Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-03-03
NOTES OF SCIENCE
From the "Swiss Cross" the Magazine
of the Agassiz ASSOCIATION.

of the Agassiz ASSOCIATION.
THE FADING LEAF.
The fading leaf-from green to gold
lis beautiful thus growing old;
At home with birds the summer through,
Impaired at ni2ht with fragrant dew
To fash beneath the starlight cold.
The south wind drew it from the mould.
With fingers def its form unrolled.
and thus from youth to 4ge it grew,
The fading Leaf
The autumn winds are swift and bold
To loosen it with tender hold,
And while its waiting DAYS are few,
1t wears its richest. fondest hue,
And Mother Earth viii soon enfold
The fading leaf
-D.cigia H'ulidnls
In Nova Scotia | saw in the house of
Scotch lady mignonette tree which COM
pletely filled the window Of the parIor,
and was full of fragrant blossoms. 1t had
bloomed almost continually for several
years. The secret of its changed growth
was that the first two years not flower
bud was allowed to develop. l have tried
the experiment, but have not had the
patience of the old lady in completely
preventing the poisoning of the flower.
Still raised plants nearly three feet high.
l. C. 3.
On examining what l first thought 10 be
a red leaf under the water, | found it to
be an animal resembling a bull-frog, ex-
cept in color. Under the belly it was
white, around the hind legs spotted with
dark green, and the back and legs were
red about the color of boiled crab
Fred Wallen, Millville, n. J. Rama
sylrGtica, a wood frog, is often bright
brick red. No doubt the extreme vari-
alton mentioned may have occurred even
in the bull-frog.-ED.]
While dissecting a mouse, found in its
stomach large, compact ball of hair,
which the microscope showed to be mouse
hair. 1t weighed = g., and occupied the
greater part Of the stomach, Can you
give any light on its probable origin Pc.
Fl. 7. The hairs were probably removed
from the mouses body by the process CT
licking. Similar balls, as large as oranges
are not infrequently found in the stomachs
of cattle.-ED.
In the tartar of teeth from skeletons of
the stone age, Charters White, of the
Chronological Society of Great Britain
has found specimens of the food eaten by
our prehistoric ancestors, 5000 years or
more ago. The fragments identified in
clude portions of corn husks, spiral vessels
from vegetables, starch husks, fruit cells,
the point of a fish's tooth, and bits of WOOL
feathers and cartilage.
About two years ago | had an American
chameleon. 1t was green in sunshine, and
brown in shadow. One day while feeding
it | saw that the skin had split in a
straight line down the back. The chame-
leon kept pulling at the skin with its
mouth, and, as fast as piece came off, ate
it. 1t took about six hours to finish the
operation of moulting.-A. E. Wright
birmingham, bass.
Linnaus used to have u clock of flowers.
He learned that different flowers open at
different times in the day, and he arranged
the flowers in his clock so that they should
open one after another in regular order as
the hours passed by.
At two of the leading hospitals of Paris
the death-rate of amputations of all kinds
has fallen from 80 per cent in 1880 to about
10 per cent at present.