Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1884-05-14

Mr.. James Manning states that the
black aborigines of Australia have a
general belief in deity, all knowl-
edge of whom is concealed from the
women and children.
According to Mons. p Gibier,
rabies can be communicated to birds,
which, however, recover spontaneous
ly Mammals inoculated from the
diseased birds die with the usual
symptoms of rabies.
The possibility of obtaining illumi-
mating 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.
English statistics show that per-
manent blindness is largely due to in
flammation Of the eyes in infancy, a
malady easy to avoid by proper care.
In the large English cities the SAM
tary authorities are said to be taking
steps toward making known among
the poor the precautions which should
be adopted.
Speech has recently been photo
graphed. The picture was obtained
by moving a Photographic plate quick
ly past a diaphragm Vibrated by the
voice. a bounding line between light
and shadow was thus produced on the
plate, forming curves closely cores
ponding to the sound vibrations
simple curves for vowels, complica-
ted ones for cOnSOnants.
a London medical authority dis
sents from the common view that
dampness is great cause of disease,
of the respiratory organs especially,
in the British Isles, since mo special
increase in the death-rate has been
shown to result from a rainy season,
whereas an unusually cold period pro-
duces al immediate. and notable i'll
crease in the number of deaths.
At point Barrow. Alaska, the re-
Gently returned United States eXpe-
dition found evidence that the ground
is frozen to a depth of nearly 800 feet.
Below a point few yards from the
surface the temperature never changes
From November to May ~ living
thing may be seen on this land except
the Innuit and his dog, and an oc-
casional stray reindeer or white fox.
A Paris physician, DR.. Gelle, has
found that from 90 to % per cent of
school children have imperfect 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 dis
tances from the teachers desk CORES
ponding with their keenness of hear
ing.
investigations concerning the effect
of different forms of artificial illumi-
nation on the health have shown that
the talloW candle is the most unWhole-
some agent, and the electric lamp
produces only about one-thirtieth as
much heat as the tallow candle,
while it gives out no carbonic acid or
water. One gas jet in room is said
to vitiate the air as much as six per-
sons.
DR.. II. F. Walker has found good
reasons for assuming that earth
worms are the invariable companions
OF man, and exist only in regions
where he has has settled After
settlement they first appear in the
vicinity Of the stable yard, then in
portions of soil enriched by stable
manure, and at length in soil, whether
cultivated OF simply pastured by do
mesticated animals.
Prof. c. G. Rockwood's record of
American earthquakes in 1883
includes rs notices, nine of the reports
being doubtful, and one appearing to
refer to a meteoric phenomenon and
not to an earthquake. Canada fur
nished 8 of the reported EARTHQUAKES
New England, 3; Atlantic States, Q;
Mississippi Valley, II; Pacific coast,
%; Mexico l; West Indies, 4; Central
America, Colombia, Venezuela and
Ecuador, IA; Peru and Chill, 10; and
2Were not counted. O..
Recent researches indicate thatyon
land the winds show a considerable
variation in strength at different
times during the day, being strongest
during the greater heat, OF from one
to three and a half hours after the
sun passes the meridian. On the
SUBMITS 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 in the middle of the
ocean there is scarcely any appreci-
able daily variations in the winds
force.
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
an agent of contagion to persons pre-
disposed to the disease or in whom
the bacilli find suitable soil for pro-
pagation. 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
consumption,
The important services rendered
by science to the fisheries of the Uni
ted States and other countries have at
last produced quite an impression in
Great Britain. The London Fisheries
Exhibition of last year has been fol-
lowed by the establishment of a ma
rine laboratory in Scotland, and So
ciety of eminent scientists is now be-
ing organized for the study of British
food fishes and mollusks, and all
animals and vegetable resources of
the sea, The body is to be known as
1.-THE society for the Biological In
vestigation of the Coasts Of the Uni
ted Kingdom and Prof. Huxley is
it's first president.
At a late meeting of the London
Medical Society sketches were exhibit
ted representing a curious method of
putting young children to sleep which
is practiced by mothers in the Hima-
layas. The infant is swathed in a
large mass of clothes and placed upon
piece of bark OF mating in one of
the small wooden irrigation-channels