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Show A tiny incandescent lamp is used for direct illumination. This Is readily Inserted In-serted Into the month or pharynx, aid when it is placed at the end of a tube, closed with a window in front of a mirror, mir-ror, the stomach Itself may be lighted op and shown to the eye. A SNAKE LABORATORY. A systematic stndy of snake poison le desired in India, the land of snakes. A new and Improved snake-house, to eon-tain eon-tain specimens of the principal poisonous poison-ous reptiles of the country, has been established es-tablished in the Calcutta Zoological Gardens, and it Is proposed to add a labortary for inquiries bearing upon the pathology of snake bite and related subjects, sub-jects, and for experimental tests of alleged al-leged remedies for snake bite. A new eleotrio appliance for surgeons Is intended to serre.as an extention of the finder nerves and all. It Is a hard rubber tnbe, enclosing a number of small wires, and Is to be attached to the finger-tip in internal operations, its design de-sign being to transmit substantially the sensations that would be experienced If the finger were in contact with the same snrfaees- The French Society of Photography have offered a silver medal to the inventor in-ventor of a eimDle and sure process of obtaining positives in the camera, and a similar reward to the inventor of a satisfactory process of artificial lighting for the product'on of instantaneous photographs In the studio. Communi' cation must be sent to the society In Paris, before the close of the year. ''Diamond paste," a composition for razor strops kept secret hitherto, is said to consist of coke, ground to an impalpable impalp-able powder, made Into a paste with fat, and perfumed with an ethereal oil. A factory at Nuremburg has celebrated the completion of its 300.000th model steam engine. It has also tamed ont more than 325,000 magic lanterns. In experiments with the drying oils, an insoluble oxy-compound termed "LinoIin"has been produced, which a Frenoh chemist regards as a useful substitute sub-stitute for caoutchone. A steel like grass from the volcanic slopes of Oran. Algeria, is said to be so elestic that It can be used instead of springs in the manufacture of furniture. Holland is considering the draining of the Zuyder Zee, a sheet of water covering 730 square miles. SCIENTIFIC ITEMS. HUMAN RUMINATION. ' ' ' A JTrench writer states that some per sons, .as Is-well known, have the power of regurgitating their food voluntarily, causing it to pees at will Instead of only in invluntary eructations from the stomach back te the mouth. This voluntary practice.or rumination, seems to be often hereditary, and men are more frequently addicted to it than women. It Is a physiological phenomenon, phenom-enon, which can be of use in studying the digestive functions; it is also a per. v nicious or at least an unpleasant habit-A habit-A distingished physiologist , wishing to " obtain some gastric juice from his own stomoch, swallowed a eponge attached to a thread, and set up a regurgitation that persisted for some time. Some practice rumintalon only after eating heartily. In this case it is a hygienic measure, but manyeeek the habit as a pleasure, the taste of the food, when the - stomach is healthy, being agreeable, or even, as one person has declared, sweeter and more delicious than honey. SCREENING THE AlRf A wet screen has been' found by Sir Douglas Galtonto be the only effective means of removing dirt and fog from a " large volume of air in ventillatlon. At the Western Tmfirmary, Glaseow, the air is renewed six times an hour,' and is first filtered and washed by passage through a screen of horse-hair and hemp. A flushing tank automatically dischargee twenty gallons of water over this screen every hour, thoroughly ' washing It. By this method every vestige ves-tige of fog and dust is filtered out. NEW LIGHT IN MEDICINE.. Thanks to a recent development of apparatus depending on the use of the electric light the physician may now al -most literally look through his patleuts body. The interior of the mouth, the pharynx, the stomach, the eye and the ear. may be illuminated by the direc introduction of the source of light into the organs or by the reflection' of the light. And not only are interior sur faces shown but the . translneency of thin layers of flesh makes certain mor bid changes such as those of the gums and roots of the teeth visible by the aid of the light shining through them. |