St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1881-08-06
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

~
A model of M. Trouve's electrical
boat will be exhibited in an artificial
basin at the Paris electrical exposition
Certain species Of animals have regu
lar cemeteries to which they repair t.
: die. The South American llama, TO
instance, has it's district cemeteries, il
Which bones are found in great NUM- ers
A manuscript treatise by Copernicus
has been discovered in the Stockholm
Observatory.
In recent paper Mr.. C. Shaler Smitl
mas given the results of extensive OBJ.
servatiOns in relation to the pressure
exerted by the wind. The most violent
storm rec 'ded by him was at East St.
Louis, =, when the wind over
turned Il tive, the maximum force
developed in doing being no less
than SO pounds ,quare foot. At St.
Charles, in 1877, all was destroyed,
the wind force required being 81 pounds
per square foot. At Marshfield, in 1880,
a brick mansion was leveled, the force
necessary being So pounds per square
foot. Below these extraordinary pres
sures, Mr.. Smith instances numerous
cases OF trains blown off rails, bridges,
etc., blown down by gales of wind of
"a to 81 pounds per square foot. In all
the examples the lowest force required
to DO the observed damage has been
taken as the maximum force of the
wind, although, Of course, it may have
been higher.
An extraordinary interest is manifest
ed III the Polar regions this year, two
expeditions being now en- route to that
locality from the United States, one
each from Norway and Sweden and
Denmark, a private one from England
and an official one from France.
Statistics show that in tho use of
chloroform as an anaesthetic one death
occurs in 2,S73 cases, with ether one in
23,2O4, while bichloride of ethylene
causes one death in 5000 cases. With
this danger from the ordinary use of
anaesthetics in view, Messrs. 0. de
Stefanis and Vachetta have proposed
modified method of application, from
which excellent results have already
been reported, both with men and ami
mails. Their plan consists in causing
congestion of the nerve centres and
stimulating the heart so that it may
resist the noxious effects of the anaes
thetic agent, without diminishing in
ssnsibility. For this purpose they
employ alcoholics. They have studied |
this method carefully in large
number of experiments, and have be-
come fully convinced that most of the
danger and much of the Inconvenience
from the use of anaesth etics
may be avoided by placing the patient
slightly under the influence of alcohol.
In experiments to determine the
depth beneath the surface of the sea to
which sight could penetrate, twenty
i've fathoms was found to be the limit
Of visibility. 1t was also found that
the water is most transparent when its
is highest.
The Rev. DR.. McCook has noticed a
black carpenter ant" which is capable ,
If etfecting great destruction in wood I
work, contrary to the general belief {
hat ants outside of the tropics are l
harmless practically. He has seen
after in which this species, the For
nica Pennsylranica, had penetrated to
IN extent of five or six feet of its length,
honeycombing it. It is d
vident that such penetration Of wooden =
tructures, and especially bridges, might b
ause their disastrous and unexnected |,
all. +,
One Of the most decided impressions Il
'hich non scientific people must receive 81
rom the visit Of the great comet of L
'S1 is that Of the ignorance of science NJ
these mysterious visitants.
Whence they come or whittier they 20
re problems mono can solve; while the G.
-
predictions of the return of "
,rtain comets show that calculations in "
'lation to the motions of these bodies g,
lrtake much of the nature of guesses. 81
18th all the skill and telescope pene- o.
alton OF our astronomers, they cannot "
1t trace the course of the comet, which bt
a few days passes across the immeas- th
able expanse of space viewed from
lis earth and disappears in the depths
'yond. to wander perhaps for thous- A.
Ids of years before completing the fe
Gle of its journey and returning to he
int in it's orbit near the earth. q
An enormous electro magnet has been q
ade for the University of Greifswald. Ia
le case is formed Of twenty EIGHT iron pr
ates bent into horseshoe shape and
injected by rings so as to form a
Under eight inches in diameter. The re.
light is four feet, and the weight so
out fourteen hundred pounds. Ae
is increasing 40 in,
pidiy in France in consequence of the ~
d arrangement Of seats and distribu-
q Of light in the schools that a NV aft
mic commission has been appointed
study the matter, and, if possible,
d some means whereby the evil may
abated. aa.e