256 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Canada rice-grass is said to afford an 

 excellent material for the manufacture of 

 paper. It is comparatively free from sili- 

 cates, and the paper is quite as strong and 

 flexible as that made from rags. It is 

 easily bleached, pure in color, and presents 

 a surface of perfect evenness. It also takes 

 a very clear impression from the printer's 

 types. The plant grows wild, and in great 

 abundance, in the United States and Canada, 



Experiments made by Dr. Chassaignol, 

 of Brest, show that the flesh of drunkards 

 is not more inflammable after death than 

 the flesh of those who have been abstemi- 

 ous ; even when soaked for several days in 

 alcohol, it burns with difliculty. 



To determine the true nature of the acid 

 principle of gastric juice, the French physi- 

 ologist Rabuteau took juice from the stom- 

 ach of a dog which had been allowed to fast 

 for twenty-four hours, and then fed on bits 

 of tendon. To the filtered liquid he added 

 as much quinia as it would dissolve. Then 

 it was dried in vacuo, and the residue treated 

 first with amylic alcohol, then with chloro- 

 form or benzine. On evaporation, a pure 

 hydrochlorate of quinia was obtained. No 

 trace of lactic acid was found. 



Died, March 2d, Robert Willis, F. R. S., 

 Professor of Natural and Experimental Phi- 

 losophy in the University of Cambridge, 

 England, for nearly forty years. Deceased 

 had been President of the British Associa- 

 tion, and at the time of his death was one of 

 the Visitors of the Greenwich Observatory. 



A PLEASING illustration of the deep pop- 

 ular interest now almost universally taken 

 in scientific research comes to us from Swe- 

 den. Dr. Berggren, a Swedish botanist, 

 who had explored Spitzbergen in 1868, and 

 Greenland in IS'ZO, found himself last year 

 in New Zealand without the means neces- 

 sary for pursuing his investigations into the 

 flora of that country. The situation was 

 made public by a Swedish newspaper, and 

 immediately the proprietors of another 

 Swedish newspaper, Gotehorg^s Post, for- 

 warded a large sum toward the prosecution 

 of the work, and private contributions came 

 in so rapidly that Dr. Berggren is now in pos- 

 session of all the pecuniary aid he needs. 



During the extreme cold of the past 

 winter, the Messrs. Becquerel made obser- 

 vations on the effect of the presence or ab- 

 sence of turf on the temperature of the soil 

 beneath the surface. Both of the soils un- 

 der observation were covered with snow. 

 It was found that, the temperature of the 

 air being from to 12 Cent., that of the 

 turf-covered soil, at the depth of twenty 

 inches, was never so low as zero, whereas in 

 the case of denuded soil the temperature 

 was nearly 5 below zero (Cent.). 



DoRiNG, a German physician, asserts that 

 an average dose of four grammes of chloral 

 hydrate suffices not only to procure rest 

 and sleep in case of sea-.-ickness, but even 

 to entirely cure the disorder. 



Dr. J. D. Hooker, President of the Brit- 

 ish Royal Society, questions the expediency 

 of recognizing scientific services and dis- 

 coveries by such trivial rewards as medals. 

 He favors some other form of award which 

 might convey to the public a more promi- 

 nent and a more permanent record of the 

 services done by the recipients. 



Prop, de Bart, of Strasburg, is inclined 

 to believe that the Peronospora infestans, or 

 parasitic fungus of the potato, passes a por- 

 tion of its life upon some other plant. Prob- 

 ably both clover and straw are capable of 

 entertaining the Peronospora. If this is the 

 case, it gives confirmation to the prevailing 

 opinion that barn-yard manure promotes 

 potato-disease, especially when applied in 

 spring. The theory can be easily tested. 



A LETTER to the Department of Agricult- 

 ure from San Joaquin County, California, 

 states that hundreds of tons of the finest 

 grapes were left on the vines in that county 

 at the close of the past season, there being 

 no demand for them. Wine-makers were 

 paying only $1 5 per ton, and very few were 

 buying even at that price. 



It has been asserted that oxides of ni- 

 trogen may be produced by oxidation of at- 

 mospheric nitrogen through -the agency of 

 ozone, but, from experiments made by Prof. 

 Carius, it appears that free nitrogen remains 

 unacted on in the presence of this active 

 oxygen. He believes that the most impor- 

 tant reaction in Nature by which nitrates 

 and nitrites are generated is the oxidation 

 of ammonia by means of ozone. 



During the visit of Prof. W. D. Whitney 

 to England, this spring, the British Philo- 

 logical Society will hold a special meeting 

 for the purpose of hearing a paper from 

 him. Prof. Whitney has just finished a vol- 

 ume for the " International Scientific Se- 

 ries" on the "Life and Growth of Lan- 

 guage." 



An English sanitarian, Dr. Yeld, of Sun- 

 derland, contends for the superiority of sea- 

 water over fresh water in street sprinkling, 

 and alleges that when treated by the former 

 the streets remain much longer moist even 

 during very hot weather, and that by its 

 means the cohesive power of the materials 

 of a road is increased. 



Dynamite is employed in France for the 

 purpose of breaking up old caunon. The 

 proportion of dynamite required for this 

 purpose is only about one-thousandth part 

 of the weight of the iron. 



