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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cloth gourds, are of two species, and yield a 

 spongelike fiber useful for household pur- 

 poses. 



That was a curious objection to the use 

 of anEESthetics in surgery, and especially in 

 midwifery practice, that is recorded as having 

 been urged by some clergyman in the early 

 days of chloroform. The reverend gentle- 

 man denounced the drug as "a decoy of 

 Satan, apparently offering itself to bless 

 woman, but in the end it will harden society 

 and rob God of the deepest cries which arise 

 in time of trouble for help." The religious 

 objection was based on Genesis, iii, 16. To 

 us such a plea for perpetuating pain sounds 

 too quaint for serious argument; but Sir 

 James Simpson set himself to prove that the 

 word translated " sorrow " is really " labor," 

 " toil." 



An appropriation has been made by the 

 American Association for the maintenance 

 of an investigator's table at the Biological 

 Laboratory of Cold Spring Harbor. The table 

 will be held under the same conditions as 

 that at Woods Hole namely, the persons 

 applying must either be, or must subsequently 

 become, members of the American Associa- 

 tion, and must be accepted by a committee of 

 the association which has been designated for 

 the purpose. Applications for the table for 

 the ensuing year should be made to Prof. 

 H. W. Conn or to Prof. Hooper. 



The Copley medal of the Royal Society 

 has been awarded for 1894 to Dr. Edward 

 Franklaud for his eminent services to the- 

 oretical and applied chemistry; the Rum- 

 ford medal to Prof. James Dewar for his re- 

 searches on the properties of matter at ex- 

 tremely low temperatures ; the Royal medals 

 to Prof. Josejih John Thomson in recogni- 

 tion of his contributions to mathematical 

 and ex])erimental physics, especially to elec- 

 trical theory, and to Prof. Victor Alexander 

 Haden Horsley for his important investiga- 

 tions relating to the physiology of the nerv- 

 ous system and of the thyroid gland, and to 

 their applications to the treatment of dis- 

 ease; the Davy medal to Prof. Cleve, of 

 I'psala University, for his researches on the 

 chemistry of the rare earths ; and the Darwin 

 medal to Prof. Huxley for his researches in 

 comparative anatomy, and especially for his 

 intimate association with Mr. Darwin in re- 

 lation to the origin of species. 



FuoM Predmost, near Prcrau, in the Aus- 

 trian Empire, where large numbers of bones 

 of the mammoth have been found in the 

 past, comes a report of the discovery by 

 Conservator Masclika, of Teltsch, of the well- 

 preserved fragments of " the skeletons of a 

 whole diluvial family of six persons." The 

 skeleton of the man is wonderfully com- 

 plete, and is of gigantic proportions. If this 

 find is adequately verified, it will afford a 

 contradiction to the assertion of the Danish 



expert, Steenstrup, that no man lived upon 

 the earth at the same period as the mam- 

 moth. 



The experiments of Drs. Petri, Kolb, and 

 Friedrich, who inoculated one hundred and 

 seventeen guinea pigs with dust collected in 

 railway carriages, and who also examined 

 the dust bacteriologically, have proved that 

 it contains pathogenic germs. How admira- 

 ble are the arrangements of railway passen- 

 ger cars for collecting this dust and setting it 

 flying into the lungs of travelers! The case 

 calls for reform and for the provision of seats 

 and car trimmings that will not so readily 

 collect the dust and may be more easily 

 cleansed than the usual plush cushionings. 



The first steps have been taken for the 

 organization of a society for the purpose of 

 scientific research in the State of Michigan, 

 to be known as the Michigan Academy of 

 Sciences. At a meeting held in Ann Ar- 

 bor, June 2'7th, a list of officers was chosen, 

 with W. J. Beal as president, to serve and 

 act as an advisory board till a permanent 

 organization can be effected ; and a meeting 

 for the latter purpose is to be called some 

 time during the winter. The suggested plan 

 of work for the society is comprehensive, 

 and is capable of enlargement as occasion 

 may require. 



A Society of Friends of French Explor- 

 ers has been established in Paris in affiliation 

 with the French Geographical Society. It 

 contemplates the foundation of a fund in aid 

 of explorers and assistance in the publica- 

 tion of the scientific results of their re- 

 searches. 



In Brittany, when foreign substances get 

 into the eye, the sufferer calls one of his 

 friends to his relief, who gently licks out the 

 grain with his tongue. A similar practice 

 is in use among the doctors of Annam, who 

 employ the tongue for conveyance into the 

 eye afflicted with purulent conjunctivitis the 

 healing powder which is their specific for 

 the disease. 



M. Desprez, of Saint-Quentin, France, 

 suggests as an improvement in shoeing 

 horses the interposition of a cushion of gutta 

 percha between the shoe and the hoof, to 

 give elasticity and nullify the shock of the in- 

 cessant blows on the stone of the pavement. 



A NEW disease has appeared among 

 horses in Australia grazing in the pastures 

 along the Darling River. It is manifested by 

 a gradual weakening of vision, ending in its 

 extinction. Its origin is traced to eating the 

 leaves of a native tobacco plant (iVicoiiaiia 

 suavcolcns). The plant has only recently ap- 

 peared in the region, where it has originated 

 from seeds brought down by freshets from 

 near the sources of the river. Its growing 

 abundance and the prevalence of the eye dis- 

 ease seem to be coincident. 



