The St. Johns herald., 1898-07-02

Astronomers say that one million shooting stars" fall into the sun for every one that comes into our atmos- phere.
 : Fully nine ,-atas of the stars r'a n i belt Of the heavens abort sixty degrees wide, through the center of which runs the Milky Way.
 According to the computations of Prof. Hamy, the black race embraces ! about one-tenth of the living members of the human species, or 15O,OOO,OOO individuals.
 In some parts of the Milky Way the telescopic stars are so numerous that as many as two thousand may lie with in the limits of space which might be covered by the moon.
 Certain butterflies have very trans parent wings, and these are thought by Haase to be even more effectual for protection than conspicuous warning" stripes or other markings.
 Meda Wilhite, of Buckner, Ky, now four years old, is probably the largest child of her age in the country. She weighs 120 pounds, has a chest meas urement of thirty y-eight inches, and is four feet high.
 Professor Harshberger says that, Dotantcally speaking, the dahlia Is an American genus confined to Mexico. When the Spaniards first visited Mexi- co, they found the dahlia cultivated In the gardens of the natives. It was first grown in Madrid in 17S9, and in Eng land in 179O.
 Professor Krebs, of Chicago is the third scientist who has discovered the germ of yellow fever. If the objects found are identical, this will be pre- sumptive evidence that the medium of the disease has actually been found, and its cure, or rather it's avoidance, will follow in due course.
 The telegraphic tournament which is to take place in connection with the electrical exhibition in New York in May Is attracting considerable atten- ton. 4 photographic record Is to be made of the best transmission. The same matter is to be used as that sent by F. L. GaGvin, who made a record of ez9 words .a a-a winutas '0 1893
 That the clnemat0graph Is now a val uable aid to scientific investigations was shown in the eclipse observations in India, and now Professor Flam- marion, the well-known French astron- omer, has used cinematograph to take during the night continuous series of pictures showing sunset, the appear ance of the stars, the milky way, moonrise and the moons motion in the sky.
 Contrary to a widespread belief that hard woods give more heat in burning than soft varieties, 1t has been shown that the greatest heating power Is pos sessed by the wood of the linden-tree, which Is very soft. Fir stands next to linden, and almost equal to 1t. Then comes pine. hardly inferior to fir and linden; while hard oak possesses eight per cent. less heating capacity than linden, and red beech ten per cent. less.
 If an inhabitant of another world should visit our earth he would hardly fail to notice, among its curiosities worth reporting to his fellow-beings, the numerous observatories, some for studying the stars and others for study ing the weather, which, within a few years past, have been placed upon so many lofty peaks in lands so widely scattered that they may be said to en- circle the globe. He would probably jot down In his notebook: "The inhab- itants of the earth have placed scien- tiflc sentry-boxes all around their planet as near the sky as they can get them" The latest of the lofty outposts of science to be established has recently been put on the summit of Mount Kosciusko, 1928 feet high, the most elevated point in Australia. It Is a meteorological observatory.