The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-04-10
Compiled for The ArtdnsGas TSureler SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY

been received at Calcutta, and some are to be planted in England
 A spiny African caterpillar, seven inches long and of steel gray color va. exhibited at recent meeting of the Linnean Society of London.
 4 German chemist, Prof. C. Winkier has discovered a new clement" Ger. nianiunl in mineral named Arcyra dite, which consists chiefly of sulphur silver and mercury.
 Penkert has determined that in the Swan electric lamp the proportion of the energy transformed solely into light. k 2S. per cent; in the Siemens, 27q ip the Edison, 26.5; and in the are lamp. 3S.3.
 4 workshop of the stone age has b,,.n discovered near the gates of Paris, and has yielded nearly 900 hand-worked hints, including pieces of polished hatchets, scrapers, blades, points, and TWO or three little pollShers.
 An electric-light dynamo in London Is driven by steam engine which i, said to make 12000 revolutions Der minute and Is claimed to be the first motor ever made to work at the actual velocity of the steam as 1t escapes from the boiler
 Instantaneous photographs of the hearts and intestines of various ani. mals have enabled Dr. w. G. Thompson to determine the action of the organs more clearly and accurately than is pos sible by other methods. Such photo graphs may prove of great value in show ing changes effected by drugs, as well as in their physiological teachings.
 An Overlooked Material.-A German writer remarks that the compound known as Zeiodelite," discovered by simon, has not been used so much as its peculiar advantages would seem to suggest It is prepared by mixing 9 to 30 parts of the powered glass with 20 parts ol melted sulphur. This may be shaped into any design; and it cools into q strong hardness, resisting boiling water and the strongest acids. It can be united at heat of 400 degrees
 Insect Smell-In an extensive series of experiments by Prof Graber, insects and many other invertebrates perceived odors much more quickly and acutely than the vertebrates tested (birds and reptiles). The antennae proved to be not the only organs of smell in insects although these appear to be essential to the perception of some fine odors. In some cases the palpi of the mouth-or- gans are more sensitive than the anten- nae, but perception of smell through the stigmata or respiratory organs is not rapid nor important.
 Perception of Colors s-Sensations of vision require definite time of expos ure of the retina, which time Mir J. M Cattell of the University of Leipsic, finds to be considerably dependant on the nature of the object and the intensity ot the light. It varies with the several colors. Orange gives the quickest inn pression on the eye, and yellow closely follows it; then comes blue, red, and green; while the retna is least sensitive to violet light, the time for which is from two to three times as long as for orange. By lamp-light the eye works more slowly than by daylight, and the order of per ceiving colors is changed to orange, red, yellow, violet and blue
 Results of English Sanitation.-Im- proved health laws appear to have pro duced remarkable results in England and Wales, decided reduction in the deathratc having now been maintained for ten years, and been much greater during the second half of that period than in the first. So great has been the recent reduction that, as the registrar general points out, more than 2Sl 000 persons survived the last five year, whose deaths would have been recorded had the mean rate of mortality been equal to that prevailing in the ten years, lS1l-S0. The effect of longevity has been indicated by MT. Noel Humphrey, who states that the reduction in the death-rate from 225 in lS3S-54, to 20.s in lS16-S0 has added two years to the life of every male born, and three year- and half to that of every female.
 An Interesting Pet.-The Beaked Ch"todon of the Indian and Polynesian seas Is fish of eccentric form and beau tiful tints but its most remarkable fea- ture Is its curiously elongated muzzle or h2aE N hiph iS :,