Vol. XXIII. No. 4.] 



POPULAR SCIENCE ISTEWS. 



59 



one sort of protection, but most have two or three, 

 combining means ol" both sorts. It is only in a few 

 cultivated plants— plants that have been domesti- 

 cated by man, and are enjoying his protection, be- 

 cause they are useful to him— that protective means 

 are utterly deficient. Such is the case with common 

 lettuce, which possesses none of the protection which 

 its wild ancestor is endowed with, under the form 

 of a bitter substance {Lactuca scariola.) MM. Stahl's 

 and Errera's researches are very interesting. 



Prof Chauveau, of the Natural History Museum, 

 read a few days ago a very interesting paper on the 

 transformation of pathogenetic bacteria into ordi- 

 nary non-virulent microbes. It has been believed that, 

 under different circumstances, the transfbrination of 

 virulent into non-virulent is an easy one, and it has 

 been proved, at all events, that a virulent species 

 may be rendered perfectly innocuous without losing 

 anything of its vital powers. But is the non-viru- 

 lent species the same as the virulent, or is it a new 

 one.' M. Chauveau has particularly studied 

 Bacillus anthracis, and seen that, when cultivated 

 through a long series of successive generations, in 

 the piesence of o.\ygen. this bacillus becomes trans- 

 formed into a non-virulent one, perfectly identical, 

 when morphologically considered, with Ji. anthra- 

 cis, but utterly destitute of all virulence. However, 

 this non-virulent form preserves a very important 

 character of the virulent one, and is not, in tact, so 

 utterly different from the last named ; it possesses 

 vaccinal properties, and, when it has been inocu- 

 lated in large doses, it protects the inoculated ani- 

 mals against the influence of the most virulent 

 inoculations. The result of this paper is, that no 

 specific transformation has been realized in this 

 case, as the non-virulent form preserves one of the 

 most important properties of the virulent one— that 

 of playing the part of a vaccinal virus. It must be 

 said, however, that there would be nothing wonder- 

 ful if this function were to disappear in turn, under 

 favorable circumstances. In such a case, the two 

 forms would be specifically distinct. 



A novel treatment of locomotor ataxy has been 

 recently imported from Russia, and experimented 

 upon by different physicians in Paris. The inventor 

 of the new method is D. Motchowkowsky, of 

 Odessa. This physician, having to set aright the 

 deviated trunk of a patient afflicted with locomotor 

 ataxy, proceeded, as is generally done, to suspend 

 him for some minutes, after Serres' method, that is, 

 held up by ropes and a plaster of Paris bodice. The 

 patient noticed that, after a few days of treatment, 

 the pains had much diminished. The physician 

 repeated the process, and soon perceived that the 

 progress was due, not to the use of the bodice, but 

 merely to the suspension. The way the thing is 

 done is very simple. To a solid piece of wood of a 

 yard in length, held by the middle by a rope 

 which passes through a pulley overhead, two slings 

 are adapted, in which the patient passes his arms. 

 These slings start from each end of the stick. From 

 the middle start two other slings, receiving the chin 

 and occiput of the patient. When all is readv, the 

 stick is slightly elevated — a foot or so — bv means of 

 the rope and pulley, and the patient is allowed to 

 hang for from one to four minutes. The treatment 

 is to be performed twice or thrice a week. The 

 results obtained in the Salpetriere by M. Charcot 

 prove very satisfactory, as the pain — the shooting 

 pains — and muscular incoordination disappear rap- 

 idly. Suspension also improves the condition of 

 the generative functions, on healthy as well as on 

 ataxic persons. Prof Charcot remains, however, 

 somewhat skeptical as to the permanency of the 

 favorable results obtained. Time will tell. 



[Specially Reported for The Popular Science Ne\os.'\ 



METEOROLOGY FOR FEBRUARY, iS89,WITH 



REVIEW OF THE LAST WINTER. 



TEM PER ATU RK. 



Average Thermometer. 



! - 



At 7 A. M Jo.as^ 



At 2 r. M 29-64° 



At 9 r. M 24-25° 



Whole Month .... 24.71° 



Last 19 Februarys 



Winter of 1888-9 - 

 Last 19 Winters 



25-63° 



— 2 

 9° 

 ?,' 



—2° 



1 17.81' 

 i in 1885. 



30.70 



I 21.85° 

 I in 1S75. 



Highest. Range. 



40- 



45 

 42° 



4S° 



3' -38° 

 in 1S77. 



31-68° j 

 in 18S0. 1 



4»' 

 36° 

 39° 

 47" 



•3-57" 



62- 



9-8,»° 



Paris, Feb. 22, 1889. 



H. 



The lowest point reached by the mercury the past 

 month, -at the hours of observation, was —2°, on 

 the 24th, and the highest 45' , on the 17th. The 23d 

 was the coldest day, averaging 6 1-3°, and the 17th 

 was the warmest, wifli 40 1-3°. The 4th, 7th, 13th, 

 23d. and 24th were cold days, though reaching zero 

 but once. 



The entire winter was 4.69- above the average, 

 and the warmest, with a single exception, in nine- 

 teen years. 



SKY. 



The face of the sky, in 84 observations, gave 51 

 fair, 9 cloudy, 17 overcast, 2 rainy, and 5 snowy— a 

 percentage of 60.7 fair. The average fair the last 

 nineteen Februarys has been 57 8, with extremes of 

 30 in 1884 and 73.4 in 1877. We had several fine 

 winter days; the 15th, 20th, and 21st were thus 

 especially noted. The morning of the 6th was 



foggy. 



