The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-05-07
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY
To follow my thoughts as they go on,
Electrodes I'D place in my brain;
Nay, I'd swallow Il live cntozoon
New feelings Of life 10 obtain.

| To follow my thoughts ae they go on,
| Electrodes I'd place in my BRAIN
| Nay, I'd swallow live cntozoon
New feelings Of life 10 obtain.
-lJames Clark Maxwell.
DIR. Carpenter states that the entire
absence of sunlight on the deep-sca bot
tom appears to have the same effect a,
the darkness of caves in reducing to {
rudimentary condition the eyes of fish
and crustacea which ordinarily enjoy
visual power; and many of these deer
sea inhabitants are provided with enor
mously long and delicate feelers OF
hairs, with which they feel their wa,
about.
Recent experiments by two or three
| Austrians and German horticulturists
have brought into notice an almost for.
gotten plant which was introduced into
Europe from China nearly thirty years
ago. It is the Sofa hispida, a legum.
nous plant somewhat resembling the
well-known pea. The boiled seeds ol
the plants form dish which is highly
relished by the Celestials as well as BY
Europeans who have tasted 1t. The
seeds have also an industrial value, as
useful oil is obtained from them.
DIR. Phipson seeks to solve the prob
lem of a cheap household light by a
new method. With comparatively
feeble electric current he greatly ili-
crcases the phosphorescence of certain
bodies which are made family lumin-
ous by the SUMS rays. In a Geissler
tube containing gas in a more or less
rareficd condition he cncloscs phos-
phorescent body-sulphide of barium,
for instancc-when the passage through
the tube of a constant electric current
of certain intensity produces an agreea-
BILE light.
An Algerian company intends to cul-
tivate the Sahara, boring artesian
wells i'll carefully selected spots as a
means of irrigation.
According TO a very general belief,
the toad is endowed with supcrnatur-
al power of existence which enables il
to live for ages without food or air, and
the oft-repcated tales of the finding of
live toads inclosed in solid rock gain
ready credence. Such reports can have
little foundation i'm fact. Curious to
learn the actual extent of vitality ofthis
reptile, DIR. auckland enclosed twenty
four healthy toads in as many air-tight
cells of limestone and sandstone-the
limestone cells being considerably larg-
er than the others. On the 26th OF
November, 1925, the stones and their
tenants were buried in the doctors gar
den, where they remained until Decem-
ber 10th, 1926, when they were disin-
tered. All the toads in the sandstone
were dead, and had probably been in
that pnnHifinn fop
all the toads in the limestone cells
were, however, alive. One or two had
actually increased in weight, which
shows that some opening must have ex-
listed in the cells, through which insects
and air gained admittance. The toads
which were found alive were again
buried, and all died during the second
year of their imprisonment. These ex-
periments seem to establish conclusive
lY the fact that even the toad cannot ex-
list for very extended period without
air and food. 1t is, therefore, pretty
safe to assert that living toads are never
found i'm solid rocks. ~ 'I
"Pork worms'' are not confined to
hogs and man, a large number of trich.
inal having been found In n hippopota-
mus.
Many workmcn in tho St. Gothard
tunnel have died of a peculiar disease
called tunnel trictinosis, produced by
parasite i'll tho intestincs.
DIR. Siemens has been exhibiting
specimens of fruit ripened by means Of
continuous light-that is by exposure to
the sun during the day and the electric
arc at night. The contrast between
two pots of strawberries is very strik.
ing, the fruit being quite ripe in the
case OF the plant which has had contin-
uous light and yet green in that which
has had the sunlight only.
An extraordinary case is reported
from Hungary. A criminal was hung
until pronounced by the attending ply
sicians quite dead. AS a scientific ex-
pertinent, the body was then subjected
to an electro-galvanic current, when,
after a few hours, signs of life became
apparent. The convict soon complete
ly recovered his senses, but died the
next morning from congestion of the
brain.
Vast deposits of carbonate of lime
arc distributed over tho globe in the
the form of limestones, chalks, marbles,
marls, etc. Numerous and extensive
as are these deposits, it is believed that
they are all of animal origin. The
softcst chalk and the densest limestone
arc found to consist of the aggregated
shells or skeletons of myriads of tribes
Of the lower animals, which existed in
some remote period of the worlds his
tory. Coral-recfs are sea-islands of car
Donate of lime built up by minute
aquatic animals, and their formation is
an example of similar deposits now be-
ing made.
An observer of Vesuvius notes an in
creased activity in the crater at the time
of each full moon.