St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1881-02-26
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

DR. The0b0iu lateiS tAtioite" " o'ttie
- scientific meeting, giving these fig
n,es to illustrate its physical strength:
1yaight of beetle, two grains; weight
moved by it 81 ounccs--l 800 times the
weipht of the beetle. A man OF $50
pounds weight. endowed with the
nower of this insect, should therefore
he able to move 10000 pounds, or near
Iy 100 tons.
According to recent work by Prof.
R;scbotf. an eminent Munich anatomist,
the average weight of the human brain
10 1862 grammeS for man and 1919
grammes for woman. The difference
between the average brain weight of
man and woman thus amounts
to 143 srammes, or lo9 per cent.
The brain weight of man exceeds
flat of all animals except the elephant
$500 gramues) and the lar
Ger cetaccm (3500 grammes).
The brain weight of the largest
apes is hardly third Of mans. Prof.
Rischotf's data comprise the weights of
brain of 500 men and 341 women.
An insect has no lungs, states Mr.. j..
G.. Wood 1t respires after manner
Totally different from that Of higher
animals. The 'spiracles admit air
into two tubes, which run along the
sides of the body. The insect does not
breathe through its mouth or through
it's nose, but through the sides OF its
body. 1t has Il large number of brains
through the body, which explains why
tits so difficult to kill IN insect, MS each
separate brain has to be destroyed.
Changes in thermometers ranging as
high us eight to ten degrees have been
found to occur when applied to certain
purposes, and kept ut Il high tempera
t,,re for Il considerable period.
NJ. Goyald, IL French physician, has
lately called the attention of medical
men to case in which a newborn in
FAINT, apparently dead, was recalled to
life by immersion in batl, of water
heated to about 1870 degrees Fahrenheit.
The influence of the moon ON the
temperature was the subject of a paper
recently read to the French Meteoro-
logical Society by NJ. Cnurdevache,
giving the result OF eight years obser-
vations at Saint-Maur observatory.
Comparing the mean daily tempera
lures for the months of March, April
and May, lie shows that the tempera-
ture decreases until the fourth day
after new-moon, rises to its highest
point on the sixth Gan average OF AS
degrees), falls again until the eleventh
day Ito ~ degrees) then rises Ito IA
degrees) until the sixteenth day, falls
again until the twentieth or twenty -first
Ito 10 degrees), then with slight varia-
tions until the end Of the lunar period.
Taking into account only the mlnlma.
which are of especial interest on account
OF night frosts, the moons influence is
still more distinct. The highest mini
mum mine degrees) occurs about the
sixth day, and the lowest (about three
degrees) Oh the twenty first. Thus, ac-
corling to NJ. Cmurdevaclie's research
es, night frosts are most probable about
the twenty first day of the moon.
A wealthy merchant eff st. Peters
burg, Herr Julius ellis, has offered a
prize of one thousand forms for a pop
MAR work Oh "kant's Views On the 1de-
atty Of Time and Space"
Portable electric lighting machines
are being made in France, the steam
motor being employed at will to trans
port the machine or produce the light.
By treating the wood Of the heather
or poplar with hot solution Of alum, a
liquid Of bright yellow color is pro-
duced, which deposits greenisll resin.
This forms a new coioring matter called
erici,,e.
Altovel mode ofpropelling vessels has
been described to the Fre'h Acade'y by
M. Grandt, who says he has constructed
apparatus for the purpose. The princi-
pal agent is electricity. One or more
sets Of electro dynamic apparatus are
driven by an ordinary steam-engine.
The electric current is sent through a
voltameter containing acidulated water.
The oxygen and hydrogen arising from
decomposition Of the water are led, in a
tube, fore or aft, in the boat according
to the direction it is desired to go.
They escape by an aperture in the hull,
little above which aperture is an in.
duction coil arrangement by which
sparks are passed between two insula-
ted platinum points. The explosion
OF the gases thus caused propels the
boat. May this idea not lead us to hope
that, after all our misgivings,. some use
may be found for hundred-ton guns?
The recoil produced by the rapid firing
of several hundred pounds of powder
ought surely to make the guns valuable
as motors for vessels
N TElecfricite has taken the trouble of
deyising u plan for producing spirit
voices" by means of a telephone or mi
crophone.
An agricultural experiment associa
ton has been formed by a number of
Sussex (Eng.) landowners. Its obiec It's
to experiment with manures and crops
npon ~several varieties of soil.
IA young man at Atlanta, Ga, ate nine
hard -ilnilni emns ON q Hurer tiaf, ntller