Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1885-01-08
POPULAR SCIENCE.

The air bladder found in most fishes il
rudiment Of lung, although it is used
not for respiration but for altering the
specific gravity Of the fish. The gills rep
resent lungs only in function; they are
totally distinct parts of the organism.
The elder duck does not, DR.. Sund-
strom, Of Stockholm, has ascertained,
take her young during the summer into
the ocean, asis so generally supposed, but
remains with them among the islands on
the coast. Itappears that the elder duck
has greatly increased in the south Of
Sweden during the last few years.
Snails in state Of captivity can, DR..
Rawitz, Of Berlin, has discovered, be fed
on paper. DR.. KosseI confirms this fact
by statement based on his own observa-
tions. He says that after feeding snails
with highly caIcareous paper for some
time he found abnormal calcareous de-
posits in their monstrously developed
shells.
It has been discovered by experiments
with dogs placed under the influence Of
morphia even to coma, that the hypoder-
mic injection of solution of theme, the
active principles Of tea, is an almost in
stantaneous antidote, neutralizing the
effect of the narcotic, and reviving the
animal, after the action of the heart has
becomeimperceptible. Caffeine possesses
similar properties, but is less immediate
in its operation.
The Chinese consul in New York states
that despite the apparent neglect by the
Chinese Of most laws that to our ways of
thinking are absolutely essential to the
preservation Of health, it is rare that one
of the race dies Of a zymotic disease.
He says his people have been studying
the laws of health for the last thousand
years, and that his people have, to this
extent, mastered those laws is proved,
to his mind, by the circumstance that
contagious disease is seldom found among
them.
The use of arsenic is alarmingly on the
increase. The researches of DR.. Draper
and Professors Wood and Austin show
that it is extensively employed in wall
paper, textile fabrics, writing and print
ing paper, candles, toys, confectionery,
playing cards, theatre tickets, rubber bal
looms and balls, sweatbandsof of hats, paper
collars and bed hangings, and in amounts
sufficient to cause sickness and even
death. Professor Austin recommends
law prohibiting its use in all materials
consumed or employed in the household.
There seems no exception to the rule
that every organic being naturally in
creases at so high a rate that if not de-
stroyed the earth would soon be covered
by the progeny Of single pair. If the
increase of the human race were not
checked, there would not be standing
room for the descendants Of Adam and
Eve. A pair of elephants, the slowest
breeders of all known animals, would be-
come the progenitors, in seven and half
centuries, Of 5000, 900 Of elephants, if
death did not interfere. Evidently a
vast number Of young animals must per-
ish while immature, and far greater
host of eggs fail to mature. A singl
cod, laying millions of eggs. if allowed
to have its own way would soon pack
the ocean. Yet so nicely balanced are
the forces of nature that the average
number Of each kind remains about the
soroa