Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/111

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

97

��I 111 teres tliig and inslruellTe vase will dotiblless inansuTsiea new era in medical practice; for, altbougli tub parlicuUr individual has succumbed to measures adopted la avert his otherwise certain death, the experience thereby gained is sufficient to encourage further elTorts in a similar direction, which may |)fDTe beneficial to others. In the Marshall Hail ora- tion of last year. Professor Ferrler remarked, " There are alreaily signs that we are within measnrable dis- t^ince of the successful treatment, by surgery, of some of the miist distressing and otherwise iiopi^leiis forms of intercnuiial dlseaie, which will rie with the spleti- illd achievements of abdominal surgery-" He further »dilpd, rellectiiig on the success which had attended liniln operations on anjmtvls, " I can but believe that similar results are capable of being achieved on man hlmeelf." That distinguished physiologist can liut feel gratlBeil that lils prophetic words have been partially reali/cd.

�� ��)jscovEny of silurian insects.

��weeks since, we notici-d the discovery by im of a Silurian scorpion, Paiaeophoneus nuncius, — llie earliest-known atr-breatliiiig animal. Tu-day we reproduce in natural sixe a photograph of it received from Dr. LInditrom. Bow quickly onedlscovery leads to another, is evinced by the curi- ous fact that wc now leani of the discovery by Dr. Hunter of another scorpion of the same genus in the LiTdlow beds of Scotland, which are nlsu referred lo

���eryis eclipsed by the uunouucenienl, ut the \»sl meet- ing of the French academy in 1SS4, of the finding of an Insect's wing in the middle Silurian of Catvuilos, which Mr. Charles Brongniiirt, who announces the discovery, refers to a cockroach. It presents certain peculiarities, and among others an unusually loiig and straight anal vein. It Is named Palaeoblattina Doiivillel, after its discoverer. The oldest- b now ii winged insects, up to this time, had been the Devonian insects of New Brunswick.

��I upper Silurian. This second specimen, fortu- ly, is preserved so as to show the stigmata and 'comb' of the ventral surface, and will therefore offer mere evidence as to Its exact zoulogicnt position. It is In the bands of Mr. Peach of Ibe geological sur-

Iej, who described the carboniferous scorpions of pDtland with such care. Even this curious dUcov-

��METEOROLOGICAL NOTES. The Colorado nieteomtogical aasociatlun, recently formed, proposes to establUh stations for observatiou ut twenty or more points in Colorado, and has ap- plied to the legislature for assistance.

In co-operation with the chief signal-officer, U.S. army, amngeineiits have been completed with the Old colony railroad, whereby 'eold-wave' Bags — white, with a bisck square in the centre — will be displayed at eleven of the most Important stations on the road, on receipt of telegraphic orders from Wash- ington. The stations are Boston, Qulncy, South Brain- tree, Brockton, Mid die borough, Taunton, Somerset, Fall River, Newport, New Bedford, and Flymoutb. An extension of this arrangement is In contempla- tion, so as to bring the daily weather forecasts Issued by the signal-office Into even more general noUce than they gain by publication in the daily papers. Postmasters or town authorities iji New England, desirous of undertaking the dis- play of daily weather signals, are requested to address Mr. W. M. Davis. Cambridge,

Investigations upon the subject of ozona

ind the relation of its presence or absence

to epidemic diseases are now carried on in lariouB sections of the country. If suffl- •'lent encouragement is given, it la probabla ihat observations will be undertaken by the ', j^ New-England meteorological society, under

."^ IhesupervisionofDr. E. tJ. Jonesof Taun-

ton, Mass. Physicians and others who would be willing to engage in these observations are requested to address Dr. Jones. The <-oHt will be about three dollars annually fur each <ili9erver.

On the morning of Dec. 37. when the

wind was everywhere Ilghl, the temperature

ikt the siunmit of Mount Washinglun was

-^-\0°, while at stations at lower levels,

north of the Massachusetts boundary, the

temperatures ranged from — 10° to — 24".

A more strlldng Instance of the disturbance of the

usual law of decrease of temperature wltli Increase of

altitude is rarely noted.

lu bis ' Meteorological summary ' for tiie year 1884, Prof. F. H. Snow stales that Ihe most notable features of the year 1S84, in Kansas, were the low mean teinpcraiurea of the spring, si

�� �