The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1881-03-05
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Oh THO liz tISc COlha'ho 9 VO"CsAui 40
ment capable Of digesting albuminoid
matters as they are digcstcd by the
inices Of the stomach.
"A tea plantation was established last
year by Count PAmiyo upon his estates
near Messina, Italy. The tea plant is
said to thrive finely there, and its leaves
are in 10 wise inferior To those Of tho
Chinese plant.
M. Dohrn is stated to have intro
duced the use of the telephone i'll COLI
nection with his scientific explorations Of
tho bed Of the Bay Of Naples. by this
means the diver and the boatmen over
head are able to communicate with each
other as quickly and intelligibly as can
he wished.
john Duncan, a poor Scotch weaver,
has presented the University Of Aberdeen
with his herbarium of nearly 1900 British
plants, collected by him while moving
about as q harvest laborer over the
southern districts of Scotland and the
north Of England. In his extreme old
age, this self-educated devotee of science
is dependent OH parish relief.
Chemists have discovered that the
presence of very minute quantities of GER
tain substances i'll certain liquids may be
detected by means Of tho electric spark
and II Photographic apparatus. If the
coIoring matter known as ;,nthraccne is
mixed with Fifty million times its weight
Of alcohol tho presence Of the color is
shown by photograph, which will show
the characteristic bands Of the absorbed
rays pertaining to anthracene.
In al essay npon the nutritive value
Of fish, Prof. Atwater gives this table !:
Taking medium beef at 100, we have, as
the food valne Of like weights of fish free
from bone: medium beef, 100; fresh milk ,
1913; skinned milk, 1875; butter, 1874 +;
cheese, 1856 hens eggs, y; Goldfish, fresh,
6o; founders, IS; halibnt, SO; striped
bass, ~; mackerel, 86; lake trout, 81 ;
GELS, IS; shad, 80; salmon, lO4; salt
mackcral, Iii !; dried Goldfish, BAG.
Concerning applied SCIENCE" Prof.
Huxley recently remarked II often wish
that this phrase had never been invented,
for it suggests that there is IL scientific
knowledge Of direct practical use which
can he studied apart from another sort of
scientific knowledge which is of no prac-
teal utility, and which is termed pure
SCIENCE But there is no more complete
fallacy than this. What people call APP
piled science is nothing but the applica-
ton of pure science to particular classes
of problems" ....... 49,.
A few months since quite sensation
was produced in the medical world by
the announcement of remarkable cures
Of cancer by the use Of Chan turpentine,
u very rare and expensive drug. 1t ap-
pears, now, however, that the value of
this article has been greatly exaggerated,
and at Il recent meeting of the Medical
Committee of the Middlesex Hospital,
London, it was resolved that no more
Chan turpentine should be ordered fol
the treatment Of cancer, as prolonged
and careful trial had shown that its re.
suits were perfectly negative.
-Perfumers know of the curious fact
that some of our sweetest aud most deli
cately scented flowers are of no value fol
perfumery. For example, no process hat
yet been discovered by which the fra
GRANGE of sweet-brier aud eglantine car
be extracted and preserved, but goot
imitation is produced by compound .
neroli oil with alcoholic extracts Of ros,
pon,a.le and Of orange flowers. Lily o
the valley, which is likewise unavailabl,
| to the perfilmer, is we'll initiated by ;
combination Of vanilla, extract Of tube.
rose, jasmine and otto Of almonds. Lii
les are little used in perfumery, thsil
orders being too powerful.
1t is generally supposed that til,
colors of flowers are due to so many diff
ferent materials, each color being /.
chemical combination entirely distinc
from the others. Prof. Schuetzler, how
ever, now advances the theory tina
chlorophyl (the green coloring matter o
leaves) is the only coloring matter which
plants possess, and that the varying col
ors and shades are produced by the &C
ton of the acids or alkalies of the plants
upon the chlorophyl. Experiments con
firm this view, to which further support
is given by the quite we'll established
fact that the changes in color Of leave.
in autumn are due to the action of theil
tannin upon the chlorophyl.
Two African missionaries, Griffith
and Hutley,-who, at Utowa, near the
mouth of the Lukuga Creek, have estab
lished the first mission station on the
| west side of Lake Tanganyika-latelJ
gave the London Missionary Society
some information concerning the religi
GUS notions Of the Vagina. On this
point marked difference is apparent
between the tribes on the opposite shores
of the lake. Those on the east side have
no images or idols, but on the west shore
they have them in great numbers, and
connect certain beliefs with them. Mr.
Griffith observes that the first thing
which strikes the African traveller on en-
tering the western half of the continent
is an image at the entrance Of every vii
lage, besides many others inside it. The
image is in imitation of the human fig.