320 



SCIENTIFIC NEV/S. 



[April 6, If 



as abscissas the wave-lengths, and as ordinates the quan- 

 tities of light diffused by the pigment in different regions 

 of the spectrum. He finds that if we determine the diffu- 

 sive power of white lead for different sources of heat, 

 we obtain the diffusive powers of other dead pigments 

 on multiplying this diffusive power of white lead by 

 constant coefficients, determined once for all, or which 

 he calls coefficients of proportionality. 



The Bore Hole at Seaton Carew. — The boring 

 which is now being executed by diamond-drill process, 

 under the superintendence of Mr. W. J. Bird, mining 

 engineer, has now reached 1,300 feet, and is still in the 

 magnesian limestone, which was first reached at 520 feet 

 from the surface. It is contemplated to carry on the 

 boring until the magnesian limestone is pierced, and it is 

 ascertained whether the coal measures exist beneath it 

 or not. ■ The salt bed does not exist at Seaton Carew, 

 but, very curiously, a feeder of strong brine has been 

 tapped at about 1,150 feet depth, which is nearly 

 saturated, being at least 21 per cent, strong. It is in- 

 tended to ascertain the extent and permanence of this 

 feeder, since if these are proved, it will answer much 

 better than the salt bed, there being no fear of surface 

 subsidence. The brine feeder is probably derived from 

 the salt bed on the south. 



A New Lubricant. — Messrs. Born Brothers, of II- 

 versgehofen, near Erfurt, are introducing a kind of 

 mustard oil which has been found to be exceedingly 

 suitable for lubricating purposes, and which may be 

 used to advantage where no other lubricator can 

 prevent the heating of bearings. It has proved especially 

 suitable in those cases where either speed or pressure 

 is great, as for instance in turbines, and'rolling and crush- 

 ing mills. Comparison tests made with the best olive oil, 

 and a mixture of olive oil and mineral oil showed that, 

 compared with olive oil the lubricating value of mustard 

 oil is as 263 to 168, and as compared with a mixture of 

 olive and mineral oil the lubricating value is as 263 

 to 125. A further advantage of mustard oil is its low 

 freezing point. This oil solidifies at a temperature of 

 from t'^C to S'C. below zero, so that even in cold 

 weather it still retains its lubricating value, while olive 

 oil, as is known, solidifies at a temperature slightly above 

 zero. 



New Researches on the Sol.a.r Spectrum. — Messrs. 

 Hutchins and Holden, of the University of Cambridge, 

 Massachussetts, have examined the solar spectrum with 

 an excellent Rowland refraction-grating, and they have 

 re-measured and compared the lines of a number of ter- 

 restrial substances whose presence in the sun has not 

 yet been decisively shown. Upon the whole, their re- 

 searches have not led to definite results, so that it is 

 still doubtful whether lead, tin, silver, cerium, molybde- 

 num, uranium, and vanadium exist in the sun. Hitherto, 

 however, it has been an open question, whether the 

 lines of platinum coincide with any of those in the solar 

 spectrum, and in this respect the researches of the above- 

 mentioned physicists lead to the important result, that 

 out of sixty-four of the lines of the platinum spectrum 

 situated between the wave-lengths 4,250 and 4,950, 

 sixteen have been detected in the solar spectrum. Hence 

 we may conclude with great probability that platinum 

 ranks among the elements present in the sun's atmo- 

 sphere. 



Milk and Tubercular Disease. — The Scotsmau 

 recently had an exceedingly able article on milk as a 

 possible channel for the introduction of tubercular 

 disease along with scarlatina and typhoid fever into the 

 human system. The writer points out the unsanitary 

 condition to which cattle are subject, both as regards 

 their housing and their diet. He shows that cow-houses, 

 even in country places, contain " stenches strong enough 

 to kill any life, and perspiration streaming down the 

 walls." The "city life" of a cow, before it succumbs to 

 the unnatural condition in which it is placed, is from 

 eight to ten months. As to the food, he says, " It is well 

 known that eating sewage grass causes dysentery. Then 

 how about the Craigentinny meadows which furnish the 

 staple food for the cow-feeders of Edinburgh ? Are they 

 not a standing menace to the health of this city, notwith- 

 standing or rather because of the free and rapid 

 absorption of streams of sewage ? Every year the 

 strength of that sewage is increasing and the soil 

 becoming more and more sodden." 



Telephonic Bullet Probe. — According to the Medical 

 Press, Dr. Gardner, of New York, has devised a probe 

 which enables the presence of a bullet to be accurately 

 defined in whatever part of the body it may be situated, 

 and its extraction thus rendered easy of performance. 

 The instrument consists of a vulcanite frame adapted to 

 the ear, and secured by a spring band encircling the 

 head. In this frame is fixed a thin vibrating tympanum- 

 disc, at a short distance from which a bar of soft iron is 

 fixed, the latter being surrounded by a coil of wire, the 

 terminals of which communicate directly with insulated 

 wires about four feet long. One of these ends in a steel 

 cone, which may be held in the mouth, rectum, moistened 

 hand, etc., of the patient, while the other terminates in a 

 fine steel wire or other probe, which may either be 

 plunged into the body in search of bullets where suspected 

 to be present, or introduced into sinuses or other 

 openings. Immediately on its coming into contact with 

 such a metallic body a current is generated in the 

 circuit so completed, and a distinctly audible " click " is 

 apparent to the operator's ear armed with the telephone. 



Curious Physiological Observation. — It is known 

 that the three semi-circular canals of the internal ear 

 serve probably to give us the notion of equilibrium and 

 of movement. But, says M. Eugene Varenne, of Paris 

 [La Nature), it is to be remarked that these canals are 

 arranged so that each answers to one of the co-ordinates 

 of space. Experiment shows that if an animal be 

 wounded in one of these canals, it experiences a subjec- 

 tive sensation of rotation which induces it to turn in the 

 opposite direction in order to re-establish its equilibrium. 

 Flourens has proved that the section of two symmetric 

 semi-circular canals induces oscillations of the head, and 

 movements of the entire body in the plane of the canals 

 injured. All these facts tend to prove that the semi- 

 circular canals are the peripheric organs of the sense of 

 space. In confirmation of this fact, it may be noted that 

 ii^ whilst walking we bend the head strongly to the right 

 and then back to the left, causing it to oscillate quickly 

 from the right to the left after a very short time (eight to 

 ten seconds), the body of the experimentalist is suddenly 

 thrown to the left. If, on the contrary, the head is first 

 inclined to the left, the body will be thrown to the 

 right. 



