Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 8.djvu/527

Rh These horns are now in the Museum of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History.

is an error to suppose that the lion is stronger than the tiger. Dr. Haughton has proved that the strength of the lion in the fore-limbs is only 69.9 per cent, of that of the tiger, and the strength of his hind-limbs only 65.9 per cent. Five men can easily hold down a lion, but it requires nine men to control a tiger.

the course of his researches into the habits of insects, it was found by Lubbock that an ant, which has a large number of larvæ to carry from one place to another, goes and fetches several other ants to aid in the work, while, if there are only a small number of larvæ, only a few helpers are called in.

is stated by Dr. George Maclean, of Princeton, in a communication to the editors of the American Journal of Science, that on one occasion, after some experiments with phosphuretted hydrogen, prepared from phosphorus and solution of potash, on retiring to bed, he found his body to be luminous with a glow like that of phosphorus exposed to the air. Some of the gas, escaping combustion, or the product of its burning, must have been absorbed into the system, and the phosphorus afterward separated at the surface have there undergone eremacausis.

instances of extraordinarily rapid growth of plants are recorded in the Gardener's Chronicle. First, a Sequoia gigantea, planted in 1855, in Loire-Inférieure, France, is now more than 72 feet high, and, about a yard from the ground, has a girth of 7 feet. In the same locality, a plant of Bambusa mitis threw up a stem of more than 22 feet in two months, while a Yucca albospica produced an inflorescence 8 feet high.

to Dumas there are two distinct kinds of ferments: those which, like yeast, are capable of self-reproduction, and those which, like diastase and synaptase, are without this property. It has been observed by Muntz that ferments of the former class are neutralized by chloroform; not so those of the latter class.

of Boston, has drawn up tables showing the range of difference between different specimens of pure milk as regards the amount of solid mutter they contain. The highest percentage of solid matter is 19.68, the lowest 9.3.

is stated in a French journal, Le Charbon, that experiments made at Bordeaux with cork, as a substance for developing illuminating gas, have led to such good results that it is proposed to establish a cork gas-house in that city. The waste of cork-cutting shops is distilled in close vessels, and the flame of the resulting gas is more intense and whiter than that of coal-gas. The blue portion of this flame is much less, and the density of the gas much greater than that of common illuminating gas.

is stated by Galton that in England country boys, of fourteen years, average an inch and a quarter more in height, and seven pounds more in weight, than city boys of the same age, as shown by the examination of a large number of boys in country and city schools.

writing in the Obstetrical Journal, questions the propriety of admitting women to the practice of medicine. The reason he assigns is, that there exists a natural incompatibility between science and the female brain. The church and the law he considers to be the professions most congenial to the "somewhat arbitrary character of the female intellect." Clergymen and lawyers are, as a rule, the enemies of science, says Dr. Barnes, and in the women they find their most useful allies.

observations made in Colorado by a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences, of Philadelphia, it would appear that grasshoppers can foresee, and provide, some time in advance, against certain changes in the weather. It happened that, while a party of persons were riding in a carriage, the question of the probability of rain was discussed, when suddenly the grasshoppers, which just before had filled the air, descended like a shower to the ground. In two or three minutes, not a grasshopper could be seen in the air, and very soon rain commenced to fall. Immediately after the rain had ceased, the insects took flight again, but in the course of half an hour, without any particular indication of rain, they suddenly plunged to the earth again. Again the rain began to fall. This process was repeated by the grasshoppers three times in one afternoon, and each descent was followed by rain.

of Gordon's Nile Expedition, has reported to the Vienna Geographical Society the particulars of a journey made by him for a distance of 150 miles to the southwest of Lado. This brought him to the Makraka territory, the natives of which he says resemble the Niam-Niams, in respect of their diminutive stature, their lighter color, and their general habits.

view of the recent barbarous exhibition at the Tombs, the Scientific American recommends the employment of electricity, as not only sure and instantaneous