Morris tribune., 1889-03-13
Scientific Miscellany.
For the TnInuxn, BY i. II. cnApBouns

For the TnInuNr, By e, II. CHADBouRs.
DEADLY STOVES. - according tothe
declarations OF Dt. i4allcereaux and
others 70 the Paris Academy of Medi-
cine, the heating &c dwellings with
stoves, which usually have insufficient
draught, is attended by a startling
degree of danger froin the carbonic
oxide set free by slow combustion
This produces either acute or chronic
of the blood, ending fatally,
or causing deterioration of health. 1t
has been shown that even we'll ven-
tilatcd rooms heated hy stoves contain
sufficient carbeaic ax!!e TO act on the
blood, end the lainutest quantity may
prove dangerous. Even in the open
air, persons near lime-kilns are poi
soned, and accidents IN vehicles from
foot-warmeys filled with lighted char
coal are common.
DEFENDED By BABo0NS.- "A strange
case of protective alliance in animals
is given BY II South African traveller,
Mr.. G. II. Lille. "A Dutch trader, at
a distance FROM camp and unarmed,
was menaced by huge lion, when a
troop OF baboons suddenly surrounded
him, and faced the lion with such
horrible outcries that tho mighty
beast was glad to beat a retreat. The
balloons then scattered, resuming
their occupation of digging nuts and
roots.
An electric tree telling machine has
been put to work in.Spain. The cut
ting Is not done by a saw, but by
special drills, which either bore rows
of holes close together or operate by q
sweeping cut lack and forth across
the trunk.
As LEGAL anaethetic for speedy
operations, DIR. Vu;;uriez, of Lille,
recommends cafbonic acid solutions
under pressure. By projecting upon
the skin two or three siphons of arti-
ficial sel,zer water, insensibility to
pain is produced, and lasts aboutlfive
minutes.
Mr.. w. Mattieu Williams urges the
adoption of locust paste, or potted To-
Gusts, as table delicacy.
THE EARTH's DURATION. = The
present age of the earth has been
placed by Sir William Thompson at
100 100000 years, while the specula-
lions Of others have given much larger
figures. n. Adoiphe d'Assier, who
believes such estimates to be greatly
exaggerated, considers the life of the
earth in three periods, which he terms
the igneous or nebulo-stellar stadium
the stadium of solar illumination OF
Of organic life, and the stadium o.
darkness, cold and death. The frs
which began with the detachment
of the terrestrial nebula from the solar
and ended in the formation of the
crystalline crust of the glohe-he cal
culates from physical laws to have
been 100000 years in duration. The
second-comprising the present epoch
and to close with the extinction O
the sun, embracing the entire cycle o
geological and physical evidence al
likely to have total length of 25, 900,
600 years, of which more than hal
has passed. The third stadium
starting from the end of solar illumi
nation, and closing in the terrible ant
inevitable catastrophe of the fall o
the earth to the sun, and momentaril,
frightened by the incandescence o
the earth as the moon crashes into 1
will have a length that cannot b.
calculated until the precise rate o
/ acceleration of the motion OF the eartl
/ around the center of attraction il
known, but will probably be, at thu
lowest estimate, 100,OOO,00O years o.
more. Upon the whole, the presen
age of the earth appears to be abou
I6, 00O, 900 years. This is but a small
part of its existence, and everything
leads to the belief that its total evolu
ton through the immensely of space
will exceed million centuries.