The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1880-03-07
SCIENTIFIC MIsCELLASY.

time OF uayi indicates b day OF the
week and month, and each phase OF the
moon.
The topophone is a new scientific in
strument for determining the direction
from which sound waves come. Aside
from its value in acoustic inyestiga-
tions, it must prove practically useful
at sea in locating fog signals.
A remarkable popularity OF the ma
tiyes Of Southern China is that the
great toe Of each foot is separated from
the other like the thumb Of the hand,
and can be used in much the same
manner, although not to an equal ex-
tent.
Carbonic acid, when pure, is a most
active and fatal poison, destroying life
and extinguishing fame, o from the
absence Of oxygen as is often supposed,
but from the presence of active quail
ties which are destructive to life and to
combustion. II inhaled pure, ~instanta-
death results.
The surface Of Great Salt Lake has
risen eleven feet since 1867. Prof. King
believes this rise to be due not to the
cultivation Of the surrounding country,
bnt to a climatic oscillation that began
about 1860, and which is the first Of its
kind and extent that has occurred with
in at least two hundred and City years.
A quantity Of -four wa exposed by a
French experimenter to a pressure Of
three hundred tons, reducing it to one-
fourth its original bulk. A portion Of
il was then placed In cant and sealed,
the same being done with some I'M
pressed flour. A year afterward the
ans were opened, when the impressed
flour was found to be spoiled, while the
pressed was in excellent preservation.
Ammonia, so useful in agriculture
and the arts, is compound Of nitrogen
ami hydrogen; and for a long time some
method of utilizing the nitrogen Of the
air in its production has been sought.
The desired result has at last been at
tnined by two European chemists, who
cause hydrogen TO combine with atmos-
pileric nitrogen, in suitable apparatus,
by the aid of electricity. The economy
Of this process remains to be shown.
According to DIR. Emil Holub, ielics
of al extinct race, Of n much higher
culture than now belongs TO any native
tribes, have been found in the interior
Of South Africa. Among the remains
are seen workings of ancient mines,
some v of gold, and the ruins Of
rude Notifications. These evidences
remind the great traveller of the Afri-
can empire Of Monomatapa, as mapped
on old Portuguese charts.
Among some mineral specimens from
u South American mine, the remarka-
BILE discovery has been made Of an am
monte 10 fossil SHELLY transformed into
native silver. Long ago the chemical
action between the shell and the silver
ore with which it was in contact, re-
suited in the disappearance Of the orig
inal shell, metallic silver being deposited
in its place.
The seriginal home Of various plants
is thus stated: Cabbage grew wild in
Siberia; celery originated in Germany;
the potato, in Peru; the onion, in
Egypt; tobacco, In South America;
millet, in India; the nettle, in Europe;
the citron. in Asia; oats, in North
Africa; rye, in Siberia; parsley, in Sar-
DINA; the parsnip, in Arabia; the sun
flower, in Peru; the horse-chestnut, in
Thibct; the ounce, in Crete; the horse.
radish, in the south Of Europe; and the
pear is supposed 10 lie II native Of
Egypt.
That certain insects possess a power
akin to reason is Illustrated by Gled-
itsch, 4 German naturalist, who relates
that he u day spitted n toad on a
stick, which he fixed upright in the
ground. The odor Of the decaying body
OF the reptile attracted a number Of
burying beetles; but rs they found they
could do nothing with the toad while
In the air, they mined under the base Of
the stick until it fell, when they buried
toad and stick together. Such an engi-
neering attempt would seem to indicate
the presence of a definite purpose.
The announcement that Balmain's
luminous paint" Is soon TO be offered
in the market has aroused much inter
est in England. The preparation is
based upon the well-known %phosphor-
escent property OF sulphide Of calcium,
the principle being that lately applied
to producing ~elf-luminous clock-dials.
Articles coated with the paint continue
to emit \ gradually decreasing phos-
phorescence for some hours after ex-
pc ure to n strong light. and 1t is now
claimed that this property will be re-
tanned for eight Or ten years. The
range Of application Of this invention
Is great, but it must prove especially
valuable in spirit vaults, powder maga-
zines, mines, and all places where ordi-
nary lights ran only be used ut consid-
cradle risk. II has been s%anguinely
suggested that the time may come
when gas and electricity will be super
seeded by the use Of a coating for walls