Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-05-25
POPULAR SCIENCE.

The current of Lake Erie has an es
feet upon the ad iacent shores sufficient
"a make the spring season from two t.
fonr weeks earlier in and around Toledo
than at Buffalo.
Disease germs are probably much
less effected by extreme cold than might
BE expected. Experiments have beer
reported 70 tho Glasgow Philosophical
society in which temperature of 12C
degrees below zero was insufficient to
stop processes Of putrefaction.
One of DR.. Livingstone's early achieve.
ments was the discovery of Lake Mig.
ami. in South Africa, which was then
favorite resort of elephants and Other
large animals. A frequent explorer OF
the same region reports the lake dried
up, leaving an arid spot devoid OF both
game and vegetation.
Il has been observed by Pro fessol
Holdefleiss that the beet seed sown in q
not in which the soil was exposed to the
electric light terminated two days ear.
lier than similar seeds without the nc.
ton of the electric light. Another in,
teresting observation is that of Herr
Scholler, who has noticed an exceptional
luxuriance of beets in small plot which
had been struck by lightning.
Several cases of natives of India, hav-
ing a white skin, have been reported.
Mr.. A. 4. Fraser mentions the finding Of
family in which several white persons,
resembling Europeans. had appeared, the
parents having the ordinary blackness OF
the natives. The whiteness was not q
result of leprosy. Tho skin OF the al
binos is much more sensitive to the suns
RAYS than that of other natives or even
of Europeans. The contrast between
white and dark relatives having a strik'
ing resemblance of feature as said to be
most remarkable.
A German engineer is reported to have
made an important discovery in aeronau
tics, by which he is enabled to condense
or expand the gas in balloon. The
agent he employs is compressed carbonic
acid, with the help Of which, he says,
he is able to ascend or descend at pleas
ure. This vertical movement would put
it in the power of acronauts to 90 up or
down until he finds q current of air
moving in the horizontal direction he
wishes. Should oil this prove true, says
Iron, the discovery would be an i'm
portant one for military operations, be-
cause In timc of war balloon would be
able to reach the cnemy's territory and
ascend or descend without requiring .
fresh supply Of gas.
The gigantic animals which existed IN
the western part of the United States
during the tertiary age, and which con
stitute an order known to science as the
Dinoccrata, form the subject of an elabo
rate treatise by Professor o. G. Marsh. OF
Yalc college. A basin in Wyoming Ter
ritory, drained by Green river, is the
only locality in the world where RENAME
of these creatures have been found. This
basin, now fIom 5000 to 5000 feet
above sea level. is the site of an ancient
lake. on whose borders the great beasts,
nearly cquRling elephants in size, roamed
In great numbers, and in which many OF
them were entombed In the same re.
gion ancestral forms of the tapir, the
horse and the pig Aourished at tho same
geological period and the lake swarmed
with crocodiles, tortoises, snakes and
fishes, while its shores were fringed
with palms aiSd other plants which are
now characteristic of the tlcIacs. Pc.
fessoT Marsh believes til. age 81 great
mammals to be pass. and tina; thc Gle.
plants must tSon disappear fIosl to
earth