76 



POPtTLAR SCIEKOE NEWS. 



[May, 1888. 



zenith. To the south on the meridian are Coma 

 Berenices, Virgo, with Mars and Uranus, and 

 Corvus. A few of the most northerly stars of 

 Centaurus are on the south horizon, [n the south- 

 east is Libra; and below it, just rising, is Scorpius 

 with Jupiter. Bootes is high up east of the zenith, 

 and below it are Hercules and Ophiuchus. Lyra 

 and Cygnus are low down in the north-east. The 

 principal stars of Draco are above, at about the 

 same altitude as the pole star. Cassiopeia is on 

 the north horizon. Perseus and Auriga are setting 

 in the north-west. Ursa Major is high up near the 

 zenith, most of the stars being west of the merid- 

 ian. Gemini is near the western horizon. Can- 

 cer, with Saturn and Leo, follow above to the left. 

 Canis Minor is below Cancer near the south-west 

 horizon. 



M. 

 Pbinceton, N. J., April 4, 1888. 



[Specially reported for the Popular Science Jfews.] 

 METEOROLOGY FOR MARCH, 1888. 



TEMPERATURE. 



The 24th was the coldest, and the 2l8t the warm- 

 est, day of the month, averaging 18° and 47§° 

 respectively. The lowest point reached was 13°, 

 on the 24th, and the highest 49°, on the 21st, at 2 

 and 9 p.m. ; the extremes coming thus near each 

 other. The entire month was .73° below the 

 average of March in eighteen years. The second 

 average was 31.38°, which is considered within a 

 small fraction of the true average, if taken at each 

 hour of the twenty-four. The most sudden change 

 was 25° in seventeen hours, between the 22d 

 and 23d. 



THE SKY. 



The face of the sky the past month in 93 

 observations gave 48 fair, 14 cloudy, 19 overcast, 

 5 rainy, and 7 snowy, — a percentage of 51.6 fair. 

 The average fair the last eighteen Marches has 

 been 50.3, with extremes of 33 3, in 1881, and 63.4, 

 in 1883. From the 4th to the 8th, and from the 

 15th to the 19th, inclusive, were periods of five 

 days each, of fine, pleasant weather. Between 

 these, on the 12th, began the great storm cover- 

 ing most of the Middle and New-England States. 

 It was much less severe in this locality than far- 

 ther south. Snow fell heavily all day and night, 

 mingled largely with rain ; but the temperature 

 was sufiiciently low, ranging from 26° to 37°, 

 to load the trees heavily with snow for two days. 

 The wind was light, varying from east to north. 

 Snow fell in small quantities on the 13th and 14th, 

 increasing the amount, which fell chiefly on the 

 12th, to about 12 inches. Had it been a few 

 degrees colder, changing all the rain into snow, 

 the amount would have been two to three times 

 greater, as the amount of melted snow and rain 

 together equalled nearly 3 inches. The rain, in- 

 termingling with the damp, fast-falling snow, 

 formed a compact resistance not easily overcome by 

 the snow-plough, and railroad travel was impeded 

 as perhaps never before. This storm will be long 

 remembered. The morning of the 2l8t was foggy. 



PRECIPITATION. 



The amount of precipitation the entire mouth, 

 including the 12 inches of snow melted, was 8.40 



inches ; while the average for the laat twenty 

 Marches has been only 5.31, with extremes of 1.18, 

 in 1885, and 10.22, in 1877. The present amount 

 has been exceeded in March but three times in 

 the twenty years. The amount since Jan. 1 has 

 been 19.83 inches, for only three months. The 

 snow-storm, 12th to 14th, furnished sleighing for 

 about one week, when the snow nearly disappeared 

 in a heavy rainfall of 2.69 inches on the 21st. 



PRESSURE. 



