The Arkansaw traveler. (Little Rock, Ark.) 1882-1???, 1889-01-05
C0s'pttsd fer ne Arkansas Tvausser.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


from old age never occurs. Some attack OF disease
however slight and difficult of diagnosis some
intensitying perhaps of previously existing chronic
disease, invariably brings about the final change.
AN UNNECESSARY DEPARTUBE-A French an
thropoi0gist, NJ. Guyot- Daubes has been studying
hereditary anomalies Of finger growth, and now
assures US that IL would be possible, by selection
and intermarriage, 10 develop race Of people with
six fingers TO each hand. He does not regard such
result rs desirable, however, he has not found
that people with extra fingers stronger or more
skillful than others.
The extent Of the slaughter of fur bearing ami
mails In Siberia Ia indicated by accounts of the sum-
mer fair at Irbit, which Is q market for only por-
ton of the iur exported. There were shown skins
OF 5,l6O,OOO squirrels, II 900 blue foxes 10000
marmots, $4,000 polecats, 10000 badgers, 100000
hares, 900 foxes, and many bears and wolves The
animals being rapidly exterminated that
great regions are Deing abandoned by hunters.
GRADES OF CULTuRE.-Prof. Joseph lie Corte
declares that for every grade OF culture whether OF
the individual or OF the race, there is a correspond
! ing grade OF hand work necessary for the best
brain culture. In the child of pres school age and
In the savage and in paaeolithic man, it Is the
simple use of the hand, assisted by rude imple-
ments in the school boy girl as also in the next
higher grade of races i is by the of those finer
instruments which we call tools; and In the
university, as In the most civilized races il Is by
the use of scientific instruments and machines
HYDROGEN ARMIEs.-The production of
large quantities of hydrogen by either of the
common processes-by passing water as steam over
glowing iron, by decomposing a solution of
sulphuric acid with iron or zinc-requires the use
of apparatus and materials readily transported
This and other disadvantages are obviated by the
new method of Maert and Richter, German
chemists, which is primarily intended for military
ballooning. mixture of Stacked lime and zinc
dust is heated to redness, when the water Is sepa-
rated from the lime and decomposed by contact
with the zinc, giving of pure hydrogen. The
mixture is simply dry powder, while the retort
resembles a small portable engine and can be easily
drawn by four horses. balloon of moderate size
can be filled in three hours.
EFFECTS or AN Reconsideration from the
suns rays during even the few brief moments of q
total eclipse has perceptible influence upon the
earth's atmosphere. Elaborate preparations were
made for observing the total solar eclipse of August
49, 1887, 30 that Prof. Hesehus has been enabled to
study the meteorological effect from the reports of
% stations in Russia and Siberia. The barometric
pressure was lowered about one tenth of an inch,
the minimum being from five TO ten minutes after
the full eclipse. This was probably due to con-
densation of atmospheric vapor. The temperature
was lowered about three degrees +. in the shade
and fifteen degrees in the suns rays the minima
being reached ten and three minutes respectively
after the full eclipse. The force of the wind was
reduced. Evidence concerning influence upon the
compass was contradictory. Day plants folded
their leaves nght-plants opened their flowers,
the higher animals manifested the usual symptoms
of uneasness and fear, and mosquitoes appeared I'm
the Siberian marshes as in evening.
SOME PETS OF ScIENCE-An English scientific
man, Mr.. E. b. Poulton, has been propagating .
family of many -toed cats, concerning which he
makes biennial reports to the British Association
for the Advancement of Science. He has individ-
uals down to the tenth generation, the founder Of
the family being Q cat with six toes on each foot.
Many of the descendants have inherited the
popularity with more or less modification, some
having seven toes on each foot. Another eminent
observer, Sir John Lubbock, has been adding to
our store of knowledge by patiently STUDYING his
nests of ants In one of these a queen-ant lately
died after residence in it since 1874, the creature
being therefore much as fourteen years of age