The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-08-25
cOnaptIsd for zAs Arkonsaw TrousEer. SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY,

SO1EN 11F1C MISCELLANY.
 A French physician reports an at tack of gout in boy of fifteen.
 The chief minerals of the mica group have been artifcially repro duced by M. Doelter.
 A series of earthquakes in Russian Turkestan last year destroyed 1,5OO stone buildings without seriously in- turing wooden structure.
 The presence of cafiein in tea being insufficient to explain its physiological action, Prof. Kossel, of the Berlin Physiological Society, has sought and found new base, which he calls the- ophyllin.
 Recent French and English statis- tics indicate that, while the average duration of life is increasing through improvement of the health of child ren, the number of extremely aged persons is diminishing.
 Wild turkeys have lately been &C., climatized, in Austria, though such 8 thing has hitherto been considered al- most impossible. From four hen tur- keys and three cocks, brought from the American prairies, the colony has increased to about 580 individuals.
 An elaborate investigation has shown that the number of blind peo- pie in Russia is very unequally di- vided among the different races, there being only 8 blind in each 10000 Poles, 19 in each 10000 Russians, and as many as S3 in each 10000 Votyaks. No less than one- eighth of the cases of blindness are due to smallpox, and only one-half to direct eye diseases.
 NAVAL BALLooNING. - Successful experiments in the use of captive bal looms on shipboard have been made in the French navy. One ascent was made to the height of 1 300 feet, ob- servations were taken of vessels and military works over an extended area, photographic views were obtained, and communications were constantly exchanged with the ship and with stations on shore.
 UNINFLAMMABLE Woop. Experi. ments made at the instance of the Bel gian minister of Public Works indicate that wood cannot be rendered incom- bustible. It may, however, be pro- tected from fire to a considerable ex- tent, either by the injection of certain saline solutions or the application of paint or coating. The latter plan is the more practical, and the substances most to be recommended are cyanide of potassium-a dangerous poison and asbestos paint.
 CROPS CHANGING CLIMATE A re- markable improvement in the climate of the country round Bussorah, on the Persian gulf, is ascribed by the Brit ish consul at that place to the substi- tuition of date and wheat cultivation for that of rice. The northwest wind, which prevails in summer, is now dry and hot, instead of moist and clammy. The sallow complexions and worn looks of few years ago have disap- peared, and the malarious fever once so common has become quite rare.
 PIANIsTs' CRAMP.-Certain func- tional diseases of the hand and arm have been observed in pianists by MT. Vivian Poore. This cramp of the pi- anists he estimates to be eight times as common as the cramp of writers; and he finds especially liable to it those who practice with the wrist continu- ally held rigid. The symptoms are painful stiffness of the shoulder and of the right arm, less frequently of the left side, cramps of the little fin- ger and of the ring finger, sometimes with trembling-this distressing con- dition often persistipg after exercise with the keys, and being brought back by the least exertion of hand or fingers. Cold, sedentary habits, weakness and predisposition to rheumatism and gout increase the lia- bility to it.
 STORAGE OF LIFE.-In a recent lec- ture to the Sanitary Institution of Great Britain, Dr. B. W. Richardson considered the power the human body has been proven to possess of storing up life to prolonged period. He stated the conditions favoring such storage in the following order: Hereditary qualification, the virtue of confluence, maintenance of balance of bodily functions, perfect temperance. and purity from implanted or ac- quired diseases. Temperament has it's influence, the bilious and saDguine temperaments being best for long life, and the nervous and lymphatic the worst. What he termed all-round temperance is the avoidance of every- thing that stimulates the heart be- yond its natural activity, such stimu- iation being an unnatural tax that re- duces the storage of life.
 THE PARENT OF CULTURE "Science is most catholic in her regards" de- ciares MT. Theodore Gill, "and none are denied entrance to her temnla who