The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-01-28
Compiled for The Arh0nsaD Tr0UeIeT. SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

cdtluS.
 The membership of the Liverpool Astronomical Society has now prac- tically reached 1000.
 Dr. Bubsjinski, of St. Petersburg, has found that the gastric juice is less acid during sleep than at other times.
 Philip Hoffman, German clergyman and naturalist, claims to have discov- cred the art of photography in 1883, six years before Daguerre.
 A singular error is the use of the word '.cocoa-nut" which, botanical authorities urge, should be "coco- nut" The wrong spelling is charged upon Dr. Johnson, who is said to have confused the "coco- nut" with ''cocoa," which is the product of the cacao tree.
 The possibility of infection from disease germs escaping from hospital windows is attracting some attention and special inquiry is recommended. Hospital ventilation might be so ar ranged that the foul air might be drawn through furnace before min- gling with the outer atmosphere.
 A London coroner has raised the question whether a man can cough himself to pieces. A broken rib was found in a deceased lunatic, when medical evidenve was brought forward to show that under certain abnormal conditions bones may be broken by muscular efforts, or even by violent it of coughing.
 A powerful disinfectant, adapted to all purposes, has been obtained in Paris from coal-oil. It is a sirupy brown liquid, of not disagreeable odor, resulting from peculiar sapon- ification of the oil by caustic soda. It destroys moss and fungus on trees, and sponging with a weak solution keeps flies from horses.
 In very sensitive micro- radiome- ter described by Prof. Weber to the Helvetic Society of Sciences, the ex- pansion of a tube of air presses a so- lution of nc-sulphate toward the op- posite side of wheatstone bridge, giving a great difference of electrical resistance. The radiation of the moon oscillates the galvanometer needle about five divisions.
 WATER OF Woops.-The propor- tion of water held by different woods varies greatly. According to Scheu- bier and Hartig, freshly -cut horn- bean contains 1S.6 per cent of water; willow, 26 per cent; ash, 28.7 per cent; birch, 30.S per cent; oak, 34.7 per cent; pine, 39.7 per cent; red beech, 39.7 per cent; elm, 44.5 per cent; larch, 48.6 per cent; and white poplar, 50.6 per cent.
 ONE OF THE SEAS DANGERs.-A cu- rious acoustic phenomenon, sometimes observed at sea, has been termed by M. Fizeau, the "mirage of sound," from its analogy to certain we'll known phenomena of light. The sound waves are deflected upward to q very marked extent under the in- fluence of strata of air of various tenn peratures, and to this effect are as- cribed numerous collisions between vessels having powerful fog signals.
 COIlI pdI1SOIi of the lengths of the first and third fingers has been many years in pro- gress. Ancient Greek art seems to have found the greater beauty in a longer forefinger, but in the Apollo Belvidere there is no appreciable diff ference in the length of the two. Gorrillas, orang -outangs and Bush- men have longer third finger, while among Europeans and Americans the longer finger is sometimes the first, sometimes the third, and sometimes both appear of equal length.
 RUSSIAN SANITATIoN-In an aggre- gate population of LOG, 0,000,0 ,00O in Rus sia, according to Dr. Bubnoff, there are only about 5000 medical men, while no working sanitary system can be said to exist in the empire. In some districts the death-rate ranges from 60 to 80 per 1000, and in spite of a high birth-rate the population of the country is increasing only at the rate of per cent. That frightful penalty in human lives is paid for neglect of public health is shown by the fact that of the total of some 2,800,000 yearly deaths something like 100000 may fairly be traced to preventable causes.
 A SANITARY lNsTRUMENT.-An ap- paratus for measuring the proportion of carbonic acid in the air of a room has been patented by Prof Wolpert, of Nurnberg. By means of siphon- drop of red liquid soda-solution with phenol-phthalein lis made to trickle down a prepared white thread, about foot and half long, every 100 seconds. In pure air the drop continues red down to the bottom, but it loses it's color by the action of carbonic acid, the quickness of the effect varying with the amount of thof se