The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-10-18
-slfsxzd fbv 7zs Arkass<B zressker.
 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

paooeco unftnS aScenofng whlFiw1nds.
 Messrs- Clouet and Ritsers find that
 grape-sugar is rarely free from arsenic,
 introduced in the process ofmakine.
 The curious fact is mentioned by Mr.
 L. Stejneger that the psarmigan, as well
 as some other birds, regularly sheds its
 claws evty summer.
 An imperial decree Sorbids the circu-
 lating libraries to issue the works of Dar-
 win, Agassiz, Huxley, Lubhoch, Adam
 Smith, Lewes and Spencer to Russian
 readers.
 Experiments in England have shown that gas and oil are about equally gooe fer lighthouses, and that the electric light IS superior 10 either in fne weather but probably not SO good in fogs.
 After investigations concerning the reia- tive value os da:serent kinds of animal food. Prof. w. O. Atvater has concluded thai hsh is as nutrifive as the flesh of land animals, but that oysters rank below Ash in nutritive qualities.
 The combined attraction of the sun and moon so modifies the intensity of gravitation on the earth, Mons. Poincare finds, that the clock is retarded half second yearly at the equator and advanced a second at the poles.
 The view IS held by Prof Boyd Dax- kins, the eminent English anthopologist, that the Eskimos of American Arctic re- gions are the survivors of the prehistoric race, known in Europe as the cave-dwel- lers." The evidence brought forward to prove the correctness of this assumption IS, however, not generally accepted as conclusive.
 After much experimenting, Dr. Richard son has found satisfactory means of causing painless death, and has intro- duced it into the Home for Lost Does, in London. The animals to be killed are placed in a chamber charged with mixture of carbonic oxide and chloroform vaPor, when they nanquilly fall asleep and wake no more.
 Sir Joseph Fayrer considers it moss remarkable that x poisonous snake can- not poison one of its species, and only slightly any venomous snake, although it quickly kills harmless snakes. 4 vigor- ous cobra can kill several dogs or from a dozen to twenty fowls before it's bite be- comes impotent and then the rapid re- secretion of virus soon makes it as dam gerous as ever.
 The Brain's Minor Gateways.-How much of the pleasure of living comes from the exercise of the little considered sense of taste or that of smell it is hard to estimate. Harriet Martineau, the Eng lish authoress, seems to have been 6ne of the few persons having no sense of taste, as recent writer asserts that she was en- drely destitute of it. Sue reported that the faculty came to her once, when the of leg of mutton aroused an eager anticipation of the enjoyment of her next dinner; but nothing came of it, Tor her tasting power was withdrawn as as it had been given. The sense of smell vas also denied her, as it vas Wordsworth. In his case the lack ing sense also appeared on a single oc- -asion, when he smelled bean-6eh and thought it heaven"
 Musical Sands-According to late papers by Profs. Julien and Bolton, sono- Fous beachsands are far from being the rarities they were considered some years lgo, as they are already found in seventy |our American and thirteen foreign To- ,alities, and the number is constantly iu- reasing. When suddenly compressed the hands, musical notes arc :misted by these sands, the pitch rising ls the quantity is diminished. The loud st sound may be made by suddenly bringing together two divided portions of and enclosed in bag. Prof. Julien con- 'iders that the conditions of sonorousness lre perfect drynesss uniformity of grain anging from about one-tenth to one fifth of an inch in diameter, and freedom rom dust. He thinks that any saad sat- sfying these conditions may be musical When vet, sonorous sands generally be 'ome quicksands.
 When Children Grow Heavy.-Afser :arefui investigation of the normal 'eights of r3o children between the ages # nine and sixteen, Professor Mailing Hansen, of Copeohagen, states that a hiid may weigh from one to two pounds nore at night than in the morning, and nay be over pound and half lighter D the morning than in the evening he-