The average pressure the past month was 29.943 

 inches, with extremes of 29.10, on the 13th, and 

 30.46, on the 26th, — a range of 1.36 inches. The 

 average for the last fifteen Marches has been 

 29.884, with extremes of 29.639, in 1881, and 

 29.991, in 1882. The sum of the daily variations 

 the last month was 7.33 inches, giving an average 

 daily movement of .236 inch. This average the 

 last fifteen Marches has been .242, with extremes 

 of .198 and .290. The largest daily movements 

 were .92 inch, on the 12th, .53, on the 21st, and .52, 

 on the 13th ; two of these were in connection with 

 the great storm, and the other with that heavy 

 rainfall. The lowest depressions were on the 13th 

 and 2l8t, and the highest on the 2d, 10th, 19th, 

 and 26th; the last three just before heavy precipi- 

 tation. 



WINDS. 



The direction of the wind in 93 observations 

 gave 11 N., S., 5 E., 20 W., 7 N.E.. 35 N.W., 

 4 S.E., and 11 S.W., — an excess of 38 north- 

 erly and 50 westerly over the southerly and east- 

 erly, and indicating the average direction the past 

 month to have been W. 37° 14' N. The west- 

 erly winds in the last nineteen Marches have uni- 

 formly prevailed over the easterly, with a single 

 exception, by an average of 39.68 observations, 

 and the northerly over the southerly, without an 

 exception, by an average of 24.05 ; indicating 

 the approximate general average of March to be 

 W. 31° i3' N. The relative progressive distance 

 travelled by the wind the last month was 62.80 

 units, and during the last nineteen Marches 881.7 

 such units, — an average of 48.51; showing far 

 less opposing winds than usual. D. W. 



Natick, April 5, 1888. 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 



Lbttkks of inquiry should enclose a two-cent stamp, 

 as well as the name and address ol the writer, which 

 will not be published. 



Questions regarding the treatment of diseases can- 

 not be answered in this column. 



R. F., New Hampshire. — What can be used upon 

 the woodwork of butter packages, to keep them clean 

 and sweet, and prevent mould V 



Answer. — We should recommend you to try soak- 

 ing the wood in hot melted paraftine, which will ren- 

 der it water-proof and non-absorbent. 



W., Massachufetis. — Have the results of the obser- 

 vations of the transits of Venus in 1874 and 1882 ever 

 been made public? 



Answer. — The reduction of these observations is a 

 work requiring an immense amount of time and labor, 

 and is not yet completed. 



W. F. K., Louisiana. — What will remove old var- 

 nish from woodwork without injuring it? 



Answer. — Most varnishes are soluble in alcohol, and 

 this will probably answer your purpose. 



E. A. W.,Iowa. — If a person is struck a violent 

 blow upon the eyes, the appearance of a flash of light 

 is observed. Will this light render objects in a dark 

 room visible to the person receiving the blow V 



Answer. — We do not think this possible, although 

 there is a popular belief to that effect. The light is 

 caused by the irritation of the optic nerve by the 

 blow, while the sensation of sight is caused by its exci- 

 tation by the light waves proceeding from the objects 

 it perceives. This question was brought up some 

 years ago in a trial of two highwaymen in France, 

 where the victim claimed to have recognized them by 



the light produced by the blow which he received at 

 the time of the robbery. 



O. B. S., New York. — What are " madstones "? and 

 what is the principle of their action? 



Ansioer. — Madstones are usually a piece of some 

 porous stone, usually limestone. Wlien applied to a 

 wound caused by the bite of a mad dog or venomous 

 animal, it is claimed that they will draw out and ab- 

 sorb the poison, thus preventing any bad effects. It 

 is hardly necessary to say that the benefits derived 

 from them are purely imaginary. 



Inqtiirer. — What causes the blood to circulate 

 through the veins V 



Answer. — The circulation is due to the contraction 

 and dilation of the heart, which acts on the same prin- 

 ciple as a force-pump. Some physiologists consider 

 that the arteries themselves aid in the process by their 

 expansion and contraction, but tliis theory has not as 

 yet been confirmed. 



