Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-06-23
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
compiled for the SPECTATOR.


firming that these hairs are those of the
huge subterraneous animal that shakes the
world. DR.. Mcgowan has suggested that
fine crystals have been deposited from case
GUS emissions during shocks, but inclines to
the opinion that the hairs of the Chinese
traditions had vegetable origin. This
leads Prof. W. T. Dyer to point out that an
English writer who had the curiosity to in
vestigate the alleged phenomenon after an
earthquake at Shanghai in 1862, found that
the hairs were those of horses. dogs, and
well-known plants and, of course, were no
more numerous than at other times.
WHO KNOWS ?-There is a growing dis
position among scientific men to discuss the
''sea-serpent" as creature whose existence
is not at all improbable. The discovery
within recent years of the giant squids of
the Atlantic-some of which may attain a
length of fifty feet-is cited as demonstra-
ton that large marine animals may have
escaped the attention of science even to the
present day. Only an ignorant or thought
less individual, indeed, will dare assert that
there may not be some descendant of the
monsters of cretaceous days even now lurk-
ing in the ocean depths.
A series of festivals has been held at
Montdidier, in the north of France, in hon.
or of Parmentier, who-only 100 years ago
was the first to bring the potato to French
soil.
The Bressa prize of So, 400 is to be pre-
sented by the Royal Academy of Sciences
at Turin for the greatest work or discovery
in the physical or natural sciences in the
years 10S6-'89.
The medical school of Japan, which last
year had 972 students, is HOO years old.
SHOWING SHIPS STRAINs.-An apparatus
which must prove of great value when fully
developed was lately described to the Brit
ish Institution of Naval Architects by Mr.
G. E. Stronger. 1t is designed to show
the strains of ships tossed by the waves or
of other structures subject to great stress.
Briefly described, the instrument consists
of thin wire placed between two plates of
metal, one being rigidly attached to the
structure of the ship or other object to be
tested and the other held by long wire
and coiled spring. The two plates are
thus placed with their surfaces parallel and
only separated by the thin wire, to which is
attached light pointer or needle. Upon
any movement Of either plate the thin wire
rolls between the two surfaces, and it will
readily be seen that in this way the bend
ing of beam or the elongation of test
pieces subjected to stress can be defined and
registered.
1t appears that the crocodile, like the
faith which formerly esteemed it sacred, is
practically extinct in Egypt. The steam
ers plying the Nile have had more effect in
driving it from that river than the guns of
sportsmen, according to Prof. A. H. Sayce
Tha ciJ ortl, of
Fahrenheit has been found by Herr Fruh-
ling of Konigsberg to be between 143 and
1913 pounds per square inch; and the com
pressive strength, shown by cubes of more
than two inches, between 81 and 205 pounds
per square inch.
In paper to the London chronological
Society, Mr.. j. W. Slater showed that all
brightly colored insects do not live upon
flowers, as Mr.. Grant Allen has asserted,
but that many species are carnivorous.
Five attempts have now been made to re-
place the diseased human eye by the healthy
eye Of an animal, and in one case the ex-
pertinent has resulted successfully.
FISH IN POLLUTED wATERs.-Some in
teresting researches on the injury to the
fisheries and fish culture by sewage and
factory waste waters have been made iu
Germany by Weigett, Sacre and Schwa
Among other results, it was found that
chloride of lime in the water, in proportions
from 0.04 to 0.005 per cent, exerted an i'm
mediately fatal action upon tench, while
trout and salmon persisted in the presence
of 0.000S per cent of chlorine. One Der
cent of hydrochloric acid killed tench and
trout. Iron acted as a specific poison on
fishes, as did alum also. Solution of caus-
tic lime had very violent effect. Sodium
sulphide, in the proportion of Oh per cent,
was endured by tench for half an hour. The
injurious action of putrid sewage depends
on the poisonous gases and the deficiency
of oxygen.
BAD FOR EUROPEANS IN AsIA.-Atten-
ton has been called to the singular fact that
European residents of the ports of China
and Japan are peculiarly liable to death
from aneurism-the broadening and burst
ing of an artery-which is probably not SO
prevalent in any other communities in the
world. During period of seven years this
diee ase is said to have ranked fourth among
the causes of death in Yokohama.
The annual meeting of the American AS
ISOLATION for the Advancement of Science
will open at Buffalo, N. Y, on Aug. 18th, |
the British Association, with Sir VIM. |
Dawson, of Montreal, as president, will be
held at Birmingham, Eng, beginning Sept |
LIST.
Recent comparison shows that the silk Of
Bengal is fully equal to that of Italy, but
the curious difference appears that the
Italian worm spins thread nearly five
times as long as that of the worm of India,
A new species of wild pighas been dis
covered in New Guinea.
Gen. Mahone's organ, now printed in
Washington, in it's efforts to revive the
memories of the civil war, speaks of the
prison as that "hideous hell
Of horrors" But Col. Don Piatt, Union
officer, and friend, admirer, and defender
Of Secretary Stanton, says the "hell" re-
ferred to was kept up because Mr.. Stanton,
upon the advice Of Gen. Grant, refused to