The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-04-03
written for the CITIZEN

| tile OCGdus dCCOAOIhS W - ~ -
ton lecture by DIR. JOhn, Murray.
never exceeds 81 degrees Fahrenheit,
vet temperature has played more inn
portant part in the distribution of
marine organisms than in that of the
air-breathing and warm-blooded ami
mails of the land. The surface waters
| of the ocean nave five Well-marked
| temperature areaS-an Arctic and an
| Antartic circumpolar belt with a small
range and high temperature, cir
cumtropical belt With a small range
| and high temperature and two inter-
mediate areas with large annual ranges
of Temperature. Vertically, the ocean
may be divided into the superficial re-
gion. extending down to about 100
fathoms, and the deep sea. The sur
face region, especially near the land,
has variety of conditions and an
abundant fauna and flora; but plant
life is absent in the uniform conditions
of the deep sea, although animal life IS
abundant. The warm surface waters
of the tropics have many species, but
relatively few individuals, while the
reverse is true in colder regions. DIR.
Murray accounts for all the various
facts in marine life distribution by
surprising that in early geological
times the whole globe had a uniform
climate and an almost universal fauna
and fora The coral reefs of the Arc
tic Circle in the PaleOZic period were
probably formed when the water had
temperature of about 20 degrees Fab
renhelt.
High frequency currents have been
| found by d. Arsonval and Charron to
alternate the toxins of diphtheria and
other diseases, and convert them into
useful antidotes. The vitality of the
microbes is not directly affected, but
the liquid in which they live is modi-
fied-through physical, and not chemi-
cal action, it is stated. The effect of
electricity upon animals infected with
the toxins is subject for further in
vestigatiOn.
Lord Kelvin declared Maxim had
solved three out of the five problems
OF artificial light. The two remaining
ones, DIR. q. H. Bryan points out, have
been now solved by Lilienthal and
Pitcher, and all that remains is to COM
bine the advantages of the two forms
of apparatus in single machine.
Hitherto it has not been practicable
to view the whole of the SUMS chro-
mosphere and prominenceS at single
glance, except by Photographic aid.
but a means of keeping these interest
ing objects completely and continually
| in sight has now been devised by g..
V. Zenger, Director of the Prague Uni
versity. A new form of spectrOscope,
called the eclipseoscope, is used. 1t
consists of cone of crown glass or
quartz, symmetrically enclosed in a
zinc cylinder, which is filled up with
oil of oniseed and closed at the ends
with glass plates. A piece of tinfoil
just over the apex of the cone has cut
in it a narrow circular slit A tele-
scope with Barlow lens forms an inn
age of the sun on the slit plate, with
the disc of the image just covering the
the central disc of the circular slit, each
point of the SUMS limb-Or outer edge
being thus made to give rectilinear
spectrum, while all the points together
produce a circular spectrum. This can
be viewed with suitable eyepiece or
projected on a screen. The new form
of prism is equivalent to an infinite
number of prisms, free from pris-
NAUTICAL alteration, and giving di-
rect vision for the yellow rays. On in
terposing cell containing a solution
of aniline-violet and aniline-green, red
light is transmitted, and the chrOmos-
phere and prominenc4s are brilliantly
brought out; while the substitution of
an absorbing medium of chronic acid
and copper sulphate solution causes
green light to be transmitted, and re-
veals the brightest part of the corona.
|
An ingenious method of testing the
penetrative power of small projectiles
has been tried in Germany by Herr
Muller. A large water trough is divid-
ed on the bottom by transverse ribs,
and closed at one end by thick gelatine
plates. The shot is fired into the end
of the trough, when the hole in the
gelatine instantly closes up, preventing
the escape of the water. Each shot is
retained by the ribs where it falls, and
its position is noted when the water is
drawn off after the firing.
Slight tapping of the forehead over
the nose and eyes with rubber ham,
mer is the remedy proposed by DIR.
Schnee for incipient colds, with heavier
tapping in chronic catarrh. The first
contracts the blOod-vessels, and the
second dilates them and favors free
secretion of mucus.
|
An odd observation of Gilbert White.
confirmed by recent writers, is that
pheasant cocks invariably crow, as if
in answer to a challenge, at the sound
| of artillery or thunder.
An investigation by M. Jeannel has
shown that certain departments of
France have been gradually losing
their forests, with consequences that
are serious from sanitary as we'll as
| geological and meteorological stand
point. Censuses since 1871 reveal a
| progressive diminution in the BIRTH
rate in the thirty departments where
the tree-destruction has.been going on.
and the death-rate has become nine
times greater than that of the rest of
France. The loss of population in
these departments between 1885 and
! 1891 is represented by an excess of &c.
682 deaths over births. Deforestation,
then. is factor of no small importance
in the decline that has given SO
much anxiety to French statesmen,
and M. Jeannel urges better forestry
regulation as one means of. improving
the country's condition.
A new subject for photographers is