The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1888-01-20

| ehe e"o. oofihes, orang outangs and
bushmen have a longer third finger
while among Europeans and Americans
the longer finger is sometimes the third
and sometimes both appear of equal
length.
The possibility Of infection from dis.
ease germs escaping from hospital win
dows Is attracting some attention, and q
| special inquiry is recommended. Hos.
pltal ventilation might be so arranged
that the foul air would be drawn through
a furnace before mingling with the outer
| atmosphere.
Philip Hoffman, a German clergyman
and naturalist, claims to have discov-
cred the art of photography in 1898, six
years before Daguerre.
The membership of the Liverpool AS
Economical Society, has now practically
reached 900.
DIR. Bubsjinski. of st. Petersburg, has
found that the gastric juice is less acid
during sleep than at other times.
COMET SEEKING AND It's PROFITS.
Comet seeking is recommended by Mr..
w. +. Denning, the English astronomer,
as attractive work for amateurs; with
telescopes of four to ten inches in aper-
ture. No systematic search for comets
is made in Europe. and the .ame and
spoiis of comet finding are chiefly won
by two indefatigable American observ-
ers-Barnard, at Nashville, Tenn, and
Rrnnks al phnltS ~ of
astronomers has discovered nine comets
in six years, and of the Warner prizes
which have added much to the interest
of this department of astronomy-they
have received over 200. Many COM
cts, of course, elude discovery, but the
number Of those detected has greatly
increased during recent years, having
been only fourteen in the decade 1927 TO
1896, and forty-nine in the decade 1877
to 1885,
ONE OF THE SEAS DANGERs.-A Gu
rious acoustic phenomenon, sometimes
observed at sea, has been termed by NJ.
Fizeau the mirage of sound" from its
analogy to certain well known phenom-
ena of light. The sound waves are de-
hected upward to very marked extent
under the influence of strata of air of
various temperatures, and to this effect
are ascribed numerous collisions between
vessels having powerful fog-signals.
AN ANCIENT CHAIR.-What is prob
ably the most venerable piece of furn-
iture in existence has just been depos-
tied in the British Musum. II is the
throne of Queen Hatasu. who reigned in
the Nile Valley some 900 years before
Christ and twenty-nine years before
Moses. This now dilapidated object
seems to be of lignumvitae, the carvings
of the legs being inlaid with gold, and
those of the back with silver.
A powerful disinfectant adapted TO all
purposes, has been obtained in Paris
from coal oil. Ii is sirupy brown
liquid, of not disagreeable odor, result
ing from a peculiar saponiiication of the
oil by caustic soda. 1t destroys moss
and fungus on trees, and sponging with
a weak solution keeps flies from horses.
A SANITARY INsTRUMEST.-An ap-
paratus for measuring the proportion of
carbonic acid in the air of room has
been patented by Prof. Wolpert, of
Nurnberg. BY means of syphon-ar-
rangement, drop of red liquid, soda
solution with phenolphthalein, is made
to trickle down a prepared white thread,
about foot and half long, every one
hundred seconds. In pure air the drop
continues red down to the bot
tom, but it loses its color by the action
of carbonic acid, the quickness of the
effect varying with the amount of gas
present. Air is assumed to be distinctly
unwholesome when it's carbonic acid ex-
ceeds one part IN 1000; and the scale
placed beyond the thread gives indica-
tions from ''pure air" (up toi0.7 per
1000 TO Extremely bad" (from four to
seven or more per 1,000.)
WATER OF WooDs.-The proportion
of water held by different woods varies
greatly. According to Scheubler and
Hartig, freshly-cut hornbeam contains
1876 per cent. of water; willow, 26 per
cent. ash, 2s.7 per cent; birch, 3O.s
per cent; oak, 34.7 per cent; pine, 39.7
per cent; red beech, 39.7 per cent; elm,
4i.5 per cent; larch. 1876 per cent; and
white poplar, 800 per cent.
A singular error is the use of the word
'cocoanut," which botanical authorities
urge should be ''coconut." The wrong
spelling is charged upon DIR. johnson,
who is said to have confused the "coco-
nut with cocoa" which is the product
of the cocoa tree.
In a very sensitive micro-radiometer
described by Prof. Weber to the Helvetic
Society of Sciences, the expansion of a
tube of air presses solution Of zinc
sulphate toward the opposite side Of a
Wheatstone bridge, giving a great diff
ference of electrical resistance. The
radiation of the moon oscillates the
galvanometer needle about five diyis-
ions.
An English pathologist thinks that
cancers may be developed by arsenic
eating.