Scientific and Useful.

Western Star, Issue 861, 19 July 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

Scientific and Useful.

THE EARTHQUAKE. One noteworthy result of the recent earthquake in Essex is the rise of water level in the wells of Colchester. Within a short time after the shock the level had risen sft above the highest ever known, and on the Sunday after the event it had risen to Bft, and has remained since at a permanent rise of about 7ft. ELECTRICITY “ DIRECT.” Mr Edison has been interviewed recently, and after giving tbe reporter some interesting figures as to the number of applications for the electric light that cannot be met, seems to have astonished him by the highly original remark that “we want to get electricity from coal direct, without the intervention of boiler and engine ” —and also dynamos, Mr Edison thinks it is " surely possible.” COLOUR-BLINDNESS. Recent examinations of bodies of men as to colour-blindness reveal a fact which, though well known, is strangely neglected. Amongst a large number of French seamen a high per centage were coloured-blind, and Professor Holmgren, who recently examined 266 employes of a Swedish railway, found eighteen who suffered from the defect. While coloured lights are used to so great an extent for signalling on railways as well as at sea, it is at least of the first importance that the officials should satisfy themselves as to the capability of those whose duty it is to watch the signals to interpret them correctly. PINE EXTRACT FOB BATHING It has long been recognised that the atmosphere of pine forests has an invigorating and beneficial effect upon people with weak constitutions and suffering from pulmonary disorders. At some of the watering places of Germany the very simple prescription of the physician is that the patient should spend several hours a day walking or riding through the pine wood. This simple treatment is sometimes supplemented by the taking of pine baths, and in the case of kidney diseases and for delicate children this is claimed to be highly beneficial. , The bath is prepared by simply pouring into the water about half a tumblerful of an extract made from the fresh needles of the pines. A FAB CRT. An achievement in telegraphy is reported by the “ Telegraphist,” whose representative recently paid a visit to the offices of the Indo-European Telegraph Company in Old Broad street, and was put into communication with the clerk in charge at Bmden. After a few signals the line was opened to Odessa, and afterwards to Teheran. At the suggestion of the operator at Teheran, Kurrachee was called, and the signals still found clear and good. Kurrachee opened the line to Agra, and Agra switched on the line to Calcutta, and to the surprise of all concerned, the Calcutta clerk asked, “ Are you really London?” The signals were really excellent, and the speed not less than 12 words a minute. The total length was 7000 miles of wire. THE ZODIACAL LIGHT. The cause of the luminous phenomenon known as the zodiacal light has long been the subject of speculation, and numerous hypotheses have been suggested to account for it. A correspondent of Cosmos les Monies regards the entire phenomenon as one of the reflection of light. What we observe is nothing but the reflection of that part of the earth which is illuminated shortly before the sun rises and after it sets. In order to understand this we must assume that the earth is surrounded for a Certain distance by a comparatively dense envelop of gas, beyond which the latter exists in a state of great attenuation. We therefore have two media of different density which influence the rays of light in the well known way, refracting them up to a certain limiting angle of incidence, beyond which total reflection takes place. COMPARATIVE STRENGTH OF ANIMALS. A flea can jump 200 times its length; therefore a horse, were its strength proportioned to its weight, could leap the Rocky Mountains, and a whale could spring 200 leagues in height. An Amazon ant walks about 8 feet per minute, but if the progress of a human Amazon were proportioned to her larger size, she could stride over eight leagues in an hour; and if proportioned to her greater weight, she would make the circuit of the globe in about 12 minutes. This seems greatly to the advantage of the insect. What weak creatures vertebrates must be, is the impression conveyed. But the work increases as the weight. In springing, walking, swimming, or any other activity, the force employed has first to overcome the weight of the body. A man can bound a height of two feet, and he weighs as much as one hundred thousand grasshoppers, while a hundred thousand grasshoppers could leap no higher than one —say a foot. This shows that the vertebrate has the advantage. A man represents the volume of fifteen millions of ants, yet can easily move more than 300 feet a minute —a comparison which gives him forty times more power, bulk for bulk, than the ant possesses. Yet were all the conditions compared, something like equality would probably be the result. WASHING OUT THE STOMACH. The practice of treating patients suffering from chronic dyspepsia, who resist .the influence of regulated diet and of drugs, by washing out the stomach, which originated some years ago in Vienna, has recently taken root in America, and has formed the subject of a short paper by Dr W. B. Platt, in the ‘ Maryland Medical Reporter ’ of March 8, 18s4. We are there informed that cases moat intractable to all other treatments have quickly yielded to this means. The principle underlying the treatment is to keep the stomach clean, and so far as is possible at rest, for a time sufficient to allow of its complete recovery. The operation should be performed in the morning, before breakfast. A soft, red rubber tube is passed gently down into the stomach quite to the pylorus; with this is connected about a yard of common flexible tubing and a glass funnel, which is held on a level with the patient’s breast, and tepid water is poured slowly into the funnel until a sensation of fulness is experienced; the funnel is then depressed to the level of the waist, and the fluid allowed to syphon out. The process is repeated until the water returns quite clear. The washing should be repeated every day for a week or ten days, and during that time the diet should be restricted to milk or a little meat; then the washing may be done every second or tbird day, and finally abandoned at the end of three weeks. The advantages claimed for this method are that it is efficacious, simple, and safe, and it certainly is worth a trial in intractable cases of chronic dyspepsia, a disease whicti makes its victims a burden to themselves and their friends, and hitherto has brought but little credit to physicians,— Lancet.