St. Landry democrat., 1881-07-02
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

r. il noted that various substances
are formed during fires in coal mines.
Among them NJ. Daubree has discover
ed at Commentry new magnetic MIN
eral which contains phosphorus and
small quantities of arsenic and sulphur.
This substance resembles various natu-
ral minerals and some meteorIc stones.
One of the many novelties of the
Forthcoming exhibitions of electricity
at Paris wifi be an electric cooking
range, in which M. Salignac will cook a
great variety of meats by heat genera
ted from tile electric current.
Plipy states that the coffin of the an
cient Romans was generally OF stone.
Tn some cases it was made of certain
stone in Troas, which had or was be-
lieyed to have the peculiar faculty OF
destroying all the body, the teeth ex-
cented. in forty days. Hence the name
"sarcophagus," which literally means
flesh eater. This stone was probably
species of limestone.
MANY strange sounds. real or imagl-
nary. have been heard in the working
Of Natures processes. There has been
renorted to exist on distant island IN
the Bay Of Bengal phenomenon known
as the "Barisal guns" which is often
heard at the beginning Of rainfall,
and is like the sound of the firing OF
cannon. An observer has decided that
these sounds are atmospheric and in
some way connected with electricity.
Mr.. Horne, reporting on the villages OF
the Himalayas, describes exceedingly
powerful noises heard in the highest
mountain peaks, to which the natives
can ascribe no cause. Above the town
of Koimbatur, in Madras, is pond
which the natives carefully shun be-
cause frightful noises issue from its
depths.
Quite recently, the curious fact has
been discovered by NJ. Van Tiegham
that many Of the lower plants can live
and sometimes fruit. very we'll when
they develop in oil alone, and far re-
moved from all contact with the atmos-
phere. Unpurifed oils are sown with
spores, and then if a slightly moist sub
stance be immersed in the oil, it be
Comes covered with vegetation. Among
others the common mould, pennicitt'"'n
0Iaacssns, develops in oil and fructifies
very we'll in the midst of the liquid, but
the introduction of small quantity OF
water atyfrst is necessary to cause the
spores to germinate. The termination
OF these plants is due to the oxygen dis
solved in the oil, and they possess the
property of forming water. at the ex-
pense of the elements of the Oil.
The old alchemists in their search for
the philosophers stone, left no mixture
ofsfsmiliar or unfamiliar ingredients
untried. An ancient work called "The
Gold-Maker's Guide" contains this
promising formula: stake of the gall
of q black tomcat, killed when the night
approacheth, one part; Of the brains OF
q night owl, taken from out its head
when the morning dawneth, five parts
mix in the hoof Of an ass when the tide
turneth leave it until it doth breed
maggots; place it on thy breast-bont
when the. moon. shineth bright-and-
thou wilt see sight which the eye o1
mortal man ne'er beheld afore."
IA new remedy proposed for baldnes
isskin- grating, the skin for transpian
ting being bits of healthy scalp from th'
heads of young persons. III
Tn six years, trees of the Encatyptu
globulus planted in Jamaica have be
come one foot in diameter and sixty fee
in height.
sThe many unlikely methods by whic
the seeds of plants. are diffused owe
land and sea until they at length find
congenial spot for development, torn
an interesting and curious study. 1t
we'll known that bees carry pollen fror
flower to flower, and thus act not onl
as sewers of seed but also as fertilizer
Of the female plants. A curious in
stance Of this kind has been given by
scientific man, who states that attache
to the skin of a panther recently shot
India he found numerous seeds, each
which had two perfect hooks, appear
ing as if designed to attach themselve
to foreign bodies. AS the panthe
moved about it collected the seeds 0
the skin and carried them wherever
went; but when it rubbed against th
shrubs, the seeds were brushed of, an
thus distributed.
Entomologists state that few insect
are known which have the power-lik
the gsmnotas, or electrical eel-of glvln
slight electric shocks to those who haI
die them. Kirby and Spence descrlb
one of these insects, the Rudurius serrd
tus, known in the West Indies as th
"wheel bug" and state that it ca
communicate a distinct shock to tn
person whose flesh it touches. OF tW
instances Of this power cited by nj
Yarrell, one is that Of Captain Blaken.
r. n, who on picking up in Sout
America a large hairy lepidOpteror
caterpillar, felt sensation in bis ar
similar to an electric shock OF sue