Science.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1553, 17 June 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

Science.

COLD CATCHING. It ii noteworthy ,as a curious yet easily explicable faot that few persona take oold who are not either aelf-domcionaly osreful, or fearful, of the oonseqaenoes of exposure. If the attention be wholly diverted from the exiatenoe of danger, by some supreme concentration of thought, Mi for example, when esoapingfrom a home on fire or plunging into oold water to save life — tho effoots of "chill" axe seldom experienced. This alone should serve to suggest that the influence exerted by oold falls on the nervous system. The immediate effects of a displaosmont of blood from the surface, and its determination to the internal organs, are not, as was once supposed, sufficient to prodnee the sort jof congestion that issues in inflammation. If it were so, an inflammatory condition twould be the common characteristic of our | bodily state. When the vasoular system is 'healthy, and that part of the nervous apparatus by whioh the calibre of the vessels is controlled performs its proper functions normally, any disturbance of equilibrium in the eiroulatory system whioh may have bean produced by external cold will Ik quickly adjaeted. It is, therefore, on the state of the 'nervous system that every thing depends, and it is, as we have said, on the nervons system the stress of a "ohm" falls. ConBciouinees is one element in the production ot a cold, and when that is wanting the phenomenon is not very likely to ensue. It is in this way that persons who do not cultivate the fear of oold-oatohing are not, as ajrale, subjeot to this infliction. This is one reason why the habit of wrapping up tenda to oreate a morbid susceptibility. The mind, by its fear-begetting precautions, keeps the nervous system on the alert for impressions of cold, and the oentres are, so to say, paniostnoken when even a slight sensation ooours. Oold applied to the surface, even in tho form of a gentle current of air somewhat lower in temperature than the skin, will produce the " ieelmg "of " chill." Conversely a Uiought will oiten give rise to the " feeling" of oold applied to the surface — for example, of *' oold water running down the baok." Many of the sensations of oold or heat which are experienced by the hypersensitive have no external oause. They are purely ideational m their mode of oiiginittion, and ideal in faot. — Lancet,

What Invention Max Do.— The powibiUtiee oitoieiioe wiien applied to Ike industrial arts are bo very great, that oaref al people hesitate to state them for fear of exoiting ridioule. So, in ariiolea which have recently been published iv London as well an ia New York, a humorous turn has been given to some ot the possible results of inventions in these days. Were an Engliehman of the time of Elizabeth to have been told that water would be supplied to every house by means of pipes, that a combustible gas would be distributed in a similar manner irom a ctmtral reservoir, that messages would be sent aorosß continents, and under oceans ia a few minutes, he would have net down his informant as a lunatic, or, at hem, the veiy wilder of dreamers. Tno man of today would be quite us inorduulous if told what inventions and applications of soienoe may do for the jpeople of 1981. Oae writer ventures to predict that ia the twentieth oentury eleokrioity wilt aooomplish marvels whioh now seem 100 'absurd to teriouely set forth. Chops and steaks will be oooied by electric sparks,so as to znske the Frenchman's cotelttte dla minute a reality. The fruits of the earth wilt be multiplied enormously by the uae of electric light behind coloured glass. Fruits and vegetables will be grown all the year round, winter and , summer, day and night, so that the field which now produces a hundred bushels of any product will yield ten thousand. We now cook our food, but take our air and water raw, and through those two elements come all the disorders and contagions which afflict humanity. Iv the tuture water will be distilled and prepared lor human use, and thereby punned, rroin all germs of disease, while air will not bn breathed by human beings until it has been cleared of all noxious qualities, aiter which it will be admitted to the glasscovered streets and dwellings in which the man of the future will live. Houses and places of buBines3 will be situated in immense incloeed-edifices, the air of which will not only be rendered wholesome, bat delightful to the sense of smell. Summer and winter, so far as extreme cold or extreme heat is concerned, will bo abolished, as the temperature can be controlled by artificial means, and all parts of the globe will become equally inhabitable. Day will have no attractions over night, for tue artificial HgUis will be more pleasing than any whioh the great luminary of day can give us. Then, of oourse, the air will bo navigated, which will help to ohango the appearunoe of (he surface of the oarth, lot the great pit will then be situated on healthful hilltops, instead of on the insalubrious plains below. With the great motors shortly to be discovered, huge mountain oheuns vrtftioh obstruot men's progress in any direction can, be levelled, while the ice paoki aiound the two poles oan be liquefied and made navigable. All this seemtj wild enough, but no doubt very great oh»»ges will ooonr. If food can bo produoed by improved methods, with less oost, the problem of poverty is solved. II machinery continues to replace handiwork, the hours of labour must be shortened and its vitlne inorensod ; but, to aooompliah this, a sooial revolution will be needed by whioh labour-saving machines will be worked for (he benefit of the labourer, and not in eompotitioawith him. — The Hour.