The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1882-03-02
POPULAR SCIENCE.

ARTIFICIAL essence OF almOn06 may DS
made from benzine.
EVIDENCE is brought to prove that tbs
antiquity of man can not be less than
zoo, 600 years. 5w
THIRTY per cent. of forest is considered
the best proportion for the most bene-
fetal effect on climate.
AaAssz says The pupil studies
nature in the school-room, and when he
goes out of doors he can not find her."
STRYCHNIA acts only on certain por-
tions of the spinal marrow, and opium
on parts of the cerebrum.
NEXT to the diamond, the ruby is one
| of the most remarkable sstones for the
exhibition of phosphorescence under
electricity.
In COLD water frogs will breathe en-
tirely by the skin, and can not be killed
by immersion as long as they are pro-
vided with food.
MANY butterflies take no food and have
no digestive organs. The eating and
storing of nutriment was performed in
| the earlier larva state.
| In FOREST beds near the delta of the
Mississippi are found cypress trunks
twenty-five feet in diameter, and one
containing 8, ZOO annual rings. 81" i'eA
REMARKABLE transformations have
been made in the Algerian Sahara by
! irrigation. Under its operation soil
i has been formed in which plants grow
with great vigor.
By AN experiment. made with chest
nut tree thirty five years old, to calculate
the amount of moisture evaporated from
/ T. g. L., -
gallons Of water in twenty-four hours.
THE vegetation on Behring Island is
exceedingly luxuriant. The sea in the
neighborhood is especially rich in alge.
Forests of it from sixty to one hundred
fleet high render dredging exceedingly
difficult in some localities.
AS test for the coloring matter in
red wine it is found that, on mixing an
equal quantity of nitric acid with the
wine to be tested, the color will remain
unchanged for hours, if the wine be
pure, while if artificial, it is changed in q
minute.
By A registering apparatus. contrived
for the purpose, the frequency of the
wings of the different insects has been
determined. lis found that while the
common fly vibrates its wings $50 times
per second, the honey-bee makes 100
strokes, and the dragon fly only twenty
eight. i ls,.
IT rs maintained by some scientists
that the aroma of fruits increases with
the latitude, while the sweetness de-
creases. Many herbs, such as caraway,
are richer in essential oils in Norway than
in more southern regions. This effect is
ascribed to the influence of the pro-
longed light of the summer months.
ATTEMPTS have been made in Spain to
substitute orange for grape juice in wine
sparkling wine, have been successfully
produced. They are all of an attractive
color, perfectly clear, of an agreeable
sweet, slightly acid flavor, and Of an al
coholic strength of about fifteen per
cent. -.at s.,i...s 81,
The effect of lightning on trees near q
telegraph wire is thus described by q
French saVant:: " The line under obser-
walton runs east and west. OF the pop
lars bordering on the road those on the
north side suffered most, those on the
other side being rarely struck. Eighty
out of 500 trees we're destroyed. The
instances multiplied with increased ele-
walton, and in the plateau at the highest
point of land reached the maximum.
The injury was mostly opposite and
under the level of the wires. It is sup
posed that while the wire is strongly
electrified by induction, the lightning
does not strike it, but strikes the neigh
boring poplars directly, which, wet with
rain, afford an easier passage for the
electric fluid to the ground.