SCIENCE NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2325, 22 September 1898, Page 54

SCIENCE NOTES.

—In an unclassified plant, probably indigenous to the everglades of Florida, exists one of the most perfect antidotes extant for the various forms of the morpliine habit. It is known by the name of husa, and is of a dirty, whitish-green colour, about two or three inches long. It has at its summit a ball - like white formation, where the flower should be. This is hard, slightly lobulated, and is to all appearances like a small cauliflower. It grows in clumps in moist shady places, particularly on the hammocks at the roots of the cabbage palms. It is of

a low order of plants, above the mosses ; it [ is, I believe, a cryptogram. It is possibly ! indigenous to the everglades, for I hunted • for it in vain in many large hammocks in ■ Florida. From Dr MacGregor I learned j that it is a perfect antidote for all snake i bites, stings of insects, etc. ; also an antidote for narcotic poisons. It is the most diffusible stimulant known, acting immediately. I have subjected the plant to various tests, and found it an infallible cure for the opium habit. It takes the place of opium or morphine. Supporting the patient fully, it is sedative but not narcotic. It produces slight elation, but no somnolent effect. To . use the illustration of one physician who 1 cured himself of the opium habit with it, a habit of 23 years' standing, one who was using 40 grains of morphine sulphate daily : " It makes a man feel just as easy and comfortable as one feels after a satisfying meal. ■ As soon as I learned its properties, I sent some of the husa plant to several doctors I knew who used morphine ; they one and all pronounced it ' a perfect success.' I have never known of a failure when the patient wanted to be cured. In the hands of a careful plrysician, this remedy will be found efficient in the worst cases of drug addiction." , — W. W. Winthrop, M.D., in the Texas Courier-Record of Medicine. — Lieutenant John M. Ellicot, U.S.N., contributes to the August " St. Nicholas " an. article on "The Cradle of Cyclones." Lieutenant Ellicot says : To get an idea of a cyclone's formation, imagine a large circular pan or tub with quite a large hole in the middle of its bottom. With this hole plugged, fill the vessel with water ; then draw out the plug, and watch. There is first a rush of water from all directions toward the hole, and a turbulent effort to get through. Then the water surface above begins to sink and swirl, the particles gradually circling around and around, and rushing ever faster, toward the centre. At lasl there is actually a hollow space through the centre, around which all the water in the tub is whirling, sluggishly near the rim, but. with more and more violent rapidity towards the middle, until it rushes downward through the bottom. Now, if that water were air, you would bo watching a little cyclone turned upside down, for the air rushes upward instead of downward. In the cradle of cyclones during summer months, when the land and the water grow hotter and hotter because of the longer days than nights, a layer of air, hot, light, and full of j vapour, is for a time held down by denser ] air above it. Restless, expanding tumulj tuous, it moves about like a beast at bay until a thinner place in the air above is found. Then up it madly rushes, and into the vacuum left behind the lower atmosphere ; hastens from all directions, pushing and I twisting and pouring upward until it has j fallen into a regular spinning around a comj mon centre. The cyclone, once formed, , rushes away from the tropics toward the pole, and begins its career of destruction,

bruising, wrecking, and sinking the luckless ships which happen to be in its path. More end more of the surrounding atmosphere is drawn into the whirl, until the storm often covers an area nearly a thousand miles in diameter. Sometimes it flings itself upon our Atlantic coast, and tears fiercely through forests, fields, and cities. Then, again, it ■sweeps away across the broad ocean, and dashes itself upon the coasts of Europe. Once in a while it so adroitly avoids the land that we never know it has passed until ships come in torn and broken. — The new self-recording ship's register should put an end to disputes as to orders between captain and engineers. The instrument consists of a pair of drums carrying a ribbon of paper, which slowly unwinds from one and is wound on the other. As each signal is sent down, whether it be for full speed ahead or half speed, or what not, it is stamped on the nobon. The second, minute, hour, and day being all printed on the slip, an incontrovertible record is kept of the moment when eivch signal was made J during the voyage. —It is announced that Mr C. O'Sullivan, principal chemist at Bass's brewery, has perfected some important experiments in connection with the discovery of a valuable food in brewers' and distillers' yeast. The new food is said to be in appearance, flavour, composition, and character similar to the ordinary meat extracts, but is essentially a vegetable product, and is practically prepared from malt and hops, while there is nothing employed in its preparation which is not a product of the vegetable kingdom. — "The observation is made by Widal and Nobecourt," says the " Pharmaceutical Era," " that certain animal organs possess antitoxic powers. Thus, the brain and spinal marrow of healthy rabbits neutralise the toxic effects of strj-chnine and morphine, while the suprarenal ' capsule's are antidotes for nicotine, the liver in phosphorus poisoning. While blood and its serum are totally indifferent in this respect, the nerve substance has the most profound effect of all organs." — Signor Marconi, the brilliant AngloItalian, whose wireless telegraphy set the whole world agog not long since, bids fair to surpass himself. He claims to have discovered the means of blowing up the most powerful ironclad oi torpedo at a distance of some 20 miles without- the help of explosives of any description, his only stipulation being that the object of attack has a powder "" magazine, and is heavily coated with metal — the thicker the better. His plan is this: He sets two spear-shaped wires on some high eie\ation, such as a turret or masthead. These are connected with a powerful dynamo fixed on the ground. So soon as the ironclad is sighted the. points of the wire are focussed towards it, "and the dynamo is set in motion. The electric waves discharged from the wires sweep through the air until attracted by the ironclad, which acts as an electric accumulator. After a few minutes, varying in length with the strength of the dynamo, the charge on the ship is so great that sparks begin to fly from all quarters, and particularly inside the* powder magazine, with its iron walls. The result need not be told. Signor Marconi has already proved its practical working powers at a distance of four miles and a-half, and, of course, the distance is of no account given a strong enough dynamo. — A complete revolution would take place in the ceramic industry if a new process called "Thonguss"(clay casting) should be successful. The mass is not, as heretofore, worked cold upon the potter's lathe or pressed into a mould, but is finely ground after careful drying, then melted at about plus 3215deg C. in an electric furnace and poured in a heated, fireproof casting mould. Glazing becomes unnecessary in most cases, if the walls of the mould are. sufficiently smooth. Otherwise it is allowed to cool off after the solidification of the cast to about plus 1860deg C, and finely powdered glass is thrown on in a uniform, thin layer. The advantage of the new process is said to consist (aside from the considerably reduced cost) in an almost complete prevention of the unforeseen shrinking of the mass on cooling ; so that henceforth instruments of precision and accurately divided measuring vessels of every description can also be made from porcelain. By means of a still unpublished process — viz., the admixture of a suitable substance to the melted clay, the inventor expects to render the cooled mass pliablemalleable—and also to make a remelting considerably more difficult. A difficulty which still remains unsolved with the clay casting method is the coloured decoration. Solid coloured designs, such as the much employed onion pattern, can be readily pressed with suitable stamps on the melting glass layer which forms with the said glazing method ; but one has not been successful, for instance, to produce in clay casting the popular coffee cups decorated with flowers by hand painting.—Neueste Erfindungen und Erfahrungen.