LONDON GOSSIP.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume X, Issue 572, 27 December 1851, Page 175

LONDON GOSSIP.

[From Chamber*'* Edinburgh Journal, Uny 31.]

You of course remember Kindel, who was professor at Bonn, and got 6hut up in prison ut Spandau for meddling with politics, and afterwards made his escape ; he is now delivering a course of twelve lectures on the " Modern Theatre," at one of our west- end assembly rooms. There are many who will go to heat the celebrated German from other motives than those of mere curiosity. There have been some good lectures at the Royal Institution, including a second from Faraday on the Magnetism of the Atmosphere— popularising the important facts contained in the papers which I told you some time ago were read before the Royal Society. But the most notable philosophical subject which has come en for discussion of late, is the much-lalked-of Pendulum experiment, which, having first come to light at Paris, has been subsequently repeated in several parts of Europe, and in our own country. The originator is M. Foucalt, who, as stated in his communication to the Acade'mie. first discovered the phenomenon in question while conducting a series of observations on the pendulum in the cellar of his house. By means of it, the rotation of the earth on its axis is said to be demonstrated as clearly as by astronomical observations. At first sight it seems impossible that any contrivance which partakes of the motion of the earth could be made to exhibit that motion. The explanation, however, appears to be, that the plane of vibration, or line of direction, in which a pendulum is set going, never alters, notwithstanding that the point of suspension may be carried round by the earth's rotation ; consequently, if a pendulum be made to vibrate at the pole, we can understand that an object fixed in the earth at one extremity of the line of vibration will, in twenty- four hours, have been carried round the other extremity, and brought back to its starling-point — the pendulum all the time having been swinging in the same line, and thus rendering the rotation evident. The same effect, with differences of time according to latitude, would be observed on descending from the pole, until, on reaching the equator, the result altogether disappears, owing to certain compensating causes best understood by mathematicians. In order to test the fact, especial pains must be taken with the mode of suspending the pendulum, which should be a wire with a perfectly round ball or bob at the lower end. The best mode of suspension is said to be to pass the wire through a hole in a plate of metal, and secure it on the upper eide, whereby no bias is given to the swing.

Suppose a pendulum set agoing according to these conditions, and bung from the centre of a ceiling: you make a perpendicular mark directly in a line with the wire on one of the wall 8 towards which the bob swings : then immediately opposite, near the farther wall, you fix an upright sight staff, which shall be precisely in a line with the wire and the mark on the wall beyond. The adjustment may be made exact, by piecing the eye at one Bide of the staff, in the same way that jockeys "take sights " at races. Go away for an hour, and then apply your eye a second time : you will find that the staff has been carried to the left, or the course followed by the hands of a watch : the pendulum has preserved its line of direction, but the earth is rotating round it; and thus hour after hour the staff will be carried onwards, until it has performed an entire revolution. The time required to complete the circle here, in London, is said to be 30 hours 40 minutes, and at Paris, owing to difference of latitude, 32 hours 8 minutes ; and herein consists an insuperable difficulty for those unacquainted with mathematical laws. How is it, they ask, that the revolution round the pend ilium and the rotation of the earth are not coincident — namely, twenty-four hours? No satisfactory popular solution has yet been given. Some other embarrassing points have been urged, which I need not stay to particularise; hut as Professor Baden Powell, assisted by Mf. Wheatsone, is to give an experimental lecture on the subject at the Royal Institution, we Bball soon know whether the apparent effect be an illusion or not. The subject was much talked of at Lord Rosse's first soirde, given at the beginning of the month ; and two of the most distinguished Fellows of Trinity College, Dublin, gave clear demonstrations of the phenomenon. I may tell you, however, that several of our most eminent mathematicians discredit the assumed results altogether : meantime, the managers of the Polytechnic Institute are exhibiting the pendulum experiment to all whose curiosity impels them to bare occular demonstration of the rotation of the earth.

According to M. Baudrimont, a plumb-line at rest will show the fact as well as n pendulum in motion ; and he informs the Acade'mie, that an instrument might be constructed which "would serve not only to demonstrate tha diurnal movement of the earth, but could also be employed for an exact division of time. If we suppose," he continues, "a solid mass supported on an axis, round which it can move freely; and if we admit, besides, that this axis is maintained parallel to that of the earth, what.ever may be the place of observation, it will be found that the mass disposed as described, and subjected to those forces solely which mar compel it to a circular movement round the axis of the earth, would, by virtue of the inertia of matter, behave in such a way that one of its meridian planes would remain parallel to a plane supposed to be fixed in space, and that by an apparent movement it would appear tr» perform a revolution round its axis, while in reality it would be only the earth that turned.

