SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[May 25, I? 



Land, says : " However diligently I looked for them I 

 never saw unmistakable traces of the grinding and 

 polishing of rocks by glacier action." 



Ab^sTHETicisM in China. — Says La Nature, it is often 

 remarsed that all our discoveries, even the most wonder- 

 ful, have seen the day in China long before they became 

 known in Europe. Thus the use of anaesthetics was 

 familiar in that country before it was taken up by 

 American surgeons. A celebrated Chinese physician 

 living in the 13th century seems to have discovered the 

 use of anaesthetics in operations. He made use of a 

 preparation of hemp which in a few moments rendered 

 the patient absolutely insensible. 



A New Opiate. — In the weekly report of the Ber- 

 linische Klinische Professor Kast, of Freiburg, announces 

 his discovery of a new opiate. He calls it "sulfonal;" it 

 is an oxidation product of the union of" ethylmercaptan " 

 with acetone, it forms crystals without taste or smell, 

 and is easily dissolvable. It has the property of inducing 

 sleep in invalids, particularly in nervous people and those 

 affected with heart-disease, but not in healthy subjects. 

 Professor Kast has observed that " sulfonal " produces 

 sleep without altering the pressure of the blood in any 

 great degree. An accident led to the discovery of the 

 sleep-producing property of " sulfonal." It had been 

 administered to some dogs with quite a different inten- 

 tion, and the animals first were affected as if with intoxi- 

 cation, and afterwards fell into a deep sleep. Experi- 

 ments made on healthy persons, chiefly physicians, and 

 then on patients in hospitals and lunatic asylums, have 

 proved that " sulfonal " is a harmless and certain means 

 of producing sleep in invalids. 



Underground Electric Tramway in Paris. — The 

 Third Commission of the Municipal Council of Paris has 

 under consideration a project of an underground electric 

 tramway to connect several of the chief points of the 

 city. The project, due to M. Berlier, a civil engineer of 

 repute, has been examined and reported on favourably by 

 the engineers in the service of the municipal authorities. 

 Considerable interest is felt in this scheme apart from its 

 public utility, on account of the many novel points in- 

 volved. There are to be three lines running from the 

 Place de la 'Concorde, one to the Bois de Boulogne, 

 another to the Place de la Bastille by way of the great 

 Boulevards, and the third to the Porte de Vincennes by 

 way of the Rue de Rivoli. All these lines are to run 

 underground for the whole distance. The tunnel, instead 

 of being constructed of masonry in the usual way, will 

 be formed of a cast-iron tube of circular section and 6m. 

 in diameter. It is proposed to construct these lines 

 without opening the streets at any point. The tunnels, 

 the stations, and the cars are to be lighted by electricity. 

 It is proposed to run, if the traffic requires it, a tram-car 

 every minute, an interval of time amply sufficient to 

 insure safety with the arrangements to be adopted. 



The " Challenger " Meteorological Observations. 

 — At a late meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 

 under the presidency of Prof Chrystal, a communication 

 was read by Dr. Buchan, the well-known authority, in 

 which he gave an analysis of the meteorological obser- 



vations made by the Challenger expedition during the 

 famous three and a half years' cruise of that vessel. As 

 the meteorological conditions had hitherto been assumed 

 to be the same on land as on the sea, these observations 

 are of the most valuable character, especially since they 

 demonstrate that the above assumption is extremely far 

 from representing the actual state of things. The records, 

 registered for the time stated, show that the mean daily 

 range of the surface temperature of the sea water was 

 only 8-ioths of a degree, and only rose to i" in one ocean. 

 This Dr. Buchan regarded as one of the most valuable 

 contributions to meteorological science in recent years, 

 and when we remember that even in our own country 

 daily variations of ground temperature to the extent of 

 30" or 40'' are quite common, the opinion will not seem 

 exaggerated. The temperature of the air resting on the 

 sea had a variation three or four times as great as the 

 surface itself, and the humidity simply ran on a parallel 

 with the temperature throughout. Dr. Buchan also dis- 

 cussed at some length the conditions which had been 

 observed to accompany oceanic and electrical phenomena, 

 and afterwards referred to the barometrical observations 

 which he had tabulated, and showed the diurnal variations 

 in wind force at sea, variations which he said were 

 entirely coincident with the temperature. At the same 

 meeting was also read a communication giving a descrip- 

 tion of the rocks of Malta, and a comparison with deep- 

 sea deposits, by Mr. John Murray, and a paper on a 

 means of ascertaining deep-sea temperatures by an elec- 

 trical method of reversing the immersed thermometers, 

 by Dr. Chrystal. 



Skulls of Three Eminent Composers. — According 

 to Humboldt, the Berlin Anthropological Society had 

 recently the opportunity of examining a cast and a photo- 

 graph of the skull of Joseph Haydn, and photographs of 

 the skulls of Beethoven and of Franz Schubert. Prof. 

 Virchow pronounced these skulls dissimilar, and little 

 in harmony with phrenological notions. Certain pecu- 

 liarities of Beethoven's skull, that is, the retreating fore- 

 head and the projection of the upper jaw with the teeth 

 — prognathism — are less conspicuous if the skull is 

 placed in the position adopted by German craniologists 

 tor the purpose of measurement. Still Virchow indi- 

 cated that the form of the coronal curve of Beethoven's 

 skull agreed with none of the typical forms occurring in 

 central Europe, and that the receding forehead and the 

 strong elevation of the posterior coronal region lie beyond 

 the limits of physiological formations. The magnitude of 

 the back part of Beethoven's skull may probably be 

 viewed as a compensation for the small development of 

 the frontal region. Haydn's skull is of a short and low 

 type, chamaebrachycephalic. Its capacity is 1,500 

 cubic centimetres, a considerable volume depending 

 principally on the great breadth of the skull. The facial 

 proportions are difficult to estimate, on account of the 

 loss of the teeth. However, the framework of the face 

 must be pronounced broad and low,, chamaeprosopic. 

 The nose is strong, prominent, small at the root, slightly 

 concave on the ridge, the nostrils narrow, and very high. 

 The eye-cavities are high, and of considerable circum- 

 ference. Virchow pronounced the total development of 

 this skull very favourable, and its form typically German. 

 The skull of Franz Schubert, which is distinguished by 

 the beauty of its form, exceeds that of Haydn in volume. 

 That of Beethoven is, according to the determinations 

 executed by Langer, the most capacious of all three. 



