The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1885-07-24
Scientific Miscellany:

Some person has calculated that to
manufacture the $50. 900 tons CT paper
annually required for the supply of the
world, 430 days medium ilow of water
down the river Thames would be
needed.
The emperor of Germany has con-
ferred an order of knighthood upon Sir
Joseph Lister, the eminent British sur
geon, whose antiseptic method of sur
gerry has done so much for suffering
humanity.
A brain-model of gigantic size has
been made for. an American museum
by Buechi of Berne. 1t is about four
feet in height by two feet and q half in
width, and shows tho intricate mechan-
ism of the brain in detail.
A specimen OF ancient dentistry, in
the form of dental bridge-work made
by the Etruscans in the fifth century
before Christ, has been discovered in
an old burial place near Civita Vecchia
by DIR. j. q. Van Marter, of Rome.
Experiments recently made with wet
and dry coal in the evaporation of wa
ter have shown that loss of from fifteen
to twenty-five per cent results when
coal is used while wet-that is, the
heating value of coal is that much less
when water is added.
The parasitic character of diptheria
has been established by two investiga-
tors-Klebs and Leiler--who have in
dependently found organisms which
have been proven by experiments on
guinea pigs and birds to be the specific
germs of the disease.
An interesting exhibition of whale
skeletons and products has been held
in Hamburg. The most imposing exhi-
bit was the skeleton of the blue whale,
the greatest animal on earth. 1t
measured 70 feet in length, and was
mounted in its natural position.
According to Herve-Mangon, the sys-
tenn of telegraphic weather warnings
in France was created by Leverrier in
1885. In 1878 central meteorological
obscrvatories had been erected all over
the country, while Paris was in tele-
graphic connection with 800 stations.
A material possessing the properties
of celluloid is now made from potatoes,
and is being used in France for imita-
ton meerschaum pipes, and for billiard
balls The substance is prepared by
boiling the peeled potatoes in dilute
sulphuric acid-eight parts of acid to
one hundred parts OF water-for thirty
six hours, and then drying between
blotting paper by pressure.
In the opinion of Sir John Lawes,
greater profit may be returned from
sewage il east into the sea than if APP
piled to land, for the reason that sew
age will supply the enormous quanti-
ties of phosphate of lime, potash, and
nitrogen which fishes require. but which
exist in the sea only in small quantities.
AS much, at least, of these substances
should be returned to the sea as our
fisheries take from it.
The first attempt at British military
ballooning are to be made in Africa,
three balloons having been sent out for
the purpose of making captive ascents
for Watching tho eneiny's movement.
A hundred or more iron cylinders con-
tanning compressed hydrogen for inflat-
ing balloons form part of tho equip
ment, and gas factory and pumping
station will be established at Suakim for
refilling these reservoirs. Telephone
communication will be maintained be-
tween the balloons and the ground.
A variety of prehistoric objects in
horn-such as amulets, cups, knives,
daggers, rings, buttons, bracelets, etc.
have been found in a stratum exist
ing at depth of about five feet in the
mud of Lake Neuenburg, in Switzer-
land. The finder, Herr q. Kaiser, be-
lieves them to be older than the stone
and bronze implements of the same To-
cality, and he proposes to cal the
period to which they belong 1.-The age
of horn" 1t may well be doubted,
however, whether the ancient lake peo-
pie ever experienced an epoch for
which such name would be justified.
as it is evident that some implement
probably of stone or bronze-must have
been used in cutting the horn.