Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1883-08-16
aClENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

by recording twice daily the temperature
Of . naked and turfed soil at different
depths. They found the extremes OF
heat and cold to be greater in the naked
soil than in the one covered by turf. At
. depth Of two inches, the turited soil
was the warmer at six am; at three pm,
the naked soil was the warmer during the
summer, and the colder during the winter.
At greater depths the differences were
less marked, and on the average the
turfed soil was from one-tenth to seven
tenths Of degree warmer than the max
cd one.
Wheat was cultivated long before the
dawn Of historic times. Like other GER
cals, it Is not known in wild state with
certainty, and its origin has been sub
Jet Of much speculation. De Candolle
i inclined to accept the testimony of trav-
eIlers who report finding the grain grow
ing wild in remote parts Of Asia. Other
botanists suppose the original wild plant
10 be now extinct. Still others believe
that the original plant is still growing
wild, but that its characteristics are 80
unlike those which the wheat has assum
ID after its long cultivation that the two
are considered as different species. Some
thirty years ago, Mons. Fabre, French
gardener, claimed that after cultivation
for number Of years he had produced
wheat from aegilops ovata, common
grass Of southern Europe. Grant Allen
maintains that the wheat plant has de-
scsnded by process Of evolution and degen-
Grafton from the lily; and that in one Of
it, stages 1t was the coarse grass which
Fabrc regarded as native wheat.
Dr.. Fournie, the French Psychologist,
describes hunger as a general desire for
food Of any kind, while appetite is the
feeling Of pleasure which results from
gratifying that desire. When We are not
hungry, appetite often comes while we
are eating, or even at the mere sight and
smell Of some favorite dish. The seat
Of the feeling Of hunger has been much
discussed, and many theories have been
PROPOSED to account for the sensation.
Dr.. Fournie's view is as follows: On the
approach Of the time for eating the glands
Of the stomach become filed and distend-
ed. They are ready to perform their
function Of digesting food, and if food is
not introduced they continue distcnded,
giving rise to the uncomfortable feeling
called hunger.
Prot. Reclaim, Of Germany, is convinc-
ed BY his observations that badness is not
result Of impaired health or of much
study. The loss of hair is chiefly due,
he believes, to the wearing Of warm and
unventilated head-coverings and to un-
cleanliness Of the scalp. To keep the
hair in healthy condition he advises the
wearing Of light and porous coverings for
the head, washing the scalp frequently
with water, and keeping the hair short,
An nostrums sold as hair restorers should
b avoided, as they are useless or worse
than useless.
Having noticed that ants are very de-
sructive to larvae and insects, Mr.. w.
8. Barnard, Of the Department of Agri-
culture, has suggested that they may in
some cases prove an efficient ally Of the
agriculturist, practically in combating the
ootson-worm. The ants, however, do in
direct injury BY protecting aphidss or
plaatice, which they do for the sake of
he hoAey-dev which the lice exercte,
"When We look upon the luxuriant
foliage Of the tree says DR.. Youmaus,
1--WE cannet fail to be impressed with its
beauty, but We hardly suspect that those
leaves which futter no lightly in tho
breeze are engines for the exercise Of en-
oFmous power. Yet such is the fact, for
they dscompOse carbonic acid. The at
oms Of pound of carbon rush into union
with those Of oxygen--they fall down the
chemical precipice with a fierce sufficient
70 raise thousand weights, each of
thousand pounds, one foot high. This
expressed the strength of their attraction
for each other, and if they are to be sep,
ssated this amount of force must be again
expended. So powerfully are the ele-
ments Of carbonic acid held in combina-
tioa. that the chemist can only separate
them BY the double action of high heat
and the most powerful affinity; even then,
only the carbon is set free, the oxygen
remaining IN a state of combination. But
whit no chemist has ever been able to
accomplish is effected by every green
leaf and every humble blade of grass