2IO 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



cross-branch may at one time convey blood towards, 

 and at another time away, from the heart. 



The blood of the cockroach is a clear coagulable 

 fluid, containing large nucleated corpuscles. A drop 

 of blood deposits on drying a number of colourless 

 crystals, which often form radiate clusters. The 

 quantity varies greatly according to the nutrition of 

 the individual ; after a few days' starvation, nearly 

 all the blood is absorbed. Larvce contain much more 

 blood in proportion to their weight than adult 

 insects. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Mr. E. J. Beaumont showed at a meeting of the 

 Pathological Society, at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, 

 Reading, a newly-invented automatic arm and hand. 

 A man who had lost his arms was fitted with the 

 artificial limb, and showed the audience that he could 

 pick up a pin and move it about, and still retain the 

 grasp ; after which he ate a piece of cake and drank 

 a cup of coffee, and then wrote his name. Mr. 

 Beaumont showed that with these patent arms a 

 person can pick up things off the ground, and carry 

 a parcel or basket of considerable weight. 



A BOOK-WORM is described in the dictionaries as 

 "a great reader or student of books," and also as " a 

 worm that eats holes in books." The " Publishers' 

 Circular" says: "We confess that, although quite 

 familiar with the little circular tunnel to be met 

 with in bound books as well as in ' quires,' we have 

 never seen the engineer that so scientifically performs 

 this destructive kind of work, until Mr. Bowden sent 

 a specimen." This is figured in the last number of 

 the " Circular." It is a white wax-like grub, exactly 

 resembling the little white maggots seen in a well-de- 

 cayed "stilton." Mr. Bowden says : "Booksellers are 

 often made.Awarc, in a manner that is more painful than 

 pleasant, that there are such things as book-worms in 

 existence. However, it is not many booksellers that 

 have ever seen one ; for despite its large ravages, the 

 worm itself is very rare. Mr. G. Suckling discovered 

 three at Messrs. Sotheran's Strand house a few days 

 ago. They were lialf-way through a bundle of quires, 

 and were evidently on their second or third journey, 

 judging from the number of perforations made in the 

 paper. Mr. Blades devotes, in his ' Enemies of 

 Books,' some space to a description of this destruc- 

 tive, but withal interesting species of worm." 



Professors Avrton and Perry have brought 

 out their electric tricycle. Its driving-wheel is forty- 

 four inches, the electro-motor is placed beneath the 

 seat, and the battery acts directly upon its cogged 

 spur wheel. Tlie battery is equal to two horse-power, 

 and can be regulated with the utmost nicety. 



As the result of six years' experiments, M. de Cyon 

 has arrived at the conclusion that borax may be 

 introduced in any required quantities into the system 

 to preserve it from all contagions caused by parasites 

 or germs. For cholera, M. de Cyon recommends 

 boric acid or borax, to be applied to all the external 

 mucous membranes, and about six grains to be taken 

 every four hours with the food and drink. 



In a paper read before the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences, Mr. Sace gave a full account of the immense 

 deposits of saltpetre which are found in Bolivia. He 

 says they contain over 60 per cent, of nitrate of 

 potash, sufficient to supply the whole world, and over 

 30 per cent, of borax. Mr. Sace believes that the 

 saltpetre is the result of the decomposition of an 

 enormous quantity of fossil animal bones. 



The period of the double star j3 Delphina, as 

 calculated by Dr. Dubjajo, is 26-07 years, and its 

 periastron passage 1882' 29. 



A French electrician, M. Reynier, has brought 

 out a new accumulator, stated to be the lightest yet 

 introduced ; an important factor in its application to 

 tram- carriages, tricycles, &c. In practice, its actual 

 weight of seventeen kilogrammes gives 7,600 kilo- 

 grammeters' storage per kilo, much greater than has 

 yet been yielded. 



An almost new industry promises to be developed 

 by the discovery that the hitherto intractable metal 

 iridium can be easily melted by the addition of 

 phosphorus. 



In the midst of the controversy about overhead 

 wires comes a practical testimony in their favour. 

 The new drill hall at the State University, Minne- 

 apolis, was struck by lightning, when there were 

 above four thousand people in it. All at once a series 

 of electric lamps were lighted, and as suddenly 

 extinguished. A loud report followed, and balls of 

 fire were seen following the electric wire away from 

 the building. The fine wire circuit feeding the 

 lamps was fused by the intensity of the current. 

 This is not the first time that overhead wires have 

 proved protective during a thunderstorm. 



The French Northern Railway Company have 

 commenced a series of experiments bearing on the 

 transformation of electrical into motor force. An 

 electric lift has been constructed at the Chapelle Sta- 

 tion, with two Siemens' electro-magnetic machines, 

 one for elevating the weight, and the other for 

 moving the machinery alongside the railway. 



Whilst the Australians are complaining of the 

 rabbit pest, another has started in Victoria and New 

 South Wales,— a breed of semi-wild dogs. Great 

 slaughter of sheep takes place through them, and the 

 Government has offered rewards for their destruction. 



