Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-02-08
BITS or SCIENCE.

Sharks have eyelids; whales have none.
Wet winters have been found to result
disastrOusly to insects.
The grasshopper develops from the
young larva to the winged adult without
changing its mode of life.
1t is a curious fact that the looms used
in the manufacture of silk in New Jersey
are almost fac-similes of those employed
for the same purpose in India and China.
England's death-rate has decreased dur
ing the present century from forty IN a
thousand to twenty in a thousand. This
is attributed to the progress of sanitary
science.
In London an electric light has been
used to illuminate the interior of an oven.
The door was of plate glass, and every
part OF the process Of baking could be
distinctly seen.
A member of the London Meteorologi-
cal Society has invented an instrument
called the anemOgraph, which is operated
by electricity and keeps record on pa
per Of the direction and velocity of the
wind.
Mr.. f. Day has discovered in artificial
breeding among the SalmOnid3 that,
while all the hybTids between the salmon
and the trout had proved sterile, the
crosses between the salmon and the chars
Discussing the manufacture Of bone
dust, Prof. j. KONG shows that when
bones, previous to grinding, are freed from
fats by treatment with benZOl they are
purified from ingredients which have no
agricultural value.
While our country is supposed to be
nearly free from earthquakes no less than
1854 shocks were recorded in the United
States and Canada in the twelve years
ending with 1888. This Is an average of
about one in every twelve days.
A French investigator has found that
chlOrOform is decompOsed in from two to
five days by the combined action of SUM-
light and the air. In the dark the air
does not affect it, and light produces no
alteration when all oxygen is excluded.
Sir Henry Bessemer has announced that,
by the use of very pure charcoal pig-iron
and its treatment by special method, q
Bessemer steel is produced which on anal
ysis is found equal in purity to the high
est brands OF steel made from blistered
bars.
Cyanide of potassium" will remove all
indelible ink whose base is nitrate of sill
yer. Being deadly poison, it Will be
hard to get from the druggists in most
cities. Turpentine or alcohol, rubbed in
hot, removes the new inks, using soda and
soap freely in hot water atterWard.
BY adding two parts of cream of tartar
to one part of OXalic acid, ground fine and
kept dr. in bottle, you will find, by APP
plying a little of the powder to rust stains
while the article is wet, that the result is
much quicker and better. Wash out in
clear warm water to prevent injury to the
goods.
A mountain explorer just returned from
Asia states that during a four months
residence at a height of more than $4,000
feet above the sea his pulse, normally 90
beats per minute, seldom fell below 100
beats per minute, and his respirations
were often twice as numerous as at Ordi-
nary levels.
Tracing paper may be made by MINERS
ing best tissue paper in bath composed
of turpentine and bleached beeswaX. A
piece of beesWaX an inch in diameter,
dissolved in half pint of turpentine, is
said to give good results. The paper
should be allowed to dry for three days
before it is used.
An English chemist has confirmed by
analysis the opinion that the lack of NAL
Liability in heated iron-Or red short
ness" as it is called--is due to the pres
ence of oxygen. A red-short specimen
contained 1884 per cent. of oxygen, while
samples free from the detect had only 0.750
per cent. or less.
Before the Linnean Society, of London,
Mr.. A. Taylor has sought to prove that
plants have a dim sort of intelligence,
and are able, at least, to exert as volun-
tary power sas certain lowly-organ-
IZedt animals. One proof of this is the
plants avoidance of obstacles-placed
artifcially in their way-by bending aside
before touching.