The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1897-04-23
written for, the Citizen.)


sugar.cane and fruit trees by aphides.
Caterpillars that have done great dam
age to banana and palm trees are being
attacked by gadhy from China and
Japan, with the prospect that the
plague will soon be overcome. A ia
panese beetle, which has destroyed
nearly all the rose trees since its ap-
pearance a few years ago, is being in-
fected with deadly parasitic fungus.
These are few of the friends whose
aid is being sought. but, while the re-
suit is proving an economic success,
the fact is deplored that the native in-
sect fauna is likely to disappear.
A piece of glass may be made rides
cent, according to a correspondent of
London Engineering, by flooding with
a dilute solution of silicate of soda, and
allowing it to dry spontaneously in an
upright position. Washing the plate
i'm running water aud again drying may
bring out the colors more brilliantly,
while blackening the back of the glass
will render them gorgeous. The film
adheres tenaciously, and can scarcely
be removed eXceptNY etching.
That the ether is very attenuated
form OF matter. as is generally believed,
is denied by Prof Dolbear. 1t lacks
the well known properties of matter, is
uni tied in quantity and hOmogene-
ous does not absorb heat, is not
transformer of energy, and receives
wave vibrations and delivers them
without loss.
The assimil ation of carbonic acid aud
the formation of starch in leaves take
place only IN the light and in the
green parts, while the dissolution of
this starch and its migration to the
sem keep on day aud night. This
makes it possible to use the living leaf
as Photographic plate. In late lee
ture to the Belgian Microscopical So
ciety, NJ. Errara mentioned an expert
ment with hean leaf, which was de-
prived of its starch by leaving the plant
several days in darkness, next covered
with tin.foi from which the French
word "iode" (iOdine) had been cut,
the whole being then removed TO the
sunliglI for tIo days, aud finally
boiled in water and alcohol until color
less, and plunged into solution of
iodine. The last treatment developed
the word ''iode," which, after drying,
could be preserved for years. Gardiner
has gone much further than this, hav-
ing used a Photographic negative in
place of the cut tin-foll, aud made the
developed image more durable by treat
ing it with some soluble salt of silver,
thus producing iodide of silver where.
ever iodide of starch had formed. In
amore elaborate experiment some years
ago, TimiriaZeff projected the solar
spectrum upon starch-freed leaf,
when hands corresponding to the alb
sorption bands of chloruphyl, or the
green coloring matter, were recorded,
proving that the rays absorbed by the
chlorophyl are the same that produce
the decomposition of the carbonic acid.
In experiments at some Russian
sugar works, the use of electrolysis
alone for purifying beet-root juice is re-
ported to have proven impracticable
When used in conjunction with lime,
however, electrolOysis completes the
action, and precipitates almost three
times the heterogeneous matters that are
removed in the ordinary separation.
The combined process is estimated to
have saved auout $1,000 in treating
7O,000,O00 pounds of beet-root.
The popular idea that horse-chestnuts
are unfit to feed to stock on account of
poisonous qualities appears to lack
foundation. A French author, NJ. Paul
Gay, shows that their nutritive value is
three times that of the richest forage
beet-root, and that they are eaten by
cattle without injury to milk or calves,
although pigs show dislike for them.
Volcanoes are very superficial pricks |
in the earth's crust, according to Mr.. j.
Logan Lobby. In al paper to the Lon !
don Geological society he has sought |
to prove that lava cannot have been |
forced to the surface from depth as !
great as 30 miles, as fishures to serve as
conduits could not exist at that depth, |
while the lava would be consolidated |
before passing through so much cool |
rock. The everything weight would |
cause the rocks even at depth of ten |
miles to he practi cally plastic, making |
continuous assures impossible.
The visual Authorizations in delirium |
tremens have been investigated with |
the hihalmo-cppe at Bellevue Hos |
pital. The blood vessels of the relina |
were found TO have changed from their |
usual pale and almost invisible conui- |
. ton, and to have tecome almost Jack |
1EiEh noNEeaked hlnOd. The blood YES
seIz beiIig tliuS nsuliE prominent are |
D1osfeftd nio liNEfIS|1 Of vision, their |