Vol. XXII. No. 3.] 



POPULAE SCIENCE NEWS. 



43 



doubts as to its economical success after comple- 

 tion, retarded the acceptance of the plan. Yet the 

 benefit accruing to Bremen alone, and the mar- 

 itime population on both sides of the river, leaves 

 little question as to the financial expediency of the 

 ■work. 



The annual report of the imperial patent-office, 

 recently published, presents some interesting facts. 

 To American readers, with our annual grant of 

 some 20,000 patents, they are matter of some 

 surprise. Only 3,882 patents were granted out of 

 9,904 applications. This is a marked falling-off 

 from the previous year, when 4,008 patents were 

 granted out of 9,991 applications. Far more than 

 half of the applications are yearly rejected, and 

 this, too, in most cases because the inventions are 

 found to be already in existence. Statistics show 

 that most inventors here are unfortunate with the 

 products of their ingenuity. Up to the present time 

 42,451 patents have been granted, while only 11,512 

 of the inventions are in the market ; failure to pay 

 the patent-dues accounts for the rest. The greater 

 number of the invented articles in the report come 

 under the head of electric appliances, tools, and 

 household utensils. Saxony with 451 patents, 

 and Berlin with 442, show the greatest inventive 

 genius ; Bavaria and Alsace-Lorraine the least. 

 Of the whole number of grants, 2,561 were to Ger- 

 man subjects, 1,321 to foreigners ; the latter num- 

 ber being very small in view of the 15,000 annual 

 grants in England, and 20,000 in the United 

 States. The receipts of the department increase 

 yearly, while the expenses remain the same. A 

 surplus of nearly one million marks is reported. 



Readebs of German will be glad to learn the 

 progress of the society for the abolition of those 

 twenty-six deformities through which German 

 thought is commonly represented to the eye. At 

 present the school-children have to learn eight 

 alphabets, counting the capital and small letters of 

 both Latin and German form in print and running 

 band. The society was formed in 1884 ; in 1886 

 it numbered 2,871 members, and in 1887 4,436. 

 The gi-eater part of the members are teachers in 

 the primary and grammar schools, though many 

 names of gymnasium and real-schul teachers are on 

 the list, while in the last year thirty-one university 

 professors joined in the ranks. Physicians, book- 

 dealers, and business-men are also represented. It 

 is said that the old alphabet would have been offi- 

 cially done away with before this but for the obsti- 

 nacy of the chancellor : Bismarck will read no 

 letter which comes to him in Latin script. It is to 

 be hoped that Germany vrill not much longer make 

 herself an exception to the rest of Western Europe 

 by this absurd reverence for the invention of a few 

 idle monks in the Middle Ages. 



I SEE in my morning paper the notice of a book 

 just published by Dr. Theodore Heryng, formerly 

 of Warsaw, and now living in San Remo. He is 

 one of the most noted laryngologists, and his book 

 handles exhaustively the Heilbarkeit der Kehlkopf- 

 schwindsucht (the curability of laryngeal con- 

 sumption). Until recently this was held to be 

 incurable. In 1880 Dr. Moritz Schmidt of Frank- 

 fort, who has since become so well known, ad- 

 vanced contrary views based on an extended prac- 

 tice, opening the way to a rational treatment of 

 the disease by chirurgical operations. He was 

 followed in 1885 by Dr. Hermann Krause of 

 Berlin, who first aimed at a cure by the use of 

 lactic acid. This field has now been further de- 

 veloped by Dr. Heryng, whose observations and 

 experience in a great number of cases are given 

 to the public. The principles of treatment are, 



in brief, as follows : Prompt destruction and 

 removal of the affected tissues ; transformation of 

 vicious ulceration into less harmful ulcers, and 

 intelligent cure of the same. Ulcerous appear- 

 ances are^to be artificially irritated, and thus their 

 cure hastened ; means for removing the accom- 

 panying inflammation and difficulty in swallow- 

 ing are given. An equally important part of the 

 treatment is the general strengthening of the 

 system, and a due consideration of climatic and 

 hygienic influences. The work contains several 

 illustrations, treats especially the Pachydermia 

 diffusa as described by Virchow, and explains 

 minutely the treatment with lactic acid, the treat- 

 ment by incision, and the application of iodine. 

 Specialists regard the book as of great value. It is 

 published by Ferdinand Euke in Stuttgart. 



P. F. BiCKNELL. 

 Beklin, Jan. 21, 1888. 



[Specially reported for the Popular Science J^ews from the 

 Observatory of the College of New Jersey.] 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR 

 MARCH, 1888. 



The Sun crosses the equator and spring begins 

 on March 19, at 11 p.m. Mercury passes inferior 

 conjunction on March 3, and becomes a morning 

 star, reaching greatest west elongation on March 

 30, when it is a little less than 28° from the Sun ; 

 but, as it is at the same time about 12° south, it 

 will be only about 10° high at sunrise. It may 

 possibly be seen on a very clear morning a little 

 before sunrise on the last few days of the month. 

