The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1881-10-15
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

The flesh of sea pike recently
oaupht IN the North Sea has been found
to be full Of trichine. The parasites are
snnposei to have been introduced into
the fish's body in offal eaten by it.
Biologists estimate the coal beds OF
Great Britain to have an area OF about
10000 square miles; Of Spain, 4oeo OF
France, 1000; and ofBelguim, 5l8. The
coal-bearing area Of the United States
is nearly 100000 square miles, with per
haps 10000 square miles OF workable
beds of coal.
Longitude ON the earth's surface is
now computed from various merldlans
by different countries. At the recent |
meeting of the Geographical Congress IN
Vienna. Prof. Barnard, Of Columbia Col
lege, proposed new system for univer-
sal use, the plan being to divide the globe
into "a meridians Of Is degrees each, cor
responding to the "a hours of the day,
the first meridian to pass through Behring
Strait.
Whether or not fishes have intervals
Of sleep, like the land animals with
which we are familiar, has but just been
decided. The curious behavior OF
dozen carp in the Berlin aquarium
| attracted attention, and investigation
showed that the fish when in certain
positions in which they would remain
for hours were in reality. asleep. Some
of them slept so souudly that only re-
heated blows or shaking would awaken
them.
According to the recent estimate OF
Sir W. Armstrong, the heat Of the sun
falling upon one acre of the earth's sur
face in the tropics, would be capable,
if fully utilized, of developing power
of 1000 horses for nearly nine hours every
day. The most promising means OF
adapting this vast energy to mans pur-
| pose seems to lie the conversion Of the
heat into electricity, and the production
of economical apparatus for efecting this
result is now eagerly awaited.
Ocean waves caused by earthquakes
sometimes exert a tremendous momentary
force upon the shore of the sea, although
their geological action is small compared
with the necessarily operating wear OF
, the smaller waves. At the Lisbon
earthquake of 1855, the oceanic wave
had height along the Tagus Of 40 feet,
at Cadiz of 60 feet, and on the shores Of
Madeira of Is feet. The earthquake Of
, 1746 in Peru produced wave which
carried frigate several miles inland
deluging the city Of Lima at a distance
Of seven miles from the coast.
Sir w. Thompson has recently calcu
lated that the energy Of Niagara Fall
might lie converted into electricity ant
: carried over half-inch copper wire t.
Montreal, Boston, New York or Phil
: adelphia, with less of only twenty pc
cent. Of power and at cost which woul'
render this an economical source Of ener
yy. He believes that the last grea
; difficulty in the way Of making electric
force available economically at distanc
has been overcome by the invention o
i Faure's storage or accommodating battery
Iy it's aid the electric current may b
stored as received and used as desired
in a subdivided form, for the production
7 of the electric light or as motive power
: The effect of sea-water upon land ha
= been thus determined ut German sta
ton of experimental agriculture /" Lam
. that has been submerged by sea-wate
generally proves sterile for some time
" in some cases for ten to fifteen year!
This can be traced to the cooperation {
Q the three following chemical causes, i
addition to the mechanical injuries pro
< duced by the inunlation: To the intro
d duction of too great a proportion {
ID chlorine salts; to the microscopic pr
lie perty communicated to it, preventing
a. from drying properly; thirdly, from til
D. formation Of green vitriol or sulphate c
st iron, which is known to exert vel
it prejudicial effect upon plant growt
in Land which has thus been damage
he should be drained as quickly as possible
a sown with grass and clover, and a
"a lowed to rest. Experience shows tn
~ it RECEIVERS it's fertility sooner if treatt
De in this way than if cultivated all the ye
u round as arabic land"
~ It is asserted by NJ. Emile de Lavele,
It's that the worlds available supply of Il
NJ so-called precious metals is rapid
diminishing, and, while it may not sol
become exhausted, the time can not
far hence when it must become mad
le- quate to meet all demands upon it.
", can hardly he hoped that the lack can
at filled by new discoveries for any exten
as ed period, as the quantity existing at t
Id eartL's surface can at best be but We
'ly limited, although vast masses probab
he exist in the inaccessible interior OF t
rio globe. 1t is computed that the world
ost five times as heavy as an equal volume
Die water, while the rocks Of the earth's 81
Ire face only average two and one-half tin
IS the weight Of water. It follows fri
nj this that the still molten centre III.
as contain a great amount of very hea
ity substances. With water as a unit,
q g specific gravity, or comparative weig
to of gold is about 10, platinum p, a
zen iridium %, silver being but 10, and il
Use s. When the globe was in a liquid sta
oh, these metals would have had tender
rs to gravitate toward the centre, and TIN
- Of extreme density now found by US o