SCIENCE NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 12164, 7 April 1904, Page 2

SCIENCE NOTES

The highest flight of a kite nsed for BT'entific purposes was attained in an experiment made by M. Teisserene De Bort on the 25th of April, 1903. The kite was raised from a Danish gunboat cruising in tho Baltic, and the altitude exceeded 19,360 Feet. The total length of wire used was SB.OOO feet. The upper 4,000 feet broke jway, earning with it the highest registefivg apparatus, but tho whole piece was eventually recovered. . se A Swedish engineer has invented a portable- telephone—that is to say, an apparatus s-fnciently small to be placed in the pocket. It is accompanied by a little copper wire, with the help of which telephonic communication can be established anywhere. The pocket telephone will furnish the means of communication between railway trains in motion and stations. An American deaf mute named Shaw has invented an electric clock for the use of blind or deaf mutes. The clock will at any preappointed time alarm the sleeper by moving a lever connected by a string with J his pillow, which is thereby agitated until he is effectually awakened. At the same time, a circuit is closed by which an electric current is sent through a small incandescent lamp in front of a parabolic mirror, the rays from which are thrown into the face of the sleeper. A spring is also released, connected with a hammer which falls upon a fulminating cap, the loud explosion of which at close quarters is guaranteed to be perceptible to the deafest. a The high-speed electrical experiments on the Berlin-Zossen Railroad have been terminated for the season. Altogether a million dollars have been spent simply for the purpose of ascertaining just what a high-speed electrical train can do. A. syndicate composed of two great German electrical companies will shortly publish flic results which have been obtained—results which will be of the utmost value to electrical engineers the world over. A new danger h?s been added to the fireman's calling by the existence of electric vires carrying high-tension currents. The danger is not extreme in Great Britain, where, except in the case of the overhead wires of trolley-system tramwavs| most currents of high tension are carried underground ; but on the Continent and in America this is far from being the case, and the saving of expense encourages rather the conveyance of currents at the highest tension on overhead wires. Such wires sometimes bar access to a burning building, and the fireman who has' to chop them .'•.way is confronted often by an extremely dangerous task. But a more peculiar (singer than this exists, which is that the writer from the nozzle of the fire-hose that i iiy fireman holds in his hand mav, if the .Jign-tr-nsion wire be near enough, convev ■<• shock to him. It has to be verv near oi course, but it has been thought worth while in Germany to make exact'experiments to ascertain dangerous distances I'rora a live wire carrying a 6.000-volts alternating current a shock will be felt a.ong a little more than 12in of the stream of water. If, however, there is soda in tne water, as sometime.-uis the case in apparatus designed to extinguish fire by creating fumes of carbonic acid, the shock can be imparted to the fireman alon<? more than a yard of water stream. With a direct current of 550 volts, which is about tho voltage of a tramway line, the nozzle must bo as little .as 3in away.—' Illustrated buentifie iSiews.

Tue continued interest of the medical profession in questions connected with canceris evidenced in the numerous communications to the professional journals dealing vTitn the subject. One of the most inter° ?- ln f! IS n m }, hj& ' Lancet >' and is contributed i.'.i Dr G. Cooke Adams, who has studied tue subject since 1393. His experience has been in the Australian Commonwealth, and toe statistics given are abundant and inter•cstmg. They appear to justify the conclusion that the Australian-born population is far less liable to cancer than the Europeanborn. Dr Adams appears to think that cancer is not bacterial, parasitic, or local in its origin, but is a blood disease, due to a, hypothetical substance, which for convenience of discuss'on he names " maliimic acid," and that the volatile oils of the' eucalypt vegetation are powerful in destroying this terrible substance. As a curious confirmation of his view, Dr Adams points out that he haa never found any signs of cancerous disease among the animals indigenous to Australia, and that the cattle of that continent are not nearly so subject as the cattle of other countries are to malignant growths. Dr Adams believes in the inheritance of the disease, and that some forms are contagious. Corsets he denounces as the principal cause of cancer of the breast, smoking of short clay pipes as producing it in the. lip, chewing tobacco, betel, or other irritant substances as developing it in the mouth. Diseases due v to immorality are cistinctly, in his opinion, the origin of most ;■:"■:;tious or contagious types of cancer. I .;..meriting on the influence of vegetation, 'P'■_.'. dams quotes the investigations of Mr \> ;.i ; (corroborated by other observers) as 1 c.-ino- conclusively that regions of high <-.::c-.r mortality are also for the most part ;.. ,x!i« *f woods and forests; while he i .':s to other well-known facts in support v: n:s own theory, as, for instance, that !.:o-L- countries such as Italy, the United States. Portugal, and Algeria, which have transplanted or possess the eucalyptus foli■•izich show a low death-rate from cancer, while the native-born population of all (ountries possessing trees and foliage belonging to the same natural order (myrtaccae) as the eucalypts or their allied species (lauraeeae) appear to have a great immunity from cancer. His investigations prove most cases of cancer among such peoples are due to prolonged local irritation acting on a debilitated constitution. Among ourselves he is severe upon the use of beer mid sweet wines, believing that sugar and alcohol tend to develop cancer.

Dr_ Minchin, of Kells, in Ireland, has found that garlic is a potent remedy m 'nses of consumption. Taken by the mouth, though m some cases very beneficial, it did little or no good in acute cases, but when, in addition, the juice was inhaled for some hours da : ly, he was often very successful. But the best results seem to have been obtained from these measures in combination with a poultice made of freshlv-pulped cr pounded garliq. This acts as a "blister, but seems also to penetrate to the deeper tissues. Tuberculous joints, larynx, and cases of lupus are much benefited by this treatment, the poultice being left on the lupoid area for even three or four hours (if the patient ;-' i,u Dey ; r it), and reapplied in a few weeks. The blistered surface heals rapidly under any ordinary oily application. Garlic is a powerful germicide.

The researches made by Dr Calmette into ihe action of snake poisons attracted much attention some years ago, and his "antivenine" was welcomed as an efficient antidote to. those terrible substances. -But later observations have shown that antivenine is useless where the patient has been ! >;tten by a viperine snake, and a reliable method of cure applicable to all cases is still to be sought for. The nearest opproach to it yet discovered is to place a ligature round the limb nearer to the heart than the b:te, then to make a small cut through the wound made by the serpent, and rub in pure crystals of permanganate cf potash moistened with a little water, the object being to destroy as much as possible oi the venom before it can be absorbed into the blood. This method is efficient against all snake venoms, and the results -so far are very promising. Dr Lauder Brunton has had made a special form of lancet, in the sheath of which is a small space to be filled with permanganate. This is to be sold verycheap, so that it may be accessible to even the poorest classes in India. ■••■■■-

The dangers of drinking methylated spirit have recently been investigated, and a number of cases have been collected. It appears that wood spirit ("methyl") produces severe and permanent injury to' the eyes, and in some cases total blindness. No medi:cal treatment is known which .€¥£& -aJlevi«te»J&ese mischiefa.