Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-11-08
SCIENTIFIC GOSSIP.

| ~ Is saiu tnat tnere are $40 naphtha
wells on the Apsheron peninsula of the
Caspian sea, and that they yield annually
$500, 600 cwt.
| There has been an earlier departure than
usual OF the swallows and martins this wear
from Psris. They left about the end OF
August instead of October 10th.
Plante has increased the capacity of his
accumulators by producing, BY the change
OF. the direction of the primary current and
the ceasing of its action at times, deposit
of lead on the electrodes.
There are already in England 30 electric
lighting companies with capital of $780,.
100000. France has not SO MANY com.
panies, but has Invested nearly as much
money in introducing the new light.
Some naturalistsiiin Alaska have found il
difficult to secure the skeleton pf the sea
otter, because the natives that when
| they kill an otter tney must cut off the
head and throw it into the sea or their
canoe will be lost.
Alkaloidal com pounds having specific
poisonous actions have been found by Selmi
in the excretions Of persons afflicted with
paralysis, tetaIus, ETC., and he is inclined
to think that the death of the sufferers is
finally produced by these poisons.
The notion that dogs and cats contract
hydrophobia because they are confined,
chained, or muzzled, does not appear to be
well sustained by fact. At any rate,
rabies, according to Prof. Xavier Landerer.
is very common among the wild dogs, cats,
and jackals of the East.
The rumor that The German Government
is about to take active steps for the exca.
walton OF canal between the Baltic sea
and the German Ocean seems to have no
foundation. 1t is asserted that the report
of Colonel Vogel Won Falkenstein has
stopped the execution of the project.
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, go, 600, 900
cubic feet. This is equal to bulk of one
mile square by 720 feet high. Consumers
paid Sl4, 555, 900 for this immense supply.
Less than a century ago, on July l3,
l7SS, France, Belgium, Holland and Swift.
zerland were swept by cold wave SO in.
tense that the Lake of Geneva was GOV.
cred with ice three-quarters of an inch
thick. Ii those countries had been well
wooded the disaster, it is thought, would
not have occurred.
An Italian named Conte is said to have
invented an artificial graphite of great
purity. 1t is of the same density through.
out, of crystalline black, and with a me.
tallic luster. 1t is very durable and is
therefore considered suitable for electric
Jumps. No description is given of the
process by which it is made.
Two German chemists have discovered
that IN the saliva of the maxillary gland of
the horse there is present a ferment cana.
bic OF converting starch into sugar that
II the saliva of the parotid gland there is a
Ieptonizing element, thought in small
nantity, and that the mixed saliva emul.
sities fats, but does not dissolve them.
An eminent authority on Illuminating
| gas, Mr.. Sugg, insists that one point Of
great Importance in the construction of a
,as-burner is that the gas should not he
heated until it arrives at the point of Joni.
tion. The body of the chamber below that
point must, therefore, be made of material
which is bad conductor of heat to prevent
an undue expansion of the gas and main.
tAin the heat of the flame.
AT the funeral of the late Henry Giffard
discourse was delivered by NJ. de Com.
terouse, In which the following passage oc.
Cured An intimate friend of Giffard
told me yesterday that be carried to the
tomb the secret which he had long sought
Tor, and which had revealed itself to his
eyes during his last years. He added that
cur 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 civilization
}At the Munich Electrical Exhibition ono
Of the curiosities was a telephone trans.
uniting music performed at Ober.Ammer.
gau, over distance of 63 miles. At the
palace huge telephone arrangement
brought over music from the English Cafe.
so that the whols immense audience could
hear the pieces quite distinctly. But
perhaps the most significant exhibit was
single wire which conveyed electrical
energy distance of 81 miles from the Coal
mines of Miesbach, where it was pener.
ated. This augurs a future for the eco.
nomical use of labor s;i'sich may have far.
reaching results.
During his recent researches Mr.. Brown.
equard has scoved the possibility of intro.
Lduclng q tube into the larynx of the higher
animals without causing any pain or any
subsequent bad result, although the exper.
iment was performed repeatedly, in at
least one case, on single subject. The
local insensibility to pain was caused by
directing rapid current of carbonic acid
upon the upper part of the larynx through
an incision for from fifteen seconds to two
or three minutes. After the operation was
completed the anesthetic effect lasted from
two to eight minutes.
It is estimated by NJ. P. de Ichihatcheff
that the great deserts of Asia and Africa
are not sea-beds recently made dry, but
that they had been raised at remote geolog.
ical epochs, and that their sand is not of
marine origin. but is the product of rocks
disintegrated by winds, changes of temper.
ature, and other similar subaerial causes.
He says that the Sahara is much more
modern than the deserts of Asia. He