The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-13
SCIENTIFIC.

SCIENTIFIC.
The opera glasses leased at theaters are
declared by oculists to be a frequent means
| OF spreading serious eye diseases.
/ A new incandescent lamp, of German ORR
| gin, has plate of asbestos fiber, treated
successfully with platinum chloride sal
| ammoniac and magnesium chloride, in
/ stead of the usual carbon filament. The
lamp is easily manufactured; and, as the
| lighting capacity of the alkaline earth is
/ said tc be about three times that of car
| bon, considerable economy is expected.
| Out of ten samples OF cream of tartar
purchased from grocery stores, DR.. George
F. Payne found absolutely no cream of
| tartar in five, less than 81 per cent. In two.
| less than so per cent. in one, and only two
samples of good cream of tartar. The i'm
| itation cream of tartar is chiefly made up
OF dried alum and acid calcium phosphate.
| In some cases the substitutes themselves
are adulterted with terra albo and starch
to the extent of IS per cent
| During the ten months ending with Feb
ruary the British Board of Agriculture
alyzed nearly 1000 samples of imported but
! ter. finding authorizations from six counties.
| OF five samples from Belgium one was adul-
| terated OF ISL from Germany, 43; of 250
| from Holland, &C.; OF 10s from Norway and
| Sweden, z; OF 40 from Russia, B; of 1E from
| Denmark, S. No adulteration was found in
! the four samples from Argentine, 81 from
! Austria, 80 from Canada, 62 from France, Il
from New Zealand. S3 from the United
| States
The holiday craze the Medical Press is
inclined to conclude, is going too far and
there is less necessity for taking a greater
number of days off, to repair the waste
/ of gray matter due to modern hurry than
it is fashionable to believe. The best method
| Of giving brain tissue rest is not to indulge
in furious hiking nor yet to browse away
week or a month in sleepy hollow. The
| healthy brain does not need even a weeks
rest ! but a good nights sleep is to
| the purpose, and still better Is a hobby CIV
| ing mental effort different from that
! quired in ones daily work. A professional
man with no interests outside his daily
return after a long holiday is usually sig
| naIized by restlessness, inability to concen-
trate the mind on details of work, and even
| greater liability to attacks of diseaSe-not
| fevers dlfe to insantary houses, but nerv-
Gus and respiratory complaints arising from
! sudden changes in living conditions. Short
| holidays two or three times q year are
probably Of more. use than one long one,
less than that is enough. The constant
| wish to get away from work, so character
Of it and that little love betokens degener-
acy.
| Recent astronomical work, according to
Prince Krapotkin, indicates that well es-
| tablished views concerning the moon must
| be considerably modified. The existence of
| a feeble twilight shows that there may be
a very rare atmosphere, perhaps 200 times
|
! Pickering finds it necessary to assume the
| presence of watery vapors to explain the
black band sometimes seen between Jupi-
| ter and the moons edge when the former
| begins to be covered by our satellite. Shad-
ows sometimes visible on different portions
| of the lunar surface confirm the idea that
| light haze is occasionally formed by the
| evaporation from frozen water under the
| suns rays The existence of traces of wa
| ter action was denied until lately, the
seas" being known to be without them
! while the ''rills are ALMOST certainly rents
produced in the solid surface. Much finer
] formations than these rills have now re-
ceived attention, and these wind and fork
| like rivers and have one end narrower and
higher than the other. Professor Pickering
| gives a list OF thirty-tive of these presura-
| Bile river-beds large, medium and small.
| These valleys not only have been probably
scoOped out by water, but may even con-
tain water at the bottom now, and there
may be plants sustained by this water.
In craters and on all the plains but one
moon, and vanish when the is lower.
Professor Pickering is inclined to attrib-
| AS come to know the moon better we
| find that it may still contain running
/ ter, plants and active volcanoes.
Dime-museum freaks afford examples OF
| some curious skin diseases. The alligator
| boy the "ishskin girl the 'porcupine
man." the hedgehog man. according to-
| DR.. James C. Mcclure, are different mani
| festations Of itchyosis. This is a congeni-
| tai chronic disease, usually showing itself
| within twelve or sixteen months after birth.
| In the mild FORM xeroderma, there is little
| sealing, but wrinkles are much exagserat-
| ed In "hshskin" or "snakeskin'' the wrin-
| kes are abundant while in the severest
| cases-itchyosis hystrix--the skin may be
| dark and corrugated, with the spnous
| quilted excrescences distinguishing @'porcu-
pine men" or hedgehog raen In a very
| remarkabl case of the last century the pa
| uent had thick, rugged, oark-like skin,
| which did not bleed when cut, had stiff
| bristles IN parts. ana was Sald 10 De sled
once a year. The deformity was inherited
| by each of the mans six children. One of
| the most common freaks is due to albinis
| mus, partial or complete loss OF pigment,
| of congenital origin, which seldom appears
| in the white race, while mice and birds
are familiar examples The leopard girl
has .eucoderna which differs from aIbn-
| isrnus III being acquired and not congenftal.
| The affection is often seen on the hands
animals, in the sacred white elephant
| and in the elephant the condition has been
| nentiy-by bleaching with hydrogen perox-
| ide Several eiastic-Skin men have been ex
| hibited. Herr Hagg, the best-known, could
| pull the skin from his chest up to his eyes,
| and a man described in 1857 could bring the
| skin of his chest up to his eyes and down
| to his knees. The blue man may have
| cyanosis due to defective aeration Of the
| blood, he may have taken nitrate of sill
| yer. A man with horn growing from his
| forehead was some years ago shown in
| New York The condition. cornu cutaneum,
| may occur on any part OF the body, and a
| horn shown in the British Museum is eleven
| inches long by two and a half in circumfer-
ence In 1864 reports of 1o9 cases had been
| collected Elephant Leg or Barbados
leg is the well-lSnown elephantisus ara
bum, due to local circulatory assurances.
| The elephant man." allied case de-
scribed ten years ago, had congenital de-
fornlity of both skin and bone Which gave
a trunk-like appearance TO the nose and
upper lip Perfumed sweat, colored sweat
| and phosphorescent sweat are well-authen-
| ticated freaks. Lightning pictures on the
| skin suddenly blanched hair. hair sudden
| " changed from gray to black. complete
| loss of hair, and bearded women aie other
examples Perhaps unique a freak as
was ever known is that, described in 1881.
fnfirpiX