While encamped near the Muir Glacier for seven weeks of last summer, Mr. H. B. Loomis and Prof. Muir watched the formation of icebergs. The dropping of the blocks from the terminal wall occurred at very irregular intervals of five minutes to an hour, the fall of no less than 129 having been heard one day in 12 hours. At es, especially in heavy rains, the reports rided in cap, at a distance of " mile, ike those of a thunderstorm or cannonade, Sometimes the detached block bursts into fragmenta, and falls like a cascade, At another time a block sinks unbroken into the water, rises, perhaps 250 feet, even with the top of the glacier, then topples over on its side with a heavy roar, throwing spray all directions, and wallows among the other icebergs, like a gigantic animal.
A study of the effects of excessive coffee-drinking haa been made by Dr, Mendel, of Berlin, among the working population of Essen, Prussia, The women there ure exceptionally fond of coffee, many of them using individually more than'a poundaweek, Among the effects produced are profound depression, headache, insomnia, partial loss of power over the muscles, increasing aversion to labour, irregular action of the heart, and dyspepsia. Acute inflammation is likely to occur. Too great use of coffee not only gives rise to these symptoms, but seems to an appetite for opium and alcohol.
Slight variations in the latitude of place:
yo beau cbesrved, and s ensue has' be pointed out by M. R. Radan to the Paris Academy of Sciences. The movements of the sea, as well as certain meteorological phenomena, may produce small d of the earth's axis, calculation showing that 'a mass of water 500 cubic miles in size could produce an effect large enough to be observed.
A number of doctors have been sent by the Russian Government to Asia Minor to test the treatment of cholera by Feruba Sambul, a herb of Turkestan which pos-node properties, The experience gained in Birmingham indicates that compressed air may prove in some cases of scarcely less importance than electricity asa means of distributing motive power. According to Professor Lupto the air from the street mains may be app! ed to either light or heavy work, the now used by consumers in Birming.
ing from one-half to 50 horsepower in size. The loss by friction through travelling by pipes is slight, even at a di tance of two miles, and the indicated horsepower at some of the places served is as much as 73 per cent. of that at the compressing station. The compressed air may used for driving electric lighting machinery or for working street railway 'A significant fact in connection with the school statistics of Munich is that defective ight is shown to increase gradually with the advance of the pupils. An official report states thatin 1889 these schools had total of 996 boys and 1,331 girls with imperfect vision. Of every 1,000 boys in the firat, or elementary, class, "36 were shortsighted; in the second, 49; in the third, 70; in the fourth, 94; in the fifth, 108 in the sixth, 104; and in the seventh, 108. The number of shortsighted buys, therefore, increased about threefold from the first class to the seventh. The increase among the girls was from 37 to 119 per 1,000.
completed at the Duddon estuary, on the A novel engineering work has just been English coast. A valuable hematite mine extended out under the sea, and in order to work it a barrier two-thirds of a mile long and 50 feet high for about half the Length has been constructed. The sea thus shut out from about 26 acres, on which, estimated, the mining be continued for 25 years with a force of about 1,500 men.
Compressed carbonic acid gas is now used og shipboard for freezing meat, brine being cooled by the expanding gas and circulated in pipes. On. a steamer which carried 39,000 carcases of mutton to Liverpool from South America, the meat was kept in excellent condition with a saving of four-fifths of the former coal consumption for working the refrigerating machinery.
Dr. McPherson states that it has been conclusively proved that distilled water is ofa blue colour, A demonstration of the fact may be had by lowering into water a metal tube, open at the top and closed at the bottom with a clear glass plate, close to a white object 20 feet below the surface, Looked at through the tube, this object hasabeautiful blue colour, whereas it would appear yellow if its colour were due to light reflected by suspended particles in the water.
Curious persons may like to test the accuracy of some observations by Dr. Tore, an Austrian physician, He asserts that persons sting by bees are exempt for several months from the effects of further stinging, protection being afforded in the same manner that vaccination protects from small-pox. He has also noticed that many stings are required to affect sufferers from acute rheumatism, but that after evidence of poisoning the persons are. not only secure from further stings but from the rheumatism itself.
'A medical student of Havana has exper mented with various forms of phosphorus for patients suffering fron: fracture. Ho ras that its uso makes union quicker and inner, the best results having been noticed in patients who took from an eighth toa quarter of " grain of phosphide of zine Tt has been suggested that a way living 80 a8 to change the colour of the hair inay be discovered by a study of the influence of food and habit among people of different: nationalities, Dr. C. M. Cresson claims to have found typhoid bacilli incelery grown near Philadelphia; and Mr. C, A. Abbott has recorded observations on bacteria found in the interior of large hailstones that fell on April 26, 1890.
A French electrician has constructed a Wimshurst machine having 12 glass di each £9} inches in diameter. The machin give spark 16}
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.