MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 419, 21 January 1875, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

There has been a great deal of discua^isn, say* Chamber's Journal, as to the altitude at which human beings can exist, and Mr Qlaishcr himself can tell us as much about it aa anybody. In July, 1872, be and Mr Cornell ascended in a balloon to the enormous height ot 38.0001t. Previous to the start, Mr GHaisner's pulse stood at 76 beats a minute, Coxwell's at 74. At 17,000 ft the pulse of the former wts at 81, that of the latter at 100. At 19,000 ft G-laisher's hands and lips were quite blue .but not his lace. At 21,000' h he heard his heart beating, and Ins breathing became op* pressed; at 29,0001t he became senseless ; notwithstanding which the ce-onuut, in the interest of science, went up another 8.0001 1, till he could no longer use his hands, and had to pull the string!} of tho valve with his teeth. Aeronauts who have to make no exertions hare, of course, a great advantage over members of the Alpine Club and those who trust their legs ; even at 13,000 ft, these climbers feel very uncomfortable, more so in the Alpti, it seems, tlimn elsewhere. At the monastery of St B j rnard, 8,117 ft high, the monks become asthmatic, and are compelled lii-quen»ly to descend into the valley of the Rhone lor — anything but a breath of fresh air; and at tha end of ten years' service are obliged t > give up their high living, and come down to their usual level. At the same time in .South Ameiiea there uro towns, sue 1 ) as Potosi, placed as high as the top of Mont Blanc, the inhabitants of which feel no inconvenience. The highest inhabited spot in the world is, however, the Buddhist cloister of jHanle, in Thibet, where twenty-one priests live at an altitude of 16,000 ft. The brothers fcschlayinaweit, wheatbey encamped the glaciers of the ibiGamin in the same country, explored at 21,0001't the highest altitude at which a European eVer passed the night. Even at the top of Mont Blanc, Professor Tjndall's guides found it rery unpleasant to do this, though the Professor did not himself confess to feeling so bad as they. The highest mountain in the world is Mount Everest (Himalaja), 29.(J03!t., and tho condor has been seen " winging the blue air," 500 ft higher. At a late meeting of the Paris Aeari'e'mie dcs Sciences, a letter w us read, observes the London Medical Record, from M. Volpicelh, of Home to M Chevreul, in which the writer related that a Ivoman phjeician had asserted to him that, if a magnet were brought near to a nervous patient, magnetism had the effect of disturbing him in various way?, and notably in his condition of health. M. Volpicelli goes on to state that, being invited to experiment on a nervous subject at the San Spinto hospital, he practised a little ruse, and instead of taking with Dim a magnet, pro\ided himself with a piece ot unmagnelized iron. The patient scarcely saw the piece of iron befote he fell into convulsions; Ins imagination bicame so highly excited that nervous dislui bances of the most extreme character supervened. A miignet was placed in the hand of another person suffering from nervous disorder, and when a few minutes had elapsed, was so extremely excited that it was necessary to take the magnet from bun. ii. Volpicelh, however, was convinced that the nervous ditturbauce was brought on i y the eight of the magnet and not by magnetic action, and he was subsequently able to assure huneelt of the tact. The game person had to preside over a scientific meeting, and M. Volpicelli, contrived to surround him with very powtrful magnets, which were introduced into hi- chair, into the drawer of the table before him, and even under his feet, without his having the slightest suspicion of the trap luid for him. D.ring the meeting, which lasted more than two hours, his nerves were not iv the least atiected ; and when the meeting was over he declared, in answer to a question put to him by M. Volpicelli, that he was perfectly well; but when it came to his knowledge thst he had been «$& rounded by powerful magnets he was extremely surprised - and alarmed, and began to have an idea that he could not have been so well as he thought. A somewhat curious aud happy instance of the effects of sea-sickness h.is, sajs the If. Z Times, "been brought under our notice by Captain Butt, of the steaitser Napier. A lady passenger (Mrs South) had been complaining ior some time of feeling unwell, and had intended to have sought medical advice. On the passage from Foxton thi lady vomited ap.n an inch and a half loi g. She almost immediately felt idief from the symptoms oi which she had cc mplained, and has thus, it may be hoped, been relieved of her ailment in a somewhat unexpected and forttmat* rnnnnor * f

Tl'w fell using is Max Adf lei V;--" Lsnt Snnriuy night, 'lvi ii; (he stvmon in ouj ciiuich. the SAP tmddeoiy "»oot out, ftitii tii u vis -udi'en darkness. The minister requested the conpn-cation to re in mm perleptly quiet until the cause &i (.he trouble could.be ascertained and otlier lights procured. Okl Mrs Smiley, it appears, was eound asleep when the ncident occurred, 1 but just after tbe minister had finished speaking to the congregation' else awoke. A.t first " ihe thought she hnd \ieeoine blind, hut aB alie eat by tbe window she immediately saw a light in tho street, and then Boe-ktiew that .the <*ongi ¥ eeatton had gone homeland that she had accidently.been- locked in bp theaexton. Dreadfully frightened at tbe lonelinebS »n4 horror of her situation, eho picked up a! hjtnri-bobk/andf daßhing'it*thro;ugtt»'f>dae of glas* in the window, the pub her bead out nnd< began to ' ■cream foe help. 1 - Her tkriefes (impressed passersby with, the id/eatbat then draroh tffM on fire, and in «« instant the _ AJarin WM given.. A moment later the engines arrived,' and > jusf'as the soxton begin to light the gas again, ono gang of tbe 'fireiueh be#ui playing through tho 1 broken window on Mr» Smiley* iipting bonnet, while another gang poured a * ihree-ins£ etrfivm up the middlw aisle with such force n« to iraghjA^^ier :Db Hopkins^, tho minister, out of the pulpit »nd.