The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-02-04
Co1sptLed for The Ark0nsow 7r0ueEer. SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

mlIeS long, IS reported tO eX1sE In lat1-
 tude in degs. 15 min. south, longi-
 tude 1S0 degs. 39 min. east.
 Portions of the Andes seem to be sinking, the altitude of Quito having diminished 76 feet in 122 years, and that of another peak 218 feet. A crater has sunk 425 feet in 25 years.
 The Greenwood mines, of Michoa- can, Mex, have yielded sixty nuggets of native silver, weighing from one to 503 pounds. The largest, which is almost pure silver, is one of the most remarkable ever found, and is said to have been 12 pounds heavier in its original state.
 The bones of animals were used as skates and sledge-runners in prehis- toric Europe, and it seems they are still so employed in northern Ger many. The sledges consist of board resting on the bones ot a horse, and the skates have for runners the lower jaw bones of cattle.
 At late meeting of the Astrono- mical Society of France, Colonel Laus- sedat exhibited a curious binocular glass, constructed in 1881 for Louis XIV, by Father Seraphim. The huge instrument comprises three boxes which slide into each other, the total length, when extended, being about ten feet.
 From 75 to so per cent. of the earth tremors observed in Tokio, according to Prof. Milne, may be accounted for on the supposition that they have been produced either by local or dis tant winds. The only connection be- tween earth tremors and earthquakes in central Japan is that they are both more frequent about the same season.
 THE WORLD TO OTHER SENSES While considering it doubtful whether ants and bees can hear, Sir John Lub- book believes it to be quite possible that they may hear sounds SO shrill as to make no impression on the human ear. A like fact may be true of their perception of colors. To insects the world may be full of music we cannot hear, colors we cannot see, and sensa- tions we cannot feel.
 AN ANCIENT CHAIR.-What is probably the most venerable piece of furniture in existence has just been deposited in the British Museum. It is the throne of Queen Hatasu, who reigned in the Nile valley some 1900 years before Christ and 29 years be- fore Moses. This now dilapidated object seems to be oflignum- vitae, the carving of the legs being inlaid with gold, and those of the back with sil- yer.
 INSECT PEsTs.-The annual loss caused by insects in the United States is estimated at about S150, 1000, ,000, that on cotton alone being 5,000,0OO. The insects increase with the advance ot civilization, on account, doubtless, of the greater abundance of the food furnished them. Every vegetable pro- duct and every variety of fruit and flowers are attended by special para sites, each of which thrives on its re- spective food-plant.
 VACCINATION AND ANTI TIoN.-Statistics are against the few persons wbo insist that vaccination is useless and unnecessary. A compul- sorry vaccination law had entirely driven out smallpox from Zurich, so that not case occurred in 1882. The law was repealed in 1883, and in every 1000 deaths that year two were caused by smallpox; in 1884 there were three; in 1885, 17; and in the first quarter of 1886, 85. In England the deaths from this disease in 1838-1S42 were SIP per 100000 living; but in the five years 1SSO-1SS4 the death rate was only 6.5 per 100000. Vaccination has not only vastly reduced the num- Der of victims directly, but seems to have had an indirect influence in ren- dering the offspring of vaccinated par ents less liable to the disease.
 HIGHWAY POSTAL LoCoMoTIvEs.-I In the south of France the government postal service is supplemented by the "wagon post" of private contractors, who employ many hundred horses in conveying small parcels from town to town, even along the railway lines. | This business has become so extensive | that several road locomotives have been ordered for it, and are proving very satisfactory. Two of these ma chimes are running between towns 70 | miles apart, each making the trip one way nightly at speed of eight miles an hour. Part of the road is very hilly, with long gradients up to as much as one in II. The locomotive, with coal and water, weighs 15 tons, and the loaded wagon from seven to 10 tons, making the average weight of the train g tons. At 175 pounds | pressure the engines give about 12 horse power, and with fair roads use about halt ton of fuel for the round | trip of 40 miles. These engines have