Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1884-03-05
SCIENTIFIC GLEANINGS.
PONDEROCS FACTS PRESENTED
IN AN ENTERTAING WAY.

OtTcIc-Etc.
Compiled fof the wooD, RIVER Tines
An English naturalist asserts thai
the hedgehog cannot be poisoned
neither strychnine, arsenic nor prussie
acid having any effect upon it. II
eats adders regardless Of their venom.
Gus fangs.
Statistics show that blindness is
steadily decreasing IN Great Britain.
1t is thought that the decrease may be
fairly attributed to improvement in
the surgical treatment of eye afIec
tons, and to the diminished prevail
ence among children Of smallpox.
The copper workers Of the French
village of Durfort inhale for twelve
hours daily an atmosphere laden with
copperdus:, and their skin and hair
become discoIored with copper, while
the metal can be detected in their
secretions and excretions, and after
death in their bones. Yet, according
to report by the investigators to the
French Academy CT Sciences, the cop.
per appears to have no influence upon
the health Of the people. They neither
suffer from special trade diseases, nor
are they protected against cholera,
typhoid fever or other affections.
-Four new asteroids were discovered
in 1883, increasing the number of
known minor planets to 800.
Reports of extremely low temper
atures should be received with caution,
as thermometers are by no means in
falliblc. DIR. John Rae, f. Il. S.,
tells OF twenty thermometers which
were tested by freezing mercury, and
Of which eighteen gave results about
two degrees too high, while two beau
t'Iully-inished instruments, by a
London maker of high rcputo, indi-
Gated temperature about nineteen
degrees below the true one. In adj
dition to faulty construction, another
source OF error in spirit thermometers
Is the condensation of part of the
spirit IN the upper end of the tube,
and DR.. Rae states that the error pro-
duccd in this way may amount to
eight degrees or more.
Tho chief signal officer has under
taken an investigation into the pro
giesS OF waves of cold across the
United States. Among the results
obtained thus far, it has been ascer.
tanned that taking Fort Assinaboine
n Montana as a starting point, the
our cold waves Of November, 1881.
lvcragcd ten hours in reaching the
signal service stations at st. Vincent.
Num-, Huron, Oak, North Platte,
\eb., and Cheyenne, Wyo.; twenty
lours in travelling to Duluth, Mimi.
It. Pau, Mimi, Leavcnworth, Kan, =
'ort Sill, Ten, and Santa Fe, \. NJ;
hirty hours, to Marquette, Mich,
Milwaukee, Wis, Chicago. Ill.,, Mem
,
hIs, Tenn, Deuison, Tex, and Con
no, Tex; forty hours, to Eric, Pa, !
'lttsburg, Pa, Knoxville, Tenn,
icksburg, Miss, and BracLettsville.
'ex.; and fifty hours, to Rochester.
!. y, Washington, ID. c., Charlotte. u
:. C., Augusta, Ga, and Mobile, Ala. Il
The Swedish Government, ever a,
'ad y to extend scientific aid to the to
'dustries OF the country, proposes es- =,
.blishng a station in the nor,h Of r.
weden for the study Of native plants It
nd the diseases Of crops in that see
on. -
Some English scientists have been
wing to explain why it is that persons
no become lost in fog, or who are
+ any reason unable to see Their way. COZ
ualy walk in circle instead of fol- r ~1
wing strai3 hit line. Mr.. W. Lar.
n thinks that the cause NAV be ~.
ind in difference in the strength
the legs, Tie stronger Of the two
twaliHng the other when not -
ntroIled 10y the will. In conhrma- n
n of tbs view, Mr.. G.. II. Darwin II
counts some experiments in which N
'cral school boys were biindfolded -
d told to walk straight ahead, when
"rl4 ht-lvgged' ones circlcd to the
and the -'icrt-le@ged" ones to the
NJ, exactly as they should do if Tie We,
DRY IS correct, willie one boy, who
med 20 be ncjtherrisht-legged nor
but to use the two limbs
Il 4 bout thu. same fac'l;tr ~, III