The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-08-21
NUGGETS OF KNOWLEDGE.
A Fec H,rentioRs and Discoveries Matters Ne,
and Useful

| and UsefuL
| GLYCERINE AS AN ILLUMINATING OIL
| 1t has been lately discovered tina
| giycerine of low specific gravity vii
burn with steady blue, and non-lu
minous flame when heated to $50 deg
G. This will permit it to be burned b.
means of lamp-wick.
THE "YELLow SPOT" OF THE EYE.
From the examination of several per
| fectly fresh eyes, DIR. Schmidt, of Mar
| burg, Germany, has come to the conclu
sion that the "yellow spot III the hu
man retina is not yellow, but darl
brownish red. Its yellow tint is due t.
| post mortem change.
THE TEMPERATURE OF AUSTRALIA.
Australia is one of those countries
which has an apparently very comfoI ia
bio mean temperature, 81 to 30 deg. f.,
but in reality very uncomfortable ex
tremes In June, July, and August the
thermometer sinks to 27-22 deg, and il
January it rises to III deg, and in some
places to 125 deg. The rainfall is 25 &C
inches year.
PROMOTING GERAIINATION OF SEEDS.
Some interesting and significant ex-
periments on the influence of certain
compounds on the termination of seeds
have recently been made by Hackel,
the results of which appear to confirm
views advanced by observers years ago.
Certain seeds which, when exposed to
the action of pure water alone, began
to terminate after eight days, when kept
moist with iodine water, germinated in
five days. With bromide water the same
result followed after three days, and
when chlorine water was used the inter-
val Sas decreased to two days. These
experiments belong to the order which
"anybody can try"
ALCOHOL AS AN ANESTHETIC.
The anasthetic effects of alcohol are
sometimes manifested in q surprising
manner. An old case is that of a drunken
man who lay down near a top of a
lime kiln, with ore foot resting on q
lump of limestone. The fire crept
through the furnace until his foot be-
came a blackened cinder, but his sleep
was not interrupted, and the first init
nation he received was when he was
aroused at daylight and attempted to
stand. Lately similar circumstance
has been reported from England. A
drunken man lay down before a fire and
remained there until the front part of
his body was literally roasted. He died
in few hours after being found.
tACIS ABOUT THE Y.
Although the Esquimaux are placed,
as race. low down upon the scale of
humanity, they are said to have consid-
Their boats are ingeniously made, and
their ice huts are arched on correct
mathematical principles. A recent
writer describes, too, cruel but really
novel method in use among them for
killing bears. They sharpen the ends of
a piece of whalebone a foot or more
long, then bend it double and wrap it
closely in fat meat, which is exposed
to the air till it freezes. These treach-
erous pellets are thrown to the bear,
which bolts them whole. They thaw in
his stomach the bent whalebone
straightens, and the sharp points pierce
his vitals whenever he attempts to
move.
INCREASED SPEED AND SAFETY OF YES
Sells AT SEA.
A Mr.. A Pierra writes to the Phlia-
delphia Press that, after long study, he
has made two inventions to increase the
speed and safety of passenger vessels
at sea. One he describes as a contri-
vance that c,n be applied with little
difficulty to any ordinary steam vessel,
and the other as peculiar construction
of the hull. He says: " My object in
publishing this communication is two
fold ; to place, without disclosing the
result of my labors, my discoveries on
public record, and to call the attention
of inventive minds in a direction in
which they may work out the problem
of obtaining high rate of speed for
steam vessels. I believe in my schemes,
but I am not blind to the fact that
every inventor has faith in his own de-
vices, and that the most plausible
schemes in theory may prove utter fail
ures when submitted to practical tests.
EFFECTS OF COLD ON THE CONFORMATION
OF THE EARTH.
Sir Charles Lyell would have been
delighted to chronicle the results of the
CONFORMATION of the earth's surface.
Several instances of unusually marked
effects have taken place. Large land
slides, attributed to the frost, have &C.
CURED on the chalky Danish island of
Moen. In one spot several million cubic
yards slid down. Similar occurrences
have been frequent on the Seine in
France. The cliffs at Sainte Adresse
near Havre are suffering steady degra-
datlon by the action of the waves and
weathering. The city of Caub in Mas
sau, near Bacharach, will before long
be crushed by the fall of rocks not less
than 600 feet in height. The catastro-
phe is reported to be 80 certain and ap-
pal emily so impending that two rows of
houses have been deserted.
THE GAS GUN FOR FOG SIGNALS.
A very ingenious application has been
made of the explosive nature of a mix
ture of ordinary gas in air. There is
established, at any point on the coast
where fog signal is desired, a gas gun.
1t is simply tube of iron, connected
with the gas-holder by the proper pipe;
the latter, of course, may be at any
convenient distance. The gas-holder is
filled with a mixture of one fourth air,
and the remainder coal gas and oxygen,
and this mixture is alio we'd to flow into
the gas gun, W 1en it may be fired off
by touching match to the proper orr
fee, taking care, of course, to close all
communication with the holder. By
using an electric spark, instead of the
match, the service of the gun may be
made still easier. The flash from this
gun is said to illuminate the fog much
better than that from tho discharge of
gun powder.
THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF LIGHT.
LII u uCinOIl ou 1uc puyslOlOBlcdl dC-
ton of light by Prof. Dewar and Nc
Kendrick, these authors have especially
directed their attention to the effect pro-
duced on the retina and optic nerve.
Their inquiry divided itself into two
parts, first to ascertain the electromotive
force of the retina and the nerve; and,
second, to observe whether this was al
tered in amount by the action of light.
They conclude that the action of light
is such as to alter the amount of the
force to the extent of from
three to seven per cent. of the total
amount, SO that strong flash of light,
lasting the fraction of a second, produces
a marked effect. A lamp held ut dis
lance of four or five feet, and, equally,
the light of small gas flame, after
passing through depth of twelve inches
of solution of salts of copper and
potash, also produced sensible effects.
When diffuse light is allowed to fall
Oh the eye of frog, after the latter has
arrived at tolerable stable condition.
the natural electro-motive power is in