The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1876-06-02
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

y
soil about fifty pounds of nitrogen, equal
to eleven thousand four hundred pounds
of farmyard manure. Each tree should
therefore receive about one hundred and
seventy-five pounds of manure per year
during the fifty years it is bearing.
| A FIRM of Mexican bankers have sent
to the centennial block of pure silver,
hexagonal in shape, foot thick, and
with sides three feet long. Its value is
| S74, 900 in gold, which at SLIP per ounce
| gives a weight of little less than four
| thousand pounds avoirdupCis. At $780,
| O0O, 600 a year, half silver and half gold,
| the Comstock lode in Nevada yields
| three thousand pounds of silver and one
hundred and sixty-six pounds OF gold a
day.
THE gold:mines of Victoria, New South
Wales, are usually rich. In 1874 six
| thousand seven hundred and twenty-five
tons of auriferous pyrite yielded eighteen
| thousand nine hundred and eleven ounces
of gold, or all average of 2S ounces per
| ton. This is much larger than the Cali
fornia yield. There are three thousand
three hundred and ninety eight veins
which have been explored, besides many
others which are known. They are con-
tanned in sn area of about one thousand
square miles.
THE occurrence of native zinc. has been
frequently reported, but never conclu-
sively proved. But Mr.. w. d. Marks,
of Chattanooga, found the metal in the
loose soil of Sand Mountain, in the north
eastern part of Alabama, and afterward
obtained the metal in place, in vein in
the blue limestone of the mountain. 1t
occurs in small scattered pieces in the
vein rock. If the ore will yield three to
five per cent. of zinc, it may be possible
to utilize it proitably.
GLYCERINE has on a few occasions been
crystalized, and a chemist who has in
vestigated the circumstances finds that
extreme cold and agitation are necessary,
and that only the purest glycerine can
be used for the purpose. If perfectly
pure and anhydrous, crystallized glycer-
Inc is first melted and then cooled TO
thirty deg. Fahr., and the minutest crys-
tai of glycerine dropped in the whole
mass instantly solidiieS. Or if the tenn
perature is reduced to twenty-four deg.
Fahr., vigorous stirring will produce
crystallivation. The crystal appears to
be prismatic, but they are so small and |
the melting point so low that it is diff
cult to measure them.
The arrows by which commodore |
GoedenOugh of the British navy was |
killed were poisoned by plunging in a |
human corpse for several days. This |
form of blood poisoning is made familiar |
in civilized countries by the occasional
death of medical student from inocula-
ton by morbid virus. The least scratch !
is sufficient to ensure death, though the |
poison does not develop for several days.
The Papuans who use this method of
poisoning are very warlike, and it is said
that they do not leave their dwellings,
even to work in the fields, without taking
a bamboo bow and some arrows. Those
arrows which are poisoned are dis
tinguished from their more innocent feI-
lows by being highly Ornamented, carved,
and painted They are barbed with hui
man bone, sharPened as fine almost as a
needle.
INDIA-RUBBER is collected in pecu
liar way in Africa The plant which
furnishes it is n gigantic creeper, reach
ing to the tops of the highest trees, and
with a stem that is sometimes as thick
as a mans thigh. 1t has lar G, bright,
darkgreen leaves, somewhat like those OF
the magnolia, and is thickly studded
with beautiful punches of pure white
star-like flowers, which have powerful
bitter almond perfume that is very at
tractive to insects. The fruit is the size
of a large orange, yellow when ripe, and
round, but with hard shell. This is
filled with a reddish pulp, which has an
agreeable acid taste. Every part of the
creeper, says Mr.. MonteirO, exudes
milky juice when cut or wounded; but
unlike the india-rubber tree of America,
this milky sap will not run into vessel
placed to receive it, as it dries so quickly
as to form a ridge on the wound, which
stops its further flow. The blacks collect
it by making long cuts in the bark with
a knife, and as the milky Juice gushes
out it is wiped off continually with their
fingers, ,and smeared on their arms, shoul- {
ders, and breast until thick covering is I
formed. This is peeled off their bodies
and cut into small squares, which are
said to be then boiled in water. No less
than four hundred tons of rubber were I
in this way in 1874 in the
of Ambriz alone.