St. Landry democrat., 1881-09-17
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

shown that thought is not so rapid as
is usually believed, but that every &C
ton of the brain reqnires an apprecla-
BILE time. Hirsch proved that less time
is required to recognize touch than a
sound, and that it took more time to
see than to hear, but the question still
remained as to what part of the time
was consumed in the act of recognition.
This problem was solved by Donders.
BY means Of very ingenious apparatus,
he has found that the double act OF
recognizing sound and giving res
ponse occupied seventy-five thous-
andths of second, of which forty
thousandths were required for the
simple act of recognition, leaving thirty
tive thousandths for the act of volition.
One twenty fifth of a second was occu-
pied in Judging which Of two irritants
was acting upon the same sense; but
a slightly longer time was necessary to
determine the priority of signals sent
by different senses, as those of hearing
and seeing. The described results were
obtained from man of middle age,
the young were somewhat quicker; but
the average of many experiments show
ed that the time required for simple
thought is never less than the fortieth
of second. The mind, therefore, at
its greatest activity, can perform not
more than twenty -four hundred simple
acts per minute-not very great speed
when it is considered how many OF
these Simple acts" must be combined
10 form any process of reasoning or
continued thought.
In single catacomb in Upper Egypt
thirty-six well-preserved sarcophage
of royal personages have been brought
TO light. They represent nearly all of
the kings and queens Of the earlier
Theban dynasty, and besides the num-
mics contain parchment rolls and other
articles of interest to the Archaeological.
1t is stated, on authority of the Direc-
tor of the St. Petersburg Central OBJ
servatory, that all the Arctic meteorolo-
gical stations Of the international series
will soon be opened. The stations
proposed are: At Upernavic, by Den
mark; in Northern Finnmarken, by
Norway on the Jan Mayen Island, and,
if possible, on the western coast OF
Gronland, by Austria Hungary; on
Spitzbergen, by Sweden; on Novaya-
Zembya-already opened-and at the
mouth of Lena River, by Russia; on
Point Barrow and in Lady Franklin
Bay, by the United States. Several
Antarctic stations, by different govern
nlents, have been suggested, and are to
be considered. The method of obser-
walton to be adopted for all these sta
tons is to be established by an inter-
national conference at St. Petersburg.
NJ. Tissandier is having constructed
in France an elongated balloon, to be
driven by small and very light electric
motor. The force in the first expert
ments will be supplied by an electric
accumulation, which will develop con-
siderable energy for brief period.
Botanists in the Fontainebleau dis
trict Of France have noticed a consid-
cradle change in the fora of that region
in recent times. A number of species
have disappeared, chiefly on account of
the severe winters. The winters of
1864, 1909, 1888 and 1s79-sO were disas-
trous to vegetation, especially in places
but little protected by snow. Among
the plants which have been frozen out,
or nearly so, in central France, are the
maritime pine (the loss of which was a
national misfortuneD the broom heather,
ivy, holly and box. The, elder, the oak,
the chestnut and the walnut have all
seriously suffered. The loss to the
Fontainebleau fora in these and other
species is replaced to some extent by
the appearance of varions new species
in recent times.
III. Roman, a French engineer, states
that the cultivation of the interesting
plant, the SOFA or Soya, has been largely
developed in Hungary and in various
parts Of France. He thinks that it may |
in tue future become as important an
article Of food as the potato. 1t grows
in any soil, even the dryest; and the
plant is an excellent fodder for cattle. |
The seeds are very nutritious, and have
the form of small kidney beans. An
agreeable soup may be made of them.
The Chinese use them for various kinds |
of cheese, to make a condiment with
oil, etc. In France, the seeds have