The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1881-12-03
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

French authorities are investigating
the subject of the influence of school,
room arrangements upon the eyes OF
pupils.
DR.. Danckwortt has just tabulated the
positions Of forty six stars for the CON-
men cement Of each century from 1000
B. C. to 1900 A. D.
The preservation of articles of diet
with salicylic acid has been prohibited
by the French Government, it being
considered that this well-known preser-
vative agent is dangerous to health.
A curious electrical phenomenon was
recently witnessed during thunder
storm in France, by n. Laroque. The
tallest of group of lilies was enveloped
in dittuse violet glimmer, forming an
aureole around the corolla. The light
lasted eight or ten seconds. On its dis
appearance the pollen Of the flower was
found to have been scattered, evidently
by the electric fluid. It is not stated
that the lily was otherwise injured by
the remarkable manifestation.
Observations. by NJ. Reno Thure show
that the telephone is remarkably sensi-
tive to lightning. He stretched metal
wire between two houses, connecting
one end With the earth and the other
with telephone. During every thun-
der-storm since 1879, he has been able to
hear sounds in the telephone at the
instant of the lightning flash, and this
even when the Legitimacy was estimated
to be twenty or twenty-five miles away.
At times the sounds became quite loud.
In recent paper on the principles of
copying lux to be used without a press,
Prof. Attwater, F. Z. S., stated that in
practice he found the theoretical condi
lions of such an ink best filled by the
following preparation: Any ordinary
black ink is reduced by evaporation two
! fifths of it's volume, when sufficient gly-
cerine is added to restore the ink to its
original quantity. A copy from this ink
is taken by simply pressing with the
fingers leaf of the copying-book over
the writing.
A prize of $1,000, to be awarded in
January, 1884, is offered through the
Brussels Royal Academy of Medicine for
the best essay on diseases of the nervous
centres, particularly epilepsy. A second
sum of $4,000 is to be awarded the essay
! list if he makes decided advance in the
therapeutics of such diseases-such, for
instance, as the discovery Of successful
method Of treating epilepsy. Another
prize Of $4,000 is offered by the Turin
Academy of Medicine for the best essay
on "The Physiopathology of the Blood"
The earliest attempt to obtain light by
| incandescence in vacuum was made by
King, in 1843, who applied continuous
metallic and carbon conductors, and
heated them by the electric current in a
Torricellian vacuum. He was followed
in 1S48 by Static, who used an iridium,
or an iridium and platinum wire, and
enveloped the holder in glass or some
other non-conductor. In 1872, Konn en-
ployed graphite, and rendered it mean
cescent in an atmosphere of nitrogen, in
which there was no wasting away of the
carbon. The same principles have been
followed, but with greater promise OF
success, in the more recent attempts OF
Edison, Maxim and Swan at producing
illumination by means of incandescence
In the British collieries humorous
experiments have been made to deter
mine the cause of explosions in the
mines, and these results are now accep-
ted as correct by most Of the experiment
tiers: l. Explosions are usually caused
by the presence of coal-dust in air con-
tanning small amount of true fire.
damp, the Davy lamps serving to detect
the presence of dangerous gases when IN
sufficient quantity to alone cause explo-
sion. 2. Mixtures of coal-dust and air
without fire-damp are not explosive.
The researches have shown that air
containing no more than two per cent. OF
tire-damp "a quantity SO small as to
escape notice) is unsafe in the presence
of coal-dust.
Papaine is juice procured from the
Cnrtca Dapava, or papaw tree, which
grows in the Moluccas, in India, in the
Antilles and in South America. Its chief
property is remarkable digestive pow
er, acting, like the gastric fluid OF the
stomach, upon meats and various other
substances. It is proposed by M. e.
Bouchut that papine DO used for dis
solving the false membranes OF diph-
liberia. IN his experiments, thick and
resisting false membrane from the ira
chea, placed i'll a tube with third part
! of papaw juice, was dissolved in few
hours when cold, and in few minutes
when the tube was warmed. Since De-
ginning his investigations of the sub
ject, he has employed the substance IN
the treatment of thirty-two cases Of
diphtheria of adults and infants, and
I has been successful in all but four.
The annual feast of Guadalupe will bt
celebrated at "Paso del Norte" by the