The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1883-06-19

| OEt0iHS Ib' ItuldTkdOle SlaIeInent tnaI
r.icecannon WAS also made, from which,
with charge OF quarter Of a pound of
| rf wder, a bullet was driven through q
| pxnk two inch~s thick at q distance of
fifty PAGES
| Mons. Macagno, to test the influence
Of atmospheric electricity upon grape
y'scs, has caused an electric current to
! pass through sixteen feet of vine, from
April to September. The wood of the
hrSnches thus experimental upon was
fohnd to contain less potash and other
mineral matters than the rest of the vine,
bst the leaves had an excess of potash in
tile form of bitartrate the grapes from
the electrified branches furnished more
must, contained a greater proportion of
| glucose, and were less acid than other
g;apes.
foglcSl Observatory f6r tnd rast SIC .yexr.
STOW that New York has enjoyed an av-
erage Of 2,ol7 hours of sunshine per an
unm out of a possible 4,45o. The record
at Greenwich in 1870 was 977 hours of
ss5nshinc out of a possible 4,447, while at
New York in the same year there were
atlOl ort of possible 4,449.
j Mons. Angot has been investigating
tie influence of altitude upon vegetation.
ITe finds that the harvest time for winter
wheat is retarded in France four days, on
An average, for every increase of about
go feet in the height of the land above
ihe level of the sea.
Even the feeble rays of the moon
nave an influence upon plants. In . pa
ser read to the Paris Academy of Sciences
SIons. Musset states that plants very SEN
xitive to light and heat were grown from
;aeeds in pots occupying very dark
place. They were then on three nights
exposed to direct moonlight, when the
;s.tems bent over toward the moon and fol-
lowed it in its course.
In All exhaustive work upon the fishes
s5f Cuban waters, Senior Felipe Poey
shas described 1872 distinct varieties. Of
these, however, los are somewhat doubt
iul.
T An interesting mountain exploration
iss being attempted in India. Two noun
ttainee:s, one an experienced Swiss guide,
Ehave left Darjeeling with the purpose of
l>reachiIg the highest possible point on the
great Kinchinjinga, one of the very loft
lfest peaks of the globe.
I. Some experiments noticed by DR.. A.
IL. Wall indicate that the bite of the
/ American rattlesnake is far less deadly
than that of certain snakes found in other
j, parts Of the world. In four fatal cases of
Erattlesnake poisoning in dogs, the animals
survived fer an average period of about
two hqurs and half after being bitten
T and at. least five dogs experimental upon
! recovered completely. The dogs bitten
/ by tho Indian cobra all died within an
average period of less than thirty y-6ve
minutes; and those poisoned by the
I Australian hoplocephalus lived only one
hour and twenty-four minutes.
i DIR. w. Soper has recommended q
I mixture Of equal parts of glycerine and
castor oil, slightly favored with oil of
4 almonds or lemon, as an agreeable substi-
4 tute for castor OIL To ensure the ready
i mixing of the two liquids the castor oil
4 should be very gradually poured into the
4 glycerine while the latter is being well
Il stirred DR.. S. pronounces a teaspoonful
of this mixture an effective DOSE
--The Importance to tree-growth of an
abundance of water is well illustrated by
an observation of Mons. Capus. In the
botanic garden at Samarcande, Turkestan,
an Ailanthus gland,4los,s grew about
eight inches during the first year; thir-
teen inches in the second, and thirty-6ve
inchas in the third The soil was not ir-
rigated during these three years, but in
the fourth year, when irrigation-water
was supplied, the growth of the tree was
over thirty feet.
The discovery is reported Of large and
various rich deposits of petroleum in the
lpper provinces of the Argentine Repub-
lie. One of the deposits, in the province
ii Jujuy, consists Of a lake of about eighty
eight acres in area, and of unknown depth +,
which is covered with asphalte. The
liquid itself is rather thich, of black
color, and is said to be free from disa-
greeable odor.
The exploring expedition soon to
start for Greenland under the command
Of Baron Nordenskjold is to have in its
outfit a flying or air-sailing machine,
which is now being constructed in Sweden
at the expense of DR.. Oscar Dickson. 1t
is TO be presumed that the idea of carry
ing such an apparatus is an outcome of
Commander Cheyne's favorite project of
travelling in the Arctic regions by means
of balloons.
Modern medical science is gaining q
foothold in China. Miss Howard, an
American physician, having been called
upon to treat the mother and the wife of
the Chinese Viceroy, Ii Hung Chang, has
, become very famous among aristocratiC
Chinese ladies, who now flock to consult
| her. 1t is also said that the Emperor oi
| China has arranged tn aducate q numhaY