You will recollect my calling your attention to M. Chat. M£ne'« chemico-borticuUoxal ex-

periments: since those were reported, he has made others, with a view to ascertain the proportion of azote taken up by growing plants. In a barren soil, composed chiefly of pounded glass, he sowed wheat and peas, and applied no other moisture than distilled water. The plants grew ; but on comparing their quantity of azote with that contained in' seeds of the same, the peas had not Increased more than one-third, and the wheat one- fourth. He next raised several other kinds of vegetables under a handlight, in which he created a determinate atmosphere, and analysed it daily. The constituents of this atmosphere were— twenty-five parts each of oxygen and carbonic acid, and fifty of azote ; and it was found, as the experiment went on, that although the plants had ' fixed/ a portic n of the latter gas — the quantity at first thrown in — was not diminished. From all of which M. M£ne infers, that ' plants absorb from the soil and from manure all the azote necessary to them, and that they do not take it directly from the atmosphere.'

Passing to other matters, Messrs. Wertheim* and Breguet have been experimenting on the rate of velocity of sound in telegraph wires, as observed on the Versailles Railway. The best signal was found to be the stroke of a hammer on one of the posts. The blow being struck, an attendant, holding a chronometer, noted the precise instant of the concussion ; while another, stationed far away, noted its arrival. The greatest distance over which it was possible to test the transmission was 4067 metres; for, singularly enough, the sound would not pass through a tunnel, notwithstanding that its intensity was such as would have been perceptible at a much greater distance. The late was ascertained to be 3485 metres in a second, while, theoretically, it should have been 4634. The question is to be further investigated on a line where .great lengths of wire extend independent of tunnels.

Our doctors have been talking about certain medical and physiological subjects which have also come before the Academic One is M. Buisson'a announcement of a cure for hydiophobia: it was written in 1835, and placed, sealed up, in the hands of the scientific corporation, and has only recently been opened. In the year specified, M. Buisson was called on to bleed a woman who had been bitten by a mad dog. While his hands were covered with blood, he wiped them with a towel which had been used to wipe the foam from the mouth of the patient, disregarding a sore that had formed on one of his fingers. At the end of nine days he was seized with the usual symptoms of hydrophobia: pain in the throat and eyes; dislike of viewing brilliant objects; deßire to run and bite ; and, eventually, horror of the sight of water. " From the whole of the symptoms," to quote his own words "he judged himself affected with hydrophobia, and resolved to terminate his life by stifling himself in a vapourbath. Having entered one for the purpose, he caused the heat to be raised 107 degrees 36 minutes Fahrenheit, when he was equally surprised and delighted to find himself free from all complaint. He left the bathing-room well, (lined heartily, and drank more than usual. Since that time he has treated in the same manner more than eighty persons bitten, in four of whom the symptoms had declared themselves; and in no case has failed, except in that of one child seven years old, who died in the bath."

You are perhaps aware that the incurable nature of diabetes is a subject which has for a long time engaged the attention of eminent physiologists in this country and on the continent. M. Bernard, a French anatomist, states that he has found a remedy in the dividing of the pneumo-gastric nerves — an operation which, as he shews, prevents the occurrence of sugar in the liver. This conclusion has, however, been questioned ; and Dr. Mitchell of Glasgow finds, after numerous experiment, that the reBult is not positive, and that whatever be the kind of food eaten, sugar may always be traced in the liver ; if not in the surface veins, then in those which lie deeper. His summary is : " That sugar exists uniformly and normally in the blood of the heart; that its presence there is independent of diet; that the sugar is found specially concentrated in the liver of animals ; that there is reason to believe that it is formed in the liver, which thus becomes the seat and origin of the sugar." From this it will be seen that an important subject of inquiry is here open to physiologists. According to Prout, the liver is the vegetative organ of animals, and chemistry and anatomy will have to work hand in hand to get at the secret which has so long baffled research. It will be no small triumph to discover a remedy against the malady in question, which, as Dr. Mitchell observes, "has hitherto been regarded as beyond the reach of the vis-medicatrix."

Another medical subject which has come under discussion, is the statement made by Dr. Louis Henry on the application of the cold douche to lymphatic, chlorotic, and certain nervous diseases. He regards it as more sure and rapid than any other hygienic remedy. Nine children, from three to twelve years, who came under the treatment, and of most decided lymphatic temperament, were completely converted, in the course of two years, to a sanguine temperament; and adults in a chronic languid condition have had their circulation restored to its normal state by the same application. It is another test of hydropathy. Then there is M. Gondret, who offers to betake himself tg,£ologne, one of the most unhealthy districts' of France, or to Algeria, according as the Academic may decide, as he wishes to prove that his theory of dry cupping for the cure of intermittent fevers, and for the shiverings which attend some other affections, is a safe and effectual one. And another savant, M. Burg,

