The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1882-06-21
CURIOUS. USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC.

"
The gastric juice is more acid while di-
gestion is going on than in the intervals OF
the process.
Northern corn contains most oil and
starch and Southern corn most mineral and
albuminous matter
It is said that there are upward Of 5000
steam ploughing machines now employed in
England and Scotland.
A contract has been awarded at Montreal
for tunneling the St. Lawrence at cost of
s3,5OOOO0, the work to be completed within
four years.
Pure butter at fifteen degrees has the
same specific gravity as alcohol of 53.7 per
cent. (.926), and oleomargsrine as alcohol OF
59.2 per cent. or .9l5 specific gravity.
Lizards and crocodiles have two lungs,
usually somewhat divided, and extending
through the whole trunk. By their inaa-
ton the chameleon can give itself plump
appearance.
Wood piled in tank and covered with
quicklime which is gradually slsked with
water is said to acquire great hardness and
consistency after the lime has acted upon it
for q week or more.
Prof. Owen, in an arsicle1ately published,
questions whether man ever receives "A third
set of teeth. lie sscrlbss alleged cases to
the reappearance of old and worn stumps,
in consequence OF theshrinkage and absorp-
ti0n of theja
A baker in Paris having used for fuel the
boards from old houses, many people who
ate the bread were seized with symptoms OF
lead poisoning. The heat converted the
paint into oxide OF lead, which adhered to
the surfsce of the losves.
Attention has been called to some new
facts in relation to cOlor- bliadness. Care
full Investigations have shown the Chinese
and the Nubians to be practically fre9 from
the defect. DE-. Roberts has observed that
blindness is most common among
the jews who are the most decidedly red
haired of all known races. IL is thought
probable therefore, that there may be some
correlation Of color. blindness with pigmen-
tation, and indirectly with racial peculiari-
ties.
The alleged poisoning of bullets by con-
b2tant5 on both sides during the Franco
Prussisn war was without foundation; but
there was some ground for strong suspicion.
Wounds not az ell very dangerous in them
selves sometimes proved fatal or required
long time to heal. DIR. Gross, of Paris, has
found out the cause. Modern breech-losd-
ing rifles are so constructed that the bullet
conveys with it portion of the hydrocyanic
acid which the explosion OF the powder has
caufed 10 accumulate in the barrel The
poisoning of the wounds was accidental, not
Intentional.
The tides. says Nature, are increasing the
length of the day. At present, no doubt,
the effect of the tides in changing the length
OF the day is very small. A day now is not
spprec ably longer than day q hundred
years ago Even in thousand years the
change in the length of the dzy is only the
fraction of second. But the importance
arises fiom the fact that the change, slow
though it is lies always in one direction.
The day is continually increasing. In mil
lions of years the accumulated effect be-
comes not only appreciable but even Of
startling magnitude.
Prof Reinsch, in lecture lately deliver
ed, gave the results of his researches regard
ing the manner in which coal had been
formed He had examined with the micro
scope not less than 500 sections of coal
and had come to the conclus on that coal
had not been formed ty the alteration of ac-
cumulated land plants, but that it consisted
of microscopic forms of lower order Of
protoplasm, and, although he had carefully
examined the cells and other remsins Of
plants of higher order, re computed that
they have contributed only fraction of the
mass of coal veins, however numerous thew
may hav been in some instances. He referred
to the fact that DR.. Muck, Of Bochum, held
that slgae have mainly contributed to the
formation of coal, and that marine plants
were rarely found in coal because of their
tendency to compose, and that cslcsreous
remains of mollusks disappeared on account
Ct the rapid formation of carbonic acid dur
ing the process of csrbonic action.