Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1883-10-11
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

ciety of Frankfort in 1861, scientific
authorities are still not content to let the
matter rest The latest claimant put forth
IL Frenchman named Charles Bourscul,
who is said to have originated the tele-
phone in 1854, and to have communi-
Gated the invention to the French Acad-
envy in the same year.
The speed of gaseous explosions is be-
ing investigated by Mons. Berthelot
When carbonic oxide and oxygen were
exploded in tube by spark, their rate
Of explosion was found to be more than
5000 feet per second, which is far
greater speed than the investigator expect
cd would be registered.
DR.. J. Murray Gibbes, of New Zeal
and, declares that Eucalyptus globulus,
the blue gum tree, contains properties
which are perfectly antaponistic to the
germs of diphtheria,' and that he has
used the plant in his practice with such
remarkable success that he feels justified
in pronouncing it cure for that disease.
His treatment includes the keeping of the
patient away from the slightest draught
cf ecu air, in warm room in which the
atmosphere is imprcgnated constantly
with steam from boiling infusion OF the
blue gum leaves.
In 1873 remarkable discovery of
bones of the fossil monsters known as
1guanodons was made in coal mine of
Belgium. Three years were occupied in
removing the remains, which are supposed
to belong to % skeletons. One of the
skeletons is now mounted in the animal 5
semi-erect position, and stands ii feet
high and extends over horizontal floor
space over % feet in length.
The state Of the ice in the Arctic seas
varies greatly in different years, and it
has unfortunately happened, Mr.. Karl
Peterson Of the Tromso Museum remarks
that most of the important expeditions
sent to the polar regions have encounter
cd adverse seasons This author suggests
that systematic scheme of exploration
should be adopted by which advantage
might be taken of favorable seasons. 1t
may be presumed that the changes in the
conditions of the ice take place periodical
~, and must run their cycle in ten or
eleven years. He would therefore have
steamers dispatched yearly to the several
points from which the pole is most likely
to be reached-these points being, in his
opinion, the north of Spitzbergen, the
northeast of Novaya zemlya, and the
Behring Straits. These expeditions should
DO continued for eleven years, attempts
approach the pole being made when the
water channels might appear sufficiently
free from ice. For several years the
Dutch have sent an annual expedition to
Novaya zemlya and Spitzbergen, but
their failure to gain important geographic
cal results has probably been largely due
to the fact that sailing vessels have been
used instead of steamers.
The antiquity Of magnifyiug glasses is
indicated by the following passage from
the writings of Confacius. the great
Chinese philosopher, who died 47s years
B. G.: Gas We use glass to examine
the forms Of things, SO must we study
antiquity to understand the present"
A new vegetable parasite, Haploeoccus
reticulatus, has been discovered in pork
BY DR.. Zopf. 1t was found in from 30
to 40 per cent. Of the entire number of
animals examined
Prof Lockyer, the English astronomer,
thinks it very probable that human life
on the planet Mars is very much like
that on the earth. The light must be
less brilliant, but the organs of sight may
be 80 much more susceptible as to make
the vision quite as good. The heat is
probably not so great, but it is BY no
means less in proportion to the lessened
power Of the suns rays This observer
agrees with others in affirming that sever
al remarkable seas-including inland seas,
some Of them connected by straits with
still larger seas and some not so connect
ed-are now definablc In the southern
hemisphere, in which, as is the case with
the earth, the water area seems to be
much greater than in the northern hem
isphere.