The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-09-13
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 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

SADN aAFIC MISCELLANY.
 The last annual report gave the mem bcEship of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as ..ori.
 Oil is now extracted from the seeds
 grapes in Italy. Young grapes yield most, and black kinds more than white.
 Mons. Balland has iound that the average moisture of the Hours of com merce is fourteen p.r cent ltvaries with the hygrometric state of the air, and is generally from one to t~o per cent. greater in winter than in summer.
 Speaking lately in favor of cremation m infectious cases, Sir Spencer Wells mentioned that an epidemic of scarlet fever had been caused in country town by the opening of graves of persons who had died with the disease thirty years previously, the germs of infection having retained their vitality for nes-iy a third of century.
 Natures oxidizers-peroxide of hy- dTogen and ozone-are suggested as possible bleaching agents of the future. Peroxide of hydrogen differs from water in composition only in having twice as much oxygen, with half of which it parts readily and becomes water. Ozone, the natural purifier of the air, is probably the most powerful oxidizing agent known, and has remarkable bleaching power. The expense of obtaining these sub stances nov prevents their extensive use for bleaching purposes.
 A Harmless Antiseptic.-Researches in France by Dr. Schultz have shown that oitric acid possesses powerful ansiseptic properties, which may give 1t an impor- tan. place as a Pod-presering substance, since it is believed to be free from the objection of unwholesomeness urged against other ansiseptic acids. Meat fragments placed in five per cent solu- ton of the acid were in state of perfect preservation at the esi of fifteen days. Experimenting upon organized germs, Dr. Schult found that one drop of a solu- ton of one part acid to 1000 of water placed in liquid containing bacteria and other forms Of microscopic life, in- ssantly caused their death.
 From Frying Pan to Fire.-The mon- goose, which was some years ago brought from India to stop the ravages of the sugar-cane rot in Jamaica, has increased in that island to such an extent, and has become so destructive to poultry and even to fruit and vegetables, that it seems liable soon to become a veritable pest. Since being introduced from Europe, the dog has become very numerous in a wild state in Australia, but, instead of con- fning itself to subduing the Australian plague of rabbits, it now causes q great slaughter of sheep. The weasel and the stoat which New Zealand people have imported from England to keep down the rabbits have multiplied so rapidly that the remedy is expected to become worse than the original afliction in a very short time.
 The Green Sun.-Prof. C. Micnie Smith remarks that a green color of the sun, although uncommon, is of much less rare occurrence than is generally supposed, as he has several times ob- served it since it attracted % much at- lention in India in September, 1883. He is disposed to ascribe the phenomeron lo an abuosmally thick stratum of trans- parent watez-vapor, and not to volcanic dust. lts rarity may be due, he suggests, 10 the fact that the water-vapor, when present in sufficient quantity to produce he appearance, is usually partly pre- ipitated, forming clouds. An unusual electrical state may possibly at times give the air great elearness when highly charged with vapor. Prof. Smith point. put that the air might hold enough vol ,anic dust to produce the sunset elows Ahich followed the green sun of India. md still hsve its transparency unaffected md cause no change in the suns ap- 'ea1anee.
 /Small-Pox in the Air.-Recent discus ions by English authorities show that ioctors are far from agreement concezn- ng the distance to which smallpox germs may be coaveyeo by the air. Dr. 8ingham has supposed that infection :ould not be given at . greater dissanee han tvo or three teet h outdoor air :; os. Hill has placed the limit as five or six eet; Ds. Tafham. assix to eigAt fees; and or. Crieve, as eight to ten fee4. Others lave given 6hsea. thiny, fifty, seventy, oo, Iso. 300 and goo fess as the proba-