The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-01-23
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 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY

| Itactofy ores mas been ueVlsed by Prof T
 Sterry Hunt, the eminent Canadian physicis,
 A Belgian treats textile fabrics with ap
 alcoholic solution of the green tar of tn.
 birch, which he expects to render them al. most indesuuctibIe.
 Muller, a German chemist, has fed an. imals ten weeks with dry and with steeped unground Indian corn. The former showed an average increase in weight of nearly seven pounds more than the latter.
 F'em studies in Sicily, Drs. Buchner | and Emmerich find evidence that the occur. | ence of cholera has some connection with the | character of the soil, and that it makes its way into the system through the alimentary canal.
 By the use of gold-coated selenium plates, Mir. C. E Fritts expects to accomplish the important object ot converting the greater part of the enrrgy of light into electrical en. eTgy, which may be again transformed into light as required.
 An English physician, Dr. Evans, has reported wbat is probably the greatest fall ever survived by human being-the case be. ing that of gi who on May 9th jumped from bridge ago feet high, and was conval- escent and free from pain within twenty days thereafter.
 The finest lines separable under the microscope, according to MT. Crisp of the Royal Microscopical Society, may be taken as I4o 543 lines to the inch with white light. but the use of monochromatic light gives in crease to 1ss 84s lines to the inch, and 1oao97 may be Pho,ographically recorded.
 The interesting discovery has been made in Switzerland of bright-green moss growing on calcareous rocks two hundred feet below the surface of Lake Leman. No other moss has been known so far under water, and how chlorophyl-the green color ing matter-could have been SC richly devel- oped in place so remote from the light is problem.
 The theory that abnormally brilliant skies, like those of recent years, are due to volcanic dust or vapors appears to be not a new one. Attention has now been called to Danish records which mention remarkable sky glows in I636 and again in I7ss, in each
  from the great volcanic eruptions which had taken place in Iceland.
 A French writer has described curious phenomenon observed in a very intelligent parrot, the birds eyes invariably becoming red by the contraction of the iris on the ap- pearance of little boy for whom an extra ordinary affection has been acquired Flashes oi red appear in moments of anger, but tue noticeably lasting effect is only produced by the joy of this particular child's presence.
 Electric Agriculture.-An interesting experiment, showing the influence of elec- ticity on the growth of roots, has been made in Germany by Professor Holdeheiss. Plates Of copper were thrust upright into the earth and connected by wires with similarly placed zinc plates about 100 feet distant-an electric battery being thus formed, with the earth be- tween the copper and Iinc in the circuit. Both potatoes and beets planted between such plates gave an increased yield-beets rs per cent, potatoes 2S per cent-as compared with ether parts of the same field.
 Electric lnsects.-Certain insects seem to possess the remarkable and little under stood electric" power of the electric eel. General Davis of the British army received A shock from wheel-bug that paralyzed his arm for considerable time, red marks being left on his hand as impressions of the insects feet. This peculiarity is also mentioned by Kirby and Spence, and other naturalists have received shocks from some of the luminous beetles. Such shock was given by an un- known caterpillar picked up by Captain Blakeney that his entire right side became paral> zed, and he was dangerously ill for a long time.
 Fish Out of Water.-Mr. Grant Allen that the helplessness and awkward ness of fish out of water have been much ex- aggerated by the thoughtless generalization of unscienthc humanity. While nest fish prefer the water, many of them cut a better figure on dry land than most of their critics themselve would cut in mid-ocean. There are fish that wriggle across-cnuntry intrepidly with the aexterity and agility of the most ac- snakes; fish that walk about on spen sand banks, semi-erect on two legs, as easily as lizards fish that hop and skip on tail and fins in a manner that the celebrated lumping-frog himself might envy; and fish that fly through the air with a grace and swiftness that would put to shame hosts of their feathered competitors. rhereare even hsh. like some kinds of cells and the African mud fish, that scarcely live in the water at all, but merely frequent wet and marshy places, where they lie snugly in in the soft ooze and damp earth that line the bottom.
 Our Cold Waves.-The first appearance of cold waves within the territory of the United States signal service is nearly always 1t Helena, Mont, according to Lieutenant I. A. Woodruff, their place of origin prob- ably being the vast regions of ice and snow near the Arctic circle From Helene ,hsx