The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-05-09
Compiled for THR ARxAHsAw TnAvxraR. !
 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


 
 A portable elecnic lamp, carrying cleo tricity to last twelve hours, has been pro duced. afa
 Certain snakes have been observed to utter cry, like that of young puppy, on receiving an electric shock.
 The use of vaseIine as substitute for butter has been condemned in Paris. Its use seems to be an advantage to bakers because it dees not become rancid. but is is injurious to health.
 A pecu.isrity in workers in German silver spoons is the color of the hair, which in time becomes dyed a pale green that re- quires years to change. The particles of metal which is chiefly copper-also produce disease similar to consumption.
 Disease germs are p 'obably much less affected by extreme cold than might be ex. pected. Experiments have been reported to the Glasgow Philosophical society in which temperature of I2o degrees below zero was insufficient to stop processes of putrefac- tien.
 The metal gallium has been isolated by an industrial process devised by Dr. S. Ehrlich, German physicist. Gallium mel,s at about s7 degrees Fahrenheit, and, as its lustre is brighter than that of mercury, it is thought useful application may be found for it.
 One of Dr. Livingstone's early achieve m n uaS he diccnvarv of I aLa :. south Africa, which was then favorite re- sort of elephants and other large animals. recent explorer of the same region reports the lake dried up, leaving an arid spot devoid of both game and vegetation.
 Bermuda is supposed by some geolo- gists to be slowly sinking at the presen, time, but an investigation by Prof. Wm. N. Rice shows that no subsistence has taken place since I6oo-the time of the celebrated ship wreck there of Sir George Somers, which event Shakespeare is supposed to have had in mind when he wrote " The Tempest"
 A Plant Traveler.-A plant allied to the lilies. of-the-valley, the "Convallaria polygonatum," is a remarkable traveller. Every year knot forms upon its root, and these knots drag the plant about an inch an- nually from its original position; so .ha, in period of twenty years the plant will have travelled about twenty inches from its first location.
 It has been observed by Prof Holde- fleiss that beet seed sown in a pot in which the soil was exposed to the electric light germinated two days earlier than similar seeds without the action of the electric light. Another interesting observation is that of Herr Scholler, who has noticed an excep- tional luxurance of beets in small plot which had been struck by lightning.
 Color and Flavor of Plants MT. Em- melt s. Golf believes there may be law of relation between color and flavor in fruits and ve geta oles. A knowledge of such law would be of advantage te agriculturalists in the selection of the best plants for contin- ued cultivation. Thus far MT. Golf seems to have shown that light colored flesh de notes milder and more delicate flavor than exists in darker colored specimens of the same varieties.
 American Timbers A complete col lection of the native woods of the United States is being prepared for the New York Museum of Natural History. It will com prise 36 varieties of oak, 34 of pine, of fir, s of spruce, of hemlock, I2 of ash, of nick ory 1S Of willow, of cherry, of poplar of maple, of persimmon, and of cedar. Each specimen will display both longitudinal and transverse grainings of the wood, as well as the los in it's natural condition, with the bark attached.
 Solar Power-The light of the sun is estimated to equal in quantity I.576,ooo,ooo,- poo 900 ooo,ooo candles the lights intensity at the sun's surface being 10000 that of a candle flame, $500 times that of metal in a Bessemer converter, I46 times that of a call cium light, or 3.4 times that of an electric arc. The temperature, according to Rosette, is about I8,ooo degrees Fahrenheit. The me- chanical equivalent of the solar radiation, acting, is nearly 10 GOO horse power per square foot of solar surface.
 Albno Indians.-Several cases of na- lives of India, having a white skin, have been reported. Mir. A. T. Fraser mentions the finding of q family in which several white persons. resembling Europeans, had ap- peared, the parents having the ordinary olackness of the natives. The whiteness was not a result of leprosy. The skin of the albinos is much more sensitive to the sun's rays than that of other natives or even of Europeans. The contrast between white and dark relatives having a striking resem- olance of feature is said to be most remark able.
 An Insect Goliath The brd-spider of tropical America, according to a French writer, has body as much as four and one ourth inches long, or a diameter of seven nches with the legs extended, and is the argest of the several hundred known species ,f spiders. Its nests resemble those of the arge caterpillars of France, and consist of I beautiful white silken tissue, of several hicL lavave etranctharad hv