The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-09-12
Compiled for THR AKKANsAw TRAvxLkR.
 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY
The seed vessels of the bird-catch;,.

Inc seed vessels or the Dlrd-catchins tree of New Zealand secrete very s,;cLe gum, in which not merely insects but bird, are entangled and perish.
 In recent English experiments it ba, been found that the risk of dust explosion, in coal mines may be obviated by remoyin. or watering the dust for a distance of s,T yards around the shol-noies.
 P of. Vulpian, of the Paris Academy of Medicine, repudiates the view that person, can suffer after decapitaton, as he finds sa,. isfactory physiological evidence that the s,v. ering of the head produces instantaneon, loss of consciousness.
 Dr. Percy F. Frankland's experiments have shown that the best filters for drinkins water are made of greensand, coke, animal charcoal, or spongy iron, but in every cas. the filter loses its power to remove all or. ganc particles after being used month
 A geological commission has been appointed by the Spanish government to in. vesti gate the Philippines. The geogranbx and topography of the Archipelago will be studied, as well as the geology, and man will be prepared to complete and correct ex. l isting ones.
 A disease known in Ceylon as kakke or beribefi has been investigated by Dr " Taylor, of Osaka, Japan, and traced to microscopic spore, which is often found largely developed in rice and has been de. tected in the earth of certain alluvial and damp localities.
 According to Henry Vlvarez, French electrician, siiicious bronze has a conducti- biiity comparable to that of copper and a strength greater than that Of iron. For tele. graphic purposes silicious bronze wires may be used to replace those of galvanized iron more than five times as heavy.
 Prof A. Landmark, chief director of the Norwegian Fisheries, finds that under favorable conditions a salmon may some times jump sixteen feet perpendicularly, and that when the fish's leap is a loot or two short of the waterfall it often succeeds in completing the ascent by dextrous use of the tail.
 The retina of the living eye has been photographed by two English operators. Owing to the non -actnic color of the retna an exposure of twenty minutes by gaslgh, was required with an extra sensitive gelatine plate. Although small, the negative shows the bifurcaton of the blood vessels, and also the edge of the blind spot.
 From experiments iu tropical Africa Herman Soyaux concludes that agriculture is practicable, the sol-though exhausted in a year by maize and manise-being suitable for the cultivation of coffee, vanilla. India rubber, tobacco, cotton and sugar cane. in the Upper Congo country these plants and many others grow naturally or are already cultivated.
 The use of nitro-glycerine as a substi- tute for alcohol for stimulating the action of the heart has been recommended by pr. I. E. Burroughs. The advantages claimed are. that only minute quantity is required, tha, the nitro lycerne is practically free from taste and odor, that it acts immediately, and that it is not likely to induce a craving for alcoholic stimulants.
 Astronomical AccurAcy-Tuttle's com ct of rS58 having period of about fourteen years, makes its nearest approach to the sun this year, and was seen at Nice on iugustz. From observations made during the two for mer appearances, Rants, a German compu- ter, calculated an orbit, which agrees with the place in which the comet has just been found within fifteen seconds of time and about six minutes of arc; SO that by point ing telescope to the computed place. the comet would be in the field of view after an absence of fourteen years.
 A Delicate Germ-The dreaded comma bacillus, the germ of cholera, has proven to be quite tender organism, which IS quickly killed by diving, by heat ot 10 degrees Fahrenheit, and by many alkalles and acids. The process of putrefaction also destroys 1t in few hours. Tn the human body the bacillus lives, on the average, only six days after the attack; in moist earth it survives from fourteen to sixteen days in dis titled water, twenty days; in sea water, sixty four to eighty-one days; and in the bilge- water of an iron ship, thirty-two days. After these intervals the danger of contagion ceases. In common with other disease germs, the ba- cillus appears to have a remarkable power of enduring cold.
 Man as He Should Be.-Huxley con- siders mans proper weight to be 1s4 pounds, made up as follows: Muscles and their ap- o8 pounds; skeleton, 24 pounds; skin, 10 pourds fat 28 pounds; brain, pounds thoracic vlscera, 3I2 pounds ab- dominal viscera, II pounds; and blood which would drain from the body. pounds. This man should breathe I5 times a minute, vitiat- ing to the extent of one per cent I75o cubic feet of pure air every 24 hours. His heart should beat $ times minute. Through hls skin would pass IS ounces of water. 300 gT aims of solid matter and 400 grains of car bonic acid every 24 hours and his total daily loss-to be replaced by proper food-would be pounds of water and little more than ? pounds of other matter