The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1881-11-30
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Professor James Law declares that email
pox is SO common in the poultry of Hindos-
tan and parts of Europe as to constitute q
veritab]e plague.
Several lines Of electric railways are pro-
posed by simens and Halske, the Berlin
electricians. They are about to investigate
the problem Of electric traction in the ST.
Gotha d tunnel.
In experiments with the electric light in
night military operations, mad at Chatham,
England, bodies Of men were readily discoY-
cred at a distance Of over one thousand
yards.
The value of the new underground tele.
graph system Of Germany was strikingly
demonstrated during a late disastrous gale.
While business il England and On the CONT
nent was largely suspended il consequence
Of interruption in the telegraph service by
Frustrated wires, German cities were able to
communicate with each other as usual.
The Liepsic chemists have patented a pro-
cess for obtaining liquid sugar which does
not crystalline. The result is said to be af-
fected by adding to a purified sugar solution
a small quantity Of crystallized citric acid,
which combines with the sugar and deprives
it of its tendency to crystalline.
Various cases Of poisoning from the use Of
perfumes have been reported. n one in
stance some heliotrope perfume applied to
the face OF q little girl produced an
e~rysipelas which lasted for some time. It
was found on investigation that the scent was
not made with the odo1iference principles of
plants. bat with some Of the products Of coal
Jar.
Thomas and Lugel recently exhibited an
apparatus for measuring the rapidity of the
growth of a plant. The plant itself is con-
nected with an index which advances visible
and constantly, exhibiting the growth on 9
scale Of fifty times magniied. When the
index is connected withSa n electric hammer,
the current of which is interrupted as the in
dex passes over the divisions Of the circle,
the growth Of the plant becomes not only
visible, but also audible to the ear. In this
way ii Is GOV possible, literally, to hear the
grass grow.
Mr.. Maybridge, the eminent San Francisco
photographer, has exhibited his photograph
ic marvels to Prof. Marcy, in Paris. He is
now able to take a photograph in the humid
rredith part of g second. During a clowns
la a obtsined SIX photographs, showing
| al .5usigions. BY means Of an i'm
prove zoetrope he projects such fguers on a
screen, thus exhibiting the motions of a
clown in bis somersaults, q horse at gallop, a
hare coutsing, and even birds at flight, etc
the pictures Of the various positions as they
pass il rapid succession across the screen,
uniting to form the moving figures.
sit is a mar Vicious Circumstance" says DIR.
Bancroft, stbat the black man of Australia
should have dropped upon the same n%atreolic
principle (nicotine) as the red man of Ameri-
ca" Pituri is 8 p plant Of Central Australia,
not far removed from the tobacco plant. The
leaves of the plant are cheWed by the abor
ignes, who tlade with it extensively. Chem
ical analysis shows the alkaloid in which the
peculiar poisonous properties depend is nico-
tine, the same sustance to which tobacco
owes it effects. Pituri is eagerly sought BY
by the native Australians, not for the pur-
pose of exciting their courage or combative-
ness, but to produce a dreamy, voluptuous
sensation, such as is experienced by the
opium eater. It is often taken by the natives
on their long marches to deaden the cravings
Of hunger and to support them under excess
sive fatigue.
Mr.. Plante has succeeded in engraving on
glass by mean of electricity. The process is
as follows: The glass is laid in a horizontal
position and covered with Q concentrated So
ution Of nitrate Of potash, the liquid being
retained by a shallow vessel in which the
glass Is placed. a. platinum wire is dipped
in a horizontal position IN the solu ion along
the edges of the glass. The wire is attached
to one of the poles Of q secondary battery OF
fifty or sixty elements. The lines are traced
by hand with the point Of an insulated pla-
tanura wire, connected with the other pole
Of the battery. The parts Of the glass coy
cred with the alkaline solution become en-
grayed when touched with the end Of the
platinum wire, however rapidly this is NOV
ed the thickness Of the wire. The current
from either poles may be used in the writing
wire.