shews that several neuralgic complaints, which are nearly always negative, may be cured by applying a plate of metal to the. part affected. This plate is to be of silver, gold, steel, or cupper, or a compound, according to the symptoms. Hence the disease being given, there only remains to determine the peculiar metal for ef fecting the cure. Allied to this subject is M. Charles Dupin's inquiry on mortality in France, from which it appears that during the last half of the laM century, out of 10,000 births, not more than 5.832 were alive at the fifth year ; while at present the number is 6,841. The former were selected results, t-ut the latter are taken on the average of the whole population. During the last five years, which include one of cholera and one of scarcity, of each thousand death:) in the crowded city of Lille there were 467 fewer deaths than at the close of the eighteenth century, when neither disease nor scarcity prevailed. On a comparison between Lille and Manchester, M. Dupin finds, contrary to expectation, that the balance of health is greatly in favour of the former city.

You will perhaps consider that I have said enough for the present about physiology and and statistics of health. I conclude, therefore, with a rare fact— the Dun mow flitch has just been claimed by a couple who have complied with the anciently-prescribed conditions.

The Softer Sex in Smalls. — The revolution in female attire which has commenced in America may extend to this country. Well —no matter if the attributes of the husband are arrogated. It may be well that ladies should know what it is to be continually having to put the hand in the breeches- pocket. — Punch,

. An Affair op Honour. — The Hampshire Independent says that Lord John Manners has accepted the Rev. Dr. M'Neile's challenge to meet the Rev. Canjn in Liverpool for explanation on the Papal question. This is the sort of challenge for Punch. How much more rational to fight with canons than with pistols !

The Harmonious Blacksmith.—Richard Cobden desires to assure the world in general, and England in particular, that, as " The Harmonious Blacksmith," he is prepared to bend swords into sickles — to turn bayonets into dibbles — to fashion helmets into beehives — to adapt mortars to flower- pots — and in any and every other way to transform the old iron of Mars and Bellona to the uses of Ceres and Flora. An apprentice wanted. Any young man of the name of Palmerston particularly eligible. — Punch.

The Inquisition at Rome. — A correspondent of the New York Journal of Commerce writing from Italy, gives the following thrilling description of a few of the horrors of the inquisition :—: — *' In Turin I met the American Consul of Rome, who had passed through the entire revolution in the Eternal City, and who waß present when the doors and dungeons of the Inquisition were opened by the decree of the Triumvirs, ite prisoners released, and the building converted into an asylum for the poor It was interesting to hear from the lips of an intelligent eye-witness the most ample confirmation of the published statements relative to the condition and appearance of this iniquitous establishment. The Holy Inquisition of Rome is situated near the Porta Cavalligeri, and under the very shadow of the sublime dome of St. Peter's Cathedral, and capable, in case of emergency, of accommodating 3,000 prisoners. The consul was particularly struck with the imposing dimensions of the 'Chamber of Archives,' filled with voluminous documents, records, and papers. Here were piled all the proceedings and decisions of the Holy Office from the very birth of the Inquisition, including the correspondence with its collateral blanches in both hemispheres. Upon the third floor, over a certain door, was an inscriution to this effect : — • Speak to the first Inquisitor.' Over another — ' Nobody enters this chamber, except on pain of excommunication.' They might an well have placed over that door the well- remembered inscription of Dante over the gates of Tartarus — ' Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.' That chamber was the solemn Hall of Judgment, or Doom Room, where the fates of thousands have been sealed in death. Over a dcor directly opposite, another inscription read — ' Speak to the second Inquisitor.' Upon opening the door of that department a trap-door was exposed, from which the condemned, after they left the Hall of Judgment, stepped from time to eternity. The well or pit beneath had been built in the ordinary cylindrical form, and was at least 60 feet deep, and so ingeniously provided with projecting knives and cutlasses, that the bodies of the victims must have been dreadfully mangled in the descent. At the bottom of this abyss quantities of hair and beds of mouldering bones remained. Not only at the bottom of the pit, but also in several of the lower chambers of the building, were found human bones. In some places they appear to have been mortared into the walls. The usual instruments of torture in such establishments were likewise manifest. The consul presented me with a bone which he brought with him as a memorial of his visit. The Pope fled from Rome on the 24th of November, 1848."

A country schoolmaster one day announced to his pupils that en examination would soon take place. "If yon are examined in geography," said he, •• you will surely be asked of what shape is the earth ; and if you should not remember, just look at me, and I will show you my snuff-box, to re mind you that it is round." Unfortunately, the schoolmaster had two snuff-boxes — a round one, which he only used on Sunday, and a square one, which he carried during the week. The fatal day having arrived, and the question asked, the ben replied, glancing at the magister, who at once pointed to his snuff-box, " Sir, 'tis round on Sunday, and square every other day in the week !"