The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1881-05-12
SCRAPS OF SCIENCE.

A VERY beautiful mineral-to which
the name of "hiddenite" has been given
was discovered not long ago in North
Carolinaby W. E. Hidden. 1t is the
first purely American gem found, and is
very valuable.
THE object glass for the Lick Obser-
vatory telescope is to be three feet In
diameter, and, if successful, will be the
most powerful instrument of the kind
ever made. About three years will be
required to finish the telescope.
By means Of a strictly vegetable diet,
DIR. Hureau de Villeneuve states that he
has succeeded in Kidding himself of at
tacks of equity rheumatism, with which
he has been afflicted for years, and of
which several of his ancestors had died.
AN instrument called the margari-
meter has been invented by two Partisan
chemists, for detecting the presence OF
margarine in butter. Tits based on the
different densities of butter and the
greasy substances substituted for it or
mixed with it.
M. RoUaER has described to the
French Academy a violent storm at
Laigle in September last. Between
$50 and II p. M, there were at least
4, ZOO flashes of lightning; sometimes
there we're as many as three flashes per
second. The thunder was almost CON-
tinuous-lke a kind of buzzing, inter
rupted by heavy rollings.
CRo1L has calculated that the amount
of heat conveyed from the equatorial
regions northward in the Atlantic by the
gulf stream is equivalent to n, 479, $780,
nm N nm mn foot Wounds nf onorOr,
per day, which is equal to all the heat
received by 1850, 935 square miles of
surface at the equator, and more heat
than is conveyed by all the aerial cur
rents.
LATE experiments have shown that
about twenty per cent. of the pupils in
the deaf and dumb schools of London
are, by means of the audiphone, enabled
to hear sufficiently well to take their
places in the classes of ordinary schools.
It is known that in cases Of deafness
where the auditory nerves are unaffected,
the a%udiphone enables the patient to
hear with distinctness; but where the
auditory nerves are destroyed or dis
eased, no appliance at present known is
of any utility.
MANY people, says the Electrician,
have observed that a blow or other jar
ring shock will sometimes dispel pain;
but the Importance of mechanical vibra-
tions as an anodyne is now engaging the
serious attention of physicians. For
some years DIR. Mortimer Granville has
been e~ndeavoring to find a good means
of mitigating the pangs of neuralgia by a
recurring series of shocks administered
the skin over the affected part, and he
has constructed an apparatus for the
purpose which has been employed sue
cessfully on various occasions. NJ.
Boudet, of Paris, has, however, quite re-
Gently developed the subject still further,
and applied the ordinary tuning fork to
the purpose in question. He vas led to
do this by the experiments of M.
Vigouroux, who provoked contractions
in hysterical patients, and subdued the
pains of a nervous cripple by causing the
sonorous waves from a vibrating tuning
fork and sounding board to impinge upon
his limbs. M. Boudet improves upon this
treatment by bringing the vibrator into
actual contact with the surface of the
body. He does this by a tuning fork kept
in constant vibration through the attrac-
ton and repulsion of an electromagnetic,
in which an electric current flows, and a
rod having one end connected to the
fork and the other applied owe the
nerve. So eficacious does it appear to
be, that certain kinds of neuralgia,
especially in the less deep-seated nerves,
are charmed away after a few minutes
use. The subject is yet in its infancy,
but it is probable that other kinds OF
physical suffering may be soothed by
the Migratory influence, and it is not I'M
likely that complete an@sthesia, similar
to that produced by c%hloroform, may
result from tremors of the Uranium; for
when the fork is applied to the walls of
the skull, a swimming of the head, fol.
lowed by a desire to sleep, is frequently
induced. There are good reasons for
believing that ch~loroform acts through
mechanical disturbance of the sensory
nerves.