 Venus is still a morning star, but rapidly approach- 

 ing the Sun. Venus and Mercury have a very close 

 conjunction on March 27. The nearest approach 

 occurs at 8 p.m., when the planets are only 2' 

 apart ; but they are then below our horizon. On 

 the morning of the 27th they are 15' apart. Mer- 

 cury being on the left ; and on the morning of the 

 28th they are about 6' apart, Venus being on the 

 left. If the weather is fine they may possibly be 

 seen just before sunrise. Mars is getting near to 

 opposition with the Sun. At the end of the month 

 it is on the meridian about 1 a.m. It begins its 

 retrograde motion among the stars on March 3, 

 and moves toward the west toward Spica, being 

 at the end of the month about 7° east and north of 

 that star. Jupiter is in Scorpio, nearly stationary, 

 about 6° north of the brightest star of the constel- 

 lation Antares, and 4° east of the second-magnitude 

 star Bela Scorpii. It is on the meridian at about 

 5h. 30m. A.M. on March 1, and at about 3A. SO/n. 

 A M. on March 31. It then rises at about 11 p.m. 

 Saturn is still in Cancer, about 10° west of Castor 

 and Pollux. It crosses the meridian at about 

 9h. 20m. P.M. on March 1, and at about 7h. 30m. 

 on March 31. Uranus is approaching opposition, 

 and is in Virgo, about 7° north and west of Spica. 

 Neptune is about 5° south of the Pleiades. 



The Constellations. — The positions given are 

 for the latitude of the northern part of the 

 United States, and for 10 p.m. on March 1, 9 p.m. 

 on March 16, and 8 p.m. on March 31. Cancer, 

 with Saturn near its western part, is not far from 

 the zenith, a little to the south. Leo lies east of 

 Cancer, and Virgo lies below Leo, reaching to the 

 horizon on the east. Between these constellations 

 and the southern meridian are Hydra and one or 

 two small constellations. On the north-east are 

 Ursa Major well up toward the zenith, and Bootes 

 and Corona low down. Draco and Ursa Minor lie 

 mainly to the east of the pole star, while Cepheus 

 is just below it. Andromeda is just setting in the 

 north-west, and Cassiopeia lies between it and the 

 pole star. Perseus is above Andromeda, and 

 Auriga above and to the south of Perseus. Gemini 

 is west of the zenith, high up; and Taurus is low 



down in the west, just above Aries, which is setting. 

 Orion is to the left of Taurus a little lower down. 

 Canis Minor is about halfway from zenith to 

 south-west horizon, and Canis Major is below, 

 between Orion and the southern horizon. 



M. 



Princeton, Feb. 3, 1888. 



[Specially reported for the Popular Science Newa.] 



METEOROLOGY FOR JANUARY, 1888. 



temperature. 



The 28th was the coldest day, with an average 

 of 2^° below zero; the 1st was the warmest, at 

 38° above. The lowest point reached was — 8°, on 

 the mornings of the 25th and 29th; the highest 

 point was 51°, on the evening of the first day. 

 The mercury went below zero ten times in nine 

 days between the 21st and 29th, amounting to 43°. 

 These nine days averaged only 7.04°, or, omitting 

 the 26th, a sudden warm day near the midst of the 

 nine, the remaining eight days averaged only 4.29°, 

 — the longest, coldest period of severe weather in 

 this locality during at least the last eighteen years. 

 The first fifteen days of the month averaged 25.38°, 

 the last sixteen only 10.85°. The entire month 

 was 5.65° below the average in the last eighteen 

 Januarys, and was the coldest, with one exception 

 (1875), during this period. In that year the 

 mercury went below zero but six times, the lowest 

 only 5°, — a very cold month, indeed, but of much 

 more even temperature than the present, in which 

 the first half of the month was nearly 15° warmer 

 than the last half. The 26th was remarkable for 

 the sudden changes, the mercury going up 46° in 

 twenty-four hours, and then returning 35° in the 

 next twenty-four. Though we have had no bliz- 

 zards in this locality, the severity is somewhat in 

 sympathy with what has been experienced in vari- 

 ous parts of the country. 



The face of the sky in 93. observations gave 57 

 fair, 6 cloudy, 17 overcast, 4 rainy, and 9 snowy, 



— a percentage of 61.3 fair. The average fair 

 the last eighteen Januarys has been 53.9, with 

 extremes of 40.9, in 1884, and 61.3, in 1878 and 

 1888; showing that no January in eighteen years 

 has exceeded the present in this respect, and only 

 one other has equalled it, — clear, but cold. We 

 had several fine sunsets, and also sun-risings, 

 adorned with unusually brilliant morning stars, 

 Jupiter and Venus beingnear each other in the early 

 part of the month, and accompanied one morning 

 by the near proximity of the bright crescent moon, 



— a beautiful sight. We had several fine days 

 during the month, especially the last day, fine, 

 clear, and calm, and hot severely cold. 



PRECIPITATION. 



The amount of precipitation the past month, 

 including 14 inches of snow melted, was 8.31 

 inches. The average for the last twenty Januarys 

 has been 4.72, with extremes of 1.80, in 1871, and 

 7.76, in 1885. The largest fall the present month, 

 principally of rain, was 3.27 inches, on the 1st. 

 A light snow on the 10th, increased by 4 inches 

 on the 13th, with severe cold, secured excellent 

 sleighing for the rest of the month. 



