The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1881-10-08
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Il The sense Of touch in eyeless fishes il
q shown by experiment to be extraordina
q rily developed. ........
: Paper betting is now being used il
:, Japan, and is said to have been fount
I stronger than leather betting.
Abornethy used to say that "of the
large quantity of food man swallows
one-fourth supports him, and the rest he
keeps at his risk"
Sir John Lubbock estimates that 5000
900 animal species have existed on ou1
globe, OF which only about $4,000 are as
f yet on record. He places the number of
recent species at 100000.
Experiments have been made in Paris
with new kind Of military telegraphy,
which consists simply in reading large
letters by a telescope. 1t is hoped to sue
cecd at 60 miles distance.
A Neapolitan gardener, after years of
experiment has produced a camelia with
a delicate perfume, and thinks it proba-
bic that these. flowers may in the near
future be so cultivated as to rival the
rose in fragrance.
Marble is generally considered to be Is
very rigid material. A remarkable case
however, is given by M. Guebhard, in
which a marble slab beside door in the
Alhambra Of Grenada has been bent CON
slderably out of shape by superintendent
weight, without breaking. The slab is
ten feet high, nine inches broad and two
inches thick.
Astronomers expect the temperance
before long of a remarkable variable star,
which was observed in 945, 1864 and 1872.
This star was seen at its last appearance
by Tycho Brahe, who reported that it
became suddenly so brilliant as to be
seen at noon, then gradually faded
away, and was lost to view in about six
teen months after it was first observed
| NJ. Gley, q Frencl, Psychologist, has been
investigating the o fleets of brain work
on the circulation Of the blood In his
experiments he has found that when he
applied himself to difficult subject,
upon which he had to concentrate all his
energies, the rhythm of the heart was far
more acccleratedA than when considering
some matter with which he was familiar
! A peculiar phenomenon occurred in
August on mountain of Rhcnisl Prussia
In the sido of the Brennende Berg q pit
about hundred square yards in area
suddenly opened, emitting a great vol
ume Of flame and engnlfng house and
its inmates. It is believed that the cause
OF the catastrophe was the ignition of gas
| rising from petroleum Tvein in the
| depths of tho mountain.
NJ. Decourneau attributes the cracks
in common mortars and cemcnts to the
uncombIned quicklime which they con-
tain. In order to neutralize the lime, he
| uses a very fine silicious powder mixed
with diluted nitric acid. He thus obtains
mortars Of much greater, moro uniform
and more lasting resistance than those
hitherto used. The application of this
| method has given excellent results.
Stone made by the process may be
worked like the natural product.
A method of improving India rubber
and gntta percha by the addition of. a
distillate of birch-bark has lately been
brought out. Distilation of the outer
layers ofthe bark produces dense, black,
gummy matter resembling gutta percha
and capable of resisting tho action of air
and of the strongest corrosive acids 1t
is claimed that the durability of India
rubber or gutta percha is greatly in
creased by the addition Of a small guam
tity-a twentieth part is sufficicnt-of
the brch-bark gum.
A singular effect upon plants by the
wind was lately witnessed in the district
about Colmar. The air was still during
the night and morning, the temperature
being abont sixty-four degrees Fahr.,
the time July 26th. At ten o'clock in
the morning a southwest wind began to
blow, increasing i'll violence, and the
temperature rose to eighty four degrees
Its effect was like that of spring frost
on the flowers and tender leaves ofmany
plants. In twenty minutes some flowers
were completely Drowned. The phe-
nomenon does not appear to have been
due to dryness of the wind.
In his address before the British Asso-
citation of Science at it's recent fifty first
annual meeting, Sir John Lubbock, the
president, said " Summing up the prin-
cipal results which have been attained in
the last halfcentury, we may mention
Cover and above the accumulation of
facts) the theory of evolution, the anti
putty of the world itself; the correlation
of the physical forces and the conserva-
tion of energy spectrum analysis and
its application to celestial physics the
higher algebra and the modern geometry;
lastly, the innumerable applications of
science to practical life-as, for instance,
in photography, the locomotive engine,
the electric telegraph, the spectroscope,
and, nest recently, the electric light and
the telephone.''
NJ. Troupeau has lately made numerous