St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1881-06-25
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Arctic exploration is suggestion latel.
made by the superintendent of tn
Western Union Telegraph Company a
San Francisco, and the plan seems al
excellent and practical one. By sucl
aid sledge parties could be kept in con
stant communication with the mail
body of the expedition. The wire
would be made as light as possible, ant
laid along the snow or ice or the frozel
ground, either of which would suffi
GENTLY insulate the wires without tin
use of the usual poles and glass insula
tors.
In Carlyle's "Reminiscences" he tell
us of his dyspepsia, and how he once
rode sixty miles to Edinburg, "to con
suit doctor, having at last reduced my
complexities to the single question: Il
this disease durable by medicine; or is il
chronic, incurable except by regimen, il
even soq This question | earnestly
put; got the response; 1t is all tobacco
sir; give up tobacco Gave it instantly
and strictly up. Found, after long
months, that might as we'll have rid.
den sixty miles in the opposite diIec.
ton, and poured my sorrows into the
long, hairy ear Of the first jackass
came upon, as into this select medical
mans, whose name I will not mention
For preserving the natural colors OF
dried flowers and plants, this process
has been recommended by German
scientists Dissolve one part Of salicyl-
ic acid in six hundred parts of alcohol,
heat the solution to boiling in shallow
dish, and draw the plant through ii
slowly; shake off any excess Of liquid,
dry between blotting paper, and press
in the usual manner. Natural colors
are said to be thus preserved in greater
perfection than by other processes.
An account was recently given to the
British Royal Society of the transplant
ing of a bone, the first successful in
stance of the kind ever recorded. A
piece Of diseased bone had to be re-
moved from the arm of boy of three
years in a Glasgow infirmary. Fifteen
months after the operation no new bone
formation had appeared, and the exper-
iment of bone grating was undertaken.
On three different occasions portions of
human bone were transplanted, the
gratis being taken from patients from
whom wedges of bone had to be re-
moved for the purpose of Strengthening
their limbs. These wedges were divid-
ed into many small pieces and placed in
the child's arm. The fragments grew to-
gether and adhered to the bone of the
arm above and below, ultimately con-
verting useless arm into thoroughly
useful one by the formation Of COM
plete bone. ~
Some conception of the enormous en-
ergy of the human heart may be formed
when it is considered that good climb
er can only ascend 5000 feet in nine
hoursLthat is, working continuously
for considerable time, can only raise
his own weight 1000 feet an hour-while
the work done by the heart is equivalent
to raising its own weight (ten ounces)
1880 feet every hour. A still more
striking illustration Of the great power
of this little organ may be found by
it with the most powerful
engine ever built by mantle "Bavari-
an" locomotive of the Vienna and
Trieste railway-which can only raise
itself through 2,700 feet an hour. That
is, it's energy is less than one-fifth that
of the human heart. Of course, the ac-
tual work done, both by engine and
is much greater in amount than
that done by the heart but relative to
weight, the energy Of the heart far ex-
ceeds the other two.
The increasing applications of cleo
tricity have given peculiar interest to
the attempts that have been made to
store up electric currents for use when
desired. The latest innovation is due
to NJ. Faure, who has modified with re-
markable success the secondary battery
of CASTOR Plant6. The apparatus con-
sists of two sheets of lead coated with
minimum {the lead oxide usually known
as "red lead'D and rolled together in a
spiral, being kept apart by layer of
felt, and then placed in vessel of di-
lutte acid. When current is passed
into this cell the minimum on one plate is
reduced to metallic lead, that on the
other is oxidized to the state of perox-
ide. These actions are reversed while
the charged cell is being discharged.
According to NJ. Reynier, one of these
cells made large enough to weigh about
las pounds may store up energy sufi-
cient to furnish afterwards one horse
power of work for an hour. The ener-
BY thus "bottied" may be preserved in
tact for o, considerable time, always
ready for use.
Nearly every year there falls in some
part Of the world greater or less guam
tity of fine yellow-powder, which fall is
believed to be a shower of
sulphur. Investigation, however, shows
the powder to be the fine pollen of
species Of pine tree. The pollen grains
(1oat easily in the air, and are often
carried by gales a thousand miles.
When they fall on snow the effect is
often startling.
Considerable changes in the water
level of several lakes in California and
Oregon are reported. 1t is stated that
Goose lake, thirty miles long, was near
N dry in 1853 and 1874 hnt contained