The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-09-22
SCIENTIFIC NOTES.

The antennae of insects, besides being
organs of touch, seem to be organs OF
smell. Flies deprived of their antenn@
cease to display interest in tainted
meat.
The arguments of Malthus in regard
to the relation between food supply
and increase of population are said to
apply to fish. They increase more rap
idly than their food,
Ammonia is to be found everywhere.
BY suspending piece of glass, snd
after while washing its outer surface
by means of spray bottle, the pres
ence of ammonia may be ascertained.
From paper published in lie Genie
CiuH on experiments performed with
the cremating furnaces of Cadet, Null
Ter & Fichet and de Lagedardiere, it
appears that the disposing of human
remains by burning is making consid-
erable progress in Italy.
Another note on the formation of tails
of comets was read by M. Faye before
the French Academy. He held that
Herschel, Arago, Delaunay, and other
astronomers did not thoroughly study
the subject, but that Newton did so,
and gave an adequate explanation. The
author maintained that the tails of
comets are nothing but the result of q
continual emission of particles from the
heads of these visitants, very like the
tail of smoke emitted by running To-
comotive.
It has sometimes been thought, says
La Luniere E2ectrigue, that copper
cable of enormous thickness would be
required to transmit the hydraulic power
of Niagara Falls to New York. Professor
Ayrton has shown that the whole power
could be transmitted by slender cop
per wire, provided that the wire could
be thoroughly insulated. He has also
shown that the only hindrance to re-
ceiving the whole power is the friction
of the machines. 1t is, therefore, be
lieved that immense machines, with
continuous currents, with detached ex-
citers or magnetic electric machines,
driven very rapidly by steam.power,
will hold very important place in the
future transmission OF energy. With
such machines it would be possible to
warm and light workshops and give
them the power necessary to move all
their machinery by means of an ordina-
ry telegraph wire, thoroughly insulated,
and conveying energy from great dis
tances. Professor Perry also thinks il
will some time become possible to see
what is going on in remote places by
means OF electricity.
The London Times, commenting Oh
| the addresses delivered at the late medi.
cal congress in London bearing on the
origin of disease, evidently supports the
germ theory as the only rational one. II
concludes an exceptionally able article
with these words: 'Hhe study of the
gems Of diseases opens an indefinite
vista of possibilities to pathology. /
all epidemic diseases, such as scaIle
fever and typhus, originate in specific
spores or poisons-if smallpox is sowr
just as corn is sown, and if the develop
ment of such maladies in the body b,
to the akin process of fermentation al
explained by chemistry-the conditions
of medicine and life itself seem revolu
tionized. We find ourselves attacked
by subtle enemies, deadly corpusclu
which are barely visible and lie almos
beyond human ken. The most wary o
us may find himself in sort of ambus
cade. But the theory also brings com
fort. New methods of prevention an,
cure are placed in our hands, and w
discover diseaseto be, not self-creatipg
ever-renewing foe to man, but a parasit
which, once killed, would trouble hin
no more.