Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1884-08-06
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Prof. A. II. Sayce has deciphered
an Assyrlan record of II transit of
Venus in the sixteenth century be-
fore the Christian ere.
A recent estimate, made by means
of u very intricate testing apparatus,
places the rate ut which an electric
dot travels over telegraph wire at
10000 miles per second
The use of arsenical wall papers in
all places where malaria abOmds is
advocated by Nh, w. Mattieu Will
ans. He considers slight doses of
arsenic al antidotG to malarial poison
ing.
Among some curious results Of a
spectroscopic study of gases, the As
Royal for Scotland mentions
the fact that the spectrum Of nitrogen
| indicates it to be II compound, while
oxygen and hydrogen act like simple
substances.
After Il careful and laborouS inVes-
tigation, Dr.. Edgar Holden concludes
that death from consumption, instead
of being, as is almost universally sup
posed, most prevalent in early adult
life in this cOuntry,is in reality not So
but grows relatively more frequent as
life advances.
From careful study of series of
drawings Of Venus, Mons. p. LHmny
infers that Il perfectly cir
cular pro II b ranc c in the
southern hemisphere, presum-
ably volcano, has an elevation of
probably not less than seventy miles.
He attempts to prove that The eXiS-
tence of so enormous u mountain on
Venus is not Incompatible with the
volcanic nature OF the planet.
Samples of green peas, from u lot
alleged to have caused sickness and
diarrhea. have been found by Dr.
John Muter to be affected by 4 fun
guoid growth on the inner surface Of
the outer coating of the seed. When
boiled with water the peas have Il
sickly. pale green color, with yellow
spots; but when the water contains q
little soda they show Gerp violet
brown markings, and emit Il fragrant
odor On keeping.
Mr.. Edwin II. Evans, of. iOmodang.
Java, reports what seems to him a re-
markable case of snake cannibaliSm.
On killing one of the most deadly Of
Javan reptiles, about a yard and a
half in length. he found it to contain
another snake of the same species,
which. although not more than three
inches shorter than the larger snake,
had been completely swallowed, only
a part of the tail about two inches
long protruding from the mouth of
the swalloWer.
On walking upon OF distributing the
sand of certain beaches q peculiar
sound is heard, which has beeh de-
scribed as somewhat resembling the
bark Of a 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 samples of the singing sands have
now been collected in no less than
twenty-six localities in the United
States.
Physicists agree in declaring that
the presence of solid particles in the
air facilitates the condensation OF
vapor, and an unusual quality Of at
mospheric dust might be expected tC
cause an extraordinary fall Of rain
In q paper read before the Paris
Academy of Sciences, Mons. Gay
stated that the rain fall of the early
part of the present was very heavy
and he was inclined to attribute the
circumstance to the same dust-eVi
IDENTIFY of volcanic origir-which is
believed to have given rise to the
brilliant sunrises and sunsets of last
autumn and winter. 1t has beel
shown that several other volcanic
eruptions besides those in 1883 have
followed by red CLOVIS III the sky, an(
Mons. Gay thought that it might also
be proven that they have been follow
ed by abundant rains.
A Dutch scientist, DR.. Beijerinch
has found that the gum which col
lects on the branches Of certain trees
especially the cherry, peach, plum an(
others bearing stone fruits-is due tC
disease Of the tree. The disease is
produced by highly organized fun
gus, whose action causes the fOrma
ton of the gum, and it is quickly re
produced in sound trees when the!
are inoculated with pieces of the gun
containing any Of the fungus. This
, knowledge of the nature Of gun
, may enable fruit-growers to protec
their trees from troublesome con
UageOus disease, while it also Indicate:
that the product of valuable gums
like arabic and tragancanth, whicl
are produced i'll the same manner
may be largely increased by a simple
system of cultivation by inoculation
TO accomplish fight, according t.
Mr., Richard A. Proctor, advantage
must be taken of motion athWart TIN
air this motion being in the first place
communicated while the aeronaut O.
flying machine is on the ground
Given an adequate velocity, with
sufficient extent of supporting surface
.. anybody however heavy, may b'
made to rise from the gound; ant
there can be no question that me
chanicians can produce a suflicien
velocity to raise either q man or ;
! flying machine, provided with NJ
greater supporting surface than woulo
be manageable in either case. Th
, real difficulties to overcome are t.
maintain in the ali the velocity o
motion attained upon the ground, t.
l increase the elevation, to guide tn
5 aeronaut's flight, and to preserve TIL
balance of the aeronautor flying: ma
chine. MI. Proctor believes tina
these difficulties will be conquered
The mastery of the problem of tigh
= he regards as q solution of the problem
!, of travelling more swiftly than is nov
j possible, Iron and steam have Ell
. abled man to surpass the speed of tn
swiftest of four-footed creatures, an
he has full confidence that the sam