VOL. XXIII. No. 6.] 



POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 



89 



Slje Popular Scieijce I^ews. 



BOSTON, JUNE i, 1889. 



AUSTIN p. NICHOLS, S.B., . 

 WILLIAM J. ROLFE, Litt.D., 



.... Editor, 

 jissodate Kditor. 



At frequent intervals, articles of a very 

 sensational nature appear in the daily papers 

 upon the "deadly cigarette," which evince a 

 profoinid ignorance of the subject, l)iit are 

 responsible for the existence of a prejudice 

 again.st that form of tobacco, which, in .some 

 states, has gone so far as to lead to prohibitorv 

 legislation. Cigarettes are usually made of a 

 milder and better grade of tobacco than 

 cigars, and, when consinned in equal (juanti- 

 ties, are less hurtful. The onh' possible 

 objection to them is, that from their very 

 mildness the smoker is led to consume a 

 larger amount of tobacco than he would if he 

 confined himself to the stronger cigars, and 

 also to inhale the smoke into the lungs — a 

 very objectionable practice. The statements 

 in regard to the formation of carbonic oxide 

 and other dangerous substances, by the com- 

 bustion of the paper wrappers, have little or 

 no foundation in fact. There is a great deal 

 to be said again.st the use of tobacco, but we 

 should consider any number of cigarettes 

 much less injurious than an equal weight of 

 tobacco as prepared for chewing or smoking, 

 or in the shape of cigars. 



Thp: universal use of tobacco is a very curi- 

 ous circumstance, and one hard to explain. 

 It apparently neither serves any good pur- 

 pose, nor has any beneficial eftect upon the 

 lunnan system. All of its eflects indicate the 

 action of poisonous substances. And yet the 

 majority of tobacco-users not only sutler no 

 harm, but derive pleasure and satisfaction 

 from its use, if not actual benefit. It is un- 

 reasonable to ascribe its imiversal use to 

 habit or custom, and it is not impossible that 

 it may supply some want of the animal econ- 

 omy which is at present unknown to us. 



Tup; Welsbach burner is now being intro- 

 duced into general use, and we find that it 

 gives a light of great steadiness and brilliancy. 

 As has been before explained in these col-, 

 umns, it consists of a net-work, or "hood," 

 formed of zirconia and the allied earths, 

 which, when heated by a flame of mixed gas 

 and air, glows with a strong, white light, 

 similar to an incandescent electric lamp. 

 The whole arrangement resembles an ordi- 

 nary Argand burner, and can be attached to 

 any gas fixture. The light is certainly supe- 

 rior to that of gas burned in the usual way, 

 and, if it proves to be as economical as its 

 proprietors claim, it will be very extensively 

 used. 



The microbe theory of disease has now 

 been recognized by the patent medicine man- 



ufacturers, and a liquid called a "microbe- 

 killer" is being extensivel}- advertised. It is 

 claimed that it will at once destroy any 

 microbes that may be lurking in the system, 

 waiting for a chance to commence business, 

 and, of course, if there are no microbes, 

 there can be no disease, and the happy pos- 

 sessor of the remedy may continue to live on 

 indefinitely. This sounds ridiculous enough 

 to intelligent persons, but it is not so very 

 different from certain remedies recently 

 brought forward as a ciu'e for consumption, 

 since the discovery of the tubercle bacillus, 

 which unaccommodating organism has so 

 so far refused to succimib, to hot air, the 

 effluvia of cow-stables, hydroffuoric acid, and 

 even sulphuretted hydrogen administered 

 per rectum. 



A DEPOSIT of zinc-ore, of workable quality, 

 has been discovered in Marion county, Ar- 

 kansas, near the town of Yellville. The 

 region is at present remote from railroads, 

 but that want will doubtless soon be supplied, 

 if the deposit proves to be of sufficient extent. 

 The mineral resources of the south-west are 

 undoubtedly very great, and, when fully de- 

 veloped, may prove of equal value to those in 

 other .sections of the country. 



