St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-12-15
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

HE WOEAsD AEMfEEALL1E-s-E TOm Nll
records collected by the Royal Meteorological
society for 100 years, II appears that the low
est mean temperature for January in London
occurred in 1875, and was 25.5 degrees
Fahrenheit The highest mean for January
AZ degrees-was reached = 1896. The
lowest mean temperature for Jtly was 55.5
degrees, In 1916. and the highest was IS de-
grees. in 177s and 1859. The mean annual
temperatures of different places have been
found by the society 70 be as follows: Fer
ozepore, In the Punjaub, 95 degrees; Cal
cutta, 81; Hong Kong, 20; Cairo, Il; Rome,
60; Constautinople, IS; Pekin, So; St.
Petersburg, 20; Hammerfest, So; Fort En-
terprise, "A; BOothia Felix, 5, and Melville
Island, zero. The highest temperatures re
corded at Several stations are,
for Murzuk, in Fezzsn, 135 de-
grees; Bagdad, 100; Cairo, 1l6; Jerusalem.
102; Greenwich. 81; Moscow, so; Falkland
Isles, 75 degrees. The lowest recorded are,
for Barbados, 20 degrees; Singapore, Go;
Bombay, 50; Jerusalem, %; COnstantinople,
Ia; Greenwich, 10; Chicago, 20; Moscow,
So; Melville Island, IS; Fort Reliance, 20,
and Werschjsnsk, 81. Greater cold than
that OF the last named place has been known,
but It was produced BY artificial means, tenn
perature below ESQ degrees having been
recently so obtained.
INDIANS As NATURALIsTs.--Dr. Washing
ton Matthews has shown that the American
Indisns, and especially the Nsvajos, are in
many respects superior in their knowledge
Of their natural history to all white men who
have not made the subject q special study.
They are keen observers, not only Of the
animals and plants which contribute TO their
susienance and other needs, but also Of those
which are unused, rare and inconspicuous.
The Naysjos have q name for every mammal,
bird and reptile in their country and for
nearly every plant, and all the larger insects
and their knowledge Of the several species
is usually minute. They have made many
divisions into groups which are identical
with those recognized by the Caucasian nat
turalist; and this sometimes occurs when 1t
seems incredible that the Indians could have
discovered The characters on which the white
naturalist bases his classification.
METALLuRoIcAL SKILL-Dr. J. G. Booth,
OF the United States mint, states that the
commoner metals Of commerce have greatly
improved in quality in the last few years as
result OF Improvement in the work Of Purid-
cation. Much copper now averages 80 per
cent. pure, while large proportion Of the
silver from the mining regions contains 80
and nine-tenths per cent. OF the pure metal.
Concerning the waste in working precious
metals, DIR. Booth remarks that, while q loss
Of 10 per cent is tolerated in working iron
in the FIRE, the government holds the mint
responsible for greater waste in working
gold than one-tenth OF per cent, and the
actual loss is usually far less than this.
Coal PREsERvETIoN.-In the open air
mineral coal Is liable TO crumbling and often
to spontaneous combustion. An Austrian
mining engineer, Wenzel Poech, has diseoI-
cred a simple and inexpensive means Of pre-
venting loss from such sources, the plan con-
sisting chiefly in treating the coal pile with
steam for the exclusion OF the air and secur-
ing a permanent retention OF moisture. The
theory is that the absorption OF oxygen and
other gases, for which the way is opened by
the evaporation Of the microscopic moisture,
causes the deterioration of the coal, and this
cannot happen il the coal is kept full OF
water.
ARE THE OCEAN BzDs PKRMASESrl-The
doctrine Of the permanency Of the ocean bs-
sins, about which geologlsts disagree, IS
strongly supported by Rev. o. Fisher, who
refers TO a suggestion which be made in 1889
to account for the origin Of the vast depres-
sions which the oceans ill. Accepting Prof.
G.. II. Darwin's theory that the moon broke
away from the earth more than fifty million
years ago, he thinks the ocean basins may be
the scar that was formed, and that the base
ment rocks of continents are fragments Of
h. sf xwhfah hah a1raadv eOlidffRO and
which were left behind.
AFrenchman-Mons. Bouquet dc la Grye
connects the inroads of the sea in the
thirteenth century with the high tem~erature
then prevailing, which permitted the cultiva-
ton OF the vine in England. He thinks that
the unusual heat may have increased the
volume of the ocean by melting much OF the
ice in the polar regions.
DR.. Koch, of Berlin, Is reported to have
succeeded in producing genuine cholera in
rabbits by means Of the bacilli, which he has
regarded as the cause Of the disease. Two
Swiss physicians, Nicati sni Ritsch, claim TO
have met with earlier success in this import
ant experiment than DIR. Koch.
It is maintained by certain astronomers
that the apparent diameter Of the sun varies
periodically, aud DR.. ]. Hilaker, of Neu-
ehatel, contends that the periodieity comedies
with that Of the sun-spots, the maximum di-
smeter existing at the sun-spot minimum,
and Uiee teTSd.
According to Mr.. ]. Harrington Douty, Of
the asylum at Worcester, England, an i'm
perfect supply of oxygen, or simply breathing
a vitiated atmosphere, may suffice to produce
the mental disorder known as melancholia.
The replanting Of forests in northwestern
India has already made itself bene6cially
felt, according to Sir G.. Birdwood, in in
creasiDg the rainfall in various districts.
case of scarlet fever in a canary has
been described By DR.. ogston, Of Aher-
deem.
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