven.thousandth Of an inch in dia-
meter.
NJ. j. Plateau has suggested n meth
cd Of estimating approximately the dis
lance ut which the moon seems to be TO
different persons. The plan consists in
looking steadily at the moon until the
retina Is sufficiently fatigued to produce
an accidental" image or spectral ap-
pearance. The observer must then
turn his gaze to q blank wall, on which
he will see the accidental image pro-
jected rs a tinted patch Of the same
shape as the noon. He is then to re-
treat from, or advance to, the wall
until this image appears to him to be OF
the same size rs the moon itself did.
The distance between the observer and
the wall is the same ut which lie uncon-
sciously takes the noon TO be. A per-
son who tried the experiment found the
distance in his case to be about 100
feet. This seems n small dIsfnnce h,,f