The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-01-31
1fiisd fsv zz< Arkanssw vsa-easv.
 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


 HsTsoHs sysssassf the sps==ssss=.
 Liqoe6ed oxygen is lghtsr shaa water.
 d little heavier than alcoha:, aecordinw ,e
 French ehemlst, who ass calcula,ed i,s
 lecih' gravity e e8s. s se f.~ ',
 Tn Cape Colony the extensive planting
 the common tomato Is recommended. as
 is alleged thai insects shun the ssud sn
 hich 1t is grown. The suggestion is made
 owsver. that the same effect may no, he
 reduced in cooler countries.
 Mons Onimus has reported to the
 rench Academy of Sciences that the
 hoiers cpidessies of Paris and Marse;,,e.
 Fere attended by a low proportion of oxon.
 tne atmosphere. an that the administra-
 Ion oi ozone produced favorable results ;n
 sses es ;5s disease.
 A French arcbaologist, Moos. Sail-
 ard, has discovered the work shou of rre- historic armorer In a steep rock on the eoas, Pi brittany The workman lived in the stone fge' and his skeleton was found among the various stone weapons and implements upon which he had been working.
 A German mining engineer, HerL. Muller, brings light coins up to the standare, ~sisas sy sss s!scssc deposition :. s.s,a: upon them Unless it is necessary to add considerable to the weight, this process- simply forming thin and uniform coa,ips- does not deface the characters upon the coin.
 Pasteur, the great French chemist. de- |votes his entire time to original research, al though he receives salary equivalent te $2coo year as scientific director of the Superior Normal school of Paris. Koch me eminent German physioiogist. is provided with laboratory by the government. and is Pafd sum equal ts $I,soo per annum.
 Most experiments with hydrochlorate Df cocaine have been confined to mucous 'urfaess, like the eye and the mouth. Bv fppiying it under the skin, however, Mons. Grasset has found that the new anss- fhetic may be made to produce local in ensioility in any part of the body, the du- ation being sufficient for various surgical Operations.
 An English observer has reached the Conclusion that the musk beetle {Arom;a |moschata) has the power of emitting or sun- pressing its odor at pleasure, but that when |oying the scent is continuous and very pow frful. He mentions case in which a scent Pf roses has been known to proceed from the pnmsn body in fatigue and weakness, Sim liar instances are given by another writer.
 More New Batteries.-Elecsric hat tteries are multiplying. new primary cell. devised by Dr. Pabst of Stettin, operates bv the consumption of iron, the electrodes be- ing carbon and wrought iron dipping into a solution of chloride of iron. This cell ia a,- tracting much attention in Germany, and it is expected to prove valuable in domestie electric lighting. In another primary battery that of Profs. Bartoli and PapasoelA,be peeuharity IS that the carbon is consnmed. the electrodes being platinum and carbon and the exciting liquid hypochlorite of ssda.
 Rainfall. - Considering its extent. America is better supplied by the clouds han Europe and Africa. Tn the tresiss of me Oio World the annual rainfall is about ? inches, while in tropical South America it $ I5S inches. In the eastern United States | IS 40 to so inches; but west of the one hun 1redth meridian to the Sierra Nevada it is mostly I2 to I6 inches. The annual average 'i Great Britain is s inches that of France. Q to 2I inches; but about the Alps ii ia mostly 3s to 50 inches. Farther from the ;oast, in central Germany and Russia, it is my IS to 20 inches. The moistest climate nown is in India, at Cherrapongee, where 'ver small area the yearly fall of rain is nore than 6Io inches, or about 5r feet. Lightning in the Tropics-To confirm 'ther experience of tropical thunderstorms. Ar. ! J. Meyrick reports that very few per ons or buildings are injured by lightning in he plains of indi,, although, at the com 'encement of the monsoon, storms occur in 'nicn the lightning runs like snakes all oyer ne sky at the rate of three or four flashes a econd, and the thunder often roars vithout break for an hour or more at time. He opposes the rarity of accidents to be due,o ,e great thickness of the stratum of heated IT and its effect in keeping the clouds SO Ign that most of the electrical discharges ass from cloud to cloud and very few reach 10 earth. Confirmation of this view is found the observation that in mountains and in older climates, where the clouds approach carer to the earth's surface, much greater amage is done by lightning.
 The Struggle for Exissence.-Tbe eech, according to Mons. Hansen Bi.ns- ca, is supplanting other trees in the forests Denmark. Its readiess conquests are ade in its struggle with the birch, which is pidiy disappearing before is, and which " forms forests only where the soil is toe DOT to support the beech. The earlies, rests of the country were mainly composed aspens, wifh which the birch vas ap- lrently associafed; but as the son and 'mais improved the fir appeared in Rrea, 'mbers, and ruled for centuries. The first ace was then gained by the holm oak, aich is noW-like the birch and inc 6r I,.,