The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1881-05-21
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Prof. Klebs of Prague has discovered
peculiar microscopic growth in the re-
mains Of patients who have died of
typhoid fever. It is not found in the
bodies of persons whose death has been
caused by other diseases.
"A very beautiful mineral-to which
the name Of "Hiddenite has been
given-was discovered not long ago in
North Carolina by w. E. Hidden. 1t is
the first purely American gem ever
found, and is very valuable.
The object glass for the Lick Observ-
atory telescope is to be three feet in di-
ameter, and, if successful, will be the
most powerful instrument of the kind
ever made. About three years will be
required to finish the telescope.
BY means of strictly vegetable
diet, DR.. Hureau de Villeneuve states
that he has succeeded in Kidding himself
of attacks of gouty rheumatism, with
which he had been afflicted for years,
and of which several Of his ancestors
had died.
An instrument calledhe margari-
meter has been invented by two Partisan
chemists, for detecting the presence of
margarine in butter. 1t is based on the
different densities of butter and the
greasy substances substituted for it or
mixed with it.
M. Rouger has described to the French
Academy violent storm at Laigle, in
September last. Between $50 and II P.
N. there were at least 400 flashes Of
lightning. Sometimes thero were as
many as three flashes per second. The
thunder was almost continuous, like a
kind Of buzzing, interrupted by heavy
rollings.
-Croll has calculated that the amount
of heat conveyed from the equatorial
regions northward in the Atlantic by the
Gulf Stream is equivalent to II ,479 $780,
900 ,OO0, ,OO0,0 900 foot-pounds of energy per
day, which is equal to all the heat re-
ceivcd by 1850, ,935 square miles of sur
face at the equator, aud more heat than
is conveyed by all the aerial currents.
1 Late experiments have shown that
about twenty per cent. of the pupils in
the deaf and dumb schools of London
are, by means Of the andiphone, enabled
to hear sufficiently well to take their
places in the classes of ordinary schools.
It is known that in cases Of deafness
where the auditory nerve is unaffected,
the audiphone enables the patient to
hear with distinctness but where the
auditory nerves are destroyed or diseased
no appliance at present known is of any
utility.
Some curious phenomena-electric
shadows, SO called-bave been lately de-
scribed by Herr Holtz, Of Gottingen
Academy. They are obtained by fixing
to one rod of an electrical machine a
large concave disc, having a piece OF
silk, without wrinkles, adhering to it
at the point of the other discharge rod
placed opposite-appears, when the ma
chine is worked, small, feeble, lnmi.
nous star, and on the disc circle is
seen. When objects are interposed the
shadows appear on the luminous circle
They are not optical shadows, as is
proven by the fact that all opaqe OBJ
jects do not give them. They are pro
duced in general only by conductors and
semi-conductors of electricity, and insu
lating bodies give little or no shadow
A glass rod, with one end made conduct
ing by heat, gives partial shadow
which gradually disappears OH cooling
Many people, says the Electrician
have observed that blow or other jarr
ing shock will sometimes dispel pain
but the Importance Of mechanical vibra
tions as an anodyne is now engaging the
serious attention Of physicians. Fo
some years past DR.. Mortimer Granville
has been endeavoring to find a goot
means of mitigating the pangs of neu
ralgia by recurring series of shocks ad
ministered to the skin over the affected
part, and he has constructed al appa
ratus for the purpose which has bee1
employed successfully OH various occa
: sions. NJ. Boudet Of Paris has, how
ever, quite recently developed the sub
ject still further, and applied the ordi
nary diapason, or tuning fork, to tn
purpose in question. He was led to d
this by the experiments of NJ. Vigourous
who provoked contractions in hysterica
patients, and subdued the pains of
nervous cripple by causing the sonorou
waves from vibrating tuning fork an
sounding board to impinge upon hi
limbs. NJ. Boudet improves upon thi
treatment by bringing the vibrator int
actual contact with the surface of til
body. He does this by tuning for
! kept in constant vibration through til
I attraction and repulsion of an electro
D maguet, in which an electric curren
: flows, and rod having one end connet
ted to the fork and the other apple
: over the nerve. So efficacious does
), appea,- to be that certain kinds of net
ralgia, especially in the less deep-seate
nerves, are charmed away after Il fe
: minutes use. The subject is yet i'll i,
e infancy, but it is probable that otht
: kinds of physical suffering may 1
soothed by the vibratory influence, an
y it is not unlikely that complete amaze
e r no1,,oa ,,,1,r