New-York tribune., 1878-01-05
SCIENCE FOR THE PEOPLE.

OO1ENOE YIN ILL LII hi>'
A PARRoTs Practical JOKE.-ln his new
volume the voyage of the Challenger, Sir C. wyvilie
Thomson relates an incident which may be cited in proof
that animals not destitute OF the sense OF huuor Inc
weasel stopped tue port of Bahia, Braz and some OF
the vOyacors went 10 Santo Aaro, town about twenty
miles distant There line Of tramway had recently
boen laid with sharp incline to steamboat whall'
Dr Thomson party arrived TO take the trial
trip on the new tramway As the truck that carried the
party went down he incline the agoniFed cres OF
child followed by low mOans were heard apparently
from beneath the wheels Instantly the break was ap-
piled aud the truck stopped with sudden jerk The
scientific party jumped out and looked around ana under
the truck in lot Of swarthy native children stood
near the rails looking vaguely and curiOusy Int not
as II anything had happened TO any oi their number
When the passengers mysed returned 10 thelr eats'
parrot. hanging IN cage on tnc tfucK puisi V,' ~
loud mocking laugh AMI Was at once recognized as e
performer ia the previous screaming and u ahhg a.
he ~ ronyuced that the observations thereupon ed
Tessed by the truck drivers TO the parrot lucuueu sohc
Vigorous language.
AN ANTIDoTE FOR STRYCHNINE-AccOrdlng
10 some recent experiments of Dr. Le, detailed ia ne
Lanee strong coffee may be successfully usedt counter
net poisoning by strychnine. The experiments were maze
upon rabbits and were jrcd consequence reported
instance Of failure in an attempt TO poison q iamly
where s;rycmine had been introduced INTO tAe c'hee-
pot
MANUFACTURING COLD AR.-Protessor Sam
zee is exhibiting in California machine for making cora
air by means Of which he hopes to be able to reduce inc
heat Of mines keep the holds OF vessels at freezing
temperature while conveying fresh meat to MAINTAIN
floor ice in skatlng rink during the hottest weather
md to perform many similar wonders. An ammonia
machine last Summer did such work Tor beer brewery
IN NewJersey, situated near the line OF the Delaware
and Iackawanna Railroad. None of these devices Use
fee in the process of cooling air In recent Work ny
MI Robert Briggs the Relation OF Moisture IN All 10
Health and Comfort" he shows by mathematical edeu-
laon that the quantity OF ice needed TO cool an apart
ment in not Summers day TO the temperature OF sphS'
might be thirty times the quantity Oi coal needed 10 neat
the apartment on cold Winters day; even under the
NEST favorable conditions when the air is so dy hat no
would have To he removed, the propoOh OF
ice 10 coal would have TO he fifteen to one C0"lIg ny
Of compressed air, Suddenly allowed !" SAla&iu, H.
but still too costly Tor venatng purposes 10
practically in making our houses coo IN the SUM
mCr.
A CHANGE IN A SCIENTIFIC MAGAZINE.-Ac-
cordng to The country IA new weekly pub!shed IN ms
csty), the od and long established American NGtWah@
has been sold by its Boston proprctors and will herea
ter be published under the management of Professor Ed
ward Cope. at Philadelphia 1t it intmated tha & me
change does not meet with favor among the Eng
land cont rbutors the agazne to whose a5oIs It's
former popularity was chiefly due
FOLK LORE ABOUT ANINALS.-In new work on
superstiuons and ancient beliefs respecting wcknown
animals The wer-wof legends are still Of force in Nor
mandy and certain annual Observances among the pea
santry reference thereto The brains OF RABBIT
arc be unfit for food because they occasion loss
of memory. This notion is founded on the bebe hat inc
rabbit runs fOolshy known dangers on account OF
a fe bic memory; whence, also, TO reckless deeds the
adjective hare-braned" is applied White ferrets are
believed by the Norman peasants TO be the souls OF I'M
baptized infants hint for our Western agricuIaists
may be taken from custom in Alsace: when grasshop
pers arc too there they put 10 fight it is
said hy hanging few bats the highest tIecs IN the
nechhOrhuOd. But, pc 1as, even II me ls c"uiu DC
provided it would he difficult ohnd me hSh Tres on
our Western praires and # is by no means certain that
Rocky Mountain locust has due reverence Tor pats
SIZE OF TIE SATELLITES OF MARs.-trom
series of phoometrc applied by Professor Picker
Ing OF Harvard Observatory, - the newly discovered
satellites Of Mars he obtains results very closely agree
ingwiih with each other as TO the size OF those bodies
H states approximately that the Outer and darker sael
lite is about six miles III diameter aud tie inner one
VEGETABLE GREEN FOR PICKLEs.-The Boston
Journal Of Chemistry gives particulars Of pro-
cess recently patented in France and England
for supplying a green color, extracted from
vegetables, which is to bc used for colorng
pickles To procure the extract, leaves OF spinach.
sorrel similar plants scalded in hot water chopped
into mass and tncn boiled in a solution OF causc soda
I'LL dissolved. On cooling, green cake Is deposited
which IS to be dissolved with the phosphate Of potasaa
or ammonia and reduced to the required strength by
adding water. In the liquid thus obtained, when il IS
heated to boiling point hftecu urates immersion
will give pickles fine aud pc:mapcht green As me
color consists Of the clOTOphyN OF plants II j. quite
harmless; which cannot yet be certainly sda OF e sdts
copper, although French cSpeIlmcntcs nave eccly
found them less poisonous than had hitherto been
supposed.
OPIUM-EATING IN MAINE.-An extraordinary
statement made by The BranScc; Tc!eGroDh to the
effect that the opium has enormously increased IN
Maine since the enforcement OF laws restricting the sale
of liquors. manufacturing chemist whose business ID
said to be among the arge, of the kind in the cOantIy
is reported as having stated that morphine is sold
Mainc in proportion to population than ~ arg other
State in Union. This Information needs 10 De verl
fcG before using II to draw iniereDcos
VARIATIONS OF THE SUN-sPOT PERIOD Re
Gently published but lOngextended researches by DR..
Wolf Of Zurich, indicate much wider variation in the
sunsp pot period than has hitherto been assigned The
records which he has examined the observations
of forty years He finds the average divergence from
the mean period of IL years. to amount to plus or
minus 2.O3 years. Tie time between two successive
maxima is sometimes much fifteen sixteen years
or as little as seven years. If this hc conceded il VIII
make deductions to terrestrial meteOroOgy from sun
spots, even uncertain than az present
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RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.
Tomorrow the observance of the Week Of