St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-04-28

ination in New Zealand by Mr.. A. u.
Urquhart proves that even these flg-
ures may be far below the truth. On
digging up quarter of an acre OF pas
ture land, and testing the soil in many
places over considerable area, from
four to twenty six earth-Worms per
square foot were found. The alluVlal
flats, slopes and richer parts OF the up
per lands averaged about eight to the
square foot, or 34S, ,4s0 per acre-an an
nelid population to each acre as hume
rous as the human population OF oC.
Louis.
Knowing of black retriever dog
thirty-one years of age, Mr.. 4. Cordl-
ner. of Oxford, England, wishesto learn
whether such an age is not an extraor-
binary one for dogs to reach.
The annual rainfall upon the two
sides Of the Gulf Of California shows
remarkable difference, according to
Prof. Silliman, of Yale College. ltap-
pears, for instance, that the eastern
shore at Culiacan, the capital OF the
Mexican province Of Sinaloa, received
twenty three inches of rain in 1870, and
at Mazatlan, the chief seaport, thirty
| five inches in 1880; while on the west
ern shore Of the gulf, in the peninsula
of Lower California, the yearly fall OF
water rarely reaches four iches.
/ 4 j
Mons. Potel has produced new sub
stance, which he calls "poteline," from
| a mixture Of gelatine. glycerine and
tannin. He claims that the compound
is absolutely imperyious to air, and
among the purposes to which he has
applied it is the preservation OF meat.
It becomes nearly liquid at a tempera-
ture Of 112 degrees, and spreads over
the meat, filling the germs Of putretre-
faction and preventing the entrance OF
new germs. Mons. Potel asserts that
all the freshness of the meat thus treat
ed will be retained for two months.
In the course of comparison of the
size of the planets, a somewhat imagl-
native astronomer remarks ]: Apply the
principle that attraction is in proportion
to the mass, and man who weighs 100
pounds on the earth weighs 1876 on Ju-
piter and only So on Mars; while on the
Asteroids he could play with powders
for marbles, hurl hills like Milton's an
gels, leap into the fifth story windows
with ease, tumble over precipices with
out harm, and go around the little
. worlds at seven jumps"
The record of thunder-storms kept
at the Pic du Midi observatory was re-
Gently examined, when it was found
that Of the 1874 thunderstorms observed
, from 1873 to 1882 only 90 were produced
at a height above 7,700 feet.
The metals which are usually regard
\ ed as fixed-even iron-have beer
found by Mons. Demarcay to emit rea
:, vapors at relatively low temperatures
Cadmium, for instance, volatizes al
257 degrees and zinc at 302 degrees.
It has been calculated, according tt
F. Prof. Schuster, that if the sun were
made of the hardest steel and thorough.
" magnetized, the distance between il
: and the earth is so great that it could
not affect our magnets. The connec
ton between the sun and the earth
whereby magnetic storms occur on onl
planet Immediately after the appear.
ance Of sun-spots, is therefore one O.
the greatest scientific mysteries of this
age. Thus far the efforts of physicist!
have utterly failed to account for sucf
, phenomena.
E Prof. Feser of Munich has been en-
/ deavoring to show that connection
t exists between diet and liability to in
fectious diseases. In trials made OF
! rats inoculated with the poison Of cattle
T distemper he demonstrated the fac
! that the animals which had been fed OF
: vegetable diet we're quickly attacked
, by the disease, while those which hat
, been fed on meat exclusively resistet
i the effects of the inocculation.
4 Asses milk is an excellent substitut
!, for human milk, and at the Paris Hos
|, pital for Assisted Children all infant
9 which for any reason are deprived OF hu
man nursing are now allowed to sucl
directly from the teats of asses. Th
I efficacy of this method of feeding i
i best shown by statistics. During a pc
i Rod Of six months, eighty six childrel
i afflicted with congenital and conta
:a.,s d;anasns zuara fad at the Paris in