A short time ago a number of fossil footprints, supposed to be human, were discovered in the carboniferous sandstone near Metropolis, Illinois. A physician living in that locality, Dr. Gebhart, took plaster casts of these footprints and sent a description of them, together with full details as to site, to Mr. Darwin and other naturalists. The almost unanimous verdict was, that the tracks were those of a species of Labyrinthodon. According to Dr. Gebhart, the animals which made these fossil tracks were most certainly bipeds.
In countries where the coffee-tree is cultivated the leaves are used to make an infusion which by many persons is held to be superior to the infusion from the berry. Hitherto they have not been an article of commerce, and the planter has studied to obtain as large a crop as possible of the berry, neglecting the leaves. But if a demand for the latter should spring up in foreign countries, the planter would find it as profitable to cultivate the coffee-tree for its leaves as for its fruit. The berry would first be secured, with a sparing use of the pruning knife, and then the leaves would be carefully gathered and cured for exportation. The result would be in a great measure to drive out of the market the spurious compounds that now too often are sold as coffee.
It was in 1865 that the phylloxera appeared in the vineyards of the south of France; its ravages have been continued ever since. The department of Gard, which used to produce 126,000,000 gallons of wine, now yields not one-fourth as much. One commune, Castries, in the Department of Hérault, annually produced, before the appearance of the phylloxera, 3,000,000 gallons; one year later the product was 250,000 gallons; three years later the vineyards had been entirely destroyed!
A scientific journal of Paris notes the occurrence of a peculiar phase of insanity among French cooks. It is called folie des cuisiniers (cooks' insanity), and is due to the carbonic oxide given off by charcoal-stoves. The principal symptoms are hallucinations of sight and hearing, vertigo, oppression, and syncope. The patient generally believes himself to be the victim of persecution.
The efficacy of the alkaline sulpho-carbonates as a means of exterminating the phylloxera appears to have been demonstrated by experiments made by Mouillefert, at the instance of the Paris Academy of Sciences. It still remains, however, to devise suitable methods of employing this insecticide. "Science," says M. Mouillefert, "has accomplished its mission, and it is now for agriculture to perform its part."
Early in the present year a State Zoological Society was organized in San Francisco, with the object of collecting material for a public museum of Pacific coast rocks, fossils, ores, and all inorganic substances having a bearing on practical geology. Another purpose of the society is to promote geological research. The coöperation of mine-owners and mining-engineers on the Pacific slope is solicited by the president of the society, so as to make the proposed collection fully representative of the geology of that portion of the United States.
Between Nice and Monaco is a locality so unhealthy that the Paris, Lyons & Mediterranean Railway Company have been obliged to change every two or three months the watchman at the crossing there. Plantations of the eucalyptus have been formed at this place, and at present the same watchman has resided there for several months with his family without experiencing the least inconvenience.
On investigation, in Paris, of a case of lead-poisoning, no lead could be found in the cooking-utensils or in the food and drink of the patient. Lead was discovered, however, in a piece of a Roquefort cheese, which was enveloped in a metallic sheet, composed of 12 parts of tin, 85 of lead, and 3 of undefined matter. The conclusion drawn was, that the lead contained in the cheese was imparted to it by the envelope.
Trials have been made in Rome of a solution of chloride of calcium as a substitute for water in laying dust in streets. The results are said to be highly satisfactory. The dampness communicated to the road, instead of disappearing quickly, as is the case when water alone is used, remains for a whole week. The road continues to be damp without being muddy, and presents a hard surface, on which neither the wind nor the passing of pedestrians or horses has any effect.
Some fifty years ago two gangs of workers in a Belgian coal-mine were at variance, and one party made a fire so as to smoke out the other. The coal in the mine became ignited, and it continues to burn down to the present day. Efforts have been made again and again to extinguish the fire, but in vain. Mr. Richard P. Rothwell, editor of the Engineering and Mining Journal, who mentions this case in a paper on fires in mines, cites a few similar instances from the history of mining in the United States of seams of coal burning for several years—as the Summit Hill Mine, near Mauch Chunk; the Greenwood Company's mine, near Tamaqua; and others in Schuylkill, Carbon, and adjoining counties of Pennsylvania. Some of these mines have been burning upward of twenty years.
