Vol. XXII. No. 4.] 



POPULAE SCIENCE NEWS. 



59 



efficacious one. I do not know wliether the 

 Australian government intends to avail itself of 

 the opportunity. There is one fact that must be 

 ascertained before applying the method, however: it 

 must be known whether it would not render life abso- 

 lutely impossible to poultry, or even other animals, 

 in Australia. The question is not one which may be 

 answered a priori, and new experiments on a large 

 scale should be made, not in France, however; 

 rabbits being nowhere too abundant, according to 

 the hunter's estimations. But perhaps the experi- 

 ment might be tried in Australia, with the neces- 

 sary precautions to prevent general contamination. 

 Bacteria are dangerous creatures, and must not be 

 let loose before the extent of their power has been 

 carefully ascertained. 



The Conseil de Salubrite of Paris has recently 

 discovered the inconvenience of allowing carpets 

 to be brushed and beaten in the open air in the 

 vicinity of inhabited houses, on account of the 

 dust which is so raised, and especially on account 

 of the bacteria which may be set free when the 

 carpets come from houses where zymotic diseases 

 have existed. The Conse.il de Salubrile has 

 decided that this operation will be allowed only 

 under the following conditions: The carpets must 

 be brushed and beaten in entirely shut-up rooms, 

 and the dust deposited on the floor will be washed 

 with water containing some disinfectant of potent 

 action; strips of wool, etc , will be burnt immedi- 

 ately. This measure is a good one, and will cer- 

 tainly prove useful. Sources of contamination 

 are much too numerous to be allowed to remain, 

 when we possess means of destroying them. 



In the same meeting of the Conseil de Salubrile' 

 the question of separate barracks for contagious dis- 

 eases has been much discussed, and it is a shame 

 to the Paris hospitals that more has not been done 

 in this direction. Contagious and non-contagious 

 cases are mixed together in the wards; and it often 

 hapf)ens that patients die of a disease contracted 

 in the hospital, after having been nearly cured of 

 that which had caused them to apply for medical 

 treatment. I have myself often seen ca-ses of 

 diphtheria contagion brought on in this manner. 

 The first path in this direction was made some 

 years ago, witli good results, when the accouche- 

 ment wards were entirely separated from the surgi- 

 cal and medical ones. Now, each hospital ought 

 to contain a number of entirely separate and dis- 

 tinct wards, one for each sort of contagious dis- 

 ease, or else special barracks must be built for the 

 same purpose. At all events, it is not possible to 

 continue mixing contagious and non-contagious 

 diseases, and having cases of death due to this 

 stupid mismanagement. There are cases, and this 

 is one, in which stupidity becomes criminal. 



H. 



Paeis, Feb. 21, 1888. 



« 



[Specially reported for the Popular Science A^ew*.] 



METEOROLOGY FOR FEBRUARY, 188S, WITH 



REVIEW OF THE WINTER. 



TEMPERATURE. 



The 10th was the coldest day of the month, with 

 an average of 6|° ; and the 20th the warmest, at 



42^°. The lowest point reached was —3°, on the 

 16th, and the highest 49°, on the 14th. The mer- 

 cury went below zero only twice during the month ; 

 and the cold waves were brief, not extending over 

 two or three days, occurring chiefly near the 10th, 

 16th, and 28th. The entire month was 1.31° above 

 the average of eighteen Februarys. The evenings 

 were a near average of the whole month, giving 

 a second average of 26.94°. The most sudden 

 change of temperature was on the 15th, when the 

 mercury went down 35° in 14 hours. 



The temperature of the last winter, with the 

 average of the last eighteen, the extremes and 

 ranges, are shown in the table above. 



The face of the sky the past month in 87 obser- 

 vations (it being leap-year) gave 51 fair, 10 cloudy, 

 16 overcast, 3 rainy, and 7 snowy, — a percentage 

 ot 58.6 /air. The average fair the last eighteen 

 Februarys has been 57.7, with extremes of 30 per 

 cent, in 1884, and 73.4, in 1877. By combining the 

 observations the last month, we find 17 of the 29 

 days were fair. We had two periods, of three days 

 each, very fine, commencing on the 12th and 22d. 



The face of the sky the past winter averaged 53.6 

 per cent fair, while the last eighteen winters have 

 averaged 54.3, with extremes of 38.1 in 1883-84, 

 and 67 in 1877-78. 



PRECll'lTATION. 



The amount of precipitation the past month, 

 including 7^ inches of snow melted, was 5.12 

 inches. The average for the last twenty Februarys 

 has been 4.98, with extremes of only .55 inch, in 

 1877, and 11.72, in 1886. The sleighing continued 

 good till the 20th, when a rainfall of 2.28 inches 

 and a temperature of 47° removed almost every 

 vestige of snow. 



The amount of precipitation the past winter, 

 including 26.J inches of snow melted, was 15.81 

 inches; while the average for the last twenty win- 

 ters has been only 13.47 inches, with extremes of 

 6 83, in 1876-77, and 22.52, 1885-86. Good sleigh- 

 ing was enjoyed from about Jan. 10 to Feb. 20, — 

 forty continuous days. 



PRESSURE. 



