Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-05-28
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Ihe forests of the globe are esti-
mated to cover about une-fifth of the
land surface.
! In the height of the season,
queen bee lays from 1000 to 5000
eggs in twenty-four hours.
a Berlin inventor has produced
new kind of cloth, consisting princi-
pally or entirely of sponge.
TO illustrate IL recent lecture, NJ.
Raoul Pictet coined medallion
weighing thirty-three pounds from
frozen quicksilver.
1t is reported that in the Azores
the entrance of smoke into conserva-
tories has been found to hasten the
Towering of certain plants.
By means of relays, it is stated
that London has frequently been
placed in direct communication with
Calcutta over 900 miles of wire.
Under the auspices of the King of
the Belsians an establishment is to
be formed in Eastern Africa for the
capture and training of elephants.
M. Pellet of the French Academy
has Determined ,lo value of differ
ent substanc IA manures for beets
to be in the following order: %
phosphoric acid, ~ magnesia, (3)
lime, az potash, (5) soda, (6) nitro
gen.
1t has been quite general belief
that extremely cold winters exert
powerful effect in reducing the
numbers of insects, but observations
during the last two years show that
cold produces little or no result, as
an insect-destroyer.
Toughened glass seems to be cap
abe of n great variety of applica-
tons. Glass railway sleepers have
already been tried, and now an Eng
lish manufacturer proposes using
this material for drain and water
pipes, as we'll as for transparent
bricks and several other articles.
A tube O" Canton's phosphorus"
or sulphide of calcium, prepared
more than a century ago, is found
10 be still! capable of phosphores-
cepce. AS it is to this substance
that the phosphorescent properties
of the new luminous paint are due.
tho durability of the latter seems to
he thus assured.
During last winter, whenever
zone of high baromet:ic pressure
covered France, it was found to be
warmer at the mountain station of
the Puy- de-Dome observatory than
at the Clermont station, which is
$500 feet lower. This remarkable
fact is attracting much attention
from meteorologists.
The great map Of the moon COM
pleted by DR.. Julius Schmidt of Ath-
ems after twelve years Of labor shows
81, $50 craters and ring-like forma-
tons on the lunar surface; and 34S
hills and clefts. DR.. Schmidt esti-
mates that the number would be in
creased to 100000 craters in q COM
plete chart showing the moon as seen
with magnifying power of six hun
dred.
A French physician, who has
studied the effects of turpentine on
some three hundred painters, arrives
at the conclusion that the injurious
effects produced by turpentine fumes
can never be sufficiently severe to
cause death unless they are contained
in very confined space. With
good ventilation no fear need be en-
tertained of fatal effects from this
cause.
In q recently published work,
Count d'Ursel asserts that in b.
livia, Peru and other South Ameri-
can countries, be has met with an
| insect which after it's death ia trans.
formed into a plant. He describes
ana figures this creature as thick,
hard grub, with distinct articulations.
When about to die it buries itself in
the earth, and there gradually in
creases in circumference until it
presents an appearance somewhat
similar to that of the potato. A
stem is then put forth, which in the
spring months bears crop of blue
| flowers.