H. C. W., Massachusetts. — What substance can be 

 dissolved in water so that it will retain its heat longer 

 when used to fill foot-warmers? 



Answer. — A saturated solution of acetate of soda in 

 hot water has been used for this purpose. It will re- 

 tain its heat a long time, or until the acetate of soda 

 "has crystallized. It can be used over again indefinite- 

 ly by reheating till the crystals are dissolved. 



S. L., Boston. — The temperature of the water in a 

 steam-boiler at a hundred and fifty pounds pressure 

 is about 364° F. The temperature does not rise pro- 

 portionally to the pressure, and the values for differ- 

 ent pressures have been obtained by actual experiment. 



LITERARY NOTES. 



Industrial Instruction. By Robert Seidel, Mollis, 



Switzerland. Translated by Margaret K. Smith, 



Oswego, N.Y. 170 pp. Price 80 cents. D.C. Heath 



& Co., publishers, Boston, New York, and Chicago. 



Besides a skilful refutation of the objections that 



have from time to time been raised against industrial 



instruction in the schools, the author has presented in 



this book a philosophical exposition of the principles 



underlying the claims of hand-labor to a place on the 



school programme. 



— • — 



What shall Make Us Whole? By Helen Bigelow Mer- 

 riman. Cupples & Hurd, publishers, Boston, Mass. 

 Price 73 cents. 



This little treatise upon the " Mind Cure " is, accord- 

 ing to the author, " a rough and imperfect sketch of a 

 spiritual possibility now coming into the field of 

 human vi.sion." Those who are already believers in 

 this system of treating disease will read the book 

 with interest, as it is extremely well written, and free 

 from the many absurdities of other writers on tlie sub- 

 ject; but there is very little, either in the way of fact 

 or argument, to cause any change of opinion among 

 those who prefer to trust in the old-fashioned physi- 

 cians and medicines. 



Messrs. A. Lovell & Co., New York, publish a set of 

 Graphic Drawing- Hooks ($1.20 per dozen), byHobart B. 

 Jacobs and Augusta L. Brower. They are of different 

 grades, and suited to all classes of pupils. Tliey give 

 much incidental information regarding art and artists, 

 and are accompanied by a Handbook containing full 

 directions for instruction of pupils by the system. 

 Teachers will do well to send for samples of these 

 books. 



Tlie new weekly horticultural journal, Garden and 

 Forest, improves with every number, and will undoubt- 

 edly fill a place hitherto unoccupied in the journalistic 

 field. Its list of contributors includes nearly all the 

 prominent botanists and horticulturists in the country. 

 Published, at f4.00 per year, by The Garden and Forest 

 Publishing Company, Tribune Building, New York. 

 Subscriptions will he received by the Popular Science 

 News Company for both papers, at ^4.50 per year. 



Pamphlets, etc., received: Essays of the American 

 Public Health Association, Concord, N.H., including 

 Healthy Homes and Food for the Working Classes, The 

 Sanitary Conditions of Schoolhouses, Prevention of In- 

 fectious Viseases, and the Prevention of Disease, Injury, 

 and Death in Manufactories (price 5 cents each); Igiene 

 Sperimentaie,'by Guiseppe Sormani, Pavia, Italy; Dual- 

 ity of the Brain, by R. C. Word, M.D., Atlanta, Ga. ; 

 Tfte Cutter Stem Pessary, by Ephraim Cutter, M.D., 

 New York; The Drainage of a House, by William Paul 

 Gerhard, C.E., New York; The Alcohol Question, by 

 Professor G. Bunge, Basle, Switzerland ; Comparative 

 Data from Tioo Thousand Indian Crania, by R. W. 

 Shufeldt, M.D.; Schools and Practical Life, by Joel W. 

 Smith, Charles City, lo.; Report of the Italian Agricul- 

 tural Kxperimental Station at Rome ; and the Report of 

 the Wisconsin State Board of Health. 



