128 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



increased fifty per cent. The Exaininer, on 

 the contrary, asserts that only by a reduc- 

 tion of fifty per cent, can the telegraph ser- 

 vice be made self-sustaining. Such reduc- 

 tion, it is claimed, would have the same re- 

 sult as cheap postal rates. 



From experiments made on a large num- 

 ber of animals belonging to different orders, 

 Rudolph Pott concludes that, of all animals, 

 birds exhale the greatest amount, propor- 

 tionately, of carbonic acid ; after birds rank 

 the mammalia, and then insects. Worms, 

 amphibia, fishes, and snails, exhale much 

 less carbonic acid than birds, mammals, or 

 insects. The influence of age on carbonic- 

 acid excretion is very marked : thus, for ' 

 example, an old mouse exhaled in a given ! 

 time 3.8*73 grammes, a young one 4.349. ! 

 But with insects the case is different, old 

 individuals exhaling more carbonic acid 

 than young. 



In Turkey, Russia, and Peru, the number 

 of pupils receiving primary instruction in 

 schools forms from 4 to j per cent, of the 

 population ; in Spain, 1 per cent. ; in Italy, 

 6 ; in Hungary, Y^ ; in Austria, 9 ; in Eng- 

 land and in Norway, 12; in France, 13; in 

 Prussia, 15; in the United States,- 17. 



On subjecting fishes to a pressure often 

 atmospheres, Moreau found that the opera- 

 tion produced no injurious effects whatever. 

 He then suddenly withdrew the pressure, 

 and the fishes succumbed quickly from 

 haemorrhage, the blood having a frothy ap- 

 pearance. This phenomenon is due to the 

 disengagement of the gases which, under 

 the high pressure, had been taken up by 

 the blood in great quantities. 



It is stated in Iron that De la Bastie's 

 glass loses its molecular cohesion under a 

 repetition of blows, and then breaks like 

 common glass. Tempered glass, submitted 

 to hammering, presents an appearance on 

 fracture similar to that oi fatigue steel, a 

 molecular disintegration having taken place. 

 It is feared that this alteration of structure 

 and loss of temper niay not only follow fi'om 

 shock, but may happen spontaneously from 

 interior change in the lapse of time. 



A RECENT examination of the hull of 

 the steamship Great Eastern showed a com- 

 parative absence of barnacles, though the 

 stern-post, rudder, and screw were covered 

 with them. The rest of that portion of the 

 hull, which as a rule is below water, was 

 clad with an enormous number of mussels, 

 a surface of 52,000 feet being coated in 

 parts to a depth of six inches. The total 

 weight of the mussels is estiujated at about 

 300 tons. 



The income of the French Association 

 last year was 37,126 francs, and its capital 



fund now amounts to 174,731 francs. The 

 Association gained 500 new members at its 

 last meeting. Though the strictest economy 

 must needs have been practised to accumu- 

 late so considerable a fund as 175,000 francs, 

 nevertheless the material encouragement of 

 scientific investigators is not neglected. Last 

 year 12,350 francs were distributed for pur- 

 poses of research. 



Hitherto batrachians of existing types 

 have been regarded as of recent geological 

 date not earlier than the Tertiary epoch. 

 Recently, however, batrachian remains were 

 discovered in palaeozoic rocks at Igornay 

 (Saone-et-Loire), France. These remains 

 have been described by A. Gaudry, who dis- 

 covers in them affinities with the salaman- 

 ders. Though tlie specimens appear to be 

 adult, they are very small a little over one 

 inch in length. They occur in bituminous 

 schists of the Permian age. 



As a substitute for the dredge in remov- 

 ing sand-banks and other deposits from riv- 

 ers, a French engineer proposes to employ 

 metal pipes pierced with holes ; these pipes 

 are inserted into the mass of the sand-bank 

 and water driven through them at consid- 

 erable pressu'-e. In this way the sand and 

 mud would be raised and agitated, and car- 

 ried away by the current of the river or by 

 the ebb-tide, if the operation were con- 

 ducted at the ebb. 



According to Boillot, a French chemist, 

 the bleaching cftects usually attributed to 

 chlorine are in reality due to ozone. Ozone 

 employed directly acts as an oxidizing 

 agent, laying hold of the hydrogen of the 

 substance with which it is in contact, 

 whence results bleaching if the body is col- 

 ored. On allowing chlorine to act upon any 

 animal or vegetable matter, it deconjposes a 

 certain cjuantity of water and seizes its 

 hydrogen, forming hydrochloric acid. The 

 oxygen set free by this reaction is trans- 

 formed into ozone, which in its turn lays 

 hold of hydrogen present in organic mat- 

 ter. 



Actual experiment in England has de- 

 monstrated the great advantages of the 

 hammock system of conveying invalids by 

 railway. The invalid sufi'ers neither jar nor 

 jolt. It is proposed to extend the benefits 

 of the hammock system to the general trav- 

 eling public, thus reducing the discomfort 

 of railway-travel to the minimum. 



The cultivation of tea is making rapid 

 progress in Ceylon, and extensive clearings 

 of forest-land were made during the past 

 year for forming new plantations. The seed 

 is generally imported from India, though 

 the Assam hybrid and China teas are also 

 cultivated extensively. 



