Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-11-11

Now crow for gallant FitE,
And will CROW with a vim.
For he defeated Johnny Wise,
The slave ofMahons and sin.
AS the news comes in SO good
| From places not few.
must give another cheer
With my cock-a-doodle-dO doc!
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
compiled for the SPECTATOR.
A CLIMATE CHANGING PRoJECT.-A po-
lar current appears to defect the Gulf
Stream from the shores of the United States
and the British Provinces, and inter-
pose cold wall of water between the land
and the genial warmth of the current from
the tropics. These refrigerating waters
pass between Labrador and Newfoundland,
| and by building dam across the narrow
Straits of Belle Isle-about ten miles wide
and averaging $50 feet in depth-Mr. John
G. GoOdridge, Jr., suggests that the polar
stream might be turned aside into mid
ocean. Then, it is believed, the Gulf
Stream would skirt the American coast and
materially change its climate from Cape
Hatteras to Newfoundland, freeing the
Gulf of St. Lawrence from icebergs and
giving to Nova Scotia the mildness of
Cape May.
THE influence OF WEEDs.-From COM
parative experiments; Prof. E. Wollny, the
German investigator, has shown the effect
Of weeds upon the productive power of
plants. Both quantity and quality of the
| crops were seriously affected by allowing
the weeds to grow, the injury being the
greater the more slowly the plants were de-
| velOped. Peas and summer rape suffered
least; beans, maize and potatoes were injur-
cd to The extent of 45 to 66 per cent; and
beess showed a loss of 81 per cent
The importance of fostering scientific re-
search is recognized by the Republic of
| Mexico, which has established Scientific
| Commission, composed of the most learned
men of the country, and designed to make
investigations in every department of hu-
man knowledge. 1t is making extensive
collections of all the natural products of
Mexico.
| Successful experiments have been made
in joining and restoring the functions of
divided nerves, even nerves of different
functions being used to replace those parti-
ally destroyed. 1t is thought that even
sight and hearing may be restored, after in
jury to tho nerves on which they depend,
by bringing other nerves into service by
artificial union.
| A SCIENTIFIC GAME.-Huxley has asked
whether, if it were perfectly certain that the
life and fortune of every one of us would
one day depend on our winning a game of
chess we should not all learn Something of
the game. "Yet it is a yery plain truth
that the life and fortune of every one of us
depend on our knowing something of the
rules of a game infinitely more difficult. 1t
is a game which has teen PLAYED for untold
ages. every man and woman of us bainp
one of the two players. The chessboard is
the world, the pieces are the phenomena OF
the universe, the rules OF the game are
what we call the laws OF nature. Ihe pay
OF on tne otner sioe Is nloden from us. we
kno" that his play is always fair, just and
patient. But also we know, to our cost,
tnat Do never overlcoks mistake or makes
the man who plays we'll the HIGHEST stakes
are Maid with overfowino oensrositv hut
on- who nlavs i'll is check ckmated-witbont
haste but without remorse ,,
NATURES Ox1DfzER.-Ozone, supposed
hean tbonaTt to overt % hon.fc;sl On in
Anence that an increase in the atmo,nhere,s a
ronortion-vbicb rsrelv averages mora
than one mart in zoo CO0Chas baen ba;led as
a token of a n.rticnlarlv healtfuI climat;c
state. Flowerino nla3ts-esnecialJv the
oJorons L;nds"snd scanted fol;aas have
bssn nrononncad Of bvo;enic value bacauss
tbev ganerats ozona ratbar snrnr;s;nY
annonncement therefore ;s that pf Dr
Daniel Draner,s sunnosed discovery that
ozone produces pneumonia, but it seems
quite probable that the gas which so
powerfully destroys organic impurities may
be proven by fruther research to act as an
irritant of the lungs.
Traces of a prehistoric race have been
disoovare6 in Jam.;ca hv M p a Ha1;hrr
ton. From the skulls obtained he judges
that they were people OF great natural in.
telligence, aud he finds reason for believing
that their habits were peaceful and in
The most extensive region OF heavy rain.
fall in the British Islands of Scotland il
reported D. Mr.. A. Buchap to be the West
fail 10 over ao inches and at Glancna has
evceeded 1es inches
|
the MeX'can Pyfopnore were lately exnioi'
teu W .hS aiis o Acaoemy Oh Science as
i1ma. %'a. Aaoio notoiey' inese inSec.s al are
aoou' an iuon long' anu T.. eiulI iighe IKE
Cna' VI siow-"Or,n G VI d :, iifo-Ay' pu' vas'iy
more Ut lilant; Inc Indians OF Mexico are
Salu w AIeI ,g .nen ior lgns az nign1' any
1