The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1882-12-09
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Sir Joseph Hooker has described q
new genus Of rubber producing plants
of Malayan origin-to which the name
Dyera has been given.
It is pointed out that many wines, and
especially those of Bordeaux, hold in So
luton a larger proportion Of iron than
most of the so-called chaly lybeate waters
Recent analyses are stated to show
that the water Of the Holy. Well" at
Mecca-so eagerly drank by pilgrims-is
sewage about ten times as strong as the
average London sewage.
A very durable artificial ivory has re-
Gently been prepared by dissolving shell
lac in ammonia, mixing the solution
with oxide of zinc, driving off the am
monia by heating. powdering, and
strongly COMPRISING in moultls.
1t is we'll known that many fine
bronzes soon turn quite black while 9th.
ers equally exposed do not. The Berlin
Society of Architects finds. that the
blackening is probably due to the pres.
ence Of zinc in the bronzes so affected.
After considerable difficulty, the Cava-
liere d'Amico has succeeded in accom-
plishing the Important botanical result
Of acclimatizing number Of foreign
plants in Sicily. Among sthem is the
tea plant, and it is hoped that Sicitian
tea may ere long become a not uni,npor-
tant article of commerce.
Prof. Bruins of Tubingen, has made
some experiments on dogs which he re-
CARDS as proving that bone-marrow
completely separated from the bone,
may be transplanted undlt the skin OF
the same animal at remote part of the
body with the result Of giving rise to
the formation of bone and cartilage.
A large subterranean grotto has been
discovered in tho side of a mountain at
Dsrgali, in the island Of. Sardinia. It
has many beautifi,l stalacites, and there
are fifteen long lateral galleries, the arcl,
of one Of f2Lshyesting on range OF
high pillarss wing a whit9nes like that
of marble. Amarfslous.a ect i'll eolors
is produced when the ga to is lit Up
with torches.
Mr.. vacher has assured the British
Medical Association that milk from
tuberculous cows must be regarded as
dangerous, but the transmission of con.
sumptioA by milk is almost incapable OF
proof because so many other possible
sources Of the disease exist in all cases
whore persons become affected. A wise
course is to boil all milk to be used as
food.
Mr.. Gill, the a.tronen At the Cape
Town Obser vatory, reports an observa-
tion there made which is quite without
precedent in the history Of comets. On
September II the comet was followed
by two observers with separate instru-
ments until it reached the very edge oi
the SUMS disk, where it suddenly disap-
peared. This observation is an extraOr-
binary illustration of the intense brill
fancy of the comet at perihelien.
Messrs. Fr6zon, Dumont and Francou
have produced a novel substance in the
form of solidified petroleum. The solid.
ification is effected by mixing petroleu
after it's first disti]lation with twenty.
five per cont Of the purified juice Of
plants belonging to the family of Euphor.
biacec, the mixture being subsequently
distilled again and refined in the ordi.
nary manner. The solidified petroleum.
burns like tallow and may be used for
lighting or as q lubricant.
1t has recently been discovered that
the faded ink OH old parchments may he
restored by moistening tho lines of wri-
ting with n solution of sulphide of am
nonia. The writing will turn quite
dark, and if on parchment will retain
the color. Records treated in this way in
the Germanic Museum Of Nuremburg be-
ing still i'll the same condition as imne.
diately after the application ten years
ago. On paper, however, tue restored
writing gradually fades again, but may
be revived at pleasure by fresh applica.
tions of the snlphide.
On the 18th of October was com
menced the fourth century of the "New
Style" Of time-registering. The true
year docs not contain an exact number
Of days, 50 the fractions have been al
lowed to accumulate and have bee,
added as whole days at such times as
have been considered sufficiently accu.
rate for practical purposes. As tho plan
introduced by Julius Caesar of adding
one day to every fonrth year was found
to make the average civil year a few
minutes too long, Pope Gregory XIII in
1882 ordered that the year be corrected
by dropping ten days-giving to tile
next day after Oct. 4 the date of Oct.
15-and that the calendar be made
more nearly accurate by having three
fewer leap years in each fonr centuries
making every eenturial year not divisi.
BILE by 400 il year of ouly 3G5o days. This
improved system forms the Gregoria,
calendar, which has taken the place OF
the "O1d Style in all countries save