The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1888-02-04
Written for the Paldtkd Nelrs. I
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


tense, mood, etc. As a more promisin
, system, this eminent linguist recon
mends a modified form of English for
world language. English is free fror
the objectionable infections, and it
already reaching out toward universal
lty. While the language must remain
substantially as at present, few simpli
Tying changes would undoubtedly bet
ter tit 1T for international use: and
THESE We're suggested by a committee
consisting of one British and one Ameri
can member, Prof. Bell believes that ;
simple and admirable tongue would b,
produced.
ELECTRIC NEHICLES.-Some five vears
ago Messrs. Ayrton and Perry showed
that tricycles may be driven by electric.
lty, but new vehicle-the electric dog
cart of Mr.. Magnus Volk-seems likely
to be much more suggestive of practi-
cally useful ideas. In the experimental
dog cart one-half horsepower motor
weighing forty pounds, gives q speed OF
nine miles an hour on asphalt and four
miles on soft macadam. The accumu-
lators, which might be increased in other
vehicles, furnish current for run of
six hours.
African sheep, as represented by spec
linens in the Berlin Geological Gar
dens, vary greatly in size and form,
some being large and clumsy, while 9TH
ers are quite small and graceful, with
slender, deer-like limbs. The color is
always black and white. They are not,
like European species, covered with
wool, but have only stiff, coarse hair,
which is short and even, except on the
necks of bucks. They are useful only
as food, for which they are highly
priced by the blacks
South Africa is comparatively poor in
butterflies, recent list by Mr.. Robert
Trimen enumerating only about $50 spe-
cies.
INSECT TILLAGE.-The action of earth
worms, as described by Darwin, is not
the only animal work that is being done
in overturning and breaking up the soil.
Prof. n. s. Shaler mentions that the op-
erations of various other creatures APP
pear to be quite important In Americas
some twenty or more species of mann
mails burrow in the forest and overturn
considerable earth, though the quantity
of this is quite insignificant in compari-
son with that acted upon by inverte-
brataS In the moist fpraStS Nubara tbav
abound, crayfish may bring To the sur
face, over moderate areas, material
which may amount 10 a complete COW
ering two feet deep in half a CEN
tury. Over extensive districts, or at
least throughout eastern North America.
the ants are evidently by far the most
effective animal agents in preparing soil
for plant use, the part they play being
much greater even than that of the
| earth worms themselves. The latter are
confined chiefly to cultivated clayey
fields, while the ants rapidly overtun
the soil material as we'll within the for
ests as in the open fields, wherever that
material is of sandy nature
EFFECTS OF PLANT PARASITES
Plants are injured by parasitic fungi in
| various ways, according to Mr.. A. b.
| Seymour. They are deprived of nour-
| ishmient; growth is abnOrmally accel-
| Grated or retarded causing distortion
not only are green parts affected, but
| roots, stems, buds, flowers and fruit;
leaves and fruit fall prematurely; decay
is produced in ripe fruits before and
| after removal from the plant; and val
liable plants receive injury from those
of less value by ordinary infection.
| Magnifying glasses seem to have been
known in the times of Confucius, the
great philosopher, who died ATS B. C. for
he wrote: "As we use glass to exam
inc the forms of things, so must we
study antiquity TO understand the pres
ent.
By experiments on young animals,
DIR. Kisel, of st. Petersburg, has found
that phosphorous never exerts any bene.
fetal effect on the growth of bone, but
on the other hand, quite small doses
produces symptoms of poisoning.
THE GREATEST OF CREATIONS. w hilt
the lowest estimate places Sirius, the
brightest though not the nearest of the
stars, as much as 81, ,0O0, 900 900, 900 miles
away from us, ''good authorities, say
Mr.. G.. p. Serviss, regard the distanc,
as being not less than 100, ,000, 900, 900 ,O0t
miles; in which case the star brilliancy
must be as much as 22S times create
than that of the sun. And yet evel
Sirius is probably not the greatest SUI
belonging to the visible universe. Their
can be little doubt that Canopus, in tn
Southern Hemisphere, is a grander SUI
than Sirius. To our eyes, Canopus
only about half as bright as Sirius, ard
ranks as the second star in the heay
ems in the order of brightness. But Will
: Sirius's distance is measurable, that c
I Canopus is so unthinkably immense tina
, astronomers can get no grip upon it.
it were only twice as remote as Sirius
would be equal to two of the latter, bu
! the probability is its distance is muc
: greater than that. And possibly eve
, Canopus is not the greatest gem in IL
coronet of creation"
: DIGGING IN SOFT PLACES. TT
: Poetsch method, lately applied to ma
+ ing tunnel under Stockholm, has sin,
f been successfully employed in Belgiu
e in sinking a mining-shaft through son
o forty feet of moist sand, encountered
i a depth of two hundred and twenty
/, feet. The process consists of freezir
s the troublesome soft material, and tbs
4 excavating it like rock. In the shaft &
IF iron tubes. about a yard part and 60
r tanning other tubes, were forced tlIrou,