St. Landry democrat., 1881-06-11
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

ness with winch the army investing
Paris was kept Geographically connec-
ted in it's different parts. About two
thousand messages were sent daily.
Automatic signals gave immediate
notice of the cutting of wires or other
interference with the telegraph lines,
and mounted men were promptly dis
patched to make repairs.
Recent experiments with the electric
light in photography have met with
much success. In some respects it is
said to produce better results than sun
light.
It is believed that porosity is proper
tv Of all bodies. An experiment per-
formed some years ago, to ascertain
whether water could be compressed, re-
suited in proving that gold is porous
the water enclosed in hollow sphere
of gold being forced, by the violent
pressure applied, through the sphere
and appearing on the outside. The
pores through which the liquid was
driven could not have been more than
the two-millionth of an inch in dame
ter.
Mr.. w. H. Preece, the English cleo
trician, has determined with much ac-
curacy the area protected by properly
adjusted lightning rod. His conclusion
is that the protection extends to comic
space whose height is the length of the
rod, the base being circle having its
radius equal to the height of the rod
an opinion which has been held by
scientific men for long time.
Some interesting archaeological dis
coveries have just been made in AL
giers near the sea-coast, on the seat Of
the ancient Utica. The remains of a
temple, consecrated to the infant Her
cules; statuette Of the good in white
marble, evidently Greek; Bacchus,
life-size, also in white marble; and a
member of fine mosaics, seem to indi-
cate the probability of great bind"
DIR. Beard explains the marvellous
powers exhibited at times by subjects
in q mesmeric or trance condition by
the exaltation of one faculty while all
the rest are for the time suppressed.
"A permanent exaltation of some single
faculty-as of calculation or music
with the suppression Of all other facul-
ties to greater or less degree, occurs
sometimes in the cases Of idiots, whose
brain power appears confined to one
line Of effort. In such cases any i'm
provement in general ability or intelli-
gence is attended by a lessening of the
force of the exalted faculty. The at
tention of the Medico-Surgical Society,
OF st. Petersburg, has lately been called
to remarkable case illustrating this
principle in inverse order. The subject,
a Russian of twenty-seven, was in
youth distinguished for brilliant abili-
ties. Disease brought on by dissipa-
ton caused the loss of all his mental
faculties except memory and the power
of mathematical calculation. Those
increased proportionally as his power
of logical thinking and understanding
vanished. He is now living phono-
graph and calculating apparatus.
A cypress tree, rs feet high, 10 feet
in diameter, and more than $500 years
old, was recently destroyed near Sparta
Greece. This celebrated remnant OF
the life of by-gone ages was described
by Pausanias 400 years before Christ.
The Spartans mourn its loss.
"A curious instance Of the deodorizing
of Illuminating gas was recently cited
by Prof. Rensen. In Dresden quanti-
ty of gas escaped from pipe outside
of o dwelling and passed through the
earth into the honse with its odor en-
tirely gone. 1t was breathed uncon-
sciously, and several deaths occurred in
consequence.
Forty thousand wax candles are in
simultaneously lighted by a single
match in the Royal Palace, Berlin.
The wicks are previously connected by
q thread spun from gun cotton, on ig-
hitting one end Of which all the candles
in the seven hundred apartments are
lighted simultaneously.
Through the invention of the barome-
ter is due to the mathematician Tori
cell, yet in England Sir Christopher
Wren was the first to suggest that the
varying weight Of the atmosphere was
tlle true cause Of the variation in the
height Of the mercury. This was
theory opposed to that Of the disciples
Of Descartes, who ascribed the varia-
ton to the influence Of the moon.
The cry of science is still Coward s"
and its goal Of yesterday will ever be
its starting point Of to-morrow.-DaT-
son.
Prof. Helmholtz expresses the opinion
that our planetary system must sooner
or later come to an end by exhaustion
of its forces. The sun must ultimately
"run down" like clock. He thinks
that the existing stock Of power avail
able for the maintaining of life may
last some seventeen million years.
Two physicians of Paris have for
some time been experimenting new
method of curing neuralgia. 1t con-
sists in causing vibrations in the nerves
affected, by means of succession of
light tappings. They claim remarkable
success.
WHAT 1T DoEs.-Kidney-W ort moves