The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1898-01-19
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.
The white rhinoceros is nearly ex.
tinct. Lcndon has two stuffed speci
mems and another is in the Cape Town
Museum.
Heavy trucks are being fitted with
ball bearings now. The principle is
that of bicycle bearings used on
large scale.
Saville Kent, a naturalist, has an
owl, or ''morepork," as he calls it,
which plays possum, stiffening itself
out until it appears as part of the
branch of a tree in the naturalist's
yard.
Frozen butterflies are often found
on the snow by mountain climbers,
and the insects are so brittle that they
break unless carefully handled. When
taken to a warmer climate they re.
cover and fly away.
A little electric railway connects the
dining room, kitchen aud cellar of the
residenceof DIR. Siemens, the famous
Berlin electrician. BY pressing q but
ton, articles in one apartment are
quickly conveyed to any Of the others.
Experiments upon substratum of
swampy soil on the Myrtle Grove farm,
in Queen Anne County, Maryland,
have developed new fertihzing ma
terial and new stock for brown
and durable paint. The mud, when
subjected to an evaporating process,
hardens into crusty blocks. This
substance, when crushed, has been
found available for fertilizing, or as
the body of paint, if the usual mix
ing fluids be added.
1t is said that young man. whose
name is not given, after q march of
nine hours from Bordj j-Bou-Arreridi,
has discovered the ruins of the old
Arabic capital, Kalaa, once the chief
seat of the Ulmmadites. Among them
were the remains of an old mosque,
which had evidently been rebuilt from
the ruins of an ancient Christian
church, on the plan of the Basilica.
Near it was wash basin, fed by q
fountain, constructed of beautiful
variegated marble. 1t betrays its
Christian origin by q double Latin
cross, with an almost efaced lnscrip-
ton, evidently an ancient Christian
monogram.
The walking of "a fly on the ceilingis
familiar phenomenon not yet fully
understood. A recent paper by Mrs.
d. H. Dierhold mentions that tho mi
croscope quickly disproves the old
theory that flies hold to smooth sur
faces by means of suckers, aud that
Hooke's idea that flies stick to glass
by O viscus secretion was shown q
dozen years ago to be only partly
sound. DIR. Rombout has established
the fact that the flies hang on by the
help of capillary adhesion-the mole
.ular attraction between solid and
liquid bodies. 1t is true the foot hairs
are very minute, but as each fly is
said to have 1000 or 10000, we need
not be surprised at what they can do.
1t appears that the curious remedies
Of century or two ago are still re-
tanned in some parts of the earth. A
Russian journal mentions that the in
habitants of a malarial locality in the
government of Kharkov have in re-
sent years used powdered crabs with
great success in fevers, and that this
powder has been adopted in preference
toquinine. A teaspoonful is generally
sufficient to cure the intermittent
fever, a second dose being required
only in obstinate cases. The powder
is prepared by pouring ordinary whis-
KY ON live crabs until they are put to
sleep, when they are put on a bread
pan in a hot oven, thoroughly dried,
oulverized aud passed through sieve