Scientific Misceltauy. 6i 



SCIENTIFIC M ISC ELL AN Y. 



(Compiled by Maurice Lopatecki.) 



The belief that human beings should sleep with their heads to 

 the north is said to have its foundation in a scientific fact. The 

 FVench Academy of Science has made experiments upon the 

 body of a guillotined man which go to prove that each human 

 system is in itself an electric battery, one electrode being repre- 

 sented by the head, the other by the feet. The body was taken 

 immediately after death and placed on a pivot, to move as it 

 might. After some vacillation the head portion turned toward 

 the north, the body then remaining stationary. One of the pro- 

 lessors turned it halfway around, but it soon regained its original 

 position, and the same result was repeatedly obtained until or- 

 ganic movement finally ceased. 



The mean height of the land above sea level, according to John 

 Murray, is 2,250 feet, and the mean depth of the ocean is 12,480 

 feet. Only 2 per cent, of the sea is included inside a depth of 

 500 fathoms, while 75 percent, lies between 500 and 3000 fathoms. 

 If the land were filled into the hollows, the sea would roll over 

 the earth's crust to a uniform depth of two miles. 



Tigers have lately been reported from two extremes of Siberia 

 — Vladivostock, upon the Japan .Sea, and a point to the north of 

 the Caspian Sea. They have long been known in the Chinese 

 forests near Vladivostock, but their appearance in the region of 

 the Caucasus is quite remarkable. 



Australia has some giant caterpillars. Mr. A. S. Olliff, of Sid- 

 ney, mentions one moth larva, abundant during the past season, 

 as being seven inches long, and specimens of larvae of two other 

 species measure eight inches in length. 



Occultations of stars and planets are extremely rare, but Dr. 

 Berberich of Berlin, believes observ-ations of them would be very 

 important, throwing light on the extent and density of planetary 

 atmospheres, and in the case of Mars and Venus affording a means 

 for the determination of parallax and diameter. 



Mr. E, M. Hasbrouck asserts that ten species of North Ameri- 

 can birds can be regarded as missing. Of those, two — the great 

 auk and the Labrador duck — are believed to have become ex- 

 tinct, while the following eight, through scarcity or diminutive- 

 ness, were 'lost' with the taking of the first specimens, and are 

 now being eagerly sought. The carbonated warbler, blue moun- 

 tain warbler, small headed warbler, Cuvier's kinglet, Townsend's 

 bunting, Brewster's linnet, Bachman's warbler and the Cincinnati 

 warbler. 



The direct conversion of heat into electric work is a problem 

 that continues to tax the ingenuity of the electricians. What 

 seems to be the most promising attempt at solution yet made is a 



