The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1883-12-29
NUMBER IL.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

i At certain seasons a kind of fist, eaten II,
Bombay is liable to contain yerv sman
4 worms, to which the natives often ascribe
cases OF cholera, and several cases of the
d1sease among Europeans have followed
a fish supper. :,
IWo OF the known comets of short period
arrive at perihelion in 1s84-D' Arrests ON
January 13, and Brosen's about September,
For several months astronomers have been
unsuccessfully watching for the former,
ana u IS probable that it may pass unseen
at this return.
1t has been found by r.. Koch and P.
Mlquel that the superficial layers of the soil
are exceedingly rich in microscopic organ
lsms, or baciIli. MIGUEL considers that these
oaclHi play an important part in the de-
I composition of organic matter and IN the
formation of assimilable plant food.
Different woods hold different quantities
OF water. According to Seheubier and
Hartlg, freshly cut hornbeam contains Is. g
per cent. OF water willow, rs per cent. !; ash.
2o.7 per cent; birch, 308 per cent; oak, 81. Z
4 per per = cent; pine, 39.7 per cent: red beech,
| 59.1 per cent; elm, 44.5 per cent: larch.
4s.6 per cent; and white poplar. SOC per
| cent. : -. - -
4 A novel and interesting application OF
electricity has been introduced at the
/ court Opera at Vienna. The effect of
sWarms of frefiies fitting about a tropical
/ forest Is produced i'll a strikingly realistic
manner by the plan of suspending tiny in
candescent lamps by fine swinging wires,
| the flashes of the artificial frefiies being
caused by rapidly switching the current on
and off.
From experiments upon dogs, Iewas-
chew and Klikowitch have concluded that
the effect of ordinary natural mineral wa
| 1ers Is to increase the quantity of bile and
TO make 1t more fluid and watery. This
increased How is beneficial in freeing the
gail-b!adder from stagnant bile. The action
OF artlhclal solutions of alkaline salts, as
well as OF b 1T water, was found to be SINH
lar te that OF the natural mineral waters.
| 1t seems that the injurious effects seme-
times resulting from the use Of canned foods
are not always due to the presence of lead
II The cans. At late inquest near Lon
don medical evidence was given to the ef-
feet that death had been caused by eating
salmon which had been poisoned through
decomposition by nitrate Of tin formed bv
the action of the preserved fish ON the tin
OF the can containing it.
Mr.. r. w. Jenkins OF Ceylon reports
that IN the mountain districts of that island
the volcanic explosions of Krakatoa were
distinctly heard, although 1000 miles dis
cannon at distance of few miles, or of
dynamite rock blasting mile or SO away.
frof. II. A. Proctor supp poses that the sound
waves were conveyed through the earth,s
crust, and not through the air.
kind of timber found buried in yellow
clay in China, near the border OF Thibet. ID
stated by Mr.. 3. Colborne Baber of the
British legation at Pekin to be held in higl,
esteem e as material for cof1ins, ON account
OF the resistance it offers to decay and III
sect ravages. A single coffin made from
its planks is valued at an equivalent of 300
pounds sterling. unfortunately Mr.. Baber
has been unable to give any information
concerning the botanical character of the
subterranean wood.
A remarkable feature of the two satellites
of Mars, which were discovered about six
years ago by Prof. Asaph Hall, is the prox-
unity OF the inner one of the planet, its dis
tance from the center of the latter body
faCs les than go0. says s5ssa 81 s.,T
comb, there are any astronomers on Mars
with telescopes and eyes Like ours, they can
readily lind out whether this satellite is in
habIted, the distance being less than one
sixtleth that of the moon from us. .
The work of the municipal laboratory at
Paris in testing food substances results in
some interesting disclosures. 1t has late
" revealed the fact that spurious fruit fla
yors are extensively made and sold in that
city, the flavors of the strawberry, pine
apple, melon, apple, pear, cherry, plum,
abr1cot and peach being successfully imi-
tated by artificial chemical compounds. A
so-called gooseberry jelly was examined,
and proved to have been made from sea-
weed.
Among the scientific results of his Green.
land expedition Baron Nordenskjold me1r-
tons the discovery that, contrary to the
general belief, the west coast of Greenland
is washed by cold water, while greatly
heated current coming from the south runs
along the east coast at a short distance only
from the shore. This current must exer
else great influence on the climate on the
east coast, which may be more moist. but.
in the Baron's opinion, not colder than that
of the west coast.
In preliminary paper read before re-
cent meeting of the London Patholooicap
Society. Mr.. Sutton and DIR. Heneage Gibbes
described an investigation now being made
by them into the tuberculosis of birds.
among birds, and that it sometimes be-
comes epidemic. The effects do no. ex-
actly correspond to those produced in man
by consumption, but the parasite present
Ill both cases seems to be the same. The
disease virus appears to be introduced with
the food, and the birds most liable to be
affected are common fowl, peacock. grouse,
and other grain-eaters.
In an attempt to trace invention to ifs
origin III the mind of primitive man, Col.
+. A. Seeiy of the u. S. Patent Office. re-
marks: obviously, archaeology can find
no trace of remoter age than that of
stone: but l mistrust that the thoughtful
anthropologist will accept the evidence of
earlier ages, one of which, taking one of
Its perishable materials as the type of all,
we may call the age of wood. Still farther
back must lie an age, as indefinite in Giura-
ton as any, when man existed i'll his rldest
without arts of any kind, except
such as he employed III common with lower
animals; and this is the true primitive
period"
When coal-gas escapes from pipes in II
house its presence in tie air is quickly
detected by its peculiar odor, but when the
leak IS underground and the gas filters into
easements and cellars through the soil all
odor may be lost. The air of closed house
may thus become dangerously charg. d
with this product while the fact remains @
unsuspected by the inmates of the dwell
lnss. Such cases have occurred, and Prof.
Pettenkofer, In a recent popular lecture ut
Berlin. expressed the belief that they may
be much more frequent than is generally
supposed. Coal-gas owes its. poisonous
property to carbonic oxide, which forms
ten per cent. of its composition. CRUDE has
shown that air containing five parts of car
bonic oxide in 10000 may be breathed for
days without injury to health, while pro-
portion of seven or eight parts in 10,OUQ
causes apprsciable discomfort; a proporz
ton of twenty parts in 10000 produces diff
ficulty of breathing, weakness and uncer-
tainty of gait; and twice that proportion
leads to stupefaction, followed by extreme
and fatal effects as the carbonic oxide in
creases. e'n the occurrence Of symptoms