Show DECIMAL UNITS As the metric system of weights and measures grows in universal favor tho 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 advantages of decimal units A recent scheme for decimal izing the pound sterling was well supported the plan being to adopt the mill as the unit and divide the sovereign into 1000 mills thus making the half sovereign equal mills the crown the double florin the half crown the florin i the shilling 50 and the sixpence 25 in wiesbaden Wies baden a stepin decimal time keeping has been taken A new clock divides the day into 10 hours the hour into 10 decades the decade into 10 minutes the minute into 10 seconds and the second into 10 rays similar units take the place of the usual degrees minutes and seconds in the division of tho circle PNEUMONIA EXPLAINED it is generally supposed that pneumonia is due to the accidental penetration of specific microbes mic robes into the system but the observations of M jaccoud a french student of the subject show that tho disease really results from the development under favorable conditions of germs permanently present in the system A chief condition of such development is a sudden chill which explains the fre quent coincidence of lung affections with abrupt changes of temperature DWELLERS re DARKNESS the cave animals of north america according to prof A S packard comprise a otal of species of blind creatures nearly all of which are mostly white in color TRACING THE starting with the idea that the hand varies sensibly in size with the amount of blood present in it at any moment prof mosso the italian physiologist has made some most interesting investigations in his first experiments tho hand was placed in a closed vessel of water when the change in the circulation produced by tho sh chiesl action of body or brain the smallest thought or movement was shown by a rise or fall in the liquid in tha narrow neck of tho vessel with a largo balance on which the horizontal human may be poised he has found that ones thoughts may be literally weighed and that even dreams or the effect of a slight sound during slumber turn the blood to tho brain sufficiently to sink tho balance at the head ahen flie anun of the balanced gereon is relating from thought the flow ia toward the feet wiatt a corresponding oscillation the I 1 investigator has continued his studies oe tho circulation until it seems that ho may almost read ones thoughts and sensations A tracing from a single pulse beat shows him whether a person is fasting or not two beats servo to determine whether the s abject is a or a heedless one whether asleep or awake eold or warm agitated or calm the changing pulse even told him when a professional fess ional friend was reading italian and when tho greater effort for the latter duly the blood flow WORK or FIVE prof J A fleming the english electrician shows that in 1882 an electric dynamo for 1200 lights weighed the armature weighed pounds the space occupied was cubic feet 1 ibe horsepower horse power required the commercial efficiency was 7 per cent the 1887 machine with an armature of pounds weight pounds occupies about ISO cubic feet requires about horse power and has a commercial efficiency of over 90 per cent A given current costs one fourth aa much as in 1882 A CURIOUS DISCOVERY in the tartar of from skeletons of the stone age mr charters white to logical society of great Britain has found specimens of the food eaten by our prehistoric ancestors years or more ago the fragments identified include portions of corn husks spiral vessels from vegetables starch husks fruit cells alie point of a fichs fishs tooth and bib of wool feathers and cartilage SURGICAL at two of the leading hospitals of paris the death rate from imputations amputations of all kinds has fallen from 50 per cent in 1880 to about ja per cent at present |