The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-22

tematic following of this course will do
much. it is claimed, toward preventing bald
ness The effects are first seen in old men
~ an Improvement OF the general condition,
increased elasticity or rejuvenation of the
SKIN, and diminished rigidity of the arteries;
Whlie IN young persons thin hairs become
nrmer, acquiring brilliant luster and falling
out of hair ceases.
If air resistance could be abolished, Prof
c. v. Boys points out, the man who drives
his bicycle at thirty miles an hour would be
able to attain $50 miles, and his twenty
miles an hour would be increased to one
hundred miles Professor Boys proposes
some curious experiments. To reduce wind
resistance he would cover the bicycle rider
with large bottomlesS box having glass
Sides and would have this box dragged
along by steam at speeds gradually in
creased until the cyclist begins to lag. For
safety the box could be open at the rear A
more serious suggestion is that record
breaking be attempted when the barometer
is very low, for a fall of an inch, if it re-
duced the air resistance by one-thirtieth,
might mean a gain of a minute an hour
unless the diminution of oxygen in the rid
ers lungs should compensate for the re-
duced air resistance.
Some striking experiments with serpent
venom and immunizing serum have been
shown by DR.. A Calmette, now of the
Pasteur Institute of Lille. A mixture of the
venom of the bothrops. the naja and the
t. SOOA ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IIOSl dCllNS SAdhS
poisons known--proved fatal to rabbits in
twenty and three minutes respectively when
injected to the amount of five and ten times
the fatal dose. Like injections, however.
had no effect upon rabbits that had just
been moculated with two and five cubic
centlmeters OF protective serum. Snake
poisoning is now so we'll understood it is
stated, that results can be calculated with
great precision, and from persons weight
1t can be reckored how much poison would
destroy and how much serum would save
life. Large quantities of the serum have
been sent to India. 1t keeps long time and
is easily produced horses being inoculated
with venom and bled once fortnight, no
injury to the animals resulting.
Rain colored red or black is not rare in
localities where the air is often highly
charged with particles having one of these
colors, but the recent occurrence of an in
tensely black rain in the agricultural dis
trict of Mullingar, in ireland, is regarded as
remarkable phenomenon The fall has
been traced over an area of about thirty by
sixteen miles. So dense was the blackness
that lamps were lighted birds went to roost
and superstitious people were terrified. 1t is
suggested that this was a sequel to the
northeasterly gales that had blown for a
week previous. The coloring matter was
simply SCOT, which it is thought the winds
had collected from the manufacturing cities
of northern England and southern Scotland
and had carried at a high altitude in a
SOulnWeSterly QlrecIlOn, causing brilliant
sunsets like the memorable ones following
the Krakatoa eruption. When the soot-laden
air current was struck by a moist wind
from the southwest, the one parted with its
SCOT and the other with it's moisture
The double stars thus far discovered, says
M. Camille Flammarion. number about 49,
eco, but the orbits of only twenty-five have
been calculated. These orbits very greatly
in length the period of revolution ranging
from a little more than five of our years to
nearly two centuries. A star of the con-
stellation Andromeda, however is resolved
by powerful telescopes into three suns, one
of which turns around another in fifty-four
years. and these two revolve about the
third in period which-if continued uni
formly at the rate observed since the first
discovery of the third sun in 1777-must ex-
tend to 800 centuries. This triple star is
visible to the naked eye, becoming double
in a small telescope. 1t is a mistake to re-
gard double stars as a separate class of
heavenly bodies, for they are of various
kinds. some consisting of two similar suns,
while in others an enormous sun is at
tended by much smaller star, as in the
| case of Sirius. and in still others we have
| sun with a dark star, which makes it's
presence known by eclipsing it's companion
| and causing the latter to appear as a Vari-
| able star One of the most remarkable
| characteristics of double stars is the won
| derful colorng of some of them. The star
! in Andromeda, for instance, contains an
| orange. a green and a blue star. of a beauty
| that defes the art of the painter to re-
produce.