The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-08-24
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

at depths as great as 200 feet Proner
eyenqs are wanting. The nose consists Of
Two, Two i hoies lined with a corrugated mucous
membrane In which the nerves of smell
terminate, and its function must be very
qlHerent from that of land animals, which
oeaas with gaseous odors. The scent"
OF Hshes, once much believed In, proves
20 pc very feeble, or absent. Taste is very
Keen. put Its seat must be In the softer
parts OF the mouth, the tongue being very
t naro. Inc organ Of hearing Is simpler
imam In other vertebrates, though -ex-
tremely sensitive. The external ear Is
wanting. and the inner ear consists merely
or caYltles filled with fluid and with little
porcelain-like particles OF the sense of
touch little is known except that it be-
longs to the whole skin and is very acute
IN the br1stles around the mouth. Fishes
are suspected of having a sixth sense
whose organs are the pores of the head
ana III row extending over a large
nerve.
A remarkable zebra hybrid from South
Africa lately acquired by the British Zoo
Logical society Is a pony bred from a
sembies a small pony. Its body is brown
ana the stripping is=peculiar, the marks on
tne pody being nearly vertical. while those
below which the color is black.
Sleep Is produced by M Stephane Le-
que through the action Of electric cur
and circulation being unaffected. A COM
plete general anaeSthesia can be thus OBJ
Ialned without any unpleasant after ef-
fects.
Chemical union through the mere pres
ence OF an apparently inactive sub
stance Is given renewed interest by the
arts In the new process for making sui
phuric acid, the Combination of sulphu-
r nSa u.s., acid and oxygen depends upon
fact that this catalytic agent soon ceases
to act unless the gases are carefully pu-
r1ned: BY Deacen's chlorine process, the
by passing hydrochlorio acid and air over
no.. copper chloride, which undergoes no
change. In oxidfzing sulphuretted hydro
gen py passing 1t over a special form Of
oxide Of iron, the latter becomes changed
TO pyr1tes without losing it's catalytic
properties, but ordinary pyrites is
strangely lacking in such properties. Mr.
ton Of eatalytic agents by supposing that
they take part in intermediate reactions
When current Of ammonia, for example,
broken up into it's constituents; but this
occurs through the amide decomposing
into nitrogen, hydrogen and sodium, the
latter In the presence Of the ammonia re-
forming the amide.
The natural history student finds still
many mysteries to solve. The whole
question of the consciousness and intel
ligence OF animals, says Lord Avebury.
requires careful study, and there Is hard
ly single animal whose life history is
t tbe to us The problems Of
those OF leaves and seeds. In fact the
problems which every field and wood,
every common and hedge-row, every
and most fascinating. There is no single
substance IN nature whose properties are
fully known, and we seem to be on. the
threshold OF great discoveries.
OF the 100000 acres in the Philip
pine Islands Ian it is estimated that more
and about So 900, 600 in forest. The native
trees thus far enumerated embrace 665
species, and $50 different native woods
entered the market last year.
A curious growth on trees in TERRA del
Fuego Is known to the natives as wood
en- flowers" It is produced by a para
Site plant, allied to the mistletoe, which
develops from stick seeds deposited by
birds, and penetrates the bark and wood
OF the host. The hower-like excrescences,
wood of the tree itself, as forced through
the bark. The parasitic plant, unlike the
m1stletoe,- Weakens and often destroys the
branch on which it lives, and it makes SO
intimate union with the tree that in
transverse section it is almost impossible
70 tel where one plant ends and the
other begins. The parasite lives not more
than three or four years, its traces re-
naming much longer
In new synthesis, Prof. Zinno produces
tartar1c acid by passing over potassium
glycerate current of carbonic acid gas
under pressure eff about three atmos-
pheres. The potassium glycerate Is easily
obtained by oXidizing glycerate by means
Of lead dioxide or minimum and nitric acid.
and then adding potassium carbonate to.
the boiling solution Of the lead salt. It
Is thought that the new process should
prove important on large scale for the
manufacture Of cream of tartar.
A sef-Hghting cigar is tipped with a
chlorate and gum arabic, and a FRACTIONAL
1gniter Is placed on the surface of the
cap. On scratching the igniter. the cap
by an ordinary wind The cap is rendered.
incandescent and the ground glass fused.
SO covering the end Of the cigar that no
unpleasant taste results.
A mechanical sculptor, q machine au-
tomat1cally duplicating statuary, Is a re-
markable adaptation of the pantograph
me STATUE TO be reproduced is placed
upon pedestal, where it is gone over by
small wheel on the end of large arm.
which connects with mechanism driving
cutter. A ball of clay is thus made into
an exact copy.
A new lifeboat from Scotland is inflated
automatically on being plunged into the
water; perforated metal case holds
materials for generating gas, together
with spiral spring held under tension
by strip OF paper; and as the paper be-
comes wet it tears, releasing the spring,
and this causes the mixing Of the chem
ing.
In the electrolytie reduction Of lead sui
Phide as now carried out at Niagara
Falis, the ores are used as catholics in an
ac1d electrolyte, hydrogen sulphide being
formed and passing off as a gas, while
the spongy metallic lead remains The
apparatus resembles a pile Of lead dinner
plates, each plate representing a CELL and
with AZ cells in series, using 100 volts,
the product Is almost two pounds of lead
per horse power hour. The process,
whose chief difficulty has been Incomplete
reduction through passage of the current
through the sleads produced. has been SO
improved that about 90 to 95 per cent Of
the ore Is now reduced to metal. The
gases developed ARE hydrogen sulphide
and oxygen in their combining propor--
lions, and 1T Is proposed to utilize these
for driving gas engines.
Incandescent lamps emit more heat
tnan Is generallysupposed, only per cent
verted into light. A 1e-cand1e power
lamp fed by a current of 100 volts has
heated ten ounces Of water to boiling
point In on hour. and fires celluloid in ave
Aluminium tubing for scientific fnstru-
ments Is made so fine that 1000 feet
weight only one pound.
CastigatIon In Near Future.
That young man has a brilliant flyt11rA