Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-01-28
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
For the SPECTATOR. I

TIE STRUGGLE FOR EXIsTENCE.-The
beech, according to Mons. Hansen BLANC
sted, is supplanting other trees in the for.
ests of Denmark. Its readiest conquests
are made in its struggle with the birch,
which is rapidly disappearing before it
and which now forms forests only where
the soil is too poor to support the beech.
The earliest forests of the country were
mainly composed of aspens, with which
the birch was apparently associated; but as
the soil and climate improved the fir ap-
peared in great numbers, and ruled fol-
centuries. The first place was then gained
by the holm oak, which is now-like thf
birch and the fir, but more slowly-beine
replaced by the beech. The superiority Of
the b ech seems to lie in its power of grow.
ing in the shaue of any tree, while other
trees are unable to develop in the shadow,
of is own dense foliage
RAMA L-Considering it's extent,
America is better supplied by the clou s
than Europe and Afiea II II rs ...pc s @
the Old Wo,la~5T,e annual rainfall is abour
~ inches while in tropical South Amer,ci
- Is I55 inches In be cas- elm Uni ed Sla.,
it is 40 to so inches; ut west of the On,
hundl edith meridian to the Sierra Nevad
it is mostly 10 to 16 inches. The annua
average of Great Britain is 30 inches; tina
of France, 20 to q inches; but about tb,
Inc &c r,octlv IN ipoboc Eartlo
from the coast, in Central Germany, it il
only 10 to 20 inches. The moistest climate
known is in India, at Cherrapongee, wher,
over a small area the yearly fall of rain il
more than 610 inches, or about 81 feet.
Mons. Onimus has reported to the Frencl
Academy of Sciences that the cholera cpl
denies Of Paris and Marseilles were at
tended by low proportion of ozone in thu
atmosphere, and that the administration Of
ozone produced favorable results in cases Of
the disease.
MORE NEW BATTERIES. Electric bat
teries are multiplying. A new primary
cell, devised by DR.. Pabst, of Stettin, OPP
crates by the consumption Of iron, the
electrodes being carbon and wrought iror
dipping into solution of chloride of iron.
This cell is attracting much attention in
Germany, and it is expected to prove valua-
be in domestic electric lighting. In an
other primary battery-that of Profs Bar
toll and Papasogli-the popularity is that
the carbon is consumed, the electrodes be.
ing platinum and carbon and the excitir g
liquid hypochlorite of soda.
Pasteur, the great French chemist, de.
votes his entire time to original research,
although he receives salary equivalent to
$4,000 year as scientific director of the
Superior School of Paris. Koch, the emi-
nent German Psychologist, is provided with
laboratory by the government, and is paid
sum equal to $1,000 per anpum.
A German mining engineer, Herr J.
Muller, brings light coins up to the stand
ard weight bS electro -deposition of
~lKs7s91. u ills necessary
to add considerably to the wei yht, this pro-
cess simply forming thin and uniform
coating-does not deface the characters
upon the coin.
A French archaologist, Mons. Saillard6..
has discovered the workshop of prehi.-
toghc armorsr ia a steep rock on the coast
9 EBnttan The workman lived in tire
stone age, and bis skeleton was found
among she various stone weapons and i'm
plements upon which he had been working
Most experiments with hydrochlorate OF
cocaine eave been confined 10 Mucous sur
faces, like the eye ana the m sut1. Byap-
plying it under the skin, weger, M 4 s.
j. Gras-et has found that he n W apas-
thetic may b. made to produce local ins n
sibility in any part Of the body, the dura-
ton being sufficient. for various surs ical
operations.
LIGHTNING IN LHE TRoPICs.-TO con-
firm other experience If tropical ,hund T.
storms Mr.. ]. ]. Myrick reports that very
few persons or buildings are ever injured
by lightning in the plains of India, al
though. at THO commencement of the mon
soon, storms occur in which the lightning
runs like snakes all over the sky at the rate
of three or four flashes a secGad, and the
p-roarS without Nfeak for an