Feb. 3, iS88.] 



SCIENTIFIC NE\A/'S. 



lO- 



©General 0ott0. 



Whooping Cough. — Dr. Semchenks has confirmed 

 ProC Afanasieft's discovery of the bacillus of this disease, 

 and has satisfied himself that the bacteria which appear 

 in the sputum about the fourth day are the specific cause 

 of the disease. 



St. Elmo's Fire. — During the past four years, eleven 

 •cases of this interesting electrical phenomenon have 

 occurred at the Ben Nevis Observatory. The meteorologi- 

 cal conditions attending this phenomenon seem to be that 

 the temperature must have been falling for about twenty- 

 four hours, after having been for some time above the 

 mean of the season. The barometer also falls, but 

 recovers itself within three hours of the time of the 

 phenomenon. 



Iron Lace Work. — A specimen of lace is being 

 exhibited in New York so light that it can be blown away 

 by a breath, and yet stamped out of a thin sheet of rolled 

 steel. It can be produced at an exceedingly low price. 

 It will be, of course, unfit to come in direct contact with 

 the skin, owing to its relatively high conductive power for 

 'heat. Nor do we see how, under such circumstances, it 

 can escape corrosion from the acid of perspiration, even 

 if it can be made proof against the effects of moist air. 



The Spectre of the Brocken. — Tourists on the 

 summit of the Brocken have occasionally, in certain 

 states of the atmosphere, and especially at sunrise, seen 

 their own shadows, monstrously magnified, projected 

 ^pon mists in the valley below. In former ages this 

 phenomenon was regarded, not as a mere shadow, but 

 as a demon — a notion due, possibly, to the very uncanny 

 reputation of the mountain. " S. D. E." writes to the 

 Scotsman to the effect that one forenoon last winter, 

 between ten and eleven o'clock, he saw a similar phan- 

 tom on Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh. We once witnessed 

 it a long time ago on the summit of the Milleschauer, in 

 Bohemia. 



Postal Telegraphs. — According to Mr. Graves, the 

 mewly-elected President of the Society of Telegraph 

 Engineers and Electricians, the English Post Office 

 ■employs in telegraphic operations 18,303 persons. In 

 connection with British land telegraphs, including those 

 connected vi'ith railways, there are engaged 23,900 

 persons; in submarine telegraphs (chiefly British), 

 6,000 ; in British telephone companies, 2,500 ; in British 

 electric lighting, 5,000 ; and in British cable-making and 

 and allied businesses, S,ooo. If we add those persons 

 engaged in trades into which electric operations enter, 

 ■we shall find that in these realms alone there are 100,000 

 persons directly depending for their employment on the 

 applications of electricity. 



Black Rain. — Recently a shower of black rain fell at 

 Castlecomer, in Ireland, and on the same day a smaller 

 shower fell at Newport, in Monmouthshire. It was accom- 

 panied by partial darkness, making it necessary to light the 

 lamps and candles. It left a black deposit where it fell. 

 Newport is a town of 40,000 inhabitants, and contains 

 various manufactories. A dark, heavy cloud lay over the 

 town in the afternoon. It should also be mentioned that 



coal is worked in the Castlecomer district. The shower 

 there happened a few hours later than at Newport. 

 Recent researches have shown that electricity condenses 

 smoke in air, and there was thunder at Newport. It is 

 possible, therefore, that the smoke condensed by elec- 

 tricity was brought down by the rainfall. 



The Serration of Leaves. — Professor Rudolph in 

 a series of lectures on " The Great Wonders Around Us," 

 propounds a theory of the functions of the finely serrated 

 edges of certain leaves. He considers that these points 

 and edges serve to permit the escape of electricity, which 

 might otherwise accumulate on the surface of the earth 

 in dangerous quantities, and give rise to ascending lightn- 

 ing-strokes. The very same points and edges quietly 

 convey away the electricity from the atmosphere, and 

 thus to a great extent disarm the tempests. Professor 

 Rudolph asserts that the highest trees, such as pines, 

 have the most pointed leaves. 



Electro-Removal of Barnacles. — At a recent 

 meeting of the Royal United Service Institution, Mr. C. 

 F. Henwood expressed the opinion that, if zinc-sheath- 

 ing were applied so as to be in contact with the electro- 

 negative iron or steel, an electric or galvanic relation 

 would be established. The zinc would be perpetually 

 dissolving away and carrying with it the barnacles and 

 other zoophytes, thus leaving a clean surface. He con- 

 sidered that iron or steel ships, so sheathed with zinc, 

 might navigate the seas practically as free from fouling 

 as our old copper-sheathed wooden ships. We are 

 somewhat sceptical as to the practical working of such a 

 system, but apart from this there can be no doubt that 

 the expense of resheathing with zinc would be very con- 

 siderable — probably greater than that of cleaning off the 

 barnacles. 



The Origin of Petroleum. — Professor Mendelejeff has 

 advanced the theory that petroleum is of mineral origin, 

 and that its production is going on, and may continue 

 almost indefinitely. He has succeeded in making it 

 artificially by a similar process to that which he believes 

 is going on in the earth, and experts find it impossible to 

 distinguish between the natural and the manufactured 

 article. His hypothesis is that water finds its way below 

 the crust of the earth and there meets with carbides of 

 metals, particularly of iron, in a glowing state. The water 

 is decomposed into its constituent gases ; the oxygen 

 unites with the iron, vi^hile the hydrogen takes up the 

 carbon, and ascends into a higher region, where part of it 

 is condensed into mineral oil, and part remains as 

 natural gas, to escape where it can find an outlet, or to 

 remain stored at great pressure until a borehole is put 

 down to provide it a passage to the surface. 



Periodical Swarms of Shooting Stars. — M. Ch. V. 

 Zenger, in a memoir presented to the Academy of 

 Sciences at Paris, points out that the days of the Novem- 

 ber swarm (November 6th to 9th and nth to 15th) were 

 marked by magnetic, electric, and atmospheric perturba- 

 tions, earthquakes, outbursts of gases and eruptions of 

 subterranean waters, as well as by the fall of meteorites. 

 On the 7th, a fire-ball of the second magnitude was ob- 

 served at Vienna, and a considerable fall of the barometer. 

 On the 8th and 9th, a severe earthquake at Venice and 

 Ferrara, and a great tempest on the coast of Picardy, 



