SCIENCE.

Evening Star, Issue 3773, 29 March 1875, Page 3

SCIENCE.

{From our own correspondent,) ■ . Paws, December 26. It a iresh drop of blood be examined with a magnifying glass it will be found to contain an innumerable number of atoms, flat in shape, yellowish-red in color, disseminated like fine dust in a liquid. These atoms are the globules of blood, and play an important part in health and life. The greater their number the more vigorous ought to be the body; and since graduu klass tubes enable the number of these globules to be counted in ten minutes, doctors have thus at their command a capital means for judging a patients’ system. The number of those globules not only differs in the case of each person, but varies with modes of life, kind of food, and the general conditions of existenoe, Ihe iron found m the blood fluctuates just as the globules do. Messrs Malassez and Picard have, conducted experiments in relation to the globules of blood and the presence of iron, ihe number of globules has been found greater or less.after meals, and according to the kind of food consumed; as alsoafterexerciseandperspiration—moreeepecially after the latter—and when dnnkingis avoided. Thisincrease may belargely attributed to the concentration of the blood, and the quantity of liquid expelled by perspiration, as the increase is also observable after a warm bath. Delicate persons will be happy to learn that residence near the seaside, or in the country, as compared with a city, augments the number of these globules by one-sixth, which implies an increase of strength and a better action of the organs. The number of globules is greater in winter than in summer, but, in any case, care must be taken not to confound the momentary with the permanent increase of these globules. After an hour’s transpiration the body can diminish by several pounds in weight. M. Picard found, that in the case of oxen and dogs, the quantity of iron in the blood depends on the health, and can, in many instances, be double, so widely does its presence vary; and that this quantity is in relation with respiration : that is to say, the better the respiration, the more of iron there will be in the blood, because the latter absorbs more oxygen, and the more robust will be the health, when the blood is rich both m blood and oxygen. Hitherto it was believed that the blood contained the largest quantity of iron, and then the muscles, lie spleen has now been found to possess the most, four times the amount found in the blood ; the liver ranks next, but its quantity never exceeds that present in the blood. The spleen would thus appear to be a reservoir of iron, the latter being put into circulation under the action of the oxygeniaed blood. As in winter the air is denser than in summer, and hence richer in oxygen in default of good air, the globules diminish, consequently when patients are prescribed tonics in the form of preparations of iron, their effect is very slight in the absence of wholesome air. Italian tourists will be glad to learn that the railway intended to deposit them within ninety yards of the crater of Mount Vesuvius will soon be made. From Naples to the foot of the mountain the distance is fifteen miles, and it will ostensibly serve for conducting provisions and produce to the market. The ascent proper of the mountain comprises a distance of threequarter? of a mile at least, and will be effected by means of a traction-train; a stationary engine hauling the carriages up the incline by means of a wire rope round a drum. The station will be under the lava, and in case of eruptions, which take place every four or five years, the molten lava will flow over the crater terminus. During the last exhibition of fine arts applied to industry, the visitor remarked °i n f n , ter * ng . t.* 16 building the “ mysterious clock, consisting chiefly of a glass dial very transparent, presenting no appearance of works, ’ and suspended by two wires in the air; these wires served no electric purpose, as might in the first impression be surmised. The astonishment was the greater when it was perceived that the hands, free but isolated on the glass to which they were affixed, could turn in every direction, balancing themselves in their o it if stopped by an indiscreet finger, and, when liberated, returning, not to the hour which it was, but to that which it ought to be, and continuing to regularly move, as if never obstructed. The hands themselves contain and conceal the works, and by an ingenious system ol unequal levers, to disturb the equilibrium, the motion is obtained. The minute hand is the pendulum, and at its base is a watch movementj which displaces a platina weight around the circumference of its box. The minute is then made to be the leader of the hour-hand by means of a wheel work. If the hands be put back or forward thirty minutes, thev will both return to their right position ; however, if rapidly turned, the minute-hand will resume its correct position, but the hour-hand will not. The principle is not new, but its application is original. The clock must be wound up every day, can be easily repaired, and is coming into very general use in public places of amusements, where it can be hung almost in space apparently by threads, and, being transparent, can be placed in a conspicuous position without being an eyesore.