The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1883-04-07
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

#
A Partisan has announced new explo
sive-" panclastite (Which he claims t.
be more powerful than dynamite.
Sir John lubbock states that more
than a thousand species of ants art
known, and that is certainly far short o.
the number actually in existence.
For lighting mines Mons. Mangin has
proposed the use of incandescent electric
lamps immersed in water contained in
glass globes. The safety of such an ap-
paratus has been demonstrated by plac-
ing it in the middle of balloon filled
with hydrogen.
The solar eclipse of May II, 1901, will
exceed that of the present year in its
total phase by about half a minute. The
sun will be entirely covered for period
of six minutes and twenty-four seconds
at the most favorable point Of observa-
tion.
The idea has become current that sub
marine telegraphic cables do not last
mere than ten years, but, according to
Sir Daniel Gooch, NJ F., repairs ON one of
the Atlantic lines last year showed the
cable to he still ingood order after a
submergence of thirteen years.
In the experience Of Herr Willermoz a
plentiful application to slckly plants of
water heated to about $50 degrees Fab
renheit has resulted benefcially. He
supposes that the warm water dissolves
away from the roots certain acid sub
stances which interfere with the plants
growth.
1t is considered remarkable that lep-
rosy, which the progress of civilization
has driven from most parts of Europe,
should still flourish in Norway. Late
returns show that such is the case, al
though the number of lepcrs in that
country has decreased from 2O05 at the
end Of 1875 to 1852 at the end of 1880.
The disease is attribHted to the use of
food-particularly fsh-in an unwhole-
some condition, and also to unclenliness
DR.. Reklam considers that headaches
and other consequences Of sleeping in
rooms containing flowers do not arise
from any special properties Of the flowers
themselves, but are due to q straining Of
the nerves of smell in the presence of
perfumes for an unwonted length Of time
The effect is analogous to that produced
upon the eyes by an unusual exposure to
light or on the ears by long
sounds.
A comparison ofsskimmed with un-
SKINNED milk has shown Herr J. Konig
that the former is by far the cheaper and
more nutritious food for adults. It also
appears that, i'll German markets, the
price paid for the albumilioids in skim
med milk is lower than that paid for
them in any other common food except
stockfish. For example, a certain amount
of nutritive matter from skinned milk
costs ALI pfennigs; while in pork it
would cost ia; i'll butter, 8l.7; and in
eggs, 201.2.
Mons. Timiriazcff informs the French
Academy that he has found the leaves of
plants to be capable Of Transforming into
chemical work as much us forty per cent
of the energy absorbed by them from the
SUMS rays. This chemical work is the
locking up in plant tissue of q great
quantity of solar energy, which remains
ready to serve whomcvcr shall liberate
it, the leaf being the wonderful storage
| battery of nature which bottles the sun
beams so securely that we are able to
apply them at pleasure to heating our
furnaces, driving our engines and sus-
tanning our bodies.
| Herr Jensen affirms that potato disease,
which is caused by Il fungus, first attacks
the tops Of the plants, and is conveyed
to the tubers by means of spores washed
into the soil by rain. To prevent the in
lection of the tubers he recommends
running a plow between the rows so as
to turn up furrow on the top OF the
hills, and then bending the plants over
the furrow. This causes the water which
washes the tops to run away from the
hills. The furrowing should be done on
the first appearance of the disease, and
as further precaution, the potatoes
should not be dug for at least two OF
three weeks after the tops are entirely
wilted. A trial of this method has given
very good results.
Some curious stones are found in many
parts of Switzerland. They are smooth
fiat, evidently hand polished, and are
covered with dots, lines, circles and half
cirles. In the opinion of Herr Rodiger
these stones are charts of the country
made by prehistoric inhabitants, and h'
claims to possess collection Of stone
picked up in Solothurn which form to
eether map of the entire canton. Th
dots are seen to correspond with towns
and villages now in existence, and th
lines with roads now open. Even ford
and mountain passes are indicated. Th
stones are mostly discovered at interval
of about six miles, and at spots where
several roads meet If Herr Rodiger il
right in his conjecture, the yet existin