Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1882-12-07
Scientific Notes.
The Singing Tree.


Through the tropical scrubs O
Queensland are very luxuriant ant
beautiful, they are not without theil
dangerous drawbacks, for there is ont
plant growing In them that is really
deadly in its effects,-that is to say
deadly in the same way that one would
apply the term to fire; as, if a certain
portion of ones body is burnt by the
stinging tree, death would be the result
1t would be as safe to pass through fire
as to fall into one of these trees. They
are found growing from two and three
inches high to ten and fifteen feet; in
the old ones the stem is whitisb, and
red berries usually grow on the top. II
emits peculiar smell, but is best
known by its leaf, which is nearly
round on the top, aud is jabbed all
around, the edge like the nettle. All
the leaves are large-some larger than
saucer.
Sometimes" says a traveller, "while
shooting turkeys in the scrubs, have
entirely forgotten the singing tree till
warned of its close proximity by its
smell, and have then found myself in
little forest of them. 1 was only
stung once, and that was very lightly.
Its effects are curious. 1t leaves no
mark, but the pain is maddening, and
for months afterward the part, when
touched, is tender in rainy weather, or
when it gets wet in washing, etc. l
have seen a man who treats ordinary
pain lightly, roll on the ground in agony
after being stung. and have known a
horse so completely mad after getting
into grove of the trees that he rushed
open mouthed at every one who APP
preached him, and had to be shot in
the scrub. Dogs, when stung will rush
about, whining piteously, biting pieces
from the affected part" The small
singing trees, few inches high, are as
dangerous as any. being so hard to see.
and seriously imperiling ones ankles.
The scrub is usually found growing
among palm trees.-Sctentitic american.
According to Professor G. w. c.
Fuchs's annual report on earthquakes
and volcanic phenomena, there were
297 earthquakes in the year 1881, and
ten volcanic eruptions, the most impor-
tant being that of Mauna Loa, in
from which very large lava
streams flowed.
An interesting experiment in the
of power to a considerable
distance has been reported to the
French Academic des Sciences by NJ.
Deprez. Two Geographic wires were
stretched between Miesbach and Num-
ich, distance of about thirty-five miles,
and work equal to half horsepower
per second was obtained at Munich,
with velocity in the Miesbach ma
chine of 1900 turns a minute. More
than 60 per cent. of the work expended
was recovered, the receiving machine
centrifugal pump to feed a
cascade.
The acme of enjoyment in country
riding will be reached when one can
travel about on his tricycle. without the
necessity of working his passage"
The desideratum seems to have been
by the invention OF a tricycle.
propelled by electricity. A few days
ago such vehicle was ridden in Lon
don. by Professor Ayrton. 1t was
driven by an electro-motor placed I'M
der the seat of the rider, while the
Faure accumulators, in which energy
was stored for lighting and driving,
were on the foot-board of the tricycle..
There were no treadles on this machine,
30 that there could be no questions as
TO electricity being the sole propelling
agency.
Mr.. William Pole, Fellow of the
Royal Society, has recently published
an important paper on color blindness,
In which he asserts that although the
sensations of color-blind persons differ
from those of people with normal eyes,
they really distinguish with accuracy
between different colors. In proof of
this he cites the fact that no accident
has yet been traced to this defect of
vision on British railways. This is
important if true" and the
question ought to be thoroughly tested,
as having direct bearing upon the
safety of thousands of railway travel
ers.
DR.. Neuberg, German physician,
has introduced in the clinic of Profess
sor Esmarch, at Kiel, new method of
dressing wounds, which was discover
ed by accident. A laborer who had
sustained compound fracture of the
forearm eight OF ten days before, came
to the clinic with his arm done up in
thick paste of peat mould. The arm
had been considerably lacerated, but
was found to be in excellent condition,
and healing finely, without sign of
DR.. Neuberg was led by
this discovery to investigate the pro-
perties of peat mould, and his conclu.
sion is that it is peculiarly valuable
for dressing wounds, chiefly on account
of its great power of absorbing the
products of decomposition.
------------
Engineer Melville says that when
Ambler's body was found the indica-
tions were that he had Belongs pis-
TOT in his hands when he died, or just
before. From this he inferred that