Richland beacon., 1873-08-23
CURIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC.

COh1VUS AND SC16NTlflC.
A LOVE OF MONEY.-Science takes
cOgnizance of mental as we'll as coporeal
pecHliarities. AnatOmists show how the
muscles are arranged to move a fifth
finger or a sixth toe where an excess of
such organs exist. Those who treat ex-
clusively of the mind can not always
explain eccentricities satisfactorily, how
ever successful in recording singular
deviatiOns from normal standard.
Physicians entertain the opinion tina.
when any one portion of the brain is
intensely active in aparticular direction,
to the exclusion of such motives as gov
ern well-balanced intellects, the indi-
vidual thus distinguished is deranged.
Avarice, therefore, degenerated into an
all absorbing love of money, is an in
curable form of insanity, intensified bv
success in its accumulation. Lord
Chancellor Hardwick, when worth 81,
600, 900, was as saving of half crown
as when worth only one hundred pounds.
The celebrated duke of Marlborough,
in the last stage of life, walked in a
dark, cold night to his lodgings at BATH
to save six pence, leaving more than a
million and half pounds sterling to a
scapegrace relative who had always
been an enemy. Sir James LOwther,
whose income was S24O, 900 year, old,
lame and infirm, went some way back to
cOffee-house for better half penny
that had been given him in change. He
| looked about for an heir. Sir William
Smith of Bedfordshire, vastly rich
Englishman, totally blind, agreed to
give an oculist sixty guineas if he re-
stored his vision. The operation was
successful, but the old miser pretended
it was not exactly perfect, although he
ever after could read and write he got
off with thirty. A rich New Yorker,
not many years in the grave, who left a
reputed fortune of $4,000, 900, was In
the habit of buying a single muffin for
breakfast, which he carried home from
the bakers in bit of newspaper.
| A REMARKABLE FLOwER.-There is a
flower in the city of Constantinople be-
longing to the narcissus family, bull
bousrOoted plant that has a most marve-
lous flower. 1t is exactly in the form
and color of humming bird, so plainly
marked that a person at first slgIt is
disposed to believe it is veritable bird
at rest upon the plant. This wonderful
flower is in the possession OF but half a
dozen persons, and they utterly refuse
to part with bulbs or seed. Its bloom
remains fresh for two or three days, and
is always replaced by another before the
first begins to fade. 1t does not con,
tinue in bloom more than three weeks,
when the leaves fall and the stem dies
away. to again throw up its stem with
the bird flowers the following year.
This most wonderful curiosity is repre-.
sented to have been found growing neal
the city named, in an old lot in an ont
of-the-way place. The statements OF
responsible persons, who have seen this
wonder, verify all We have said of it
and from a gentleman who has seen il
our statements are taken.-COtmon''
Rural World.
The ECHO OF LARGE ROOMs.-The
use of wires for correcting reverbera
ton in interiors has been subject tt
some very recent experiments in the
cathedral of st. Fin Barre, Cork, Ire
land. The nave of the cathedral is o.
exceeding height and very narrow. The
point whence the sound started, where
the d SKIS were, was at the intersection
of the nave and the transepts. TIL,
organ was i'll gallery at the west end
and the organist there seated had always
been able to hear more distinctly thai
the people sitting two-thirds the wa!
down the nave. Those sitting close Il
the pillars heard with special indistinct
ness. These were the conditions of tn
problem. Wires were first strained a
the level of the triforium, but produced
no immediate effect. A double cours,
of wires was then strained about th'
piers of the central tower at the heigh
of twelve or fifteen feet, with the resul
of considerably improving the acoustic
properties of the interior. The wire
which may be so minute as to be scarcel,
perceptible, breaks the sOund-waves
and thus corrects the reverberation.
, ELECTRICITY AND LIFE. Recen
studies has done considerable to deter
mine what the action of electricity real
" is in the excitation of muscular irri
liability in dead bodies. The continuOu
, current seems to act on muscular 6be
after the manner of heat. If dea.
| muscle be exposed to cold, the curren
' restores contraction for a cOnsiderabl
{ period, but finally destroys it by Undue
. ing persistent contraction. If, on tn
> other hand, the dead muscle is left a
, it's normal temperature, the curren
I merely shortens the period of irritabi
e ity by quickening contraction. Exp
ments lately made with the Leyden
/ demonstrate that, with sufficient cul
rent, small animals and birds can b
e made absolutely rigid for the momer
4 in the position in which they stand
e and 30 suddenly is the work done, S
! completely is the posture of life pr
4 served, that nothing but actual examin'
= ton with the hand can impress on tt
4 mind the fact that the creature has wit
i that sudden shock passed from Il
= living.
Q Fossil REMAINS. Pittsburg Cor
II mercial says: In Westmoreland count
q several workmen recently unearthed q
petrified body of q man. From the a
domen upward all was in perfect sta
of preservation, excepting a portion
l. the face, the right side Of which W
n filed with innumerable small holes, a
t. parently made by some insect, and pr
re senting honeycomb appearance. Mer
re ly the outlines of the lower part OF Il
N BODY were discernible, and fell to piec
as soon as exposed to the air. At &
. right side of the body were found sc
eral arrows, g one knives, and vario
y other implements of unknown use,
u cludino an oyal-shaped stone, abO