The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-02-07
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 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

SCIENTIFIC MasCHLLANY,
 German research has shown that the
 meilowness of old wine is due to an increase in its proportion of Glyeerine.
 De Candolle, the French hosanisk sup- poses thas agriculture had its origin in three widely separated regions, namely, China. sOu'hwessern Asia and Egypt, and the high lands of Mexico and Peru. }a1 @a
 Alter ten years ot experiment.. the superintendent of the porcelain factory a, Sevres, Mons. Lauth, thinks he has psoduced porcelain identicsl with that Of China. and far superior to the famous old Sevres.
 The value of sulphate of iron as a plant food has been tested by an Enelish chemist, Mr. A. B. Grifiths. The use of fifty pounds per acre increased the yield Of beans from as bushels to A, efturnips from B tons to 16 1-4, but produced little effect on cereals.
 The plan of electrically transmitting power has been in practical operation for more than eight months at Bienne, Svitzer- land. turbine and dynamo convert the power of a lmountaip torrent into electricity. which passes over wires some 800 feet to A receiving dynamo furnishing two shops with their required six to eighteen horse power.
 An astronomical observation of an earthquake was lately made by the director of the observatory at Nice, France. He was watching one of Sa;uEns moons at the mo- ment of the shock, and the motion impar,ed Nr,h tA1a to appear to move some fifteen or twenty seconds to the right.
 A European observer, Dr. Orchorowicz, believes that he has found evidence of the existence of magnetic sense.n |. is stated that by hanging a magnetic tube called hypnoscope-from the index finger he realizes peculiar sensations, somewhat resembling the eff. cts produced by the ac- tion of the air in front of an electrical ma chine.
 The Earth's lnterior.-Dr. M. E. Wadswortn finds that the assumption that the earth has a heterogeneous viscid, elas- tic, liquid interior, irregularly interlocked with and gradually passing into lighter heterogeneous erust," accords better with geological facts than any other of the vari- ous hypotheses thus far advanced. Con- fractions and upheavals of the crust, re- sembling in their fleets wha, Is sometimes seen in ice, would satisfactorily explain volcanic and earthquake phenomena.
 Why Boilers Explode.-Many rather boiler explosions having been at uibuted to the sudden and explosively vio- lent AashA into steam of superheated water, the French Academy of Sciences ap- pointed committee, a year or more ago, to investigate the subject That committee has since made many careful experiments. using pure and impure water, water which had been long stagnant, and water from which the air had been oriven by long boiling, and steam by rapid and by slow firing. As a result the conclusion has been reached that any boiler explosion has occurred through spperheating it must have been through the concurrence of exceptional cir which are neither detnsd known nor suspected. The experiuents have shown conclusively that, however un- accountable explosions sometimes appear. the real cause must be looked for in the simple loading of the boilers with steam pressures beyond their strength.
 The Tongues Functions.-"The tip of the tongue" remarks Grant Allen, lis mainly with pungent and acrid tastes the middle portion is sensitive chiefly to sweets and bitters while the back or lower portion confines itself almost entirely to the aavors of roast meats. butter, oils, and other or fatty substances. There are very good reasons for this subdivision of faculties in he tongue, the object being. as it were, to make each piece of feod undergo three sep arate examinations, which must be sue ,essively passed before it is admitted into un participation in the human economy. The first examination gets rid at once of substances which would be actively and im- nediately destru ctive to the very tissues of he mouth and body; the second discrimin- ltes between poisonous and chemically harmless food-stu:fs and the third merely decides the minor question whether the particular food is likely to prove then and here wholesome or indigestible to the pau icular person.'
 rndestructible Life.-A matter of sur. ,rise and wonder to those who witness it for he first time is the rousing to life of whole :olories of infusoria by the addition of Ia irop of water to a few grains of earth OF lust. These microscopic organisms abound verywhere in water containing decomposing egetable or animal matter, and some forms nay, in dried state, remain for months or ven years apparently dead, to be revived 'hen water is again supplied fo them. MT. abez Hogg has been experimenting during he past three years with one form of in- asorial life-the roiifers or wheel animal has even kept dried specimens or time at . temperature of 200 degrees 'ahrenheit, and afterward exposed them to atense cold, neither process killing them nor really diminishing their vital powers. Mir. ios suDposeS that ax fhe animal Hv;ss {,