Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1894-12-27
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Unclaimed Wealth. Of fhe Vegetable
World and of the Ocean Electricity
the Modern cosmetic Insect Vision.

i
Though Emerson suggested that
every weed IS a plant whose use is
not yet understood. the number OF
plants that have been drought into
service by man is .yers small. Edison
s. BAsrfn finds authority for the state
ment that 1892 species have been al
some tinIe' cultivated as food and that
the total known 70, hayetbeen used as
food is 1890, But many of These are
Of little value, and smiths Dictionary
Of Economic I'lmnts' gives only 51s
! species as those important for any
purposes. For medicine some 300l
pfIfrs have been employed, of which
the United States Dispensatory enum-
crates 100. aud Of which only 244 are
given i'll the Pharmaeopocia. The plant
not yet investigated offer great posi-
bilities, which, however, can only be
developed by dong and extensive. gov
! ernnlent experiment The named spe-
cies may be taken as about l75,000,
and possibly as many more remain TO
betdiscoyered. while many species are
capable of great variation through cul.
tivatiom The apple had yielded about
1900 different varieties up to few
years ago, yet some other species of
the genus may be quite as capable of
useful development The different
varieties of wheat are believed by
some. to have had their origin in an
unimportant forage. grass, and a wild
.,ff ~ Jie.l, q "a
French coasts has given us the white
and red cabbages, cailiflower and per-
haps even the common turnip. From
the little explored fields of bacteria
and fungi may be expected many. use
full products.
BY its tonic influence upon the heart,
blood-vessels and general circulation,
electricity tends to maintain the nor
NAL nutrition in the skin as well as
in other tissues. 1t Is therefore largely
employed to improve the complexion,
states Prof ]. V. Shoemaker, in a
variety of cases that are not actually
disease, but are on the border-line and
probably due to faulty nutrition.
Among the defects so treated are mud,
diness Of complexion, yellowness due
TO 3isordered liver, oilness from re-
Taxed sebaceous ducts, redness of nose
due to sluggish circulation dryness
and roughness of the skin, and pig
mented spots and patches, including
freckles.
That gold should exist in the ocean.
is an induction that DR.. Henry Wurtz
claims to have presented in 1866, and
in 1872 the discovery was made BY +.
Sonstadt. Assuming 90 grain for each
ton of sea-wate., it is computed that
the entire ocean contains ever $780,
000,O00000, 100000 Of gold One of the
problems of the future, DR.. Wurtz now
predicts, will be the getting of some
OF this gold by electrolysis.
That insects do not see well. especial
~ to a distance, is conclusion
reached by A. Mallack from obserya.
ton and calculation Their composite
eye, however has an advantage over
the simple eye in the fact that there
is hardly any practical limit to its
nearness of vision. The best insect
eve examined would give picture
about as good as if executed in coarse
woodwork, and viewed from foots
distance.
The United States Geological Survey,
established about IA years ago, is do
ing work not suggested by it's title,
about half its energies and annual
appropriations. according to Marcus
Baker being devoted to making a
typographical map of the country.
More or less work of this kind has
been done in all but or ) of the
40 States and Territories. The total
area mapped to date is nearly 100000
square miles, or about one-fifth of the
United States. and during the last few
years the areas surveyed have been
from 10000 to $4,000 square miles per
year. Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut and New Jersey are al
ready completely mapped on the larg.'
est scale, their Legislatures having CO.
operated to hasten the work. The
various scales are : 100000 (about 4
miles to an inch). l 125,000 and / : 3d.
500, the contour intervals ranging from
go or 200 feet to 10 or even feet
in fiat regions. The sheets on the
smallest scale, which Is no longer used,
cover one degree of latitude by one
degree Of longitude. The entire work
is designed to be accurate to scale,
which means, If it is assumed that
a hundredth OF an inch Is the limit
of visible error on the published map,
that each point on the largest scale
must be located within SO feet of It's
true position in nature. The total cost
thus far has been somewhat over ST.
100000. with recent annual expendi-
lures of about S250,000.
One of the remarkable accomplish
ments of the ancient Peruyians-who
excelled in engineering, agriculture,
mining, weaving. and about every
other art of civilization trepan.
ming, which is so difficllt and hazar-
dous that recovery follows only about
fourth of the modern operations. The
great Muniz collection, ten porarily in
the custody Of the Bureau OF American