Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-07-10

now lined with tall blocks that are unsur.
passed in variety and richness in any city in
presentment of the larges' and most striking
structure Of al, tho Grand Pacific. which on
the first day OF juno, 1873, opened its doors to
guests.
Scientific Notes.
NJ. FAYE, the author of the cyclonic
theory of sun-spots, has read second
paper ON the subject before the Aoado-
my of Sciences, France, in which he
replies to the structures of Nj. Vicaire.
lately quoted in these columns. III.
Faye quotes the observation of RespiRbi
to show that the coverings of the solar
atmosphere implied in his theory are
matters of fact. -
New ZzALAND sends to the Vienna
Exhibition, among other things, such
as robes of flax and Kaka feathers. a
small block of sandstone showing q
singular depression which might
escape the notice of the general oh.
server, but which is really the foot
print of the moa, an enormous bird.
which,. like the dinoruis, has seldom
been seen by man. It is, in fact. a
relic of past geological age, but of an
age SO recent az to have left not onlv
footprints, but also eggs and bones.
Professor Hochstetter, the famous
Austrian Geologist, is now engaged in
articulating q series of these bones, and
restoring the etligy of the moa to the
observation of anatomical students.
Some important experiments as to
the effects of the beverages popularlv
known as bitters have recently been
described by DR.. Decaisne, of Paris.
He finds that while the composition of
these beverages is not uniform, they
generally contain either vermouth or
absinthe in combination with the in
ferior qualities of alcohol. Concerning
the effect Of the essential oil of ab-
sinthe on organism, he. finds. that,
quantity for quantity, few drops Of
It dropped into vessel of water con.
tanning fishes destroy life sooner than
plussic acid. He adduces the evil
dence of experiments to show that YER
mouth and absinthe produce epilepsy
in animals, and believes that epileptic
fits often supervene from excessive
drinking of bitters.
The last number of the Revue
Scienti6ques (Paris) contains the first
complete description of the new metal
known as indium, discovered by DR..
Ried. Like thallium, it was first re-.
vealed by it's spectrum, which consists
Of two bright indigo bands, the more
brilliant of the two being little more
refrangible than that of s:rotium, the
other a trifea less 90 than that of
potassium. It is found in one or two
varieties of wolfram, and in zinc
and it's ore, in exceedingly small
quantities-the zinc of Freibere,,
observed, Containing qI :; not was morse n,ee
than one. part in two thou
sand. When zinc, Is dissolved in,
sulphuric acid, the new metal remains
in the spongy residuum. To obtain il,
dissolve this residuum in nitric acid.
and treat it with ammonia and car
Donate of barytes, when the hydrate of
indium is precipatated. This indium-
sponge may then be melted with cyan
ide of potassium, resulting in a.whitish
metal, which after . while assumes the
tint of bismuth, and gradually loses it's,
color so as to represent lead. It has O
density of 7. melts at ia Centigrade,
burns at red heat, and emits hydro.
gen when dissolved in su]phur1c acid.
Some account was given in last
weeks scientific notes of the birth of
certain flies, among them the epheme-
ride, ,dragon-ay, and ant-lion, from
their respective larvae. In the Amer
lean Naturalist, Professor Lockwood
supplements the observations CT Sir
John Lubbock with an account of the
reproductive process of the sarcoohu-
ga ctzs,aosi0, askind of fesh-4ly; which
brings forth living larvae, instead of
laying eggs. Thirteen days are re-
$qnired to perfect the series of m etamor.
phoses. Putting living grub in SIS.
per cent. alcohol, he found it alive after
an emersion of one hundred
and thirty -four, minutes. A larva,
seven days old, lived twenty.seven
minutes in turpentine; another of the
same age, seventy minutes in essence
Of peppermint; o third, fifty.three
minutes in Fowler's solution of arsenic.
From these facts, argues DR.. Lock
wood, it appears to be not only useless
but cruel to deluge horses With violent
indictments for the bots, the disorder
thus known being due to presence of
the Larvae Of the botay clinging to the
interior membranes by means of its
powerful mouthhooks-for the tenacity
with which larval life resists irritant
poisons is one of its most remarkable
qualities.
ONE of the signs of a return to first
principles in science, as advocated by
Professor Draper and by Won Baer, the
veteran German biologist, .is the dis
secting criticism to which evolution
and Darwinlsm have recently been
subjected. For illustration, DR.. Rad
clitte, in his recent lecture before the
Royal College of Physicians, London,
thus summarily disposes of Darwin's
pigeon arguments:
The pigeon, by developing under
into what may I've considered
as improved varieties of igeon, may
ut first seem to be the subject of evo-
luton but the variations produced in |
this way are never more than those ]
minor notifications which make up |
the differences called varieties, never |
30 great as to constitute another spe- |
cies Of bird. Moreover, only let the |
thus produced be let alone for |
Il few generations, and the inevitable
result is return to the original form
Of the common pigeon, if not to that of
tho wild, blue rock-pigeon. The his
tory contradicts tho notion of evolu.
tlon rather than confirms, il. And so
with the dog or any other animal which
may he modified as the pigeon is mod
flied the modification produced ID
never beyond That of mere variety, !
the constituting influences which
brought it nbort come to on end, and,
IS with the pigeon, it is not long before
the original wild form has again crop
ped ont" <....
AN lriSllmnu went IN RnnUOr and