The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1883-04-26
SCRAPS OF SCIENCE

THE Mormons raise carrots in order to
iraw the superabundance of alkali out OF
the ground.
SCIENTISTS have caught the skeleton OF
a mammoth reptile in the Rocky Noun
tains, and they now call him SiegoSau-
rus.
ABOUT 81, 900 different species Of plants
havo been distinguished by scientific
men, and $500 of this number are diff
feront forms of grass.
A NEW process for using old steel has
lately been patented in England. BY it
a new metal of extraordinary strength
and ductility is alleged to be introduced,
which is expected to prove Of great
value. Steel remade on this plan has
sold readily at 1925 per ton.
TUE pachymeter, lately patented in
Vienna, which measures the thickness Of
paper to the 1000th part Of an inch, is
outdone by the micrometer caliper, now
| coming into use in this country, which
| determines tho thickness Of paper, or
anything else, to the 10,O00th part of an
| inch
HE genealogical tables of the reigning
and other princely families of Europe
| have of late been examined to determine
| the mean duration of the life of q gen.
Grafton of the human race. The lifo of
princes does not appear to be anything,
| 1t at all, longer than that Of the ma lority
of other people, for the data which the
tables presented gavo period of thirty
years as the mean limit Of genera
ton.
SEVERAL changes in the summit Of
Mount HItna have been observed by Prof.
Silvestri since the last display of volcanic
activity. The summit is now $500
metres above the level of tho sea, the
height having decreased twelve metres;
the interior edge of the crater has in
creased from 1900 metres to 1900
metres, and tho eruptive axis, which was,
before tho eruption of 1879, on the west
side of tho crater, il now right in the
| center
A REMARKABLE instance of preservation
of tho mental and bodily faculties to O
very advanced age is presented by the
case of NJ. Chcvrcul, professor of chem
lstry and natural science, who is now in
his ninety-ffth year. This moro than
nona9cnarlan snvant has just finished,
for the fiftieth time in his longthened ex-
istence, his annual course of lectures on
"Chemistry Applied to tho Study of Or
ganizcd Beings" at the Museum of Nat
ural History, in Paris.
A COMPARATIVE analysis Of the statis-
tics presented in the suicide records OF
France and Sweden has been made BY
Nj. Bcrtillon, of the Anthropological
Society, Paris, with the result of estab.
fishing, on what he thinks quite salts,
factory evidence, the two following laws:
J. Widowers commit suicide more frc.
qucntly thau married men. 2. The
presence and influence Of children in the
house diminish the inclination to suicide
III men and woman.
a RESIDENT of Germantown has in his
possession an interesting relic of a pub.
lie henefactor. This is silver tankard
! weighing 20 ounces, which was the prop.
crty of Gabriel Wilkinson, the first mar.
bic mason of Philadelphia, who died las
years ago. He hung the tankard from
the pump in front of his marble yard 70,
the benefit of thirsty passers by. 1,
would not be safe for the present ownol
to hang that silver tan,iard in such &
conspicuous place-,even in Philadel
phia.