The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1881-06-18
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
1t is suggested that the aurora borealis
be studied with the photophone.
A new, worm-liko parasite of pork
has been discovered by n Belgian micro
scopist. The organism is found crawl
ing among the muscular fibres, some
times moving very actively.
-"Glass silk" is largely used in Ger
| many for filters. It is made by winding
threads of glass on heated cylinders,
and under the microscope the threads
appear as fine as the ultimate fibres of
silk or cotton.
w. II. Dali has mentioned a curious
geological phenomenon found in the vi
entity of Behring's Strait. At Elephant
Point, Kotzbue Sound, is . ridge two
miles wide and two hundred and fifty
feet high, which seems to be vast mass
of ice, covered with clay and vegetable
mold, from which luxuriant vegetation
springs. Birches, aldcrs and plants bear
ing berries grow rankly, while tho per
pctual ice is less than Il foot from their
roots.
| There were sanitarans in the days of
our ancestors. SO long rs eight hundred
years ago, in the time Of Richard II, IN
ordinance was adopted forhidding the
I !, e ~ M hon
in the reign of Edward II, against sell
ing "mnzzlcl swine flesh" etc. and in
the rcigns of Henry VI, and Henry VII,
and Elizabeth, for the inspection and
cleansing Of sewers, against the slaugh
teriny of cattle in towns, and against
the ovcycro"ding OF dwellings.
Carlyle was hardly Il believer in cy-
olution as interpreted by Darwin, for i'll
Il letter to friend he is said to have
written: "A good sort Of man is this
Darwin, and we'll lrcanins, but with
very little intellect. All, it is Il sad, =
terrible thing to see well nigh a whole
generation Of men and women, profess
ing to be cultivated, looking around in 4
purbind fashion, and finding no God III
this universe. l suppose it is a reaction
from tho reign Of cant and hollow pre-
tencr, protesting to believe what, in
fact, they do not believe. And tins is
what we have got to. All things from
frog-spawn! The gospel of dirt the or
der of the day! The older grow-:nd
l now stand upon the brink of eternity
the more comes back to me the sentence
in the Catechism which learned when Il
child, and the fuller and deeper its
meaning becomes, 'What is the chief
end of man. ITO glorify God, and enjoy
Him forever No gospel Of dirt, teach
ing that men have descended from frogs
through monkeys, can ever set that
aside"
The telling Of forests is known to be
the cause of the drying up of many
Il stream, even large rivers having been
made to totally disappear through the
influence upon the climate of clearing
the land from wood. The classic lands
Of antiquity abound with sad lessons Of
deforestation. The springs and brooks
of Palestine are dry, and the soil has
lost its fruitfulness. The Jordan is
four feet lower than in New Testament
days The fruitfulness of Sardinia and
Sicily, once the granaries of Italy,
has disappeared; while most Of the
countries of ancient civilization have
suffered from the dcsolatlng influences
of forest removal. On the other hand,
man can improve tie condition of the
land in which he lives-more slowly in-
deed, but quite as surely In earlier
years the Delta Of Upper Egypt was
visited by but FIVE or six rainy days in IA
year, but this number was increased by
the planting of twenty million trees to
forty five OF forty-siN. Remarkable re-
suits have been produced by the Suez
canal Ismaila is built on what Was a
sandy desert. but since the ground has
become saturated with canal water trees,
bushes and other plants have sprung up
as if by magic, and, with the reappear
ancc of vegetation. the climate has
changed. few years ago ca.n was un-
known in these regions. while in the
year ending in May, 1859, fourteen days
Of rain were recorded, and once such a
storm that the natives looked upon it IS
a supernatural event. Rains have con-
tinucd to visit the country thereabouts,
and so recently as a few weeks since Il
very heavy fall Was reported.