Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1880-03-10
Scientific Miscellany.

The volume of water on the globe is
estimated to be % times that of the land
existing above the sea level.
Prof. Cook believes the Hessian fly will
be ultimately exterminated by the parasites
preying upon it. He affirms that the pota-
to beetle is being reduced in numbers from
II like cause.
The phosphorescent property OF sui
phide of calcium has been applied to pho
Biography, II picture being produced that is
scarcely visible by daylight but which
stands out in startling relief in the dark.
The eminent Berlin physicist, Prof.
Siemens, lately prophesied that "the energy
of the solar rays, manifested in currents of
air or i'll falls of water, may by-and-by
through the electric current, furnish all
the heat necessary, and render us indie
pendent of ordinary fuel"
1t is claimed by an Italian botaniSt that
the perfume of plants and flowers exert II
healthful influence on the atmosphere by
creatin. ozone, and thus adding to its
oxidiZiug effect. His experiments indicate
that no ozone is produced by inodorous
plants.
In South Africa the curious phenomenon
is observed of river, the Zooga, which
flows one time TO the east and at another
to the west. This explanation is given by
an eminent traveller and explorer: When
the shallow lake Ngama is filled up by
the streams falling into it from the west,
its waters pass through the ZooSa to
;he salt lakes on the cast, but when
these streams do not pour in such an
amount of water the level of the lake
becomes very low and the Zooga, often
largely increased in volume from the over
flowing salt lake, sends its waters into
Lake Ngama.
An exceeding simple test for butter has
hcen communicated TO the Belgian acade-
my. When heated in n shallow vessel to q
temperature between one hundred and tifIy
and one hundred and sixty degrees artificial
butter produces very little froth, but the
mass undergoes sort Of irregular boiling.
accompanied by Jerks which tend to pro-
jcct some Of the butter out of the vessel.
lhe Gaseous matter separates in brown
clots on the sides. while the fatty portion
of the sample retains its fatty color Nat
ural butter, on the other hand, similarly
heated. produces abundant froth, the Jerks
slight, and the mass takes On uniform
brown color.
a diver engaged in submarine opera
tions is constantly exposed to the risk of
suilocation through the entanglng and
crushing of the tube by which the air
reaches him from above. A new appara-
tus has been exhibited in London by
means of which the divers oxygen is
always carried about his person, enabling
him to breathe an hour or more without
connection with the external air. An
ordinary divers suit is worn, 1.-THE air
food being enclosed therein. Dir. G. w.
Richardson is very enthusiastic over the
new process, the secret of which the in
ventor has not revealed. If its claims arc
sustained, it certainly must prove very
valuable.
If asked, says Prof Tyndall, whether
science has solved, or is in our day likely
to solve, the problem of the universe,
must shake my head in doubt Behind
and above and around US the real mystery
of the universe lies unsolved, and as far
as we are concerned, is incapable of solu-
tion. The problem of the connection of
the body and the soul is rs insolvable in
its modern form as it was in the pre-scien-
ttic ages. There ought to be u clear dis
tnction made between science in the state
of hypothesis and science in the state of
fact; and inasmuch as it is still in its
Hypothetical state, the ban of exclusion
ought to fall upon the theory of evolu-
| tion.
The largest land animal which is known
to have existed ON the globe has been
described by Professor Marsh. Its name
is AtldnteSaUruS inlnsanis. The thigh
bone of the monster is over eight feet long,
with a thickness at the larger end of
twenty-five inches. A comparison of this
bone with the femur of crocodile would
indicate that the fossil saurean, if of SINH
lar proportions had total length of one
hundred and fifteen feet. That the reptile
was at least one hundred feet long when
alive is probable. The other bones of the
animal which have been found are pro.
portionately gigantic. One of the caudal
vertebrae measures more than sixteen
inches in transverse diameter.
Somebody has ascertained that in small
pox, poor people are pitted less than the
rich, and no class are pilted under their
dress. Poor people have less light in