Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-03-11
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY

sultlr! III the discovery that yeoeto.
bic perfumes exercise a positive,v
healthful influence on the atmo-
spil"le, converting its oxygen into
uzone, and thus increasing its ox;.
tizing influence. He recommends
cultivation of flowers in all morsbv
districts.
During the course of some excay.
ations at NiIlagrande, Sardinia.
some very remarkable instruments
have been found, if, as is believed.
they belong to the bronze epoch,
which is supposed to have been ex-
ceptionally prolonged in this part of
the island. The Instruments in
question are two bronze saws and
four-prongcd fork, all found in the
same repository.
Efforts to reduce monkeys to dis
cipline have not often been success
full. a native of the province of
Bengal has, however, trained several
OF them to work the cords by which
the pu'hu, or ventilating fan of In
dia, is moved. They perform their
task to perfection, and, thanks to
their activity, keep the pumhas in
continuous motion, maintaining q
constant agreeable movement of air.
all through the room.
DR.. Cutter states that the increase
OF nervous diseases, decaying teeth,
premature badness and general lack
of muscular and bone strength are
greatly due to the impoverished
quality of flour now in use, tho glu-
ten being thrown away in order to
make the flour white. He urges the
use of unbolted flour and of eggs,
milk and butter. He denies that
fish is brain food, or that Agassiz
ever said that it was. and claims that
butter, being nearly all fat, is bet
ter kind of brain food than any
other.
Those in pursuit of the marvellous
may get grain of caution from the
following, taken from an article on
Living Toads in Stone" by Thomas
G. Denny, in II recent number of
" Science Gossip; Most of us
have heard of Flint-Jack,' but 1 do
not think many readers of this jour-
nal have met with any manufactur.
ers of fossil toads; but knew, many
years ago, working naturalist liv-
ing in Leeds who used to prepare
for sale toads stated to have been
found in beds OF coal-by baking
them perfectly black and hard in an
oven, and then taking square pieces
OF coal, and, after splitting them
carefully, cutting hollow in each
portion to receive the ancient rep
tile.
Some of the German and Russian
rail mills employ, it is stated, an in
genious method of overcoming the.
difficulty of cutting hot rails, so
that they may be all of the same
length when cold. According to
this plan, the rails are looked at
through dark glass; when they
have cooled to q certain tempera-
ture, they cannot be perceived; and
if, therefore, a dark-blue or m
orange-ysllow glass is used, the
rails may still be at red glow but
the light radiated from them does
not reach the eye. l! may be con.
sidered that the light from two rails,
observed through the same dark
glass, disappears at the same tenn
peraturo, and thus rule is OBJ
tanned for cutting the rails to the
same perfect and identical guage.
This plan has been in uso for con.
siderable time with excellent results.
BY means of thermometers at
tached to high stationary posts,
Prof. Hambers of Upsala is report
ed to have studied the influence of
different attitudes, in respect TO
the temperature and humidity of
the air. He finds that, during clear
weather, and at least from two hours
before sunset, the temperature of
the air is lower than that of the earth
on which it rests; the fall in tenn
perature preceding sunset is greater
near the earth than at greater
heights; the latent heat evolved dur
ing the formation of dew arrests the