The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-11-23
SCIENTIFIC MATTERS.


The notion that dogs and cats con-
tract hydrophobia because they are
canfined, chained or nozzled does
not appear to be sustained by fact.
At any rate, rabies, according to
Prof. Xavier Landerer, is very COM
mon among the wild dogs, cats and
jackals of the east.
Mr.. John Field has prepared an
estimate from the accounts OF the
companies of the quantity of gas
used in London last year. 1t was, in
round numbers, 20, 100000 cubic
feet. This is equal to a bulk of one
mile square by 720 feet high. Con-
sumers paid $14,555,000 for this i'm
mense supply.
An Italian named Conte is said to
have invented an artificial graphite
of great purity. 1t is the same
density throughout of a crystalline
block and with metallic luster. 1t
is very durable, and is therefore con-
sidered suitable for electric lights.
No description is given of the pro-
cess by which it is made.
Less than a century ago, on July
IS, 1888, France, Belgium, Holland
and Switzerland were swept by a
cold wave so intense that the lake of
Geneva was covered with ice three
quarters of an inch thick. If those
countries had been well wooded the
disaster, it is thought, would not
have occurred.
Two German chemists have dis
covered that in the saliva of the
maxillary gland of the horse there
is present ferment capable of con-
| verting starch into sugar; that in
the saliva of the parotid gland there
is peptonizing element, though III
small quantity, and that the mixed
saliva emulsifies fats, but does not
dissolve them.
An eminent authority on illumina-
ting gas, Mr.. Sugg, insists that one
point of great Importance in the con-
struction of gas burner is that the
gas should not be heated until it ar
rives at the point of ignition. The
| body of the chamber below that
point must, therefore, be made of a
material which is bad conductor of
heat to prevent an undue expansion
of the gas and maintain the heat of
the flame.
| During his recent researches Mr..
Brown-Sequard has proved the pos
sibility of introducing a tube into
the larynx of the higher animals
without causing any pain or subse-
quent bad result, although the
| experiment was performed re-
peatedly, in at least one case,
on a single subject. The local in
sensibility to pain was caused by
directing a rapid current of carbonic
acid upon the upper part of the
larynx through all incision, for from
fifteen seconds to two or three min
utes. After the operation was COM
pleted the an@sthetic effect lasted
from two to eight minutes.
AT the funeral of the late Henri
Giffard a discourse was delivered
by M. de Comberouse, in which the
following passage occurred: "An
intimate friend of Giffard told me
yesterday that he carried to the
tomb the secret which he had
long sought for, and which had
revealed itself to his eyes during
his last years. He added that our
colleague shrank back from his own
discovery, and, filled with horror,
put an end to his existence" In
other words, the journal of Science
remarks, he saw at length that aerial
navigation must prove the suicide of
civilizationl
1t is contended by M. p. de Tchi-
hatcheff that the great deserts of
Asia and Africa are not sea-beds re-
Gently made dry, but that they had
been raised at remote geological
epochs, and that their sand is not
of marine origin but is the product
of rocks disintegrated by winds,
changes of temperature, and other
similar sub-aerial causes. He says
that the Sahara Is much more
modern than the deserts of Asia.
He makes the statement that on May
16 temperature of % degrees Fab
renheit and snow two yards in depth
has been found in the Cobb at
! point having the same latitude as
Palermo.
M. d'Abbadie maintains that in
certain regions immunity from
marsh fever is secured by sulphur
fumigations applied to the naked
body. In Sicily the workmen in
sulphur mines on low ground
suffer less from intermittent fever
than the rest of the popula-
ton engaged in other occupations.
Zephyra, once f1ourishing town of
Greece, having not less than 10000
inhabitants, has been almost quite
depopulated through marsh fever.
1t is said that its decadence kept pace
with the transference of sulphur
mining operations to the east, SO
that the emanations do not reach the
site of the town, because now q
mountain mass intervenes.
This is M. E. Reynier's description
of the Dupuy electric locomotive
for running along the bleaching
grounds of Breuil-en-Auge, in the
department of Calvaeos, France {:
The vehicle carries Siemens cleo
tro-motor which not only propels it
with a speed, If required, of over
sevan miles an hour, but also series
of rollers for rolling along the grass,
: and again winding up the piece OF
cloth to be bleached. The electricity
Is given by sixty Faure accumulators,
chars ed by the dynamo-electric ma
chine which also supplies the electric
lamps. The accRmulators are on q
tender. The engine will draw after
it five trucks of seven tons weight.
, 1t can be constructed for $1,000
>
Something OF q Revolution.
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