Morris tribune., 1884-04-30
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

An early human skull has been
found near Prague in 4 bed of chalk
from which the tuSk of 4 mammoth
had been dug a few days previously.
The skull has an extremely low fore
head and great development of the
ridges.
Two cases have been reported to an
English medical society in which the
electromagnetic has been successfully
used for removing pieces of iron from
the eye. Without the magnet it is
thought that the sight of the injured
eye must have been lost in each case.
Mons. Villermoz, a French horti-
cultyrist, has met with remarkable
success in treating sickly plants with
warm water. It is supposed that the
warm water washes certain injurious
acid substances away from the roots.
thus removing the cause of the weak
ness Of the plants.
AS a result of his extensive expert
ence in building compressed air TO-
comotives for European mines, Col.
Beaumont states that one cubic foot
of air under pressure of 1000 pounds
| to the square inch will convey a load
of three tons a distance of one mile
on any of the colliery tracks.
Dr.. Percy Pope, an English physi-
clan, maintains that diphtheria is pro-
duced by some influence Of the soil,
as he finds that it chiefly occurs
among jewellers on clay. He thinks
that observations which have been
made indicate that the clay may fos-
ter germ which will cause the dis
ease.
Mons. POincare has found that q
petrOleum-laden atmosphere proves
| fatal to guinea-pigS in form one to two
years. while dogs and rabbits are af-
fected with languor and loss Of appe-
tite. although Worhmen exposed to
such an atmosphere notice no severer
symptoms than Irritation of the men,
brane of the nose and headache:
Prof. Y. Ball has shown that land
slides may sometimes make lakes by
damming up valleys, and he mentions
a lake at Mama Tai in the Himalayas
which appears to have been formed
in this way. Land slides also cause q
Swallowing Of river channelSand sea-
borders which might be mistaken for
evidence Of the rising OF land; and
they produce boulder deposits resemb-
ling those left by glaciers.
Mons. Angot having drawn the at
tention of the French Academy Of
Sciences to the fact that q series OF
brilliant tWilights was observed in
Europe in 1881. Mons. Tissandier
has pointed out that the effects were
preceded, as in 1883, by great vol
canic eruption, which occurred in the
Scilian Sea and caused a large quanti-
ty of fine ashes to be thrown high into
the air.
The Government Geologist of Aus
tralia gives an instance OF apparent
suicide by venomOus black snake
which had been wounded and was IL
ritated by ants. The reptile bit itself
twice, and died from the effects Of its
own venom. He states that one of
his men has assured him that a veno-
nous Australian adder will invariably
bite itself and die if it is pinned to
the ground by q fOrked stick.
Some Of the plants of the Swiss
alps have been carried away by col
lectors in such quantities that the
rarer species are in danger Of becom-
ing extinct, and an association for
their protection has been formed
among the botanists Of the vicinity.
The society has lately established at
Geneva garden for the acclimatiZa-
ton Of Alpine plants, and to encour-
age their cultivation in all parts of
Switzerland where they will grow:
South American Ant Cities.--The
Director of the Botanic Garden at
Port Spain, the capital of Trinidad,
reports that the parasol ants infest
the island in vast numbers, and are
very destructive to vegetation. A
settlement of these insects sometimes
covers thousand square feet, and the
efforts of dozen men, who force
boiling water OF sulphur fumes into
the nests, may fail to destroy a single
colony in less than week or fort
night.
Mons. Pasteur has been continuing
his researches on rabies, now sue
ceeded in rendering number of dogs
secure from future liability to the
disease by the plan of inocuating
them with a modified virus. If i'm
munity from rabies were in this way
secured in the whole species, the hui
man race would have nothing futher
to fear from the disorder, since man
kind is never affected except from
virus proceeding directly OF indirectly
from mad dogs.
An English writer states that Than
Shan range of mountains in Central
Asia is twenty-five times as large as
the Swiss Alps, covering an Area
equal to France and Spain in extent,
and forming a portuberance upon the
earth's surface considerably greater
than the aggregate of all the noun
tains of Europe. This remarkable
range is supposed to have no less than
5000 glaciers, and it has snow bridges
q mile in length and more than hun
dred feet in thickness.
Near Bona the Jebel Nasba, an
isolated mountain about $500 feet
high, is evidently sinking, and as it
sinks a considerable cavity is being
formed round it's base. Other land in |
the vicinity has undergone consid-
cradle change in hight within few
centuries. In Lake Fezzara, which |
now covers about 10000 acres, the re-
mains of a Roman town have been
found, showing that the lake did not
exist at the time of the Roman occu-
patton. and that the town has prob
ably sunk in the same manner as the
mountain is now sinking.
The Effect of Darkness upon Flow
ers.-An English experimenter plan
ted q hyacinth bulb in October, 1882,
and as soon as it commenced to sprout
removed it to perfectly dark but
well ventilated place. In March 1883,
a stem of dark purple flowers were
produced, the leaves of the plant be-
ing totally colorless. In October, 1883,
the same bulb was again planted, and