Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-10
BITS OF SCIENCE.

Australia carries off the palm in the
production of useful trees. one furnishes
a good substitute for butter, another has
seeds from which a meal is ground which
is good for food, and another from its pods
produces a mass of fibres which, like cot
ton, can be used to stuff mattresses and
cushions.
A professor in the University of Upsala
offers to freeze any person who will vOlun-
teer, depriving them of all appearance of
vitality, and to bring them round again at
the expiration of two years without inju-
ry. No one has consented to the expert
ment, and it is proposed to try it upon
some condemned criminal.
There is a good deal of testimony to
prove that birds and insects disappear
from localities about to be affected with
epidemic disease. More attention should
be paid by medical men to the collection
of meteorological information and collate-
raj data during the prevalence of cpl
denies. 1t is nearly virgin field for sci
entists.
Professor Fischer, of Munich, has OBJ
tanned from distilled coal white crystal
line powder, which seems to possess many
Of the properties Of quInine, only it as
Stimulates more readily with the stomach.
1t remains to be seen whether it is as eff
tectiVe against malaria, and is less inju-
riOus in its influence uDon the head and
hearing.
The first discovery of prehistoric mines
has recently been made in France. The
mines are flint ones, and are situated in
miocene strata near Mur-de-BarreZ.
Several picks of stag's antlers with other
human relics have been discovered on the
ancient floor Of the excavation. Here and
there the marks of the picks of neOlithic
man are still visible on the walls of the
workings.
Prof. A. Nantier has been trying the
effect of various manures upon potatoes,
beets and maize. SuperphOsphate and
precipitated phosphate were most effica-
ciOus in increasing the yield of potatoes.
| Precipitated phosphate proved in every
respect more beneficial than the super
phosphate with beets. The best crops of
maize were raised from land treated with
the manure of the farmyard.
A committee was appointed by the
British Association for the Advancement
Of Science several years ago fer the pur-
pose of ascertaIning whether meteoric
dust could be found on the earth. Such
| dust, in the form of spherical particles Of
iron, has since been obtained from the
snow of the Himalayas. at a height of
| 13, 400 feet, and a distance of fourteen
miles from any human habItation.
An immense land-saurin was found last
summer in the Laramie formation Of Da-
kOta. 1t was thirty-eight feet long, and
belongs to an extinct order of reptiles. 1t
has decided affinities to binds, being in
| head something like goose. In the max
Hilary and splenial bones it had more than
two thousand teeth. We quote from a
reputable authority, but the account re-
minds us of the Western tendency to ex-
aggeratiOn, and it is case where scien-
tifc accuracy is necessary.
Fame and fortune await the discoverer
of an efficient method of so consuming
coal that none of its constituent and CON-
bustible particles can escape into the t.
mosphere of large cities, with the two
fold result of preventing peeuniary loss
and sanitary degradation of the air. 1t is
estimated by competent experts that Lon
don alone loses every winter $25,000,000
through imperfectly burned coal, not to
speak of the damage done to buildings
and the injury done to the public health
through the breathing of a polluted at
mOsphere.
A varnish has been invented in Germa-
ny for foundry patterns and machinery.
1t dries, leaving a smooth surface almost
as soon as it is applied. tits thus prepared:
/ Thirty pounds of shellac, ten pounds of
Manila cOpal, and ten pounds of Zanzibar
cOpal are placed in a vessel, which is
heated externally by steam, and stirred
| during from four to six hours, after which
$50 parts of the finest potato spirit are
added, and the whole heated for four hours
to 81 degrees. This liquid is dyed by the
addition OF orange color, and can then be
applied as paint on wood. When used
for painting and glazing machinery it
consists of thirty-fve pounds of Shellac,
| five pounds of Manila copaI and 100
pounds Of spirit.