The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-11-29
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 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

There are said to exist few supporters of the view that cholera is merely an aRRra- vated form of ague.
 Some French scientists now regard the zoadical light as simply a reflection of light from the illuminated part of the earth upon an open stratum of the atmosphere.
 In Paris, am electric lamp sed with a portable aecumdlaror has been selected and rendered obligatory for use in seeking leaks in gas pipes. IL is probable that many dis assrous explosions will be thus avoided.
 A fine lioness in the Dublin Geological Gardens has shown a curious appetite by commencing to devour herself. She ate twelve inches of her tail at one repast and hasss:nce nearly finished that append~ age, and has partially devoured one of her fore paws.
 A possible source of danger to ma- liners is suggested by report that during thSnight of august a3rd, Is84 the lantern of Cuban lighthouse was surrounded by such cloud of red insects that the light, as seen from distance, was changed to a de- cidedly red color.
 An English electrical journal has dis covered the folio sing popular fallaciss coa- corning lightning, vix.: That chewing the spiinters from a tree struck by lightning will cure the toothache; that such splinters will not burn; that the bodies of those killed by lightning shock do not become corrupt, and that no one is killed by lightning while asleep. The migration of birds in North American is to be studied systematicall, by nearly one thousand persons, who have en- gagged to act as observers, according to a plan proposed by the Ornithoiogists' Union. About three hundred of these persons are the keepers of Lighthouses and light ships in the United States and Canada, and the other British possessions on this continent Steamboats as Water Punherx-R Re- cent researches have shown that rapid mo- ton has remarkable effect in destroying the organic impurities in water. This leads Mir. Mattieu Williams to remark that the steam boats on the Thames, of which complaints have been made because they disturb the bottom, are really very valuable agents from sanitary point of view, for the violent asi,a- tion. they produce must greatly lessen the rivers foulness. The steam tugs which agi- tate otherwise stagnant canals mns, also be regarded as great benefactsrs.
 An Improved Magnet.-A new electro magnet, claimed to be considerably more powerful than the ordinary form, has been produced by Mons. A. Ricco, of Palermo, Sicily. long strip of sheet-iron is rolled around nut of soft iron, oiled paper being placed between the different layers of the strip to isolate them. One pole of the battery is connected with the nut to which the inner end of the iron strip is soldered. while the other is connected with the outer end. The passage of the current through the strip magnetires not only the nut but also each layer of the iron coil, which plays the double role of conductor and magnetic substance.
 A Moon-Saving Worm.-A remarka- ble worm known to the natives of the Fiji islands by the name of "Mbalolo" and to naturalists as salolo virides-s found in cer- tain of the coral Archipelagos of the Pacific. The worms appear periodically in great numbers, and are highly esteemed by the FDians as an article of food. The worms only make their appearance to spawn, and the time is reported to be the day of the lasa quartering of the moon in October, unless that falls at the beginning of the month, in which case there will intervene another lunar month. There is, however, a second appear ance of salolo each year, occurring a month aftef the first, and probably comprising such worms as were not sufficiently mature to spawn in October.
 Frost Action on Plants-A German investigator, H. R. Goppert, has made some experiments to determine whether, as had been previously stated. plants, bulbs and roots are killed by sudden thawing, and not by the preceding freezing. He submitted potatoes and the bulbs of hyacinths. narcis- sus, etc, to temperature of about three de- grees below freezing, and then suddenly to fifteen degrees below freezing This killed all the bulbs, whether they were afterwsrd thawed either slowly or rapidly, but none of the bulbs were damaged by exposure simply to three degrees below freezing, the potatoes only being frozen. Certain flowers which were tried were killed directly when frozen. and coald not be revived by gradual thawine- The buds of some woody plants bore a tenn perature of zero, or few degrees below, and subsequent thawing at 77 degrees without injury.
 The Infinitely Etle-TAe mind en- counters the infinite in the eontemplatioa of | minute, as well &s in the study of xass na tuv.x phenomena q The mos, universally a,ekus~A organism in nature," says Rev. W. H. Daiiinger, president of the London Kcvai Microscopieal society, the least in size with which we are definitely acquainted, is 90 small that ifty millions of them could lie ,n- gesher m the one-hundreth of an inch souars ie' tnese definite living things have the power si ioeomoton, of ingestion. of assi- niiaiion, of excretion, and of enormoua muIfinlieafi0H md skm