The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1888-05-12
SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS.

A scientist declares that fish can heo,
man talking half amile away.
South Africa is comparatively poo
in butterflies, a recent list by Mr.
Robert Trimcn enumerating only about
$50 species.
1t has long been known that carbonic
acid gas produces sensation of greater
warmth on the skin than air of the same
temperature.
The poison of 'diphtheria is inhaled
and commits its ravages in the respira-
tory tract, the nostrils faucss, larynx,
trachea and bronchial tubes.
A kind of artificial rabies has been
produced in rabbits and birds by in
jections of oil of tansy. This malady
was overcome by treatment with choral.
PAPER .mache is made by FASTING or
gluing sheets of straw or other thick
paper together when wet and pressing
to the shape of the mold, OF Masking a
pulp of the paper material and pressing
the pulp into molds.
Australia has some giant ocaterpillars.
Mr.. A. S. olliff of Sydney mentions one
moth larva, abundant during the past
season, as being seven inches long, and
specimens of larve of two other species
measure eight inches in length.
A writer in Science comes to tho con-
clusion that it seems idle to discuss
further the influence of forests upon
rainfall from the economic point of
view, as 1t is evidently too slight to be
of the least practical Importance.
By experiments on young animals
DR.. Kisel, of st. Petersburg. Russia, has
found that phosphorus never exerts any
beneficial effect on the growth of bone,
but that, on the other hand, quite small
doses produce various symptoms of poi
soning.
There arc 'ninety-seven artesian wells
in Dakota, extending in a line from
Yankton to Grafton. They have cost
from $1,000 to $1,000 each, and range in
depth from 52S feet to 1862 feet. In
several of the towns, the water from tho
wells is used for fire purposes.
The efficiency of oil, when dropped
on the wator to calm boisterous waves.
may now be regarded as established. It
Is astonishing how small quantity of
oil will answer the purpose. Admiral
Clone gives the amount as from two to
three quarts an hour dropped from per-
forated bags hanging over the sides of
the ship in positions varying with the
wind.
A French physician, DR.. Felz, men.
lions a curiou, apparent cause o. left
handedness. One child in a certain
family was left-handed, and the second
appeared to be so at the age of one year.
1t was thea learned that the mother al
ways carried her children on her left
arm She was advised to change, and,
held on her other arm, the infant,
having its right hand free to grasp OBJ
Jects, soon became right handed.
The theories expressed in the Popular
Science Monthly by Mr.. Eaton and Mr..
Gouinlock, that construction of the
blood-vessels of the head by tight hats
is the chief cause of badness. have been
reviewed by Professor T. Wesley Mills,
who only partly accepts them, and holds
that the principal root of the trouble is
n nervous stain. Men, by their posi-
tlon and more intense responsibilities,
are more liable to this disorder than
women, because they are more subject to
mental overwork. Badness" this
author concludes, ais one more of the
many warnings OF our day-one of
natures protests against the irregular
and excessive activity maintained in
This restless age"