Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-07-24
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

i Hc lHcTcaSc Oh SulcIuc Is SclcntlllCnl-
ly ascribed to the fatncss of modern
lifo, to forced education. and to the
increasing difficulty of existence.
Smallpox was accurately described
by Rhazes, an Arabian physician,
about 900 A. ID. 1t is supposed to have
been introduced into Europe by the
Saraccns, and it was spread widely
among the Indians by tho early cX-
plorers of America.
A remarkable specimen lately cx-
hibitcd to the London Geological So
cicty was a brazilian snake which had
partly swallowed live lizard. The
lizard had nearly succeeded in eating
its way out, through the body of tho
snake, when death overlook both crca-
lures.
The salts Of sca-watcr, according to
Prot. w. G. Williamson, +. X. S., are
rendered inert by the addition of cit
rate of silver, an ounce OF that sub
stance converting half a pint Of sea-
water into n drinkablc fluid. 1t is
proposed to pack citrate of silver in the
lifc-boats of occan-going vessels for use
| in case of need.
That earthquakes exert n destructive
influence on the phyloXcra insect of tho
grape is tho opinion of S. Nilalonguc,
who has told tho Paris Academy of
Sciences OF a vineyard near Malaga
which had apparently been destroyed
by the parasite but which vigorously
burst into leaf after tho recent earth
quakcs in southern Spain.
Prof. Tromhot, in Norway, has met
with partial success in photographing
tho aurora borcalis, feat which his
many failures had led him to pronounce
impossible. After exposing plate for
eight and a half minutes he secured a
negative Of an aurora, but the impress
sion is so very faint that it cannot be
reproduced as Il positive.
DIR. c. f. Saunders, of the West
llcrts Medical Association in England,
contends that cholera is transmitted
from one locality to another by human
agencies rather than climatic causes.
Evidence of this is the fact that no
outbreak has been known TO occur in
less time thap it would take man to
travel the distance from the nearest
place whcro the disease already existed.
Tho seeds of the Kola tree, the high
ly priced stimulant of the natives of
Africa, appear to POSSESS qualities
which should give them Il commercial
value in civilized countries. Mr. Il.
Christie, an English writer on new
| commercial plants and drugs, asserts
that chocolate made with kola paste is
ten times rs nutritious As that made
with cocoa, and that laboror can
work all day without fatigue on a single
cup taken at breakfast time.
A living species of four-footcd bird,
inhabiting the island OF Maraio in the
Lower AmaZOns, was a short time auo
described by Mr.. +. NJ. brigham 1t
Is only during infancy that the remark
able feature of this bird is seen, the
two forc-fcct appearing early in the
development of tho embryo and con
tinuing perfectly formed for several
days after Matching, when they are
gradually shed. The geological namo
Of this curious creature is Opisthocoma
| cristata.
With tho present organization OF the
United States Geological Survey, ac-
cording to Mr., j. w. Powell, its map
Of the United States will be completed
in about twonty-four years, about one
| fifth Of the country-oXclusiyc of Alas
ka-having thus far been mapped.
Whore the topography and geology are
simple, rs in tho prairics and great
plains, the sheets of this map are made
on a scale of l-2jO, 900, or about four
| miles to the inch; farther west, whcro
both structure and topography are
more complex, special districts are
| made to twice this scale. and import
ant mining districts are much larger;
while in tho east the more thinly settled
sections are giving scale of ll25, 900,
and the more dcnscly populated por-
| tions one of To-, 800, or about ono milo
to the inch. Upon this plan the whole
Of the United States and Alaska will
require not less than 1900 sheets, be-
| sides several hundred special maps.