The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1886-02-03
CURIOUS, USEFUL AND ScIEN
TIFIC.

M. A. Villiers has extracted from the re-
mains of two cholera patients we'll charac-
teriyed alkaloid. Its reactions and the exper-
iments made with il he describes: In treating
frogs with it the most prominent result was
slight and temporary decrease in the
number OF beats of the heart Guinea pigs
yielded to its influence in the course of four
days
In the Pacific Medical Journal the case is
reported Of a youth who swallowed an open
penknife measuring three and half inches.
a common and unwise treatment in such
cases is To give castor oil, but DR.. Hutchings.
who had charge of the case, administered
hearty meals of mush and buckwheat cakes,
which lmpacted the instrument, and ii was
recovered without having caused the least
injury.
The TribOulet system OF photographing all
the country as seen from a captive balloon
has succeeded well. A very small balloon
carries up the necessary height the photo
graphic apparatus, the panoramic object
glass OF which is provided with valve which
can be opened through an electric current
managed by the operator, who remains on
the ground. The impressions obtained are
useful for military purposes.
In order to settle the question as the proper
treatment for persons who have been frozen
DR.. Laptchinkski has made series of very
careful experiments upon dogs. Hs found
of gradual resuscitation in a cold room, four
teen persisted; of twenty placed at once in
warm room, eight died, while twenty put
Immediately into a hot bath recovered
quickly and without accident.
In lecture on the microscope at the So
ciety of Arts, Mr.. John Mayall said that his
torians We're almost unanimous in asserting
the great antiquity of the instrument but he
thought the clam would have to be aban-
doned. After carefully reviewing the evil
dence lac found that lit was certain that the
invention OF the microscope was not anterior
to the latter part of the sixteenth century"
The lecturer exhibited over two hundred Mi
croscopes of various forms.
People who are slender and nervous some
times express a dread Of the effect that
shock" might. have upon them in case of
accident. At recent meeting of the New
York State Medical Association, DR.. c. W.
Brown, referring to individual susceptibilitv
to shock, said that ''Some persons of heshy
habit and apparent health will sUccumb
sooner to a minor INJURY producing rshock
than some others of delicate habits andsnerv-
Gus temperament, the nervous system in the
latter giving way less readily" Also, shock
IS less in persons suffering from chronic dis
ease than in healthy people, though the
former are less likely to make complete re-
coveries.
As a breeder of diseases there are few things
tDat excel the average farmhouse cellar. 1t
underlies the whole house, with nothing to
prevent its eXhalations rising into the upper
rooms except thin board floor. In this cell
| lar all manner of things for family use are
kept the season round. Meat, vegetables,
| milk, butter, bread. pastry, preserves. pickles
| and fruit are stored in theiNvariOus recepta-
cles. There is very seldom anything TO sepa-
rate the fruit and vegetables from the, other
parts of the cellar, and there is usually more
or less decaying vegetable matter to load the
| air with poisonous germs. At various seasons
of the year the cellar walls collect dampness
| or small pools of water lie under their loose
| board floors, sending up malarious odors into
| the rooms above.
Among the interesting results of submarine
| or deep-sea explorations conducted under the
auspices OF the London Geographical Society
are those in reference to the Atlantic sea belt.
| Ia would seem that the bottom OF the North
| Atlantic is occupied by two valleys, the east
| ern extending from ten TO thirty degrees west
| longitude, and traceable as far as the EQUATOR
| with an extreme depth of less than 1900
| feet, while the western valley reaches from
| the thirtieth to the fiftieth degree Of west
| longitude. The two are separated by ridge
| in thirty degrees west longitude along which
the average depth is only 1,S00 fathoms, and
| which can be traced northward to Iceland
| and southwark to the Azores; 1t is volcanic
in character at both extremes. Its extreme
] breadth Is somewhat less than 500 miles and
| the depth OF the water increases on both
sides of il according to the distance OF the
/