The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1873-01-03
NUMBER d.
SCIENTIFIC NOTES.

| THERE Is shell mound near San
Pablo, Cal, which is nearly mile
l wide. Numerous Indian skeletons, i'm
plements of stone, bones of dogs,
birds, &c, have been found in it. The
skeleton of babe, wrapped in red silk,
is one of the curiosities unearthed.
SOME curious bones have been found
at Bridgeport, Ct, which appear to be
the skull and upper jaw of some ex-
tinct species of animal. They were
found only four feet below the surface.
| The skull Is large and has a hole on
each side as large as mans fist. The
jaw contains sockets for forty-eight
teeth of enormous size. A committee
of naturalists viii do the Do8t-naOrtena.
| 4 PLANET BETWEEN MERCURY AND
THE SUNNI. J. r. Hind, the astrono-
mer, shows that there is a high probabil-
| ity that a planet circulates between
Mercury and the Sun, having a period
of revolution of about nineteen days.
Mr.. Hind suggests that, on March "a
next, the suns disk SHOULD be watched,
as a conjunction of this hypothetical
planet with the sun will occur about 10
A. NJ. on that day.
THE weeping willow has a romantic
history. The first scion was sent from
Smyrna in box of figs to Alexandria
Pope. General Clinton brought shoot
from Pope's tree to America, in the time
of the Revolution, which, passing into
the hands of John Parke GUSTS, was
planted on his estate in Virginia, thus
becoming the prOgenitor of the weep
ing willow in this country.
IT Is well known that for some time
various cases of poisoning from the use
of vanilla ice have been noticed and
published in Paris, Munich, Vienna and
other places. The most careful investi-
cations have failed to discover the cause.
In few cases traces of lead, iron and
tin, from the vessels used, have been
found IN the ice, but as no poisoning
has ever resulted from fruit ices pre-
pared IN the same vessels, it can not be
due to that NJ SchrOff is of the
opinion that the vanilla beans are
poisoned by the natives of South
America and Mexico, who rub them
with Acajou oil to make them smooth
and soft. This oil is not seldom con-
taminated with sharp substance which
cantharides. He thinks it less proba-
BILE that the injurious effects are due to
small crystals found in the outer skin
of the vanilla bean-benzoic acid.
POLAR REGIONS. cold,
stormy and ice-bound, as all nature is
at the Arctic circle, there are evidences
In multiplied forms to prove that the
climate in those inhospitable abodes of
the white bear and waIrus was once as
mild, warm and delightful as the Island
of Cuba. Vegetable productions of the
soil, so ancient we have no data to
reckon from, are abundant. These
grew luxuriantly where is is almost inn
possible to sustain either plants or ami
mails with all the appliances of art, and
from their structure are particularly
fitted for a tropical climate This state
ment requires no proof, since the ar
chives of geology verify them by pre-
served specimens in the rocks, the land
and caverns Of the frozen North What
forces produced the change from n mild
to a terrific region of storms IN their
most fitful exhibitions of resistless fury?
The polarity of the earth must have
been suddenly changed.
STRANGE BIRDs.-Australia abounds
in strange things, and particularly in
animal form, singularly deviated from
all other types on other continents. /
Among them the bird called the cipoz, /
a mound builder, is truly remarkable !
on account of peculiar habits and in
stincts. The male and female concur !
in the construction of a mound of !
leaves, grass, and materials that, in /
their decay, generate heat. They seem
to know exactly when warmth will be /
evolved by the chemical disintegration. /
On the top they can excavate a bsle, /
and into it an egg is dropped. Some of I
the mounds are twelve feet in circum- /
ference by three in height. Each egg, /
to the number of eight, is artistically |
lodged, and covered with loose sand. /
All this IS done in the darkness of night, /
so that no eye of an enemy may know
where the treasure Is hidden. Both
parents then pursue an earnest plan for
securing the propagation Of a new
generation with a degree of precision,
skill and apparent knowledge Of certain
natural laws that imply a reasoning
faculty Thus the eggs are incumbent
without the detention of the mother
bird on the nest in a climate that would
be fatal to her In confinement.