The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-01-30
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

| charged with musk, the perfume Of
which permeatcs the building to this
day.
In tho north Of England habit of
ether-imbibing is said to prevail. AS
"a drunk" on sulphuric ether is less OK
pensive than ON alcoholic liquids, the
practice Is increasing.
DIR. Siemons. the. eminent scientist,
| has estimated that the entire coal sup
ply of the world would be sufficient
power to pump back the water which
flows over Niagara Falls in single
year.
During the excavations now in prog
rcss in the bed of the Rhonc, near Cen
eva, many interesting objects, assigned
by arch@ologists to the ago of polished
stone, have been unearthed. Tho most
Interesting of these relics is scraper of
| jade, highly finished, and as perfect as
when it lett the hands OF the workman.
As the mineral is found only in Asia,
| the learned archHologists are earnestly
trying to learn how the instrument
found was transported to the Rhone
gravel at Geneva. Was jade ever an ar
| ticle of trade between the East and
West in prehistoric times? A solution
of tho problem is calculated to throw
much light on the habits of certain his
toric peoples.
1t is stated that M. de Brazza, who
has charge of an expedition to Senegal,
carries an electric battery in his pocket
communicating with two rings on his
hand and with other apparatus about
his person. When he shakes hands
with savage chief, that individual will
be surprised by an electric shock run
ming up his arm and lightning playing
about the head of his visitor. He will
naturally believe the stranger to be the
devil, and treat him with due respect.
The first minor planet, or asteroid,
was discovered Jan. l, 1901, the first
day of the nineteenth century. Over
two hundred of these minute worlds
probably varying from ten to three hum
dred miles in diameter-are now
known, and, as everybody is well
aware, the number is being rapidly in
creased.
meteorological observations have now
become SO extended that evidence is rap
idly accumulating to enable us to deter
mine positively the source of the cold
aerial waves which sweep across our
country during the winter season. Tho
j indications are that we owe them to the
I great area of high barometer in north
eastern Siberia, where the pressure
sometimes exceeds 81 so inches, and the
temperature falls as low as 76 degrees
below zero. The pole of greatest cold
is in the neighborhood of Yakutsk, on
the Lena, where the average thermome-
trio reading in January is Al degrees
T below zero, and where the severest
cold exceeds by 10 degrees that expert
enced in high arctic regions. This is al
SO the region of the highest barometric
pressure known in winter; and from it,
doubtless, proceed the waves of intense
, cold which play so large part in our
| winter experiences.
Abbie Moigno regrets the selection,
, as the unit of metric measurement, OF
the ten-millionth of meridional quad
rant, as the meridians vary i'll length
and the unit must be an uncertain stand
ard. AS a better standard he proposes
the cubit of the Great Pyramid, which
represents the ten-millionth of the
carth's polar axis. Sir John Herschel
made this same suggestion nearly thir-
!, ty years ago.
B, Experts in mctcorology describe all
C storms as rotary, and caused by the
: meeting of opposite currents Of air OF
: different temperatures having local
S motion around constantly advancing
J., centre. North of the equator this mo-
O ton is almost universally from right tc
n left; in the southern hemisphere tho
G rule is reversed. Ninety per cent off thl
a tornadocs noted in the United States il
c the last eighty years have pursued
C general eastward course, with grcate
d or less DETECTION to the north.
o Prof. Griesbach has lcftsto the Uni
II versity of Gottingen magnificent her
Is Is barium. containing over 10000 plant
u from all parts of the world.
le An eminent English astronomer esti
L. mates the suns orbit to be about :, 1912,
st 900 900 900 miles in diameter, with
le period of revolution equal to about 2,
Is ACC, 900 of our years. This Is mer
ID speculation, however, based on yer
I'd uncertain data.
u, DIR. G.. Wilkes, described, at a receu
~ meeting of the London Clinical Socit
~ ty, a remarkable case of Lightning
W stroke. A farm laborer was struck b
W lightning while standing under wi
su low tree, near the window of shed
81 which his three fellow-workmen ha
sn1 lust taken shelter from violent storI
atl lu of rain. His companions found Il
'',l on tree partly denuded of Its bark, and Il
!. patients boots standing at its foo
~ 10 Tho patient himself was lying on b
au back two yards of, and, though he w
previously fully clothed, he was no
- absolutely naked. He was consciou
20 a. but much burned, and his leg was ba
w. ly broken. The field around W
% t%o strewn with fragments of the clothin
~" ,no The clothes were split or torn from {
90 to bottom, but showed evidence of Fl
o ors only where they came in contact wi
Sho metal, such as his watch and the buc
as, ~ 10 of his waist belt. The left boot W
!, torn and twisted into fantastic shap'
~ but the sole was uninjured, and the
,,',a was no sign of fire upon it; tho rig
boot had the leather much torn and I
u ~ sole rent and burned. A hole W
| |I'as burned through the case OF the watt
,;ao and the chain was almost entirely Ill
', ou troyed. The stockings were split do'
,So Io the inner side. The hat was uninjurt
~ ."s The patient stated that he was stru
,;oh violently on the chest and shoulde
III became envelopcd in binding hg
o@ls' @ and was hurled into the air, oomi
ue. ,'H down on his back, and never losing CO
IVY NV sciousness. His body was covered W
ov '~th burns, broad crimson band of burni
'nri 'n passing down each thigh and i
ior un Twenty weeks after the occurrence
un was discharged completely healed.
,n o Wilks remarked ON the almost &C
ea o plete exemption from injury of the y
en Ia,s vous system and on tho probability
n NJ the clothes being wet acted as e
- ~ q conductors, and SO diverted the elecl
In. o current from the great nervous trun
pub thus s''i''s '"o l'"" -0
the A dangerous and infectious disc
amono bees is reported from Italy.