The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-12-04
USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC.

AMERICAN QUININE-Five packages
of fresh cinchOna seeds were received
from India some months ago by the Di-
rector Of the Economic Garden of the
University of California. They repre-
sentedf five different species, and germi-
mated most readily. At present there
are growing III the propagating house
of the Agricultural Department of the
University several hundred healthy
plants of each of the five species. AS
soon as the trees are sufficiently ad-
Yanced they will be distributed to vari-
Gus sections in California, there to be
tried by careful and competent persons.
The accounts from India and Australia
or the success of the cinchOna in those
countries encourage the belief that some
OF the five species viii prove hardy in
California
To RELIEVE THE EYEs.-Reading is
rendered easy and fatigue to the eyes
very much relieved by a simple device.
Get slip of mica, about three inches
broad and SIX inches long, such as is
used for filling in the little windows of
stoves. Place this over the page and
move 1t along, so as to cover the lines as
you read. A larger plate of the ising-
glass may be employed, so as 10 cover
the whole page, if desired. The white
surface of paper is pleasantly shaded,
and book may be read in open sunlight
or by bright lamplight without fatigue.
If the reader desires he may cover the
mica slip with a light coat of green var
nish. This is better than green goggles,
and may be used with profit by the
| Over-wOrked student and the consumer
of endless novels
CHARCOAL FILTERS. Charcoal as an
agent for the publication of water not
only holds back coloring-matters and
decOmpOseS and partially retains most
mineral salts and gases, but it absOrbs
and detains the most varied organic
| compounds, heterogeneous and nOn-nitrO-
| genOus. Claude Bernard first demon
strated its important power of absorb
! ing albumen, a power which increases
with the quantity of the latter, with the
time of contact, and with the concentra-
| ton of the liquid to be filtered, and
which is more important as the arrested
| body is held so firmly as not to be re-
moved by solvents. One especial draw
| back of charcoal is its ready saturatiOn
with impurities, so that it requires to be
revived or freed from the retained mat
tiers, or, if this is impracticable, to be
renewed altogether. As a substitute for
! charcoal, variOns substances have,
therefore, been proposed, and among
| these spOngy iron. DR.. L. Levin has
| subjected spOngy iron to elaborate ex-
! periments which show that, when used as
filter, it neither decOmpOses nor holds
! back heterogeneous substances in such a
manner that they may not be washed
out again. The filtrate in one kind of
| experiment contained numerous bacte-
ria. OdOrs of putrescent matter were
but slightly removed by spongy iron,
and plumbiferOus waters underwent
very little improvement through contact
with it.
ARROW POIsONs.-The South Ameri-
can Indians poisoned their arrows with
curare, dark resinous substance. Pro-
fessOr JObert of Paris, when in Brazil,
succeeded in bribing an Indian of the
| Tecuna tribe to disclose the secret Gifts
preparation, and found it was prepared
| from seven different plants, which were
! ground and boiled together. Less than
a grain of this substance injected be-
meath the skin of an animal causes utter
| abolition of motor power, the motor
nerves being paralyzed. While sensi-
| bility is preserved, respiration is stopped
so that no evidence of breathing is per-
ceived, but the heart still beats, and if
| artificial respiration be kept up, and the
dose is not too large, the animal may
recover. The effect is one of trance.
Strange to say, the poison has no effect
if taken in the stomach. The spikes OF
the javelins and points of arrows are
thickly coated with curare, and a wound
| from such an instrument, however
slight, must prove fatal, the death be-
! ing of the most horrible kind, when we
remember that consciousness and SEN
sation are in no way blunted for time,
and the individual must appreciate the
condition he is in. The Australian ma
tives killed their enemies with instru-
ments dipped in the decomposing fluids
of the human bOdy,which were kept I'M
til decomposition had advanced to the
proper point. A scratch from this in
strument called nielgerii always proved
| fatal