Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-12-14
Scientific MISCELLANY.

bracing $50 species.
The glaciers OF Iceland have been
measured by Norwegian eeologist,
and have been found to be the larg-
est rivers of ice in the world, those
Of Norway, the Alps and the Pyre-
nees seeming quite insignificant by
comparison.
Monsieur Muntz has shown that
alcohol is very widely diffused i'll ma
ture. 1t exists in nearly all water,
even rain and snow, and it is proba.
bic that the air contains much of it
in the state of vapor. Poor soil
yields traces of it, and rich mould
has considerable quantity.
For about a year Sir w. Siemens
has been quietly testing in his own
house the value and durability of
electrical storage batteries. BY
means of half-horse power engine
he has charged the batteries during
the day, and at night has had an ac-
emulation of electricity sufficient to
supply forty incandescenI lamps for
five or six hours. The working of
tho batteries thus far has been very
satisfactory.
Mons. Ramon de Luna has ex-
pressed to the French Academy OF
Sciences the belief that the cause of
cholera is always to be found in the
atmosphere, and that it exerts it's
action exclusively through the re-
spiratory organs. He considers the
inhalation of nitrous acid mixed with
air as the only safe remedy. These
conclusions have resulted from an
extensive and successful practical
experience with the disease in Mad
rid aud the Philippines.
Two German students have made
curious Investigation. By testing
the degree of sound necessary to
awaken sleeping individuals they
have ascertained that a healthy's
mans slumber is very light during
the first hour, and that it becomes
most profound when he has been
asleep about an hour and three
quarters. After that it grows light
or, but relapses and has again be-
come quite deep when it has contin-
ued five hours and half.
A discovery which may prove of
great importance was recently an
nounced to the Paris Biological
Society by DR.. Brown Sequard. By
very simple means, this widely
known psychologist claims to be
able to produce prolonged insensi-
biIity to pain without affecting the
consciousness the voluntary move
ments, or even the sense of touch in
any part of tho skin. Wounds made
on monkeys or other animals while
in this state may heal without caus-
ing pain. But the method-which
consists in irritating the mucous
membrane in the upper part of the
larynx by carbonic acid of chloroform
vapor-has not yet been applied to
man.
Prof. Schubslsr, a Norwegian
photographer, called attention
short time ago to the remarkable
fact that most plants in high lati-
tudes produce much larger and
heavier seeds than in warmer 70.
gions nearer the equator-an effect
which he ascribes to the prolonged
influence of sunlight during the long
summer days of the high latitades.
In some cases the difference of seed
development is most astonishing.
Dwarf beans taken from Chlistiana
to Drontheim-less than four de-
grees farther north-gaiued more
than sixty per cent in weight; and
thyme from Lyons when planted at
at Drontheim showed a gain of
seventy-one per cent. The grain Of
northern fields is heavier than when
grown in more southern localities;
aud seed from Norway planted at
Breslan decreased greatly in the first
year. Grissbach and Martins have
noticed that the leaves also of most
plants are larger and more deeply
colored in high ATTITUDES. The same
is true of flowers aud many which
are white in southern climates De-
come violet in the tsr north.
The Civil War in America" says
Mr.. Robert Brown, an eminent
British scientist "was due to the
selective power of roots and ignor-
ance Of vegetable physiology" Poll
tics aside this is no paradox. To-
bacco and cotton are both exhaust.
ing crops. They require many sub
stances 10 nourish them, and a great
deal of all of them. Hence they
wear out the soil. For miles and
miles along the bands OF the Missis-
sippi there are WORKOUT estates of
the thriftless planters. For a time