SCIENTIFIC NEAVS. 



[Dec. 1st, I J 



GENERAL, NOTES. 



Oil on the Troubled Waters. — M. de Lesseps gives 

 an instance, where a vessel in the Bay of Talcahuano, 

 attacked by a tempest from the south which lasted ten 

 days, rode out the storm without damage by means of oil- 

 bags. 



The Deepest Wells and Mines. — The deepest well is 

 at Schliedenbach, Prussia ; it is 4,300 feet deep. The 

 deepest mine in Great Britain is the Rose Hill Colliery, 

 2,445 fs^' deep ; and a mine at Andreasberg, in the Hartz 

 Mountains, is 4,500 feet deep. 



Petroleum Fuel — Experiments are being made at Chi- 

 cago with crude petroleum for firing boilers, and a great 

 saving is thereby expected. The boilers are being arranged 

 in such a way that coal fuel can, in case of need, be 

 resumed almost without letting steam down. 



To Protect Screws from Rust.-^Fot the protection of 

 iron screws against rust, it is recommended to dip them 

 before use in a mixture of oil and graphite (black lead). 

 This simple method not only prevents rusting, even in 

 damp wood-work, but renders their insertion much easier. 



Cholera and Typhoid Fever. — At the last meeting of 

 the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain, Dr. G. V. Poore 

 maintained that the epidemics of cholera and the modern 

 development of typhoid fever in England are probably 

 direct results of the domestic arrangements now in general 

 use. 



The Decomposition of the Elements. — Professor A. 

 Grunwald, in a profound and elaborate memoir, argues, on 

 mathematic-spectroscopic grounds, that our so-called ele- 

 ments are composed of much simpler ingredients. A part, 

 at least, of his results have received experimental 

 verification. 



The Industries of Bolivia. — The chief productions of 

 this country, much of which is still unexplored, are ores of 

 copper, silver, and tin. The richer silver and tin-ores are 

 exported to Europe, whilst the poorer qualities are worked 

 on the spot. The principal vegetable products are Peruvian 

 bark and coca. 



Origin of Scarlet Fever. — M. Pickeney, in the Comptes 

 Rendus, gives a case which strongly confirms the view that 

 scarlatina has its origin in cows, and is communicated to 

 human subjects by their milk, one person being then capable 

 of infecting others. He insists that milk should always be 

 boiled before use. 



Vitality of the "Germ " of Pulmonary Consumption. — 

 Dr. Gautier has recently called attention to the wonderful 

 vitality of the bacillus of tubercle. It resists cold, desicca- 

 tion, and disinfectants, so that there is no known means of 

 purifying the bedding, curtains, etc., of a room occupied by 

 a consumptive patient. 



Gall of Lavine. — This is a new yellow colouring matter, 

 obtained by the oxidising action of the air upon an alkaline 

 solution of galhc acid. It dyes shades ranging from greenish 

 yellow to orange, and is fixed by means of the same mor- 

 dants as those employed for ahzarine. It is permanent to 

 light, air, and soap. 



Researches on Drainage. — M. Berthelot, in a memoir 

 communicated to the French Academy of Sciences, proves 

 that the nitrogen removed from fields in the shape of 

 drainage-water is from twenty-four to twenty-six times 

 greater in quantity than that which is brought down to the 

 same fields in the rain. 



Meteorology in Japan. — The Mikado of Japan has 

 issued an Imperial Decree sanctioning the establishment of 

 meteorological observatories at the public expense. The 

 regulations provide that the Central Observatory shall be 

 situated in Tokio, and local observatories at such places as 

 the Home Minister may designate. 



Sea of Galilee. — The fish in this lake have lately been clas- 

 sified, and prove to belong to the species peculiar to the African 

 lakes, so it is suggested that the Jordan Valley in long past 

 ages must have been filled by a lake joining the Red Sea, 

 which was then probably a fresh-water lake communicating 

 with the great lake system of Central Africa. 



The Struggle for Existence. — Professor Metschinkofif 

 holds that the diseases occasioned by the penetration of 

 parasitic micro-organisms into the living body mean an inter- 

 cellular war between these intruders and the elementary 

 cells of the organism. On the result of this war depends 

 the life or death of the man or other animal. 



The Fauna of the Azores. — M. Jules de Guerne, after 

 a close examination of the islands Fayal and San Miguel, 

 finds that the fresh-water Fauna of the Azores, generally 

 considered as nearly null, includes a considerable number 

 of species belonging for the most part to types which have 

 great facilities for dissemination. This fauna possesses a 

 continental and even European character. These islands 

 also possess peculiar terrestrial forms, especially crus- 

 taceans and mollusca. 



A Posterior Eye. — General experience proves that the 

 organs of special sense, and above all of sight, are 

 placed in the head or anterior extremity of animals. But 

 MM. H. de Lacaze-Duthiers and G. Pruvot, in a paper read 

 before the French Academy of Sciences, state that there 

 exists a very large eye at the posterior extremity of the 

 larvae of certain Opisthobranchial Gasteropods. This is a 

 striking exception to a supposed general rule, but it does 

 not " prove the rule." 



Compressibility of Water, Mercury, and Glass. — At 

 a recent meeting of the Edinburgh Royal Society, Professor 

 Tait communicated some results on the compressibility of 

 water, of mercury, and of glass. The average c mpres- 

 sibility of a 20 per cent, aqueous solution of common salt 

 per atmosphere for the first 100 atmospheres is o'oooo3i6. 

 It diminishes rapidly with the percentage of salt in solu- 

 tion. The compressibility of common lead glass is 

 o'ooooo27 at a temperature of 19° C. 



Endosmose, Dialysis, and Osmose. — M, Leplay has 

 pointed out a clear distinction between these three processes, 

 which are often confounded together. Dutrochet's endos- 

 mose depends on the tendency of two fluids of different 

 densities, separated by a membrane, to equalise such 

 densities ; Graham's dialysis consists in the tendency of two 

 fluids differing both in density and composition to equalise 

 themselves in both respects, especially in the latter ; 

 Dubrunfaut's osmose, on the other hand, seeks to hinder the 

 production of an equilibrium. 



