The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1880-05-22
Scientific Miscellany.

COAO1A UA1AN AAAAkJOOx40S0Ay "
Nj. Pellet Of the French Academy has
determined the valne of different sub
stances in manures for beets to be in the
following order: ~ phosphoric acid,
(2) magnesia, (s) lime, (4) potash, (5)
soda, (6) nitrogen.
The great map of the moon completed
by DIR. julius Seh.nilt Of Athens after
twelve years of labor shows 1886 era
ters and ring-like# formations on the
lunar surface; and 348 rills and clefts.
DR.. Schmidt estimates that the number
would be increased to 10000 craters in
a complete chart showing the moon as
seen with magnifying power of six
hundred.
"A French physician, who has studied
the effects of turpentine on some three
hundred painters, arrives at the conclu-
sion that the injurious effects produced
by turpentine fumes can never he suffi-
GENTLY severe to cause death unless they
are contained in q very confined space.
With good ventilation no fear need be
entertained of fatal effects from this
cause.
-Toughened glass seems to be capable
of a great variety of applications. Glass
railway sleepers have already been tried,
and now All English manufacturer pro-
poses using this material for drain and
water pipes, as well as for transparent
bricks and several other articles.
"A Berlin inventor has produced q
new kind of cloth, consisting principally
or entirely of sponge.
BY means of relays, it is stated that
London has frequently been placed in
direct communication with Calcutta over
1000 miles of wire.
The forests of the globe are esti-
mated to cover abont One-fifth of the
land surface.
Some time ago Prof. d. E. Hughes
noticed that when iron or steel wire was
immersed in aeidulated water for even u
few minutes only it became excessively
brittle, and that this effect was inyaria-
bly, produced upon all kinds of iron or
steel. He has since performed some ex-
periments to learn the cause of this
phenomenon, and has become convinced
that it arises from the absorption of hy-
drogen by the wire. He, therefore, calls
the product "hydrogenized iron." An
other observer has proven the curious
fact that, Notwithstanding the brittle
ness produced, the tensile strength of the
wire remains unaffected. When the hy-
drogenized wire is heated the hydrogen
is expelled, and Nc. Roberts finds that
the quantity Of gas thus evolved amounts
to twenty times the volume of the WIRE
1t is expected that useful applications
may he made of this new compound.
During last winter, whenever zone
of high barometric pressure covered
France, it was found to he warmer at
the mountain station of the Puy dc Dome
observatory than at the Clermont sta
ton, which is $500 feet lower. This re-
1narkahle fact is attracting much atten-
tion from meteorologists.
1t is reported that in the Azores the
entrance of smoke into conservatories
has been found to hasten the Towering
of certain plants.
= In the height Of the season, queen
bee lays from 1000 to 5000 eggs in twen-
ty-four hours.
1t has been q quite general belief
that extremely cold winters exert pow
erfnl effect i'll reducing the numbers of
insects, but observations during the last
two years show that cold produces little
OF no resnlt as an insect ct-destroyer.
A tube of" Canton's phosphorus" or
sulphide of calcium, prepared more than
century ago, is found to be still capable
~ plAoopAOACSSCACC. Ao ~ - w illlS Su u
stance that the phosphosescent proper
ties Of the neW luminous paint are due,
the durability of the latter seems to be
thus assured.
To illustrate a recent lecture, NJ.
Raoul Pictet coined u medallion weigh
ing thirty three pounds from frozen
quicksilver.
In recently published work, Count
d'Ursel asserts that in Bolivia, Peru aud
other South American countries, he has
slet with an insect which after its death
is transformed into plant. He describes
and figures this creature as thick, hard
grub, with distinct articulations. When
about to die it buries itself in the earth,
and there gradually increases in circum-
ference until it presents an appearance
somewhat similar to that Of potato. A
stem is then put forth, which in the
spring months bears crop of blue
flowers.
Under the auspices of the King of
the Belgians an establishment is to be
formed in Eastern Africa for the capture
and training of elephants.
DIR. Carpenter considers it possible
that at some remote geological period a
connecting strip Of land may have ex-
listed between Europe and America, and
that New Zealand, Tasmania and Sontl,
America may have been linked together
by ridges of dry land, while Madagascar
may have been joined in similar nean-
ner to the African continent. GeoloQists
l,n1o that