Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-05-17
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Enumeration.
| Ancient time-keeping has received
new light from two remarkable stones
lately unearthed by the German ex-
plorers on the site Of the old Ionic
port of Miletus. These stones are re-
mains of calendars, Of which one is
shown to date from 100 A. D. The
year was divided into twelve zodiacal
signs, and against each month the mo-
ton of the remaining signs was given,
with note predicting the weather. On
the left side were 300 holes, a wooden
peg being moved forward one hole
each day, thus giving the astronomical
date. This new find has made clear
the meaning of parapegma, or peg cal
endar, a name by which other stones
have been rather mysteriously known.
To prove that a mans voice does not
sound the same to himself as to others,
DR.. L. Saloy causes several persons to
speak into a phonograph, and after a
few days reproduces the sentences.
Each person recognizes the voices OF
his friends, but not his own. Prof.
Exner explains, that passage through
solids augments the intensity Of sound
and modifies it's quality, and the sound
Of ones own voice Is given different
timbre by reaching the ear through the
air and the bones of the face instead
of through the air alone.
In the mountains of Panay and other
islands Of the Philippines, moths can
be scraped up by the barrel and bar
rel soon filled. The natives bake them
in the ground, causing heads, wings
and legs to drop off, and leaving a
dainty morsel that is much priced as
an article of food.
The narcotic bomb Of an Austrian
surgeon can be fired from any gun,
and is claimed to give off powerful
narcotic gas enough to render 1000
men unconscious for several hours.
In his study Of British genius, Have
lock Ellis has considered 1000 persons
including IS women-of the highest
intellectual ability. He finds that in
heritance has come as often through
one parent as the other, and that the
fathers have been usually middle-aged
or even elderly, while the mothers have
been at the period Of greatest vigor.
Genius tends to come from large
families and from families containing
only boys, and the eldest in the fam
lily is most likely to be gifted. The
chief feature in childhood is precocity.
1t is concluded that genius cannot be
regarded either as purely healthful
variation nor yet as really diseased
condition or kind of insanity, but that
it is a highly sensitive and complex
adjustment of the nervous system along
special lines, with tendency to defect
along other lines. The real affinity OF
genius is with congenital imbecility
rather than with insanity.
Accurate measurement of dew has al
ways been impossible. A new German
drosometer, reported to give excellent
results is a sheet Of specially prepared
paper soaked in a chemical solution,
and the amount Of dew falling In a
night can be closely estimated from
the degree of discoloration Of this pa
per. Experiment has given scale of
discoloration. Paper Of three degrees
of sensitiveness is provided, and 1t Is
advised that two kinds be exposed to-
gether, in order that when the amount
Of dew is too great for one it may be
indicated by the other.
Human senses vary greatly In acute
ness, so that for instance, few indi-
viduals hear the shrill cry Of the bat
which is inaudible to most ears. 1t Is
more than probable that the senses OF
the lower animals vary even more and
that there are even kinds Of percep-
tions unknown to US. Mr.. w. Wesche
F. R. M. S., reports the discovery on
the femora of many flies Of a curious
organ that seems to represent some
sense altogether unlike any known.
A discussion of the great dust storm
of February 1903, estimates that 1t
covered 10000 square miles Of English
and Wales with a deposit Of at least
II, ,O00, 900 tons. The dust seems to have
been brought from Africa.
Considering the kinds Of memory
M. Menard states that some persons
best remember impressions received
through the eyes; others, those COM
ing through the ears; and still other
persons, best keep in mind what they
UT4 n
less endowed with auditive and visual
memory, while the former is specially
developed in musicians and the latter
in painters. The three classes-visual
auditive and motor-are illustrated in
the methods Of study by children, some
of whom learn their lessons by read
ing a number of times, others only by
hearing them recited, and still others
must repeat the lessons to themselves.
Pupils who must recite to themselves In
a high voice have auditive- e-motor MEM
ory, while those who must copy the les
son a number Of times have visual
motor memory. The student adopts
instinctively the methods his memory
requires.
Most diseases of trees are due to
fungi which attack roots or trunks and
sometimes branches or leaves. The
older the tree the more liable it is to
be attacked, while wounds open the
way for infection. M. Schrenck, a
French forester, has been studying
these fungous diseases and their rem
edies, and has learned many important
facts. The forcing of antiseptic salts