The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-06
SCIENTIFIC.

A huge eel of the Fiji Islands, ntteen
feet long, is reported to have peculiar
throat formation causing it to whistle
when excited.
A Dutch Psychologist concludes, contrary
to usual belief, that in man is no chemical
regulation of heat, oxygen consumption be-
ing the same at all seasons.
Calcium carbide is found by NJ. won to
furnish simple means of obtaining abso-
compOSeS every trace of water, bAtt Has mo
ERECT upon pure alcohol.
A difficulty of administering medicine to
| small children is overcome by Professor
Alsnel, who affirms that a mixture of
equal parts of soap liniment and aloes will
act as cathartic when rubbed in small
quantity upon the abdomen.
In the gold mines of Victoria fossil wood,
and even timber supports, are often thor
oughly permeated with particles of gold
which. under the microscope. are seen adj
| herring in patches to crystals of iron pyrites
all through the interior of the wood. A
specimen of pyrites from the center of an
old tree trunk is reported to have aSSayed
thirty ounces Of gold per ton.
The nervous system, says Prof. w. II.
Thomson, has a greater store of reserve
vitality than all the other bodily systems
together, and is the only texture that does
not lose weight in death by starvation or
other cause. 1t is the last to grow old AS
to the mind, it need not grow oId a. an,
provided it be supplied with the mighty
stimulus called interest by which it will
grow steadily, even while bone and Sinew
are wasting through age.
Wireless telegraphy, now giving such en-
couraging results, appears to be no new
idea. 1t has been recalled in Paris that on
the cutting of the wires during the siege Of
that city i'll 1870, NJ. Bourbouze then a
tutor in physics at the University of Paris,
conceived the idea of communicating by
if-it
at last proved successful. On the night of
Jan. 10-11, 1871, a dispatch was sent along
the Seine from the Pont National to Saint
Denis, distance of about twenty-five
miles, the ground and water being employed
as conductors. The war closed before the
invention was perfected, and the work was
dropped.
The rapidity of thought is limited, and
voluntary action of the muscles is slow in
comparison with the involuntary movements
Of which they are capable. The researches
of Messrs. Broca and Richet show that ten
separate Impressions is the average highest
limit of brain perception. The experiments
prove that each excitation of the nerves is
followed by brief period of inertia, and
during this period no new or appreciate inn.
preston can be made. An individuals
exceed ten or twelve per second, although
to the muscles, acting Independently of tho
Will. as many as thirty or forty per second
may be possible
Arsenical poisoning from wall paper has
been explained by Cassie and Emmerling as
due to the volatile arsenic compounds
thrown off by certain molds having the
power of living on arsenical paper. Mr..
Thomas Bolas, an English chemist now
points out that arsenic even ia small guam
titles is poisonous to these molds, which
are able to live by freeing themselves of
a little arsenic in volatile form, but would
lie destroyed If the poison were present in
any considerable amount The most darf-
therefore, I<pIK n no nj
containing. q mere trace of arsenic. Dyed.
and printed fabrics very frequently contain
traces of arsenic, and it is urged that pre-
cipitated borate of copper be substituted as
u green pigment for all arsenical greens.
The black race is estimated by Professor
Hamy to embrace one-tenth of the human
species, or about 150OOO,O00 individuals, and
while its peoples differ in many respects
the race as whole is Distinguished from
others by the combination of Il dark skin
and crisped hair OF the total, one-tenth
has existed outside of Africa, in Melanesia,
etc, from the time when those islands
formed q part of the Asiatic continent In
Africa. the pure blacks are found in groups
Oh both sides of the fifteenth parallel of
north latitude from the Nile to the Atlantic
and are mostly agricultural. with Il knowl-
edge Of iron working dating from remote
antiquity. The dwarfS occupy a strip Of
five degrees on either side of the equator.
The Bantu peoples, next south, extend from
ocean 10 ocean, and are physically different
but alike in language while the Bushmen
and HottentotS in the far south form a. sep
atate group, with individual characteristics.
Remarkable possibilities have been opened
up by the microphonograph the loud
speaking and clear-toned combination Of
microphone and photograph, lately devised
by NJ j.. Dussand of Geneva Certain
physiological facts have suggested that
many deaf mutes could be made to hear by
this instrument, and in practice some per-
sons nave actually been given the sensation
of sound for the first time while others
trained that ordinary sounds hitherto UNI
noticed are now perceived. Simply as
means of educating the deaf and dumb,
therefore, the apparatus must be inValu-
able Another striking use already found
for il is that of MesSrs. BerthOn and Jau-
bert in connection with the telephone and
knematograph, and the combination Of
moving scenes with the attendant sounds IF
conversation, etc. is expected to serve in
the lfe-like reproduction of u number of
naval scenes at the exhibition of 1900.
Before the days of the photograph Bar
num- the great Snowman exhibited talk
ing'' maniBin in which the human voice was
mechanically Initiated to a very limited ex-
tent Some French manufactures has now
added to this idea by giving all the voices Of
a small menagerie in Il book OF pictures that
talk the characteristic cry Of each creature
being obtained on pulling a string ut the
bottom of the page showing the picture.
This interesting toy gives a surprising va
riety OF good limitations. The rooster crows,
the donkey hee-haws, the lamb bleats. the
the cuckoo sings and the little children ca