The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1896-04-09
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

as source of oxygen. Nitrogen is
eliminated until the product contains
seventy per cent. oxygen.
It is said that womens voices do not
give results in the long distance tele-
phone; their high notes, excellent in
short lines, as all city telephone sub
ScriberS know, are an obstacle to clear
transmission in lines of considerable
length.
In an old Indian mound near Cedar
vile, o., was found stone image of
a woman in sitting posture. 1t is
smoothly and beautifully carved and
shows the features clearly. Prof. Stahl
thinks the find dates back many CEN
turtles, probably to the times of the
shepherd kings, and long prior to the
mound builders.
A graphic idea of the immense size
of Siberia may be CLEANED from the
following comparisons: All OF the
states, Kingdoms, municipalities, en-
pires, etc., of Europe Except Russia),
and all of the United States, including
Alaska, could be placed side by side in
Siberia, and yet but little more than
cover that immense country.
The planet Mars resembles the earth
more closely than any other of the So
lar system that we know anything
about. Mars is smaller than the earth,
and its specific gravity is less. Its at
mOsphere is rarer than that on the
highest mountains. 1t has probably no
oceans and very little free water, ex-
cept in spring, when the snow melts.
AS to Mars being inhabited, it is not
impossible.
The saltiness Of the sea has much to
do with the ocean currents, which dis
tribute the heat of the tropics over the
colder regions of the earth. Currents
are largely due to the difference be-
tween the specific gravity of sea-water
and the fresh water of rains. Thus
when rain falls on certain part of
the ocean the effort of the heavier salt
water to establish an equilibrium
causes a current.
The minute creatures that have lived
in the sea for ages past have left en-
during monuments in the shape of
islands, rocks and continents. If the
sea had not been salty, these marine.
animals could not have existed and
secreted the hard substance known as
a "calcareous skeleton" which has
largely contributed to the growth of
continents. Among these early inhab-
itants of the sea were cOrals, crinOids,
sea-urchinS and star-fshes.
Mr.. E. I'll. Thompson, the govern
ment horticulturist at Tasmania, re-
ports, as the result of series of meas
urements of growing apple and pear
trees and rose and geranium bushes
and other plants, that eighty-five per
cent. of the growth of trees takes place
between midnight and six o'clock in
the morning. The growth continues
at a much diminished rate until nine
o'clock. After that it is very slight
until noon, when the tree falls into
condition of complete rest, lasting un-
til six o'clock. Then there is a grad
ual renewal of the growth, which, how
ever, does not become rapid until the
middle of the night.
Prof. and Mrs. Peckham, of Wiscon-
sin, who have for some time been en-
gagged in an interesting study of spi
ders, have proved by their experiments
that these creatures ''See their prey
(which consists of small insects) when
it is motionless up to a distance of
five inches; that they see insects in
motion at much greater distances; and
that they see each other distinctly up
to at least twelve inches. The Obser
vations on blinded spiders and the
numerous instances in which spiders
which were close together, and yet out
of sight of each other, showed that
they were unconscious of each others
presence render any other explanation
of their action unsatisfactory. Sight
guides them, not SMELL"
"Some interesting facts" says DR.. d.
G. BrintOn in Science, "were developed
by Prof. Ranke at the last meeting of
the German AnthropOlogica Society,
in relation to the relative weights of
the brain and spinal cord in man. 1t
is known that man has not the heaviest
brain of any animal; the whale and
the elephant have heavier. Nor has
he the heaviest in proportion to his
weight; some singing birds, various