The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1884-06-14
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Astronomers have found reason for be-
Gated by the dark patches on its Disc
wakes and wanes in pretty regular period,
and have concluded that eleven years may
be taken as a close estimate of the time
which must elapse between one season of
greatest disturbance and the next. 70 ac-
cord with this theory, a season of greatest
disturbance-that is, a sun-spot maximum
should have been reached in 1882 or early
in 1888, but, instead, the day-god still con-
tinues to show increased energy, and it
even appears quite probable that the max
imum Of spots has not yet arrived.
The manufacture of artificial human milk
is growing into quite an industry in. Eng
land. It is made from pure cows milk,
which is first boiled to destroy all germs,
then treated with digestive ferment called
pancreatine, by which artificial digestion
is produced, and is finally brought to the
same constitution as human milk by the
use of dilute acids for precipitating the ex-
cess of albumen. Sick children in hospi-
tails have been fed on this product, and
have gained most rapidly in health and
weight.
The dark green circles of grass known as
"fairy rings" have been puzzle to scien-
fists, but Messrs. Lawes, Gilbert and War
ington of Rothamstead, England, believe
that they can now correctly explain the
phenomenon. The rings appear to- depend
upon the growth of fungous plants, which
abstract from the soil large amount of
nitrogen, and it is supposed that the grass
derives from the fungi an extra supply of
nitrogen, giving it very luxuriant ap-
pearance.
Recent researches indicate that on land
the winds show considerable variation in
strength at different times during the day,
being strongest during the greatest heat,
or from one to three and half hours after
the sun passes the meridian. On the sum-
mits of many large mountains, however, like
Mt. Washington, the wind is weaker in the
middle of the day than in the morning and
at night; while i'll the middle of the ocean
there is scarcely any appreciable daily va
ration in the winds force.
A Paris physician, DIR. Gelle, has found
that from 20 to 25 per cent. of school chill
dren veimperfeet powers of hearing, and
that the poorer classes of children are
especially liable to partial deafness. These
observations have led to practical result
in France, where pupils are to be seated at
distances from the teachers desk CORE
spending with their keenness of hearing.
The important services rendered by
science to the fisheries of the United
States and other countries have at last
produced quite an impression in Great
Britain. The London Fisheries Exhibition
of last year has been followed by the es-
tablishment of marine laboratory in
Scotland; and society of eminent scien-
fists is now being organized for the study
of British food fishes and mollusks aud all
other animal and vegetable resources Of
the sea. The new body is to be known as
1.-THE Society for the Biological Investiga-
ton of the coasts of the United Kingdom, +"
and Prof. Huxley is its first President.
Mons. Vignal has concluded that the
germs of consumption may lurk in the
dust of rooms or streets, as he has proven
that the bacilli in the matter expectorated
by consumptive patients are not destroyed
by being repeatedly dried and moistened,
and dust containing such matter may be
a contagious agent to persons predisposed
to the disease or in whom the bacili find
suitable soil for propagation. A guinea-pig
inoculated with the matter in the condition
in which it is likely to exist in the streets
died in three months from genuine con-
sumption.
The possibility of obtaining illuminating
gas in considerable quantities from the
droppings of cows and horses has been
demonstrated to the French Academy of
Sciences by Mons. Gayot. The process
does not lessen the value of the fertilizer.
Speech has recently been photographed.
The picture was obtained by moving a
Photographic plate quickly past dia-
phragm yibrated by the voice. A bounding
line between light and shadow was thus
produced on the plate, forming curves
closely corresponding to the sound vibra-
tions-simple curves for vowels, conpli-
Gated ones for consonants.