The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-10-31
oampalsd for Tm AzxAzsAw TRAvxzza.
 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY

his fox terrier has the intellectual deve,on
 ment of a child two years old.
 Cases of lead-poisoning in Paris hav.
 been traced to bread and flour, miller h.v-
 ing filled up certain holes in his mill.s,or..
 with lead.
 A favorite prehistoric unit of measure.
 rent. sccordirgto Mir R.P. Gray, VIZ, el.v..
 inches. and may have been derived from ,b.
 length of the human foot.
 The best Altering agent, according to
 the recent experiments of pr. Percy Frank.
 land, is spongy iron. Powdered coke rank,
 next, and is very good; but animal charcoal
 soon becomes worse than useless, althopeh
 excellent at first.
 The water in the gulf of Bothnia is re,
 ported to be falling quite rapidly. One proof
 of this is the fact that large stone on inc
 Swedish coast now rises three above water q,
 mean tide while fifty years ago it was barely visible at lowesttide.
 The thirty-inch object glass of the new telescope at Pulkowa, the greatest refIactor in
 the world, has been carefully tested, and So excellent has been it's performances that the rarely bestowed tribute of the honorary po1d medal of the Russian empire has been con. ferred upon it's makers-the Messrs. Clark. os Cambridge, Mass.
 A fne skeleton of the sea-cow (Rhvtina gigas) has just been procured from Behrinp,s Island for the British museum. As recently as I74r this large but harmless animal, meas. uring some thirty-6ve feet in length and weighing from three to four tons, was quite abundant off the shores of Alaska and Ram. scha'ka, but has now become totally extinct.
 An accouDt of the Anemogene," an apparatus for initiating the great movements oi the earth's atmosphere, has been given 10 the trench academy of sciences. By means of this instrument, which takes the form of a miniature revolving globe, the trade winds ascending and descending currents, and other normal atmospheric phenomena, are repro- duced.
 The Sound of the Aurora.-In response to some thousands of circulars, Dr. Sophus lromholt has received the testimony of 144 persons in Norway concerning the emission ot sound by the northern light or these per. sons, o believe in the aurora sound. and z, assert that they have heard it themselves. The sound is varlously described as sizzling. hissing, whizzing, cracking, rushing, ripping, rolling, Tapping, creaking, roaring, etc.
 In recent exoeriments the average crushing force resisted by red bricks was 6s,o pounds per square inch. they were slightly cracked. Bricks supporting about one sev- enth of this load-or 63 tons per square foot have been accepted as safe for high towers if still uncracked. At the base of the tallest brick structure in existence-,he famous chimney of APO feet in height at St. Rollox, Giasgow-the pressure is calculated at 667o pounds per square foot.
 Brains in Tertiary Times.-ln a paper on the size of the brain in extinct animals Prof. Marsh, of Yale college, has brought for ward the remarkable fact that in the race for life during the past ages the survival of any group of animals depended on the size of their brain as compared with that of their contemporaries of the same class, Brains won then, as now, and the brain of animals crushed out Of existence was always found to be relatively smaller than that of those out living them.
 Another Aluminium Process.-In a new French process an electric current acts upon a saturated solution of sulphate of aluminium in the presence of a solution of rommon salt the two solutions being sepa- rated by porous vessel. double chloride of aluminium and sodium is formed which is decomposed and the aluminium set free, is deposited on the negative elec.rode. It is claimed that the important result of cheapen- ing the manufacture of aluminium may be ac- complished by this method.
 Tree Preferences of Ii i,htning.-The curious question has been asked, why oaks and elms are especially liable to be struck by lightning It was declared in I7s7 that he elm, chestnut, oak and pine were the rees most often struck in merica; and in I8oo MT. G. J. Symons stated that the elm, oak, ash and poplar were the most frequently struck in England A Madgeourg record reports injuries to 2oS trees, I6s being oaks, '+ scotch frs, a pines, and 20 beeches. It las been suggested that the frequency with which oaks are struck is due to the presence ,f iron in the wood.
 Artificial Petroleum action of su- 'erheated steam on molten cast iron, rich in ;arbou, has yielded product identical with he Hydrocarbons forming crude petroleum. 'erthelot thinks this discover, offers poss- 'le explanation of the origin of petroleum IF Sea.water peneuates Assures to depths 'here the earth is very hot, forming super eated steam, which, coming in contact with melted iron rich in carbon, is decomposed nto hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen mites with the iron to form oxide of iron. and he hydrogen combines with the carbon. the esulung hydrocarbons passing in gaseous tate to rock-strata suitable for their couden- ation as oil.