The Opelousas courier., 1902-08-16
pOpul AR SCIENCE.


In order to destroy the vermin with
which domestic fowls are often Unrest
ed. q Canadian inventor, Edwin L.
Stewart, has devised a nest egg when
is hollow so that it can be filled with
an insecticide. The nest egg is OF such
construction that by the movement OF
the fowl upon it's nest the 1nsectlclue
will be automatically distributed.
The theory that some of the mis-
shapen creatures that abound in pagan
mythologies We're suggested by human
monstrosities is advanced by Professor
Schatz, a German scholar. According
to him the Cyclops corresponds to a
one-eyed monstrosity; the Siren is iden-
tilted with one whose lower limbs are
united, and the Centaur was suggested
by a m~onstrosity having two pairs OF
legs. He believes that many mooted
points In comparative mythology might
be cleared up by additional study along
this line.
A perpetual cloud Of SCOT, gradually
settling down, is known to overhang
every large manufacturing city. 10
determine the amount of this wasteful
dirt deposit in Manchester, England,
MI. w. Irwin weighed the solid matter
obtained from a sample of snow that
had been lying on the ground ten days,
and has found an equivalent of 10.7
pounds per acre, or three tons per
square mile. AS the samT'e represent
ed the condition over at leasthOO square
miles, the chimneys Of M~anchestts are
convicted of throwing out not less lhdh
300 tons of SCOT in ten days. Analysis
showed 4S.6 per cent. of carbon, 6.9 OF
heavy oil and grease and 40 OF ash.
from which it appears that each days
thirty tons of SCOT is given adhesive
ness by about two tons of oily matter.
Interesting observations on the infiu-
ence of mountains on the fall OF hail
have just been published by the Italian
meteorological service. During seven
years of Investigation there were forty
| one days of hail at Rome and eighty
| DAYS of hail at Monte Cavo. about q
| feet above that city. There were, how
| ever, 176 thunderstorms at Rome, M
| only 129 at Monte Cavo, which indi-
| Gates that the greater fall of hail at the
| higher altitude has nothing to do with
a greater intensity of atmospheric cleo
tricity. Signor Monti, who communl-
Gates these facts, suggests that much
| Of the hail that fell at the higher sta
ton melted on reaching the lower and
warmer strata, and appeared as rain.
In the Popular Science Monthly Of a
gear ago Professor J. J. Thomson de-
scribed his important investigations
demonstrating that atoms can be split
up into smaller bodies. In q late issue
of the same magazine Professor J. A.
Fleming, the eminent British physicist,
explains in clear and readable language
the electronic theory of electricity, to
which Professor Thomson's researches
were such an important contribution.
All ideas regarding electricity, matter
and the ether, as held even by those
who have followed the progress of ply
steal science, must, it appears, be re-
vised. 1t is necessary to regard cleo
tricity as atomic in structure, the atoms
of electricity being attached to thf
atoms of matter and separable from
them. The regular free movements ,of
electrons create what we call the cleo
tric current in a conductor, whereas
their vibrations when attached to atoms
are the cause of ether waves whether
of light OF heat. The atom is a kind OF
planet accompanied by other smaller
satellites which are capable Of an in
dependent existence and are then the
s~o-called negative electricity. The in
ertia of matter is due to the electron
and all mechanical and material eff
fects must be translated into the Ian
guage Of electricity.