Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-10-14

er to draw any object on its surface and
some grew pale, and shuddered, as they
thought of the seven stone Kathrines at
their stone spinning wheels.
But the Widow Doren never said what
she thought; she only caused mason to
bring great hag-stone to the well, cover
it, cement it, and seal it up forever.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Compiled for the SPECTATOR.
WHAT THE STAR TELLS Proctor con-
siders it mistake to regard the new star
in the Andromeda nebula as supporting
the nebular hypothesis of Laplace, as that
celebrated guess at world origins calls only
for changes in nebulous matter so slow as
to be imperceptible. The real truth taught
by the sudden bursting forth of this star is
that the Andromeda nebula is not, as many
astronomers suppose, a vast galaxy Of bril-
liant suns SO distant as rot to be resolvable
by the most powerful telescopes, but that
Fit is simply a star-cloud forming a part OF
our own galaxy or universe. And what is
true of the Andromeda nebula is probably
so of others, SO that it may be concluded
that none of the nebulse or star-clouds are
external to our own galaxy, and that the
other galaxies of which so much has been
written do not exist.
Use OF SOLAR POwER.-In new French
apparatus the heat of the sun falling upon
metallic plates tightly covering thin lay yer
Of volatile liquid, like ammonia, is COM
bined with the natural GOODNESS of water to
generate power for pumping. With plates
having surface of forty square yards such
an apparatus would hourly raise 792 gallons
of water 65 feet in warm climates, and at
Auteuil IA ses over 300 gallons per hour.
Arsenic having been found to act as a
preventive of malarial fever, MIR. W. Mattieu
Williams has suggested that the generally
condemned arsenical wallpapers may be
useful as protection against the dangers
Of regions subject to malaria.
A beouest of SO, 900 has been left to the
Paris Geographical Society for the purpose
of providing an annual prize for the best
geographical work-either map or book
published dnring the year.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. OF LIGHTNING
The curious question has been asked, Why
oaks and elms are especially liable to be
struck by lightning 1t was declared in 1887
that the elm, chestnut, oak and pine were
the trees most often struck in America; and
in 1860 Mr.. G. J. Symons stated that the
elm, oak ash and poplar were the most
frequently struck in England. A Madge-
burg record covering ten years reports in
juries to 265 trees, 165 being oaks, "a Scotch
frs, % pines, and 90 beeches. 1t has been
suggested that the frequency with which
oaks are struck is due to the presence of
iron in the wood.
SUICIDE IN NATURE.-Man is not the
only animal that suicides. Herrings and
ether fishes bave sought death by rushing
ashore in myriads; regiments of ants, by
deliberately marching into streams; swarms
of rats, by migrating in the face of their
deadly foes; and even butterflies, by flying
in immense clouds straight out to sea. 1t
would be interesting to learn the causes of
such cases of api iarent wholesale and delib-
crate self-destruction. Is the act purely
conscious one; or are the creatures victims
of disease, mental or physical?
Using THE EARTH's. HEAT.-There is
abundant reason for believing that the
earth's crust is very thin. asserts Mr.. j.
Starkie Gardner, and it seems not impos-
sibe that some means may be devised for
utilizing the intense heat of the molten mass
below. This is already being done, in fact,
to some extent, an artesian well having
been bored at Pr sth to obtain warm water
for public baths, etc. From a depth of
about 5000 feet large quantity of water
heated to 161 degrees Fahrenheit pours
forth, and tho boring is to be continued
until water at 17S degrees is yielded.
4 singular case in charge of Dr. Strumpell
of Leipzig, few years ago. was that of d
young man in whom brain-disease had de-
stroyed all sensibility to touch, and also the
functions of one eye and one ear. The youth
was wide awake, conscious apd intelligent
when the remaining eye and ear were open,
but at once became unconscious when they
were carefully closed.
MOLECULAR MINUTENEss The Odorifer-
Gus. particles which affect the organs of
smell must be inconceivably small. Es-
pecialy is this true of musk, which con-
stantly emits a powerful odor for many
years, and is aid to show no apparent loss
of weight Papers perfumed with a single
grain of ambergris were kept by Haller
for forty years, when the odor was as
strong as ever. The molecule of camphor
sensible to the smell has been estimated by
Bordenave to weigh one 2. 262 584 000th of
grain. Keill has concluded that a drachm
of assafoetida exposed to the open air loses
one 60, 120th of grain in weight each
minute, or one 28S0th of its entire weight
in day.
The CAMPHoR SUPPLY.-While only 225
miles long and So wide, the island of For
mosa, just conquered by the French is very
valuable for its richness in animal and
vegetable life. One of its products is cam
phor, of which it is the world chief source
of supply, although the tree (Lauus CAM
phoro) also grows in Borneo, Sumatra,
Japan and China The camphor is distilled
from the finely cut wood in gently heated
crucibles, the vapors being condensed upon
network of rice stems.
HYDRoPHoBIA MUST Go.-Pasteur has
long been experimenting with incubation
as means of preventing hydrophobia, and
is now putting the final touches to method
which lie is confident will assure to animals
including man-exemption from the ter
rible disease. He intends to put his sys-
tenn in practice at once. and has already a
added to his many trials one upon human
subject little boy who had received sew
eral bites from mad-dOg.
Carefully collected statistics show that
since 1859 the disasters from lightning in
the kingdom of Saxony have been becom-
ing more numerous each year, from which
it is inferred that some cause has increased
the number or severity of thunder-storms
in that part of Europe.
DoN'T SwAP-There has been nothing
more plainly developed in the present can
vass than the fact that William Malone,
the embodiment of the unprincipled Ma
hone ring, does not care whether John
Wise goes up the spout or not, so he Sc
cures the Legislature and thereby retains
the seat which he has so long disgraced in
the United States Senate. Whatever
other failings he may have, and he is
known to have good many, he is entitled
to credit as great political schemer, and
Just now his Boss scheme is the reelection