The average fair the present winter has been 56 8 

 percent., while that of the last nineteen winters has 

 been only 53 9, showing an unusually bright winter. 



PRECIPITATION'. 



The amount of rainfall the past month, including 

 1; inches of snow, melted, was 2.21 inches, while the 

 average for the last twenty-one Februarys has been 

 4.84, with extremes of only .55 in 1S77 and 11.72 in 

 1886. The small amount of snowfall was remarka- 

 ble for February. The largest amount was 3 inches, 

 on the I2th, 2 inches falling on five other days, and 

 affording three or four days of sleighing, following 

 the 1 2th. 



Th rainfall the past winter, including 11 inches of 

 snow, melted, was 17.60 inches, while the average 

 in twenty-one winters has been only 13 66, with 

 extremes of 6.33 in 1877 and 22.52 in 1886. The 

 entire winter has been remarkable for the small 

 amount of snow — only one inch in December, and 

 five each in January and February, with seven or 

 eight days of imperfect sleighing. I may safely say, 

 there has been no winter during the last twenty 

 vears with so little snowfall and sleighing, in this 

 locality, as the present. 



PRESSURE. 



The average pressure the past month was 30.022 

 inches, with extremes of 29.30 on the 6th and 30 68 

 on the 26th— a range of 1.38 inches. The average 

 pressure for the last sixteen Februarys has been 

 29970, with extremes of 29.834 in 1885 artd 30 138 

 in 1876 — a range of .304 inch. The sum of the vari- 

 ations was 6.93 inches, an average daily movement 

 of .249 inch, while this average in sixteen Febru- 

 arys has been .290, with extremes of .162 in 1877 

 and .418 in 1S87. The principal barometric depres- 

 sions were on the 6th, 13th, i8th, and 22d, and the 

 elevations on the 4th, 8th, i6th, and 26th, the last 

 being a long and grand atmospheric wave, continu- 

 ing, with but one principal depression, through the 

 last ten days of the month, reaching its climax, 

 30.68, on the 26th, and ending, 30.48, on the 28th. 



It is described as covering "an area exceeding all 

 Europe," while "its crest in -Manitoba reached 

 31.14," a high pressure, "exceedingly rare " 



The average pressure the last winter was 29.966 

 inches, and the last sixteen winters 29.943. 



WINDS. 



The direction of the wind, in 84 observations, 

 gave IS N., 2 S., 2 E., 28 W., 4 N. E., 21 N. W., 3 

 S. E., and 9 S. W. — an excess of 26 northerly and 

 49 westerly over the southerly and easterly, and in- 

 dicating the mean direction for the month to have 

 been W. 27"- 57' N. The westerly winds in Febru- 

 ary for the last twenty years have uniformly pre- 

 vailed over the easterly, by an average of 44.3 ob- 

 servations, and the northerly over the southerly, 

 with a single exception, by an average of 23, indi- 

 cating the approximate mean direction in twenty 

 Februarys to have been W. 27° 26' N. The relative 

 progressive distance travelled by the wind the last 

 month was 55.47 units, and during the last twenty 

 Februarys 99S.2 such units, an average of 49.91 ; 

 showing less opposing winds the last month than 

 usual. 



The mean direction of the wind the past winter 

 has been W. 19° 54' N., and the distance travelled 

 185 units; and during the last twenty winters, W. 

 22° 26' N., and the distance travelled 3255 such 

 units, an average of 162.7; showing less opposing 

 winds the last winter than usual. 



From the above report it appears that the last 

 winter has been remarkably warm, unusually fair, 

 with heavy precipitation, though very little snow, 

 high pressure, and less northerly winds than usual. 



Natick, March 6, 18S9. D. W. 



Errata. — On page 43, under "pressure," for 2 40 

 inches read .240 inch; same line, for "this daily va- 

 riation" read, the daily variations ; two lines below, 

 for .496 read . 196. 



[Speciiilly Computed for The t'vpular Science Jfixvs.'] 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR APRIL, 



1889. 

 Mercury is too near the sun to be seen during the 

 month. It passes superior conjunction during the 

 night of April 24-25, changing from a morning to 

 an evening star. Venus is an evening star at the 

 beginning of the month, but rapidly approaches the 

 sun, passing inferior conjunction and becoming a 

 morning star on the evening of April 30. At the 

 beginning of the month it sets about three hours 

 after the sun, and it is very brilliant, having passed 

 its maximum on March 25. As seen in the telescope, 

 it will exhibit phases like our moon in its last quar- 

 ter, varying from half moon on April i, to nothing 

 at all on April 30. Mars sets about an hour after 

 the sun, and will not be at all easy to see. Jupiter 

 rises about ih. 15m. A. M. on April i, and at about 

 iih. 30m. P. M. on April 30. It is in the constella- 

 tion Sagittarius, and moves slowly eastward, until 

 the 24th, when it begins to move westward (retro- 

 grade.) The whole motion is, however, less than a 

 degree. It is occulted by the moon on the afternoon 

 of April 20, but this occurs when both are below 

 our horizon. The occultation may be seen in Asia. 

 The following eclipses of Jupiter's satellites are 

 visible in the United States. The phenomena all 

 occur near the upper left hand quadrant, as seen in 

 an inverting telescope, and are all disappearances, 

 except one reappearance of the third satellite. The 

 reappearances of the first and second occur behind 

 the planet. The fourth satellite is ' not eclipsed 

 while the planet is in this part of its orbit. The 

 times given are Eastern Standard. 



I. D. April 2, 4h. 3m. A. M. 

 D. April 9, 5h. 58m. A. M. 

 D. April 18, 2h. 19m. A. M. 



I. 

 I. 



