Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-02-11
-sTAUNToN SPECTATOR AND GENERAL ADvE
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
For the SPECTATOR.

| For the SPECTATOR.
| CHEMISTRY FOR THE KITcHEN.-Mr. w.
Mattieu Williams states that he is making
experiments to learn the efficiency of the
diastase of malt, and also that of various
acids, in converting vegetable tissue into
dextrine and grape-sugar. When process
for effecting such conversion is made gen
orally available our food supplies will be
greatly extended. Turnips and similar
vegetables will become delicate diet for in
valids; horse-beans will be better than beef;
and delicate biscuits and fancy pastry, as
well as ordinary bread, will be produced
from sawdust and wood-shavings plus a
little leguminous flour. This may be done
now. Chemists have long been able to
transform old shirts and rags into sugar
in their laboratories. 1t has yet to be done
in the kitchen.
| A NEW FoOD.-In the seed of the cotton
tree, of which several varieties are cultiva-
ted in Bolivia, a correspondent OF the
French Academy announces the discovery
of the richest of all known grains in nitrog-
enous substances. He is convinced that
the flour of this seed is destined to become
an important article of food. A paste
made from it may serve as substitute for
milk.
| The number Of fossil plant species now
known is estimated to be not less than
5000, and may be considerably greater
A catalogue of all which have been de-
scribed down to the present year is being
prepared at the National Museum.
The discovery was recently announced of
fossil air-breathing animal of an earlier
age than any before known-a scorpion
from the upper Silurian deposits of Swe-
den. A cockroach's wing dating. from a
still remote period-the middle Silurian-
has since been found in France.
| PROMPTING EYE-GLAssEs.-Th s'micro-
photoscope, devised by schoolmaster of
tue Isle of Man, is pair of spectacles in
the rims of which are several micro photo
graphs, each provided with little magni-
flying lens. The instrument is worn as an
ordinary pair of spectacles, and the wearer
may, at any time, see the pictures by
slightly turning his eyes. A public speak
er may thus have in view photographs of
his notes. traveller, maps or tables of in
formation; detective, list of criminals
sought, and so on.
| OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES German
Psychologist, Prof Eulenburg, has found
that different parts of the body are very
unequally sensitive to differences of heat
and cold, the sense of temperature being
most acute in the forehead and the back of
the hands, and least active in tie back,
and the upper part of the abdomen. At
| the former spots differences of about third
of a Fahrenheit degree were distinctly per-
ceived, but at the other two points differ
ences were only detected when reaching
nearly two degrees.
A QU1NINl SUBsT1TUTE.-The doundake
plant (Cephalina esculenta, Schum.) has
been described to the Paris Academy Of
Sciences as an astringent and febrifuge ca
pable Of replacing quinine, as dye yield
ing beautiful yellow color. 1t grows in
West Africa, and resembles the Morinda of
the South Sea Islands quite closely in many
respects. Its active principle is dounda-
kline.
In Birmingham, England, a company has
been organized for the novel purpose Of
distributing to the manufacturers of the
town air strongly compressed at central
station.
1t has been recently proven that earth
worms are capable of regenerating tissue,
large pieces cut from their bodies being re-
placed by new growths.
LACUsTRINE REvELATIoNs.-Since 1878,
vetians, as the prehistoric lake-dwellers of
of Central Europe have been named, have
been dug from the beds of lakes Neuchatel
and Bienne. Swiss museums have received
1858 Of these objects, while DR.. Goss, of
Neuveville, has nearly 5000. DR.. Goss
finds evidence that the progress of this van
ished race was marked by three successive
stages-an age Of stone, an age Of bronze,
and an age of iron. There may, also, have
been an age of copper, preceding that Of
bronze. Remains of villages of the stone
age are most abundant thirteen having
been found in Lake Bienne, with only two
of the bronze age-but those belonging to
the era of metals are much more extensive.
Besides the stone and metal implements,
various wooden objects have been found,
such as canoes, an OK yoke, fragments of
tables and benches, toy boats, hammers,
and spades. No complete dwelling has yet
bsen found among the villages of the lakes,
but charred planks and timbers remain to
tell of the mysterious confagration in which
persisted a remarkable and ancient civiliza-
ton.
| A new spid er, the female of which meas
the fore and hind legs, has been discovered
in cave of Tasmania.
Flying fish do not fly is the assertion of
DR.. r. Mobius, German zoologist. The
muscles of their pectoral fins are too small
to sustain the weight of the body in the
air. The impulse to which their long shoot
ing passage through the air is delivered,
while they are still in the water, by the
powerful masses of muscle on both sides of
4 their body.
AGerman ornithologist, DR.. A c. E. Bal
j..
of 2, 900 species of birds, mostly European.
Form and Feature,