The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1881-09-10

brick mansion was ieveled, the force
necessary being = pounds per square
foot. Below these extraordinary pres
sures, Mr.. Smith instances numerous
cases Of trains blown off rails, bridges,
ETC., blown down ly 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 tho wind, al
though, Of course, it may have been
higher.
Statistics show that in the use of
ehloroform as an an;esthetic one death
occurs in 1913 eases, with ether one in
23,2O4. while bich1oride of ethylene
i causes one death in 5000 cases. With
this danger from the ordinary use OF
an;esthetics il, view, Messrs. .. dc
Stcfanis and Vaclctta have proposed a
modified method OF application, from
which excellent results have already
been reported, both with men and ami
mails. Their plan consists i'll causing
congestion of the nerve centres and
stimulating the heart so that it may re-
sist the noxious effects of the anasthetic
agent, without diminishing insensibility.
For this purpose they employ alcoholics.
They have studied this method carefully
in large number Of experiments, and
have become fully convinced that most
of the danger and much of the inconvc-
nience resulting from the use of anHs-
thctics may be avoided by placing the
patient slightly under the influence of
alcohol.
| M de Fonviellc, mas described the
appearance of the great comet as seen
| from balloon on the occasion Of his re-
cent ascent at midnight. The brightness
of the comet increased as the balloon as
cended, this increase of brilliancy being
very marked. F.. The tail appeared little
longer than when seen from the earths
surface, but most remarkable was the
manner in which it terminated, for it
was cut off straight, as if a line were
drawn over it horizontally with q ruler.
The appearance OF. the tail was as if pro
luced by myriads of large stones travel
ing in planetary space independently OF
the comet, and having no other conncc-
ton with it than that of being Temporal
ril, lighted by the rays which its atmos-
phere had caused TO Gcviate, more Or
less, from their natural course. This
multitude of fragments of worlds would,
therefore, produce the same effect as dust
lighted by a ray Of sunlight admitted to
dark room through a crevice. NJ. de
Fonviclle expounds this theory at some
length. lie also insists upon the impor-
tancc of ballooning in astronomical in
vcstigations.
The researches of scientific men
have shown that thought is not..so rapid
as is usually believed, but that every
| action of the brain requires an apprccla-
BILE time. IIirsch proved that less time
is required to recognize Il touch than q
sound, and that it took moro time to sec
than to hear, but the queat!on still re-
manned as to what part of the time was
consumed in the act Of recognition.
This problem was solved by DonGers.
BY means Of very ingenious apparatus,
he has found that the double act of rec
ognizing Il sound and giving a response
occupied seventy-five thousandths of q
second, of which forty thousantlths were
required for the simple act of recogni-
ton, leaving thirty-five thousandths for
the act of voltion. One twenty fifth of
a second was occupied i'll Judging which
Of two irritants WAS acting upon the
same sense; but slightly longer time
was necessary to determine the priority
Of signals seat BY different senses, as
those Of hearing and seeing. The de
scribcd results were obtained from
man Of middle age, the young were
somewhat quicker; but the average Of
many experiments showed that the time
required for simple thought is never
less than the foEtctn of Il second. The
mind, therefore, at its greatest activity,
can perform not more than twenty four
hundred simple acts per minnte-not a
very great speed when it is considered
how many Of these simple acts" must
be combined to form any process of rca
soning or continued thought.
Tie best strengthened of mind and body
is Browns Iron Bittcrs. 1t is very sootl
ing and refreshing in its effect.
Ayers A.ue Cure should be in every
household in regions where Fever and Ague
pcrvail 1t should be aiken as a proven
tive by every resident and traveller in mala-
rial districts.
BE Wise and Happy.