Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-11-02
BITS OF SCIENCE.

A strong decoction of the leaves and
stems of tomato plants is said to be deadly
TO cateIpiiiars, lice and other enemies Of
vegetation without being injurious to the
plants.
A recent estimate, made by means of a
very intricate testing apparatus, places
the rate at which an electric dot travels
over telegraph wire at 10000 miles per
second.
NJ. E. Bergman has observed that fOrmic
and acetic acid occur in the protoplasm
of all the plants he examined for them,
being found in the cOlOrless cells and in
the green tissues; and he considers it
probable that several other acids of lie
fatty series are equally dif'used in the
vegetable kingdom.
Layers of paper or paper pulp, formed
into a corrugated sheet, with lining OF
asbestos to bear on the hot surface, is a
new form of boiler tagging and is we'll
spoken of, The intention is to make air
spaces between the boiler and the tagging
and yet have strong covering which will
prevent the radiation Of heat.
Herr C. Schneider, of Dresden, has in
vented a dry galvanic battery. 1t con-
sis5s Of two cylinders, the larger one O.
copper and the inner or smaller one Of
amalgamated zinc. Both cylinders are
open at each end and the space between
them is filled in with a mixture OF plaster
of Paris and saturated solution of chic
ride of zinc containing 7 per cent. OF
chloride Of sodium.
Railroad cars are indicated by Judge
Lawrence johnson, of Holly Springs,
Miss, as vehicles by which destructive
moths are carried from one part of the
country to another. In travelling last wear
he was often struck by the numbers OF
AletiRa on the trains; and he observes
that there was sort of coincidence last
season between lines of railroad and abun-
dance of cotton worms.
The moulting of the she'll of the horse
shoe crab is described in the american
Naturalist for October. In this animal
the she'll splits open around the front
edge, and when the animal draws itself
through the rent it appears as if it were
spewing itself out of it's she'll. On the
other hand, the lobster, in casting its
shell, draws itself through a rent along
the tack of the carapace.
The wild duck is probably the most de-
structlve of all the enemies of the trout,
for 1t confines itself entirely to feeding on
their spawn. Always gluttOn, when
duck finds the spawning beds of trout in
the small streams that feed the main
water, it will soon devOur thousands Of
eggs and shovel the entire contents of the
breeding places into its stomach if not
mOlested. One flock of wild ducks can
easily destroy the entire breeding pros
poets OF any trout stream in short time.
On walking upon or disturbing the sand
OF certain beaches peculiar sound is
heard, which has been described as some
what resembling the bark of dog. The
sound seems to arise from the friction of
particles of dry sand. Until recently
these so-called singing beaches have been
known to exist at only two places, one in
Europe and one in this country, but sam
pies of the singing sands have now been
collected in no less than twenty-siX local
ties in the United States.
Writing to a German newspaper, a VIC
tim of DaltOnianism, or color blindness,
protests against the tendency to the ex-
clusion of the so-called color blind from
lives of activity in which the recog-
milton of color is an element. He de-
clares that, although the sensations
are different, persons afflicted with Dali
tOnianism possess a distinct recognition
of the different bands Of the spectrum.
and are consequently as capable of dis
color signals from each other
as persons with normal vision.
NJ. Plateau gives the following account
Of an interesting experiment: A flower,
in shape like a lily, with six petals, was
made in outline with thin iron wire, the
wire being first dipped in nitric acid and
The flower is next dipped
into a glycerine soap solution and, when
the petals were covered with
films of the solution. 1t was now in an
upright position placed under a beIl-glass
and soon beautiful cOlors appeared. If
the solution is right the films viii last for
hours and there will be a continued play
Of color over the flower.