Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1883-03-15
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

been found except in the spectrum Of
the sun, has been discovered by Mon-.
Palmieri in the lava Of III. Vesuvius
One CT the late finds at Pornpsii is
collection Of surgical instruments, the
extent and nature Of which indicate
chat the practice Of surgery had at
tanned high development in that city.
Sir William Thomson accepts DR..
Thomas Reds enumeration Of six SEN
ses-uamely, the sense of force, Of
heat, of sound, Of light, Of tase and of
smell instead Of the FIVE we have been
accustomed to attribute to man
OF the 247 species Of cultivated
plants which De C4ndolle recognizes as
useful, 1919 are natives Of the Old
World, 45 were furnished by America,
While the original home Of only three
b still considered doubtful.
So vast is the weight Of the atmos-
pierre resting upon the earth that it is
not surprising if the considerable local
fluctuations of its pressure, as shown
BY the barometer, produce some effect
upon the earlh's crust. 1t has been
found by Mr.. Baldwin Latham that
the streams flowing through the chalk
yield an increased supply OF water when
the pressure upon the overly ing earth
b decreasing, and diminished supply
when the pressure is becoming great
-or, in other words, wheu the baroni-
ster is rising.
From records Of the hippopotamuses
Of the London Geological Gardens it
appears that the maximum age reached
BY these animals is about so years.
Mr.. Frank Moiiat has described to
the Edinburgh Photographic Society "A
process for Obtaining photographs by
moonlight which he has successfully
tried. A picture exhibited sho vs. O
house and trees very distinctly, while
the differences in level eli grassy lawn
may be clearly seen.
Mr.. L. j. Faraday has offered novel
view of disease germs and epidemics.
He states that Pasteur's researches
show that certain deadly microbes may
BY the action Of oxygen be modified
into comparatively harmless organisms
Assuming the change thus demonstrat
Cd it appears not improbable that, OF
the other hand, harmless organisms
may become altered into disease para
sites when lacking sufficient oxygen
and just as this lack OF ;erltion ma,
give deadly character to the organ
isms SO may an abundance of Oxygen
destroy the virulence Of the germs.
gale of wind may therefore be NOR
effective in stopping epidenics than an.
amount Of disinfectants- which, afte
all, may be really harmful Ivy reducing
the proportion of oxygen in the air
and it is possible to imagine tightin!
disease with steam engine and a fan
Attention was first given to doubl
stars by Sir w. Herschell, who discoy
cd large number of them. The ap
pearance known as a double star is o
course caused when two Of the heaven
~ bodies are very nearly in line will
the earth, one Of them being much far
Their away than the other; but repeate,
observations have shown that many o
them are really systems in which on
component revolves around the other
The number OF discoveries of donbl
stars made up to the present time con
siderably exceeds 10000.
In design submitted for propose
monument in Rome to the late Fathe
Secchi, the structure bears, in add
ton to statue Of the eminent astron
omer, several emblemaiical figures On
Of these, representing Meteorolgy, ha
in its hand q gigantic barometer, whie
can be seen from considerable di.
lance; while thermometer ON Al
equally large scale is held up to publ
view by another figure, representa-
Physics.
The American project IF establish
ing a common method of measnrin
time throughout the world has bee
laid before the French Academy. Mon
de Chancourtois advocates deeims
division Of the day and of the circl'
the latter to contain 400 degrees. A
universal prime meridian, he su:
gests the adoption of the meridian {
Ptoleny, about 3l,7 degrees FROM tbs
Of Paris.
Prof. Cohn, of Breslau, German,
has observed that children are oblipp