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For the purposes of studying the causes of sorotchte or mountain sickness, and the influence of the temperature and climate of high altitudes upon general nutrition, two eminent French medical authorities, Drs. Guillemard and Moog, during last July made a stay at the Mont Blanc observatory with the astronomer M. Janssen. According to the results of their investigations the diminished tension of the oxygen of the atmosphere clogs the process of oxidation, and this sets up an elaboration of toxic substances, the retention of which causes symptoms of autointoxication and accounts for the symptoms of mountain sickness. Acclimatization, however, results in a few days, and the symptoms pass away under circumstances resembling those accompanying the passing of the crisis in infectious maladies. In the northern hemisphere the greatest cold seems to have been observed at Werchojansk, in Siberia, where it is stated that the thermometer goes down as low as --69.8 deg. C. However, according to the information which has been brought by the Russian artist Borrissoff, certain parts of Nova Zembla seem to show at least as low a temperature as the above. The Bulletin of the S'ociete Astronomique states that in an excursion which M. Borrissoff made lately in the Strait of Matotchkin, he discovered underneath a case a box containing two thermometers, one a maximum and the other a minimum-recording thermometer. It is supposed that these instruments belonged to Hofer, an Austrian geologist, who made an expedition to this spot in 1872. One of the thermometers was found to have registered the temperature of 15 as a maximum, while the second instrument showed that the greatest cold had been --70 deg. C. This value seems to be the extreme cold which has been reached in this region for thirty years past. The variations in the thickness of the hair upon the same individual have been studied by the Japanese scientist Matsura and he makes some interesting observations. It is known that in certain diseases we find among other differences of growth, very marked variations in the growth of the finger nails both in length and thickness. It is found that the hair is also influenced, and all the affections which act upon the general health bring about a diminution in the thickness of the hair. The medullary layer may even be interrupted and the hard layer which it contains may disappear. Observations made upon a hair will therefore show the variations in thickness according to certain maladies and the length of the affected part or the thinner portion of the hair gives an idea of the duration of the malady, and even of slighter affections. The variations are naturally more strongly marked in the case of coarse-haired races than for others. Provided the hair had never been cut, the subject would have his pathologic history written, so to speak, in capillary terms. A new process for the manufacture of hydrogen gas has been brought out in Europe not long ago, and is designed to replace the usual method of sulphuric add and iron or zinc. In the new process the reaction of the alkaline hydrates upon metallic aluminium is utilized. This reaction is 2Al3NaOH 3HAl08Na^ When once commenced, the metal is attacked by the soda solution with great energy. The gas is produced very rapidly and the liquid heats up to the boiling point. Theoretically we need 0,810 kilogramme of aluminium and 3.6 of caustic soda to produce 1 cubic meter of hydrogen, but in practice owing to the impurities in the metal and the soda, we require 4,68 kilogrammes of caustic soda. The process gives some advantage as to saving in material which is to be transported, seeing that we need but 5 kilogrammes of material per cubic meter of gas, while the acid process takes 7 kilogrammes. But the cost of production is much higher and comes to at least 0.72 per cubic meter. This process was used by the Russian aerostatic corps during the recent war. An interesting effort to apply the Parsons turbine to locomotive propulsion is being made by Mr. Hugh Reid, a well-known British locomotive engineer. This inventor has designed a self-contained electrical locomotive, which will generate its own current by means of a boiler and a condensing Parsons turbine. He has also devised an air-cooled condenser of somewhat novel design for use with the same, and the forthcoming experiments with this locomotive are being anticipated with great interest by British engineers.
