The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-25
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY
THOUGHT wAvEs-PorsoNINo
 BY TIN.
The Sea Claiming France Height of the Blue sky-Sterlixed Thermo- Ineters-panoranaas From the
 Invidble-Dependent Plants

The idea of brain-waves meets with lit- tie favor from the physiolosist. and Dr.
 salecby of London. finds nothing to jus tify the theory of thought transference
 by waves of any kind. Electric waves pass between less and more excited portions of the brain, as they do in muscle, or even in tin. Their relation to thought Is entirely accidental, Hertxian waves have been recently shown to affect the brain of cat-it would be surprising if they did not-and the effects of thunderous weather in causing headache may be so explained. These waves have nothing to do with the normal action of the brain There are. however. changes in the nerve cells, especially In their nuclei, that are
 associated with thought. with fatigue and with sleep, and these require further study.
 An extended investigation has con- vinced Professor K. B. Lehman that most cases of reported acute tin poison ing are due to spoiled food instead of contamination from the metal of cans. Few undoubted cases of poisoning from
 the latter source are known. It is true. however. that. while ordinary canned meats and vegetables rarely cause such poisoning, old preserves containing maiic and tartaric acids may have sufficient tin
 to produce slight acute disturbances of digestion, and it is advised that foods containing much of these acids, be put up
 in glass, porcelain or wood. .@ About a square mile of France has
 been worn away by the English channel in the last five years. In North Brit
 tany has been noted a gradual subgidence
 of the land which has been in ptogress
 since 709, at which time the channel isl
 ands were joined to the coast by an isth-
 mus.
 Out of So4 cases of lupus or skin tuber.
 culosis, treated by the Finsen light cure,
 412 have been pronounced cured.
 Motors, or shooting stars, flash into
 light on striking the earth's atmosphere,
 and measurement Of the height at which
 this light begins has given an idea of the
 outer limit of the gaseous sea surround
 ing our globe. From such measurements
 Professor Newcomb has estimated the
 depth of the atmosphere to be between 100 and 110 miles. Lord Rayleigh has at-
 trlouted the blue of the sky to sunlight reflected from minute particles of oxygen and nitrogen in the upper layers of the air. and Professor T. J. J. See of Wash ington. now suggests that observa tions of the disappearance of this blue color after sunset give another method of de- termining the atmosphere's depth. The height of the fading blue is calculated from the suns depression at the instant Several observations have given an aver age of 1S1 miles, and pr. See believes that this estimate Is accurate within i've or ten miles.
 The thermometer used by physicians is not free from the risk of conveying germs, which may lodge in the gradua- tions on the glass and escape removal by the usual washing and wiping. A French physician has devised a pocket case for carrying the clinical thermometer con stantly immersed in a sterilizng solu- tion. An outer tube, fitted with a fluid- liquid antiseptic, and the thermometer, is carried in a perforated metallic holder it- ting into this tube. 1