The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-05-08
C0RPised for The Arkaaso1 Th0releT. SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY


 The air of different places seems to vary little in its proportion of oxygen and nitrogen, air lately brought from Cape Horn being about like that of France.
 A prize of 5000 is offered for the best essay on the progress of electricity applied to motive power and lighting before January l, 1889, the king of the Belgians being donor.
 There is no patch of the moons visi. ble surface half mile square that is not accurately mapped, according to Prot. Young, while the earth contains i'm mense tracts, and in Central Africa, which have never been surveyed.
 In late experiments by Russian phys iologist, neither pure tin nor the bichlo. bride of tin proved poisonous when in- troduced into the stomach of dog, but when the bichloride was injected into the veins it was quickly fatal The attention of medical men in France has been directed to new sleep producing drug called hypnone, dis titled mixture of acetate of lime with benzoate of lime. It is claimed that the new drug produces none of the un- pleasant after symptoms of opium.
 The housewives of Norway make their common fiat-bread largely of the pow dered branches of the young pine, not so much to save flour as to secure light loaf The bark proves to be not only innutritious but actually injurious, and is now being denounced by medical men,
 The captain of an Australian schooner. Mir. F. H. Griffiths, reports the setting fire of his vessel by meteorite on De cember twelfth, while in latitude 230 B, north, and longitude l430 26/ west No shock was felt, but two or more hot metallic pieces as large as mans hand were picked up.
 A Natural Bird Trap.-The orna- mental PlSonia qraqdiS of Australia has seeds like an elongated barley corn, which are covered with very sticky gum. This adheres to the legs and feathers of winged creatures coming in contact with it, and makes the plant natural bird-catcher, no less than hun dred birds having been known to be captured by one tree in Victoria.
 Snake Venom.-The quantity of poi son conveyed in the fangs of venomous snakes appears to be very small, but of very powerful quality. Dr. Vincent Richards, of Bengal, mentions kraft which quickly killed three men and seriously poisoned fourth, by bites given in rapid succession. He esti- mates that the reptile carried eight grains of liquid venom in its poison glands, which are smaller than those of the cobra.
 A New Sewage Scheme-The precipi- tation method of treating sewage is to be adopted in London on large scale The sewage is left in tanks, and the separation of the solid portion is has tened by the addition of lime and pro- tosulphate of iron. The liquid becomes as clear as fresh water, and may be drained into the Thames; while the solid matter is to be pressed into blocks for transportation to the sea. The pro cess has been tried experimentally for some months, but is now to be applied to 9,O0O,00O gallons of sewage daily.
 A Pre-Edison Phonograph.-A writer in China claims to have discovered record of the existence of speaking photograph in that country as far back as the seventeenth century. The instru ment is mentioned as the thousand-li speaker" and the description is as fol- lows: " It was bamboo tube covered with disk of glass and opened by key After speaking into it several thousand words, it was closed and carried to a distance not exceeding thousand Ii. On opening it and applying the ear, a voice was still distinctly heard. If carried greater distance the voice be- came indistinct." Dr. Mcgowan sug- gests that indistinctness might result from injury sustained by the apparatus in long trip over the rough roads.
 Sensibility of Biologists are becoming aware of the existence of a low order of intelligence in plants. Prof Morren, in late publication of the Royal Belgian Academy, argues that the law of sensation producing motion is common to both animal and vegeta- ! ble kingdoms, that plants are sensible to