Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-09-24
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

seeds. This will furnish Il seed for
every square foot vi ground Oh %
acres. At this rate, the second gen
Grafton from Il sin. !c pant will pro-
uuce the il'."Jus aggregate of
900, 600, UtU,u 500 seeds, or u seed
Or every slu.co lot OF 25,UO0,OOJ
acres.
y new process OF obtaining stereo.
type plate, Tor printing has been
discovered by ii. Emile Jeannin.
sculptor of Paris, who processes to
employ for that purpose the material
known as crHaiOd. Inc PROCESS Of
preparation take, only hall an hour,
when the matter Is once III type,
and the plates thus produced are
remarkably adapted for working on
cyllnder machines running at high
speed, beng very light, flexible and
durable. In this last respect they
are said to even surpass metal
plates, ail'ordinS fifty thousand i'm
plessions, whereas the best electro
typed plate will last for only thirty
thousand.
The JablochkUif system of electric
lighting Is now Ill use under almost
every possible condition and in every
variety of establ!shinent--in streets,
Oh bridges, i'll railway stations, thea
ters, circuscs, engineering and in
dustrial works, docks, basins, on
board steam-vessels, in hotels, and
in private residences. King Thee
baw, of Burmah, has SIXTY lights
fitted up in bis palace at Mandalay;
the Shah of Persia has four at To-
heran; Prince Agaklam has six at
Bombay; and the King of Portugal
and the ex-Queen Of Spain are also
using them. Seventeen hundred
and sixteen were lately reported in
use in different countries, one hun
bred and ninety-eight being in Eng
land.
AT recent Berlin bird-show sew
eral cunaries were exhibited which
attracted much attention on ac-
count of the peculiar colors of their
plumage. Some were green, others
red and light brown, and others of u
soft gray tint, while all differed more
or less from the light yellow of the
common bird. These variations of
color were produced by the daily
use of cayenne pepper i'll the food of
the birds. The pepper is given in
small quantities at first, and the
birds appear to like it. The imme-
date effects are, however, anything
but pleasing to the beholder, for
the feathers soon begin to fall, Civ
Ing the birds tho appearance Of
melting; but i'll II short time new
feathers make theirnppearancc, hay
ing the curious tiuts observed
Gray hairs sometimes come pre-
maturely by Inheritance, trouble, or
the large use of water containing
lime. The sudden branching of
herd of hair is frequently caused by
severe nervous shocks, ana numer-
GUS historical aud traditional cases
may be cited in which sudden fear
or overwhelming news has turned
the hair white in q few hours.
The case of Marie Antoinctte is
one OF the most tender and touch
ing, for in single night her
rich dark hair was changed to
silvery gray. A Sepoy of the Ben
gal army was taken prisoner in 1858,
and the fright he received caused
his hair to become completely whit
ened within half an hour, the change
being SO rapid rs to cause his captor
to eXcaim in establishment, :" He is
turning gray Under the influence
of fear or any great mental shock
the blood reccdes from the surface
of the body to the heart, and it is
supposed the same influence may
cause the colorjng fluid of the hair
to retire to the root. bulbs, where it
remains thereafter. Gray hair has
been known to become dark without
the chemists aid In 1714, Nazar-
ella, Il man 105 years old, was pre-
sented by nature with new set of
teeth and restoration of the black
hair of his youth. John Weeks was
blessed with Il regeneration of tho
color Of his hair short time before