The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1895-02-10

| AJGlENlE
| A f5I1h'l'{l5>sYi
W,1yW ~ THE THIN AIR OF
WI Il MARS. = Mr.. Percival
VIZ Lowell has recently
made valuable summary of our present
information about the planet Mars. He
says that we have proof of its atmosphere,
and good reason to believe that at the sur
face of the planet it is about half as thin
as that of the earth at the summit of
the Himalayas. This atmosphere is quite
similar to our own, except that it holds
more watery vapor yet it is nearly if not
quite cloudless, rain and snow giving place
to dew or boar frost. 1t does not follow
that because the air is thin it Will not sup
port life; on the contrary, it is we'll
known fact that even human beings often
seek the rarer air of elevated regions to
prolong life. Mr.. Lowell says of
changes witnessed on the surface
of Mars that the planet is
very live world, subject to an annual cycle
of surface growth, activity and decay. The
canals and so-called lakes share IN the
sequential metamorphosis, with seasonal
change dependent in general way upon
| their ATTITUDES. Throughout these changes,
| following the seasons across the face OF
Mars, there is one feature approaching
permanence-the great continental area
| Except for possible variation IN bright
ness here and there this great area remains
unchanged Like the reddish desert
regions of the earth its color and lmmuta-
bility point to like character for like
| - &c
already past the possibility of change. 1t
is one vast desert waste.
| FINER MICROSCOPES NEEDED Professor
! Schaefer, president of the section of physi-
ology of the British Association, declares
that he has discovered that each organic
cell in vegetable and animal life contains
an intinitesimal particle which manifests
definite and controlling functions, and
which appears to be in fact the principle of
life. He calls it the attraction particle"
| because despite its infinite littleness 1t eX-
| erts an extraordinary influence over the
whole cell, which may be many thou
sand times its size. 1t initiates and directs
| those processes which result in the multi
plication of cells. The supposed funda-
mental form element called cell is usu-
ally invisible to the naked eye. Bearing
this fact in mind we can get an idea of the
| EXTRAORDINARY
of DR.. Schaefer, that he has discovered
the life principle in particle thousands of
| times smaller than the cell itself. After
magnifying the cell 1000 diameters the CEN
| trail particle, the attraction particle" or
the living principle, appears under the
most powerful microscope merely the SIZE
| of fine point. Some inventor Is needed
now with a microscope of higher power
than anything yet known.
| ROAD FOUNDATIONS OF CLoTH.-The Massa-
chusetts Highway Commissioners Board
has found in building macadamized roads
that upon loose, sandy soil much stone is
wasted by being driven into the sand. In
such cases gravel, when accessible, has
been placed upon the sand to depth of
| three or four inches and the stone laid on
this. By so doing the cost is greatly re-
duced. There being no gravel at Marthas
! VINEYARD cheap cotton cloth has been
! spread upon the sand, and over that the
| stone. The sand does not work up through
] the stone and much less stone is required.
Layers of tarred paper were tried, but
without success, as the stone pressed
| through them.
| CURIOUS PLANTS AND DRUGs.-It is nat
ural that the botanists should constantly
be bringing new curiosities and treasures
| of nature to notice. Daniel Morris, one of
the curators of Kew Gardens, described re-
] Gently cocoanut palm which, after the
tendency of its tribe, always leans toward
the wind, and whose fruit sometimes pro-
duces pearls, slightly duller than those of
the oyster. He mentioned also taste
destroying plant, whose leaves when
chewed cause sugar to become tasteleSs
and sour things to lose their bitterness.
Another curiosity was the wild tamarind,
which causes a horse that eats its leaves
to shed the hair of its tail and name.
| "Peyotl" is the name of a North Mexican
cactus, which yields curious aka
loid lately described by Professor L. levin.
The plant has an Intoxicating action, and
in large doses produces sleep as well as
state of nervous excitation, accompanied
by "power of prophesying," such as that
attributed to the sulphurous exhalations
of the mystic temple of Delphi Small
doses of the alkaloid when given to frogs
produce tetanic cramps and greatly in
creased reflex irritability analogous to that
from strychnine. In experiments on rab
bits it was noted that during each paroxysm
of cramps produced the blood vessels of the
ears were widely distended. Professor
Levin reports that he has also found aka
loids with powerful action in many species
of cactus hitherto regarded as harmless by
botanists, notably one closely resembling
curare.
THE UB1oUITY OF APARTMENT-H HOUSES
1t is we'll known that apartment-houses
are to be found everywhere in the civilized
world, but it is a little curious to learn that
along the streams of New Guinea there are
houses upward'of 800 feet long and 100 feet
high, erected by the natives. These massive
dwellings, which would hold as many in
habitants as any tenement in a city slum,
are not at all uncommon.
OCEAN LIFE BY THE CUBIC MILE.-W. K.
Brooks made recently some deeply inter
esting statements as to the immensely and
infnity of ocean life, all based on some
half-dozen types of protozoa and uncellular
plants upon which the globigerino and
radlolarians feed, each series in turn becom-
ing the support of the one above it in the
scale of existence. The organisms visible
in the ocean and on the sea bottom are
almost universally engaged in deyouring
each other, and many of them, like the
bluefsh, are never satisfied with slaughter,
but kill for mere sport. There is so much
room in the vast spaces of the ocean, and so
- r. hot Onlxr