The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-03-17
Compiled for The Ark0ms0W TraUeIer. SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

IuIAN1uS III NOIWcS ldu WdU0Tb, duU aL- tempts are to be made to acclimatize black bass obtained from America.
 The first complete fossil skeleton of a whale, found under ten feet of marl in the south of Sweden, has just been presented to the University of Upsala.
 A Zurich institution has offered a prize of 1000 francs for new investi- gations of "the relation which the formation of the bones bares to the statics and mechanics of the verte- brate skeleton"
 The story of the deep sea is an ex- pensive one. The cost of compiling and publishing the reports of the
 Challenger expedition is said to have
 already exceeded 100000 pounds, the work being still unfinished.
 In new and curious experiment, 8 disk of iron, with spindle through it so that it can be spun like top, is attracted by the poles of g magnet when at rest or moving slowly, but is repelled by the magnet when spinning with sufficient velocity. The reaction of the induced currents exceeds the magnetic attraction.
 The scent of bloodhounds is dull compared with that of certain male moths. Mir. c. H. Piesse, in a late work, states that if a newly emerged female Saturmtd carptni is placed in a closed box, the males will come from nearly a mile away, though hills and buildings intervene, and have even found their way down a chimney to the object of their search.
 For thousand years, at least, Chi nese has been the most used language on the globe. Prof. Kirchoff, of Halle, finds that it is now spoken by over 0,000,000 people; Hindustani,whic comes next in extent of use, by over 100,000,000; English, by about 1OO,- 100000: Russian, by over 70,000,000; German, by over 57,0O0,OOO; and Spanish, by over 47,000,0OO.
 A NEW LAw.-In recent experi- ments alloys have been formed by pressure, but MT. William Hallock, of the United States Geological Sur vey, finds that alloys may be pro- duced from their powdered constitu- ents, without pressure, at a tempera- ture above the melting point of the alloy but below that of the consitu- ents, the molecules simply being al- lowed to lie in contact. In this curi- ous discovery he claims new law of physics, which he proposes soon to verify further.
 NEW ZEALAND SPORT-New Zea- land now contains great numbers of wild cattle, which have descended from those lost by the farmers during the Maori wars which ended in 1868. Hunting these animals is an exciting and dangerous sport. The game is not easily secured, as the animals hover-seemingly for protection about thickets filled with long tw in- ing creepers, in which progression is very difficult. Into these vines they dash at the slightest alarm, seeming fully aware that neither horse nor man can follow them.
 ELECTRIC POWER IN SwITZERLAN Two electric motors at Solothurn, Switzerland are driven by current generated five miles away, where two dynamos receive thirty horse power of energy from a waterfall. Tests of the efficiency of the system were made last October, and the report of the of eminent experts has lately been published, showing that, with both generators and both motors running, the loss of power in trans mission was only about twenty ve per cent. With one generator and one motor, the loss was thirty-two per cent.
 GREAT REFRACToRs. - Of the worlds retracting telescopes nine have apertures exceeding twenty inches, viz: Lick observatory, Cal, thirty-six inches; Pulkova, Russia, thirty inches; Yale college, twenty eight; Littrow, Vienna, twenty seven; University of Virginia, twenty six Naval observatory, twen- ty-six; Gateshead, England, twenty five; Princeton, N. J., twenty three and Buckingham, London, England, twenty-one. Six of these instruments are the work of the American firm of Alvan Clark tE Sons.
 COFFEE IN JAvA.-Disease of the coffee plant caused many successive failures of the crops in Ceylon, ruin- i ing many planters and producing great distress, and ultimately led to the growing of tea in place of coffee. A like revolution in planting may have been averted in Java by a recent timely discovery. Dr. Burck, of the 1 Botanic gardens at Buitenzerg, has found that an attenuated solution of chloride of iron prevents the disease applied to the under side of the leaves, 1 while touching with strong sulphuric | acid kills the germs in the spots that | may be seen on the plants already at