The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-06-25
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Primrose seeds from height of H.
600 to $4,000 feet in the Himalayas have
been received at Calcutta. and some are
to be planted in England
A spiny African caterpillar, seven
inches long and of a steel gray color
was exhibited ut a recent meeting of the
Linnean Society in London.
A German chemist. Prof. G. Winkler,
has discovered Il new element-''Ger-
manium"-in a mineral named Argyro-
dite, which consists chiefly of sulphur,
silver and mercury.
Pcnkert has determined that in the
Swan electric lamp the proportion of
the energy transformed solely into light,
is %. per cent; in the Siemens, 27.9;
in the Edison, 1858; and in the arc lamp,
1873.
The proportions of the different colors
in eyes among the people of Italy is thus
estimated by Prof. Mantegazza; black
eyes. twenty-five per cent; chestnut,
sixty-four; blue, eleven; and gray eyes,
three per cent
A workshop of the stone age has been
discovered near the gates of Paris, and
has yielded nearly 900 hand-worked
flints, including pieces of polished
hatchets, scrapers, blades, points, and
two or three little polishers.
|. DIR. p. Andries finds that the danger
of house being struck by lightning has
increased three to five fold in Germany
within the last fifty years, and supposes
this to be due to the impurities from the
ever increasing number of chimneys.
An electric-light dynamo in London is
driven by steam engine which is said
to make $4,000 revolutions per minute,
and is claimed to be the first motor ever
made to work at the actual velocity of
the steam us it escapes from the boiler.
DIR. Burney Yeo, of London, reports
the curious observation that there are
persons who usually drink tea without
injury, but in whom, when in depress-
ed mental condition, ii occasions indi-
gestion and palpitation of the heart.
Exact measurements of the oscilla-
tions of chimneys have been made. One
near Marseilles, France-115 feet high
and four feet in external diameter at
the tOp-reached a maximum Oscilla-
ton of twenty inches during a high
wind
Prof. l.. Weber mentions a stroke of
lightning in Germany which broke
window-pane and forced a jet of water
through the aperture upward to the cell
ing, part of which it detached. Three
bucketfuls of water were afterward taken
from the room.
The principle of telescopes was de-
scribed by Roger Bacon about 1850, and
Leonard Digges died about 1873
is said to have arranged glasses so
that he could see very distant objects.
Calico constructed telescopes in 1909,
and discovered yupiter's satellites in
1910.
Instantaneous photographs of the
hearts and intestines of various animals
have enabled DR.. w. &. Thompson to
determine the action of the organs more
clearly and accurately than is possible
by other methods. Such photographs
may prove of great value in showing
changes effected by drugs, as well as in
their physiological teachings.
A German writer remarks that the
compound known as '.Zeiodelite,' dis
covered by Simon, has not been used so
much as its peculiar advantages would
seem to suggest. 1t is prepared by mix
ing 25 to 80 parts of the powdered glass
with 20 parts of melted sulphur. This
may be shaped into any design; and it
cools into strong hardness, resisting
boiling water and the strongest acids.
1t can be united at heat of 400 de-
grees.
In an extensive series of experiments
by Prof. GRADER, insects and many other
invertebrates perceived odors much
more quickly and acutely than the YER
tebrates tested (birds and reptiles). The
antennae proved to be not the only or
gans 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-organs are more
sensitive than the antennae, but percep-
ton of smell through the stigmata or
respiratory organs is not rapid nor inn
portant.