Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-24
BITS OF SCIENCE.

The large, prominent eyes OF the brill
liant dragon flies or DEVILS darning nee
dies are each furnished with $4,000 pol
ished lenses.
Pigeons have double crop. In the crop
of the common fowl vegetable food is de-
tanned sixteen hours, or twice as long as
animal food.
An ordinary spiders thread, just visible
to the naked eye, is the union of 1000 or
more fine and delicate threads of silk.
These primary threads are drawn out and
united by the hind legs of the spider.
An interesting result of the late earth
quake In England has been noticed in the
wells of Colchester, the water level in
which commenced to rise soon after the
shock and in few days reached point
eight feet above the highest ever before
known. 1t now stands at about seven
feet above the former high water mark.
The dragon fly can Outstrip the swal-
low; nay, it can do in the air more than
any bird; it can fly backward and side
long, to right or left as we'll as forward,
and can alter its course on the instant
without turning. 1t makes twenty-eight
beats per second with its wings, while the
bee makes 1870 and the horse fly $50. The
swiftest race horse can double the rate of
the salmon. So that insect, bird, quadru-
ped and fish would be the order according
to velocity of movement.
A writer in a contemporary journal
says: 81 discovered, many years ago, that
wood could be made to last longer than
iron in the ground, but thought the pro-
cess so simple that it was not well to
| make a stir about it. Posts of any wood
can be prepared for less than two cents
apiece. This is the recipe: Take boiled
linseed oil and stir in pulverized coal to
| the consistency of paint. Put coat of
this over the timber and there is not a
man that will live to see it rot"
To ascertain whether sample of petro-
| leum is sufficiently volatile to be danger
Gus. Herr Montag points out a very
simple and conclusive method. He fills
a glass three parts full with the petrO-
leum to be tested, and fills up the glass
with boiling water, at the same time hold
| ing flame over it. If the vapor, olsen
gagged, becomes Ignited the petroleum
should not be considered safe liquid to
leave exposed to the atmOsphere.-El
gineer.
Basing his opinion upon the results of
experiments made on rabbits as we'll as
on clinical observations, DR.. Pick main
tains in the Pharmaceutical Journal that
aluminium and its compounds constitute
a most effective remedy against pulmo-
nary tuberculosis. He administered the
aluminium IN thlS form: Metallic alumni
mum, s grammes; aluminium hydrate, 3
grammes; calcium carbonate, grammes
and gum tragacanth sufficient quantity
divided into sixty pills, one pill to be
taken three times day.
A writer in one of the medical journals
argues against the common idea that car
bOnic acid gas is poisonous. He asserts
that it is no more SO than water-animals
immersed in it die just as they do if i'm
mersed in water, and for the same rea-
son, namely, want Of oxygen. Birds have
been made to live in an atmosphere con.
tanning 35.40 per cent. of pure carbOnic
acid and about an equal per cent. of oxy-
gen. Yet, when the carbonic acid of re-
spired air rises to l per cent. that air is
very dangerous poison. The solution of
this puzzle is that re5pired air contains a
very small proportion Of poisonous Or
gaDic matter, which is constantly eXhaled
from even the healthiest lungs; its exact
nature is not known, but it is the source
of the foul odOr so characteristic of badly
ventilated rooms. The air from the exit
of pipes of n crowded hall darkens sui
phuric acid, decolOriZes potassium per-
manganate, and causes water, or a sponge
sa turated with it, to putrefy.