June 29, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEW^S. 



607 



Q^cmvAl i^otest. 



Thistle Clubs. — The Field makes the happy sugges- 

 tion that farmers should form associations for war against 

 thistles on their respective lands and along the adjoining 

 roads, lanes, and waste grounds. This is a case where 

 the proverbial " stitch in time," in the shape of beheading 

 all thistles before they begin to scatter their seed, would 

 save not nine, but nine hundred. 



Rats at Exhibitions. — Exhibitions seem to have a 

 special attraction for these mischievous rodents, which, 

 at Rome, succeeded in breaking up the display of 

 the Pope's Jubilee presents. It is a pity that the 

 Swedish and other inventors who are so prolific in 

 devising schemes for taking human life cannot spare 

 some small share of attention for the destruction of 

 vermin. 



A Cyclone at Madeira. — On May 17 th the island 

 of Madeira was assailed by a severe cyclone, which 

 occasioned enormous damage en the north side of the 

 island. Here there fell a water-spout of sali water, 

 which has destroyed and sterilised splendid plantations, 

 and occasioned extreme misery. Cosmos remarks that 

 this fact has a very important bearing upon the theory of 

 cyclones. 



The Treatment of Sewage. — M. Pasteur has 

 energetically combated the project to turn the sewage of 

 Paris upon the land at Achere. He bases his arguments 

 upon the possibility of the transmission of virulent and 

 contagious maladies by microbia. His arguments have 

 been supported by the eminent chemists Schloesing 

 and Schiitzenberger and by the distinguished physician 

 Armand Gautier. 



The Artesian Well at Barcaldine (Queensland). 

 — This well, which has only taken a month in boring, and 

 cost merely ;!^8oo, has encountered a good sheet of 

 water at a depth of about 200 yards. The water, which 

 is very clear, rises to the height of four yards above the 

 surface of the soil. The hourly yield is about 7>3oo 

 gallons; the temperature is about 100*^ Fahr. The value 

 of the surrounding land has been doubled. 



ADisinfectant of the Air. — According to M. Keldyche, 

 who has published of his experiments in the Riisskaia 

 Medizina (quoted thence in Cosmos), the air of hospitals, 

 if saturated with eucalyptol, does not give rise to the 

 development of colonies of bacteria upon gelatine. Moulds 

 are still produced, but the action of the latter upon the 

 higher animals — though not sufficiently studied — appears 

 to admit of being neglected. Eucalyptol appears, therefore, 

 to be a powerful disinfectant of the air. 



Temperature of the Moon. — Mr. J. Ericsson (Cosmos) 

 has constructed a very sensitive instrument for measuring 

 heat. It consists of a thermometer bulb enclosed in a 

 vessel of bronze containing a parabolic mirror which 

 throws the rays upon the bulb. The bronze vessel is en- 

 closed in another recipient containing water. According to 

 experiments made with this apparatus the temperature of 

 the moon is not -223 degs. F. (equal 255 degs. of cold), but 

 cannot be lower than -148 degs. F.(equal 180 degs. of cold). 



Discovery of .Chloroform. — The Popular Science 

 Monthly attributes the discovery of this compound to Dr. 

 S. Guthrie. He seems to have published an account of 

 his discovery inSilliiiMii'sJoiinialfoTOctoher, 1S31. The 

 paper was in the printer's hands prior to May Sth, 1831, 

 and he had been experimenting with the substance for 

 six months. Liebig's work on the subject was, according 

 to his own statement, completed in November, i83i,and 

 Soubeiran's memoir did not appear until January, 1832. 



Date of the Last Glacial Epoch. — Supposing that the 

 glaciation of the northern hemisphere depends on the 

 coincidence of the earth's perihelion with the summer 

 solstice every 21,000 years, M. Adolphe d'Assier calcu- 

 lates that the last glacial epoch came to its height in 

 9250 B.C., and that the intervening period of greatest 

 warmth in the northern hemisphere culminated in a.d. 

 1250. Since that date we have experienced increasing 

 cold, and the next glacial epoch will be at its height in 

 a.d. 11750. 



VisuARiEs AND AuDiTARiES. — Certain French psycho- 

 logists divide mankind, intellectually speaking, into 

 " visuaries " and " auditaries." The first class receive 

 knowledge most readily through the ej'e, and express 

 themselves best in writing. The auditaries, on the con- 

 trary, learn most readily through the ear, from lectures, 

 speeches, sermons, and conversation, and express their 

 ideas best by word of mouth. Men of science and in- 

 dustrialists are for the most part " visuaries " ; divines, 

 lawyers, and politicians are generally " auditaries." 



The Good and III of Dew. — The Popular Science 

 Monthly remarks that dew is known to play an important 

 part in the growth of plants by furnishing them with 

 moisture. In hot and arid countries and seasons plants 

 could not reach maturity were it not for the dew. M. 

 PriUieux, however, shows that dew plays a mischievous 

 part in promoting the growth of parasitic fungi, whose 

 spores, brought by the wind, owe to it the power to 

 germinate wherever they happen to light. 



The Direction of Mountain Chains.— M. Marcel 

 Bertrand {Comptes Raidus) remarks that winding chains 

 and folds are in reality almost as frequent as rectilinear 

 chains. M. Suess has shown that the Carpathians, the 

 Transylvanian Alps, and the Balkans form a single 

 chain, the outline of which is an inverted S. The Swiss, 

 French, and Ligurian Alps, the totality of the Sierra 

 Nevada and the Atlas, the partially submarine chain of 

 the Antilles, furnish examples not less striking. It 

 remains to be determined what causes thus deflect at 

 certain points the waves of the earth's crust, whilst 

 allowing them elsewhere to extend in a rectilinear 

 manner. 



The " Humming " of Telegraph Wires. — This phe- 

 nomenon has its practical disadvantages. In Norway the 

 bears attracted by the sound sometimes dig up the posts, 

 hoping to find a bees' nest with a hoard of honey. But 

 the cause seems hitherto a mystery. Wind ? It is most 

 often and most distinctly heard on calm, clear evenings. 

 Electric currents ? But it is observed when the wires 

 are not conveying any currents and when the most 

 delicate instruments fail to detect electric action. Does 

 it depend on the direction of the telegraph line with 



