The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1900-12-20
EkysSSCienCe
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merce Is placed at 400, and of these
420 are applied TO the making of per.
fumes.
Our lonely strawberry plant has been
trained into an upright form by a
Frenchman. NJ. Ballet. The method
is simplicity itself. The runners are
trained up vertically and tied to a
stake. This is an adaptation of the
principle recently applied to yioles.
1t has been generally supposed that
the evil taste of distilled water is due
to the absence of dissolved gases We
are told now that the reverse is the
case, and that the reason is the pres.
ence of the gases generated in the still.
Filtration through animal charcoal de-
stroys these.
The astronomer royal, in his report
of the observations at Greenwich dur
ing the year ending Aug. 80, 1900,
states that the number of rainy days
was 146, and that the rainfall for the
year was 21.79 inches. which was 2.57
inches less than the average for the
past fifty years. The rainfall for Aug
ust, .354 inch, was the smallest on rec
ord in fifty-nine years, while that for
February. 3.5s inches, was the largest
In sixty years, with two exceptions.
There is a popular impression that mi
crobes and germs OF all kinds are killed
by intense cold. Recent experiments
n tho la hnra Of
the man who solidlfled hydrogen, show
that this impression is erroneous. Many
forms of bacteria were subjected to the
tremendous cold of liquid air for an en-
tire week without interruption, yet aft
erward they developed as vigorously
as they would have done il they had
not undergone so frosty an experience.
The mouth parts of the wasps, though
arranged for sucking, have not reached
that degree OF perfection found among
the bees. They are thus prevented
from extracting the honey from the
deeper flowers, and accordingly fire.
quent the more shallow or widely open
ed ones, particularly the Umbelliferae.
VIZ IA ito otaSOh dinO iOl MS az
portant part of the food Of the adults.
Several species store up honey In con-
siderable quantities, but the greater
number. II not all, have marked carni-
yorous tendencies.
The Cambridge exploring expedition
to the Malay peninsula, whose members
have recently returned to England,
found some strange articles of diet
among the natives who were visited.
Among these articles. of which two
members of the expedition partook,
were red ants, toads, bee grubs and
species of cieada. The latter are
caught in peculiar manner. A bright
fire being made at night the natives as
semble around 1t, one of their number
holding a lighted torch, while the 9TH
ers clap their hands at regular inter-
walls. The insects, attracted by the
lights and the noise, settle upon the per-
sons standing about the fire and are
then captured.
DR.. Thorvald .Thoroddsen in recsnt
papers gives a curious picture of life
and scenes in Iceland. Settlements are
limited TO the lowlands, yet even these
are not safe places of abode, for they
are exposed to lava floods, rivers foods
and showers of volcanic ashes. When
the glaciers OF the dome-shaped noun
talns are suddenly melted by volcanic
heat, Overwhelming torrents, bearing
immense masses of ice and fragments
of rock. sweep down the riyer-beds.
Yet with all their disadvantages the in
habitants of the narrow lowlands Of
Iceland enjoy universal education, and
among them more books and newspa.
pers are published per head of the pop
ulation than in any other country.