St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1881-08-27
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

comets tails are not material, but per-
haps an excitation-electri or other
Of ether. He also calculates that the
tail of the comet of 1S43, at the dis
lance of the earth from the sun, must
have swept space with Il velocity OF
10000 miles per second, at which rate
40 molecule of matter would remain
a single instant dependant on solar at
traction, moving in a closed orolt
around the SIM.
DIR. A Paggi records that in a case
which came under his observation IN
Paris the heart had ceased to beat, as
an effect of the inhalation OF cllloro-
form, and artificial respiration for ten
minutes failed to restore the circula-
ton, when DR.. Sable by applying
cloth dipped in hot water to the region
of the heart caused it to immediately
resume its action.
Bricks that float in water are made
If diatomaceous earth mixed with one
twentieth part of clay and we'll burned.
The art of making these floating bricks
was we'll known in the time OF Pllny,
hut was afterwards lost, and only re-
Gently recovered.
In the account Of his African explo-
rations just published, Major Serpa
Pinto refers at considerable length to
the ants encountered in the course OF
his iourneyings. One terrible species is
even said by the natives to attack and
kill elephants. The savages flee from
it in great terror. 1t is not large, but
bites severely, and it swarms in such
vast hordes as to completely overwhelm
any animal it may meet in the course
of it's long marches over the. country.
VI. Pasteur, whose researches in rela-
ton to infectious diseases are so we'll
known, is now directing his attention
to the subject of rabies. The virus OF
that disorder OF course exists in the
saliva, but NJ. Pasteur has now proved
that it does not exist there only. The
brain substance also contains it, and,
used to inoculate healthy animals, will
reproduce tie disease as effectively as
the saliva. Again, one of the great
difficulties in research on rabies arises
from the uncertainty Of the evil after
incubation or bite, and the long time
Of incubation. NJ. Pasteur is now able
to communicate the disease surely, and
to shorten considerably, the time Of in
cubation. His method is to inoculate
directly the surface of the brain, hav
ing recourse to preparation, and using
as inoculating matter the cerebral sub
stance Of mad dog as pure as possible.
In that case the first symptoms Of ra-
bies infallibly appear in week or two,
and death ensues in less than three
weeks. The results of Pasteur's fur
Their investigations will be awaited with
unusual interest, in the hope that they
may lead to the pointing out Of some
means Of alternating the suferings of
humanity from this terrible disease, of
the nature of which SO little is thus far
known.
In number of examinations Of the
heart beats Of the dying, Bouchat re-
corded six seconds as the longest inter-
val between the pulsations.
DR.. U. s. Menier believes that the
large quantity of carbonic acid in the
atmosphere may be traced to this
source: The interior of the earth he
affirms to contain great beds of carboni-
ferrous iron, which, coming in contact
with water at a great heat, yields n.y.
drocarbons. These, on their subse-
quent combustion, give rise to the car
bonic acid exhaled from the earth into
the atmosphere.
NJ. Poliakoff, the distinguished Rus
sian naturalist, has examined horse
presented by Colonel Prejalsky to the
St. Petersburg Academy, and pronoun-
ces it new species. in some respects
intermediate between our domestic
horse and the wild ass. The newly-re-
corded animal is native of the plains
and deserts Of Central Asia, and has
not hitherto fallen under the dominion
of man.
A "tire-damp commission" is to con-
vene in Berlin for several months to
study measures for the better protec-
ton of miners.
At the new popular Observatory of
the Trocadero, the public at large of
Paris had an opportunity of viewing
the great comet of 1881 with the very
perfect apparatus Of astronomers.
This great advantage was highly ap-
pretiated by the intelligent Parisians.