The Arkansaw traveler., 1889-04-06
COwsptIed for ne Ark0nsae TroueGsr.
 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


 tints varying with temperature potential. | No less than forty. nine congresses for the con- sideration of important subjects-largely scientific have been authorized by committee of the Paris Exhibition.
 Minute doses of corrosive sublimate-one of the most powerful poisons known-have been given for cholera with remarkable success, by a French doctor in Tonquin.
 The Society for the Promotion of Industry, in Germany, has offered 2l 900 marks In prizes tor solutions of various problems. The largest prize 6000 marks and silver medals to be given for the best essay the extent to which the chemical composition of steel is standard for the usefulness of edged tools.
 POSSIBLE HEIGHT oF BRICK WALLs.-In number of tests applied to masonry, according to Prof Baker of Illinois University, piers Of ordinary brick and common lime mortar stood pressure Of little over 1900 pounds per square inch, which Is equal to the weight of a column of brick 20O0 feet high; with ordinary Portland cement mortar the strength was somewhat more than 25oO pounds per square inch, or the weight of column of brick masonry 36o0 feet high.
 POISONED AIR.-Last years researches of Messrs Brown-Sequard and dArsonval, showing that poisonous substance is expelled from the lungs with the breath, have bden confirmed by further investigations. Small quantities of the substance quickly cause the death of rabbits The experi- mentors have proven that this is the poison that produces the harmful effect of breathing in a con- fined space and that air containing a large pro- portion of the usually criminated carbonic acid may be breathed with serious result.
 A PRIMITIVE INpusTRY.-In Columbia the American aloe-known there as "fgue"-is of great importance on account of it's fibre, which is used for sandals, sacks, ropes, grths, pa saddles, etc. These manufactures are among the most important of the country, the yearly value being variously estimated at from $10000 900 to $S00,000O0O. No part of the plant except the fibre is used, and this is now extracted by 80 slow and laborious'a process that skilled laborer can pro- duce only about ten pounds of fibre daily.
 LAND OF STEAM.-Dr. Tn. Thoroddsen reports that in explorations in the interior of Iceland last summer he visited some remarkable valleys In & mountain range called kjerlingarfjoll. He dis covered grand sulphur springs in great numbers, as we'll as innumerable large boiling mud pools blue, red yellow and green in color. Steam pene- trates every where through Assures in the earth, one jet, six to nine feet in night, keeping up such continual roar that 1t was impossible to hear the oudest shouts in its vicinity. The greatest care had to be observed in walking the thin crust of heated clay covering the boiling mud below.
 THE HELM WIND-During recent years some scientific attention has been given to the singular meteorological phenomenon known the Helm wind, which occurs only on the Cross Fell range of mountains, in England. This range is 2900 feet high, and drops of abruptly to the west from 1000 to 1900 feet in mile and half With an easterly wind, a cloud forms on the summit of the range, while parallel with it at a distance of two three miles a slender roll of dark cloud-caled the Helm bar-appears in mid-ar. A cold wind blows down the sides of the Fell until nearly under the bar, when it suddenly ceases The Helm wind proves to be less than has been supposed, the bar having been observed fl times in 1885, 6S in 1886, and 19 in 1887.
 SURvEYs.-The various kinds of surveys now required by governments and individuals are thus classified by MT. Marcus Baker:-I. Surveys for general purposes, or information surveys: I, geo. detic; ?, geologic; 8, topographic Ordinary and mitary) 4, agricultural; 5, magnetic; 6, nautical (hydrographic and physically. II. Surveys for jurisdictional purposes boundary surveys: 1, for defining boundaries of nations states coun- ties towns, etc. ? for defining property boundaries (cadastral and partition of land for sale III Sur