The average pressure the past month was 30.022 

 inches, with extremes of 29.51, on the 8th, and 

 30.34on the 16th, — arangeof .83inch. The aver- 

 age the last fifteen Februarys has been 29.966, with 

 extremes of 29.834, in 1885, and 30.138, in 1876. 

 The sum of daily variations the last month was 

 6.94 inches, giving an average daily movement of 

 .239 inch. This average the la.st fifteen Februarys 

 has been .293, with extremes of .162, in 1877, and 

 .418, in 1887. The largest daily movements were 

 .59, on the 9th, .47, on the 8th, and .46, on the 4th 

 and 25th. The barometric waves were short but 

 frequent. 



The average pressure the past winter was 30 023 

 inches, — a very high pressure. The average of the 

 last fourteen winters has been 29.959. 



The direction of the wind in 87 observations gave 

 18 N., 1 S.,4E., 19 W.,2 N E ,30N W ,2S.E , 

 and 11 S.W., — an excess of 36 northerly and 52 

 westerly over the southerly and easterly, and in- 

 dicating the average direction to have been W. 34° 

 42' N., or N.W. by N. The westerly winds in the 

 last nineteen Februarys have uniformly prevailed 

 over the easterly by an average of 44 05 observa- 

 tions, and the northerly over the southerly, with 

 a single exception, by an average of 22.84; indicat- 

 ing the approximate general average of February 

 to be W. 27° 24' N. The relative progressive dis- 



tance travelled by the wind the past month was 

 63.l;5 units, and during the last nineteen Februarys 

 942 8 such units, — an average of 44.36; showing 

 far less opposing winds than usual. 



The average direction of the wind the past 

 winter was W. 42° 21' N., vihile the average direc- 

 tion for the last eighteen winters has been only 

 W 22° 26' N. ; showing the winds the past winter to 

 have been nearly 20° more northerly than usual. 



D. W. 

 Natick, March 5, 1888. 



— • — 



[Specially reported for the Popular Science News from the 

 Observatory of the College of New Jersey.] 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR APRIL, 



1888. 



The Planets. — ]\Iercury and Venus are both 

 morning stars, near each other, but rise only a short 

 time before sunrise, so that they can be seen only 

 in strong twilight. The two planets are in con- 

 junction on April 13, Mercury then being about 

 1° south of Venus; but it is doubtful whether they 

 can be seen, so near the Sun. Mars comes to 

 opposition with the Sun on April 10, and is then 

 on the meridian about midnight. It is in the con- 

 stellation Virgo, about 4° north of its brightest star, 

 Spica. During the month it moves about 10° from 

 east to west. The present opposition is rather an 

 unfavorable one, as Mars is not far from Aphelion, 

 and its distance from the earth is consequently 

 much greater than it is when it comes to opposi- 

 tion and perihelion at the same time. The next 

 favorable opposition will occur in 1892. .Jupiter is 

 on the meridian about 3A. SOm. a.m. on April 1, 

 and at about \h. 30»i. on April 30. It rises about 

 five hours before passing the meridian. It is in 

 the constellation Scorpius, about 6° north of the 

 first-magnitude star Antares (Alpha Scorpii), and 

 is east of and moving towards the second-magnitude 

 star Beta Scorpii, the distance varying from 5° to 

 2° 30' during the month Saturn is in quadrature on 

 April 18, and is in the western sky in the evening. 

 It is in the constellation Cancer, a little east of the 

 prolongation of the line between Castor and 

 Pollux, at a distance from the nearest star equal 

 to about twice their distance apart. Uranus comes 

 to opposition with the Sun on the morning of April 

 4. It is in the constellation Virgo, west and north 

 of Spica. At the end of the month it is near 

 Mars, a little to the west. Neptune is south of the 

 Pleiades, and sets soon after the Sun. 



'J'he Constellations. — The positions given hold 

 good for latitudes not many degrees different from 

 40° north, and for 10 p.m. on April 1, 9 p m. 

 April 15, and 8 p.m. April 30. Leo Minor, a 

 small constellation with no very bright stars, is in 

 the zenith. Leo is just south of it, the principal 

 group, the sickle having just passed the meridian. 

 Hydra is below Leo. Virgo, with Mars and Uranus, 

 is in the south-east, about halfway from horizon to 

 zenith. Libra is just rising below Virgo. Going 

 from the zenith toward the east we see first Coma, 

 Berenices, and Canes Venatici; below these, Bootes, 

 then Corona Borealis. Hercules has just risen a 

 little north of the east point. Lyra and Cygnus 

 are on the horizon just north of Hercules. Draco 

 and Ursa Minor are east of the pole star. Ursa 

 Major lies between the zenith and pole star, the 

 pointers being very near the meridian. Cassiopeia 

 is below and a little west of the pole star, and 

 Perseus is west of the latter, at about the same 

 altitude. Auriga is a little higher and farther 

 west. Taurus is on the north-west horizon ; above 

 it follow Gemini and Cancer, with Saturn, just 

 west of Leo. Orion is setting in the west, and 

 Cinis Major in the south-west. Canis Minor is 

 above and between the last two. 



M. 



Pbinckton, ^farch 3, 1888. 



