Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-04-02
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

By means of delicate microphones,
Prof. Milne, of Toxic, Japan, de-
tects shock of earthquake SO feeble
as to be unnoticed by other instru-
ments.
Dana estimates the upward in
crease of coral reefs to be or aver
age rate of an eighth of an inch a
year, at which rate more than $780,
600 years must have been occupied
in the formation of q reef 1000 feet
in thickness.
A recent course of experiments
made to determine the heating pow
er of gas shows that one cubic of Or
binary sixteen-candle coal gas will
develop 31S heat units, while water
gas will give only about 1877 heat
units per cubic foot.
Swedish meteorologists have fur
nished material for unlimited specu.
lation by preparing catalogue OF
the auroras seen during the space of
more than three centuries-that is,
from 1886 to 1877. The record
shows that in the DnTlod from 1922
to 1899 auro.HH were observed on
4 ,245 night.
Among matters of prehistoric
archaeology which of late have at
tracted attention in Germany are the
" high-felds" or heathen- fields, "
where the marks of ancient tillage
are traced on ground now waste or
forest-grown. These resemble the
elf-furrows' of Scotland, but in
neither country has the old agricul-
tural race been identified.
An examination was lately made
of quantity of butter taken from
an alabaster vase found in an Egyp-
tian tomb. 1t had evidently been
melted aud poured into the vase,
which had then been sealed. After
$500 years the butter had become
only slightly rancid, and had fully
retained its chemical properties,
taste and the general appearance of
genuine butter.
In the Ashmolean Museum at OK
ford is one of the oldest monuments
OF civilization in existence, if indeed
it is not the very oldest. 1t is the
lintel-stone of q tomb which formed
the last resting place Of an official
who lived in tho time of King Sent,
of the second Egyptian dynasty,
whose date is placed by M. Marietta
more than six thousand years ago,
The stone is covered with hero
glyphics and delicate and finished
sculpture.
Rivers aid in the distribution of
plants by bringing down to the val
leys the seeds which accidentally
fall into the water. Thus the south
ern shores Of the Baltic arc visited
by seeds which grjw in the interior
of Germany, and the weastern shores
of the Atlantic by seeds thai gener-
ated in tho interior of America. A
more remarkable fact is that the
Gulf Stream has conveyed to the
western coast of Europe the fruits
and seeds of plants which arc indig-
enous to America in such state
that they might have vegetated I'M
der favorable conditions of climate
and soil.
The life of Mafuka, who lived
some time at Dresden, is among the
most instructive of photographers,
as illustrating the striking intelli-
gence of the anthropoid. Knowing
how to unlock her cage with the
key, she stole and hid it for future
use; she took the carpenters brad
awl and bored holes with it through
her own table; when pouring drink
from jug into her cup, she would
carefully stop short of overfilling it.
Her death had an almost human
pathos: she threw her arms around
the neck of the director of the gar-
dens Herr Schopf, kissed him, and
putting her hand in his, lay down
and died.
The malady commonly known as
the cholera of fowls is caused by
minute living organism. In it's no.
tural state this organism is very ia