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About Sneezing. Sneezing is a most interesting physical phenome non. Most people think they sneeze with their noses, but the nose is only the point of departure, for a real hearty sneeze is a sort of convulsion of the whole body, and all the muscles from the soles of the feet to the top of the head join in it. . A person taking cold suifers a spasm of the blood-vessels of the skin, the muscles are puckered up and the skin rises. The blood is forced internally.The ner vous system informs the brain that there is some thing wrong. Perhaps the wind is blowing on the back of the person's neck. This causes contractions of the blood-vessels of that region,a condition which is certain to be followed by reaction. This contrac tion causes an irritation of the nerves of the lining of the nose, the two points being intimately con nected with a ramification of nerves. The purpose of a sneeze is to restore the equilibrium of the nervous system. A genuine convulsive sneeze warms one up by sending the blood to the surface where it antagonises the cold chills which had commenced to creep up the spine. It sets the heart teo going faster, and that quickens the blood currents. It is the first effort of nature to cure a cold. The Cola Nut. The Kew Bulletin for November contains an ex cellent account of the cola nut (Cola. acuminata). In early times, cola nuts were supposed to be used merely as a means for rendering water sweet and palatable when drunk before or after meals. “But,” says the Bulletin, “it was soon evident that they possessed other properties, and that they had been selected as if by intuition on account of the pro perty which undoubtedly they did possess of supply ing a necessary stimulus to those who have to endure an occasional or prolonged deficiency of animal food; for in West Africa, as in other parts of the tropics, the flesh of animals is often scarce and difficult to procure. The use of cola nuts to render water palatable may be compared to that of olives in European countries. The latter are well known to enhance the flavour of whatever is eaten after them. On the other hand, the power said to be possessed by colo nuts of staying the cravings of hunger, and enabling those who eat them to endure prolonged labour without fatigue, is comparable to that ascribed to the leaves of the coca plant of Ecuador and Peru. In fact, cola nuts in Western Africa play the same part that Erythroxylon Coca does in South America.” Submarine Navigation. Submarine navigation is very much like naviga ting in a thick fog. It is impossible to see where you are going , and,as to hearing sounds, it is difficult to say from what direction, and from how far off, they come. The periscope and aurophone are two instruments intended to assist the sub merged navigator in these difficulties. The former will show him what is in the water on his track, the latter will act as an ear trumpet and distant calculator. By the periscope rays of light, after being reflected on a prism, are conveyed to a point, pass through a lens, and are then reflected from a mirror into a telescope, to which the helmsman puts his eye. He is then able to see dimly for about a couple of boat’s length ahead. By the autophone all noises, such as the vibration of a vessel’s screw, are gathered on a sounding board and electrically registered on a series of dials in the conning chamber, position and distance being automatically indicated, the dial affected giving distance, and the hand upon the dial position. The notion is that the helmsman in the submerged craft will learn the whereabouts of his prey at a distance, cautiously creep along until he sees the hull of the monster (the unfortunate ship to be attacked always is “the monster ” in these accounts), then set fly a torpedo, and make good his retreat. Discolouration of the Skin. Between the cuticle—the epidermis, that is, or scarf-skin—and the true skin is a layer of cells which secrete from the blood a dark colouring matter. The black races have this feature most fully developed, but even the lightest are not wholly destitute of it. Its complete absence charac terises the albino, giving us occasionally a chalk white negro, the hair, of course, participating in the defect. As this pigment is also wanting in the albino’s choroid coat of the eye—normally a dark background for the retina, and essential to clear vision—he is nearly blind except at night. There is often a local absence of Pigment, causing white patches on the limbs and different parts of the body. Such a patch on the head may give rise to a solitary white lock amid a full head of dark hair. Some parts of the skin are naturally darker than the rest, and the darker colour may extend far beyond the usual limit and still be purely physio logical, but dark coloured spouts often appear on the body as a result of some diseased condition or of exciting causes. The simplest and commonest of such spots are known as freckles. ‘Their remote cause is a peculiarly sensitive skin; their direct cause is the light and heat of the sun. Persons with fair skin and hair are most subject to them. Three Hundred Small Planets. The discovery of a 300th member of the large family of small planets calls for a few evenarks on the whole number of those bodies, the Srst of which was found on the first day of the