Scientific Miscellany.

Pahiatua Star and Eketahuna Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 171, 10 February 1888, Page 2

Scientific Miscellany.

(F'rorn our American correspondent).

Decimal, Units.—As tho metric system of weights and measures grows in universal favor, the need of a uniform decimal currency and of a decimal system of time measurement is becoming generally felt. Most countries already possess some form of decimal money, and even England is waking up to the adv antages of decimal units. A recent scheme for decimalising the pound sterling was well supported, the plan being to adopt tho mill as the unit and divide tlio sovereign into 1000 mills, thus making tho half-sovereign equal to 500 mills, tho crown 250, tho double florin 200, the half-crown 125, the florin 100. the shilling 50, aud the sixiwnce 25. In Wiesbaden a step in decimal time-keeping has been taken. A new clock divides the day into 10 hours, the hour into 10decades, tiie decade into 10 minutes, the minute into 10 s-cunds, and the second into 10 rays.. Similar units tako the place of the usual degrees, minutes, and secoiids in the division of the circle. Pneumonia Explained. —lt is generally stipjiosed that pneumonia is due to the accidental penetration of specific microbes into the system, but the observations of M. Jaccoud. a French student of the subject. show that the disease really results from the development under ‘ favorable conditions of microbic gertus present m the system. A chief condition

of such (Icvelofunent in a utitMen chill. ; which ejcj'l »m« tlio fivqueul coincidence of ' hmg ntfootions with abrupt change* of i temperature. A Developing Akt.—iVobablj no np* • plication of ncieuce ia tidv.inrinj' more rn t »ull v than photography. Among roc on t i appliances are a detective camera in the j form of a watch, with a charm to hoM a eapply of imniaturu ilry-plates, anti a telescopic camera iu winch distant objects are brought near bv telescopic aid ami photographed. Modern drv-pDtca have ; Uiade thu camera quite avaJaole at uigiit, ; and exquisite picture* are now' takeu by j moonlight and even by starlight. Dw kllkrh is DtUKHSKi.—The cave a.iiiuais of North Ann r»cs, according to Proli 'v'Hir A. 8. Packard, comprise a total ot 17 J species of blind creatures, nearly all i of which are mostly white in color. Tracing thk Circulation.—Starting with the idea that tiie hand varies sen* i sibly in size with the amount of bloo 1 present in itut any moment, ProfvMs.>r \f» >. .<», the Italian physiologist, lias made some most interesting investigatioua In his first experiments the hand was placed ui a closed vessel of water, when the change in the circulation produced by the slightest action of body or brain, the smailost thought or movement, was shown by a rise or fall in the liquid in the narrowneck of the vessel. With a largo balance on which the horizontal human body may be poised, lie has found that one’s thoughts may be literally weighed, and that even dreams, or the effect of a slight sound during slumber, turn the blood to the brain sufficiently to sink the balance at the head. When the brain of the balanced person is relaxing from thought the flow is toward the feet, with a corresponding oscillation. The investigation lias continued his studies of the circulation until it seems that ho may almost read one’s thoughts and sensations. A tracing from a single pulse-beat shows him whether a person is fasting or not} two beats serve to determine w hether the subject is a thinking or a heedless one, , whether arleep or awake, cold or warm, Agitated or calm. The changing pulse even told him when a professional friend was reading Italian and when Greek, the i greater effort for the latter duly alfocting | the blood-flow. Work of Five Years. —Prof. J. A ! Fleming, English electrician, shows that 1 in 1882 and electric dynamo for 1200 j lights weighed l-t,H2O pounds, the arma--1 turc weighed 9(500 pounds, the space occuj pied was 320 cubic feet, the horse power I required was 155, and the commercial eflii e’eney wasG7 percent. The 1887 machine, | with an armature of 1508 pounds, weighs 11,700 pounds, occupies about 180 cubic , feet, requires about 112 horse-power, and has a commercial efficiency of over 00 per ! cent. A given current cost one-fourth as ! much as in 1882. j A Curious Discovery.—ln the tartar | of teeth from skeletons of tlie stone age, Mr Chnrters White, of the Ondontological Society of Great Britain, has found specimens of the food eaten by our prehistoric ancestors 3000 years or more ago. The fragments iudentitied include portions of corn husks, spiral vessels from vegetables, starch husks, fruit cells, the point of a fish’s tooth, and bits of wool, feathers-and cartilage. Surgical Progress.—At two of the leading hospitals of Paris tbo death-rate • from amputations of all kinds has fallen from 50 per c?r.t in 1880 to about 13 per cent at present.