MISCELLANY 



383 



Sensitive Streams. Prof. Edwin J. 

 Houston, while spending a summer's vaca- 

 tion in Pike County, Pa., had the good 

 fortune to discover the sensitiveness of 

 water to sound-waves. Among the many 

 beautiful water-falls of that section he found 

 one scantily supplied with water, which 

 dripped in small streams from the ends of 

 the moss covering the rocks of the preci- 

 pice ; the air being still and the stream free 

 from ventral segments. And it was found 

 that, on sounding a shrill falsetto note, the 

 streams would instantly respond, and change 

 the grouping of the drops and the position 

 of the ventral segments. A heavy rain, 

 however, flooded the stream, and prevented 

 further investigation. 



Vegetable Caprice. It would almost 

 seem that too much can be asserted as to 

 the uniformity of habitat, or natural loca- 

 tion, of a given species of plant. The 

 Bunch-flower (Melanthium Virginicum) has 

 been set down as invariably occupying moist 

 meadows and damp borders. A correspond- 

 ent of the Torrey Botanical Club reports 

 seeing, " when crossing the Alleghanies by 

 carriage-road to the Peaks of Otter, and 

 frequent, high and dry, on the rocks, tall 

 and stout Melanthium Virginicum" and 

 adds : " I was unprepared for that, as with 

 us it grows along the margins of marshes, 

 as at Bergen, N. J." 



The Tails of Comets. Prof. Zollner, in 

 his book " On the Nature of Comets," ac- 

 counts for some of the phenomena by 

 showing that water, mercury, and many 

 other substances, even in the solid state, 

 always give off vapor ; hence, a mass of 

 matter in space will ultimately surround 

 itself with its own vapor, and present the 

 appearance of a comet. It is quite prob- 

 able that some of the masses moving in 

 space may be fluid, in which case, on ap- 

 proaching the sun, the development of va- 

 por would be very rapid, as is well exem- 

 plified by some of the smaller comets. 

 And, as regards the swift growth of the 

 tail, Prof. Zollner demonstrates that if the 

 free electricity of the sun be not greater in 

 amount than that observed at the surface 

 of the earth, it would be sufficient to com- 

 municate an impulse which, as exemplified 



by the comet of 1680, would produce a train 

 or tail 60,000,000 miles long in two days. 

 Having proved this mathematically, he does 

 not think it necessary to seek further for a 

 theory of repulsive force by which to ac- 

 count for the tails of comets. Chambers's 

 Journal. 



Phosphoric Acid. The occurrence of 

 phosphorus in combination with the ores of 

 iron has long been an annoyance to iron- 

 manufacturers, and many rich ores are 

 worthless from the presence of phosphorus, 

 which makes the iron brittle and useless. 

 Julius Jacobi proposes a method of freeing 

 iron-ores from phosphorus, and at the same 

 time saving the phosphoric products for 

 agricultural purposes. His process con- 

 sists in roasting the ore and crushing it, 

 and, after placing it in a proper receiver, 

 submitting it to the action of water charged 

 with sulphurous acid under pressure. The 

 ore is then washed with water to remove all 

 the soluble products, and the phosphoric 

 acid precipitated from the water with 

 fresh-burnt lime is obtained as a neutral 

 phosphate of lime. If effectual, and not 

 too expensive, the proposed method is 

 very important, as rendering many ores 

 available which are now regarded as worth- 

 less, and at the same time supplying a de- 

 mand in agriculture which has heretofore 

 been but imperfectly met. 



The Osage Orange. The Madura au- 

 rantica, a familiar shrub from its general 

 use as a hedge-plant, it is now proposed to 

 utilize for other purposes. A decoction of 

 the wood is said to yield a beautiful and 

 very permanent yellow dye. This decoc- 

 tion, carefully evaporated, forms a bright- 

 yellow extract, called aurantine, which may 

 be used in imparting its color to fabrics. 

 In addition to this coloring-matter, the 

 wood of the Osage orange is rich in tannin. 

 Experiments made in Texas represent that 

 hides are tanned quicker with the wood of 

 this tree than with oak-bark. The seeds 

 yield a bland, limpid oil, resembling olfve- 

 oil, and which may, in general use, be sub- 

 stituted for it. 



Test for Silk Goods. In the present 

 methods of silk manufacture the amount 



