The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-12-27
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

"A Russian physician has been maxi
ing some curious experiments to find
out how far animals can count. He de-
clares that the crow can count up to
ten, and is thereby superior in arith-
metic to certain Polynesian tribes of
men, who cannot get beyond five or
six
According to OF Of cur consuls in
Germany there is great field in that
country for factory-made furniture from
the United States. Not only is the
German furniture more expensive than
ours, because less effective machinery
is used to make it, but it is also less
beautiful, convenient and durable.
In 1884 the world produced 76S, 900
tons of tobacco, grown on S,029,000
acres of ground. The United States
was the largest producer, 100000 tons;
next came India, with 100000; Russia,
with $1,000; Austria, with 6'a000; the
remainder being produced in small
quantities by other countries.
Russia has produced this year, ac-
cording to the estimate of the minister
of agriculture, 272, 900, 900 bushels of
wheat as compared with 1886, 900, 0OOlast
year. Her rye crop is 792, 100000 BUSH
els, as against 1852, 600, 600 a year ago.
The barley yield is 176, 600, 900 and that
of oats G72, 900, 900. There is no famine
in the czars empire this year
DR.. j. A. Allen, describing the sea-
sonal change of color in the varying
hare Lepus Americanus), notes the
,,a1ocra 4ba on
tumnal and the vernal change, and
their irregularities. The change of
color from brown to white is due to a
change of pelage, not to a change of
color in the hair; it is gradual and sea-
sonal, and the order of the parts first
affected in spring is the reverse of the
autumnal change.
In some parts of Europe-Sweden
and Russia-the rainfall is as low as
fifteen inches per annum; the average
for twenty years at Marseilles was 1913
inches, and at Alicante the total for the
year has fallen as low as II inches.
The New South Wales rainfall is great
est in the coastal regions and least in
the inland districts beyond the Oar
ling. The mean rainfall of the whole
colony during the last thirty-three
years is about twenty-five inches.
DR. Franz Stuhlman, who accom-
panies Emin Pasha into the heart of
Africa, saw much of the people called
Pygmies He looks upon them as the
remnant of primeval race which at
one time occupied the whole of tropical
Africa and southern Asia. They have
lost their original language and have
been encroached upon by surrounding
tribes, even within the dense forests to
which they retired, until they are met
with only in scattered remnants. No
trace of degeneracy is to be found
among them.
The sensation of thirst is caused by
lack of fluids in the system. In a
state of health it indicates that the
body wants moisture. Thirst is caused
by failure of the salivary and other
glands to secrete "a proper amount of
fluid for use in Jne stomach. 1t is pos
sible to quer ch thirst not only by the
ordinary cans but through the
blood vessels and the skin. Much of
the water drank passes out through
the skin by means of the blood vessels,
and is known as unconscious perspira-
ton. 1t is a well-known fact that the
loss of blood is always followed by in
tense thirst.