The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-02-18
Compiled for The ArkonsasO IrGUeIer. SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY,

COnSlueraDle 01Herence6 Tn the standard barometers of the principal European observatories have been found by MT. E. A. Sundell, of the Scientific Society of Finland.
 A prize of 25,00O francs, instituted by the king of the Belgians, is to be awarded in 1893 for the best paper on means for abundantly and cheaply providing large towns, especially Brussels, with the best quality of po- table water.
 Australia has some giant caterpil- lars. MT. A. S. Olliff, of Sydney, mentions one moth larva, abundant during the past season, as being seven inches long, and specimens of larva of two other species measure eight inches in length.
 It has long been known that car bonic acid gas produces a sensation of greater warmth on the skin than air of the same temperature. Dr. Gold schneider, of the Berlin Physiological Society, finds the phenomenon to be chiefly due to direct chemical action on the endings of the heat nerves.
 A kind of artificial rabies has been produced in rabbits and birds by in- jections of oil of tansy. This malady was overcome by treatment with chloral, and the experimenter, Dr. Brown-Sequard, reasons from analogy that suitable administrations of this drug would prevent true rabies in man.
 A museum of religions is a novelty of the French metropolis. A traveller of Lyons, M. Guimet, has long been collecting altars, priests robes, and other objects relating to religious cer- emonies; and these have been pre- sented to Paris On condition that a suitable building be provided, which has been done.
 Occultations of stars by the planets are extremely rare, but Dr. Berberich, of Berlin, believes observations of them would be very important, throwing light on the extent and density of planetary atmospheres, and in the cases of Mars and Venus afford ing means for the determination of parallax and diameter.
 An automatic chess recorder has been produced by Dr. Wurstem- berger, of Zurich. An ingenious electrical arrangement prints on a strip of paper the index number and letters of the square from and to which the piece is moved, and moves of the black pieces have a different place on the tape from those of the white.
 Experiments have been made in transplanting the beautiful Alpine Edelweiss into the mountains of Bo- hemia and other places. In it's new homes the plant seems to be changing its character, and in the mountains of upper Austria it has become trans formed into new species, bearing red flowers instead of the beautiful er- mine-like white blooms.
 The mean height of the land above sea-level, according to MT. John Mur- ray, is 2,250 feet; and the mean depth of the ocean is 12,480 feet. Only two per cent of the sea is included inside a depth of 800 fathoms, while seventy seven per cent lies between 800 and 5000 fathoms. If the land were filled into the hollows, the sea would roll over the earth's crust to a uniform depth of two miles.
 CARRY THE BABIES RIGHT. - A French physician, Dr. Felz, mentions curious apparent cause of left hand edness. One child in certain family was left handed, and the second ap- peared to be so at the age of one year. It was then learned that the mother always carried her children on her left arm. She was advised to change. and, held on her other arm, the infant, having its right hand free to grasp objects, soon became right handed.
 Ten species of North American birds are named by MT. E. Nj. Hasbrouck as missing. Of these, two-the great auk and the Labrador duck-are be- lieved to have become extinct, while the following eight, through scarcity or diminutiveness, were "lost" with the taking of the first specimens, and are now being eagerly sought: The carbonated warbler, blue mountain warbler, small headed warbler, Gu vier's kinglet, Townsend's bunting, Brewster's linnet, Bachman's warbler and the Cincinnati warbler.
 STELLAR PARALLAx.-In determin- ing the distances of stars, angular measurements are made at intervals of six months, the parallax being the ap- parent change of position which re- suits from shifting the point of view about 1s3,000,000 miles, the diameter of the carth's orbit. Even with this immense base line, the direction in which the stars are seen is scarcely altered. The parallax of about dozen stars, varying between 0.919 sec. and n