Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1884-06-25
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

that Soa-mllQ Is II mNcn better 1prtl-
liZer for rye and oats than farm-yard
manure.
Dr., Stevenson has found that, con-
traYy to u general belief, considerable
quantities of zine may be dissolved by
water kept long in contact with it.
A German chemist has obtained Il
new link between the vegetable and
animal Kingdoms in the shape of an
animal gum closely resembling the
plant gums in its physical and chcmi
cal properties.
The French Minister of education
and Fine Arts has proposed placing a
large government domain, located at
-Etang, at the disposal of
Mons. Pasteur, for the prosecution of
his scientific Investigations
Specimens of vegetable carbon
which have been made conductive
and incombustible by being strongly
heated in III atmosphere free from
oxygen, have been exhibited to the
Electro Chemical Society of Berlin.
This artificial graphite does not as
sumo the crystalline structure of the
native mineral,
\ plant called kaDpe, idigenous to
Java, WAS exhibited Il short time ago
at Amsterdam. When its fibre is care
fully prepared it resembles wool, and
when curled it forms an in ineXpen-
sive Stutling for mattresses. 1t may
also be spun and dyed, and with inn
proved methods of treatment may
prove valuable as Il textile material.
a sum equal to about $4,000 is to
be distributed by the French Associa'
ton for the advancement of Science
at its meeting in September at BoloiS.
That amount is the first five years ac-
emulation of a legacy left to the So
ciety, in 1873 by Mons. Girad to en-
able it to give prizes to encourage
geological reserch relating to the an
tiquity of man.
The researches of Dr. +. w. East,
and English physician, have shown
that infection may be conveyed in a
moist and quiet atmosphere from
smallpox hospitals to houses in the
vicinity. Other observers are inclined
to believe that other diseases which
are known to be spread by the air
owe their transmission solely to the
influence of moisture.
Mons, E. f. Blavier. the eminent
French electrician. associates earth
currents-which at times 50 power
fully affect Geographic operations and
the mariners cOmpass-with trade
winds, and thereby indirectly with
the sun. He favors De la = Rivers
| theory that the aurora borealis is due
| to the circulation of electric currents
in the higher regions of the atmos
phere.
The island of Cos, in the Mediter.
ranean, contains a giagantic plane
tree, in whose shade Hippocrates, the
Father of medicine, is said by tradi
ton to have been consulted by his
patients. The branches over-sprcat
nearly the whole of the market-plact
of the tOWu of Cos, and are supported
by the marble pillars. Photograph!
of this ancient tree were recently eX
hibited to the Berlin Medical Society
| by Prof. Virchow.
Although the present theoratica
limit of visibility with microscopes i!
fixed at 14G, 528 lines to the inch. MI
f. BauSch remarks that there is III
reason why we should not attempt tt
pass this point. The limit which
was accepted some years ago as TIN
true one WAS considerably lower, an(
| CT fn
that test object having 100000 line
to the inch could be resolved, while i
is now the work of beginners to do so
DR.. John Race, f. r. s., has noticed
that mild winter in England is usu
ally associated with much ice in TIL
temperate regions of the Atlantic
Some force seems to send unuSul
quantities of water from the north
detecting the Gulf stream southwark
and causing it's warming influence t
be felt along an increased extent o
the European coast. While western
Europe is thus made milder, the ic
in the western Atlantic must give t
much of Canada and the United State
an exceptionally cold.
The remarkable fact has just bee
demonstrated that railways may b
the means of enriching the flora G
places through which they pass. rh
extension, in 1878. of an impOrtaI
road into the providence of Helsin&
land, Sweden, has been followed b
the immigration along the line of II
less than seven pieces of plants whic
were before unknown in district
where they now appear. One specie
seems to have been spread twent
miles along the railways course i
1882, and about one degree during tn
last four years.
Dr.. Sophus Thromholt reports tina
electrical forces which produce tn
aurora borealis have very little Ell
ergy in Iceland, according to his oil
servation last winter at Reykjavil
For this reason, probably, he failed i
an attempt to obtain an artificial al
rora with the apparatus which PROF
LemstrOng attained that result. Du
ing the winter DR.. TromhOlt ha
several opportunities of viewing tn
full moon through the aurora boreali
| DliO UllV Ohly OllCCU oDoSl NStt WOO Vllo
the light of the aurora completed,
disappeared within a radius of fiv
or ten degrees around the lunar dist
In a paper lately read before tn
Philadelphia Academy of Nature
Sciences, MI. Joseph Wilcox state
that shell-mounds are very numerou
on the west coast of Florida, markin
the former favorite camping ground
of Indians. "A portion of the town o
Ceder Keys, where the largest acct
mutation is found, is built on q grea
mass of oyster-shells. Human bone:
stone implements may be seen O
Johns Island, at the mouth of til
Cheesowiska River. Several bushe]
of chips are here scattered about, a
made of ebert rock, the only materis
in Florida suitable for the purpose
of the Indians.
One objection to the volcanic dus
theory of the cred sunsets has bee
that tb. Iuct rn,III not bovn ,.o,ol, N