St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1881-04-23
"In Providence we trust"-everybody else casl,
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

combination with surgical instrument,
il bearing fruit. A case is reported
from Vienna in which doctor has sue
ceeded in curing a cancer in the stom.
ach, mainly through the assistance rem
dered by the polyscope in illuminating
the cavity of the stomach. The cleo.
trio probe which rings a bell when a
ball or any metallic substance imbedded
in the muscles is reached, is found a
valuable acquisition by army surgeons
and an application of the same princi-
nile to surgical fOrceps has enabled a
Berlin oculist to save mechanics eye
which had received bit of steel. The
case had become so urgent that the eye
must be lost unless the piece OF metal
could be extracted without delay but
DR.. Hirschberg, by inserting soft iron
probe and subsequently converting it
into magnet by passing an electric
current through it, withdrew the metal
ic particle, and saved the eye.
The death was lately announced of
Mr.. F. A. Nobert, whose fine rulings on
glass have given him a world wide CO.
lebrity. AS test plates for the power of
microscopes he ruled bands of lines of
various tineness from 1900 to $4,000 to
the English inch. 1t was formerly his
opinion that lines so fine as the Ill.,
OOOth of an inch would never be seen
resolved in the microscope. This feat,
however was accomplished by DR..
Woodward; when Mr.. Nobert imme-
diately produced new plate, having
one band Of lines of fineness of 1884,
600 to the English inch. Whether or not
these minute lines will ever be seen
cannot now be safely predicted. Mr..
Nobert has always been very reticent
in regard to his methods, and it is
thought probable that no one is ac-
auainted with the secret of his success.
It may therefore befall us that Nobert's
microscopic ruling is to be counted
among the "lost arts"
A photograph of an improved con-
struction is to be tried at Paris for
teaching pupils the pronunciation of
difficult words in foreign languages.
Sir Wyville Thompson has estimated
that the pressure upon a mans body at a
depth of 10000 feet beneath the surface
of the sea would be equal to a weight of
twenty locomotives, each with good
train loaded with pig-iron.
According to the studies of Mr.. He
bert, the storms which reach the Euro
pean coast from America originate for
the most part in Mexico, Central Amer
lea, and the northern parts of South
America but they do not generally
strike the Atlantic until after they have
traversed more or less extended part
Of the length of the North American
Continent. The storms which originate
in the United States reach Greenland,
or pass the neighborhood of Iceland or
the Farce Islsnds, too far away to effect
EarUpe.
Excavations commenced short dis
lance from the walls of Pompeii, with
a view of ascertaining the nature of the
city, have led to the discovery, within
an area of few square yards, of thirty
skeletons, ten of which were huddled
together in one room of small subur-
ban villa. Bracelets, necklaces, ear
rings, and other objects, were found
upon the bones.
In paper on the organs of smell in
insects Gustav Hauser describes several
experiments. Numerous
species Of insects, on approaching YES
sells containing turpentine or acetic
scid, showed-by retreating and moving
their antennal-a distinct perception of
The smell. After the ends Of the anten-
ii had been cut off, the same insects
placed close to the vessels appeared
quite insensible to the odors. A num-
Der of flies, which had been attracted
by piece Of putrid meat, showed no
inclination to approach it after portions
,f the antennal had been cut off.
All ordinary fruit acids are said to
let upon tin, and one case is reported
n which persons were made violently
lick from eating fruit preserved in tin
ANS, no foreign substance except tin
,eing found in the fruit.
A curions experiment in heat is per-
sormed with an apparatus devised by
Dr.. Grassi. The apparatus consists of
hree concentric vessels separated by
lnnular spaces Of about tllree-fourths
IL an inch. The outer space is filled
With oil, and the inner with water. The
Ill is heated to point above 212 de-
yrees Fahrenheit, when the water be-
inns to boil. Oil heated to 800 degrees
9 then introduced into the central YES
el, and falls rapidly to temperature
bout that of the boiling water. DR..
}rassi finds that this central. oil eools
he moregQuickly the greater the heat
f the outerTing Of OLA result SEEM
ngly very paradoxical.
A writer in the Jelcish World points
'ut that, contrary to the received idea,
he elder Rabbins Of the Talmud taught
hat the world was round. This is
hown by passage in which. in dis
ussing idolatry, the figures holding in
he hand a baton, bird or globe were
because the baton Symbol
ICES the dominion of the world, the