The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-01-05
lCowtiisd fer Zzs Arkessaw Tyss.r.<- SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY

England, the other day, Mir. Leo Grindon estimated that out of the 100 900 krowp sPec'es of towering plants 10000 are af direct service to man, and 900 are more or less poisonous or hurtful.
 The fog and smoke of London in ~tn- ter are largely due to the unconscioa. constituents of coal which escapes n,o the air, and chemical experts have est. mated the cost of the fuel which :nas goes to waste to be g., 900 900 yea-ly The problem with the Londoners Is, aox to prevent this loss and purify the a.r.os phere.
 Miss F.. A Ormerod. consulting ento- mologist to the Royal agricultural so...e,y Of England, refers particularly to :he daddy-long-legs in her report on the .n- sects which caused injury to last season farm crops. Many crops were attacked by this creature, but its ravages were e. fectually checked when the plants xefe given dressing of guano and sal,
 By long g-continued observation supple plemented by experiment upon rabbits a German investis gator has convinced air- self that premature badness may be .om- municated from one person 10 another a least in the form associated with dan ira--. He believes that the disease IS sprea by haiI-dressers, who employ combs and brushes on their customers m succes3.on without any regular cleaning of the 4.i- cles after each using.
 For several years a record has s-er kept of the health Of the siN hundred ..E seventy two persons employed in the .n- llne color works at Hochst- -on-the Y l.n. m order to ascertain the extent 10 waeb anillne colors are liable 10 inlure peopie handling them. The result has stawr that the more poisonous compounds .aYe caused few mild cases ot ailmert D., Doctor Grandhomme finds that the i. CT age mortality Of the work people has peer low. It happens therefore that users oi coal-tar colors have little to fear rom poisoning.
 The International Bureau of Weish.s and Measures, at Paris, whose obiec. .s to verify the metric standards of he world according to one universal star dard, IS able to perform work of really wonderful accuracy in its eompa.rng rooms With the means there provided II is possible, according to Mir. F !. Chaney. 10 ascertain difference between two kilogram weights not greater than a three-hundred -millionth part of one ot the weights: and in the comparison at two meters difference so small as thirty nine-ten-millionths of an inch tor ore ten-thousandth of millimeterA cae 5c determined.
 4 single plant of new species oi 5o- tato-which has received the botan.sal name of Solanum Ohroudi-was some time ago discovered on a small uninh .b- ted islaHd al the mouth of the S.ye. Plate in South America. The ,ubers. about the size of hens eggs. were carried to France and planted. The taste or ,he tubers was bitter, with chestnut hayol. but under cultivation the quality .s re- ported to be improving. The yield is abundant. and as little labor is required to raise the crop, it is thought tha. he new potato may furnish a desirable food for cattle, even if il does not become s,f- hcientiy improved for table use.
 In the last ten years relics of the ird .s- try of the early inhabitants of Switzeaara known as the lake Jewellers have been .- cumulated in great quantities. Dr. Victor Gross states in a recent work that the IT, ticles of bronze alone which have secn found in the lakes of Bienne and Necf- chatel number lo boo, of which more th .n , 900 are in his own collection. Nan, articles of stone, pottery and iron haze been brought to ligh, in addition. ii these archaeological discoveries .}:. Gross nnds evidence that the period n which the prehistoric Swiss inhabited ne dwellings built on the lakes was one o: long duration, covering the sue ccesslve stages of civilz zltion from the primitive age m which metals were unknown and mans implements were rudely formed n coarse pottery and rough stones. through the age of hnely-worked stones. follewe! by the age ln which stones were still used and metals were introduced. then by he age of fine bronze and a highly-deveiorec state of the arts. 10 the age in which ,soa appeared.
 Inc kola nut. the stimulant so hist.v prized among African tribes tha, in times of scarcity slave has been given k. q single kernel, Is the product of a tree Q. the family s,erculiacea. Four or five oi the seed, or nuts, grow together in rough brown pod. Each seed has a or white color, or both. and contains 4 kernel somewhat like ,ha, of a peara. and about two inches long The taste c; of the nut IS sweet, astringent and bite; in succession. The kola crop is gathe e. twice year. When fresh the nu, $ chewed as if it were tobacco when d.y j. IS powdered and eaten. Its effect is :e markable. as i, sustains the system fo. s long time under the greates, fatigue even wi,hou, food, while it is considereG certain preventive of dysenteries, sa. IS said to make foul water drinkable a,s harmless With the African tribes he kola nut Is in order on all occasions. and IS almost indispensable in important br.- mess transactions, in treaties in declara uons of war, as presen, a, weddings, T reiig'ous obseranees and in judicial pro ceedlngs.
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 Salaries of Poet Laurea,es