Canada rice-grass is said to afford an excellent material for the manufacture of paper. It is comparatively free from silicates, 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 abstemious; even when soaked for several days in alcohol, it burns with difficulty.
To determine the true nature of the acid principle of gastric juice, the French physiologist Rabuteau took juice from the stomach 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 chloroform 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 Philosophy in the University of Cambridge, England, for nearly forty years. Deceased had been President of the British Association, and at the time of his death was one of the Visitors of the Greenwich Observatory.
A pleasing illustration of the deep popular interest now almost universally taken in scientific research comes to us from Sweden. Dr. Berggren, a Swedish botanist, who had explored Spitzbergen in 1868, and Greenland in 1870, found himself last year in New Zealand without the means necessary 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, Göteborg's Post, forwarded a large sum toward the prosecution of the work, and private contributions came in so rapidly that Dr. Berggren is now in possession of all the pecuniary aid he needs.
During the extreme cold of the past winter, the Messrs. Becquerel made observations on the effect of the presence or absence of turf on the temperature of the soil beneath the surface. Both of the soils under observation were covered with snow. It was found that, the temperature of the air being from 0° 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.).
Döring, 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-sickness, but even to entirely cure the disorder.
Dr. J. D. Hooker, President of the British Royal Society, questions the expediency of recognizing scientific services and discoveries by such trivial rewards as medals. He favors some other form of award which might convey to the public a more prominent and a more permanent record of the services done by the recipients.
Prof. de Bary, of Strasburg, is inclined to believe that the Peronospora infestans, or parasitic fungus of the potato, passes a portion of its life upon some other plant. Probably 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 Agriculture 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 $15 per ton, and very few were buying even at that price.
It has been asserted that oxides of nitrogen may be produced by oxidation of atmospheric 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 important 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 Philological Society will hold a special meeting for the purpose of hearing a paper from him. Prof. Whitney has just finished a volume for the "International Scientific Series" on the "Life and Growth of Language."
An English sanitarian, Dr. Yeld, of Sunderland, contends for the superiority of seawater 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 cannon. The proportion of dynamite required for this purpose is only about one-thousandth part of the weight of the iron.
