The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1882-02-22
CURIOUS. SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL.

An English medical journal announces
with Joy the death of the carbolic craze, as
serting that the use Of the carbolic spray
and other forms of applying the acid has
done more harm than good.
In South Florida the Brazilian cassava
grows to the height of fifteen feet. From
the starchy substance of the poisonous root,
the delicate granular commercial, substance,
used for buildings, and known as tapioca, is
produced.
DIR. Luton, of Rheims, reports that he has
discovered that the ergot of rye associated
with phosphate Of soda produces on those to
whom it is administered hilarious excite
ment similar to that which is brought on by
laughing gas.
In small grove near Cincinnati an army
of crows take shelter every night. They
assemble by thousands an hour before dark,
and an old man living near the place says
that to his personal knowledge the same
grove has been their dormitory for sixty
years.
The best disinfeeting agents, according TO
Mr.. w. NJ. Hamlet, are in general those
capable of exerting an immediate and pow
erful oxidizing action, and that it is active
inc, nitric oxide, or hydrogen peroxide,
which must be regarded as the greatest
known enemy to the bacterial life.
Gas filters have recently made a most
useful application of photography. They
photograph the gas flames given by differ
ent burners or Jets so that u customer can
see if the shape and form of light will
suit him before he gives his order. AS the
flames are moreover depicted 'life-size' the
purchaser can always tell whether his jet is
up to the standard.
Les Mondes reports that NJ. Dufoarcet
has in the exposed court of his house two
bars of iron planted in the earth, to each of
which is fixed conductor of coated wire
terminating in telephone receiver. He
consults the apparatus twice or thrice
every day, and it never fails through its in
LEGATIONS of earth currents to give notice of
the approach of a storm to fifteen hours be-
fore it actually arrives.
From the Scientific American we learn
that Mr.. l.. G. White, of Jasper, Jasper
County, Texas, claims that after q very
protracted period of study and experiment
ne has obtained worm-proof species of
cotton, giving more aud larger balls to the
stalk also than any other variety. besides
maturing earlier and excelling in the quail
W of its lint. Before permitting this cotton
TO be used by planters generally he asks for
reward for his labors of a million dollars
from the Government. Our contemporary
wisely says that If the new "double-hy Bird"
cotton really does possess these qualities
Mr.. White should be able TO make million
dollars selling seed to planters much quick
or than he is likely to get any such sum
from the Departments of Agriculture
4 matter of interest TO oyster eaters has
been disclosed by Mr.. g. A. Cameron. He
lately examined some oysters taken from
the beds on the northern shore of the Bay
of Dublin, where the water is very much
pollute at present with excrementitious and
Jther offensive substances. The oysters
which Mr.. Cameron tested were taken from
a place where the tide covered them to n
height of ten feet, and which was nearly
dry at low water. From the brine of most
of the oysters no offensive odor was emitted,
but that of a large proportion gave forth a
distinctly fetid smell, and in a few cases the
brine gave unmistakable evidence to the
nostrils of sewage contamination. The
microscope revealed in the fetid liquid of
the oysters whole swarms of micrococei and
other low organisms like those usually pres
entin sewage. Water taken from the bay
at low tide was found to be highly charged
with sewage. 1t is not unfairly considered,
therefore that the illness which so many
persons have experienced after eating
oysters believed TO have been stale was re-
ally due to the sewage In the juice of these
shellhsh.