Morris tribune., 1884-08-13

A Vienna scientist has noticed that
the workmen at the petroleum wells
of Galicia enjoy perfect immunity
from cholera, and he infers that petro-
leum vapor acts as preventive ofthe
disease.
From the character of the enormous
icebergs OF the southern hemisphere
some of which have been described
as being hundred of feet high and
miles in extent-Mr. r. A. Proctor
concludes that no Antartic continent
can exist, as the most favorable place
for the development Of such icebergs
would he a sea dotted with islands.
no give us a better knowledge of
the phenomena of atmospheric cleo
tricitv, Mr.. John TroWbridgc srecom-
mends that the government, III con-
nection with the signal-serVice, cStab-
fish a number of electrical stations
throughout the south and west. where
thlmder.storms and tornadoes are 50
frequent. In certain regions the ten
dency of thunderstorm maps might
be issued, showing the probable path
of approaching electrical disturbances.
Most satisfactory results are claimed
by Dr.. Domingos Freiro, of Rio Jane
iro, for his experiments III lnoculatlng
persons with yellow fever virus in an
attenuated form. Up to recent date
he had applied his system OF lnocula-
ton to $50 persons, among whom only
six deaths occurred during SubSe
ouent quite severe yellow fever cpl
demic. The mortality among persons
who had not been treated with pro-
tective incubation was according to
his account, about fifteen times as
great.
Ina communication to the Physio-
| logical Society of Berlin, Dr.. Falk
stated, as q result of his researches ON
! drowning, that when rabbits are sud
denly plunged into water having Il
temperature of forty OF forty-tive de-
grees Fahrenheit, cramp OF the eXplra-
tory muscles occurs, and respiration
| ceases. The methods Of restoring the
apparently dead have no relation to
the effect of cutaneous stimulation
upon respiration cold water dashed
upon the chest acts upon the heart
alone on the nape Of the neck 1t acts
upon the lower brain.
A curious botanical specimen is
growing in park at SondershauSen
Germany, in the shape Of fir tree
which bears on one of it's main branch
es what appears to he q second tree
cone-shaped, and not less than twenty
five feet in height AMI about three
feet in height and about three feet III
diameter. The main tree is over one
hundred feet high, with trunk some
! ten feet in circumference. 1t is sup
posed that wound made i'll the
branch by squirrel or an insect has
caused bud to develop which has
produced the secondary tree.
In note to the French Academy of
Sciences, Mons. Cailletet has COM
munlcated a plan for producing liquid
oxygen which is so simple that it is
expected that the product may soon
become an article of commerce; as
liquifed carbonic acid now is in Ger
many. He states that when the
Gas known as formene is slightly con-
densed and cooled in boiling ethyline
under atmospheric pressure, it is re-
solved into an extremely volatile
colorless fluid, in returning to q case
Gus state, yields degree of cold SUI.
ficient to imediately liquefy oxygen.
Tests with calipers Of the circul.
arity of fine turned work can be
made with much greater delicacy by
feeling than by seeing. Late expert
ments to determine the reach of the
sense of touch for measurements make
it apper that mechanics with educated
sense can detect Il variation Of one
twenty Thousand Of an inch are ap
parent, The fact of the minutenesS
of the variations detected has beer
demonstrated by means of readings OF
scaled rule through microscope
General usefulness in mechanical
work does not demand q closer ap
proach to accuracy than one ten
thousandth of an inch; the more eN
active measurement of one fifty
thousand of an inch being usefu
mainly as standards.
UnbrOken success is reported still
as the result of Pasteur'S experiment:
with the virus Of hydrophobia, Thus
far fifty-se1en dogs have been the
subjects of investigation. Nineteer
of them were rapid, and by these thirty
eight healthy animals were bitten un
der uniform conditions. One half o.
the thirty-eight had been previously
inoculated or ''vaccinated'' with at
tenauated virus; the other half ha(
not. without single exception, thu
latter died with unmistakable signs O.
hydrophobia. The others are We
alive and apparently as well as ever
but will be watched for a year b.
veterinary surgeons, to see whethe
the incubation prevents the develop
ment of hydrophobia permanently o