Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-01-01
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

tifie Pearl Growins-The Noise Of
Lightnins-Solar Activity and tho
Weather-Whitenins Of Animals In
Winter-Speakins Flames-A New
Gas of Commerce-An Appendicitis
Theory.
Describing volcanic phenomena, Prof
E. ]. Garwood Of London, divides the
eruptions into two classes-paroxysmal
and fissure. The Giants Causeway Is
an example Of paroxysmal eruption
and the fissure type was represented
in New Zealand in 1888, when the IA
NOUS pink, and white terraces were de-
stroyed. The cone varies much IN
shape, the crater ring Of VesuVius IL
Illustrating the.perfect one. The preiim-
mary earthquakes indicate that erup-
| tions are an effect instead Of cause
and these three theories may be giVen'
first, the dissertation of water into Its
constituent gases, which were recon-
bined outside st. Pierre by lightning;
second, the disassociation Of sulphur
cited hydrogen; third, the discharge OF
water which has existed in a spheroidal
state mixed with incandescent ash.
In his scientific pearl farming, Prof.
Dubois has transplanted a colony OF
pearl oysters from the coast OF Tunis
to point near Toulon. OF these oys-
ters one in 1900 yielded pearl. Acting
on the theory that the pearl disease OF
the shell is due to the accretion OF
mother of pearl under the action OF
parasite, the experimenter has tried to
transmit the disease to other oysters,
and has succeeded in producing one or
more pearls from every ten oysters.
In the experiments Of Prof. John
Trowbridge, a powerful electric cur
rent is passed between terminals OF
wood and cotton wool saturated with
distilled water, and a gap Of four inches
Is bridged by a torrent Of bright sparks
with deafenins noise. This Is thought
to prove that thunder is largely due to
explosions Of hydrogen and oxygen
from dissociated water vapor.
| Renewed interest in the influence OF
sunspots has been aroused by the great
magnetic storm Of Oct. 81 and Nov. l.,
which was one Of the severest distur-
Dances Of kind on record. The large
group of spots on the center OF the
SUMS disc at the time was surrounded
by an immense tract Of very bright
faculae, and as the larger group Of
spots of Oct. II scarcely affected the
magnets, M. Quenisset has suggested to
the Paris Academy Of Sciences that 1t
Is the prominences and faculae rather
than the spots that are 90 closely con-
nected with terrestrial phenomena.
This conclusion may throw light upon
a report of Mr.. w. E. Maunder to the
British Astronomical association. Mr..
j Maunder has been trying to trace the
relation between sunspots and rainfall,
but a comparison Of records since 1862
has failed to show that any particu-
lar phase Of the sunspot cycle Is asso-
ciated with extreme rainfall.
| The winter whitening Of animals Is
explained by Capt. Barrett Hamilton,
of the Royal Irish academy, as an ef-
feet of poor or uneven nutrition Of the
skin. Atrophy Of the pigment cells oc-
ours in winter over the parts that ac-
cumulat. fat in summer and autumn,
and in very cold countries may extend
over the entire body. Similar defective
nutrition is noticed where the skin d.
rectly overlies bone and membrane, re-
sulting in whitening and badness OF
1.-THE human scalp and in white or bare
spots on animals.
It's hand and its wonderful intelli-
gence give the monkey advantage over
all other lower animals. 1t cannot we'll
endure cold and temperate climates,
and this fact 1t is suggested, has pre-
vented the close association with man
that would have made the monkey the
most useful of domestic animals.
The cinematograph Is being put to
novel use by Paris surgeons in teaching
students how to perform various sur
gical operations.
| Speaking electric arcs-acting as
telephone receivers through connection
to a microphone-have become some
what familiar, and ordinary flames
have now been rlade to speak by
Gabritschewski and Batschinski, two
Russians. Insulated Bunsen burners,
paraffin lamps, or short candle ends,
are connected to wires from the Sec
ondary circuit Of Gil induction coll, a
microphone and battery being placed In
a shunt in the primary circuit. When
the microphone Is spoken to, the flame
repeats the sound, even when 100 feet
away from the microphone. The best
results are obtained with two flames,
a pole Of the secondary coil being con-
nected to each, and a third wire con-
Meeting the two flames. -
Argon, though so recently unknown
has ceased to be rarity, as it can be
prepared at the rate Of quart a day
by the new process Of Moisson and
Rigaut, the French chemists. Air Is
passed over copper turnings In a red
hot tube, the oxygen being thus alb
stracted, and the gas passing away Is
nitrogen mixed with argon. Most OF
the nitrogen is removed by mixture
Of magnesium and lime, the remainder
by redhot calcium.
Appendicitis Is attributed by M. Lu-
cas- Championniere to the eating OF
much meat. He finds that in England
and America, where the consumption
Of meat is large, appendicitis Is five or
six times as frequent as in France, and
in two localities where no meat Is eat
en- the disease is unknown. M.Chauvel
shows that in the army the disease Is
much more rare in Algiers and Tunfs