The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1871-11-03
CURIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC.

CURIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC.
The phosphoresccnt matter in fish
es is asserted TO be merely fat, in a
- aC.., ,s;S,y ,,ss.;S,y ,va,i I:iUrc inc Asso-
citation of fNaturalists and Physicians,
at Turin.
Baron dc Seyls Longchanps, in a
communication To the chronological
Society Of London, estimates the
number o. known species of dragon
fish at l,344.
DR.. Hjaltelin is of the opinion that
the introduction of the pOtatoe and
more vegetable diet has caused the
decrease in leprosy iii Europe since
the Middle Ages.
Two-thirds of all the zinc produc-
cd is manufactured into sheets. The
remainder is employed in making
brass, in wire, in zinc c-white as a sub
stitute for lead in paints and for cast
ings. The two chief requirements
for zinc sheets are roofing AID sheath
ing the bottoms of ships.
An English chemist has been ex-
perimenting for the purpose of as
certaining how much of various
kinds of food must be eaten in order
to make one pound Of flesh. lie
comes to the concluson that it rcquir-
cs % pounds of milk, 100 of turnips,
80 of potatoes, 80 OF carrots, s OF oat-
meal, =, of barley meal, and 81 o
beans.
Some recent preparation have
proved dangerously explosive on
being mixed by the apotbecary. a
lady in England recently put box
OF pills which had been prescribed
for her in her bosom. In a short
time th.re was a severe explosion,
and she was badly burned. The re-
cipe was mixture of OXyd OF silver,
muriat of mOrphia and extract of
gentian.
A Western physician successfully
used ipecacuanha in delirium trem-
ems. lie first gave it as an emetic,
and afterwards from - to Is grains
every other hour. Connected with
this remedy he used shower baths,
and let the patients frequently drink
strong beef tea, without any alco-
holic stimulants. 1t quieted the nerv-
Gus system, excited the appetite, act
ed on secretion, and uniformly pro-
duced sleep, curing the patients in
nearly every case.
Prof. b. A. Gould, who has gone to
the Argentine Republic to take charge
of the National Observatory at Cor
dova, writes home very enthusiast
cally in regard to the splcndors Of
the Southern heavens. He saws the
magnifi .encc of the Milky Way Is
indescribaGle, exhibiting huge clus-
ters, the sight of which through the
telescope evokes eXclamatiOns of
delight and surprise from every be-
holder, young and Old, and whether
with or withou ash OnOmical intor-
nation.
The Stevens Institute of Tcchno-
logy has an electromagnetic, made IN
Ansonia, Conn, which weighs about
l,GOO pounds, and has a lifting force
estimated at between 30 aud % tons.
About 100 pounds OF copper wire,
one-fifth of an inch thick, is wound
on eight spOOls, each ~ inches high
by IIIS inches external diameter.
The cores are hollow, and q inches
in diameter, by ; feet } inches in
length. This magnet IS about five
times as powerful as that used by
Faraday in his famous researches.
From a paper on the vertebrate
animals of Australia, lately publish
ed by Mr. Krefff, the Curator of the
Sidney Museum, we learn that no
woodpeckers or humming-birds have
ever been met with in that country.
Among birds, the parrot Is the most
prominent, there being more than
sixty species. Reptiles abound,
among them a species of crocodile,
individuals of which frequently grow
to the extraordinary length of thirty
feet. and occasion much trouble to
the co!Onists. No one of the five vc-
nomous snakes of the country is so
deadly as the English viper. The
number of known harmless species
is seVenty-five.
Among recent discoveries in fossil
botany is the occurrence of three or
four species of tree ferns, like those
OF the coal period, in the DcvOnian
formation of New York and Ohio,
which underlies the coal. BY this
discovery. made by the geological
surveys Of those States under the di-
rection of Profs. Hall and Newber:y
respectively, the existence of those
gigantic ferns is carried back as far
as the bottom of the middle Devo-
nian. One OF them, says Dr. Daw-
son, their describer, has the cellular
structure and vascular bundles in
such preservation as 10 show their
microscopic structure, which is pre-
cisely similar TO that OF modern
ferns.
The English journals report that
during recent explorations in the
moss on the shores of LOch Etive,
Argyle County, Scotland, the re-
mains of an extensive lake dwelling
were discovered. The platform of
this structure is sixty feet in diame-
ter, and the dwelling in the middle
is fifty feet long and tHenty-eight
feet broad. There was also discOy-
cred in a large cairn structure COM
posed Of huge stones, and consisting
of two chambers, each twenty feet
long. connected by passage Of nearly
the same length. One broken urn
and the romans Of four others were
also discovered. Loeb EtiYe is an
inlet TO the sea on the northwest
coast of Scotland, running up for
over twenty miles, and varying In
breadth.
If We ask for whom Christ die2i |
answer, for all that hear, be they who
they may; cord is cast into hallow
pit to draw you up, and many more
If ye dispute, saying, is the cord east
down for me? L will tell you how
YOU may answer that doubt; catch