The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-05-10
tComsf5f@ fer Tz< ArxznSrv Trcrxlsr.l SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY

The queen of Tahi.e lately stated ip
 Paris that deaf-Inutes are nnknowr
 among the Tahitians.
 MT. T. ]. Savery has called the a,,en.
 ton of the London Chemical society to 2
 hitherto uunoticed oonsutuen, of tobacco
 tor which he proposes the name of tobac-
 otanric aeid.
 Western chemical science $ beinr
 adopted in China A large sulphur;S
 acid factory has just heen established
 and two EnglIsh chemical textbooks
 have been translated into Chinese.
 The manufacture Of asbestos rope-fo,
 purposes requiring fre-proof qualities
 oids far to become a thriving industry
 n England. Asbestos has apou, one
 fourth the strength of hemp. a rose of;he
 former material an inch and a half in
 diameter supporting abou, ,on.
 Another astronomical observatory has
 been added to the small number ,n eA- istenee in the southern hemisphere. 1,
 has been established by the government of Natal, South Africa. |. he -apital of ,he colony, and prlva.e citizen has donated telescope h aving an eigh,-inch object glass.
 A, late meeting of the royal nicro- scopieal society, of London. attention was called ,e the existence of .wo socie,ies oontaining or!y lady ricroscopis.s. One of these was last year incorporated f San Francisco as the California micros- ooPical society. and the other comprises students of Wellesley college.
 The researches of Dr. l. B. VI. Ian caster have shown iha; the fe of the as ironomer-quiet md TegGiar-is con. ducive oi longevity, the average iife-,err7 of i7-i astronomers having been found 10 be o4 years and three months. while the most dilgent of these students ap- pear to have enjoyed the longest lives.
 To the very ahurdan, and harmless appearing Mexican weed toloachi. much resembling our northern milkweed, mos, cangefous properties are aserioed. IL does not Kill, but If few drops of it's tasteless fluid be taken the brain IS inn medlateiy affected, the result being vio- len' insanity followed by hopeless idiocy.
 Quickly Formed O-e.-The time re- quired for the formation of mineral veins appears much less than has been eener. ally supposed. A ditch which was filled up two years ago with common clay con- taininS iron has just been opened again by Dr. fieitmar. who has found. 10 his great snrprIse, that ;s4 clay has become white and Is permea,ed by cracks filled with compact iron pyri;es. these veins being from twenty iih D a sixth of an inch Tn thickness
 Resides proving tha: .he so-ealled bacilii Of cholera are ,he actual cause of the disease. Dt. Koch has discovered that these germs a:e quickly destroyed by drying, and tha, they will grow only in alkaline solutions. Even the healthy stomach appears 10 contain sufficient aoid to resis, their development. infection with cholera probably taking place dur ing some gastric disturbance. With knowledge of these facts some means of preventing cholera ough, soon ,o be found.
 Tree Feathers.-The famous book of travels of Marco Polo. the Venetian tray eler of the thirteenth century. tells of the feathers of mons,rsus African bird known as the roc, and mentions speci- men sent from Madagascar 10 the Great Kahn as being ninety spans in length and having quill two spans in circum- terence. IL IS supposed by Colonel Henry ule that these so-called feathers were ronds of the rotia palm. The British consul at Zanzibar has lately forwarded 0 London four of the mid-ribs of this rec, stripped of their leaflets and with heir tips broken off. and they are said O greatly resemble enormous feathers rom twenty-five 10 ,hir,y-rve fee, long. This palm, called in Central Africa the Devils date, is credited by Captain K. F. Burton with producing he larges, leaf snown.
 What fossils teach.-In a recent lee ure Dr. I. II Carpenter, of Fton College. mentioned the Case of Greenland as an Illustration of the manner in which the ,ar,h s history IS read from fossils, those emains Of by-gone life which IF the middle ages were regarded IS sports of ,ature.' Fossils of tour climates. all warmer than the present icy ore. are ound Tn that country. Remains of the ak and the maple tell us ,ha, the limate was once very similar 10 that of -pgland to-day, and the coal. found ower down, shows that something ap- 'roachins tropical hea, prevailed at ar ,arlier period. The fossils of certain ca creatures appear on the land, and 'rove that Greenland once lay beneath he sea and that it's waters were temperate. shile the coral, obtained still lower .own, must have grown when the waters sere still warmer.
 4 South Atlantic Climate. While the 'ork of the international stations was in rogreSs in the Arctic regions, German oientihc party was making similar ob- ervauons in south Georgia, desolate 'land containing abor, iooo souare niles and lying in latitude s.0 south and ongitude S' west, directly east of Cape iorn- The lowest teTnperasare register d by the party during little oyer year Ias degrees above zero Farenhei:. and ae highest was G. degrees. but Inc usual ange of the thermometer ia all seasnnS as from ; 10 -5 degrees. the difference e,ween winter and sumner consisting hi~fiy in the length CT days. Snow cov-