The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1882-05-06
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

| The microscope has detected blood cor
puscles on steel after an exposure of two
years in the woods.
| The compass has been found to be SEN
sitlve to certain atmospheric perturba-
tions which 60 not aft ct tie barometer.
DIR. Werner siemen considers the use
OF the electric light to be absolutely free
from risk of fire, even in the most inflam-
mable structures. Contrary to general
belief, the electric tension required is so
low that no measurable spark can pass
between two wires OF to other objects.
| An examiner of recruits drafted into
the German army states that a long series
OF careful measurements have established
not only that the height Of man varies
| very considerably at different times of the
| day, but also that this variation occurs
with great regularity in every individ-
| ual. The greatest change in height OBJ
served was an inch and half.
Prof. Tommasi Crudeli has lately
shown that malarial infection may be
| caused by the keeping of house-plants,
even In districts where malaria is un-
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 ven
tllated condition Of the rooms in which
they are kept
The gleam of falling water, according
to Mr. }. s. Gardner, attracts certain in
sects quite as powerfully as does artifi-
cial light. IN Iceland he has observed
moth after moth to fly deliberately into
waterfall and disappear. He thinks
trout prefer broken streams on account
OF the abundance of food furnished by
the seif-destrnction Of the insects, and
not-as is usually supposed-because of
the greater aeration of the water.
Dr. Helot, of Baibec, France, gives !.
case OF an epidemic Of diph5heria in a
previously healthy village near Caux.
A 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 applied to the
land as manure. A severe epidemic of
diphtheria broke out and continued six
months. A similar error was committed
second time, with the same results.
A consideration of various pbenomena
has led DR.. c. W. Siemens to suggest til.
hypothesis that the sun derives from in
terplanetary space hydrogen, hydro-car
bons and oxygen, by which it's heat i
kept up. The products of combustion
aqueous vapor, carbonic anhydride ant
carbonic oxide-are returned to space
where they gradually become separated
/ iIas o1 siif;ri gases through the action
| of the solar rays at a moderate tempera-
ture. Thus the heat ditfused in space by
the sun is not wasted but is made to
conserve its own energy by preparing
fuel for the continued existence of it's fires
1t has been held by some medical men
VAetU U1O oCsO tiCttGHlCAG Ol 1IULtH liu1-
viduals is the gradual application Of
heat, while a few experimente1s have
claimed that the warming should be
| rapid. To settle the matter, Lapts-
| chlkski has made "a series of very careful
experiments upon dogs, with the follow
ing results: Of twenty animals treated
by the method of gradual resnscitation
| in cold room, fourteen perished; of
| twenty placed at once in warm apart
| ment, eight died; while Of twenty i'm
nediateiy put into a hot bath, all recov-
cred.
| A remarkable phenomenon due to re-
fraction has been twice witnessed by
Herr Hakonsen-Hansen in Norway On
both occasions, at about three o'clock in
the afternoon, a rose-colored stripe APP
peared, stretching across the sky from
northwest to east. From the middle Of
this rose vertical column of a somewh ha t
lighter red color, and inclining on the
western side to a shade Of yellow, the
whole being intensely bright. In about
ten minutes the colors gradually faded,
leaving behind blackish- gray streak
The striking apparation Of this vertical
column recalled to the observer the de-
scriptions given in past ages of bloody
crosses seen in the heavens, and regarded
as prophetic of coming wars and pesti,
lence.