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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



growth of the rootlets in two days at differ- 

 ent temperatures. In all cases there is in- 

 creased growth from 61 to IT Fahr. ; in 

 many cases, as grasses, clover, mustard, 

 and linseed, a decrease from 11 to 88 

 Fahr., and in nearly all cases a decrease 

 from 8S to 100 Fahr. 



Poisoned Soils. Trees have been twice 

 planted in a certain square in London, but 

 in both cases died. Dr. Voelcker was accord- 

 ingly directed by the Royal Horticultural 

 Society to inquire into the cause of this. 

 On examining the clear, watery solution 

 from treating the soil with distilled water, 

 he found that the soil contained one-tenth 

 per cent, of common salt, and two-tenths 

 percent, of nitrates. Whenever the amount 

 of chlorine in soil has reached any thing 

 like an appreciable quantity, it exercises 

 an injurious influence. Land, for example, 

 which has been inundated by the sea, will 

 not grow wheat for the next two years, 

 though in the first year cabbages may be 

 grown, and they will withdraw a good deal 

 of salt from the soil. The quantity of ni- 

 trates in the soil under examination was 

 remarkable. Usually, this quantity does 

 not reach a proportion that could be ex- 

 pressed otherwise than by a third place of 

 decimals. There was no doubt, according 

 to Dr. Voelcker, that the two saline ingre- 

 dients mentioned did the mischief. He 

 did not doubt that the presence of the 

 salt and nitrates was due to the fact that 

 the place was constantly used for commit- 

 ting nuisance. In the same way rabbits kill 

 hedges, and it is well known that it is years 

 before grass will grow in their runs. 



Anaesthetics and Metaphysics. Benjamin 

 Paul Blood has written and printed a little 

 book entitled " The Anaesthetics Revela- 

 tion and the Gist of Philosophy." His idea 

 seems to be that, when the nervous system 

 is twisted out of its normal function by cer- 

 tain poisons, as it springs back great things 

 are revealed ; that is, at the moment a per- 

 son escapes from anaesthetic stupor he gets 

 a glimpse of the " genius of being " what- 

 ever that may be. Mr. Blood wrote to Ten- 

 nyson about his discovery, and in his reply 

 the poet says : " I have never had any rev- 

 elations through anaesthetics ; but a kind of 



' waking trance ' (this for lack of a better 

 word) I have frequently had quite up from 

 boyhood when I have been all alone. This 

 has often come upon me through repeating 

 my own name to myself silently till all at 

 once, as it were, out of the intensity of the 

 consciousness of individuality, the individ- 

 uality itself seemed to dissolve and fade 

 away into boundless being and this not a 

 confused state, but the clearest of the clear- 

 est, the surest of the surest, utterly beyond 

 words where death was an almost laugh- 

 able impossibility the loss of personality 

 (if so it were) seeming no extinction, but 

 only true life." 



The Black Death in Egypt. According 

 to a correspondent of the Paris Journal 

 des Debats, writing from Egypt, Europe is 

 threatened with a visitation of the black 

 death. The pestilence is said to be spread- 

 ing rapidly in the neighborhood of Medina 

 and Mecca, its chief feature being the 

 dreaded " plague-spot," which, once it ap- 

 pears, is the sure sign of a fatal termina- 

 tion. The Egyptian Government is exert- 

 ing itself to the utmost to prevent the 

 spread of the contagion ; but, unfortunate- 

 ly, the Ramadan is at hand, when thousands 

 of Mussulman pilgrims flock to the shrine 

 at Mecca, and it is feared that" they will not 

 only help to spread the contagion there, but 

 also bring it back with them to Europe. 

 The greatest anxiety is felt in Italy, on ac- 

 count of its frequent intercourse with Egypt 

 and the coasts of Asia Minor. The only 

 means of averting the danger would be a 

 stringent prohibition to the pilgrims to re- 

 turn direct to the country from which they 

 came ; but this measure would require the 

 united action of the European governments, 

 in order to gain the consent of the various 

 Mussulman governments. 



The "Voltaic Armadillo." Regarding 

 the medical use of this contrivance, a lead- 

 ing physician of New York writes us as 

 follows : " I prescribed the voltaic apparatus 

 of Mr. Seibert for one of my patients, a few 

 weeks ago. I have not heard from my pa- 

 tient since, and do not know what effect, if 

 any, resulted. Pulvermacher's chains, I 

 know, have the indorsement of Sir Charles 

 Locock and many other leading physicians 



