The free citizen. (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1875-10-09
CURIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC.

ton II necessary.
BEES have become so numerous and
aggressive III Brownsville, Texas, that
energetic efforts lave become necessary to
rid the pl;,cc of them. They took pos
session Of stores where sugar and nolas-
ses we're kept, stung every body who tried
TO drive them away, and stayed until
smoked out
To prevent horses feet from scalding
or cracking in summer, and enabling the
shoes to be carried Il longer time without
injury, the French practice is to coat the
h0oiS once Il week with an ointment COM
posed OF equal proportions of soft fat,
yellow wax, linsecd oil, Venice turpcn-
tine and Norway tar: the wax is melted |
separately before mixing.
10 PURIFY \ S,,NK.-ln hot weather
il is simrossiblc to prevent sinks from be-
coming foul, unless some chemical pre-
paration * used. One pound OF copper
rs dissolved in four gallons of water,
poured over Il sink three or four times,
will completely destroy the offensive
odor As Il disintccting agent, to scatter
around the premises affected with any
unpleasant odor, nothing is better than
Il mixture Of four parts dry ground plas-
tcrot-paris TO one part Of fine charcoal,
by weight. All sorts Of glass vessels and
other utensils may be ctfcctraly purified
from offensive smells by rinsing them
with charcoal powder, after the grosscr
impurities have been secured Off with
sand and soap.
VEGETABLE BEEFSTEAK The Ma
tional Food and Fuel Rcformcr saws:
Among the most remarkable cscuIcnts
OF thls class may be mentioned the beef
steak fungus 1t is very juicy and
ilcShv, and its sections resemble beef in
appearance. \ botanist found lately one
OF i've feet in circumference, and weigh
!ng Gncty eight pounds. This species
Sgf&icularly found i'll Germany, where
II lNsSlccd and eaten with salad, and it is
hl9@Rtt esteemed aS Il nutritious food.
AiHgfier species, botanically known us
LstgPerd0n giydntcUiR,~ when Young is of
aGeam-likc .:1nsstcnce, and is an excel
leht:aa!llt:on to the breakfast menu. A
sl#lc one is large enough to feed ten or
= twelve persons, and some members of
lhcspccics are Il good substitute for truf-
Hes. y specimen lately found weighed
ten pounds, and was three feet four
INCHES in circumference"
AH!LL OFSULPHUR.-Onc of the most
remarkable deposits OF native sulphur as
the almost pure article, found some two
years ago ;l5a distance of thirty miles
south Of the Union Pacific railway and
nine heridrcd miles west of Omaha. This
marvellous deposit is found to consist al
most wholly of sulphur, containing only
ID per cent. of impurities. The best de-
posts heretofore available are those found
IN Sicily. The principal supplies for the
manufacture ofsulp lphuric acid comes from
there; the deposits contain 80 per cent of
impurities and "a per cent. of sulphur
Our western sulphur hill therefore, is
much the most valuable, and promises to
become. ere long, of great Importance to
The country.
LONGEVITY OF SNAILs.-An English
paper giving some evidence regarding
the. tcnacitv with which the snail holds
on to life, relates that a lady, having col
iccted some with pretty marked shells.
wished to preserve them. She therefore
subjected them to 4 couple of boiling
water baths and left them on Il shelf in a
summcrhousc to dry The next morn
ing, to her surprise and dismay, she found
the snails crawling about the place, and
some of the hungricr ones feeding upon
the paste meant to be used in cementin"
the shells together. The tcndcr-hcartcd
lady WIS so distressed ut her unwilling
cruelty that she sal down and had good
cry, ending with the resolve never to at
tempt snail-boiling again. In l774 an
Irish collector stated before the royal so
cicty that certain white snails that had |
been confined in the. cabinet for at least
fifteen years pokcd their heads out of
their shells and resumed their usual hab-
Its on being immcrccd in warm water.
OK THE HEREDITARY TRANSMISSION
oEAcQuIRED DISEASE -Brown-Scquard's
weliknown discovery that epilepsy NAV
be hrtiiicially induced in guinca-pigs by
section OF one or both sciatic nerves has
bccn repeatedly confirmed, and the asscr-
ton subsequently made by the American
physlologist that this liability to cpilcptic
Tits was transmitted to the ofisprinr Of tho
operated animals has also been fouh6 ror-
rect. Obcrsteincr recommends the adou-
ton Of this method for the study Of tie
laws of heredity in relation to diseases of
the nervous system. Ee divided his oni.
mails into three groups: in the first q
healthy male was paired with cpileDtic
females; in the second, an cpicptic male
with healthy females; while in the third.
both males and females were diseased.
The young OF thee animals were reared
and kept under observation for several
months; the rH al,a obtained pointing. to
the conclusion that the INFLUENCE Of The
female prcdominateso over that ofthc male
parent in the. transmission of acquired
epilepsy and that the lawyof 9transfor-
nation of ncuroscs," so familiar to Che
student Of ofhuman pathology, holds good
in the case ofcpileptic guinca-pi Obcr-
esteinrs experiments we're too few in
4 r. r. 4 |