The Phoenix herald., 1879-07-05
Science.

Furniss has sent Natetre some facts in
 regard to tame elephants, which he
 learned from the Superintendent of the
 Central Park menagerie. It seems that
 the elephants in that collection frequent
 ly thatch their backs with hay or grass,
 when they are outdoors in the hot sum-
 shine, or even when they are particu-
 larly annoyed with flies indoors, in
 summer; but in winter they never try
 to protect themselves in this way. The
 act is one which indicates an intelligent
 effort to attain a given end. It would
 be interesting to know whether the
 habit of thus thatching their backs is
 practiced by elephants in the wild state.
 The writer is inclined to think that the
 accessibility of dense shade under such
 conditions would render 1t unnecessary ;
 and if so the practice has probably been
 developed by the requirements of cap
 tivity.
 A good deal of solicitude is expressed
 in Scotland lest the salmon disease, first
 publicly noticed as widely prevalent
 last year, should extend to all the rivers
 of the country. Sir Robert Christison,
 Bart, describes the disease as '' a
 branching fungus which attaches itself
 in the first instance to those parts of
 the fish which are destitute of scales"
 The irritation thus produced causes the fish to rub its scales off against the sand and gravel, in doing which great cuts and gashes are inflicted, leading to death by exhaustion. Carefully con- ducted inquiry has failed to reveal the cause of this epidemic, which last year killed multitudes of salmon and seems no less destructive this year. There is no longer any disposition to attribute it to town sewage, as experts agree that the influence of all the refuse that goes into the rivers is inadequate to account for 1t.
 Captain s. R. Franklin, of the United States Navy, defends the late Admiral Wilkes from the imputation of inaccura cy in his charts of the South Pacific islands. The charge, to which we re- ferred some time ago, was that he had laid down several positions in the Samoan and Fiji groups enormously. Captain Franklin, however, shows that the maps of the Wilkes expedition are more accurately constructed than those of much more recent surveys, that they differ very little from absolute correct 1 ness, and that they are almost exclusive | ly used by navigators in Samoan waters with perfect safety. He adds that the expedition which Wilkes commanded was sent out to explore rather than to survey, and 1t is to be commended for 1 coming so near the truth, in view of the 1 crude appliances at the disposal of the 1 officers.
 The extensive fossil forests which oc- l cur in the tertiary formations of the l Yellowstone National Park, have been | described by Mir. W. H. Holmes, in the | Bulletin of the United States Geological | and Geographical Survey. In the vol | canic deposits of this region silicifed | trees are met with in an extraordinary | standing out on one ledge, 1 according to MT. Holmes, like the | columns of a ruined temple. Many of | the trunks are fallen, while many others remain in the position in which they grew. They vary from six to ten feet in and from thirty to sixty feet in height or length. The leaves and stems found have been sufficiently numerous and well-preserved to permit the Identification of a number of species.
 The suggestion is made by Mir. W. F. Kirby, assistant naturalist in the Dub lin Museum of Science and Art, that the plague in Russia may be form of the disease known as malignant pustule. Among the Russians, the idea is widely prevalent that the malady is conveyed from person to person by flies. MT. Kirby says there was quite a panic in Germany four or five years ago, during the summer, by reason of the numerous deaths caused by the bites of flies, or at least attributed to that source. It was supposed that the flies carried the infection from deer, cattle and other animals afflicted with peculiar disease 1f the blood. The bite was followed by fatal inflammation in most cases where 1t produced any effect at all.
 The 1aeen is recently discovered in- sect, belonging to the same genus as the ,ochineal, which occurs abundantly in Yucatan and Central America, and which promises to be of considerable conner cial value. It yields fatty oil, which is used in painting and incidentally for applications. From this oil Wax-like substance, useful as a varnish, ,an be made, and still further treatment produces 8 cement resembling solu- ion of India-rubber, which is described IS waterproof. The color of the insect s yellowish brown.
 A surgeon on one of the iPeninsular md Oriental Company's steamships, unning from Europe to Bombay, an lounces that he has met with great sue ess in the treatment of sea-sickness by nitrate of amyl. The dose was three Irops inhaled from handkerchief or ,iece of lint. In every case the relief , vas decided, and on one day of the -oyage mentioned he had occasion to :. dminister 1t in twelve cases. In no 7. were any i'll effects observable. :, Ve believe that the effect of this medi- :. :. inc, however, has not always been . ound so satisfactory in sea-sickness. <
 Mir. Gladstone's color theories do not . neet with universal acceptance among 5 pecialists. In France, Dr. Henry H. f Dor has sent a paper to the Lyons Acad | my of Sciences, in which he asserts that f 1odern poets evince little if any more f bility than Homer to discriminate hades of color, but dwell rather upon 11eE1