<jßjjpr»nJong f^he high hats vrhioh were floating around * by < tiJPVMm doors.'^ Eventually tbe matter wu explained, fci»dj£hjtf|ae department chut off the water acd went homo. iilip(|N^««iacon» want to know how, if Mr Smiley refuses to ~s&fche' bill for repairs fa the church, he can ever look a fei- * fow.worsbipper in th© face ever agaiti ." Jl Buenoa Ay res paper says *■*-" An important discovery Bat JKp^beon made. For' some ihne paßt Well known resident* K^Sawlßrido have frequently disappeared without anythingkbeing subsequently heard o£ them. A' train from the north-* jrecenfely left a case at the San ferido station, and i_ the persqpjs to whom it was consigned immediately applied for it aud^ft for. n farm in. tho neighbourhood go whioh , there is a : Rumours of which \ Bad been current led the Justice of the Peace to be on the Jjbi five, and happening to notice tfie case he imagined it tmiglit coataj^fcrtns .for. tho u<« of cdmo of the uuepeet«d cpbets. He, 'therefore, ordered some poJic^caen 1q foljow th« l^ftiM and ewwine it at its destination. "It' was carried into the bo\l*e through,* doorway fo narrow that entrance of even one at a lime was very difljcult. [They found themin » narrow tod short liallw.aj, and pushing on, en.wered a room about five yards square, in which we're * num yljer of skeletons and bones, and other human remains. On the wall at ' the end was nn inscription in Italian, meaning, l 1l 1 Po die alj traitors. 1 Another small room was^then examined, ' and a large eeller. Nothing remarkable was found in the first, but in the eecond a large number of stilettos, - fcni^es, pistols, and other murderous weapons were' found. On many of in- se instruments the same inscription, ' So die •II traitors, was fourtd, and it may .not be out of place to rfrmember that the same words were found on the dagger which some years ago caused tbe death of tbe Italian Consul ■tvßueno* Ayree. The cellar was also full of bones, and amongst them the head of a woman waa observed, to which - tbe hair still adhered." A facetious Writer in the Christchurch Press in oneof his recent contributions stiys : — "There's a kind«hoarted old gentleman lives— :w<-11, I forget where— but not in Christ* ohurch, anyhow. • He lends money. He can't help it, he says. He likes it k -Be makes it a rule never to ask for more than forty per cent., and that only of personal friends He makeft money out of his busineesasa rule. He has a * loss now and then. lam going to tell you of one of them Be was sitting in his office when an old dried-up man about seventy '•live years, of age came in andaaid he had just got £500 left him, and. being a childless orphan, he said he didn't expect he could last much longer, and had lost interest in things generally. i 'the lender of money said he thought Le might give him n hundred a year for his £500 and they closed the bargain.- Now moat people 'would have played fair, and died after a c'ouplo of years comfort, but this dear oldoripple did otherwise. It is now fifteen years jjineethe bought fei» annuity, and he still lives. Year after yeaifdoes this meek, childless oldmau walk into the office of tbe money lender end draw his cheque, and then that naonty lender prances round the room, and blesses the man who invented {annuities and throws ladgers about, and makes it lively for hi» clerk, and the meek old lonely orphan goes away down street, and feels ©very year more and more that he has not lived in vain." The most recent wonder at Winohendon, Massachusetts, is a floating island of abdut five acres, voyaging around Lake MonomonaVk,.a sheet of water of about 2,500 acres in extent, lying partly in Winchendon and pattly in Eindge, New Huirpshire. It loimcrly claimed a residence at Win* chendoD, but towaids the latter part of May the little island was one morning discov&recC to have changed its place, and movtd two miles up the lake beyond the state line ; then it floated back nearly to its old place, only a day or two after to fail north iiguin. Its soil is firm, and many people have approached it by boats and travelled over it ; the entire surface is covered with a thrifty growth of vegetation ; there are more than 400 trees by count, varying from 5 feet to 25 fedt in height, altered over its surface Floating islands are not uncommon in the lakeg of this region, but one so large as this and given to so long voyages is lemarkable. In tlie Medical Press and Circular, Dr Locke Johnston, suggests that iv cases of injury from cat or dog bite — whether the animnl be in a rabid state or otherwise— a piece of cord, hannke' chief, cfcc , will answer the pui pose in an emergency) should be at once tightjy applied above and below (and also clo-e to) the seat ot injmy, and should rot lie removed for some hours subsequent to cauteiizatioo. "When the rollers cannot be elfectually employed on account of the position or seat of the injury, compression all round the wound should \>e made by firm P&tls, pieces oi caid boaidperfoiated, gutta-percha, or other substances, and the eecunty of such, compress maintained by means of a rollev drawn tightly over and fasttned. Thus the tendency to absorption of the virus will be lessened and the pain usually produced b> cauterization— especially if the wound or wounds be extensive— veiy much decreased. According to a return übicb baa been prepared, the nationalities of tbe non-commissioned officers and men of tlie British aimy were as follows:- On tbe Ist January, 1873 English, 674; Scotch, S3;. Irish, 237; foreigners, 6 per 1000. The religious .denominations are given as — Church of England, including Dibsentera, 681; Presbyterians, 80 ; E'oman Catholics, 230 per 1000. There were only 60 per 1000 who could neither read' nor write in comparison with 95 }-er 1000 in 1861, and 190 per 1000 in 1851. In 1868 there were 68 per 1000 returned as ot superior education, as distinguished irora those who can read and write well' whereas in 1b73 Uiejr.e were 326 in tl-.e category.