Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1885-02-05
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

wind during bong ages has had some et-
feet in the shaping of the land. III the
plateaus Of Central Asia, Gen. Preyal,ki
has found evidence that violent winds
have moved the small stones about, grad
ually pulverizing the fragments by irio-
ton, and that the finer particles thus pro-
duced have been blown to the valleys,
where they have formed constantly
thickening deposit. On the Pug De
Dome, in France, extensive wind Iepos-
its have been noticed, an ancient temple
Of Mercury on the top Of that mountain
having been covered up in sand for near
II twenty centuries.
Some remarkable illustrations of the
power of plants to adapt themselves to
diverse conditions have been furnished
By the observation of Senior Ladislao
Netto, of Rio Janeiro, One plant stIych
NOS triplinervia, was found growing in
an open space as bush about six feet
high, while another specimen Of the
same species was seen in the shade Of
some WOO Is only few yards away a.
vine sixty feet in length. Other plants
were allowed to become vines OF consider
able length in the dense Brazilian forests,
and at once began to change their ap-
pcarance to that Of shrubs on being given
free exposure to the sunlight.
A new latern microscope, for display
Ing upon screen greatly magniiicd i'm
ages Of very minute objects, has been ex-
hibited before the microscopical societies
of London, and has given results said to
be greatly in advance Of any previous
achievement At one meeting a blow
fy's tongue was shown from six to f.ui-
teen feet long, according to the powers
used and the section Of ily's eye
was magnified $500 diameters or more
than six million times.
Attempts to determine the speed of
thought have been made BY Prof. Don
dcrs, of Utrecht, with two instruments,
which he calls the noematachograph and
tile noematachometer. lie has found
that the brain must for .069 Of a second
to produce single idea, but this time
will probably be shown to vary with diff
fcrent brains For the eye to receive an
impression requires .07T OF second, and
che car needs Ii9 of secood to apprc.
ciate a sound, the action Of the eye being
twice as rapid as that Of the ear.
A subtcrranaan observatory is beins
established in very deep coal mine nca'
Nagasaki, Japan, the object being to de
t.rminc what's connection exists between
earthquake phenomena and those meteor
logical phenomena belonging to the earth
surface, such as storms, tides, etc. Tht
protector is Prof Milne, of the Universe
~ of Toxic, the indeiatigable student o
earthquakes in the land in which the,
arc most frequent.
While some naturalists have seen rea
sons for believing that light Of some mus
exist several thousond fathoms below tn
snrfacc Of the sea, it is very improbabl
that sunlight can penetrate to such grea
depths. At depth of $50 feet in tn
Lake of Geneva, Messrs Fol and sarasi
have just found that the strength Of tn
light ir the day is about equal to tina
which we perceive in a clear moonles
night. At 400 feet below The suriac
the hight Is still quite strong.
According to Prof, Attfell, F. Il. S
some tobacco leaves contain naturally to
pei cent. or more of sugar.
Not taking into account atmosphere
absorption, Sir William Thomson ha
computed that we receive from the ia
moon y light, equal to that which woul
reach US from twenty.scyen thousand mi
lion million candles'spread over the moon
earthward hemisphere, painted black.
allowance is made for the loss Of moor
light in passing through our atinospher,
the number Of candles must be muc
greater--probably reaching forty millo
million. The same eminent physicist ha
further calculated that, if the moon
side were painted black, and coyere
with normally burning candles standing
closely packed in square order, the ligh
would appear to us to be about the sam
in quantity as that which We now receiv
As compared with the sun, he has bee,
led to the conclusion that we cannot b
very far wrong in estimating the light q
the full moon as about a twenty-thous
andth of the sunlight anywhere on earth
The common potato Solannm taber
osum) is native of dry land, and b,
NJ.