Vol. XXIII. No. 9.] 



POPULAE SCIENCE NEWS. 



137 



Slje Popular Science Qews. 



BOSTON, SEPTEMBER i, 1889. 



AUSTIN P. NICHOLS, S.B Editor. 



WILLIAM J. ROLFE, Litt.D., . Attoclatt Editor. 



The conflict between the electricians in 

 regard to the power of the current to produce 

 instant death, when used for the execution of 

 criminals, shows no signs of abating ; but, 

 meanwhile, preparations for the execution of 

 the condemned murderers in New York are 

 almost completed. The whole matter has 

 been purposely enveloped in a mist of uncer- 

 tainty by rival electric light companies, petty 

 politicians, and those misguided s\nipathizers 

 with criminals, who are almost as dangerous 

 to society as the criminals themselves. There 

 is not the slightest reason, scientific or practi- 

 cal, why a current of electricity cannot easily 

 be produced of a strength sufficient to 

 instantly kill the person through whose body 

 it is sent, and, as the speed of electricity is 

 greater than the passage of a sensation along 

 the nerves, it is probable that such a death 

 would be absolutely painless, — although that 

 is not an especially important matter, when 

 we consider the lack of enterprise of the 

 average murderer in devising painless meth- 

 ods of death for /its victims. In connection 

 with this subject, an article on another page 

 upon the physiology of hanging will be read 

 with interest. 



Experiments with Brown-Sequard's al- 

 leged elixir of life continue to be reported 

 in the daily papers, with varying results, but 

 no reliable tests have yet been published in 

 the medical journals. We consider the 

 whole matter a piece of sensational rubbish, 

 entirely unworthy the attention that has been 

 given it, and predict that before manv days 

 the new elixir will have gone to that bourne 

 where Bergeron's sidphuretted hydrogen injec- 

 tions, and many similar discoveries, now rest 

 in peaceful" oblivion. As an instance of the 

 lack of scientific knowledge of certain experi- 

 menters, we note that one physician carefully 

 sterilized the fluid before injection. We 

 presume the same train of reasoning would 

 lead him to heat vaccine lymph above the 

 boiling point before performing the operation 

 of vaccination. 



The selection of an emblematic national 

 flower has been much discussed recently, and 

 the great majority of people seem to be 

 equally divided between the golden rod and 

 the trailing arbutus. The former is found in 

 all parts of the country, and is a brilliant and 

 handsome flower, attractive to everybody but 

 those afllictcd with hay fever. The arbutus, 

 however, is connected in the minds of every- 

 one with one of the most important events in 

 our history, — the settlement of the Pilgrims, — 



and is, moreover, a beautiful and sweet- 

 scented flower, blossoming in the first days of 

 spring with true American enterprise, and 

 hiding itself under the moss and leaves with 

 — let us hope — characteristic American mod- 

 esty. If it were not limited to such a small 

 section of our country, we should certainly 

 vote in its favor, but, taking everything into 

 consideration, we are inclined to select the 

 gaudy golden rod as the most available flower. 



A MOST irreverent stroke of lightning re- 

 cently passed through the Jeflerson Physical 

 Laborator}' of Harvard University — that mag- 

 nificent building devoted to the study of 

 electric currents, and the means of protection 

 against their destructive effects. We do not 

 know whether the building was provided 

 with lightning rods or not, but old Jupiter 

 Tonans must have considered it an excellent 

 joke when he heard of the audacity of his 

 messenger in penetrating into the very sanc- 

 tum of electrical investigators ; or, perhaps, 

 the inspiring motive was revenge for the 

 scientific tortures inflicted by inexperienced 

 students upon the long-sufl'ering batteries, 

 dynamos, and resistance coils. Fortunately, 

 no harm was done to either person or prop- 

 erty, and the professors and students have 

 now an entirely new subject for study and 

 investigation. 



-»*v 



The health department of New York City 

 have made public the remarkable fact that 

 the death rate in tenement houses is less than 

 that of the general death rate of the city, the 

 figures being 22.71 and 26.33 pc thousand, 

 respectively. This is certainly very impor- 

 tant and hard to explain, it true ; but we doubt 

 very much the reliability of such statistics, 

 when the difficulty of obtaining accurate 

 returns from a tenement house population is 

 considered, especially in a city of the size of 

 New York. The much larger birth rate 

 among this class of people seems not to have 

 been taken into account, but it woidd evi- 

 dently have an important eflect upon the 

 average rate of mortality. 



Apropos of the birth rate of different coun- 

 tries, it may not be generally known that the 

 birth rate of Ireland is less than that of any 

 European country but France, Russia standing 

 at the head of the list. Emigration, appar- 

 ently, has a very favorable eflect upon tlic 

 fecundity of the Celtic race. 



An interesting example of the progress of 

 the Japanese, lies before us in the shape of a 

 report upon the recent volcanic eruption of 

 Bandai-San, which, it will be remembered, 

 caused so great a destruction of life and prop- 

 erty. The report is written in English by 

 two members of the Tokio University, Pro- 

 fessors Sekiya and Kikuchi, and the printing, 

 engraving, and general appearance of the 



work are equal to that done in any occidental 

 country. The report also gives evidence of 

 the high scientific attainments of the authors, 

 who are by no means unknown in scientific 

 circles outside their own country. 



It is an undecided question whether dreams 

 take place during sleep or only in the inter- 

 vals between sleeping and waking. A case 

 was recently related to us by a person whf) 

 was suddenly and completely awakened in 

 the middle of the night, when slumber is 

 supposed to be most profoimd. A well- 

 defined dream was experienced, which un- 

 doubtedly took place at the moment of 

 awakening, as it is not likely that it would 

 have been remembered if it had occurred at 

 an earlier hoiu" of the night. From this and 

 other considerations we are inclined to the 

 opinion that a sound sleep is alwavs a (beam- 

 less one. 



Proi-essor Dolbear, in a communication 

 to Scietice., suggests a new explanation of the 

 cause of auroras, holding it to be due to 

 changes in the magnetic field of the earth, 

 which is considered as a great magnet, in- 

 stead of to electrical currents in the upper 

 regions of the air. He compares the lumi- 

 nous phenomena of the aurora to those exhib- 

 ited in Crooke's high-vacuum tubes, and 

 considers the rarefaction of the air at the 

 altitudes where the auroras occur as compara- 

 ble to that existing in those tubes. The 

 theory is a plausible one, and may be here- 

 after developed into a rational explanation of 

 the mysterious polar illuminations. 



THE YELLOWSTONE PARK. 



In the northwest corner of Wyoming Ter- 

 ritory, in the heart of the Rocky Mountain 

 chain, there is a tract of country about sixty 

 miles square, which contains, perhaps, more 

 natural curiosities and wonders than can be 

 found in any other locality in the world. It 

 seems as if the forces which constructed the 

 earth had here run riot, and, when among 

 the geyser basins, one seems to be living in 

 some former geological era, so different are 

 the conditions and scenery around him. 



The term "park" is a misnomer, as it is 

 only a park in that it has been withdrawn 

 from settlement by the government, and is 

 under the general care and guardianship of a 

 company of soldiers. Good roads have been 

 built through it in various directions by the 

 government, and comfortable hotels erected 

 by private enterprise at the principal points 

 of interest. Otherwise the country is left in 

 its natural condition of wildness, and, except 

 in the tourist season, is only occupied by the 

 numerous wild animals which make up its 

 fauna. 



In some past age the region has l>een the 

 scene of great volcanic activity, and it is to 

 the comparatively slight action now remain- 



