St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-05-05
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

: !. y Z,
Death, in our view, takes place When
Il he action of the heart ceases puI ~
,the Chinese a person is alive until the
s,,od, becomes cold. These two oeiieIs
NAV cause estimates OF the tlme
of death of any individual "
differ by several hours, which dineienoe
has g;ven rise to some very unsatls1ac-
4orv evidence at inquests in Hong
q onp. the Chinese idea having been un-
known to Europeans until very recent
3y.
Tho snicide of the scorpion has been
J much discussed topic. The statement
Is we'll attested that scorpion enciosea
- ring of red hot embers will, after
fntile attempts to escape, kill itself oy
4hrusting it's sting into its own heau'
+, s,,;te of the corroborating testimony
th;s assertion is often doubted, but
recent observation by Prof. Sankester
seems to establish its probability ana
throw new light on the matter. nav
ino occasion to chloroform scorpion ne
noticed that as soon as it began 10 ieei
+ha effect of the Supplying vapor Y
made repeated thrusts with its sting III
straightforward direction, but these
blows became gradually SO lil-dlrecteu
and uncertain that at least one causeu
ehe tin Of the sting to touch the lnsects
body Tn this case the skin was not pene-
.4rated hut it is easy to believe that oc-.
easionally such misdirected blow on
tI,a mart of a half -sufocated SCORPION
NAV have been seen to inf1ict mortar
,ronnd npon the scorpion itself.
The researches Of Messrs. Richet and
Pondeau indicate that artificial respira-
zion may be valuable agent IN tne
resuscitation Of persons who have been
exposed to cold until life is nearly e1-
tinct.
II is asserted by DIR. Merkel that per-
sons height after nights rest, meas
ured before rising from bed, is two
inches greater than in the evening,
measured standing. On first rising a
sudden shortening takes place at the
Joints of the legs. The sinking at the
ankle is one-third of an inch; at the
knee one-twelfth to one-eighth OF an
inch at the hip, two-ffths OF an lncn.
The contraction in height is continued
through the day by the gradual yield
ing Of the arches Of the feet and OF the
discs Of the spine.
Mons. Spring, Of the Belgian Acade-
nv Of Sciences, takes exception to the
generally received view that the seat
of the electricity of storms is in the
moist region of the atmosphere. and
concludes that it exists in the cold ana
dry uper-stratum.
DR.. Franzius finds that the tooth
4nost often affected by decay is the
third molar, such cases forming one
half of the total number. The teetl
begin to decay in certain successive
order, the lower third molar being frs
attacked, then the upper, then the low
,er fourth molar, and so on, the incisor
and the canine teeth of the lower jaw
being the last reached. The uppe
teeth are more durable than the lowe
in the proportion of three to two. Th'
right teeth show greater vitality thai
the left. The durability Of the teeth j
less in light persons than in dark, ant
less in tall than in short persons. Thes
results were obtained by an examina
ton of $50 Russian soldiers, Of whom
.258 had unsound teeth.
The tide records Of the government
surveyors of British India, covering
period Of twenty three years, indicat
the existence Of a fortnightly tide un
der the influence of the moon.
Mons. Pasteur has gained fresh laur
.els by an investigation of a disease 9
5pigs, known as r0aget or mai roag
which in one valley Of the Rhone ha
been fatal to 10000 of the animals with
in a year. The investigator has repol
ted to the French Academy Of Science
that he has discovered the cause to b
"a minute organism, somewhat like thu
of the chicken cholera. 1t is differen
however, in its physiological propertie
since it produces no effect upon fow
but is quickly fatal to rabits an
pigs. Experiments have sati
fed Mons. Pasteur that one attack q
fords protection against another, an
by inoculating pigs with organism
weakened by culture so as to give ri