The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1883-01-27
lol1alosonbllle Cblcf.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Two Dollars a Year.

A volcanic eruption from the Karabe-
tow mountain in the Caucasus is re-
ported. This mountain has not before
shown volcanic phenomena during his
toric times.
Knowing of black retriever dog
thirty-one years Of age, Mr.. r. Cordiner
of Oxford, England, wishes to learn
whether such an age is not al extraor-
binary one for dogs to reach.
A substitute for cod-liver oil which
has met with considerable favor is ex-
cetacean inhabiting the warm seas near
Australia and the Eastern Archipelago.
The dugong oil is free from the I'M
pleasant odor and taste 50 Objectionable
in cod-liver oil, and is less liable to
change in keeping. :
Of hundred peas preserved in the
free air by Messrs. Van Teghem and
CASTOR BONNER, ninety afterward ger
minated of a hladred enclosed with all,
iii a sealed tube, only fortyfve; while
ofa like lot kept in carbonic acid gas,
none grew. Similar results were OBJ
tanned with other seeds, showing clearly
that all seeds shonld be stored where
pure air may have full access to them.
A medical authority states that the
oyster contains fourteen per cent. of
flesh forming material, which is about
the amount obtained from eggs. 1t has
bat five per cent. less Of matchmaking
matter and two per cent. less of fat than
lean beef. 1t seems surprising that
among the thousands of species Of she'll
fish only very few kinds are eaten, such
rs oysters, clans, periwinkles, cookies
and mussels But two or three species
arc known to be poisonous.
: The annual rainfall upon the two sides
of the Gulf of California shows remark
able difference, according to Prof. Sill
man of Yale College. 1t appears, for
instance, that the eastern shore at Culia--
can, the capital Of the Mexican province
of Sinaloay received twenty three inches
rof rain in 1870, and at Mazatlan, the
chief seaport, thirty five inches in 1880;
while on the western shore of the gulf,
in the peninsula of Lower California, the
yearly fall Of water rarely reaches four
inches.
1t has been found that sunlight has a
considerable action upon glass. Color
less glass, for example, has become yell
low, and light yellow, green and blue
have turned to the darker or mellow
shades of those colors, while coffee col
.Ored glass has been known to materially
change to rose and amber in the short
space Of five years. 1t is suggested that
the rich tints SO muck admired in the
stained windows Of cid cathedrals may
be due to the action of the sunlight
during many years in toning down the
originally quite bright or harsh colors.
Adaptation is an evolution theory
which has received strong confirmation.
One of it's principles is that organs or
functions Of living creatures gradually
disappear if unused. A familiar ilnst,a-
ton is furnished ~ the blind fish of
caves, whose eyes through long disnse
have been reduced to rudimentary and
state. It appears, however,
that the evolution view does not al |
ways hold good, if it be true, as lately |
stated, that in some European instances
mice have been raised#in absolute dark |
ness; for many generations without ap- |
pcarins to have lost in tho slightest de-
gree the sensitiveness of the eye to light. !
A curious observation concerning some |
ut the Australian acacias (Aeacia dcai5a-
ta) acclimatized in India is recorded by |
DR.. Brands, director of the India Forest |
Department. These trees were probably |
on the Nilgiris several years
before 1s45. They were known to flower
in 1S45 in October, the month Of their
Australian Towering time; but in 1860
hey towered in September in 1870, in
August; in 1873, II July +; and in 1882
hey began to flower in June-the spring
month III India, corresponding to Octo-
~,
t should have taken the trees nearly
orty years after removal to regain their
habit of Towering in spring.
The ol,! experiment. Of table turning
las given evidence Of an unknown force
which has prrpiexstl scientific men and
oStere1 the trickery of cha rlatans and
II otessors of the black art. In genuine
pin enomena, where the
able is too heavy to he turned by the
Conscious muscular action of the hands
,la ced upon it, the movement is said to
Dc slight, but is nevertheless remarkable.
faraday demonstrated that lateral pres
sure on the part Of the operators always
accompanied the movement Of the table.
md Dir. Percy r. Wilde now claims to
ave proven, by means of Instruments
# his own construction, that the uucon
clous lateral pressure is due tn slight
otaiory motion impaired to the body t
very breath by the action of the DOW er-
III muscles of the chest.
In his last contribution to scia rec,
Darwin showed the wonderful werk chat