The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-01-17
Compiled for TAe ArkaHJaw 7yGveIty.
 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY

called the anemograph, which is operatedb
 electricity and keeps record on paper of l.
 direction and velocity of the wind.
 The operation of removing a tumor from the brain-which was few days ago
 performed at a London hospital for the first time in the history of medicine-has been followed by the patients convaiescencs.
 A French investigator has found that chloroform is decomposed in from two to
 five days bS the combined action of sunlight and the air. In tn; dark the air does not affect it, and light produces no alteration when all oxygen is excluded.
 Before the Linnean society, of London. MT. A. Tylor has sought to prove that plants have dim sort of intelligence, and are able. at least, to exert as much voluntary power as certain lowly organized animals. One proof of this is the plants avoid lnce of obstacles placed artifcislly ia their way-by bending aside befors touching.
 Prof. E. Wollny concludes that the deep planting oi seeds and tubers is usually unfavorable for their development. The most suitable depth depends on the kind of plant, on the nature of the soil and on the weather. The smaller the seeds or tubers. the less favorable the weather, and the more compact the soil, the more essential is shal- low sowing.
 By experiment Prof. Storer has found that scantily fed mice will sometimes eat daily onethird of their weight of ordinary putty. When carbonate of lead, baryta, zinc or oxide of zinc was mixed with the putty the mice were able still to eat small quanti- ties with impuRity, those pigments seeming to lose their usual poisonous quality. Putty containing no whiting was untouched, or eaten very reluctantly
 While our country is supposed to be nearly free from earth 1uakes, no less than s64 shocks were rec rded in the United States and Canada--not including Alaska-during the twelve years ending with 1883. This is an average of about one in every twelve days for some part of the territory. Many small ue- mors must have escaped notice, and il is probable that if observations had been made in various localities with suitable instruments the reported shocks would have been several times as great in number.
 A new ceramic product according to Mons. Hignette, is now made from the abundant waste sands of French glass factories. The sand is nodded into blocks by immense hydraulic pressure, and is then baked in furnaces at a high temperature. The product has remarkable solidity and tenacity; it is not affected by frost, rain or sun; it resists very high temperatures t is very light; and it has fine white color. Itis predicted that the material will be used for many architectural effects in combination with brick or stones of other colors.
 Merciful Science.-Dr. B. w. Richard son's process of painless killing of the lower animals has been pronounced a magnificent success, and science has now bestowed upon the inferior creation a blessing which she dare not give to man himself-painless death, :o which is forced soothing hut deadly att mosphere of carbonic oxide which has been passed at summer heat over a mixture of chloroform and bisulphide of carbon. Such lethel chamber capable of containing 100 victims at time-has been fitted up at the home for lost dogs, in London, and in it, during period of seven months, more than 900 dogs have gently sunk into their eternal sleep. The process is not expensive, and pr. Richardson intends to apply it to the killing of sheep and other animals that are used for human food.
 Sun-Spots and the Weather.-Observa tions concerning the effects produced upon our planet by the periodically appearing spots on the sun have given very contradic- tory results, and have established thus far only the single fact that solar disturbances strongly affect the earth's magnetism. Itis very probable that sun-spot influences may have certain real effect upon terrestrial climates, but much further research will be necessary to prove beyond doubt that they do. Prof. C. A. Young afitms, however, that it has already been shown that such influence, if it exists at all, is very slight, and difficult of detection; that it is not dominant, or even very powerful, in terrestrial meteorology; and that there IS no reasonable ground for expectation that the periodicity of sun-spots will ever enable us to predict the seasons in advance.
 An Atmospheric Battery.-One of the recent electric batteries acts only when ex- posed to light. The latest form of battery devised by Mons. Jablochkof, the eminent French electrician-is perhaps quite as novel and ingenious, it being kept in constant ope- ration by the effect of the atmosphere.s upon the metal sodium. Each eIe- ment Tpiises small plate of sodium sepa- rated by wooden pegs from plate of carbon of somewhat lighter texture than that used Tor ordinary batteries. The carbon and a small copper wire attached to the sodium plate form the electrodes. Exposure of the sodium to the air causes it to oxidize and form caustic soda, which is dissolved by the moisture of the air and gradually drains away as a concentrated solution, thus con 'tantly leaving a fresh surface of metal to be scted upon. The elements are grouped in tets of ten. The bAttery's action continues 1@Ar A. ls...- t-~. Al