Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-01-11
SCIENTIFIC NOTES.
A RESUME OF THE WORLDS PRO-
GRESS.

SECT NisiOh-MaPping the United
states - Wonderful Prehi>ioric
Surgery - CryOstaIe and is
Unique Property-A New safety
Boiler.
Though Emerson suggested that
every weed is plant whose use is not
yet understood, the number OF plants
that have been brought into service by
man is very small. Edison & Basin
finds authority for the statement that
/ ,l92 species have been at some time
cultivated as food, and that the total
known to have been used as food is
1890. But many of these are of little
value, and "Smith's Dictionary OF
Economic Plants" gives only 51j
species as those important for any
purpose. For medicine some 5000
plants have been employed, of which
the United States Dispensatory emu,
merates 1900, while only 244 are
given in the Pharmacoppia. The
plants not yet investigated offer great
possibilities, which, however, can only
be developed by long and extensive
government experiment. The named
species may be taken as about IT'S 600
and possibly as many more remain to
be discovered, willie many species
are capable of great variation through
cultivation. The apple had yielded
about 1900 different varieties up to a
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 bad their origin in an
unimportant forage grass, and a wild
plant still growing on English and
French coasts has given us the white
and red cabbages, cauliflower and per
haps even the common turnip
From the little explored fields of bac.
terra and fungi may be expected many
useful products.
BY its tonic influence upon the
heart, blood-vessels and general circu
laticn, electricity tends to maintain
the normal nutrition in the skin as
we'll as in other tissues. 1t is there
fore largely employed to improve the
complexion, states Prof. J. V. Shoe
maker, in variety OF cases that are
not actually disease, but are on the
border.line and probably due to faulty
nutrition. Among the defects sc
| treated are muddiness of complexion
yellowness due to disordered liver
oiliness from relaxed sebaceous ducts
redness of nose due to sluggish circu
lation, dryness and roughness of the
skin, and augmented spots and patches.
including freckles.
That gold should exist in the ocean
is an induction that DIR. Henry Wurt2
claims to have presented in 1866, and
in 1872 the discovery was made by f
Sonstadt. Assuming O9 grain fol-
each ton of sea water, it is computed
that the entire ocean contains over
$50, OOO, 600, 600, 100000 of gold. One
of the problems of the future, DR.
Wurtz now predicts. will be the get.
ting of some of this gold by electro
lysis.
That insects do not see we'll, espe.
cially to a distance, is a conclusion
reached by A. Mallack from observa.
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
eye examined would give a picture
about as good as il executed in coarse
woodwork, and viewed from foot's
distance.
The United States Geological Sur.
vey, established about IA years ago, is
doing work not suggested by its title
about half its energies and annual ap.
preparations, according to Marsns Ba-
ker. being devoted to making a topo-
graphical map of the country. More
or less work of this kind has been
done in all but or 5 of the 46 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
largest scale, their Legislatures having
co-operated to hasten the work. The
various scales are 100000 (about 4
miles to an inch), :l25, 900 and l :62,
500, the contour intervals ranging
from $50 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 50 feet oil
its true position in nature. The total
cost thus far has been somewhat over
81, 100000, with recent annual expen.
ditures of about $250,OOO.
One of the remarkable accomplish
ments Of the ancient Peruvians-who
excelled in engineering, agriculture
mining, weaving. and about every
other art of civilization-was ire
panning, which is so difficult and
hazardous that recovery follows only
about a fourth OF the modern opera
tons. The great Muniz collection
temporarily in the custody of the Blu.
reau of American Ethnology, contains
about 1000 specimens of prehistoric
Peruvian skulls, of which 10 are ire
panned, and 8 give indications of subse
quent recovery. A young female seems
to have survived q series OF operation.
resulting in an aperture in the skull 4
inches long and an inch wide, which
was covered by silver plate.
A new substance having the re
markable and unique property o.
solidifying when heated and remain
ing liquid at temperatures below zero
has been reported by q German
chemist. 1t has been named ergo
stase, and is obtained by mixing to
gether equal parts of phenol, camphol
and saponine, and adding somewhat
smaller portion OF essence of turpen
tine. Certain substances. like the al
bumens, harden on heating, but thi.
is the only product that again lique
fies on cooling.
| The novel safety boiler Of M Chota