266 



SCIENTIFIC NEAVS. 



[Mar. 



at in all professions, but in photography we cannot help 

 feeling that they have not only helped materiallj' in stimu- 

 lating makers to produce the best possible apparatus, but 

 in many instances the results they have attained and the 

 skilful researches they have made have been of direct 

 advantage to the profession generally. 



SCIENTIFIC TABLE TALK. 



By W. Matthieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S. 

 Dr. Gijnther's account of the phosphorescent organs of 

 some of the deep-sea fishes, taken during the cruise of 

 Tlie Challenger, is very curious. The Inops nmrrayi has 

 neither eyes nor optic nerve, and if it had, could not use 

 them, as the depths of its habitat are so great that 

 no light can reach it. But in lieu of ej'es that receive 

 light it carries a lantern which gives it out. " A pair 

 of symmetrical luminous organs are to be found on 

 either side of the median line of the upper flattened 

 surface of its head, the upper wall of the skull where it 

 covers them being completely transparent." 



This dark dungeon of the dreadful deep, three miles 

 down below the light of heaven, where creatures live 

 beyond the reach of its faintest glimmer, under a pres- 

 sure of eight hundred thousand pounds on every square 

 foot of their surface, is a world of weird mystery more 

 grim and gruesome than the Inferno of Dante, or any 

 atrabiliary creation of oriental romance ; but still it is 

 reality, and even down lower than the depths I have 

 indicated there are living fish-like monsters. No less 

 than twenty-three species have been actually caught and 

 hauled up to the outer world from depths between 

 2,000 and 2,900 fathoms. 



They are all blind, and carry lanterns — are all 

 more or less phosphorescent, some of their luminous 

 organs are backed with concave reflectors that project 

 the light with special efficiency. " The blind leading the 

 blind " is far less absurd than the blind fighting the bfind ; 

 the leader may know the way, but how can the light- 

 bearer show it ? Shall 1 with Malvolio say to these 

 abysmal beasts, " My masters, are you mad ? " Or is 

 there really some method in their proceeding ? Doubt- 

 less there is, and perhaps it may be this ; That as we 

 see by receiving light, they see by emitting it. We be- 

 come conscious of the existence of distant objects by 

 means of the light that is radiated from them towards our- 

 selves. May it be that these odd fishes attain a similar per- 

 ception by means of the light that is radiated/ro;« them- 

 selves towards the distant things ? Can they feel the 

 outward incidence andechoof their own emitted lightaswe 

 feel its incoming ? These are queer questions, but they 

 deal with dark mysteries. But strictly speaking they are 

 no more mysterious than the common doings of our own 

 eyes. We know nothing of the action which converts the 

 supposed vibrations of outside matter into living knowledge. 



An experiment has lately been made by Zenger which 

 is somewhat suggestive in connection with the above. 

 Observing that after sunset Mont Blanc exhibited a sort 

 of bluish phosphorescence which continued until half-past 

 ten, he projected by means of a camera an image of this 

 upon a plate covered with a film of Balmain's luminous 

 paint. From this he obtained a photographic picture by 

 holding it in the dark in contact with a dry photographic 

 plate. Other experiments were made at Prague, where 

 fair photographs of buildings surrounding the observa- 

 tory were obtained at night-time in like manner. 



In these experiments one surface, the Balmain paint, 

 was proved to be sensitive to radiations barely per- 

 ceptible to human eyes, and another, the photographic 

 plate, to a picture quite invisible to us, viz., the impression 

 on the paint. Can it be that the gelatinous skin of the deep- 

 sea fishes or some part of its gelatinous surface has the 

 sensitive properties of the prepared gelatine plate ? If 

 so, they may see without eyes objects to which we with 

 our open eyes are blind ! A dog lives in a world of 

 which we know nothing. He can travel over a strange 

 road in the dark and find his way back by virtue of a 

 panorama of odours presented to his mind through his 

 nose and there stored up in memory. So may these 

 eyeless phosphorescent fishes enjoy the scenery and 

 know the objects of their world so horribly dark to us by 

 means of self-lighting skin vision. 



The very serious question of whether or not scarlet fever 

 is sometimes communicated by milk has now been very 

 positively answered in the affirmative, and with practical 

 unanimity, by the highest authorities. The evidence upon 

 which this decided reply is based has opened another 

 serious question, viz., whether this terrible disease, 

 which so largely attacks the juvenile milk-drinking popu- 

 lation, is primarily a cattle disease, one that was 

 originally communicated to human beings bj' the milk of 

 cows suffering from a peculiar affection of the mucous 

 membranes resembling the first throat symptoms of 

 human scarlet fever, though not followed by the " rash," 

 which, even if it did exist, could scarcely be visible on 

 the hair-covered hide of a cow. 



Some eminent pathologists have gone still further. 

 They are now discussing, or, better than discussing, are 

 investigating, the supposed bovine origin of pulmonary 

 tuberculosis — consumption. An array of eminent names 

 are associated with this research ; Kock, Clyne, Walley, 

 McFayden, and Sims Woodhead may be named, but I 

 must not attempt to describe the work or the conclusions 

 of each, beyond stating that it includes microscopic ex- 

 amination of the bacillus of human tuberculosis and com- 

 parison with the bacilli of bovine tuberculosis and experi- 

 mental inoculation of each on other animals in order to 

 compare symptoms. 



That milk may be a free carrier of disease, even of 

 slight bodily disturbance, is proved by the experience of 

 every mother that her infant is affected when the mother 

 partakes of such trifles as cabbage, or the first rhubarb 

 tart of the season. Knowing this, knowing the scarlet 

 fever liability, and being questionably threatened by 

 other serious dangers, we are all bound by the dictates of 

 common prudence to take precautions. Fortunately a 

 very simple, easy, and effectual precaution is readily 

 available. The pestilential microbia are killed when 

 exposed to the temperature of boiling water, and the 

 boiling point of milk is higher than that of water. 

 Therefore the boiling of all the milk that enters every 

 household should be sternly enforced-. A wise and 

 beneficent despot would prohibit the sale of raw milk to 

 any of his subjects, but free-born Englishmen would 

 rather be poisoned than submit to such interference with 

 the liberty of the subject. 



It should be noted that condensed milk is already 

 boiled, and I may add that the scum which rises to the 

 surface of fresh milk during boiling is highly nutritious, 

 wholesome food, and therefore should not be wasted. 

 It is the albumen of the milk which the heat coagulates. 



