The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1880-12-05
The Weekly Leader.
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scIENTIrIc MIscELLaxY.


Complied for the Leader.
1t is stated that the Bank Of Franc
has almost entirely abandoned chemica
tests in favor of the camera for detect
ing forgeries. The sensitive plate no
only proclaims forthwith the doings o
the eraser or penknife, but frequentl,
shows, Under the bold figures Of tn
forger, the sum originally borne by tn
check. So ready Is the camera 10 dc
tect ink marks that a carte Dc risi,
enclosed in a letter may to the eye ap
pear without blemish, while a copy O
it in the camera will probably exhibi
traces Of writing across the face, wher,
1t has merely been in contact with th,
written page.
The elephant hunters Of Ceylon ant
India corroborate Sindbad's story thai
elephants, when they feel the approach
Of death, retire to a solitary and mac,
cessible valley, and there die in peace,
The superintendent Of elephants TO the
government Of India states that nc
living mar has come across the corpse
OF a wild elephant that has died a natu-
raj death.
A French electrician has devised an
Ingenious electrical low water signal
for steam boilers, which indicates the
existing water level at any distance
from the generator, and when the
water has sunk below a certain point
rings a signal bell, while at the same
time the sign slow water'' appears on
the indicating tablet.
Recent ocean dredgings indicate that
no marine life exists at a greater depth
than 1Je fathoms.
Prof. Marsh recently read a paper
treating the dimensions of the brain
and spinal cord in some extinct reptiles.
lie considered that the cerebral part of
the brain in living mammals showed a
decided increase rs compared with the
size OF the extinct species. The early
mammals had smooth brains, and in
the later ones ~convolutions appeared.
The brains Of birds and reptiles fol-
lowed the same law. a large specimen
Of an extinct animal from the Rocky
Mountains, which measued thirty feet
in length, had a brain cavity not much
larger than that of n dog. There was,
however, large posterior cavity toward
the spine. This suggests the idea that
1t is not the brain alone, but the whole
nervous system, which may be the seat
of mind.
With so simple an article as a red
cabbage, a very old but pretty little
chemical experiment may be made by
the young people, with the result of
amusing and astonishing those around
them. The effects may DO strikingly
shown in this hammer Cut three leaves
of the cabbage into small pieces, and,
after placing them in a basin, pour q
pint Of boiling water over them, letting
them stand an hour; then pour off the
liquid into a decanter. 1t will be Of n
fine blue color. Then take four wine
glasses; into m put six drops of strong
vinegar; into another six drops of solu-
ton Of soda; into q third, the same
quantity of q strong solution of alum;
and let the fourth glass remain empty.
Fill up the glasses from the decanter,
and the liquid poured into the glass
containing the acid will quickly change
to a beautiful red; that poured with tho
soda will be a fine green; and that
poured into the empty glass will re-
main unchanged.
In the writings of Confucius, the
great Chinese philosopher, occurs the
following passage: "As we use n glass
to examine the form of things, so must
we study antiquity in order to under
stand the present" This sentence
points Enthusiastically to the use Of
magnifying glasses long before the time
of the writer who, died AIS years b. C.
A very slight declivity sufices to give
the running motion to water. Three
inches per mile in n smooth, straight
channel gives a velocity of about three
miles an hour. The Ganges, which
gathers the waters Of the Himalaya
mountains, the loftiest in the world, is
at $50 miles from its mouth, only 500
feet above the sea, and to fall these 500
feet in the long curse of the river is
said to require more than n month.
The Swiss colony in North Carolina
has discovered that the mulberry-tree
grows with as much luxuriance rs the
cherry, and that the soil and climate OF
that state alike foretell the future pro
duction of silk under the most favor
able conditions.
NJ. Javel says that the fatigue expert
enced by the eyes from reading with
artificial light is due more to the want
of light than to its excess. Even in ;
very brightly illuminated thu
pupils are very much more dilated thar
by daylight, and this dilation produces
fatigue.
The academy of the Lyncaci, founded
at the beginning of the seventeenth
| century, is stated to be the Oldest scien
| titic society in the world. The acadc
n,y wau raoroani1ed In 1871 and In