SCIENCE NOTES.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 40, 8 March 1884, Page 5

SCIENCE NOTES.

A simple method of destroying the inconvenient stickiness of varnishes has been devised by Mr Reinhardt, which consists in placing the article in a closed vessel or chamber where it can be exposed to the action of ozoaniscd air in motion. The " Gazette Hebdomadaire " publishes the results of a series of investigations, continued for 80 years, into the composition of the Paris atmosphere. It was found to hold in suspension cotton, hemp, wool, hair, down, pollen, starch, particles of skin, carbon, silex, and various salts, iron, dead insects, ova of infusoria, and especiaMy spores of cryptograms and bacteria. Aniline colours obtained by means of the electro-chemical process announced some time since by a Swiss chemist, have, it seems, passed a satisfactory examination by Paris experts, and the method of production is believed to presont some practical advantages which may lead to its introduction. Pipes of steel plate have come i'lto use in England for conveying water under high pressure. The plates are coated with lead on both sides by immersion or otherwise, then rolled to form, rivited, soldered the whole length, and covered with pitch. Aiu tic Observations. — The scientific parties that were stationed about two years ago around the world near tho Arctic circle, for the purpose of making simultaneous observations, have nearly all returned homo. The English party from Fort Rae, on Great Slave lalce, probably arrived in England a day or two ago. Germany has relieved her party, who were stationed in Cumberland Sound, in Davis Straits. The Swedish observers in Ice Fiord, Spitsbergen, have gone home, after a successful winter's work. The Austro-Hungarian observers on Jan Maven, three hundred and fifty miles southwest of Spitsbergen, reported upon their return that last winter was a very mild season there. Tho Norwegians have relieved (heir paity at Bosekoss, in Lapland, and our observers at Point Barrow have returned home. The Dutch party that went out in the Varna, bound for the mouth of the Yenesei, never reached their destination. Nothing has been heard from Lieutenant Gieelev or from the Russian stations at Moller Bay, NovayaZemlia, and at the mouth ot tho Lena river. Scientists will be greatly interested in reading and comparing the forthcoming reports of those international observers. Pukk Wateii a Nkufsmtv. — Pure water is tho great necessity of life. The blood contains about 7S per cent, of water, and a large quantity must be taken to supply the evaporation from the body. Any solid matter it contains, or any other impurity, not only finds its way to the blood very soon but is concentrated there and very quickly causes disturbance. A striking instance of tho effect of impure water is given by the fact that the water of the holy well of Mecca, which is frequented by millions of pilgrims who camp around it for the purpose of drinking from it, contains in each gallon 370 grains, or one and a quarter ounces of organic matter, and is seven times worse than the flow from the sewers of a great city. The consequence is that this poisonous filth produces that fatal disorder known as the Asiatic cholera, which is carried by these pilgrims to their homes, whence it sweeps contagiously over the world. Tin: Pulse of Animals.— ln horses the pulse beats forty time, in an ox from fifty to fifty-five, and in sheep and pigs about seventy to eighty beats per minute. It may be felt wherever a large artery crosses a bone. It ib generally examined in the horse on the cord which crosses over the bone of the lower jaw and in front of its curved position, or in the bony ridge above the eye ; and in the cattle over the first rib ; in sheep, by placing the hand on the left side, where the beating of the heart may be felt. Any material variation of the pulse from the figure? given above may be considered a sign of disease. If rapid, hard and full it is an indication of high fever or inflammation ; if rapid, small and weak, low fever, loss of blood and weakness. If slow, the probabilities point to brain disease ; and if irregular, to heart trouble. This is one of the principal and sure tests of the health of an animal. The Planet Venus. — It will be remembered that one of the most beautiful ] ihenomena of the transit of Venus was the appearance of the planet's atmosphere, which surrounded its dark globe like a ring of silver. Unfortunately, this atmosphere of Venus, or the clouds which iloat in it, reflect the rays of the sun so dazzingly that very little of the planet's surface can be seen from the earth. There is reason to believe that if Aye could penetrate with our telescopes the splendid envelope of light surrounding Venus some very interesting discoveries might be made, for in many particulars the condition" of Venus closely resembles that of the earth, and she is very nearly of the same size as the earth. Reasoning from certain analogies it appears that if intelligent beings dwell upon any of the sun's family of world's besides the earth, Venus is the most likely to be the favoured planet. For this reason the shadowy spots that are dimly seen upon Venus under favourable circumstances of telescopic observation possess a singular interest and pique curiosity more than almost any other visible feature of the celestial bodies. But the brilliant veil of reflected light behind which the most beautiful of the planets conceals her face seems to be impenetrable, and the half glimpses which astronomers are occasionally able to obtain must, for a long time at least, constitute the sum of all our knowledge of the real features of this most charming sister of the earth.