Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-02-04
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
CFor the SPECTATOR, |

THE TONGUES FUNCTIoNs.-"T tip
of the tongue" remarks Grant Allen, sis
concerned mainly with pungent and acrid
tastes; the middle portion is sensitive
chiefly to sweets and bltters; while the
back or lower portion confines itself almost
entirely to the favors of roast meats, but
ter, oils, and other rich or fatty substan-
ces. There are very good reasons for this
subdivision of faculties in the tongue, the
object being, as it were, to make each piece
of food undergo three separate examina-
lions, which must be successfully passed
before it is admitted into full participation
in the human economy. The first ezaml-
nation gets rid at once of substances which
would be actively and Immediately destruc-
tive to the very tissues of the mouth and
body: the second discriminates between
poisonous and harmless food-stufts; and
the third merely decides the minor CUES
tion whether the particular food is likely to
prove then and there wholesome or indi-
gestible to the particular person.
The plan of electrically transmitting
power has been in operation for more than
eight months at Bienne, Switzerland. A
kurbine and dynamo convert the power of
anountain torrent into electricity, which
passes over wires some 500 ieet to a receiv
5ng dynamo furnishing two shops with
eheir required six to eighteen horsepower.
for top roarc IF nvpaysro tho sl1-
perintendent of the porcelain factory at
Sevres, Mons. Lautb, thinks he has pro-
tsuced a porcelain identical with that of
China, and far superior to the famous old
Sevres.
] German research has shown that the
mellowness of old wines is due to an in
crease in its proportion Of Glycerine.
HNDEsTRUCTIBLE LIFE IA matter of
surprise and wonder to those who witness
it for tie Grst time is the rousing to life of
whole colonies of infusoria by the addition
Of drop Of water to few grains of earth
or dust. These microscopic organisms
abound everywhere in water containing
decomposing vegetable or animal matter,
and some forms may, in dried state, re-
rain for months or even years apparently
dead, to be revived when water is again
supplied to them. MIR. Jabez Hogg has
been experimenting during the past three
years with one form Of infusorial life the
rotifers or wheel aninalcules-and has even
kept dried specimens for time at tenn
perature of 200 degrees Fahrenheit, and
afterward exposed them to intense cold, nei-
Their process killing them nor greatly d.
minishing their vital powers. Mr.. Hogg
supposes that as the animal dries it shuts
itself up like telescope, its skin taking an
egg-like shape, and that secreting organ
coats the body with gelatinous envelope
which protects it from further change.
a European observer, DIR. Ochorowicz,
believes that he has found evidence of the
existence of a magnetic sense" 1t is
stated that by hanging tube-called a
bypnoscope- from the index finger he real
ICES peculiar sensations, somewhat resem-
bling the effects produced by the action of
the air in front of an electrical machine.
De Candolle, the French botanist, sup
poses that agriculture had its origin in
three widely separated regions, namely,
China, Southwestern Asia, and Egypt, and
the highlands of Mexico and Peru.
The value of sulphate of iron as plant
food has been tested by the English chemist,
Mr.. A. B. Griffiths. The use of fifty
pounds per acre increased the yield of
beans from % bushels to A, of turnips
from 10 tons to iek, but produced little eff
feet on cereals.
Why BOILERS ExPLoDE.-Many rather
mysterious boiler explosions having been
attributed to the sudden and explosively
violent flashing into steam of superheated
water, the French Academy of Sciences
appointed a committee, 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 driven by long boil
ing, and generating steam by rapid and by
slow firing. AS a result the conclusion las
been reached that if any boiler explosion
has occurred through superheating it must
have been through the concurrence of ex-
ceptional circumstances, which are neither
defined, known, nor suspected. The ex-
periments have shown conclusively that,
however unaccountable explosions some
times appear, the real cause must be looked
for in the simple lading of the boilers with
steam pressures beyond their strength.
The EARTH's INTERIOR DR.. M. E.
Wadsworth finds the assumption that the
earth has ga heterogeneous, viscid, elastic,
liquid interior, irregularly interlocked with
and gradually passing into lighter hete1o-
geneous crust" accords better with geoloei-
cal facts than any other of the various hy-
potheses thus far advanced. Contractions
and upheavals of the crust, resembling in
their effects what is sometimes seen in ice,
would satisfactorily explain volcanic and
earthquake phenomena.
An astronomical observation of an earth.
quake was lately made by the director of
the observatory at Nice, France. He was
watching one of Saturn's moons at the
moment of the shock, and the motion i'm
parted to his telescope caused the celestial
object to appear to move some fifteen or
twenty seconds to the right.
"For nearly whole year was an inva- |
lid, living, powerless subject of the most |
dreadful OF all diseases, kidney complaint.