St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-07-27
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

HE EFFECTS OF HIGH MOUNTAIN AIR.
'Mountain sickness" is not an inevitable
consequence of travelling in elevated places.
With two guides Mr.. w. W. Graham has
climbed LOO feet higher than any other hui
man being, reaching point in the Hima-
layas, 23,700 feet above sea-level. OF the
experience of his party, Mr. Graham says,in
an account given to the Royal Geographical
Society of London ''Neither in this nor in
any other ascent did we feel any inconven-
fence in bleeding other than the ordinary
painting inseperable from any muscular ex-
ertion. Nausea, breeding at the nose, tenn
porary loss Of sight and hearing, were con-
spicuous only by their absence, and the only
organ perceptibly affected was the heart,
whose beatings became very perceptible, quite
audible, while the pace was decidedly in
creased" ~
SEASONS FoREcAsTED.-A preponderence
OF blue in the spectrum OF twinkling stars
has been found by Mons. Ch Montigny, of
Brussels, to indicate the presence of aqueous
vapor in the air, and to be an infallible sign
OF rain, while deficiency OF blue and pre-
ponderence of green and violet show that the
air is in an abnormally dry state From
such indications he predicted that 1888
would be a drier year in Brussels than those
which had Immediately preceded it, and his
prediction was accurately fulfilled. Relying
on the persistence of this same sign, he now
announces that the period of wet years,
which commenced in 1876, has passed, and
that a series of finer and drier seasons may
be expected. Further results OF Mons
MontigDy's attempts to roughly forecast the
character of coming seasons will be awaited
with much interest.
MAcKERAL AND CHoLERA.-Of supposed
risk attending the use of mackeral, Prof
Huxley says: 'tItis perfectly true that mack
erel, like all other fish are more or less affect
ed by parasites, one of which, a small thread
worm, is often so abundant as to be con-
spicuous when the fish is opened. But it is
not true that there is any reason to believe
that this thread worm would be injurious to a
man even if he swallowed it uncooked and
alive, and TO speak of it as possible cause
OF possible cholera is sheer nonsense"
A RAIN MAcnrNE.-A project for lessen
ing the duration OF droughts has been sub
mitted to the Australian minister for water
supply. 1t is proposed, or the appearance of
clouds during dry season, to send into, the
air balloon carrying beneath it dynamite
charge which is to be fired by wire reaching
to the earth. The idea of producing concus-
sions for causing the vapor in the air to con-
dense as rain is not new one, and ii is OF
probable that it will prove an econo mieal
plan for getting water.
Cases OF remarkable intimacy between an
finals OF different species are not rare, al
though they, have only recently attracted par
tleular attention. A write in China men
tons the shooting of snake under condi-
tions which make it appear that the creature
was crossing q river on the back of a tortoise
and this circumstance gives some color Of
probability to an assertion often made amony
the Chinese that the greatest affection exists
between these two animals.
new and brilliant ring round the planet
Saturn has been discovered by two French
astronomers, Messrs. Paul Henry and Pros
per Henry, who express surprise that it has
not been observed before. 1t is suggested
that the oversight confirms the suspicion that
Saturn's rings are in a state of constant
change, as it appears most probable that the
reason why the new ring was not earlier seen
is that it was formerly much less distinct
than now.
Naturalists have long known of carnivor-
Gus plants that entrap insects. 1t is now
stated, on the authority of Prof. Baird, that
bladderwort which has hitherto been careful
ly introduced into the governments carp
ponds as food for the fish has, very curiously,
turned out to be q fish-eating plant, devour-
ing the very animals which were expected to
feed upon it.
The fact that steam pressure guages for
boilers are sometimes unreliable has led Sig.
G. Clodig to propose the use of thermome-
tiers to replace or accompany them, as the
temperature of the water gives an accurate
indication of the pressure of the steam.
Mons. Daubree believes that all the phen-
omena of earthquakes may be satisfactorily
explained on the assumption that they re-
suit from the action of superheated steam.
He gives many objections to the theory of
fall ng rocks in internal chasms.
Dr. V. Poulain believes that cows milk
disagrees with children because cane sugar
IS used to sweeten it, With sugar of milk he
gels the best possible results.