Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-03-16
SCIENCE.

n paper OH the MARIN OON6 Dy cdIL0-
worms is a timely contribution to the
pages Of the Country Gentleman by
Professor +. III. Storer, of Harvard
University 1t was suggested by Mr..
Darwin's recent remarkable work on
the habits and wonderful powers of
these apparently insignificant Great
ures. Mr.. Storer says the pernicious
influence of earth-worms in a flower.
pot is well known to florists, and thinks
1T not impossible that each Of the 53,-
600 worms estimated to occupy the
surface foot of one acre of land may
do nearly as much harm as in the sin
gle fioweT-pOt. AS to whether they eat
the roots Of growing plants he does
not know, but he evidently inclines to
the opinion that they do. There is an
old notion that they eat potatoes. In
New England earth-worms have GER
tainly increased vastly in number since
the settlement of the country. They
were so scarce in some districts in the
early part of this ceAtury "that the
rustic fishermen of every village kept
secret the places where they were
found in their neighborhoOd, as a pro-
fessional mystery" And then, as Mr..
Storer points out, the country was
more fertile than it is now.
The theory that color-blindness is
characteristic only of Europeans and
their descendants, and is unknown
among the MOngolian races and the ne
groes, has lately been advanced in Eu-
rope, but apparently upon insufficient
data The scientific staff of the Vega
Polar expedition under NOrdenskiold
found cOlOr-blind persons among the
Tchukches of Northern Siberia. a tribe
of decidedly Monaghan afinities, and
we believe that researches in this coun-
try have established the existence of
the same defect, though to a very linn.
tied extent, among the blacks. A cor
respondent of the Lancet, Mr.. Charles
hooerts, says he has observed that col
or-blindness Is most common among
persons with red hair, a suggestion
which may well be kept in mind by
those interested in the subject, which
Is now attracting more attention in
scientific and medical circles than ever
before.
The following statement concerning
the use of copper among the ancient
inhabitants of this continent is made
by Professor +. w. Putnam in the
Kansas City Review: "That copper
was used in large quantities by the In
dams there is no doubt, and it was also
used to a considerable degree by the
tribes who erected the burial mounds
IN the Ohio valley and throughout the
southwest, whoever they were; but
have not yet seen a single object made
OF copper from these sources that
should regard as having been cast; on
the contrary, the evidence of hammer
ing and rolling between stones is more
or less clearly shown in all, by the
character of the surface and by the
distinct lamination of the metal in
places, when carefully examined with
lens" All of which would seem to
leave no doubt that the prehistoric
copper implements of America were
hammered and not nodded ints shape.
The theory of otto Hahn that ami.
NAL remains occur in a fossil form in
certain meteorites that have fallen in
Germany has received more attention
than 1t deserves, inasmuch as it is gen.
orally agreed by competent authorities
that what he supposes TO be the figures
OF organic creatures are really miner
al forms, familiar to those who have
studied mineral substances in thin
sections. We learn that Professor
Smith, of Louisville, KY, who is dis
tinguished for his researches regarding
meteorites, has thought it necessary to
protest through the press against the
popular acceptance of Hahn's views.
Although these are unsound, the author
Is commended for his industrious col
lection of facts relating to meteoric
structure
The assertion that the Mammoth
tree of California flourishes in England
and is quite at home there, is pro-
nounced erroneous by the Garden, a
well-known English journal of horti-
culture. There is no greater mistake.
says this authority, than to suppose
that the Mammoth tree is hardy in that
country in any useful sense. 1t wants
a warmer and more genial climate
NheAA ehhe VI Vic Is
shown by the hundreds of half dead
specimens to be seen i'm scores of parks
and wild gardens. We have little
doubt, from our own observations.
that it is waste of labor to try to grow
these big conifers outside of their native
region.
In a communication to the ROYAL
Geographical Society, Mr.. Joseph
Thomson. the geologist, gives an 40
count of his recent search for coal in
East Africa, particularly in the Rovuma
river region. He found no good coal.
nothing but bituminous shale, which
would hardly take fire at all, and a
substance resembling anthracite al
most equally refractory. and leaving so
much ash as to be valueless for fuel.
His march of seven hundred miles
through the lands over which the Sui
tan Of Zanzibar asserts sovereignty re-
suited in the conclusion that the de-