The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1886-07-10
Correspondence Baltimore. County Onion.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
sEssrsrI1rY OF PLANTS.

sENsIBTLTTY OF PLANTS.
Biologists are becoming aware of the existence
of low order of intelligence in plants. Prof
Morren, in late publication of the Royal Belgian
Academy, argues that the law of sensation pro-
ducing motion is common to both animal and
vegetable kingdoms, that plants are sensible to
the influences of environment, and not only move
but are able to coordinate their movements. All
the phenomena of motion are ultimately traced to
protoplasm, living substance common alike to
tal characteristic are precisely the power of SEN
sation and movement. 1t has the faculty of re-
ceiving impressions and of moving responsively.
1t stirs therefore it lives and the same is true of
every organism from man to the microbe and the
plant. Life may be defined as the activity of pro-
toplasm, although this is substance whose true
nature is still unknown.
TEA-PoIsoNING.
Chronic tea poisoning, according to DR.. W. N.
Billiard, is frequent affection, the most common
symptoms of which are loss of appetite, dyspepsia,
palpitation, headache, vomiting and nausea, COM
bined with nervousness, and hysterical and neu-
ralgic affections, frequently accompanied by con-
stipation and pain about the heart. Among adult
women the average amount needed to cause poi
sonous symptomsis little less than five cups daily,
but the young and weak are more easily affected.
SNAKE VENOM.
The quantity of poison 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 estimates that the
reptile carried eight grains of liquid venom in its
poison glands, which smaller than those OF the
cobra.
PRE-EpIsoN PHoNoGRAPH.
A writer in China claims to have discovered a
record of the existence of speaking phonograph
in that country as far back as the seventeenth
century The instrument is mentioned as "the
thousand-li speaker" and the description IS as
follows: at was bamboo tube covered with a
dick of glass and opened by key. After speaking
into it several thousand words, it was closed and
carried to a distance exceeding thousand H.
On opening it and applying the ear, voice was
still distinctly heard If carried greater dis
lance the voice became indistinct." DR.. Macgowan
suggests that indistinctness might result from in
jury sustained by the apparatus in long trip over
the rough roads.
NEW SEWAGE SCHEME.
The precipitation method of treating sewage il
to be adopted in Londen on a large scale. The
sewage is left in tanks, and the separation OF the
solid portion is fastened by the addition of lime
and protosulphate of iron. The liquid becomes
as clear as fresh water, and may be drained into
the Thames; while the solid matter is to be pres
sed into blocks for transportation to the sea- The
process has been tried experimentally for some
months, but is now to he applied to 100000 gal
Ions of sewage daily.
A NATURAL BIRD-TRAP.
The ornamental Pisonia .grandis of Australia
has seeds like an elongated barley corn, which
are covered with very sticky gum. This ad-
heres to the legs and feathers of winged creatures
coming in contact with it, and makes the plant
natural bird catcher, no less than hundred
birds having been known to be captured by one
tree in Victoria.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The housewives of Norway make their common
fat-bread largely of the powdered branches of the
Young pine, not so much to save flour as to secure
light loaf. The bark proves to be not only in
nutritious but actually injurious, and is now be-
ing denounced by medical men.
There is no patch of the moons visible surface
half mile square that is not accurately mapped,
according to Prof. Young, while the earth con-
tains immense tracts, as in Central Africa, which
have never been surveyed.
In late experiments by Russian Psychologist,
neither pure tin nor the bichloride OF tin proved
poisonous when introduced into the stomach of
dog, but when the bichoride was injected into the
veins it was quickly fatal.
the progress of electricity applied to motive power
and lighting before Jan. 1st, 1889, the King OF
- the Belgisns being the donor.
The botanic gardens of the world, most of them
scientific in character, reported to number l97'
of which Germany has "a; Italy, 70 France,
20; Great Britain and ireland, II; West Indies,
6: and the United States, 5. More than half are
supported by government and only hve per cent.
by private enterprise.
The captain of an Australian schooner, Mr.. L.
H. Grifiths reports the setting fire of his vessel
by meteorite on Dec 18th, while in latitude 230
So, north and longitude 143o 26' west. No shock
was felt, but two more hot metallic pieces as
large as a mans hand were picked up.
The brain of lioness has been dlssected at
Berne and found to be in many respects inter-
mediate between the dogs and the cats brain.
The air of different places seems TO vary little
in its proportion of oxygen and nitrogen, ar
lately brought from Cape Horn being about like
that of France.
The attention of medical men in France has
been directed to a new sleep producing drug call
ed hypnone, distilled mixture of acetate OF lime
with benzoate of lime. 1t is claimed that the new
drug produces none of the unpleasant after symp-
toms of opium.
A French microscopic has studied the action
of the various condiments on the tissues OF the
oyster, and recommends lemon juice as the most
valuable as it destroys the animalculae infesting
the stomach of the mollusk.
Cultivation has affected the evolution OF the
tomato that the seeds are fast disappearing and
bid Rs ts t. pssO EHs e. snfFS as
of the plants dependent on cuttings.
A German embryologist, Prof Gerlach, has de-
vised method for watching the growth of un-
Matched birds through a small glass window made
at the sharper end of the egg.
From English experiments it appears that a
gas-engine indicating ten-horse power with coal
gas would barely indicate four horsepower with
hydrogen.
A new quinine- yielding bark has been brought
to Europe from South Africa.
A number of European botanists have had rea-
son to believe that the seeds of many New Zea-
land plants will not terminate readily until after
they have been frozen. The same curious obser-
walton has been made in relation to Himalayan
seeds.
A Speedy Engine.