The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-04-06
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

The missing solution necessary to
complete the transformation of dead
matter into perfect living organism
is being confidently sought by DR.. A. d.
Houghton. He affirms that he has sue
ceeded in producing an active protoplas-
mic mass containing distinct nucleus
like centers, which exhibited amepold
movements. 1t assimilated nutriment,
it gave the reaction to aniline dyes that
organic cells do, it had protoplasm1c
stomach, it showed selective affinity and
it even made feeble attempts at perpet-
uation of its species. 1t split into four
or five cells each like the mother, the
cells became inert but they had full
filled all the conditions of living cells,
such as amebae, except in perpetuaung
their kind indefinitely.
By regulating the food of mich cow,
M. Spolverinf claims to have made its
milk a satisfactory substitute for hu-
man milk. The first experiments were
made on a goat by feeding it with eggs
or a little meat in addition to the regu-
lar food, and later on another goat was
fed with sprouting grains Of barley. IN
each case the goats milk was changed
to the chemical composition of human
milk.
A new French refrigerator consists of
closed metallic cylinders surrounded by
a freezing mixture, being designed for
keeping fruit at a fixed temperature
with a restricted amount of air and an
absence Of light. ThaWing must be
gradual After two months peaches
were in perfect condition, and the meth
Cd is adapted for transporting soft fruits,
including bananas.
Of double monstrosfties, like the Siam
csc twins, one or two per week are
! stated to be born in Europe alone. They
| are too short-liyed to become widely
known.
T. = ,,onor On tho yoodarn noannfact11re
! Of tinfoil, Rafael Granja states that the
varieties now supplied are pure tlnfoll,
composition foil, and Dutch leaf. The
| composition foil consists of lead covered
on both sides with thin coating of tin,
while the Dutch leaf is prepared from
an alloy of tin with small percentage
! of a secret metallic composition. The
! grade of fineness is indicated by the num-
! Der Of square inches to the pound. The
! best composition foil covers 1900 square
| inches, the thinnest pure tinfoil spread s
over 10000, and Dutch leaf reaches 1000.
Whether Hertzian waves reach us from
the sun is a question that astronomers
| are about to investigate. Reasons are
! found for believing that the sun must
emit such waves, and NJ Charles Nord-
mann shows that the emissions must be
particularly intense during violent erup-
tons and at periods of maximum sun
! spots This view IS made to explain the
form Of the solar corona and the spectra
! of comets.
The possibility OF poisoning from arse
/ mic in the soil has been studied by
| Messrs. A. and A. F. Angel, British
chemists. The arsenic impurity of a SUI
perphosphate of lime was increased tc
| one-nalf of 1 per cent. about seventeen
| times the usual proportion, and this
| manure was applied to various crops in
two lots-part at time of sowing and
part when the plants were well above
/ ground. 1t was found that some arsenic
was drawn up mechanically into the
| young leaves Of rhubarb and the grasse.
! and into the green pods of beans. but
no trace reached the fruit or seed of any
! plant.
Horses are shod with various materials
Most horses in Japan wear shoes of rice
| straw, bound with ropes of the same ma
| terial, and ponies in Iceland are shoe
| with antlers Of deer. Socks of camePs
| skin are sometimes used on horses ir
Egypt.
A beautifully carved boat of oak lately
dug up in Iceland is forty-six feet long
finely preserved, and about 1000 years old
Young cattle of South America are at
tackled by a peculiar disease-sometimes
known as manquea-that is recognized by
a characteristic lameness of one leg and
develops foul-smelling assesses. Mr.
| NOgeS, of BuenOS AyreS, has discovered
i in the assesses a bacillus that is much
smaller than that Of influenza or any
other hitherto known, being scarcely per-
cepttible when magnif1ed 1900 times. Elk
periments have shown that mice, rats
and rabbits resist infection by the bacilli
but that guinea pigs succumb in twentv-
four to forty-eight hours, and that the
| effects are due to direct action Of the
bacilli and not-as in the case of tetanus
and anthrax-to poisonous products they
produce. The disease is one Of hot
weather, NEGOTIATIONS failing in winter.
A London balloonist is collecting the
microbes of the upper air, and has al
ready discovered many hitherto unknown
germs.