St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-03-28
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

According to Joshlin, fishes have been
caught at depths where they must have sus-
tanned pressure of eighty tons to each
square foot of their bodies.
The spectrum of the Pons-Brooks comet
has been examined by Mons. Trepied, of AL
giers, who finds it to be practically identical
with the spectrum of an alcohol flame.
A disease parasite has been found in the
common onion by Mons, Joannes Chatin. 1t
hiss been examined by Mons Pasteur, who
finds it to be similar to the parasite of mil
dew in wheat. Plants which are attacked
should be pulled up and burned.
A committee has been appointed by the
Royal Society of London to collect the vari-
GUS accounts of the Krakotoa volcanic erup-
ton and attendant phenomena. This
committee may be able to prove or disprove
the theory that the red sunrises and sunsets
have been caused by volcanic dust.
A French scientist, Mons. Duchatre, has
shown that moonlight as well as sunlight
may have an influence upon plant-growth.
Seedlings of lentils, yetches, ETC., which had
been kept in dark place, at once began to
bend towards the moon when expoaed to its
light, and continued to move with it.
An observatory provided with instruments
for studying earthquake phenomena has been
established in Japanese coal mine by Prof.
Milne of Toxic. AS the mine runs under the
sea, the influence of the tides in depressing
the ground will be included among the OBJ
servations, as will also the conditions attend
ing escapes of fire-damp.
IMPURE FooD IN FRANCE Of 1861
samples of wine examined at the Paris Mu-
nicipal laboratory in one year, more than
half were found to be bad, while 202 were
positively dangerous. OF 1907 samples of
milk and cream, 542 proved to be bad; and
of II samples of fruit preserves, no less than
25 were pronounced dangerous. Of 90 sam
Piles of water, 62 were condemned as danger
Gus.
A PIGMY RACE.-Dr. Emin Bey has made
some measurements of the Akkas, the small
people discovered In Africa and first de-
scribed by Schweinfurth, and finds that when
full-grown their heights range from four to
four and half feet, The skin of the Ak
kas varies in color from clear yellow to a
glistenlng red, and their bodies are entirely
covered with a thick, stiff and filthy growth
of hair. They live in numerous distinct
tribes, have nc fixed abodes, and are hunt
ing people, skilled in the use of the bow and
arrow.
A LAND OF ICE.-Baron Nordenskjold
convinced himself last summer that he was
wrong in supposing that the interior Of
Greenland was low land free from snow and
ice during part of the year. The view that
the country is one of glaciers is confirmed
by Mr.. Edward Whymper, who has just
given some particulars of his own observa-
tons. He found the height of the interior
in the latitude of Umenak (about 20 degrees
80 minutes NJ to considerably exceed TO-,
900 feet. From various mountains on the
eastern side of Davis Straits he has had views
of the whole of Greenland's interior between
about 6S degrees 80 minutes and 20 degrees
Is minutes, and has seen no break or de-
preston within those limits Of latitude, while
the country is everywhere so deep in snow
and ice that no rock or crag is visible.
ELEVATION OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTs.-Dr.
Sophus Tromholt thinks that the long-meoted
which the aurora borealis appears will soon
cease to be one of the unsolved problems Of
nature. It is evident that aurore, like
ClOuQS, uOdG iuTOuSu Ccltdlu liilChACoo VI
the atmosphere, and only approximate esti-
mates can be made of their usual altitude.
DR.. Tromholt has calculated the heights of
the lower edges of eighteen aurora from
measurements of their position made stimuli
taneously at two stations of Northern Europe
about sc miles apart. His results range
from AZ to little over 100 miles, the average
being 70 miles. He admits the possibility
that auror4 may sometimes very closely ap-
proach the earth's surface, but states that he
has never seen any portion of one below the
clouds, although he has long watched for
such an appearance.
| GEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN THE Holy
LAND.-A geological exploration of the Holy
Land has just been completed by an English
party under Prot. Hull. The ancient mar
gins of the Gulf of Suez and Akaba were
traced to height of 200 feet above their
level, showing that much of the cuntry was
submerged and has been gradually
rising This rise of land must have caused
the separation of the Red Sea from the Med
iterranean, and Prof. Hull believes that those
| two bodies of water were connected at the
| time of the Exodus. He thinks he has also
discovered that the Dead Sea, whose remark
able depression gives especial interest to the
geology of Palestine, formerly stood at ar
! elevation of 400 feet above its present level
or at $50 feet above the level of the Mediter
ranean. The survey is said to have furnish
ed materials for the construction of much
more satisfactory geological map of the Hol,
| Land than has hitherto been possible.