Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-04-22
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
(Compiled for the SPECTATOR. ]

(Compiled for the SPEcTAToR.]
ANIMAL VACCINATION IN INDIA.-Pas-
teurs system of vaccination for anthrax, of
which French farmers have so eagerly avail
ed themselves, has been most successfully
tried by the Government of India-ponies,
donkeys.1 COWS, bullocks, buffaloes, ele-
plants, sheep, and guinea-pigs having been
effectually protected against fatal attacks
of that destructive disease. A laboratory for
the manufacture of the "vaccine" has been
located at Bengal, and, if successful, will
be followed by similar establishments in
other centres. A veterinary surgeon was
some time ago sent to study with Pasteur,
and it Is recommended that others receive
similar instruction.
A WEATHER PRoPHET.-It is possible,
according to French authority, to foratell
| the -,eathss, nsetimes ten or twenty hours
in advance, by observing and comparing the
| sounds emitted by telephone connection
! by leads with two iron bars stuck into the
ground few yards apart. In case of a
thunderstorm especially, noise like that
of shriveling leaves increases until flash
of lightning occurs, when the sound resem-
bles that of rain or hail falling on grass.
A new alloy melts at $50 degrees Fahr.,
| or considerably below the temperature at
which the magical spoons of long ago melt
ed in cup of tea. Its composition is !:
bismuth, 4S ) cadmium, 10 lead. II tin,
20. 1t will stand severe pressure; and is
especially adapted to many important uses.
| 1t has been observed in Russia that ex.
treme cold converts tin into semi-crystal-
line mass containing large cavities. In one
instance the pipes of a church organ were
so altered by cold as to be no longer So
norous.
The membership of the American Asso-
citation for the Advancement of Science,
which was doubled at the annual meeting
in Boston in 1880, has rapidly increased
since, and has now reached 2347. Its
members are drawn from no less than 597
places.
PLANT ORIGINs.-The laborious investi-
cations of De Candolle into the difficult
question of the origin of cultivated plants
have covered PAT species; of which 1913 are
now known to be wild at the present day,
81 are classed as doubtful, and 81 others
are not found wild at all. There is every
| boli hot Of of
these last-or nearly three per cent of the
entire number-are absolutely extinct.
''That something like three per cent of the
species of heterogeneous plants,' says a
reviewer of De Candolle's work, 'shave be-
come extinct during the historical epoch,
and this not in small islands but on vast
continents without any notifications of
climate is perhaps the most important gen.
eral result reached by this investigation"
THE NOISE OF THE JAvAN VOLCANO
Reports collected since the memorable
eruption of Krakatoa in August, 1888, have
shown that the explosions were heard over
a circle of 30 degrees radius. A more
astonishing announcement still is now
made by DR.. F. A. Fcrel, the we'll known
Swiss physicist. He has learned that on
the day of the great eruption startling sub
terranean noises resembling the rolling Of
distant thunder were heard in Caiman
Brac, small island of the Caribbean Sea,
near the antipodes Of the volcano of Sunda
Strait. These sounds cannot readily be
attributed to any neighboring volcanic dis
turbance, and DR.. Forel is forced to infer
that they may have been propagated
through the entire diameter of the earth.
To test this bold hypothesis inquiries are to
be made concerning the exact hour at
which the detonations were heard in Cal
man. Brac.
From an examination Of several skulls
found in North and South America, and
believed to have belonged to inhabitants
living before the glacial period, DR.. Kohl
mann concludes that the races of that an.
cient epoch are those of to-day, the same
cranial and facial forms being found, in
spite of lapse of time and change of envi-
ronment.
MALARIA ALTITUDEs.-While malaria be-
longs chiefly to low-lying districts, it may,
under favorable conditions, exist at great
elevations. On the Tuscan Apennines it is
found at height Of 100 feet above sea-
level on the Pyrenees and Mexican Cor
dilleras, 5000 feet on the Himalayas,
6, 400 feet on the island of Ceylon, $500,
and on the Andes, 1900 feet. Under
ordinary circumstances, however, GER
tain moderate altitude affords immuni-
ty from malaria. The elevation of entire
security is not positively known, but it has
been approximated as follows in Italy, 400
| to 500 feet in California, 1000 feet ; in the
| Appalachian chain of the United States,
5000 feet in the West Indies, 400 to 1900
feet in India, 5000 feet. In any of these
regions malaria may drift up ravines to an
indefinite height
| A remarkable property of the EGGPLANT,
botancially known as mesemb1yanHiemunl
crystalinuna, is it's absorption of salt, a
fluid exuded by its leaves having been found
to contain about 33 per cent of sea-salt.
For this reason it is suggested that the plant
may be advantageously grown on lands
made unproductive by an excess of salt.
Several centuries ago the Chinese destroy
ed their great forests. Able David, the
French naturalist, now expresses the be-
lief that they did this to rid themselves of
tigers, leopards, and others formidable
beasts. Ancient forests exist in China only
among the mountain ranges, and the plains
are so completely cultivated that native
plants are seldom found.
The attention of the French Academy of
Sciences has been called to a new process
of hardening plaster of Paris. The prod
uct is recommended for floors b-ing as
durable as oak and costing only one-fourth
as much