The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-03-06
Compiled sOr TEE ARKANsAw TRAvx1.xR.
 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLAN,

H mas been demonstrated by MT w. Slater that caterpillars are affected by mac. netic currents, WI ich hinder their develon. ment and even kill them.
 A study of 65o Italian thunder-sso.ms has shown Signor rsrrari that every thunder. storm is behind depression of barom.,er and hygrometer, and before one of the ,her. mon,eter.
 C ass plates have been substituted for copper in the sheathing of an italian shin the advantages claimed being exemption from oxidation, and inctustation. he glass was cast, like iron, in plates to it the hull. An interesting field for scientific re. search has been opened by Prof ;. P. LanP- ley, by the discovery that the heat radiaied from the soil is of aR almost totally dIfferen, quality from that which comes from the sun. A German chemist concludes that, on accoun, of its great dige tieili,y, cheese is the most nourishing of all foods, meat and eggs excepted. Of eighteen varities of cheese tried, Cheddar is most readily di gested.
 in the mining centers of England and Scotland are to be established danger sie. nals m connection with the weather servlce. for the purpose of making known such atmos- pheric changes as may eff ct the working of the mines.
 It appears that there are now inhab- ited cave-dwellings in Saxony. They are dug in a sand stone hill have different rooms. light and dark. as we'll as chimneys, windess. and doors, and are said to be very dry and hos pitable.
 The larger animals are being rapidly ex,erminated in Algeria, and the lion of the desert is fast becoming a myth. During the eleven years from 1873 to 1884 bounty was p-i on 2oa lions, I2I4 partners, 1882 hyenas, and 27 ooo jackals.
 In a paper on harbors, Prof L M, Haupt mentions that from New Yo to the Gulf of Mexico there are only four natural entrances where the depth at mean low water is over sixteen feet, while the l,rsest ships draw from twenty-six to tventy-eigh ght-and a. half feet.
 An unusual numbers of white varieties of animals have been noticed in Germany this winter. white oh amois was shot Tn ,he iotenge birge, a white hsh-otter was caught near LuxemSurg, white cartridges were shot near Brunswick, and white fox was killed in Hessen.
 Photograph of Tiger and Prey Through accident a photograph of tiger seizing his prey. has been secured in India. camera was focused on a buffa do some thirty feet away, and just as a dry plate was adjusted tiger leaped from a lngle and prostrated the buffalo at a single blow. though poor, the ne g alive gave good idea Of the relative positions of tiger and buffllo.
 Metals in Plants -L'te investigations indicate that the chlorophyll. or green color ing substance of the leaves. is most liable to pick up metallic matter absorbed by the roots of plants. When vines have been man. ured with su'phate of copper, most of the metal is dep 1sited in the leaves, merely a trace appearing in the juice of the grapes. ea-leaves contain much iron doubtless due to the ochreous soil on which they best grow.
 An Engineers f.at-ln the construc. tion of a tunnel at Stockton cold air has been applied in a novel manner. In passing under a hill of light wet gravel 1t was found practi- cally impossible to underpin the houses over head. IL was thert fore decided to freeze the gravel by means of cold air, and put in the lining while the material was solid, the un- dertaking having now been successfully car ri.ad ont of l. have been injured.
 A New Genus of Dog-The remains of distinct type of dog, wildly differing from any of the ordinary wild or domesticated dogs, have been described by Mir. ! A. Allen. The bones were found in Ely Cave, Lee county, Va. In general form the animal was short limbed and heavy bodied, resembling la its proportions badger rather than dog. It is proposed to consider the remains as belonging to new genus, which has been Damed Pachycyon robustus.
 Senses for Heat and Cold.-Vvisec. ton experiments upon cats and dogs lead Mir. A. Herxen, a German author, to the fol lowing conclusions I. The so-called sense of heat and cold is composed in reality of two senses quite independent both anaiomi- cally and physiologically. 2. Observations on healthy and diseased subjects show that the sensations of heat and cold are transmi,- ted through different nerves, by different routes, and to different brain .centers. a. The gyrus sigmoideus contains the center Ger cent'ipetal branches leading thereto) of touch and cold perceptions. {. These sense-perceptions are transmitted through the posterior columns of the spinal cord, while those of the senses of pain and warmth are conveyed through the gray substance.
 TillAble Lakes-Prof Schwable has drawn the attention of the Berlin Physical Society to two interesting phenomena ob- served in the gypsum of the Southern Hartr. viz the sinking of rivers, often accompanied by loud uproar. and the occurrence of inter- mittent lakes. The SO called "peasants'