The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-11
SCIENTIFIC.


as in America, the carefully protected herd
of the forest Of Bjelowjesha. in Lithuayia
having dwindled from 1900 in 1906, 10 less
than 500.
The light of the starry sky has been re-
Gently found by Captain Abney to be about
which is placed at ne-six-hundred-thou-
sandth that of the sun at noon.
The weasels of North America, according
to DIR. C. Hart Merriam, number twenty
two species. eleven of them now first de-
scribed. They represent the subgenus ictis,
the subgenus putorius being ferret of the
same genus.
An investigation to determine whether
Roentgen rays can start, accelerate or re-
tard chemical change has given negative
results Differences in photographs of
European hand and a Hindu hand are sup
posed to be due to opacity of the skin pig
ment of the latter.
a possible mine of wealth In Mexico is
pointed out by British consular report
The leaf of the pineapple is said to furnish
fiber of extraordinary strength which can
be made into ropes cables, binding twine,
thread, mats, bagging, hammocks, paper
and even silklike cloth. 1t is believed
that the fine cloth of the Aztecs was made
from this fiber. Modern Mexicans manu-
facture 1T but nrtle, partly on account of
the slow and wasteful method of separating
1t, and the foreigner with suitable ma
chinery should reap rich reward.
At the Medico- Mechanical Institute of
Stuttgart, according to Prof. Landerer and
DR.. E. Kirsch, celluloid has proven great
ly superior substitute for plaster Of paris
for spints and corsets. The celluloid is
put in small pieces into wide-mouthed
bottle of acetone, where it slowly dissolves.
A plaster cast Of the diseased or injured
part is taken, and covered with felt or
flannel, into which the celluloid solution is
rubbed with the gloved hands, the process
being repeated from four to six times.
Lightness. hardness, stability, elasticity
The rise of temperature in the spathe of
various acacias, cycads and palms at flow
ering time has been investigated by Herr
G. Kraus. He has found that the heating
takes place only in the daytime, and that
the maximum may reach about twelve de-
grees centigrade above the temperature of
the air. The club-Shaped appendix to the
inf1oreScence is the seat of the high tenn
rapd wnpa rs Of stareh and sugar
The phenomenon has not been observed in
regarded as a special provision for attract
ing insects to aid in poll1nation.
A curious investigation has been begun by
an Italian physician. Measurements at
Paris since 1871, when regular observations
We're first commenced, indicate a continual
diminution of the dip of the earths mag
netism from 70 degrees to 65 degrees sec
onds. 1t has occurred to DR.. G. Folgher-
alter that data for a much longer period
iation of the dip, might be obtained from
ancient terra Gotta. 1t is understood that
that clay retains permanently any mag
netism that may be induced during the pro-
cess of baking. and a practical test of this
idea shows that bricks in villas and tombs
Of the Roman empire. well Etruscan
vases from the eighth century B. c.. have
the axis of magnetiZatiOn in various direc-
lions proving that the polarity correspond
ing with the earth's magnetic axis during
the baking of the objects has been retained
1t now remains to determine the position in
w nfC nj I'm ind Mo- e6
in the kiln.
School gardens or small model farms are
rapidly becoming feature Of the primary
schools of Russian villages. A report for
the southern province of Ekaterinoslav
states that 227 out of the 5O4 schools in the
province already have small model kitchen
gardens, orchards, tree plantations
farms averaging a little more than an acre
in SIZE at which gardening, tree culture
and silk worm culture regularly taught.
The teaching is mostly done by the school
masters, who receive special instruction at
summer schools or from local specialists.
ThiS province being nearly treeless, much
attention is given to tree culture, silk
keeping and vineyards being studied at
some of the schools. In central Russia the
culture of cereals takes first place at the
school farms, while in Caucasia the great
est interest is felt in silk worm culture and
vine culture.
If ever there was a romantic chapter in
presidential address to the British Asso-
citation, it has surely been that of the story
of phagocytosis. 1t has long been known
that if the microscope placed at such
a distance from the fire as to have the tenn
perature Of the human body the white
corpuScles in a drop Of blood might be seen
to put out and retract little processes or
pseudopodia, and by their means crawl
over the surface of the glass, just
like the extremely low forms of animal life
termed amoebae. 1t is somewhat weird
spectacle, that of seeing what has just been
constituents of our own blood moving
about like Independent creatures. Similar
facts concerning the fixed components of
the animal frame have been noted, hovev-
er, as, for instance, that the flashing fila
ments that keep UP constant flow of
motion when the cells to which they are
attached are scraped off into a drop OF
observed that the white corpuscles in some
infiammatory conditions passed through
the pores of some of the finest blood yes
seis and thus escaped into the interstices
of the surrounding tissues. He attributed
this to blood pressure Extraordinary new
by the researches of Metchnikoff. the
Russian naturalist and pathologist, who
observed that, after passing through the
only crawl about like amoebae but like
them, receive nutritious materials into
thus that the effete materials of a tad
poles tail got rid of; SO that they play
a most important part in the function of
absorption. Continuing his researches he
found that a microscopic crustacean, a
kind of water flea, is liable to be infected
with a fungus, whose sharp pointed spores
often penetrate into the intestine, where
a group of cells corresponding to our
white blood corpucles at once surround
the invader and attempt to devour it. If
they succeed the water flea is saved but
If the spores too numerous to be over
come by the devouring cells (phagocytes
MetchinkOff calls them) the animal sue
cumbS to the parasites. Starting from this
fundamental observation, he ascertained
that the microbes of infective disease are
subject to the same process of devouring
and digestion, carried on by both the
white corpuscles and by cells that line the
blood vessels, and has firmly established
the great truth that phagocytosis is the
main defensive means of the living body
against its microscopic foes. Sir joseph
has been peculiarly impressed by these OBJ
servations because they suggest why
wounds heal by first intention under pu-
trid dressings.
LITERARY NOTES.
According to Andrew Lang 'sByron's
verse will never again be cherished by
lovers of poetry. Most of it, he AYERS, SIS