St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1881-11-05
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

can safely assume that nine out OF ten
complaints have been caused and can
be cured by the sufferers Cor their nurses)
themselves. God made man upright;'
every prostrating malady is deviation
from the state of nature. The infant,
'mewling and puking in its nurses
arms is an abnormal phenomenon.
Infancy should be a period OF excep-
tional health; the young OF other
creatures are healthier, as well as
prettier, purer and merrier, than the
adults, yet the childhood years of human
animal are the years of sorest sickness;
statistics show that among the Cauca
sian races men of thirty have more
hope to good old age than a newborn
child has to reach the end Of it's second
year. The reason is this This health
theories of the average Christian man
and woman are egregiously wrong, so
that only the opposition Of their better
instincts helps them-against their
conscience, as it were-tO maintain the
struggle for tolerable existence with
anything like success, while the helpless
infant has to conform to these theories
with the above results" DR.. Oswald's
remedies for this state of affairs are
those of all the hygienic writer's of the
day, viz: better food and less of it, pure
air, proper exercise and plenty of sleep.
The experiments Of several sdrdnts
have shown that lightweight per cent
of the power applied to drive either a
Gramme or a Siemens machine. is con-
verted into available electric energy.
Among the many noteworthy appll-
cations Of electricity during the past
few years, one Of the most remarkable
is the gastroscOpe, an instrument for
viewing the contents of the stomach.
The apparatus consists chiefly of bent
tube, at the lower end of which is a
tiny glass lantern, which the upper end
terminates in an eye-piece. In use,
the lower end of the tube is passed into
the stomach through the mouth, and
esophagus, the upper end projecting
from the mouth far enough for the con-
venience OF the operator. Small wires
conduct an electric current along the
tube to the lantern, where platinum
wire is rendered incandescent by the
electricity, thus illuminating every part
of the stomach. The lantern consists
Of two globes, one within the other,
between which a stream of water is
passed to prevent any uncomfortable
heating Of the outside. Through the
small window in the lantern the images
from the stomach. travel along the
tube to the eye-piece, being bent by
prisms sufficiently to pass around the
curve. By an ingenious continuance
the window is revolved at pleasure, SO
that any portion of the stomach's con-
tents may in turn be brought to view
This new scientific marvel has been in
actual use in Vienna, and will probably
prove valuable to medical men in stu
dying digestion and diseases of the
stomach.
Although considered mute, insects
have the power of producing sounds by
certain movements which to some ex-
tent are characteristic of the different
species. The shrill clirp Of the cricket
is produced by the rubbing together
Of the wing-cases. The harsh shrek
Of the grass-lopper is caused by fric-
ton Of the legs against the wings. The
shrill trumpet sound of the mosquito
and the busy hum OF bees and flies re-
suit from the rapid motion Of the wings
while flying.
So extensive and varied are the uses
to which paper is now applied that an
anthropologist has proposed calling the
present the age of paper, as we speak
of the past ages of stone, bronze, iron,
etc.
The conditions attending lightning
without thunder witnessed in Africa by
NJ. d'Abbadie lead him to conclude that
the so-called heat lightning" is not
always the reflection of storm below
the horizon, as is usually supposed.
M. Pasteur has resolved to extend his
studies in vaccination to yellow fever,
with view of determining whether or
not the disease is due to parasites and
can be guarded against by incubation.
Great as the results of Pasteur's labors
thus far have been, he seems to be as
yet merely standing upon the thres-
hold of useful discovery.
Tho Paris Elantrinal Exhibition nn,