The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1880-05-15
Scientific Miscellany.

Some woodcutters in Styria were
surprised on telling a large oak to find
in its hollow trunk human skeleton in
excellent preservation. It is conjecturetl
that the bones are those of some hunter
who climbed the tree and slipped into
the hole in the trunk, from which he
was unable to extrieate himself.
This simple method of making a
phosphorescent lamp is given: Cleanse
oyster shells by well washing, expose
them to red heat for half an hour, sep
arate the cleanest parts, and put into a
crucible in alternate layers with sui
phur. Then heat to retlness for at least an
hour. When cold break the mass, and
separate the whitest parts for use. If en-
closed in q bottle the figures Of 4 watch
may be seen by the aid Of the light
emitted. To renew the luminosity of
the mass expose the bottle each day to
the sun or other strong light. The sui
phide of calcium will thus be made to
absorb light, which will be available
throughout the night.
Investigations lately made reveal
the fact that the number of vibrations of
tuning fork is affected by the tempera-
tnre, and that the higher the tone of the
fork the greater becomes the influence of
temperature. @
An observer in England has found
that the depth Of dew-fall in that coun-
try seldom exceeds the hundredth part
Of an inch during any night of the year
while the average annual depth of the
deposit is not more than an inch and a
half.
A school for the education of idiots
has been in operation in Holland for
twenty-five years, with encouraging
results. OF the total of ALI pupils en-
tered upon its register since 1855, forty
three have gone directly into service or
adopted trade, while twenty-five 9TH
ers have been discharged in greatly
improved condition.
-Troune's electrical polyscope was re-
Gently placed in the stomach of a fish
swimming in a Paris aquarium. With
out producing any sign of inconvenience,
the body of the fish was then illumina-
ted by the apparatus, which caused it to
radiate into the aquarium light equal
to that of common candle.
During some recent experiments in
Glasgow it has been proved that tele-
phonic sound can be conveyed through
a less facile conductor than the usual
unbroken wire. IN this case break in
the wire was taken up by number Of
persons, who by joining hands continued
the electric current through their bod-
les. The effect of interposing these
human links was to ditfuse and weaken
the electric power; but the current was
still sufficient to convey some audible
reproduction Of song from the trans
mitting to the receiving end Of a tele-
phone.
After long search, NJ. Broca de-
clarcs that he las been able to find no
skeleton save that Of the negro which
corresponds in proportions and outline
to that of the statue of the Apollo
Belvedere.
Mr.. NJ. A. Veddcr finds that water is
not freed from organic impurities in
freezing, and that the germs of animal
culn are present in very much of the
ice taken from stagnant water This be-
ing the case, considerable risk must at
tend the use of such ice in drinking
water
"A Brussels genius has plan for con-
structing submarine apparatus for
travelling to the North Pole 1t is pre-
sumed that when the pole is reached he
will act on another hint from Jules
Verne's fertile imagination and seek an
opening to the centre of the earth!
In paper on the origin of the plow,
DR.. Tylor states that the first agricul-
tnral implement seems to have been a
pointed stick four or five feet long, such
as many savage tribes still carry for the
purpose of digging roots, knocking
down fruits and unearthing animals. At
a later date the stick was bent and used
as a hoe, the point being hardened by
fire. In the southern part of Sweden
large tracts Of land give evidence of
early cultivation, which is attributed to
a prehistoric people called by the
natives "the hackers" who are always
associated with the giants of mythology,
and whose rude hoe was fir pole with
a short projecting branch. There came
into use afterwards a larger instrument
of the same kind, which was not used
like the hoe but dragged by men or
oxen. Instances of this are to he found
in old Egyptian pictures and it was
probably the primitive idea Of the plows
which is of prehistoric origin, evidences
being found Of it's early use among the
Greeks, Egyptians and Chinese. 1t had
from the earliest times religious sane
ton. The next improvement was q
wooden hook shod with iron and in the
time of Virgil wheeled plow was i'll
use which differed but little from the
best in Europe Il century ago.
NJ Pasteur proposes inqniring into
the disease and parasites of the nhy1.