St. Landry democrat., 1882-04-08
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

DIR. VIM. A. Hammond finds over.
heated apartments to be potent cause
Of nervous irritability. If we would
preserve our amiability and our tran
guilty OF mind we should live in we'll
ventilated rooms kept at temperature
Of about sixty five degrees.
Of the sense of taste, Prof. McKen-
dIick states that the base Of the tongue
is most sensitive to btters, and the tip
TO sweets. A substance must be soluble
in the fluid of the mouth to create taste,
but no definite relation has been found
between the chemical condition Of bod
les and their taste.
Modern improvements have increased
the power OF the microscope so greatly
that it is now made to magnify about
100000 diameters. The best unaided
human vision can see no objects much
smaller than the three-hundredth of an
incA5n diameter; but the most slillful
microscopes, with their best instru-
ments, are able to examine monads a
hundred thousandth of an inch in diam
eter. Beyond this minuteness is obscu-
lity. 1t has been estimated that the
ultimate particles or atoms composing
alls matter can be no more than one
twenty millionth Of an inch in diameter,
so that it seems hardly probable that
they will ever be revealed to human
eyes e-
Da4 T. Sterry Hunt has calculated
that the amount OF carbonic acid stored
in the limestones of the earth would
form not less than two hundred atmos-
pheres equal in weight to our own.
This, together with the carbon OF the
coal-beds, must have been drawn from
the air, which he believes gradually re-
ceives its supply of the gas from inter-
stellar space.
If the astronomical view that the
moon was once a part of the earth's
mass be true, the moon in it's early age
must have revOlved much nearer to the
earth than now and must have caused
prodigious tides upon its parent planet
rs recently shown by Prof. j. S. New
berry finds in geological evidence a
refutation of this theory-to the extent,
ut least, of proving conclusively that
no such tides could have enlisted since
the commencement of the geological
recosd. He does not hesitate to assert
therefore that the astronomers are in
error in regard to the moons genesis
or that it it was once a portion of the
earth, the separation took place at
period so remote that it had receded to
dawn of life on the earth.
A successful operation, during which
the patient was kept immersed in water
for sixteen days, was recently performed
by DIR. Sangenbeck, of Berlin. Among
other applications, these permanent
baths" are said to be especially valuable
in cases OF burns.
The anroras observed by Baron Nord-
enskjold at the winter quarters of the
Vega, in latitude 81 degrees minutes
aorth, were mostly feeble and lacked
sthe raylike formation so often charac-
teristic Of these phenomena. A simple |
luminous arc, low in the sky, was most
common; and this distinguished navi-
gators theory is that the arc forms a
portion of a permanent luminous crown |
above the earth's pole.
In researches upon the petroleums of
the Caucasus, M. Schutzenberger has
observed that, although conducted
with the utmost cares, his analyses fire.
quently showed more than one hundred
per cent of matter. A like result was
obtained with two other substances.
Following up the investigation, he has
found that sodium and copper appear
to so effect certain products as to pro-
duce the anomaly observed; while il the
articles so affected are exposed for a
short time to sunlight they give nor
NAL analysis. 1t is suggested, as a pos
atoms may vary within the certain mar
row limits, and that in the case Of the
hydrocarbons it may be modified by the |.
action OF sodium or by light. If con-
tirmed, NJ. SchutZenberger's discovery
will have an important bearing upon
the fundamental principles of chemical
science. E33
Germans measurements give the fol-
lowing as among the greatest daily
quantities Of rainfall recorded in Eu-
rope: At Colberg, Sept. z, 1880, four !.
inches OF rain fell in seven hours. At !
Breslau, Augusta, 1855, fenr and a half :
inches fell. AT Klausthal, in the Harz,
The daily maximum observed is four I
and half inches; and at Hochen- L
schwand, in the Black Forest, it is five :
inches. q
A new white metal and malleable S
,ronze is produced by the decoloration t
If copper by means of ferro-manga- p
lese. The composition gives a metal y
IS white as silver and as malleable a
IS the German silver obtained with n
iickel. For laminahle white metal p
n plates zinc or brass is added to the g
imposition. Fl
In recent lecture, Prof. Edward q
'rankiand stated that six millions of ii
ons of coal are probably burned in h
london during the winter months, and Fl
he quantities of steam, SCOT, tar and "
llphurous acid discharged into the te
ir as products of this combustion are in
normous. These products unite to CO
,rm the London fogs.@ Steam supplies al
lie basis or all fog, and the vapor es
articles become covered with tar, 81
hich renders them more permanent 70