The mirror., 1896-09-24
Popular Science.

Popular Science.
A towering plant is said to alb
stract from the soil two hundred
times it's own weight in water.
The Psychologists say that the
right side of the brain is of more
Importance to organic life than
the left.
Sun spots are believed to be
openings in the suns photisphere,
or luminous envelope, through
which the orb is SEEN
In the various alphabets of the
world the number of letters varies
from II to POP. The shortest al
phabet is that of the Sandwich
islanders, which has II letters.
A medical authority reports
that the planting of osiers on a
large scale in northwestern India
has been effective in stamping out
malaria in a valley of many stag
nant pools.
The north magnetic pole is now
probably near the southeast angle
of the Arctic peninsula known as
Boothnia Felix; the south mag
netic pole is south of Australia,
seventeen degrees. twenty-five min
utes from the geographical pole.
Birds are able to work at a high
er rate than any other animal
that is, they can develop more en-
ergy in proportion to their weight
by working at a higher tempera-
ture, and this necessitates warm
coating of feathers as protection
from the cold atmosphere.
A simple method Of measuring
heights in the interior of churches
and other buildings consists in at
taching graduated string or tape
to small balloon such as is easily
obtainable anywhere. This meth
cd might also be readily applied
for measuring the height of cav
erns.
It is proposed to take 440, 100000
gallons daily to Paris from the
lake of Geneva, distance of
about 80 miles. London may have
new supply Of fresh water, of
equal Importance to the Paris sup
ply, from parts of Wales situated
at an altitude Of 279O feet above
the sea level, particularly the re-
gion from which spring the Towy,
Usk and Wye.
A large brain may have it's un-
comfortable concomitants, as is
proved by the fact that a brain
weighing sixty-seven ounces be-
longed to man who had had cpl
leptic fits for some years before
his death, at the age of forty three.
There was slight enlargement in
some Of it's central structures, but
the pressure did not seem to be
too great till short time before
his death.
The tadpoles of the toad, unlike
those of the frog and salamander,
retain their early black color
throughout their larval state. They
also undergo their metamorphoses
while much smaller than the frog.
The toad tadpoles take on the
adult form when they are literally
not larger than peas. At this stage
they leave the water in great num-
bers and make long journeys in
every direction, travelling mostly
at night, but often emerging from
their hiding places after a rain,
thus giving rise to the suspicion
that they have fallen with the
rain.
Free surfaces of water, and soils
that are continuously saturated,
evaporate into the atmosphere on
the average more water under 9TH
erwise similar circumstances than
soils, whether naked or covered
with plants, and whether watered
artifcially ornaturally. Prof. We ool-
ney says, only at special times,
viz, when the influence Of the fac
tors that favor evaporation is most
intense, when the plants are in the
most active period Of growth, and
when the soil contains large per-
centage Of water, can the land that
is covered with plants show a
larger evaporating power than the