Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1885-01-06
WOOD RIVERS RECORD.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY,

Compiled for the woop RIVER TtMEs.]
A new lantern microscope, for dis
playing upon screen greatly magni.
lied images Of very minute objects
has been exhibited before the micro.
scopical societies of London, and ha.
given results said to be greatly in ad.
vance Of any previous achievement
At one meeting blow.fly's tongue
was shown from six to fourteen fee,
long, according to the powers used
and the section Of drone-hy's eye
was magn:fed $500 Iiameters, or more
than six million times.
Some remarkable illustrations of the
power OF plants to adapt the,nselve.
to diverse conditions have been fur.
nished bv the observations Of Senior
Ladislao Netto, Of Rio ,Janeiro. Que
plant t. Strychnos tripl'nervia was
found growing in an open space as a
bush about six feet high, willie an.
other specimen of the same species
was seen in the shade of some woods
ONLY u lew yar. away as u vine sixty
feet in lcrgth. Other plants were al.
10 we'd to become vines of considerable
length in the dense Brazilian forests.
and at once began to change :helr APP
pearan:e TO that Of shrubs on being
given free exposure to the sunlight.
It appears that the direct action of
the wind during long ages has had
some effect in the shaping Of the land
In the plateaus of Central Asia, Gen.
Prjevalski has found evidence that
violent winds have moved the small
stones about, gradually pulverizing
the fragments by friction, and that the
finer particles thus produced have
been blown to the valleys, where they
have formed constantly thickcn;ng
deposit. On the Puy de Dome, in
France, extensive wind-lenosits have
been noticed, an ancient temple OF
Mercury on the top Of that mountain
having been covered up in sand fer
nearly twenty centuries.
The common potato is a native Of
dry mountain land, and by cultivation
ia the moist climates Of Europe and
America it has become liable to what
is known as potato disease or rot. The
suggestion was short time ago made
that it might be invigorated by mix.
ture with some one Of the many other
known species, and an Englsi, horti-
culturist, Mr.. A. w. Sutton, is now
striving to accomplish this result. Dur
lag last season he succeeded, as he be.
lieves, in crossing aspecies discovered
by Darwin growing in narshy soil on
islands west of Patagonia, with the
cultivated potato, obtaining three
we'll filed seed. balls. The seed will
be planted next year. and it is though
probable chat they may produce po.a.
toes better adapted to moist climates
aud soils than any of the varieties now
grown.
Not taking into account atmos-
pheric absorption, Sir William Thorn
son has computed that we receive
from the full moon light equal to
that which would reach US from TWEEN
ty.seven thousand million million can
dies spread over the moons carthward
hemisphere, painted black. If allow.
ance is made for the loss Of moonlight
in passing through our atmosphere,
the number Of candles must be much
greater--probably reaching forty
thousand million million. The same
eminent physicist has further calc,.
lated that, if the moons side were
painted black, and covered with nor
ma!ly burning candles standing close
~ packed in square order, the light
would appear to us to be about the
same in quantity as that which we now
receive. AS compared with the sun,
he has been led to the conclusion that
we cannot be very far wrong in esti-
rnating tile light Of the full moon as
about a seventy-thousandth of the sun.
light anywhere on earth.