Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1880-05-10
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

III. Sd1 pCnUC1 SbdtCS I1ldO CuC
absence Of sunlight on the deep-sea bot
tom appears to have the same effect as the
darkness of caves in reducing to a rudi-
mentary condition the eyes of fish and
crustacea which ordinarily enjoy visual
power and many of these deep-sea in
habitants are provided with enormously
long and delicate feelers or hairs, with
which they feel their way about.
Recent experiments by two or three Aus
trian and German horticultuiists have
brought into notice an almost forgotten
plant which was introduced into Europe
from China nearly thirty years ago. 1t is
the SOFA hispidd, a aleguminous plant some
what resembling the wellknown pea. The
boiled seeds of the plant form dish which
is highly relished by the Celestials as well
as by Europeans who have tasted it, The
seeds>have also an industrial value, as a
| useful oil is obtained from them.
DR.. Phipson seeks to solve the problem
of a cheap household light by new meth
od. With a comparatively feeble electric
current he greatly increases the phospho-
| rescence of certain bodies which are made
family luminous by the suns rays. In a
Geissler tube containing gas in more
or less rarefied condition he encloses q
phosphorescent body-sulphide of barium
for instance-when the passage through
the tube of constant electric current of
certain intensity produces an agreeable
light.
An Algerian company intends to culti-
vate the Sahara, boring Artesian wells in
carefully selected spot as means of ir-
rigation.
According to very general belief, the
toad is endowed with a supernatural pow
er of existence which enables it to live
for ages without food or air, and the oft
inclosed in a solid rock gain ready Gre
dence. Such reports can have little foun-
dation in fact. Curious to learn the actu-
al extent of vitality of this reptile. DIR.
Buckland enclosed twenty-four healthy
toads in as many air-tight cells oflimestone
and sandstone-the limestone cells being
considerably larger than the others. On
the 25th of November, 1926, the stones
and their tenants were buried in the doc
tors garden, where they remained until
December 10th, 1926, when they were dis
inferred. All the toads in the sandstone
cells were dead, and had probably been in
A..
the toads in the limestone cells were how
ever, alive. One or two had actually in
creased in weight, which shows that some
opening must have existed in the cells,
through which insects and air gained ad-
mittance. The toads which were found
alive were again buried, and all died dur
ing the second year of their imprison-
ment. These experiments seem to estab-
ish conclusively the fact that even the
n;od IG,'5Lranot exist for a very extended pc
iioo "i'iiooC ar and food. 1t is, therefore
pretty safe to assert that living toads are
never found in solid rocks.
rolA "0rins@ are not confined to hogs
and man, a large huber of tricbina boy-
ing been found in hippo ,+or,u
Many workmen in the st. GDU''
mel have died of peculiar disease ''n
tunnel trichinoses, produced by a parasite
in the intestines.
DR.. Siemens has been exhibiting speci-
mems of fruit ripened by means of contin-
uous light, that is, by exposure to the
sun during the day and the electric disc at
| night. The contrast between two pots of
strawberries is very striking, the fruit
being quite ripe in the case of the plant
which has had continuous light and yet
green in that which has had the sunlight
only.
An extraordinary case is reported from
| Hungary. criminal was hung until
pronounced by the attending physicians
| quite dead. AS scientific experiment,
the body was then subjected to an cleo
tro-galvanic current, when after few
hours, signs of life became apparent. The
convict soon completely recovered his
| senses, but died the next morning from
congestion of the brain.
An observer of Vesuvius notes an in
creased activity in the crater at the time
| of each full moon.