144 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Of eighty-eight species of weeds de- 

 scribed by Mr. L. H. Pammel, of St. Louis, 

 as growing in southwestern Wisconsin and 

 southeastern Missouri, forty-six are of Eu- 

 ropean and thirty of American origin. One 

 third of the latter class, and nearly one 

 fourth of the entire list, are composites. 



Pathologists have believed for many 

 years that the material cause for intermit- 

 tent fever is generated in the soil, and acts 

 through the air. The discovery by Tonimasi- 

 Crudclli and Klebs, in malarial soil, of a 

 bacillus capable of producing febrile symp- 

 toms was competent to illustrate the agency 

 of the soil in the matter, but did not pursue 

 the malarious influence into the atmosphere. 

 The last has now been done by Professor 

 Schiavuzzi, of Pola, wiio has obtained a ba- 

 cillus from the atmosphere, indistinguisha- 

 ble in structure from that of Tommasi-Cru- 

 delli, which also produces in animals the 

 characteristic symptoms and pathological 

 changes belonging to ague. 



There is an orange-tree in the gardens 

 of the Palace of Versailles that is more than 

 four hundred and fifty years old. It is called 

 the Grand Constable, and was planted at 

 Pampeluna, about 14 IG, by Eleanor of Cas- 

 tile, Queen of Charles III of Navarre. It 

 was transplanted to Chantilly and Fontaine- 

 bleau, and finally to Versailles in 1684. 



A NEW system of sewage works has been 

 put into operation at Ilenlcy-on-Thames, Eng- 

 land. Its object is to avoid the discharge 

 of the sewage into the river — which can no 

 longer be allowed — and lift it to a level 

 which will permit it to be used for irriga- 

 tion. Ejectors are placed in different parts 

 of the town to receive the sewage, and from 

 there it is forced by compressed air into 

 tanks about a mile distant, and ISO feet 

 higher in elevation. The method is not 

 costly, it is proved practicable, and it may 

 offer a successful solution of the question 

 of the disposal of the sewage of low-lying 

 towns. 



The English Home Secretary, recognizing 

 corporal punishment as a fact, is giving at- 

 tention to means of regulating it according 

 to the physical condition of the child, so 

 that it shall not bear too hard upon the 

 weak. It is proposed to make the weight 

 of the rod bear some proportion to the age 

 of the child, and to permit the interposition 

 of a medical veto in case of evident weak- 

 ness. 



A CONSIDERABLE extension of long-dis- 

 tance telephoning was effected during 1887. 

 At the close of the year twenty-five circuits 

 were at work between New York and Phila- 

 delphia, the chief points in Connecticut had 

 been connected, and lines were projected to 

 Worcester, Boston, Albany, and Washing- 

 ton. 



An argument against allowing children 

 to drink milk in the summer-time is drawn 

 by Dr. V. C. Vaughn, of the University of 

 Michigan, from the liability of the fluid to 

 develop the poison — tyrotoxicon — which is 

 supposed to be the immediate cause of sum- 

 mer diarrhoea. 



Professors Lachinof and Jcrofeief have 

 found in a meteoric stone which fell at 

 Krasnoslobodsk, Russia, in September, 1886, 

 corpuscles possessing the principal charac- 

 teristics of the diamond, in such quantity 

 as to compose one per cent of the stone. 

 Taken with the facts that amorphous gra- 

 phitic carbon is a known constituent of me- 

 teoric irons and stones, and that crystals of 

 graphitic carbon have been found in the 

 meteoric iron from Western Australia, this 

 observation may throw some light on the 

 manner in which diamonds are formed. 



The much despised agricultural laborer, 

 says the Earl of Derby, who has learned to 

 watch and understand the signs of the 

 weather, to be knowing about stock, and 

 who can use his hands skillfully, though he 

 might be backward in book-learning, is quite 

 as well instructed in any worthy sense as 

 the prize prig stuffed with scraps of miscel- 

 laneous information, but knowing little at 

 first hand, unaccustomed to observe, igno- 

 rant of animals, trees, flowers, or country 

 life, and unskilled in any craft or in the 

 handling of any tool. 



Dr. a. Richardson has found that at 

 500° C. nitrogen peroxide is decomposed 

 into nitric oxide and oxygen, the gas becom- 

 ing nearly colorless. 



The theory that the increased brittleness 

 of human bones with advancing years is 

 the result of an increased percentage of in- 

 organic salts, is contradicted by the experi- 

 ments of Mr. Mason. From determinations 

 of the ash in bones of fifty subjects of dif- 

 ferent ages, he has found that after reach- 

 ing manhood no variation in the quantity 

 of ash takes place with increasing age. 



OBITUARY NOTE. 



Prop. William D. Gunning, lecturer 

 and writer on scientific subjects, died 

 at Greeley, Col., March 8th, in the fifty- 

 eighth year of his age. He was born in 

 Bloomingburg, Ohio, in 1830, was gradu- 

 ated from Oberlin College, studied in com- 

 parative anatomy in New York and in 

 biology with Prof Agassiz, held lecture- 

 ships in geology at Hillsdale College, Mich., 

 and in Pittsburg, and was the author of 

 a "Life History of Our Planet." He was 

 also a contributor to " The Index " and 

 to "The Open Court," and at the time 

 of his death had been engaged as the pas- 

 tor of the Unitarian Society in Greeley. 



