The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-02-20
Compiled Ior THE ARKANsAw TRAvxIRR.
 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY

lever have been found by two Italian pbvsi
 ologists.
 l European manufacturers are said to h. adopting the plan for making paper as ,or,, as wood or leather by mixing chloride of ,iuo with the pulp in the course of manuf,c,r..
 The tuberose is now cultivated sr,.r s'veiy as field plant in Natal, South Afrca ana so favorabieis is the climate that flowers i, open air may be had every month in the year Statistics are said to show that ov., ninety per cent of mad dogs are retrievers q, animals so-caiied, and that monerels ar. much more liable to hydrophobia than doss of pure breed.
 The generation of heat by friction has been applied in England ;o the production of friction still, with which survivors of shipwrecks may obtain steam and fresh wate, from sea-water without the aid of fire.
 It is computed that twelve-inch wall of hard-burned bricks and good lime .n. sand mortar could be built !, ,6oo feet high be. fore the bottom layers would h. crushed. If Portland cement were added to the mortar the nelgnt might reach 700 feet.
 The Paris Horticultural Congress. to open in May, is to discuss, among otbe, questions, the influence of the age of seeds on the quality and quantity of the plants they produce, and the possibility of cultivatipp other mushrooms than the common edbls variety.
 A race of hairless Americans is threat. ened. It has been estimated that already one-nalf the adult men of American birth living in our cities are bald, and baldness is extremely liable to be propagated in the male line, and to appear little earlier in each suc- cessve generation.
 The common perfumes used in confer. nonery and cordials have been investigated by two Preach chemists. Large quantities of these chemicals proved poisonous to ami mals, but it is doubtful whether the quanti- nes actually employed by confectioners or liquor manufacturers are considerable enough to do harm.
 A comparative statement of the death Tate in England and Wales in the two decen. niais periods 1871 1880 and I86I-Is7o has just been published, and shows decrease of 1,1oo deaths year in each million inhabitants. The deaths from diphtheria and levers sup posed to be due to unhealthy surroundin es were greatly reduced ia number.
 Layers of stone containing some of the supposed human foot prints lately found near Lake Managua, in Nicaragua, have been sent to the Vienna Natural History Museum. The stone is volcanic tufa, and the impress sions are extremely sharp and distinct, and, Ii genuine foot prints, prove the existeacs of man in Central America at a very remote period.
 A new theory of the formation of coal has been propounded by Mons. L. Breton, who considers it to have been produced by the sinking of floating islands like those which now occur on many lakes aad rivers, and which are especially noticeable on the up- per Nile. The turf of which these islands is chiefly composed becomes fossilized at the bottom of the water.
 Lunar Influence on the Compass.-In a communication to the Meteorological So- ciety of Austria, M. G. Lgner has described the remarkable discovery that the moon has an influence on 8 magnetized needle. The phenomenon is said ts be more prominent when the moon is nearest to the earth, and to be very marked when she is passing from the full to her first or second quarter. The disturbance reaches a maximum when the moon is in the plane of the equator, and is greater during the southern than the northern declination.
 Causes o! Consumpsion.-Aftera study Of nearly Ia,ooo cases, Dr. Hermann Breh- mer, an able German physician, rejects the theory of the contagiousness of pulmonary consumption. He finds the disease to be due 10 deficient nutrition of the lungs, which may result from various antecedent causes. such as inherited defects of constitution, and vital organs impaired by disease, injury, or mode of living. He believes that the operation of all these causes may produce such changes that it may be possible-years, even decades, in advance-to predict with great probability which members of given family will be affiic- ted with pulmonary consumption, and which will remain healthy.
 Elephant Intelligence. The author of Two Years in the Jungle." MT. Horna- day, defends tue elephant from the charge that its sagacity is of very mediocre descrip- ton, and its reasoning faculties are far below those of the dog and possibly other animals. He declares it to be the most intelligent of all animals. "A horse." Re remarks, (which will promptly back at the word of command. or dog that will back or stand on it's hind legs when told te do so, is considered quite accomplished; but in India any well-trained elephant, at a word or touch from his driver. who sits astride his neck. will 'hand-up,' 'kneel,' 'speak (trumpet.) 'salaam' (salute with his trunk,) stop, back, lie down, pull down an obstructing branch. gather fodder and 'hand-up to his attendant, turn or lift log, or drag it by taking its drag-rope between his teeth. He will also protect his attendants