Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-05-21
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
To follow my thoughts as thew 90 IN
Electrodes I'd place in nv BRAIN
Nay, I'd swallow q live entGzOon'
. New feelings of life tn obtain

h New feelings Of lie to obtain.
james Clark MarreN.
" Pork worms" are not confined
to hogs and men, large number of
trichinm having been found in a hin.
popotamus.
An Algerian company intends to
cultivate the Sahara, boring Artesian
wells in carefully selected spots as a
means of irrigation.
Many workmen in the st. Gothard
tunnel have died of a peculiar dis.
case called tunnel trichinoses, pro-
duced by parasite in the in!estines.
DR.. Carpenter states that the en-
tire absence of sunlight on the deep.
sea bottom appears to have the same
effect as the darkness of caves in re-
ducing to rudimentary condition
the eyes of fish and caustacea
which ordinarily enjoy visual power,
and many of these deep-sea inhabi-
tants are provided with enormously
long and delicate feelers or.hairs.
with which they feel their way about.
DR.. Siemens has been exhibiting
specimens of fruit ripened by means
of continuous light-that is, by ex-
posture to the sun during the day and
the electric arc at night. The con.
trast between two pots of strawber-
ries is very striking, the fruit being
quite ripe in the case of the plant
which has had continuous 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 at
tending physicians quite dead. As
scientific experiment, the body
was then subjected to an electro.
galvanic current, when, after few
hours, signs of life became apparent.
The convict soon completely recov.
cred his senses, but died the next
morning from congestion of the
brain.
DR.. Phipson seeks to solye tho
problem of n cheap household light
by new method. With compare
lively feeble electric current he
greatly increases tho phosphores-
cence of certain bodies which are
made family luminous by the suns
rays. In Geissler tube, containing
a gas in more or less rariffed con-
dition, he encloses phosphorescent
body-sulphide of barium, for in.
stance-when the passage through
the tube of a constant electric cur.
rent of certain intensity produces an
agreeable light.
Recent experiments by two or
three Austrian and German horti-
culturists have brought into notice
an almost forgotten plant which was
introduced into Europe from China
nearly thirty years ago. 1t is the
SOFA hispidi, leguminous plant
somewhat resembling the we'll
known pea. The boiled seeds of
the plant form dish which is high
ly relished by the Celestials as we'll
as by Europeans who have tasted it.
The seeds have also an industrial
value, rs an useful oil is obtained
from them.
According to very general be-
lief, the toad is, endowed with su"
pernatural power of existence which
enables it to live for ages without
food or air, and the oft-repeated tales
of the finding of live toads Enclosed
in solid rock gain ready credsnce.
Such reports can have little founda-
ion in fact. Curious to learn the
actual extent of vitality of this rep
tile, DR.. auckland enclosed twentyA
four healthy toads in as many air.
tight cells Of limestone and sand
stone-the limestone cells being
considerably larger than the Others
On the Goth of November, 1925, the
stones and their tenants were buried
in the doctors garden, where they
remained until December 10th, 1926,
when they were disinterred. All the
toads in the sandstone cells were
dead, and had probably been in that
condition for some time. Nearly all
the toads in the limestone cells were,
however, alive. One or two had