The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-04-28
sCNTILLATIsNs OF sCiENCL.

ing the terminating power of seeds. Dt
Candolle and R. Pictet subjected the
seeds of plants to temperature of so
without injuring them very seriously.
At the recent meeting Of the Institu
tlon of Naval Architects, England, Ad.
miral Selwyn recommended every one to
study Prof. Rankine's admirable paper
on Combustion" when they would know
the exact amount of oxygen necessary to
burn the different varieties Of coal with
the greatest advantage. The student
would learn, he said, that the British
were far behind in what had been done
in America with anthracite.
Some time ago, it will be remembered,
Mr. Gladstone and others, basing their
opinions on certain passages in Homer
and in various other ancient and more
modern authors, concluded that the alb
sence of accurate color terms indicate a
want of color perception. But such
careful observers as Cohn, Virchow, and
Almqvist have found that the color
sense in uncivilized nations is we'll de-
veloped even though they may have no
words to express the different shades.
Berthelot has examined the question
whether the ordinary sound vibrations
of bodies can produce chemical decompo-
sitions and combinations. 1t is believed
by many persons that explosives may be
detOEated if exposed to the influence of
certain musical notes, but this belief is
by NO means firmly established. AL
though Berthelot tried the effect of very
deep sounds and very acute ones upon
ozone, arsenic hydride, sulphuric acid,
in presence of ethylin oxygen
ated water, and persulphuric acid,
without noting any change of stability.
He thinks, therefore, that matter is un-
affected by these sounds. but that it is
decomposed by ETHEREAL vibrations,
which are much more rapid.
Another electric lamp has been de-
vised by G. Stewart. 1t consists of a
number of square carbon rods placed
r. daily upon desk of wood or metal,
so that the inner ends of the carbon rods
form complete circle. There is cir
cular opening in the wooden disk
through which the light is seen from be-
meath. The Car 4ons are forced toward
the center by a uniform pressure as they
are consumed, and together they form
the positive electrode of the lamp.
The negative electrode is hemisphere
cal cup of copper, which, before the cur
rent is transmitted, is in contact with
the carbons, but when the current is
sent into the lamp, an electromagnetic
raises the cup, and the electric arc is
formed between it and the carbons.
Such is the essential part of the speci-
fcation. 1t appears that this lamp has
been tried, and that it has operated salts
factorily.
Mr.. H. N. Moseley, in a recent lecture,
maintained. that at comparatively small |
depths in the sea it is almost certainly
entirely dark 50 far as sunlight is con.
cerned. Prof. Forel found that in the
Lake of Geneva, even at depth of only
30 fathoms, Photographic paper was en-
tirely unacted upon after protracted ex-
p0sure. We can hardly believe, Mr.. !
Moseley says, that the red, green, or Yell
low rays can penetrate sea-water much |
further than those rays to which ordin-
ary Photographic paper is sensitive. He
dredged blind crustacea at depth of 100
fathoms; the investigators of Lake
Geneva found a blind isopod at a |
depth of about 55 fathoms. In depths
Of 500 fathoms almost everywhere, |
everywhere in depths Of over 1000
fathoms, there must be an entire absence
of currents in the water-any movement
must be of molecular nature ouly, ex-
slow and quite imperceptible
to animals. Altogether, the deep sea,
cold, dark and still, must be about the
slHwest place to live in that can be I'm.
agined. Science is disabusing peoples
minds Of the notions implanted in them
by poetry.
The English scientific papers publish
an abstract of a memoir, read before the
Anthropological Institute by Mr.. Alfred
Tylor, on new method Of expressing the
law of specific changes and typical diff
ferences of species and genera in the or
ganic world, and especially the cause of
the particular form of man. The lower
animals, he holds-in opposition to thoee
who Of late have been trying, through
citing very unquestionabIe anecdotes, to
prove something quite djfierent--have no
abstract ideas, and, therefore, all they
can know must be derived from objects.
Their reproduction Of specific form and
decoration seems to prove that they have
a power of appreciating the niceties of
form and color in very high degree. The
forms and decorations of organized be-
ings seem to he regulated by laws which |
Mr.. Taylor named emphasis" and ''sym-
metry." Emphasis he defined as the
out by form or decoration of |
the important parts or organs. Empha-
sis was well exemplified in human work, |
such as the structure of Greek temple, !
where all the parts have their functions
firmly designated by ornament. In the !
vertebrate the emphasized ornamental
tion is what is called axial, being the !
outward expression Of the vertebral col.
umh and its appendages, and in the in
vertebrate the decoration tends to follow
~ Al II