present century. Long before that it had seemed probable to as tronomers that a small planet (not visible without a good telescope) circulated between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, as a port of gap existed in that space to fie succession or inscinces oF the planets from the sun; and this belief was strengthened by Herschel’s discovery of Uranus in 1781,which ap peared to show that the progression of distances was continued beyond the orbit of Saturn, hitherto supposed to be the exterior limit of the planetary system. Several astronomers therefore agreed to search for a planet between Mars and Jupiter. But, in the meantime, Piazzi, at Palermo, noticed, on the 1st of January, 1801, an unexpected little star, which the next day was shown by its motion,to be a planet, and calculation soon proved that it was revolving round the sun at about the distance required by the above theory. It was called Ceres, and in the spring of the following year another similar body was detected by Oliers, at Bremen. This was called Pallas; Juno was discovered by Harding in 1804, and Vestaby Olbers in 1807. So the family remained, consisting of four members only, until the year 1845, when a Prussian post master, named Hencke, who had taken up astronomy as an amateur, discovered another, which was afterwards designated Astrixa . From that time the course of discovery has been continuous; since 1847, in which year Hencke discovered another, and Hind discovered two, no year has elapsed without the discovery of at least one. Most years have seen several,and 13 have already been found in the present year, the last of which, found by Dr. J. Palisa, of Vienna, on the 11th of October, and the 75th of his discoveries, raises the whole number known to exactly 300. Science Senses. In the past 10 or 15 years there has grown up a need for special training of the senses, in order to use properly scientific instruments, not in study or in any way applying to it, but as necessary adjuncts of business communication in everyday life. First on the list will come the telephone. Most persons using one for the first time will find themselves absolutely hors. de combat, unable to recognise a familiar voice, and are only conscious of the most helpless hearing-deafness. After a short training the ear and mind adjust themselves with wonderful nicety to the new duty required of them, and learn to recognise a voice as unerringly as though talking face to face with the individual who is, perhaps, miles away. Following closely in the wake of the telephone, which may be looked upon as the pioneer of the inventions which will later rely upon the auditory nerves or hearing for their use, is the graphophone, a marvellous little machine, which records sounds by the vibrations of the air acting on a steel stylus, which is so placed that it cuts or traces fine lines on a cylinder of rubber coated with wax. These lines are of varying depth, accord ing to the force of the sound waves. The vibrations or sounds are reproduced by the afore-mentioned cylinder being revolved under a small stylus to which is attached a pair of tiny ear trumpets which are so adjusted that they transmit with absolute fidelity every sound wave to the ear. It is impos sible to predict the boundary line of scientific dis coveries, and the uses to which man may put them in the near future. But to follow out the idea of the trained senses, take the vision, how the micro scopist with his little instrument is every day open ing new vistas. It is only the supreme intellect of the human mind which render what may be called the brute senses of man of use to him, because when untrained they rank far below the senses of the animal, though in the latter they are not so evenly balanced as in man. The eagle and condor have wonderful vision. Of these birds it is said that the former can face with an unflinching eye the sun when shining with full noontide glory. Man sup plements what he lacks by using his knowledge of the laws of nature. Thus with the aid of the micro scope and telescope he can compete with the cycle and condor. Up to the present time he has all invented any instrument which will aid in lit guishing odours, but, passing over tat, he has cirrves nearly the entire range embraced by the five fuses —sight, taste, touch, smelling and hearing. Magnetic Travelling Stones. Many have doubtless heard of the famous travell ing stones of Australia. Similar curiosities have recently been found in Nevada, which are described as almost perfectly round, the majority of then, large as a walnut, and having the appearare iron. When distributed about upon the fieor other smooth surface, within two or three feets each other, they immediately begin — travelling towards a common centre, and there lie huddle: a: in a bunch like eggs in o nest They are found in a region which is comparatively level,and n nothing but a bare rock. They are from the size of « pea to Gin, or Zin, in diameter. The cause of these stones rolling together is, doubtless, to be found in the substance of which they are composed, which ap pears to be lead stone or magnetic ore.
Newspaper Details
London Mid Surrey Times and General Advertiser
London, Middlesex, GB
Sat, Dec 06, 1890
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Meleisa O.
GB 18 Feb 2026
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