An instance of a human being with a 

 caudal appendage, is described and illustrated 

 in a recent number of La Nafuralistc. A 

 yoimg Moi boy of Cochin-China is the pos- 

 sessor of this superfluous organ, which is 

 about a foot in length. Similar examples 

 have been noted before, but this one is the 

 best authenticated. The "tail" is simply a 

 mass of flesh, and contains no bony frame. 

 It is uncertain whether it is really an example 

 of reversion to a former type, or only a freak 

 of nature, but the matter is of great impor- 

 tance in its bearing upon the doctrine of 

 descent, and merits the mo.st thorough inves- 

 tigation. 



The atomic weight of chromium has been 

 redetermined by Mr. Rawson, of University 

 College, Liverpool. Presious determinations, 

 of which there have been many, have resulted 

 in placing the value somewhere between 53.0 

 and 52.5. The method employed appears to 

 have been an exceptionally accm-ate one, and 

 the mean of the values from six experiments, 

 the maximum difference between which was 

 only 0.1 30, gives for the atomic weight of 

 chromium 53.061. Hence chromium appears 

 likely to possess a whole-number atomic 

 weight, and it cannot but be admitted as 

 remarkable that so many of the later sttcchio- 

 metrical investigations, conducted with all 

 the modern experimental refinements, have 

 yielded values for atomic weights approximat- 

 ing to true multiples of the atomic weight of 

 hydrogen. 



VACATION WORK. 



With July comes the long summer vaca- 

 tion, in school and college, when teachers and 

 scholars alike are turned loose to enjoy nature, 

 and to rest the aching head by exercising the 

 neglected muscles. How to spend the next 

 three months, so as to receive the greatest 

 amount of profit and pleasure, will be a 

 question that many of our younger readers 

 will soon be trying to answer. The iarmer's 

 son will find enough opportunity to study 

 practical botany in the hay-field, mineralogy 

 in the corn-field, and zoology in the barn- 

 yard. Animate and inanimate natiu'e are 

 presented to him in a thousand varied forms, 

 which he is apt to overlook, because his 

 vocation is tiresome, or familiarity has al- 

 ready bred contempt. There are others — 

 sons of well-to-do farmers — who feel them- 

 selves above honest toil, and do not deign to 

 handle a hoe or scythe, and almost affect 

 ignorance of such work. What a glorious 

 opportunity they have for studying nature ! 

 Not wearied with exhaustive toil, they may 

 pass at pleasure from field to library, from 

 theory to practice. The purchase of such 

 books and periodicals as relate to their pur- 

 suits, to them involves no sacrifice of the 

 necessaries of life. They may study the 

 growth of the plant with their microscopes ; 

 they may familiarize tiieinselves with insect 

 life ; they may watch and learn the habits of 

 the feathered tribes. 



Then there are the town boys, who will go 

 forth for a few weeks to the mountains or 

 sea-side, and there divide their time between 

 smoking and fishing, feeling no little ennui 

 the while. Camping-out, or gypsying, is be- 

 coming fashionable, and, properly carried 

 out, no doubt brings strength to the linigs and 

 limbs, and refreshing change to the mind ; 

 but, if it be combined with a study of nature 

 — a habit of observation — it will be found far 

 more pleasant and profitable. The teacher, 

 especially, who has been worn out in trying to 

 transplant dull facts from the pages of the 

 text-book to the brain of the unwilling pupil, 

 will find the collection of fresh facts from 

 nature's inexhau.stible store-house far pleas- 

 anter, and, when the next term opens, will be 

 able to go before the expectant class with 

 fresh ideas that will throw the dull text-book 

 in the background, and do away with much 

 of its routine work. 



For teacher or scholar, even down to the 

 boys and girls in the primary schools, there is 

 scarcely any better employment for leisure 

 hours than making collections. Children 

 seem to take to collections naturally. A few 

 years ago it was postage stamps, and every 

 child wanted a stamp-album. Perhaps a few 

 derived a modicum of instruction from these 

 collections ; it taught the thinking child a 

 little of geography, they picked up a few 

 foreign words, and they learned to what 



