Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1885-08-21
POPULAR SCIENCE.

1t appears that climate is regarded as
having so much effect upon the hearing
that English physicians sometimes seek
to lessen the deafness of patients by send
ing them to tho dry parts of New Zea.
land.
Trial tri ps at Nice with the submarine
Ooat of the naturalist Toseli have indi-
Gated that the vessel will render valuable
service to science. 1t can penetrate to
depth of about 800 feet, and its power
full electric lamps make easy minute in.
spection of the sea.
Attention has lately been called to two
races of men that must soon become ey-
tinct. At the present rate of decrease,
the Maoris of New Zealand-now reduced
to less than As, 900 from 100, 900 in Cap
tain Cooks day-must have disappeared
by the year 1000. The Laplanders are
estimated not to exceed so, 900 in mum.
Der, and are gradually becoming fewer.
Bees in unaccustomed localities, &C
cording to II. Muller, are timid and find
honey with difficulty, but rapidly he
come accustomed to their surroundings.
Flowers of subdued colors are selected
by bees instead of the more brilliantly
colOred ones. Blue or violet appear 70
be most attractive, and bright yellow the
least so. Fabre has found that many
bees are able to return to their nests
when carried to distance.
The most recent light on the unsettled
question of the precise manner in which
coal was formed is furnished by the re-
searches of Mr. Edward Wethered, who
has been convinced by a microsoopical
study Of coal from English mines that
the beds were not formed by forests, but
that the fossil trees so familiar to botan-
lists grew in them. The coal its2lf-that
is, the plants which ultimately formed
the regards as having been of aquatic
habit, growing in manner similar to
modern boys, though Of much larger ex-
tent.
An entomologist has reported having
found 724 species of noxious insects in
the trees, shrubs and plants of the New
York parks last year. These include the
cotton worm of the South, the wood
borers of the West, the sugar cane beetle,
many species unknown to the entomolo-
gist, and some entirely new species. The
most destructive insects to the trees are
the bag worm, the tent and web cater
pillars, the scale insect, the coccus and
the elm beetle. OF these insects seven
bushels of cocoons and egg MOSES were
removed.
Schroeder, in Germany, has been in
ma inf
ton of the acid fumes which are present
in a smoke ladened atmosphere. He
finds that one part of sulphurous acid
in "a, 900 of air is capable Of occasiouing
serious damage to plants in short time.
They are less sensitive to hydrochloric
acid. Coniferous trees are most sensi-
tive to sulphurous acid, then deciduous
trees, while ordinary field plants resist
longest. Oaks, planes elms, poplars and
mountain ashes resist better than birches
and beeches. Fruit trees are very sensi-
tive; plums and cherries more SO than
pears and apples.
A spawning oyster, it is estimated
may deposit million eggs in season,
of which only from ten to one hundred
will reach maturity, all others being de.
voured by enemies. Marketable oysters
vary in age from three to seven years.
The age which oysters may reach under
favorable circumstances is yet unknown,
but specimens have been found which
were believed to be from twenty-five to
thirty years old. With care the biyalves
may be kept alive for considerable
time after their removal from their hab-
itat. 1t is stated that they have lived
on the floor of a cold cellar for three
months, and one observer concludes that
they may exist even longer if packed sc
as to keep their shells closed in venti
lated barrels, and kept at temperature
between thirty-fve and forty-five do