The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-12-26
Compiled for THE ARKANsAw TRAvKLER.
 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY
To 6e CONtfnaed. |

SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
 The birds Q! Labrador, According .o
 Mr. L. M. Turner, embrace 764 species.
 A German chemist has ascertained that poisons-such as prussic acid, corrosive sublimate and sulphuretted hydrogen-de- stroy the germinatng power of seeds.
 The Japanese government proposes making adequate provision for instruction in medical science by dividing the country into six sections, in each of which will be estab- lished a college for the training of future phy- sicians and surgeons.
 pr. G. Rolhfs considers woolen cloth ing to be unhealthy for wear in the tropics. He finds support for this theory in the fact that sheep from cool countries soon lose their wool in central Africa and become covered with a thin coat of hair, while lions lose their heavy names in hot regions.
 Unclean hands seem to be an unavoid- able evil. pr. Forster, an Italian investiga- tor, has shown that after the most thorough washings and bfushings with soap and water and rinsings with carbolic acid and disinfec- tants of various kinds the hands are still so impure that upon touching them to sterilized gelatine micro organisms are developed.
 It is often matter of surprise that drunken men sustain little or no injury from falls which might have been expected to re- suit fatally. The reason of this immunity is that the nerve centers are so paralyzed in the drunken man as not to be affected by the shock of the fall, which, in sober man, would have acted upon them so violently as to stop the heart, arrest the circulation, and cause in stant death.
 Household Science.-A simple method of ornamenting wood or sized paper is to brush over it a thin coating of very concen- trated cold solution of some salt mixed with dextrine, which gives to the surface beauti- ful mother-of-pearl appearance. To cause the adhesion of the mixture to glass an extra coating of an alcoholic shellac solution is necessary. Sulphate of magnesia, acetate of soda and sulphate of tin are among the salts which produce the most attractive crystalline coatings.
 Centenarians.-A list of persons wro have exceeded the age of 100 years has been compiled in France. It is surprisingly large, as may be judged from the fact that during the years I874 to 1887 France contained be- tween TIT and I75 centenarians, while there were no less than Iz3s in Russia in 1s37. The published list includes the famous Thomas Parr, who died at the age of Isa years, and a Frenchman named Priou, who died in 1sas in his I58th year. One of the oldest persons now living-possibly the oidest-is Madame Girard, who was born in France March 16, I76r, and is therefore nearly 12s years old. She is active, and her sight and hearing are good, but her memory is greatly imp sired.
 Yellow Fever Vaccination.-Some ex. perimental yellow fever inoculations by pr. Carlos Finlay, of Havana, have been made in a somewhat curious manner, a mosquito be- ing caused first to sting yellow fever patient and then the healthy subject. A mild form of the disease resulted, which became more severe when two mosquitos were employed to convey the poison. Of eleven cases ofthis inoculation, six were efhcacious, one doubt ful, and four negative. The period of incu- bation varied from five to fourteen days, and the fever lasted, as in the ordinary form. from five to twenty-one days. Dr. Finlay be- lievss that the artificial yellow fever produced by this method will effectively protect against the natural and dangerous form of the dis ease.
 Orang Intelligence.-"We will not say anything about the place the orang has in the long chain of evolution" observes Hornadav: " but while abstract argument leads hither and thither, according as this or that writer is most ably gifted for the same, there is still one argument or influence to which every true naturalist is amenable and which no one will ignore who has studied from nature any group of typical forms. Let such an one-if. indeed, one exists to day-who is preiudiced against the Darwinian views, go to Borneo. Let him there watch from day to day this strangely human form in all its various phase. Of existence. Let him see the orang climb. walk, build its nest. eat, drink, and fight like a human rough. Let him see the female suckie her young and carry it astride her hip precisely as do the csolie women of Hindo- stan. Let him witness their human-lke emotions of affection, satisfaction, pain and rage-let him see all this, and then he may feel how much more potent has been this ies- son than all he has&ead in pages of abstract