Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-12-09
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
GCompiled for the SPECTATOR. I

ALAALOIDS IN FLOUR.-Iho lnVestlga-
tions of Mons. Ballaud indicate that flour
becomes unwholesome after long keeping
in sacks, alkaloids being formed in conss-
quence of the acidity of the old -four during
the transformation of gluten under the in
fiuence of the natural ferment of wheat
Traces of the alkaloids are found in -four
year or year and a half old, but are more
marked in that which has been ground two
or three years.
HEIGHTS OF CLoUDs.-Measureme of
the heights of clouds have been made at the
Upsala Observatory during the past sum-
mer. The results are approximately as fol-
lows: Stratus, 000 feet; nimbus, or rain
cloud, fl ON 5000 to 1900 feet; cumulus,
from $500 to.18, 600 feet, cirrus, %, 400 feets
Cloud measurement ts are always somewhat
difficult and uncertain, but these figures are
considered fairly exact.
A strong decoction Of the roots and leaf
butts of the New Zealand fax (Phormium
tener) has been used by Surgeon Major
Monckton as a dressing for wounds, and he
asserts that nothing is equal to it for pro-
dncing healthy healing. In the climate
of India the decoction quickly ferments, but
is preserved for use by the addition of lit
tie carbolic acid and glycerine.
The union of the rivers Volga and Don
was thought of by Peter the Great, and it
is now proposed to construct the canal
The rivers are fifty miles apart, and the dis
tance is gradually lessening through the
washing away of the western bank of the
Volga.
A new alkaIoid has been found in picked
cabbage by Mons. Tuyagopu, who asserts
that the substance allays delirium tremens.
In Turkey the notion prevails that leprosy
may result from a stroke of lightning.
NATURES AGRIcULTURIsTs.- Hen
~ Drummond remarks that there can be
no succession of crops without the most
thorough agriculture, and that whore man
is not doing this work nature employs other
agents. Darwin has shown how the soil of
England is titled by earthworms to the ex-
tent of having ten tons of dry earth per acre
annually transferred from below to the sur
face, by passing through their bodies and
being deposited as their casts. But in the
hard baked soil Of tropical countries the
worms are unable to operate, and other
agencies are demanded, an effective one be-
ing, Prof Drummond finds, the termite, or
"white ant.D This creature lives upon dead
vegetable matter, and its tunnelings, like
the action of the earthworms, constantly
bring fresh layers of soil to the surface
Unlike the earthworms. however, it is very
destructive to mans works, and in spite of
its suDsoil blowing is rather dreaded foe
than valued friend.
Signor Bartoli has calculated that if all
the known elements were present in a body,
in a solid state and in the ratio Of their
atomic weights, the mean density or specific
gravity, would be 5. 776. 1t is interesting
to note that this closely agrees with Caven-
dish's calculation of the mean density Of the
earth-viz: 5. 81.
Old philosophical treatises gave porosity
as one of the general properties of matter,
and the experiment of forcing water through
gold has been often repeated since 1661.-|
The pores have been proven, however, to
be defects of casting. Hammering destroys
the porosity of the gold, and glass has been
recently shown to be impermeable to gases
under pressure of 1876 atmospheres.
A commission of the Spanish Govern
ment considers DR.. Ferran's system of in
oculation for cholera to be not only useless
but positively dangerous.
UNDEvELoPED SIGHT, notwithstanding
the color beauty of the textile fabrics, dyes
and pottery made in India, Mr.. Allan Gun
ningham, resident of that country for
twenty three years, asserts that there are
very few persons among India's 250, 900, 900
inhabitants who possess welldeveloped
sense of color. The eyesight of the uned-
ucated people is, in fact, poor in every way,
and they find it difficult to thread needle,
or even to distinguish between tho top and
bottom of a picture. The inability to make
out the objects in a picture is the most sur
prising defect, certain ''picture educa
tion" seeming to be necessary to develop
'picture- sense"
OUR AUTUMNAL neutrality-suspicious.
pride finds many unequalled beauties in
America, but it is little curious that its
forests should display much more vivid col
ors in their autumn foliage than the same
trees exhibit in European countries having
a similar climate. Yet reliable observation
assures us that such is the case. One of
Bierstadt's gorgeous views of Rocky Noun
tain scenery is said to have been actually re-
iected by the Paris Salon on the ground
that such tints were impossible in nature,
the picture being accepted only when the
American consul certified to the correctness
of the coloring.
Mr.. Thomas Meehan has found reasons
for believing that when raw and in the
spring the common garden parsnip is acrid
and in some cases poisonous. Cooking, of
course, renders it harmless.
Free oxygen has been found by Mr.. w.
Dittmar in specimens Of water from all parts
of the ocean, and he is thus led to conclude
that absolute stagnatiOn does not exist in
any part of the sea, not even at the greatest
depths.