The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1880-05-29
NUMBER IS.
Scientific Miscellany.

! As the velocity of wind blowing in a
straight line it is claimed that 11O miles
an hour has been recorded; while cy-
clone, or wind with rotary motion, at
tains much greater veloeity probably
1s0 miles an hour having been observed
! Measurements of fsnchextraordinary gales
| are obtained with difficulty, and can
hardly be considered accurate.
"A Philadelphia child was born With
fair complexion, dark eyes and brown
hair. Soon after birth the skin of his
entire body began to grow dark, tho
| color deepening from yellow to saffron,
aud in about a year to the rich black of
full-blooded Negro. The hair became
stiff and jet black, and even the eyes
grew darker. Physical weakness and
commissions attended this change, until,
the child's life being threatened, com
petent medical attendance was obtained.
Since then sixteen months have elapsed,
| during which time the child's skin l,as
been gradually becoming lighter, being
| now of light chestnut color. The pc
culiar disease is a very rare one, and is
| known as melanosis, Or pigmentation.
The case has been an interesting one for
medical men.
Experiment shows that tarring ropes
slightly diminishes their strength against
a pulling strain; but ropes 50 treated
maintain q high average Of te,ieity
much longer than untarred enes, an ac-
count of the protection the tar affords
against atmospheric and other causes of
deterioration.
"A prehistoric cemetery has been dis
covered near Milan, Italy, containing
| vases and other articles Of such artistic
design tut they might serve as elegant
models for modern potters.
-Forty-thrcc small planets, or one fifth
of the total number now known, have
been discovered by Prof. Peters Of Clin-
| ton, N. Y. For this service to astronomy
he has been awarded Il prize by the
French Academy of Sciences.
1t is believed that the darkness Of
the deep-sea may be mitigated to ss1ae
extent by the phosphorescence OF certain
animals. Prof Mosely thinks it probable
that such of the dellizeDs Of the oceans
depths as have eyes congregate around
these light-giving forms, or gropc their
way in the gloom from one bunch to an
| other as they lie scattered over the sea-
| bottom-just as traveller may halffeea,
haif-see his way from lamp-post to lamp
post in London fog at night.
A late cattle plague i'll certain Rus
sian provinces resulted fatally in seven
| ty-fve or eighty per cent. of all the ami
mails affected by it. Seeing no escape
| for his cattle, one individual resorted to
/ the experiment of ipoculatins his healthy
beasts with the virus taken from the dis
eased ones. On the tenth day after the
operation all the cattle experimental
upon were taken i'll, and it is reported
that but eighteen per cent. died, leaving
eighty-two per cent. secure fre,, the cpi-
demic. So satisfactory is this result that
the experiment is to be repeated ON u
| large scale.
"A mathematical prodigy has lately
been exhibiting before the French An
thropological Society. He is an Italian
boy of ten or eleven years, with an in-
telligent look and large head, but not
remarkable in appearance. Among va
rious calculations he was asked to mu,
tiply 30O0,249 by 24c,o7a. The opera
ton took him two minutes, when lie gave
the exact result. This boy can neither
read nor write. He has just become ac-
quaintcd with figures, but declares that
he can calculate less easily than before
learning them.
+, DR.. G. ". Siemens has been expert
menting for some time with al electric
furnace for the purpose of melting il.
considerable quantities highly refractory
metals, such as platinum, iridium and
steel The results obtained are very sat
isfact0ry. So intense was the heat ac-
cumulated by the electric current in one
Of these furnaces lately exhibited in Lon
don, that in about twenty minutes two
pounds Of broken files were completely
melted 1t is stated that the arrange
nlent-nay be applied OH large scale.
-Signor Gagliardi, recently commits
stoned by the japanese Government to
explore the Ibaraki mountain yauge, re-
ports the discovery Of u.uneEe.ls very
rich marble yeius of various c1iors. One
mountain seemed mass Of white stat
nary marble while i'll another locality
he found black marble equal to the finest
i'll Europe He predicts that, with care
FIJI quaFrying and good facilities for
transportation, Japan will become the
great marble -prodnein. country Of the
world.
From repeated observations upon
human skulls, Dr. LeboH Of Paris infers
that intelligence is usually in direct pro-
, portion to the size Of the Uranium.
I IA Boston physician" writes Prof.
. r. A. Proctor, from the result of his
experience states that tie use Of high
lscelea hoots causes injnry to the eyes
+ not only weakening lie sight, bnt pro-
| dneing Il sensation of constant pain. Ii
IS not altogether 50 surprising as might
be supposed that the eyes shol,ld fhn:
j -, -.