The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1885-04-08
For the FLORIDA Ae'elcunrunIsr.
Scientific MISCELLANY.

ROCK-IMPRISoNEb ToADs.-A French
writer gives long list of apparently
well authenticated Instances of the find
ing of live toads in Solid masses of stone,
referring in particular to the discovery
made in 1851 by three workmen of Blois
on breaking open large piece of flint.
The strength of the evidence presented
leads him to insist that it is unwise to pro-
nounce the phenomenon absolutely inn
possible, although none of the reported
cases are quite beyond the suspicion of
fraud. To explain the occurrence, if
genuine, it seems necessary to suppose
that the creatures have existed in their
close prisons during the unnumbered
years in which the plastic material has
been hardening into rock. That they
may endure somewhat prolonged con-
finement was shown by Seguin, who. in
1922, enclosed toad in plaster cover
ing, and found the reptile alive and in
good condition on breaking the shell ten
years later.
DIR. A. Hughes Bennett states that
theme, caffeine, thepbromine and guar
anime, when administered hypodermi-
cally, appeared to him in 1872 to have
the same physiological properties as CO.
caine. He thinks, therefore, that one OF
them may furnish comparatively cheap
substitute for the extremely costly local
anesthetic.
The lowest recordeN tenn peratare 3396s
below zero Fair II ~. y :esl u,
I Olszewski BY vapor4sfng liquid nitrogen
under low pressure. sLiquid carbon mon
oxide gave 1860 belSM zero, and liquid
oxygen 246lao.
Several pots Of hyacinths having been
placed in a circle around the pipe of a
stove, Mons G.. Barthelemy found that
the roots Were drawn to the source of
heat, taking an almost horizontal direc-
ton toward the pipe as acommon centre
of attraction.
JAPANESE SEIssToIoGN.-An exhaust
i've report on 3S7 earthquakes observed in
North Japan during period of two years
has been made by Pfof Milne. of Toxic
He finds that 254 Of tie shocks were not
felt over a greater aria than fifty square
miles, the average diameter of the land
surface affected blythe remaining 1873
being 45 miles, although four or five of
them embraced End area Of about
44000 square miles, Some of the dis
turbances took place simultaneously in
areas remote from each other, while in
termediate stations did not feel them.
About 81 per cent. pf the earthquakes
originated under the sea. The district
most shaken was Che flat alluvial plain
around Toxic, which, geological evidence
shows to- have been Recently and rapidly
elevated from the seA-depths. 1t is re-
markable that shocks were comparative
ly rare in the mountains and near active
volcanoes. The earthquakes were much
more numerous and severe in winter
than in summer.
The Chinese regard an attack of epi-
lepsy as the occupancy of mans body
by the spirit of an animal, usually pig
or sheep. They try to keep such spirit
by stufing the patients mouth with
grass, for if it leaves before the return of
the mans own sp1rit--which must be
absent during the fit-Hthe man will die.
A Liverpool dealer has received an Or
der for 100 electric cells, which are de-
sired for the purpose of a scientific inves-
tigation of the peculiar power of these
creatures. Good reasons have been no
ticed, it is stated, for doubling that the
shock given by them is really produced
by electricity.
Among the many prize offers of the
French Academy of Sciences is a sum
equivalent to about $4,000 which was
left by Breant in 1919, and is still una
warded. 1t is to be given to the per-
son who shall find an effective remedy
for Asiatic cholera, orshall indicate with
absolute certainty ts'causes.
The THREE-HoRNED Ox.-Dr. A. T.
de Rochebrune has described to the
Paris Academy OF Sciences a well estab-
lished variety of domestic OK, which is
peculiar to Senegambia, and is charac-
terized by third horn growing from the
nose and identical in constitution and
development to the two frontal horns.
The animals are very liable to epizootic
peripneumonia, and from time imnemo-
rial the Moors and Fflahs of Senegam-
bia have practiced upon the creatures