The sun., 1902-03-09
SCIENCE. e,s@
PUBLIC HYorxsx AND MORTALITY.

| array OF statistics on the relation between
! public hygiene and mortality, from which
the following instances and remarks are
taken. France. he says. is favored by climate
and In other respects. Why Is its birth rate
the smallest In Europe. Its death rate anon 9
the greatest? The cause is not In nature,
but In institutions. From the So 900. 600 In
habitants Of France 10000 deaths from
tuberculosis annually. occur. while there are
put $1,000 among the 1,o0o 900 OF ureat
britain. but 10000 among the ee.ooO.ooo Of
Germany, In every nation OF Europe, save
France, the mortality from tuberculosis has
diminished and. at the same time. the e2n-
results are that in France, between one census
and the next, the mortality from tuberculosis
has increased es. while In Germany. Il dt-
total population es. 600 lives were we're lost durins
the last census period In France that might
have been. and ought to have been saved.
The cas- Is similar for other diseases, Ten
thousand TO 1900 adolesce! Is die each year
In France from typhoid before the age OF
Some 5000 die Of smallpox in France, while
only score OF, SO perish from this disease
in England. and is still common in France
III We compute the mere money loss to the
nation due TO this unnecessary waste OF life
u Is immerse. A man OF mature age is worth
at least $1,000 to his cou, try, The svoidable
mortality OF France brings about an annual
money loss OF at least sso.ooo, ,oo9-not to
speak or 9th NOR important cons d rations
The reasons for this state Of Affairs are in
vestigated by the same writer but there Is
no place for them here.
AcURIous RAINFALL
On Jan. 70 Of this year rain fell at Periers
IN France for several hours The ralnwater
collected looked like lye. or like water con-
taining clay. II was odorless. OF earthly
taste and slightly saline After twenty-four
hours II prrcipitatsd an abundant deposit
that was almost entirely silicious Linen
clothes and the lGay,s Of plants were covered
previous rains had thoroughly wetted the
ground this phenomenon ia not to be ex.
Of silicious dust had been carried into the
sir by winds and subsequently preciptated
by rain The most probable explanation
IN very shallow pools on the surface OF sill
cious ground and that by hieh winds (which
were observedl the water was raised INTO
the air and subsequently descended as rain.
THE NATURE OF NERVE STIMULATION.
The com plete theory Of nerve stimulation
recently formulated by Prof Mathews Of
the University OF Chicago IL concisely stated
as follows: The irritahilty OF nerve proto-
plasm varies lnverSely with the stability
OF the hydrosol state Of is colloids. stiru-
lation Is e"lation, and IS brought ao9ut ny
ulation Is really an electrical stmulati
due to the charges which the ion. bear
Neeati.e charges stimglht", positive nis eninrsGs
due TO a progressive precipitation OF col
loids by negative CHARGES, the negative
charges being regencrated by the preCiplt1-
ton OF each succeeding mass Of colod.
The negative variation, in other words,
stimulates each succeeding segment OF the
produces In the collods. ArPsthctics pre-
vent precipitation. L is not The yale13ce IN
g,tnSte SnSiy.s which pTSdgSG"s sScrss sbbSIa- cbsn
ica stimulation being thus Identical with
stimulation by light.
STATISTICS OF DOUBLE STARS
In the introduction 70 his fourth list OF
new double stars discovered and measured
with the 36-iuGh telescope Of the Lick OBJ
servntory. Prof. Aitken gives the following
matte search for new double stars he has
pointed upon and eNamiued 10000 stars. OF
these $50 had already been catalosued as
double by earlier observers, but only sos OF
them were. as. close az S seconds. In the
stars examined Prof. Aitkcn found soi other
S seconds in distance. II thus appears that
a systematic examination Of tho whole heav-
ems on this plan would result in doubling the
number OF double stars now known. or
Prof. Athens discoveries about 10 per cent.
have distances exceeding 4 seconds; 10 Der
per cent have distances not exceeding sec
onds. 1bout ~ per cont have distances not
cVcredlrg second. about 81 per cent. have
distances not exceeding one-half second.
TRANsVrRrNCR OF SECONDARY SEXUAL CHAR
AcTERIsTICs FROM MALES TO FEMALES.
DR. Forsyth-Major has lately reviewed
Darwin's statement in The Descent Of Man"
as to the probability that horns OF all kinds;
and canine tusks, even when they are now
equally developed in both sexes. were pri-
marily acquired by the male in order 10 con-
nuer other males and have been more or
less completely transferred to the female.
Darwin's inference did not rest on paleon-
tological evidence Dr Major reviews all
such evidence for certain families and comes
was correct
His concluding remark is OF prophetic
nteTs,t In our own spscT he s'y 10 tG
appearance incipient signs OF the same
natural law Physical and mental character
lstics Of man, originally acquired in the strue-
giles Of the males. are apparently being slowly
transferred TO women They only require
time for their full evolution.
A FORMULA FOR THE WEIGHT OF TUE CENTRAL
NERVOUS SYSTEM IN rRoGs.
Prof Donaldson Of the University OF Chi
csgo announces the following formula which
gives the weight Of the central nervous sys-
tenn the brain plus the spinal cordl "a frogs
which shows that this weight Is junction
Of the body-weight ana OF the Iehgth OF
the frog
NJ VI logarthm W &C:
In which N=welrht Of the central nervou, Sy,.
metres en 81 %@w.ishi Q, the ffos in grams ca con.
sent yfSSS Ts tI6s ns sEsse' Tor 0u0s' c
The formula l- of course. merely. con-
else manner Of tabulating certain observed
numbers.
CALIFORNIA WINE OUTPUT.
A recent French report records the sta
tistics of wine production In California. There
are q, 900 hectares "a hectare Is 10000 square
metres or 24J acres) OF VINEYARDS In the
State large tracts ar" cultivated. The
VIVA Ranch OF Gov Stanford has an area OF
1 500 hectares and produces more than FIVE
hundred ions of cranes and 1000 litres OF
bTandy annually The Italian-Swiss colony
OF Asti stores It's annual pfoduct IN an enor-
mons cistetn holding about i,Soo,o 900 ltres
In nm average year san Francisco exports
vine 10 tho value Of ssoo, 900 TO the various
napts of the Union and TO foreign ports TO
thc value of sll2n01J, mMch OF the latter
export going 20 Hawaii, CHINA, japan and
Central America
cApTrRR OF ooMETs Br JUPITER.
Mr. percival Lowell has lately given an
ohstrac, Of his unpublished paper on the
espture of comets by Jupiter. II discusses !
the action OF Jupiter upon q comet entering |
The pl aret's sphere OF ACTIVITY and the rela- !
,Ior horne bv the direction and velocity OF I
~, ~" ".nn,nsob 10 the comets subsequent be- |
10 yinr N anpcars that Jupiter IL not only
Hanahla of iran sforming at one encounter /
~ narabolic orbit irto an elliptic one. but can |
% aac,Wall, cause u comet TO make the plAnet !
a. '.,naJ ~ the sun the goal OF its visit and 1
.nnd it hack into space without circumnsvi- !
eating the sun AZ HI'
rur RELATION OF CLIMATE TO THE wHioHr /!
ar THE DRAINS or CEREALS