St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1881-03-05
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

.,,ominent European astronomers have
failed to give convincing proof of an
eleven-y year cycle in the occurrence of
oreat financial panics corresponding to
the asun-spot period" it is believed to
he we'll established that a relation ex-
;sts between the activity of the suns
nhotosphere and electrical activity on
The earth. 1t has been shown through
4 long series of years that the periods
a. magnetic variation coincide with the
neriod of sun spots; not rigidly, but
sufficiently close to prevent the proba-
bility of a chance connection. In one
ease at least, when observers have been
looking at the sun through telescopes,
and have recorded the exact instant OF
solar activity, the magnetic needles
over the earth were violently affected,
rigidly pointing out new meridian.
Auroras were noted, even in southern
ATTITUDES. Telegraph lines refused to
work. and shocks were given to the op-
orators.
n recent note to the French Acad-
envy, M. j. Seure announced some very
successful experiments in the preserva-
ton of meat by dextrine. He exhibited
three specimens of meat which had
been perfectly preserved by dextrine
for the space of twenty months.
NJ, Mercader has devised a form of
electric lamp suitable for the production
of Intermittent luminous signals. 1t is
operated by cam, which separates the
carbons at each revolution. The cam
is turned by clockwork, for regular sig
nails, or by hand, at a variable rate, for
the irregular ones.
News from Cairo states that to the
north Of Memphis, near Saggarah, two
pyramids have been discovered which
were constructed by kings Of the sixth
dynasty, and the rooms and passages of
which are covered with thousands of
inscriptions, The discovery is said to
be of great scientific Importance.
A public chemical laboratory has been
opened in Paris for the analysis of any
substance used for food. The fees are
moderate, varying from five to twenty
francs.
Prof. Maska announces that among
the remains Of ost-Tertiary animals
(sueh as the mammoth, rhinoceros,
horse, lion and hyena) found in the
Schipka Cave, near Stramberg in Mora
via, the jaw bone Of a supposed diluvial
human being has been discovered. 1t
was imbedded in the immediate vicini-
ty of spot where carbonized animal
bones, stone implements and bone uten-
sils were found. The jaw bone is of
colossal dimensions.
A medical gymnasium was lately
opened in Paris, having been built at a
cost Of 100000. Physicians find tia times
very desirable to give special exercise
to certain muscles of the body, and for
this purpose about seventy mechanical
contrivances of different descriptions
have been arranged in series of rooms.
The greater number of these are
worked by steam engine, and all of
them can be graduated by screws, SO
that the extent, duration and velocity
ofmotion can be regulated according
to the direction Of the physicians.
There are at present sixty-five geo.
graphical societies in the world. The
oldest is at Paris, and was founded in
1881.
DR.. Siemens claims that whenever
strength and magnitude are both re-
quired the use Of steel is witout ri
val. He asserts that even for an ordi-
nary house steel gives more security
than wood, is six to eight times as
strong, and costs less. He thinks that
ere the lapse of many years steel will
be introduced into buildings Of all
kinds, and that it will gradually sup
plant iron, in the same way that iron
already tends to take the place of wood.
Where the tide moves in all at once
from the ocean the phenomenon is
called an eagre or bore. According to
Dana, the most perfect examples are
found at the mouths of the rivers Am
azon, Hoogly Zone of the months of the
Ganges), and Tsientang, in China. In
the case of the aforementioned river,
the wave plunges on like an advancing
cataract, four or five miles in breadth and
thirty feet high, and thus passes up the
stream, to distance of eighty miles, at
rate Of twenty five mile an hour. The
change from ebb to flood tide is almost
instantaneous. Among the Chusan Is
lands, just south Of the bay, the tidal
currents run through the funnel-shaped
firth with velocity of sixteen miles an
hour. In the eagre of the Amazon, the
whole tide passes up the stream in I've
or six waves, following one another in
rapid succession, and each twelve to fif-
teen feet high.
Just before his death the late Prof.
Watson, of Wisconsin University, was
engaged in tho experiment of gazing at
the stars down cellar, on the principle
that stars can be seen at MONDAY from
the bottom Of deep well. He built
his new observatory over cellar TWEEN
~ feet deep, into which the light of the
hearanlu hodias was thrown down al