St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1882-04-15
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

An examiner of recruits drafted in
to the German army states that IA long
series of careful measurements have
established not only that the height of
a man varies very considerably at diff
ferent times of the day, but also that
this variation occurs with great regu-
larity in every individual. The great
est change in height observed was an
inch and half.
A consideration Of various phenomena
has led DR.. G.. w. Siemens to suggest
the hypothesis that the sun derives
from interplanetary space hydrogen,
hydrocarbons and oxygen, by which It's
heat is kept up. The products OF com
hustion-aqueous vapOr, carbonlc AMY,
bride and carbonic oxide-are returned
TO space, where they gradually become
separated into the original gases through
the action of the solar rays at a mOder-
ate temperature. Thus the heat diff
fused in space by the sun is not wasted,
but is made to conserve its own energy
by preparing fuel for the continued
existence OF its fires.
DR.. Werner Siemens considers the use
of the electric light to he absolutely
free from risk of fire, even in the most
intlammable structures. Contrary to
general belief, the electric tension re-
Vuired is so low that no measurable
spark can pass between two wires or to
ether objects.
4 Swiss experimenter is said to have
produced artificial mother of-pearl
which cannot be distinguished from the
genuine.
The microscope has detected blood
n,ryDCoIaC IN steal ,ft aynncurn of
two years in the woods.
Electricity has been applied to pile
driving; a water-wheel furnishing the
power, which is transmitted by two
dyn&mo-electric machines with con-
Meeting wires to the pile-driver at q
considerable distance away.
DR.. Helot, of Bolbec, France. gives a
case of an epidemic Of dlptheria in a
previously healthy village near Caux.
4 tripe dealer had thrown quantities Of
animal refuse into pond near his
house, and when it was denounced as a
nuisance the mud and water were APP
piled to the land as manure. A severe
epidemic of diptheria broke out and
lasted six months. A similar error was
committed second time, and with the
same results.
The compass has been found to be
sensitive to certain atmospheric pertur-
bations which do not affect the barom-
ater.
A remarkable phenomenon due to
refraction has been twice witnessed by
Herr Hakonsen-H Hansen in Norway
On both occasions, at about three
o'clock in the afternoon, rose-colored
stripe appeared, stretching across the
sky from northwest to east. From the
middle of this rose vertical column
of a somewhat lighter red color, and
inclining on it's western side to shade
of yellow, the whole being intensely
bright. In about ten minutes the colors
gradually faded, leaving behind a
blackish gray streak. The striking APP
partition of this vertical column recalled
70 the observer the descriptions given
in past ages of bloody crosses seen in
the heavens, and regarded as prophetic
of comming wars and pestilence.
In q series of lectures in Chinese,
the American mission at Picking is
teaching modern science to the native
schools. Great interest is manifested.
The CLEAN Of falling water, accord
ing to Mr.. j. S. Gardner, attracts Ger
tain insects quite as powerfully as does
artificial light. In Iceland he has OBJ
served moth after moth to fly deliber-
ately into a waterfall and disappear.
He thinks trout prefer broken streams
on account of the abundance of food
furnished by the self-destruction Of the
insects, and not-as is usually supposed
because of the greater 9ration Of the
water.
Prof. Tommasi- Crudeli has lately
shown that malarial infection may be
caused by the keeping of house plants,
even in districts where malaria is I'M
known. The unwholesome influence,
however, is not due to the plants them
selves, but to the damp earth surround
ing them and the heated and badly
ventilated condition OF the rooms in
which they are kept.
1t has been held by some medical
men that the best treatment of frozen
individuals is the gradual application
of heat, while a few experimenters
have claimed that the warming should
be rapid. To settle the matter, Lapt-
schinkski has made series Of very
careful experiments upon dogs, with
the following results: Of twenty ami
mails treated by the method of gradual
resuscitation in a cold room, fourteen
persisted OF twenty placed at once
in warm apartment, eight died
while of twenty Immediately put into
a hot bath all recovered
Observations upon Russian railways
have resulted in showing, for the pc
Rod of six months, that seventy seven
per cent of the fractures of tire occurred |
when the temperature was below zero,
four per cent at at zero, and only nine
teen per cent at higher temperatures.
81 never used such medicine. Ner-
,-well-hdrdly erer. 1t foams and |
sparkles just like glass of soda water.
OH It is nerfacfly snlandid One swal- |