Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1885-07-30
SCIENTIFIC MIsCELLANY.
Compiled for the woop RIVER TrxEs.l

Physic appears to have been prac-
ticed first by the Egyptian priests.
Py,hagoras endeavored to explain the
philosophy OF disease and the action
Of medicine about 500 B. C. Hippo
crates, the father of medicine, -four.
ished about 422 B. c.; and Galen,
born 1874 A. D., was the oracle OF
medical science. About $50, Avi-
cenna, an Arab, wrote a system Of
medicine. The dogmatic age of med
icins lasted until the Reformation,
when it was attacked by Poracelsus
and Vesalius early in the sixteenth
century. An entirely new system Of
physiological and pathological specu
lation was furnished in 1923 by DR..
Harvey's discovery Of the circulation
Of the blood; and since 1900 medical
practice has been completely trans.
formed by physiological and chemical
research. The past decade has given
US the beginning of new epoch
that of the development Of the germ
theory of disease which science
is called upon to defend our bodies
from the microscopic parasites which
prey upon them ard produce our most
dreaded ailments.
French vine growers often protect
their vines from frosts by smoke from
burning straw and other combustibles.
An electrician has suggested that, in
case Of sudden and unexpected cold,
the fires may be lighted automatically
by the electric current, a simple con-
trivance causing the electricity to
pass from battery through wires aud
ignite the fuel as soon as the thermom-
eter falls to the dangerous tempera.
ture.
Color blindness, as usually under
stood, is a blindness to red, to green,
or to blue or violet; and about one
male in every twenty-five appears to
be unable to discriminate between the
principal colors of the spectrum. In
stricter sense, all persons are color
blind, for, although Chevreul is said
to have been able to distinguish H.
42O tones of color, it has been proven
that the human eye is totally incapable
of receiving all the vibrations of color
which must exist in the spectrum.
According to Ptolemy, the first
eclipse recorded-one of the moon
took place March 10, 72l B. c., at
$40 p. M, ana was accurately OBJ
served at Babylon. The Egyptians
claimed to have accurately observed
373 eclipses of the sun and S32 of the
moon in the period from Vulcan to
Ale xander, who died in 1928 B. c.
The theory of ecl,pses is said to have
been known in China before 100 B. c.
Comparing modern gigantic ami
mails with the fossil remains of the
great creatures which lived in earlier
geological ages, II. A. Proctor con
oludes that it may we'll be doubted
whether at any time in the past his
tory Of the earth the average size O
the ten largest creatures by sea ane
land exceeded the average size of the
ten largest species now existing.
Biniodide of mercury, according
to Miguel, is the mos: powerful anti
septic known, a solution of one forty
thousandth strength rendering life i'm
possible to any form Of microbe O
germ. Iodide OF silver is next in dc
structive power. and bichioride O
ury-rcquires strength of ONT
fourteen thousandth.
A means Of determining and auto
matically recording the exact amour
of energy stored in electric accumu
lators, or storage batteries, has beef
discovered by Crova and Garbe
French electricians. They claim tina
they can also ascertain the quantity o
electricity still held in reserve at an,
given moment.
Italian officers are being laugh
) how to collect and preserve speci
mems OF marine animals, and it is ex
pectel that the navy will thus be ell
l abled to make scientific collections O
= great value from various parts Of tn
. world.
Statistics published since the lat
: earthquake in England, show that
i<o%ol of OK ,bccLs L,yn hoor IN