576 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



M. Melsens, a Belgian physicist, has sug- 

 gested that objects which it is most impor- 

 tant to protect from lightning, like powder- 

 magazines, should, besides being furnished 

 with lightning-rods, be wholly surrounded 

 with a metallic net-work. He rests upon the 

 fact that animals in such inclosures never 

 experience any mischievous effects from dis- 

 charges which must, under ordinary condi- 

 tions, have stunned them. A correspondent 

 of the French Academy of Sciences asserts 

 that trees that have been struck by light- 

 ning have, for many years afterward, the 

 same effect upon the compass that magnet- 

 ized bodies have. The statement needs veri- 

 fication. 



M. G. Le Bon has called attention to 

 two new and very effective antiseptics, the 

 glyceroborate of calcium and the glycerobo- 

 1 ate of sodium. They are both very soluble, 

 odorless, and unpoisonous, and deliquesce 

 rapidly when exposed to the air. They are 

 powerful antiseptic agents, even in very di- 

 lute solutions. The calcic salt appears to be 

 the more effective of the two, in a therapeu- 

 tic point of view, and may be applied, even 

 in strong solution, and to so delicate an or- 

 gan as the eye, without bad results. These 

 halts have been proved to be excellent pre- 

 servers of meat during a South American 

 voyage. 



Tt is not Professor Louis Palmieri, as 

 slated in our last number, who is dead, but 

 his nephew, Marino Palmieri, Professor of 

 Physics in the University of Naples, and also 

 well known for his seismological researches. 

 Wc referred the death to the older Pal- 

 mieri through an error in the balancing cf 

 probabilities. The English journal, "Nat- 

 ure," contained a notice of the death of the 

 younger Palmieri, at the early age of thirty- 

 two years ; the French journal, " La Nat- 

 ure," of about the same date, gave the 

 obituary as of Luigi, the septenarian. Con- 

 sidering both publications entitled to an 

 equal degree of respect, we regarded the 

 probabilities as in favor of the death of the 

 elder one, who had passed the ago of three- 

 score and ten. 



The new volume in the French edition 

 of the " International Scientific Series " is 

 on the " Origin of Cultivated Plants," by M. 

 de Candolle. It appears from this author's 

 researches that, out of about 40,000 known 

 species of plants, mankind make use cf 

 only about three hundred. 



The Marquis of Nadaillac, author of a 

 famous work on " The First Men," has just 

 completed a work on " Prehistoric Ameri- 

 ca," published by G. Masson, Paris, which, 

 according to " La Nature," is the first com- 

 plete work on America prior to the Spanish 

 Conquest that has been placed within the 

 reach of the French reading public. 



In " The Popular Science Monthly," vol. 

 v, page 198, mention is made of an im- 

 mense Japanese spider-crab in the cabinet 

 of Rutgers College, New Jersey, which 

 measures eleven feet six inches when ex 

 tended. It is the Macroclieira Vamperi. It 

 was for many years the largest specimen 

 known in any collection. Since then one 

 ten feet long was taken to Edinburgh. A 

 specimen is now advertised for sale in Lon- 

 don, which measures over fifteen feet in 

 length ! The strange thing is, its owner 

 appears to be ignorant of its name. 



The international scries of stations, for 

 the examination of the polar regions and 

 phenomena, have been completed, and the 

 designated posts have all been occupied by 

 the parties representing tne several states 

 to which they were assigned. The United 

 States is represented at Point Barrow and 

 Lady Franklin Bay, by parties under Lieu- 

 tenant Bay and Lieutenant Greeley ; Great 

 Britain and Canada, at Fort Bae ; Germany, 

 at Cumberland Gulf and the South Georgian 

 Islands ; Russia, in Nova Zcmbla and at 

 the mouth of the Lena; Austria, at Jan 

 Mayen ; France, at Cape Horn ; and Den- 

 mark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the 

 Netherlands, at other points in the Arctic 

 regions. 



On the 25th of July, 1881, the British 

 Indian Survey observed an extraordinary 

 outburst of solar spots, covering 630,000,- 

 000 square miles. The phenomena were all 

 observed within a period of thirty-seven 

 minutes. Says " Nature," " It is rare that 

 so grand an outburst is so closely located in 

 time." 



The citizens of Montreal have begrm 

 their preparations to receive the British 

 Association in 18S4, by sending out circulars 

 to inform their invited visitors that the city 

 can take care of them, and that they will 

 find their visit a pleasant one. Among the 

 inducements held forth are easy excursions 

 to Quebec and Ottawa, and longer and 

 pleasant ones to Toronto, Niagara Falls, 

 Boston, New York, and New Haven, or 

 whatever Eastern city the American Asso- 

 ciation may meet in. The Government of 

 the Dominion is expected to make liberal 

 grants of money to defray the expenses of 

 British members, the railroads and steam- 

 boats will provide excursions to the Great 

 Lakes and Chicago, and to the provinces of 

 the Northwest as far as the Rocky Mount- 

 ains ; and the Association is promised its 

 usual revenue from the meeting. 



The extreme western boundary of the 

 United States is in the Island of Attoo, as 

 far beyond San Francisco as that city is 

 from Maine. San Francisco is thus only 

 the half-way station in the journey across 

 our country. 



