The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1877-11-15
SCIENTIFIC NOTES.

W ~"
LAND that has been flooded by the sen
is generally barren for years afterward'
According TO a German chemist the cause
of this barrenness is the presence OF an
excess of chlorine salts such land has a
tendency 10 remain damp, and there Is n
firm, ton Of ferrous sulphate, which ID
highly injurious to plants. The land
should be drained an quickly as possible,
sown with grass or clover, and allowed TO
rest.
The belief that Roh 10 especially
adapted 10 Fsed tht brain, and that fish.
ce'efa are therefore more intellectual
than the average, does not find much
favor with DR., Beard. lie says that this
"delusion is 80 utterly opposed to chem.
.otry, TO physiology, to history, and to
common %CbNryation, that it IL very
naturally almost universally accepted by
the American people. 1t was started"
he adds, "by the late Prot. hgassiS, who
impulsively and without previous con.
alteration, apparently, as was his wont at
times, made n statement to that cfiec.
before a committee on fisheries of the
Massachusetts, legislature. The state
mcnt was 30 novel, 20 nne.H!ded, and 20
untrue, that it spread like the blue-glass
delusion, and has become the accepted
creed Of the nation"
On the question whether birds hiber.
nate, we have received from Mr.. j.. :.
Abbott, of Reading, Michigan, a com"
mrrical!on in which he states an Obser-
walton made by himself, which goes TO
show that at least some birds do hiber-
nate. While living in the backwoods of
Ohio, our correspondent often noticed
the swallows toward evening circ'inC
around the top Of acycamore-tfee, in the
hollow of which they would soon disap.
pear. To determine whether the birds
remained within the tree during the win.
ter, Mr.. Abbott had the tree cut down
some time after the beginning OF the cold
season. The swallows were found within,
~clinging to the shell of the tree, stiff,
motionlesa, and " all appearance In a
state Of suspended animation. The tree
WIS hollow from the ground up, and the
swallows were attached to the she'll along
ito whole length.
A SINGULAR instance Of hereditary is
recorded in a note from NJ. Martinez TO
the Paris academy Of sciences. In 1871
several chickens on n farm held by the
author were affected with poIydacLylism,
having a supernumcry claw, This had
been transmitted to them by a five
clawcd cock raised on the same farm a
year or two before. 1hetype was propa'
gated rapidly until in 1873 an epidemic
ravaged the poultry.yard, AT present,
without any selection, this variety is
very numerous; it has been p%ropagated
among neighborins farms throughout
the exchange of eggs by farmers if moth,
ing interrupts its progressive Increase, it
promises ere long TO be predominant,
The popularity was not 30 perfect at first
as it is now; the modification has been
going on progressively.
SIM, LrANEOtB CONTRAST or CoLORs.
An incident in the lie of Henry ".
of France finds its explanation in an ex.
pertinent made by CnCvreul. While yet
prince of Navarro, Henry ". was play.
ing dice with two courtiers a few days
before the massacre Of ST. Bartholomew 4.
day. They saw, or thought they saw,
On the die, spots Of blood and the party
broke up in alarm. The phenomenon is
explained by Chevreul by the law of
simultaneous contrast OF Colors, and he
illustrates this by experiment As follows:
Seat yourself in a room 10 as to receive
on the right side tho suns rays at an
angle of twenty TO twenty-five degrees,
the left eye being closed. On n table
covered with gray paper and under diff
fuse light place two hen's>feathers, one
black and the other white, distant 06
to OS metre from the eye. Alter
about two minutes, with the right eye in
the suns beams, the dark feather appears
red and white one cmerald-green. After
n few seconds the black feather OF red
color seems edged with green end the
white feather seems of a rosy color. Now
close the right eye and open the left.
The black feather will be black and the
white one white. The effect is evi
due to insulation the black feather ap-
pears red because it reflects much less
light than the white feather. From the
law of simultaneous contrast of colors,
the insulated eye seeing the green hy
white light, the black feather must ap.
pear OF the complementary color OF green,
which is red.
In tolOralo H. j. s,id thnt at lhn I,io