Show scientific miscellany kisr allany it has been predicted by lord kel kearl that in four or five centuries it will come difficult to live on account of scant supply of oxygen in the aan at phere fortunately as a french w wi er points out there are other oxy mines besides beald the atmosphere th thanks to signer garutti and the c mo works in italy switzerland I 1 belgium are already obtaining oa 0 by electrolysis from water at a c less than half a cent per cuble cubic fk there are now many uses for the oats gen as also for the hydrogen obtains at the same time the appala which successfully overcomes the difficulties of securing free clr culat the electrolyte and at the same tt avoiding the liability of the r fr gases to mix is very simple the el consisting of a tank of at plate divided into cells by dia di aphra having very small apertures aper tures near bottom the metallic walte walls offer mb resistance to the curren current C 7 apertures aper tures permit the water ater to td ea 1 1 1 freely but tie bubnes bubbles are too lw 1 1 1 to pass and the gases cannot mix mft fal alternate ternate cells those lavin havluy 9 the polarity are connected with the eter tor for oxygen or hydrogen water is contaminated by lead pipes pays herr liebrich a german chemist through rough the joint action of the oxygen of the air and carbonato car bonito acid but this action tion is greatly retarded if the water contains bicarbonate of lime this however does not entirely prevent the dissolving of lead the quantity of lead ead taken up while the water is in active circulation is extremely small but it is liable to become very botic able ble in water that has stood in pipes all night and to basure complete free j dom dam from lead it is recommended commended re that ear carbonate bonate of soda be used in quantity sufficient to fix the carboni earbon ic dc alcid without rendering the water alkaline the thrilling discovery of a survivor of et an earlier geological epoch must I 1 arouse active search for others to be captured or preserved living the four modern spec specimens known of new zea lands flightless rail the were killed in the years 1849 1851 1879 and 1898 the flashes of bluish white light seen in ho the dark when pieces of sugar are grubbed abbed to gether have been studied by mr john burke an english physicist vy by rotating a loat loaf of sugar on a lathe against a hammer he has obtained almost continuous enabling man hion to observe and photograph the spectrum the light appears to toe be a result of some change in the crystals and not to be due to h heating eating or to chemical action between sugar and air A remarkable remark atole dwarf pine from green mountain Moun near boulder colo co lo Is ia re IT ported 0 arted 1 by prof bessey to ibe be only five T inches 1 1 hes high and a fifth of an inch through with a single tuft of leaves yet to show 25 rings t the possible extent of the spread of disease by the animals about us is still a matter of conjecture only while it more than probable that atoa a and other diseases are distributed ty by domestic animals good reason has been found for believing that the I 1 plague was introduced into calcutta utta by rats and while mosquitoes probably aculeate the blood with disease germs it now appears that flies may cary death in other ways the last jamea jiu comes from mid surrey two deaths from ptomaine poisoning ing were attributed by the coroners jury to eat hw lamb which was apparently sound and good but which had been placed ig a larder containing putrid tongue 4 nd as the two were not in close anity the anaT an alvIst vist believes that flies files rought brought the poison from the tongue to the lamb the obvious moral is that flies should be kept from larders and meat stores i the success in preserving dead bodies that has been achieved by a naples maples burgeon surgeon dr E manint has excited the wonder of european physicians he uses lases a adries aeries of special baths without or injunction the first of the othree ahree stages is provisional IB faich keeps the body in a condition ator ready dissection by the anatomist second is giving the hardness of marble in a few hours and the third is the restoration of l urill color flexibility and freshness that the subject appears to be sim ift sleeping ble f A hairless adult rat of a brownish color ts Is a new marvel in a museum at eng fe A recent distribution of a halfton half halt ton of lideh to the soldiers at camp wykoff possessed greater significance than the sual observer would suspect this incident possibly marked the opening of an important new industry one that prot prof baird believed would date from 1881 but which for fifteen years yeara has been abandoned the fish were newly discovered specimens of a lost species this species was the tilefish tile fish which was first described from froim specimens taken in 1879 oft off the southern coast of nantucket in 1881 was found to exist in great numbers and early in 1882 seemed to have disappeared as a result of some strange fatality that strewed the sea over an area of by 25 miles with millions and millions of its dead a conservative estimate placing the number at more than at 10 pounds per fish this wound would have given pounds of fish to every man woman and child in the united states por for ten years thereafter no trace of the tilefish tile fish was found and the singular story of its extermination was often told but in 1892 a search of two months yielded eight specimens in 1893 and 1897 a few others were obtained and in august of this year the grampus Grami pus the scientific vessel from woods holl succeeded in capturing cap buring a considerable number about 60 miles south of block island according to prof bumpus and in a trip in september it took more than weighing over pounds the hope is again justified therefore that the tilefish tile fish flah will become an important source of our food supply the range of the species seems very limited present determinations showing it to cover only a tract of sea bottom about miles mile long by 10 to 15 wide in water near the fathom line while progress in civilization has brought greater care of human life there is yet a prodigal waste dr A hill vice chancellor of cambridge university states that one fourth of all the diseases that destroy life are absolutely preventable and that if the practice of hygiene were only on a level with its theory the average longevity would be raised at once from 50 to 65 years the greater number of diseases over which the ithe individual has control axe are due to mistakes in eating and drinking one purpose yet to attain is a more exact knowledge by every citizen of the causes and properties of ven tible diseases but birt it is hardly surprising that the knowledge is still so slight when even medical men hardly realized the contagious character of consumption twenty years ago although one third of the cows in eng lond axe are and half the milk ald id distributes the bac cillus of tuber su ul losis osis |