739 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Vision 

 Vividness 



3659. VISITORS FROM THE STARS 



The Lenarto Meteor under Chemical Anal- 

 ysis Must Have Come from a Star Whose 

 Atmosphere Is Dense with Hydrogen Com- 

 ets Originally Expelled from Sun or Star. 

 Professor Graham, the late Master of the 

 Mint, and one of the greatest chemists of our 

 day, examined the iron of an aerolite, called 

 the Lenarto meteor from the place where 

 it fell. He tested it with special reference 

 to the quantity of hydrogen contained in 

 it; for hydrogen and other gases can be 

 occluded, as it is called, or, as it were, closed 

 in within the substance of iron. Now ob- 

 serve what he says about the iron of this 

 meteor : " It has been found difficult to im- 

 pregnate malleable iron with more than an 

 equal volume of hydrogen under the pressure 

 of our atmosphere. Now, the meteoric iron 

 (this Lenarto iron is remarkably pure and 

 malleable) gave up about three times that 

 amount without being fully exhausted. The 

 inference is that the meteorite had been ex- 

 truded from a dense atmosphere of hydro- 

 gen gas, for which we must look beyond the 

 light cometary matter floating about within 

 the limits of our solar system. . . . Hy- 

 drogen has been recognized by the spectrum 

 analysis of the light of the fixed stars by 

 Messrs. Huggins and Miller. The same gas 

 constitutes, according to the wide researches 

 of Father Secchi, the principal element of a 

 numerous class of stars, of which Alpha 

 Lyrse (the leading brilliant of the Lyre) is 

 the type. The iron of Lenarto has no doubt 

 come from such an atmosphere, in which 

 hydrogen greatly prevailed. This meteorite 

 may be looked upon as holding imprisoned 

 tvithin it, and bearing to us, the hydrogen 

 of the slars." 



We are led, then, to the startling con- 

 clusion that comets ( for what applies to the 

 meteoric trains must needs apply to the 

 comets whence those trains proceed) have 

 been expelled either from our sun or from 

 one or other of the stars. PROCTOR Expanse 

 of Heaven, p. 146. (L. G. & Co., 1897.) 



3660. VISITS OF CEREMONY 

 AMONG BIRDS The South-American Lap- 

 icing. If a person watches any two birds 

 [South-American lapwings] for some time 

 for they live in pairs he will see another 

 lapwing, one of a neighboring couple, rise 

 up and fly to them, leaving his own mate to 

 guard their chosen ground; and instead of 

 resenting this visit as an unwarranted in- 

 trusion on their domain, as they would cer- 

 tainly resent the approach of almost any other 

 bird, they welcome it with notes and signs 

 of pleasure. Advancing to the visitor, they 

 place themselves behind it; then all three, 

 keeping step, begin a rapid march, uttering 

 resonant, drumming notes in time with their 

 movements, the notes of the pair behind 

 being emitted in a stream, like a drum-roll, 

 while the leader utters loud single notes 

 at regular intervals. The march ceases; 

 the leader elevates his wings and stands 



erect and motionless, still uttering loud 

 notes, while the other two, with puffed-out 

 plumage and standing exactly abreast, stoop 

 forward and downward until the tips of 

 their beaks touch the ground, and, sinking 

 their rhythmical voices to a murmur, remain 

 for some time in this posture. The perform- 

 ance is then over and thevisitor goes back 

 to his own ground and mate, to receive a 

 visitor himself later on. HUDSON Natural- 

 ist in La Plata, ch. 19, p. 269. (C. & H., 

 1895.) 



3661. VITALITY, ENDURING, OF 

 TYPHOID BACILLUS IN SOIL Frost and 

 Snow Powerless to Destroy. Dr. Robertson 

 [has made] admirable researches into the 

 growth of the bacillus of typhoid in soil. 

 By experimental inoculation of soil with 

 broth cultures he was able to isolate the ba- 

 cillus twelve months after, alive and viru- 

 lent. He concludes that the typhoid or- 

 ganism is capable of growing very rapidly 

 in certain soils, and under certain circum- 

 stances can survive from one summer to 

 another. The rains of spring and autumn 

 or the frosts and snows of winter do not 

 kill them off so long as there is sufficient 

 organic pabulum. Sunlight, the bacterici- 

 dal power of which is well known, had, as 

 would be expected, no effect except upon the 

 bacteria directly exposed to its rays. The 

 bacillus typhosus quickly dies out in the 

 soil of grass-covered areas. Dr. Robertson 

 holds that the chief channel of infection be- 

 tween typhoid-infected soil and man is dust. 

 As in tubercle and anthrax, so in typhoid, 

 dried dust or excreta containing the bacillus 

 is the vehicle of disease. NEWMAN Bacteria, 

 ch. 5, p. 176. (G. P. P., 1899.) 



3662. VITALITY LOWERED Gives 

 Foothold to Disease Effect of Sewer-gas. 

 Tho not of material importance as regards 

 bacterial treatment of sewage, this subject 

 calls for some remark. For long it has 

 been known that air polluted by sewage 

 emanations is capable of giving rise to vari- 

 ous degrees of ill health. These chiefly affect 

 two parts of the body; one is the throat, 

 and the other is the alimentary canal. Ir- 

 ritation and inflammation may be set up 

 in both by sewer-air. Such conditions are 

 in all probability produced by a lowering 

 of the resistance and vitality of the tissues, 

 and not by either a conveyance of bacteria 

 in sewer-air or any stimulating effect upon 

 bacteria exercised by sewer-air. What evi- 

 dence we have is against such factors. 

 NEWMAN Bacteria, ch. 2, p. 87. (G. P. P., 

 1899.) 



3663. VIVIDNESS OF MEMORY SUG- 

 GESTS NEARNESS IN TIME A Corrective 

 in Recalling Intervening Events. Some- 

 times pictures of very remote incidents may 

 suddenly present themselves to our minds 

 with a singular degree of brightness and 

 force. And when this is the case there is 

 a disposition to think of them as near. If 



