The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-02-27
SCIENCE IN SCRAPS.

Bismuth melts at a point so far below
that OF boiling water that it can be used
for taking casts from the most destructi-
BILE objects.
The power of flying possessed by many
sea birds is so enormous that they are,
practically speaking, never out of reach
of fresh water.
The frog, owing to its peculiar struct-
ure, can not breathe with the mouth
open; and, if it were forcibly kept open,
the creature would die of suf1ocation.
A new parasite has been discovered
| which infects paper money, and is found
nowhere else. 1t is invisible to the I'M
assisted eye, does not attach itself to per-
sons, but multiplies at rapid rate.
The month of February, 1886, was
known among the lovers of the curious
in nature as the ''moonless month. !" from
the fact of it having no full moon. This
can only occur eight times in a century.
Seals, when basking, place one of their
number on guard to give alarm in case of
danger. The signal is quick clap of the
6ippers on a rock. Rabbits signal with
their fore paws, and have regular signals
and calls.
To protect itself from the rain, the
orang-outang crooks it's arms over it's
head. The hair on the orang's upper
arm points downward, while on the lower
arm III JOillGo pWdIii, IuG apparent Duf-
pose being to shed the rain like thatch.
Professor E. d. Cope announces in the
american Naturalist of the discovery of
new and distinct species of frog, about
the size of the wood frog. One pleasant
characteristic of this newly discovered
little fellow is that he appears to be with
out voice.
Four hundred hairs of average thick
ness would cover an inch of surface. The
blonde belle has about lao, 600 filaments to
comb and brush, while the red-headed
beauty has to be satisfied with $1,000; the
brown-haired damsel may have 100000;
the black-haired but l02, 900.
The speed of the camel when on a Jour-
ney of considerable length rarely exceeds
three miles an hour, and the swiftest
dromedaries are rarely known to go
faster than ten-mile gait, but this can
be kept up for twenty hours in the day
and for six or seven days at time.
If well could be dug to the depth of
forty-six miles. the density of the air at
the bottom would be as great as that of
quicksilver. By the same law cubic
inch of air taken 1000 miles above the
earth's surface would expand sufficiently
10 fill sphere 2,000,000,000 miles in dia-
meter
1t now turns out that the Atlantic and
not the Pacific is the higher of the two
in level being hundreds of feet, as has
been affirmed, the surface of the water on
the east side of the isIhmus is exactly 81
feet higher than it is on the western side
Wax is a substance secreted by the bee.
and is analogous to the fat of the higher
animals. The wax of a species of bee
common in Patagonia, Terra del Fuego
and other parts of Southern South Amer
lea and the adjacent islands, is a dark
blue in color, and is said to be more poi
| Sonous than arsenic.
A man weighs less when the barometer
! is high, Notwithstanding the fact that the
/ atmosphere pressure on him is more than
! when the barometer is low. As the pres
sure of air on an ordinary-sized man is
about fifteen tons, the rise of the mercury
from % to 81 inches adds about one ton to
the load he has to carry.
In old times rhinoceros horns were en-
ployed for drinking cups by royal person
ages, the notion being that poison put into
them would show itself by bubbling.
There may have been some truth in the
/ idea, inasmuch as many of the ancient
I poisons We're acid and they would decom-
pose the horny materialNery quickly.
1 The Japanese believe in more mythical
creatures than any other people on the
! globe, civilized or savage. Among them
/ are mythical animals without any re-
markable peculiarities of conformation,
/ but gifted with supernatural attributes,
| such as a tiger, which is said to live to be
! LOCO years old and turn as white as
/ polar bear.
! 1t is well known that horses can hear
! deep sounds which we can not. For
! days previous to the earthquake in the
| Riviera the horses there showed every
! symptom OF abject fear, which continued
without any change of character until the
fury of the CONFUSION broke forth. But
not till a few seconds before the earth
! began to quake did human beings hear
any sounds, while it is extremely proba-
BILE that the horses heard the subterra-
mean noises for two or three days previ-
ously.