Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-09-23
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Compiled for the SPECTATOR.

| intelligent than existing apes, lived during
the tertiary period of geology. The anthro
pethlque, or ape-man, was an ancestral
form of historic man whose skeleton has
| not yet been discovered. This assertion
was made at the late Grenoble meeting oi
| the French Association for the advancement
| of science, and from the discussion which
followed it appears that the opinion is al
most unanimously shared by the scientific
men of France.
PNEUMoNIA.-Germain See, the French
physiOlogist, has found that pneumonia
may be epidemic, but that 1t is always due
to specific parasite, and never to cold. In
this it differs from such other forms OF
acute Inflammation as bronchitis or broncho-
pneumonia, in which cold is the first cause
and microphytes play but secondary role.
Parasitic pneumonia has regular and de-
finite course, extending over not more than
nine days.
The electric light has been successfully
applied at Woolwich, England, to photo.
graphing the interior of cannon Such pic
lures are expected to reveal the presence OF
| flaws.
A Swedish engineer has produced new
explosive, which he calls "'romite,' and fol
which he claims great strength, cheapress,
and impossibility of explosion except when
ignited.
toned SwO instances in which immunity
+ ~ contagious disease-imparted by an
x of the disorder-has been transferred
vent to offspring.
: NM first deep-sea exploring expedi-
tl6n S4s Rtly fitted out at the expense
of the Royal il ish Academy, and has been
at work in the Atlantis, about 1sO miles west
of Cape Clear.
THE SCIENCE OF CR1ME.-The science Of
criminal man will receive especial attention
at the Anthropological Congress which is
shortly to be held at Rome, and a curious
feature of the meeting will be an exhibition
illustrating this subject. Here the student
will find a collection of 700 classified skulls
of criminals, with the photographs of 5000
convicts and the brains of more than 150.-
Wax masks of large number of criminal
celebrities will also be shown. To these
will be added many specimens of the litera-
ry and mechanical work of criminals; re-
cord of physical and moral observations on
500 criminals and on 800 ordinary men:
ference to climate, food, institutions, sui
eide, etc.. and tables of the stature of crimi-
nails in relation to the length of the arms,
and of crime in towns compared with that
in the country.
FIXING THE LAND.-The dunes of Gas
cony, according to recent report by the
Inspector of French Public Works, cover
surface of more than 200, 600 acres, and are
more than $50 feet high and three or four
miles wide. The fine sand composing them
was formerly pushed constantly inland by
the wind, covering fields and villages, and
even burying churches up to their towers.
Sine 1880 the difficult task of fixing the
sand-hills by creating growth of vegeta-
tion on them has been in progress, and has
at length resulted in averting a great pub
lie danger and forming fine forest The
formation of new dunes is prevented by the
building of wooden palisade, against
which the sea raises SO steepa bank that no
sand can be blown over the incline.
DR.. Ernst Fuchs, author of prize essay
on blindness and its prevention, states that
short-sightedness, which is increasing so
alarmingly among reading people, is the
cause of ten per cent of all cases of blind
ness of one eye, and that the immoderate
use of tobacco gives rise to partial blind
ness.
THE CoLoRs OF WATER.-The ocean is
blue where it is deep, but green in shoal
places. Some lakes are blue, others green,
others yellow, and some are almost black
Rivers differ still more widely in tint. For
instance, the Rhine is green, while the
Danube and Rhone are deep blue, and in
the Adirondacks are streams which are
black, brown, yellow, and colorless. The
tints and hues are not caused by mud or
sediment, but belong to the waters and do
not impair their transparency. A plausible
explanation of the differences is afforded by
the theory of Prof. Spring, of Belgium, who
has found experimentally that pure water
is blue when seen in deep mass and con-
siders that all the tints arise from the pres
ence in the water of mineral salts in varying
qualities and of different degrees of solubil-
ity. The green tinge he attributes to an
imperfectly soluble proportion of carbonate
of lime, which would not appear in deep
ocean.
A STRANGE Foe TO PIsCICULTURE.-Mr.
G. H. Murray has reported to Baird a re-
markable slaughter of young trout which
was witnessed in the Gunnison valley,
Nol0i duO, Ouo uOotIoy Clo UClusS, usS,-iuOSquitOoo.
Occasionally tiny trout was noticed to
come to rest-possibly for more air with it's
head level with the surface of the stream,
when a mosquito would instantly alight
and insert its proboscis into the fish's
brain. In the space of half an hour some
twenty trout were thus dispatched and
their bodies sucked dry. Mr.. Murray is
satisfied that mosquitoes seriously diminish
the supply of trout, if not of other varieties
of fish.
A prize 8, 900 francs has been offered by
Baron Leon de Lenval. of Nice, for the
best instrument, on the principle of the
microphone, for improving the hearing Of
partially-deat persons. all entries to be
made by Dec. 81, 1887.
Two cases of mercurial poisoning from
the use of illuminating caps in shooting gal
leries have been reported. Such resorts
should be well ventilated.