St. Landry democrat., 1883-11-24
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


-o-
A spectrum line of nelium, the ele-
ment of which no traces have hitherto
been found except in the spectrum of
the sun, has been discovered by Mons.
Palmieri in the lava Of Mount Vesu
yius.
One of the late finds at Pompeii is a
collection of surgical instruments, the
extent and nature of which indicate
that the practice of surgery had at
tanned a highdevelopment in that city.
Sir William Thomson accepts DIR.
Thomas Reid's enumeration OF SIX
senses -namely, the sense Of force. OF
heat, of sound, of light OF taste and
smell-instead of the five we have been
accustomed to attribute to man.
OF the 247 species of cultivated plants
which De Candolle recognizes as use
4 full, 119 are natives of the Old World,
.45 were furnished by America, while
the original home Of only three is still
considered doubtful.
So vast is the weight OF the atmos-
phere resting upon the surface OF the
earth that it's not surprising if the con-
siderable local fluctuations of it's press
ture, as shown by the barometer, produce
some effect upon the earth's crust. 1t
has been found by Mr.. Baldwin Latl-
am that the streams flowing through
the chalk yield an increased supply OF
water when the pressure upon the over
lying earth is decreasing, and a dimin-
ished supply when the pressure is be-
coming greater-or, in other words,
when the barometer is rising.
From records Of the APPROPRIATENESS
of the London Geological Gardens it
appears that the maximum age reached
by these animals is about thirty years.
Mr.. FEank Moffat has described to
the EdMburg Photographic Society q
process for obtaining photographs by
moonlight which he has successfully
tried. A picture exhibited shogs house
and trees very distinctly, while the diff
ferences in level on grassy lawn may
be clearly seen.
Mr.. f. j. Faraday has offered a novel
view of disease germs and epldemics.
He states that Pasteur's researches
show that certain deadly microbes may
| by the action of oxygen be modified in
to comparatively harmless organisms.
Assuming the change thus demonstrated
it appears not improbable that, on the
other hand, harmless organisms
may become altered into disease para
sites when lacking sufficient oxygen
and just as this lack Of aeration may
give deadly character to the organ
! isms SO may an abundance of oxygen
destroy the virulence Of the germs. A
gale Of wind may therefore be more
effective in stopping epidemics than any
amount of disinfectants- which, after
all, may be really harmful by reducing
the proportion of oxygen in the air
and it is possible to imagine fighting
disease with steam engine andsa fan.
Attention was first given to double
stars by Sir w. Herschell, who discov.
cred large number of them. The APP
pearance known as a double star is of
course caused when two Of the heaven
~ bodies are very nearly in q line with
one of them being much further away
than the other but repeated observa
tons have shown that many of them
are really systems in which one compo
hent revolves around the other. The
number Of discoveries Of double stars
made up to the present time consider
ably exceeds 10000.
In design submitted for proposed
monument in Rome to the late Father
Secchi, the structure bears, in addition
to a statue of the eminent astronomer
several emblematic figures. One of
these representing Meteorology, has in
its hand gigantic barometer, which can
be seen from considerable distance
while thermometer on an equally
large scale is held up to public view by
another figure representing physics.
Eutomologists in Great Britain con-
slider the year 1852 10 have been remark
able for the scarcity Of insects.
The American project Of establishing
aScommon method sof measuring time
throughout the world has been laid hes
fore the French Academy. Mons. de
Chanconrtois advocates a decimal di-