Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1883-04-12
scIrNTIr1c MISCELLANY.

OF BfcSlau, has Vcrincd tne Suspicion th'i'
I'll common mushrooms are poisonous.
Washing and boiling deprive them of their
poisonous qualities in greater or less
degree. Dried mushrooms require at
least rlonth of drying, and are not real
" safe until after four months.
A natural intermittent spring has re-
Gently formed in the French Alps. The
water appears at regular intervals Of five
and seven minutes, about ten quarts be-
ing yielded each time. A singular cir
cumstance is that one flow of water is
lukewarm and colorlcss, while the neat
discharge is cold and winc-red.
Prof Young, in the light of Meyers
calculations, regards it as highly probable
that tho comet of 1880 was a return of
chat Of 1843. Concerning the comet
ef 1868 too little is known to form the
basis Of theory as to its identity. He
b quite certain, however, that the comets
# 1880 and 1882 are not the same, as
they have periods too great to be consist
ent with such view. He thinks it more
likely that they are twins, moving in
yearly identical orbits, with perhaps a
common origin in some ancient disruption,
Ike that which divided Biela's comet in
1846.
L ives asserted by Brazilian delegate
b tho Geneva Sanitary Congress that
coffee is natural antidote to alcohol, and
that the consumption of alcoholic stimu-
lants is comparatively small where coffee
u popular drink, as in his own country
Il is very general belief that during
. considerable fall person must be as
phyxiased by the rapid rush through the
air, which constantly acceleratcs as the
distance fallen increases The suicide
a young girl by leap from height
q about els feet has raised discussion
cfthis subject among French savants. DR..
Bronardeli suggested that asphyxiati n
may have caused the girls death before
Ne ground was reached. Mons. Bon
tempe objects to this view, and points out
chat the velocity attained in such fall
must be sometimes exceeded by railway
trains, and yet engineers and stokers are
never asphyxiated. Mons Remy states
that in 1852 he was shown native Of the
island Of Oahu who had fallen from a
verified height Of about 1000 feet with
bu. little injury, his fall having been
broken near the end by growth of ferns
end other plants. The weight of opinion
soems to favor the view that, if asphyxis
ever results during falls, the distance fall
len must Be very great.
The old experiment Of table-turnine
has given evidence Of an unknown force
which has perplexed scientific men and
foste1ed the trickery of charlatans and
professors Of the black art. In genuine
sable-turning phenomena, where the table
h too heavy to. be turned by the uncon
ecious muscular action of the hands placed
rpon it, the movement is said to be slight
but is nevertheless remarkable. Faraday
demonstrated that lateral pressure on the
part Of shc operators always accompanied
the movement Of the table, and DR.. Percy
r. Wilde now claims to have proven, b,
means Of instruments Of his own construc
ton, that the unconscious lateral pressure
y due 70 slight rotatory motion impart
ID to the body at every breath by thu
sctioa Of the powerful muscles Of tn,
chest
It is maintained by Nordenskiold thai
the aurora is permanent phenomenon il
polar regions, appearing constantly wher
the sun is below the horizon and the moor
il invisible.
Prof Moos, Of Heidelberg, has fount
good reasons for believing that many rail
nay accidents have been due to defectiv,
hearing on the part Of engineers or other,
IN charge Of trains. Expert medical ties
timony shows that railway employees ar,
especially liable to affections Of the ear
Dr.. Burcq has suggested that solution
Of copper salts be used to impregnate cloth
Ing, furniture and building materials as
preservative against infections diseases
He was led to offer this suggestion b,
observing that workers in copper-wh
absorb considerable amount of dust iron
the metal-enjoying quite general i'm
munity from cholera, typhoid fever an
ike complaints, while copper salts protee
various materials from parasites.
A report by Mons. Girard, director o
the Paris Municipal Laboratory, give
some interesting information concernin
the authorizations by which the Frencl
people are victimized The most exten