Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-06-07
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

ter System of Mars-Stranse Diet
The Vegetable caterpiIIar-Identifi-
cation by the Teeth-Blue Blood
Identity of tho Blood of Man and
Apes-Durable SIeepers..
The discovery Of the cause Of div
ers' disease" which has been SO dan
gerous to workers under increased air
pressure, has added much to the possi-
bilities Of engineering. By experiments
on animals, Prof. Leonard Hill, F. R.
S., has proven that the blood under
pressure dissolves a considerable and
constantly increasing amount Of at
mospheric gases, and that these tend to
escape rapidly, with kind Of frothing
or effervescence, when the pressure Is
removed. This produces varying
symptoms, often serious or fatal. The
remedy is gradual decomposition In
a special diving bell or caisson, and,
while diving operations have been
hitherto risky and seldom attempted
beyond 100 feet, this apparatus makes
1t possible and fairly safe to carry on
the work down to depths of 200 feet.
The visibility of IS. canals" on Mars
Is traced by Mr.. Percival Lowell for
different periods from 375 drawings.
The canals are supposed to represent
vegetation and they seem to follow the
water which is believed to be almost
entirely locked up in the polar snow
caps in winter and to be released by
the melting Of the snow and Ice at the
summer solstice. The water after Its
release seems to have remarkably
steady flow toward the equator Of So
miles per day. The spherical form of
the planet indicates a condition OF
fluid equilibrium, and this In itself is
held to be strong evidence that the
water channels are artificial.
In a recent operation by DR.. Lereaux
of Paris, rs foreign bodies, including
eight coffee spoons, were taken from
the stomach of young man Of twen-
ty-two. In an earlier operation In
Odessa, thirty-five objects, such as
soup spoon and tea spoon were TAX
en- from a woman Of thirty-two; while
the stomach Of a Baltimore young man
had carried four days 20S metallic OBJ
jects, including twenty-five dog chains
and $50 nails, with 1910 grains OF
broken glass.
One of New Zealand's most singular
curiosities Is the so-called vegetable
caterpillar. Noticing a recent speci-
men, w. F. Kirby, the British natural
is, states that several large caterpil-
lar, of the families Cossidae and Hep
ialidae are known to be infested by va
rious parasitic fungi Of the genus Cor
dyceps, Fries, which convert the whole
of the caterpillar into woody sub
stance, and then sprout from 1t to
length Of several inches. The infested
larvae, usually growing to about four
inches, live like others until ready to
assume the pupa state. Then they
bury themselves In the ground, die,
and the fungus sprouts upward, usu-
ally from the neck Of the caterpillar,
sometimes acquiring the length OF
nearly a foot, and rising up from the
ground. Very rarely two, or even
three, of these filaments may sprout
from a single caterpillar. The natives
eat the plants which have the flavor
Of nut, and also burn them for use
as coloring matter for their tattooing.
A Kansas dental instructor points
out that the teeth, the most indestruct-
able of all animal tissues, have been
strangely neglected as a means or
identifying decomposed bodies. They
have many peculiarities, and dentists
could easily keep records showing the
size and width Of the arch; the size,
shape and color Of the teeth; missing
or altered teeth; kind Of filings and
location; gold crowns, bridges or ar
tificial plates, and other features.
Such records would be Of special value
to insurance companies, often saving
tedious and expensive litigation.
When the Transformation Of cities by
electric power and light is completed,
we may expect the air to be practically
as pure as that Of the country. 1t Is
estimated that the carbonic acid ex-
hailed yearly by the people Of New
York city, Is about 100000 tons, but
that this Is less than three per cent OF
that from fuel combustion.
Useful records of the joltings Of diff
ferent railway cars have been obtain
ed by F. Omori, the Japanese earth
quake student, by means Of the seis-
mograph, or earthquake recorder.
The light-cures Of Finsen and others
call for blue blood, as blood Of the or
binary color absorbs the violet rays
and limits the curative action to the
surface of the body. In the novel ex-
periments Of DR.. Robert Oder OF Ge-
neva, the purpose has been to over
come the difficulty by artificial colora-
ton. Methylene blue, with cocaine TO
make the effect lasting, was tried by
DR.. Oder, and rabbits injected with the
solution acquired a blue color which
remained for hours. The tissues ana
even the bones became so permeable
to the light of an arc lamp that pho
tographic plate behind the animal was
impressed in twenty seconds. Testing
the light treatment on animals colored
blue, an immense furuncle Of the bone
of dog was cured in three sittings OF
half an hour each, and other results
were had that indicate that the new
field in therapeutics will prove an i'm
portant one.
A German test discovered not long