Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-13
SCIENCE.

Sleep is found by Professor A. L. Her.
rera to be universal, and he discovers but
one entirely general cause.-the delay of
the prOtopiasmic currents in which life
consists. Surveying the whole field of
living things, he sees that nutritive cur
rents are endowed with a very great
velocity in active life. these currents
sap. blood, protoplasmic currents-being
periodically delayed by the want of the
reserves expended during the day. This
delay produces sleep. The same currents
may be less active during the day on ac-
count OF inaction or other cause. giving
somnolence; they may be delayed by the
constant action of cold, giving sleep in
winter, by an excess Of external heat.
resulting in sleep in summer, or by lack
or moisture. showing us latent life. The
general co-ordinated currents may be
definitely stopped by coagulation, poison
ing. hemorrhages, a~sphyxia, etc, this
bringing death. An ingenious artificial
organlsm-with digestive. circulatory
and excretlve apparatus-has been con-
structed by Professor Herrera to demon
strate his theory, and to illustrate the
principal varieties of sleep, life and mac
tivity.
An analysis Of European statistics by
NJ. Vauthier shows that the mean birth
rate of the various countries is in the
following order, beginning with that hav-
ing the highest: Russia in Europe. Hun
gary, Servia. Roumania, Austria. German
empire, Italy, Spain, Finland, Portugal,
Holland. England and Wales, Scotland,
Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Sweden,
Switzerland, Greece, France, Ireland. In
all but four countries the birth rate is
decreasing. the rate of decrease-o.306 per
100-being most striking in England. In
Italy, Spain, Servia and Norway there is
a slight increase.
Attempts in Queensland to improve
sugar cane by chemical selection have re-
| sulted favorably. Canes We're planted
that We're shown to contain the richest
and purest juice, and the yield was a
juice richer in sucrOse and poorer in glu-
cose than that from seed canes proved
chemically to be of low grade.
! AS long ago as "a centuries before
| Christ. states Professor Ewing. a Chinese
navigator named Hoang Ii used a mag
! net for navigating a fleet of ships This
is supposed to have been the first use OF
the mariners The form in
which he is said to have used it was that
of a fragment of lodestone, a natural
magnet of iron oxide, which was fioated
SO as to be free to revolve. The mariners
compass Of Chinese origin was first
brought to Europe in the thirteenth CEN
tury by a man named Marco Polo. Not
SoIAS SS VI Lay iItA
net, the science of magnetism will be only
800 years old next year, as it dates from
the publication of Gilbert's famous book
in the year 1900.
The effects of hish-frequency electric
currents on disease. as shown by 24,31
APPLICATIONS to a total of 913 patients, have
been summarized by Professor Apostoli
in a report to the Paris Academy of Sci
! ences. The current acts upon the cells,
stimulating n regulating the nutrition.
The general health is improved, and there
is a return of energy, appetite and sleep,
with invigorated digestion and greater
fatigue endurance. The current is harms
full in acute rheumatism, while it is di.
rectly injurious in bringing on eczema.
1t is beneficial in chronic rheumatism, eS-
pecially so in govt, and gives good results
in neuralgia, Sciatica, calcareous fOrma-
tons. varicose veins, piles, dyspepsia and
| asthma
A progressive Paris barber serves his
customers by electricity. The water is
boiled in a soapstone tank by a German
silver tube kept hot by an electric cur
| rent; the curling irons are kept at a
| steady and harmless heat by electricity;
the hair is cut by clipping machines driv-
en- by electric motors; and smuggling OF the
hair is lone by a platinum wire in an
electric circuit much better than in the
old way.
The Widen process for coating steel
and iron consists in the use of a bath con-
tanning 81 per cent. by weight of zinc, IA
of tin, Is of lead, and 0.5 of aluminium.
AS in ~galvanizing, the articles are dipped
into the melted alloy, and the resulting
coating is claimed to be the best known,
| being firmly adherent, resisting corrosion
and standing a red neat without injury.
PhOnographic records of messages
horpa unon avs of light are made and