The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1884-07-05
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

A black rain, the coloring matter being
carbon, lately fell in Shropshire, England.
From chemical analysis and the charac-
ter Of the prevailing vegetation, Kellner
and Imai find Japan's soil to be poor.
According to DR.. A. Berghaus, the nettle
was formerly extensively employed in Ger
many for woven fabrics and its use is
being revived. The common singing net
tie may be made into good yarn, but the
Chinese nettle gives the best results.
Mons. J. c. Houzeau has attempted to
prove that an object which has been coca
sionally seen since 1872, and which some
astronomers have regarded as satellite of
Venus, is really little planet revolving
about the sun between Venus and the earth.
He names it Meth.
Probably large majority of scientific
men connect the remarkable sunrises and
sunsets of last year with the volcanic erup
ton of Krakatoa. This fact gives especial
interest to q recent letter from Mr.. E. Mel
son, f. R. A. S., stating that the brilliant
sunsets were seen by him in Natal in Feb
rury, 1888, more than six months before the
eruption of the Javan volcano.
Several years ago two white spots were
detected on the surface of the planet Venus,
and have since been studied by Mons
.Trouvelot in nearly $50 observations. The
spots appear to be near the poles of the
planet, and the eminent astronomer, con-
cludes that they are the SUBMITS of high
mountains projecting above the Opaque
cloudy envelope which covers Venus.
Clover does not seed in New Zealand be-
cause there are no humble bees to fertilize
the flowers. Various attempts which have
been made to introduce the insects have
proven futile, but Mr.. J. G. Firth has sue
ceeded at length in getting consignment
of humble bees, which were transported in
a torpid state in a chilled room. If success-
full In acclimatizing them, Mr.. Firth ex-
poets them to save him 5000 a year in
clover-seed, all supplies having now to be
imported.
DR.. Albrecht of Neuchatel has been ex-
perimenting to determine the effect of
methodic inEalations of oxygen gas upon
the development of tubercular consump-
ton. Loss of weight was checked in the
consumptiyes, difficulty of breathing was
diminished, and an apparent decrease was
caused in the number of the bacteria which
always accompany the disease. It was his
hope that the oxygen might totally destroy
hnofnrIn arc sc IL
ady, and thus effect cure.
DR.. o. j. Lodge has been engaged in GER
tain researches concerning atmospheric
dust, summary of which he has given in
a lecture to the Royal Society of Dublin.
DIR. Lodge believes that dust-which prop
.erly includes fogs. smoke, and clouds or
mists-may be artifcially withdrawn from
the atmosphere, and by experiment he has
shown that small quantity of air may be
freed from its dust by discharging electric
lty into it. He thinks that it may be pos
slble to clear the air of railway tunnels in
the same manner, and that some impress
sion may be made on London fog by suf-
hclently powerful electrical discharges. He
intends to experiment in a genuine Lon
don fog with large machines.
At recent meeting of the Physiological
Society of Berlin, Prof. Busch called atten-
ton to the fact that carries of the teeth ap-
pears to be peculiar to man, as it has been
observed i'll no other animal 1t is not,
however, Characteristic of civilized man
alone, as it has been seen throughout large
collections of skulls, even of those of pre-
historic time. Some races are more dis-
posed to it than others, the Celtic, Arabian
and Polish races being but little affected
with unsound teeth. Certain families are
particularly predisposed to carries. Cen
eral habit of body and certain diseases have
great influence upon its DEVELOPMENT. |
Teeth with undulating enamel have much
less power of resisting carries than those |
whose surface is quite smooth. AS is we'll
KNOWN, diseased teeth are rendered prac-
tlcally sound by removing every particle of
carious substance and covering the sound
dentine with protective coating of gold.
gutta percha, or other addressing mate
rial.
The results of special Investigations of
tornadoes in 1882 and 1883 have led the U.
5. Signal Office to adopt plan for thor
oughiy studying tornado phenomena. The
work is now carried out by about 500 OBJ
servers, called tornado reporters. whose
stations are mostly located in the States of
Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North
Carolina, Missouri, Arkansas. Kansas, Hi
nols, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin
and Minnesota. Since March 10, 1884, ac-
eoralng to Sergt. j. 2. Finley, tornado
predictions have been made a matter of
daily study. The average up to June |
shows that it has been possible on fifty five
days to successfully predict from the morn
ing weather-map that no tornado would
occur on on that day; on twenty light other
days tornadoes were predicted for particu-
lar States or larger regions, and of them II
the tornadoes on seventeen days occurred
IN or near the specified region, while on
sieYen days tornadoes occurred in regions
tor which they We're not predicted.
thirsty friend Of ours who literally
patronized the beer on ice feature of the
Smoke Bend fair on the 18th of last month
dropped into rhyme next morning when {
asked to indulge in libation of the Ger
mans national beverage. and his vail was .