River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1890-12-11
RIVER FALLS, WISCONSIN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER IL.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
The Potato DiSease.-In Denmark
some interesting and perhaps very
valuable researches into the potato
disease have been made by Prof. j. L.
Jenson. The disease is found TO con-
sist of a fungus whose spores are car
ried by the wind and which first at
tacks the foliage of the plants. 1t
spreads to the tubers in about seven
days by spores washed down from the
stem and foliage. Considering these
facts, it was thought that the tubers
might be protected by moulding the
soil into broad ridge, 3 or inches
high and 10 or II inches wide, after
the first wedding, and a further earth
ing up on one side only, causing the
plants to bend so that the spores
would fall away from the ridges,
within seven days after the appear
ance of the disease on the foliage.
Some $50 farmers are said to have ex-
perimented in this way, with these
astonishing results: Where no mould
ing or earthing up was done the per-
centage of diseased potatoes was "a;
where the moulding was imperfect, II;
and where the moulding was perfect,
only l. Infection during harvest was
prevented by allowing the tubers to
remain in the ground for month af-
ter the whitening of the tops.
Cold Waues.-A cold wave is de.
fined by Prof. Il. Russell as a fall in
temperature in "a hours of 200 over
an area of $4,000 square miles, the
temperature in some part of this area
descending to go. Between 1880 and
1890 no less than 69I cold waves were
recorded in the United States. In the
great cold wave of Jan. Il, 1882, the
fall of 200 extended over an area OF
l,l0l,000 square miles, and the fall of
100 included 2,929,00 square miles.
In six cold waves of the ten years the
area of the fall of 20o was more than
"a million square miles. Cold waves
follow day after an area of low
pressure, or occur to the southeast of
an area of high pressure, reaching
their greatest extent when both con-
ditions are present.
artificial Skull Shaping .--Astonish-
ing success has attended the efforts of
DR.. Lannelongue, an eminent special
list of Paris, to give intelligence to
little idiot girl. Though four years
old, the child could neither walk nor
stand. and never smiled nor took no.
tice of anything. The doctor con-
cluded that the abnormal narrowness
of the head INSTRUCTED the growth of
the brain, and in May last he made an
incision in the center of the skull and
cut piece of bone from the left side.
The result was marvellous. Within
less than a month the child could
walk, and she has become quite bright
playing, smiling, and taking notice
of everything around her.
PaiR-JOy.-A German anatomist
has called the attention of his class to
certain hysterical women who are af-
fected with kind of "pain-joy
only experiencing no pain from surgi-
cal mutilation, but having morbid
desire to bear without an9sthetics OPP
erations which should prove very
painful. A young woman was intro
duced who had seriously injured her
lower jaw during paroxysm of hys-
terra, but who had insisted upon hav-
ing the necessary removal of part of
the jaw and ligature of two arteries |
performed without an anpsthetic, and |
declared that the opera
tion had given her great pleasure.
The Noon Heather Pro5Eem.-From
tables made by the use of synOptic |
charts, eliminating local disturbances,
DR.. G. Meyer believes he has accom-
plished what other Investigators have |
sought to do without success-shown |
an influence of the moon on the
weather. The height of the barome |
ter in months of September to Janu
airy is lowered at the time of full
moon and raised during the first quar-
ter. No effect can be traced for other |
ELectricdLLy-A Aimed GUns.-In a new |
small dry battery, an |
electro.magnet and a circuit-closer of |
mercury are so arranged on the stock |
of a gun that the weapon can be dis |
charged only when elevated to pre-
determined angle. At other positions |
the trigger is locked and cannot be |
pulled. The device is claimed to en-
sure precision in range and accuracy |
of firing at night when the range has
been previously obtained.
Nests for Germs. The impurities
that collect under finger nails have
been investigated in the bacteriologi |
cal laboratories of Vienna. The mat |
ter obtained in 70 examinations was
placed in culture solutions, and gave
SO kinds of micrococci, Is of bacilli,
and of sarcine. Cleanliness of the
nails is especially necessary for all
who come near wound, and for |
those who live in neighborhood |
where an epidemic prevails.
Another Silk.-A substance having |
all the essential qualities of silk has
been made from wild hemp by Naye- |
mura Sakusaburo of Hikone, Japan. |
The plant grows on moors and hill |
sides and could be cultivated. The |
fibre is strong and glossy, and several
silk factories are said to have found |
it to be in no way inferior to silk.
A Remarkable PreSerUafire.-A Bel |
gian chemist has found that the green |
tar left after extracting the oil from
A. ..-k;4a 1,arh Of tho hirah will Of. 4