The Arkansaw traveler., 1889-08-17
COMPILED ron rnn AnxAxsaw TNAvxEw.
 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

A mixture of finely powdered mica and crude petroleum is said to be giving rsmarkabls results as lubricant.
 Electric radiAtions have been concentrated by fences In the important researches of Prof. Q. J. Lodge and Mr. J. Howard.
 prize Of el 800 is to be awarded in 1899 by the Guy Hospital London, for . paper On sThe In- nuence of Micro-organisms upon Inflammation
 Dr. John Gibson hes made the important dis covery that two chemically distinct kinds Of sea water are present in the North Sea One is rich In chlorine, and comes from the Atlantic to the south; the other has less chlorine, and flows from the Arctic Ocean.
 The scientific book of the year will probably be s. H. Scuddcr's "Butterfies of the Eastern United States and Canada" to be completed In October. It's 2000 pages of text, with about ono hundred plates of illustrations constitute the most complete psins-taking and delightful treatise on these insects yet produced.
 M Boule has shown the French Academy that animals having afanities with tho dogs existed in France In the Miocepe epoch, and that the Quater- nary epoch had species identical with those of to- day. Ths makes 1t difficult to admit, e has often been done, that our races of domestic dogs arc all notifications of their congeners the wolves and jackAls.
 Tn German experiments during the last two seasons oopperAs increased the yield of vines and protected the vineyards against parAsites increased the yield Of clover and lucerne from twenty to thirty-thres per cent; increased the yield of potatoes, and tended to suppress potato disease when applied to the young plants, and gave good results with grain.
 The Geological Society of France has noticed with alarm that the swallows returning from Africa have this year avoided their accustomed Europe, east or west, evidently to avoid the many traps set for them on the low-lying French coast. The slaughter of the birds for Partisan milliners has been enormous for several years.
 The "miraculous berry" of West Africa, the fruit of Gderorylon oacifevsua, was lately exhib- ited to the London Linnean Society. The soft sweet pulp with which 1t s covered % affects the the nerves of taste that substances-even tar taric acid, lime juice and vinegzr-have flavor of absolute sweetness after 1t hes been eaten. Living possesses similar properties have been received at Kew Gardens.
 A RARE BRD.-A late accQuisition ct the British Museum is . specimen of the Fregilupus, which has been the chief treasure in the great ornithoiogica collection amasssd by the counts du Riocour during three generations. This bird belongs to the starling family, and was ct one time common In the Island of Reunion, but through the ease with which it was killed 1t became totally extinct . third of . century ago. It Is thought that total of sixteen specimens may be preserved in the various collections of the world.
 METEoROLoGICAL CoNFULIoN.-There seems to have been . strange tangling of air currents throughout the northern hemisphere during the past few months. While . considerable por- ton of the United States hes been perplexed by the early spring and the persistent rains, equally eccentric weather has visited western Europe, and China and Japan have had sudden changes, premature heat followed by cold of great severity, and frequent and very violent storms. At Tient- sin, warm week in February broke up the ice, but March was extremely cold and stormy, and the spring the most indictment within the knowl- edge of foreign residents.
 4 WIND BORED TuNSEL-It was observed long ago that the glass of windows on Cape Cod had been ground and bored through by the wind driven sands, and the soft sandstone bluffs and towers of the Rocky Mountains bear evidence of having been shaped in some degree hy the ssz.s sgsscy. z.