Show scientific miscellany tile emperor of germany has bas conferred an order of knighthood upon sir jseph lister the eminent erAl nent british surgeon whose whoso antiseptic method of surgery has done donodeo so much for suffering humanity 0 A specimen of ancient dentis dentistry in t tha I 1 ia form of dental bridde bridgework bridge w work made ide by tho the etruscans Etrus cans in the t to fifth century c before christ has been discovered in an old burial place near civita vecchia by dr daj J G van marter of rome the parasitic character of diphtheria hae has been established by two investigators vesti gators klebs and loffler who have independently found organisms organist ni whirl have been proven by experiment on it guinea G binea pigs and birds tu to be tho the specific germs of the disease experiments rece recently made with wet et and dr dry y coal in the evaporation of water have shown that a loss of from fifteen to twenty five per cent results when coal is used while wet that t 11 at is the heating value valtie of coal ie in that much less when water is added an ali interesting interests inte resti rig exhibition of whale skeletons and 10 products has been been held in Ilan hamburg iburg Themos the most timp imposing osing exhibit xe hibit was the skeleton of the b blue I 1 ue whale the greatest animal on earth it measured 75 feet in length and was atas mounted in ill its natural position according to llerve canpon the system of telegraphic weather warn aan ings france was created by leverrier in 1855 in 1878 a central meteorological logical 11 bureau was war established and numerous observatories had been erected all over tile country while paris wa in telegraphic connection with 1500 stations in the opinion of sir john jan lawes a greater profit may be returned from froin sewage if cast bast into the sea than if applied to tho land laiad for the ther reason pason that sewage will vill supply the enormous enor mois quantities of of phosphate ate of line potash as and nitrogen n trog it which aich fishes require but which exist in the sea only illy in small quantities As much i 0 at least of these ese substances should be returned to the sea as aur fisheries take from ii il 1 BALLOONS is IN tit THE E SOUDAN CAMPAIGN tho the first attempts at ry ballooning are to be mado in africa three balloons having been sent out olit for the purpose of making captive ascenti ascents fur watching tho the movements A hundred or more iron C cylinders inders containing compressed compre sAed hydrogen dy f for r inflating e balloons form part of file the equipment and a gas factory and pumping station will be established at eakim for refilling these reservoirs re telephonic com munica mullica tion will be maintained between the balloons and the ground AN ax AGE OF 11 conw A variety of prehistoric objects in horn such as ams am hulets cups knives daggers buttons rings bracelets etc have been discovered in a stratum existing at a depth of about five feet in the mud of jake auenburg Nu enburg in switzerland the finder herr GJ Caiser believes them to be older than bronze 1 implements of the same localio lo locality calit and he be proposes to call the tile period period to which they belong the ago age of horn i it may well be doubted however whether wh ether the ancient lake people ever experienced an epoch for which such a name would woud be justified asuit as it is evident that sumo implement probably of stone or bronze must have been used in cutting the horn LUNG DISEASES 11 is WILD ANIMALS in the period from october 1881 to 1 the close of 1884 there died in the i gardens of the london zoological society mammals mami nals 1403 1408 birde and reptiles al maj r J bland sut j ton to states iu in a report to the logical society that of the deaths among mammals only five were from genuine gennino pulmonary tuberculosis 0 consumption showing that the general notion that wild animals in captivity are especially liable to that disease is erroneous error feotis of the mammals 1 03 were and of them I 1 thirty per cent had oilier other forma forms of pulmonary affections bronchitis at t tacks kaa a very great variety of animals but other well known chest diseases appear to be chiefly confined to certain groups the for instance arc very liable to double and an pneumonia e uni onla while ru Jil lantia have the peculiar disease known as Perl the so called bovine tuberculosis in birda birds is no nos a liability to inflammation of the air sacs which gives rise to peculiar exudations in which mould develops lops and spreads through tile inn TUB POLAR LIGHT FO following HOWing it up small experiments mado made in 1871 prof selim Lenist roii of odthe the finnish finnis i meteorological station at kyla lapland attempted in 1882 to produce an aurora ou a largo large scale from the electricity supposed tobe flowing from the air to the earth the means employed being a di ing apparatus consisting of anet a network of pointed wire condu conductor 1 etoris spread over the tile tops of a mountain insulated und and connected with a agal gal le ter aud the earth at tho the foot of the mountain A diffuse light which the tile showed to ba be identical with the aurora borealis w was as often seen hovering over the wires and on some sonie occasions roys became beame visible continuing hta his re searches in 1883 and 1884 professor Lein heinstrom strom now finds hita himself self able to asbert very positively po sit ively that the aurora borealis Bore alif which baa has long been a disputed enigma eni guia is the result of an at electric current rent and that thin current can vall be measured and studied by uy meads of hia 1118 di ing rig aa the zon of frequent in the nor northern therit hemisphere Is a narrow belt the mar mal betic pule p ip and crosslet crossl cros mt the me meridian of washington in latitude 56 and that of st in 71 W prof Leni linda the existence exis tenca of or a belt of terrestrial currents similar to trie licit belt of currents to bo be very pru bable tf |