The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-03-01
LCemffzed yer Tz< Arkessasv Zrevszsx.
 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY


 made in the Straits of Sunda since ,be volcanic eruption of last August have been gwen by NJ. (. van Doom. |, an. pears that the southern part of the peak of krakatoa yet remains unchanged. and rises, with an almost perpendicular north. ern edge, to height of moresthan l, ;oo feet above the sea. The northern part Q, the island, however, has entirely disap- peared, and soundings on the place where it had stood reached depth of 800 feel without touching bottom. The lost ground cf Krakatoa is evidently found a few miles to the north, where the deuth of the water has been gradually diminished and one old island has been much en- larged, while several new ones have ap- peared above the surface The entire ex- animation of the north of Krakatoa sug- geted the idea that the surveying ship was above crater which had been filled with water and quenched by it.
 Efforts are being made to establish a weather service in China, with the Hong Kong observatory as its center. Meteor ological registers are to be sys.ematica.- ly kept at the principal ports ofihe cour- try, and It IS expected that the govern ment astronomer, who is at the head of the project, will ultimately be able 10 give forecasts of the weather and to furnish information to mariners which will grea.- ly lessen the dangers of their voyages.
 The pulse-beats of a criminal during execution by hanging have been record. cd. Alter the rope was adjusted the pulse-rate was I2I immediately after the drop It fell to 5+, 5, g, 70, and to in the hfsh minute; but the sixth minute it r"se to 70, then to 2 eighth minute, Q ninth, 34 after this no palse was peroep- nole In the arteries, but the heart beat two or three times between the ninth and nineteenth minutes, and once in the nineteenth minute. The death was from strangulation, the neck no, being dislo- cated.
 Out of the 100 species of solanun known to botanists. according to a paper read by NIT. J. C. Baker before a recent meeting of the Lindean society of Lon don, there are only about six which pro- duce tubers, and only one of these. the common potato, solanum tuberosum. has yet been cultivated. The native home of the potato IS in the dry and elevated parts of Chilli. In other portions of the same country IS found another species. ;. Maglia. which should be much better adapted to general cultivation, as il grows in moist places. As long ago as 1926 the cultivation of this species in England was attempted, with most promising results. but was soon abandoned because the plant was believed 10 be identical wi.h the common potato. Another species. ,. Commersoui, from the eastern par. of Sout America, Is now being cultivated ex- perimen'ally in France, and is likewise suitable for damp soil while third wild species. ;. Jamesli, IS being tried in the in the United States. This last spec;esis the one which Mir. ]. C. Lennon discoy- cred Tn southeastern Arizona in 1881.
 X French meteorologis, has planted in the ground near his house two bars of iron, from which wires run to a .elephone receiver. The earth currents which are indicated by sounds in the telephone never fail to give notice to the observer. who consults the apparatus several times day, of the approach ot a storm from twelve to fifteen days in advance
 In 1881 the International Polar Confer ence was organized in St. Petersburg, and planned the scientific expeditions which were sent by various governments 10 fourteen points within or near the Arctic Circle. These expeditions were 10 make meteorological and other observations during the year ending with August. 1883. A meeting Of the conference is to be held at Vienna in May of the present year to receive reports of the work done by the observers.
 Our stock Of knowledge of the animal kingdom IS increasing very rapidly. The number of mammals is now estimated al about 200, of birds 7.soo of reptiles ,.- 900, and of fishes ioooo-making a total ot about 20 900 species belonging to the higher classes. Near the close of the seventeeth century these groups oi anil mals-now known as vertebraies-were thought to include total of about 1000 species As naturalists have become fa- miiiar with the invertebrates their list of those creatures has become enormous. Of beetles alone ;he museums of the world contain over ioo, 900 species. while best estimates place the total number of distinct forms of insects at more than >O~O. hS "hOiC klQRQOlIl IS believed to embrace about 900 600 spe- cies.
 Physicists have lately been trying to determine by experiment whether the electricity of thunder storms is generated either by the evaporation of water or by the condensation of vapor. Freeman and Blake have each obtained results which indicate tha. no electricity IS produced by the evaporation of pure water: and Mir. 5. kalischer has since made some investigations with delicate apparatus which have failed to show that conden- sasioa of vapor or the formation of hail IS source of atmosphere electricity.
 MT. C. w. Heaton, an English chem iss. has analyze9 sample of water from the famous Hagar's well, at Mecca-,o which thousands of Mohammedan 2il- grims resort annually-and reports that the water is a most dangerous compound. containing an extraordinarily large pro-
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