The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-04-11
'omptled for THE ARKAAsAw FRAvRLER.
 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY

A French investigator has detected periodical variations of earth currents in di- rect relation with the movement of the moo, or the tides.
 The lowest recorded temperature-7o degrees below zero Fahr.-has been pro. duced y ciszegzk! ty vapo5i..as iiuu,o nitrogen ur der low pressure Liquid carbon monoxide gave 365 below zero, and liquid oxygen 246 I-7.
 Several pots of hyacinths having been placed ia circle around the pipe of stove. Mons. C. Barthelemy found that the roots were drawn to the source of heat, taking an almost horizontal direction toward the pine as common centre of attraction.
 A Liverpool dealer has received an order for Ico electric cells, which are desired for the purpose of a scientific investigation Of the peculiar power Of these creatures. Good reasons have been noticed, it is stated, for doubting that the shock given by them is really produced by electricity.
 In recent experiments Mons. Reinau found that iron reaches its greatest strength at temperature of 554 degrees Fahrenheit, when it is thirty per cent stronger than at o8 degrees. Beyond 62o degrees the strength rapidly diminishes, and at 8o6 degrees is only thirty per ce mt as great as at 68 degrees.
 Dr. A. Hughes Bennett states that theine, caffeine, theobremine and quarantine, when administered hypcdermically, appeared to him in 1872 to have the same physiological properties as cocaine. He thinks, therefore, that one of them may furnish a comparatively cheap substitute for the extremely costly local anaesthetic.
 The Chinese regard an attack of epi- lepsY as the occupancy of a mans body by the spirit of an animal, usually pig or sheep. They try to keep such spirit by stuff fng the patients mouth with grass, for if it leaves before the return of the mans own spirit-which must be absent during the fit the man will die.
 Professor Poleck, of Breslau, finds that the house-fungus " (Merulius lacrymansA which is becoming extensively spread in Europe, is most destructive to woods con taining most mineral matters; and, as such constituents are several times more abundant in trees when in sap than Tn the cold season, he recommends that timber be cut late in winter.
 A French botanist, Mons. Fonssagrives, asserts that poisonous gases are given of by 10th growing aud harvested fruits-such as apricots, oranges and quinces-and death by poisoning has resulted from sleeping in rooms exposed to such emanations. A simi- lar deadly gas-evideatly come cted in some way with vegetable odors-is given of by sweet-scented flowers and odoriferous leaves.
 t-Robbing Birds.-Mr. Wm Davi- son has reported to the governor of Madras that there are in India two species of wood peckers and two of kingfshers which breed in the nests of ants. It is not known whether the insects ultimately disappear as a result ofthe invasion. but they have been found still in the nests a considerable time after the lay ing of the birds eggs. Tn one instance the kinghshers were seen to be inhabiting hor- nets' nest, and appearing to be on good terms with the hornets.
 The Three H Horned Ox-Dr. A. T. de Rochebrune has described to the Paris Academy of Sciences we'll established va riety of domestic OK, which is peculiar to Sene- gambia, and is characterized by third horn growing from the nose and identical ia con- s,itution and development to the two frontal horns. The animals are very liable to epi- zootic peripneumonia, and from time imme- moriai the Moors Fulahs of Seneg Ambia have practiced upon the creatures preventive in- oculaiion with the virus of that disease.
 A Monument of the Plant World Adanson found trees of the baobab species in Africa which he computed to be s,Iso years old and De Candolle has reported the deciduous cypress of Mexico to reach a still greater age. The oldest individual specimen of any species-in fact the oldest living thing upon the globe-is probably the cypress of Santa Maria del Tule, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. If estimates of tree ages are to be relied upon, the life of this venerable forest monarch may have spanned the whole period of written history. At last accounts it was still growing, and in 1851, when Humboldt saw it, it measured 4z feet in diameter, I46 in circumference, and 2S2 feet between the extremties of two op- poste branches.
 Soap-Substitutes.-Specimens of pods and seeds which take the place of soap in China were exhibited by Mir. F. B. Forbes at recent meeting of the Linnean society of London. He stated that for ordinary cleans ing purposes an impure earthy soda and lye made from wood ashes are employed, while the leaves of two plants (botanically known as Hibiscus syriacus and Gingko bi- loba) are occasionally used on the head. The favorite substance. however, seems to be the feitsao ton" or "fat black beans" (Gymno- cladus chine nsis). The roasted pods are used for washing clothes as well as for batL- ing, and women cleanse their heads with the seeds. Pods of Gleditschia sinensis (known to the Chinese as "tsao-chio '') are boiled to prepare a washing infusion also much em- -l@