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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



petitors accomplished the distance in one 

 hundred and fifty-four hours and forty-five 

 minutes, and the one next behind him in a 

 little more than one hundred and fifty-six 

 hours. The winner, however, came in ex- 

 hausted, while his competitor seemed not to 

 have suffered at all. Both lost five pounds 

 in weight. The remarkable fact about the 

 feat is that these two foremost men are 

 called vegetarians, and were able to walk an 

 average of eighteen hours a day for seven 

 consecutive days on the kind of diet classed 

 under that designation. 



Four sulphurets are named by M. Jacksh, 

 of Triesch, Moravia, as becoming phospho- 

 rescent after a brief exposure to daylight — 

 viz., the sulphurets of calcium, strontium, ba- 

 rium, and zinc. The last compound has been 

 obtained in a luminous condition only recent- 

 ly by distillation in a vacuum. Prepared in 

 the usual way, by precipitating soluble salts 

 of zinc with sulphurets, it shows no signs of 

 phosphorescence. Sulphuret of barium gives 

 a yellowish-orange glow, but only for a few 

 minutes after each exposure to the light, and 

 is of as little use t*s the sulphurets of stron- 

 tium and of zinc, the greenish glow of which 

 disappears after about two hours. For prac- 

 tical uses the sulphuret of calcium of com- 

 merce is the only phosphorescent of value. 

 Pure, it gives a faint yellowish light; but 

 treated at a red heat, with the addition of a 

 small quantity of a salt of bismuth, it is 

 transformed into a substance giving a violet 

 light and retaining its luminous quality for 

 nearly forty hours after an exposure of only 

 a few seconds. 



Records kept by Dr. Spengler at Davos 

 Platz for two years and a half, resting large- 

 ly on communications kept up with the pa- 

 tients after leaving, show that a permanent 

 cure (of consumptive diseases) is apparently 

 effected in 42 - 8 per cent of the cases. It is 

 noted that most of the patients were subject 

 to influenza in the epidemic of 1889-90. In 

 the treatment, till acclimatization is com- 

 pleted and the patient has slept well one or 

 two weeks, he lies much in the open air, and 

 takes little exercise. Patients who come with 

 fever soon lose it. 



Alcohol, although the most convenient 

 heretofore found, has proved an unreliable 

 fluid for low-temperature thermometers. It 

 is subject to the three vices of sticking in 

 the tube, irregular expansion, and defect 

 from impurities and variations in water con- 

 tent, which affect its expansion materially, 

 M. Chappuis has found toluol, the boiling 

 point of which is 110° C, a liquid well adapt- 

 ed to the purpose and free from these disad- 

 vantages. 



The Psychological Section of the Medico- 

 legal Society is interested in all that pertains 

 to psychology, and purposes, through com- 

 mittees appointed from among its members, 



to make special studies in the departments 

 of animal magnetism, hypnotism, telepathy, 

 clairvoyance, supposed apparitions, and other 

 claims of "respectable" modern spiritual- 

 ism. It is intended to conduct these inqui- 

 ries and investigations with candor and fair- 

 ness, upon strictly scientific lines, and to 

 reach, in so far as possible, a valuable and 

 enlightening collection of facts incident to 

 these phenomena, from which important de- 

 ductions may be made. 



Experiments, pursued during two years 

 by himself and his associates, are recorded 

 by Prof. Chodat, of Geneva, concerning the 

 influence of static electricity on vegetation. 

 Beans, sorted into two equal lots, were simi- 

 larly planted in a vessel filled with sawdust 

 moistened with the same quantity of water, 

 and exposed to identical conditions of warmth 

 and light. One of the vessels was put under 

 electrical influence during a part of the day, 

 rising from forty minutes at the beginning to 

 three and four hours. Leaves began to ap- 

 pear in the electrified lot on the fourth day, 

 while the other lot as yet showed no signs of 

 them. The difference was plainer on the 

 fifth day, and still more so on the seventh, 

 when the electrified plants had grown to a 

 considerable size, while the non-electrified 

 ones were only just starting. The difference 

 was also apparent in the superior vigor of 

 the stems and roots of the electrified plants. 

 The experiment confirmed the opinion that 

 electricity acts to promote germination and 

 growth in length ; but the leaves of the non- 

 electrified plants obtained a better develop- 

 ment than the others. 



OBITUAKY NOTES. 



The Rev. T. Wolle, pastor of the Mora- 

 vian church, Bethlehem, Pa., whose death 

 was recently announced, was an ardent stu- 

 dent of fresh-water algae, and author of 

 three important publications on the Fresh- 

 water Algas, the Desmids, and the Diatoms 

 of the United States. 



Cavaliere Giuseppe Antonio Pasquale, 

 Professor of Botany at the University of 

 Naples, and Director of the Botanic Garden, 

 who has recently died, was the author of 

 several books, chiefly those on the flora of 

 Vesuvius and the flora of Capri. 



The death is announced of Dr. Karl 

 Semper, author of the book in the Interna- 

 tional Scientific Series on the Natural Con- 

 ditions of Existence as they affect Animal 

 Life. He was born at Altona, in 1832; 

 studied at Wiirzburg, chiefly in zoology; 

 made a scientific journey in 1859-62 through 

 the Philippine and Pelew Islands, the results 

 of which were published in several valuable 

 works ; became Professor of Zoology at 

 Wiirzburg in 1868, and a few years later Di- 

 rector of the Zoological Institute there. 



