The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-11-08
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 scIRNTIFlc MISCELLANY.

Cs@pikaSf fw Zzs lsAs.asv 7ssussv. scIRNTlFlc MISCELLANY. ExPesinenfs with the e,susric lieht iu forcing pla.t-srovth are showing less q. fecl thsn vas expected.
 A nev motor driven by the explosion of small charges of eun-ootson has been pEoducedjn England, and is said to be applicable wherever small powers are re- quired-
 According to French authority, the vibrations caused by a moving railway train mile distant may make the nse of delicate astronomical instruments in-
 possible ior the time being.
 A French savant, Mons. Forel, afirms that during the months of July and August last . red halo or corona sur. rounded the sun, which, though difficult to see at low attitudes, became quite brilliant at 6oo teet above the sea. He witnessed the phenomenon several times from heights ranging from } 900 to To 900 feet.
 A species of ant observed in the isiaud of St. Thomas has been described to the French academy of science. A large fire having been kindled at . certain dis tance from the ant-hill, the ants were seen to precipitase themselves into it by thousands, until it was completely ex- tidguished. It is proposed to call the species Formica ignivora.
 A Better Calendar Wanted.-The French astronomer, Mons (. Flamma- rion, has received anonymously the sum of 900 francs, to be given as . prire to the author of the best project for the re- form of the calendar. Papers must be sent in by October I, 1885. A commit- tee will make the award, and propose the reform to an international congress.
 A bridge at Lyons, France, has a stone paraPet, pierced at intervals for light, forming q passage which plays the part of gigantic flute. The rush of the air currents through the openings causes the bridge to emit such sounds of music at different parts of it's course that sone might believe it haunted by legions of invisible naiads pursuing the passengers with their plaintive melodies"
 A Curious Fad.-One of the remarka. ble things which botanists tell us is that we have more plants of the Japanese flora than Europe has, and that even the Pacific coast ot America has fewer than are found on the Atlantic slope. A few American plants may have reached Europe by natural means; but in the main the course of plant migration has been from the old world to us-from west to east.
 A Worlds Bureau.-The international Committee of Weights and Measures, whose work is chiefly to test the standards of measurement used in the different countries, was established at Paris in 1875 by convention of nations, but has only just received the adhesion of Eug- land. With the further accession of Roumania and Sevia the committee now represents an aggregate population of s2I,45o. 3o6. distributed over Germany, England, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, the Argentine Republic, Denmark, Spain, the United States, France, Italy, Peru, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Servia, Sweden, Norway, Switseriand, Turkey and venzuela.
 Something in the An.-Mr. Richard A. Proctor reports that the total lunar eclipse of October 4,h presented to him a very unusual appearance. At the time of greatest obscuration the moon vas barely visible as an ill-de6ned ring of sickly green hue, while its ordinary ap- pearance at such time is that of huge glowing coPpery-red ball hung up in the sly. He thinks it probable that the earth's atmosphere was laden with some thing which acted as dense screen to the suns rays, which are pretty certainly knovn to be rehacted through our as- into the shadow cone to such . degree as to produce the usual ruddy tinge of the moon when totally eclipsed. He asks whether we are here once more brought face to face with the cause of the persistent hare in the suns neighbor. hood, and of the Late wonderful sunrises and sunsets.
 Sanitary Clothing.-The clothing re- lorm proposed by Dr. Gustav Jaeger, of Stuttgart, is said to have been already approved and carried out by thousands