Morris tribune., 1883-04-25
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

pork containing trichinae may still be
dangerous after having been kept in
salt for fifteen months.
A British surgeon in the Indian SER
vice recommends that quinine be
taken in strong coffee, as the disagree
able bitter taste is thus concealed.
In the treatment of certain skin af-
fections, Prof Kaposi of Vienna places
the patient on a bed where the body is
immersed in water and allows him to
remain for fifty or a hundred days. A
French medical journal pronounces
these long baths very successful.
At a recent meeting of the Paris BIZ
illogical Society, Mons. Dubois illus
trated the value of chloroform as an
embalming agent by exhibiting the
body of dog which had been perfectly
preserved for three weeks by the in
PRODUCTION of chloroform into the sto-
mach Immediately after death.
Mons. Seidlitz has noticed disease
peculiar to the people of certain
locality on the northern slope of the
Caucasus. The disease is of a hyster-
zeal character, and the men and wo-
men affected bark like dogs. The
natives consider it as the result of
bewitching, in which plant known
as the "barking grass" is used by the
bewitchers.
Doubtless the most effective plan of
avoiding injury from tobacco is to
avoid using that substance; but those
who consider 1.-THE weed" an indis-
pensable luxury may be interested in
the statement of Mons. Armand that
the injurious effects of nicotine can be
counteracted or destroyed by mOisten-
ing the tobacco leaves when in course
of preparation with a strong infusion
of watercresses.
Considering its extent, America is
much better watered than Europe and
Africa. The tropics of the eastern
hemisphere have an annual rainfall Of
about II inches, while tropical South
America has 155 inches. The rainfall
of the eastern United States is from 10
TO so inches yearly, but west of the
Mississippi to the Sierra Nevada it is
mostly from II to Is inches. In Great
Britain the average is 35 inches; in
France, from 20 to q in Central Ger
many and Russia-farther away from
the coast-it is only from Is to 20 in
ches but in the region of the Alps it
is mostly from 80 to so inches.
The usual method of determining
the temperature of a room by q ther-
mOmeter hung upon the wall gives
very uncertain results, as Mons. Cast
ton Tissandier has shown that rooms
apparent temperature may vary many
degrees according to the position of the
thermometer. The upper part of a
room is much warmer than the lower,
and windows and doors have very
marked effect upon the temperature of
the air in their vicinity. AS means
of accurately obtaining the temperat-
ure, Mons. Tissandier suggests that
the thermometer be held at the height
of man for about two minutes at
several different pO'nts, the average
of these observations to be taken as
the real temperature.
\ novel indus 10y is being developed
III Germany. rappears that for some
time Krupp, Of the great iron works at
Essen, has been making q regular busi-
ness of producing aid selling liQuetied
carbOnic acid. The gas is condensed
and liquetied under pressure of
about $4,000 pounds to the square inch,
and is coming into extensive use for
various purposes, one of its principal
applications being the compression of
steel castings. In Berlin the fire en-
gines are each supplied WITH large
vessel containing the condensed gas,
which is allowed to flow into the en-
gines on arrival at fire, and by it's
expansion in returning to it's normal
state pumps water upon the flames
until a sufficient steam pressure is OBJ
tanned to do the work.
From results obtained with various
fertilizlng substances Prof. Atwater
has drawn the following conclusions:
Corn needs little nitrogen besides
what 1t can draw from natural sources,
while it's yield is largely increased
under the influence of mineral fertiliz-
ers-the most effective being those in
which the chief component is phos-
phoric acid or potash, according to the
soil and the season. Potatoes respond
uniformly to all the fertilizing ineredi-
ents; and they are less able than corn
to gather from natural sources, The
same appears to be true for turnips.
Not enough experiments have been
made with other crops to justify con-
clusions concerning them. Practi-
cally the largest average yield for all
crops is secured by the use of fertilizers
containing all the essential elements
of plant food. Used alone, nitrate of
soda is rarely useful, sulphate of lime
frequently, muriate of potash very
often, and the supe- phosphates gen
orally. Soils vary in their capacity
for conveying food to crops, and care
full observation and experiment are
necessary to determine the needs of a
particular soil.