Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 January 1882 — THINGS WORTH KNOWING. [ARTICLE]

THINGS WORTH KNOWING.

Fob several years it has been observed that European glaciers are steadily retreating. - The molecules of hydrogen, at a temperature of 60° Fahrenheit, move at the average of 6,225 feet in a second. Flammarian says that the tail of a comet must sweep through space with the velocity of 16,000 leagues per second. Mb. Stone, her Majesty’s astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope, has just completed his great catalogue of Southern stars, the result of ten years’ labor at the cape. The algae known as protococcacem have one peculiarity—they do not live in the water but in other plants, some in dead, some in dying and others in living parts. Some people have come to believe that salting or smoking will kill trichinae, but a temperature of 212° Fahrenheit, or at least 160° should be reached in every part of the meat to bring about this result The colors which distinguish our summer and autumn flora—reds, pinks, blues and yellows—are caused by the presence of substances which require a strong light and high temperature for their production. It was at one time supposed that among twining plants each had its own direction, some twining toward the sun and others against it; but, though the theory is true in the main, there are found exceptions to the rule. The amount of nervous action may be measured by the quantity of blood consumed in its performance. The plethysmograph, measuring the volume of an organ, when the arm is brought in contact with its records the amount of blood drawn from the body to the brain, and thus indicates exactly the effort in mental action. Experiments have recently been made to show that the presence of ozone produces luminosity in phosphorus. In pure oxygen, at a temperature of 15° C., and under atmospheric pressure, phosphorous is not luminous in the dark, and a bubble of ozone introduced under the bell glass produces momentary phosphorescence. The practical value of the Faure accumulator for the storing of electricity is yet to be proved. It is said that several such batteries stationed in a house and charged with electricity during the day will be sufficient to light up the rooms at night and perform such light operations as turning a coffee-mill or sewing-machine.