Mexico weekly ledger., 1886-05-13
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY,

A bequest of $40, 600 has been left to
the Paris Geographical society for the
purpose of providing an annual prize
for the best geographical work-either
map or book PsiUhsned during the
an.
Arsenic having been found to act as
a preventive of malarial fever, Nh. w.
Mattieu Williams has suggested that
the generally condemned ~arsenical
wall papers may be useful as q pro-
lection against the dangers of regions
subject to malaria.
A singular case in charge of DIR.
Strumpell, OF Leipsic, a few years ago,
was that of a young man in whom
brain disease had destroyed all sensi-
biiity to touch, and also the functions
OF n eye AMI one ear. The youth
was wid awake, conscious and inteili-
gent when the remaining eye and ear
were OPEN, but at once became uncop-
scious when they were carefully
closed.
In a new French apparatus the heat
OF the sun failing upon metallic plates
tightly covering u thin layer of a vola-
tile liquid, like ammonia, is combined
with the natural GOODNESS of water to
generate power for pumping. With
plates having a surface of forty square
yards such an apparatus would hourly
raise 1872 gallons OF water 65 feet in
warm climates, aHd at Auteuil raises
over 300 gallons per hour.
While only 225 miles long and IS
wide, the island of Formosa, just con-
quered by the French, is very valuable
for its richness in animal and vegeta-
BILE life. One Of its products is cam
phor, Of which it is the worlds chief
source of supply. although the tree
lLaurus camphora) also grows in
Borneo. Sumatra. Japan and China
The camphor is distilled from the fine.
ly cut wood in gently heated crucibles,
the vapors being condensed upon q
network of rice STEMS.
Man is not the only animal that sui
cides. Herrings and other fishes have
sought death by rushing ashore in
myriads; regiments of ants, by delib-
erately marching into streams; swarms |
OF rats. by migrating in the face of
their deadly foes; and even butterflies, |
by flying in i'm eel clouds straight
out to sea- 1t would be interesting to
learn the causes Of such cases of ap-
parent Wholesale and deliberate self
destruction. Is the act a purely con-
seious one, or are the creatures victims
OF disease-mental or phvsicalP
There is abundant reason for believ-
ing that the earth's crust is very thin.
asserts MIR. j. Starkie Gardner, and it
seems not impossible that some means
may be devised for utilizing the intense
heat Of the molten mass below. This |
Is already being done, in fact, to some
extent, an artesian well having been
bored at Pesth to obtain warm water
for public baths. etc. From a depth
Of about 5000 feet a large quantity of
water heated to 161 degrees Fahrenheit
pours forth, and the boring is to be
continued until water at 178 degrees is
yielded.
The odoriferous particles which affect
the organs of smell must be inconceiv-
ably small. Especially is this true of
musk, which constantly emits q pow
erful odor for many years, and is said
to show no apparent loss of weight
Papers perfumed with a single grain of
were kept by Halter for for
ty years, when the odor was as strong
as ever. The molecule of camphor
to the smell has been estimat-
ed by Bordenaye to weigh one 2.262.-
6S4, 000th of u grain. Keil has conclud-
ed that q drachm of asafetida exposed
TO the open air loses one SO, 120th Of a
grain in weight each minute, or one
oooth of its entire weight in a day.