Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-07-29
aSflisfellamepns &eadiua.

LOOK place at receuC meeIlnS OF tne sOCleCy
of biology, of Paris, when Mr.. Rouget is said
to have mentioned as a remarkable fact, that
single tail, which he had caused to be am
putated from salamander, was replaced by
two tails, which subsequently grew out. This
is by no means an uncommon occurrence in
the West Indies, where I occasionally y noticed
lizards with two tails. The original one is re-
placed by another, always, believe, of infe'
rior length, with second shorter one grow
ing from its base.
The common lizards of the West Indies
are extremely fond of music. In listening
attitude, they will approach the open window
of room in which music is played, coming
nearer and nearer, with heads elevated, In
tently listening. In somewhat rare book
entitled "Barbadoes and other Poems" by
M. j. Chapman London, 1850 this habit is
thus referred to-:
Gay sounds are heard within the lighted halls;
The listening leaves the melody enthralls,
The charmed zephyr pauses as he flies.
And mingles with his strains the softest sighs;
The awakened lizard leaves his bushy bed,
Climbs to the lattice and erects his head.
A lizard, SO engaged, had its tail acciden
tally cut off by the sudden closing of the
|
This curtailed lizard, however, continued tc
visit the spot, charmed with the music. AT
ter a short time it was noticed that the LOST
appendage was gradually replaced by two
This occurred at the house of friend ir
Barbadoes.-Thouas Bland, in Science Nesos
WHERE LIGHTNING SrRIKEs.-Professol
Colladon, of Geneva, has made some inter
esting observations on the course of lightning
when it strikes trees and houses. He holds
pthat the great discharges which injure trees
or houses seldom or never happen while the
lightning has an unobstructed course-whict
it has along the thin upper branches of trees
where birds and their nests are often LEFT
quite uninjure,l by its descent. But it is
where the electric current reaches the thick
stem that the tree becomes worse and worse
conductor, and it is here, therefore, that the
tree is what is called struck e., here thai
the electricity, failing to find an unobstructed
channel to the earth, accommodates in mas
ses, and gives out shocks that rend the tree
And the same is true of houses whose light
ming conductors stop short Of the ground
Professor Colladon has also shown that the
close neighborhood of pool of water is
great attraction to the electric current, and
that the electricity often passes down a house
or tree till it is near enough to dart straight
across to the water and he thinks thai
where possible, lightning conductors should
end in a spring or pool of water. Professor
Colladon believes that lightning descendE
rather in a shower-through multitude o
vines, for instance, in the same vineyard
than in single main stream. 1t divides
itself among all the upper branches of tree
and is received from hundreds of atnospher
ic points at once instead of, as has been usu
ally supposed, from one. Electricity IS
rain, number of tributaries from wide
surface, not single torrent.
The CHINESE WALL.-Mr Unthank, al
American engineer, has been engaged lately
making survey for Chinese railway, du
ring which time be took measurements ir
many places of the great wall of China. He
gives the height at eighteen feet, and the
width on top fifteen. Every few hundred
yards there is a tower twenty four feet square
and from twenty to forty.6ve feet high. The
foundation of this immense wall is solid gran
ite. The wall goes 1900 miles over the
mountains, chasms and valleys. 1t was built
to keep out the Tartars. Mr.. Unthank
brought back with him brick from thit
wall, which is supposed to have been made
200 years before Christ. In some places the
wall is built smooth up against the canhons
and precipices, where there is sheer descent
of one thousand feet. Small streams are
arched over, but in the larger streams the
wall is built to the waters ed ge, and tower
is built on each side To calculate the time
of building, or cost of this wall, is beyond
human skill. On the top of the wall are
breastworks or defenses, facing in and out
so that the defending force can pass from one
tower to the other without being exposed to
any enemy from either side. So far as the
magnitude of the wall is concerned, it sur
passes everything in ancient or modern times,
of which there is any trace. 1t is said that
the Pyramids of Egypt are nothing compared
to it. E<
DUEL1NG.-The practice of dueling -four
ishes only where there is lack of moral
courage. A recent writer, speaking of duels
in France, said The French are exceeding
ly afraid of being afraid the whole reason OF
nearly every duel in France is somebody's
slavsh dread of the imputation that he dare
not 6ght."' If public opinion condemned du-
cling, and respected man who declined to
accept challenge, there would be no dues.
Very few people care to risk their lives on
what is called the field of honor. The risk
is taken because barbarous public opinion
insists that it shall be taken. Fear and not
courage, is the cause of nine. tenths of all the
duels fought 1t is asserted that there is a
finer sense of honor where dueling is practiced.
This is mistake. In England duels are un'
known. The English are as brave, generous
and honorable as any people in the world.
Once they were duelists. They have how
ever, reached higher plane of civilization.
Dueling is an obstacle in the path Of progress,
and the sooner it is suppressed or abolished
by force of public opinion the better it will
be for the South.-New Orleans Times.
WHERE COFFEE GRows.-The four great
coffee countries of the world are Brazil, Java,
Sumatra, and Ceylon. Hitherto 250,000 tons
have been considered as good yearly figure
for Brazil, but last year. the export alone
amounted to $4,000 tons. But the con-
sumption of coffee in the country itself now
amounts to $4,000 tons, raising the total
yearly product of Brazil to $4,000 tons.
Fortunately for the planters in other parts
of the world, coffee has grown into necessity
to the United States, and the price has
risen. Although the soil Of Brazil, especially
for coffee culture, is very extensive, yet the
difficulty of obtaining labor daily becomes
greater, and this renders it doubtful whether
the above figures can be exceeded. The crop
in Java and Sumatra was estimated at 81, 900