The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1888-01-08

during Nordenskjold's last trip. Baron
Nordensk iold is himself confident of the
success of this attempt TO traverse
Greenland's ice.
LEAKS IN FARMERS PURsEs.-Among
the sources of preventable loss TO British
the following: The imperfect working
of the soil, which is very common
cause Of failure; the use of bad seeds,
or those mixed with seeds of weeds and
parasites; the encouragement OF weeds:
which not only rob the soil but nourish
insect pests that may be awaiting the
more valuable plants; the deterioration of
gr-ss lands, which embrace three
sevenths of the area of the British Isles,
and OF the nature of whose herbage
ninety-nine out of a hundred farmers
are utterly ignorant; the insect and
fungi pests. whose maintenance is often
| a severe drain; the diseases of live stock.
| some of which may be prevented or
greatly reduced; and injudicious expen-
diture. The need of the British farmer.
Prof. Freame concludes. is sound techni-
cal instruction in agriculture, whereby
his losses would be greatly lessened and
his gains correspondingly augmented.
A London coroner has raised the ques-
tlon whether a man can cough himself
to pieces. 4 broken rib was found in
deceased lunatic. when medical evidence
was brought forward To show that un-
der certain abnormal conditions bones
may be broken by muscular efforts, or
even by a violent fit of coughing.
A commission of the Paris Academy
of Medicine finds that hydrofuoric acid,
which is highly antiseptic, has thera-
peutic action when inhaled. Ii iissents.
however, from the opinion of glass
workers that the inhaltions cure con-
sumption, but considers that they may
be useful in diptheria.
Astronomy is likely to have ''boom"
m the United States. Among the in
stitutions that have projected or Just
completed new observatories of inpor- |
tance are Iowa College. Carleton Col
lege, Smith College. Lake Forest Uni |
versity and Bates College.
Sir John Lubbock's oldest queen ant |
has reached the age of fourteen, and |
still lays fertile e,gs
MOUNTAIN MAKINo.-A new theory
of the formation of mountains has been
offered by Mr.. Mellard Reade, the well
known English geologist. He supposes
that the periods OF great sedimentary
deposit that have preceded the birth of
every great mountain range have been
followed by a great elevation of temper
atare. producing expansions of the
strata, with consequent forcing up of
ridges. Labratory experiments with the
various rocks show that heating would
give such results.
THE OYSTER IN FRANcE.-While oy-
ster culture is declining. in Great Brit
ain, 1t is being remarkably developed i'm
France. In 1857 the Bay of Arcachon
had twenty oyster beds; IN 1855 the
number was 297, with an annual pro-
iuction of 10000, 900 oysters; and there
are now 1900 acres of beds, with
yearly yield Of 100000 oysters. In a
decade the product of Auray has in
creased from I, ,O00, 900 to 20, ,OO0, 900 oys-
ters per annum.
PHoToGRAPHIc METEoRoLOoY.- NJ.
Jansen, the French physicist, considers
The camera a valuable addition TO the
of the meteorolgist. He
has exhibited To the Academy of
Sciences some fine pictures illustrating
The characteristics Of mountain clouds
it the different hours of the day. The
'sea of down" of early morning under
goes interesting changes through the
action of lair currents set i'm motion by
the sun.
Partially successful experiments in
signaling by means of electric lights
flashed ON clouds have been made by |
British officers at Singapore. A message
Of four words was read from an out-go-
ing vessel at distance OF sixty knots,
but the reply escaped notice.
1t has been discovered that wool pre-
viously saturated with a ten per cent
solution Of gylcerine can bear a pro-
longed heat of some 275 degrees with
out injury.