Scientific Miscellany

M. Tissatulicr is liaving constructed in France an elongated balloon, to be driven by a small and very liglit electric motor. The balloon"in the first experiments will be supplied by an clectric accumulator, wbieb will develop considerable enery for a brief period. In a single eatacomb in Upper Egypt thirty-six well-preserved cascophagi of roya! personages üav ! l ' lijiliL '"-- present nearly all of the Kings and queens of tlie earlier Theban dynasty, and besides the mummies contain paruhnient rolls and otber articles of interest to the archacolo;{ist. M. Roman, a í'rench engmeer, stutes tliat the cultivation of the interesting plant, the Soja or Hoya, has been largely developed in Hungary and in various parts of France. He tbinks that itmay in the future become as important an artlcle of fuod as the potato. It grows in any soil, even tlie dryest; and the plant is au excellent fodder for cattle. The seeds are very nutritious, and have the fonn of mail kidney beans. An agreeable soup may be made of them. The Chinese use them for various kinds of cheese, to make a condiinent with oil, etc. In France, tlie seeds have been roasted like coflee, and M. lionmn says tlie decoction of Soja beau is very similar to to that of average codee. Botanista In the Fontalnebleau district of France havenoticed a considerable chango in the Hora of that región in recent times. A uumber of specie have disappeared, cliielly on account of the severe winters. The winters of 155, 1709, 1788 and 1879-80 were disastrous to vegetatlou, especially In plaoei butlittle protected by snow. AmorïjJ the planta wblcb have been f rozen out, or nearly so, in central France, are tlie marithne pine (the loss of whicli was a national misfortune), the broom, lieather, ivy, holly and box. The eider, the oak, the chestiiut and the walnut have all seriously suli'ored. The loss to tliu Fontaineblenu Hora in these and other species is replaced to some extent by the nppearanee of various new species In recent times. It is stated, on authorlty of the director of the St. Petersburg central observatory, that all the Arctie meterological stations of the international series will soon be oponed. The stations proposed are : At Upernavic, by Denmark) in Nnrthutn Finnniarken, by Norway; on the .Jan Mayen Iiland, and, il possible, on the western eOaM of Greenland, Auslria-IIunvary; on Bpltzbergen, bySweden; ou Fovuya-Zembya - already opened- and at the ïnonth of Lena Hiver. by Kussia; on I'oint Barrow and in Lady Frankliu ltay, by the United Siaies. Several Anuirctie stations, by di (Verent jioverniiients, have been lUggMted, aod are to be considere!. The method of preservation to be adopted (Ot all these nations ia, to be establislied be an international conference at St. l'ctersbur:. M. de Fonville bas aescnóed tlio apppnrance of the graat eoniel ai leen trom a balloon on the oecaiion of his recent ascent at midnlght The brixhtnes of the cornet increased as the balloon ascended, tlus increase of brilliancy belng very marked. 'l'lic tail uppi'ari'd a little longerthaii uinii seen from the earth's surface, but most reniarkable was the nianner in whicli it tcrmiuatcd, for it was cut olf straight, as if a line were drawn over t horizontally with a ruler. The appearance of the tail was as f produced by inyrlads of large stones traveling in planetafy space indepemlentlv of the cornet, and having uo other connection with it thau that of belng tenporarily Ughted by the rays whirh ts ntmospnere had caoaed te deviate, more or less, from their natural course. Tliis multitude of IVainenti of worlds would, therefore, produee the same effect as dust lighted by a ray of lunllght ndmitfed to a dtrk room through a crevice. M. de I'onvielle expounds tbis very theory at tODie length. lic also nsists apon the Importance of ballooniniL in aitrpnomical inreatigatioof. The researchea of scientific men liave showu that thought is not so rajid as is usually believed, uut that very action of tho bram reqmrei an appreciable time. Hirsch proved that lea Unie is requlred to recognize a touch than a sound, and that it took more time to sec than to hear, hut the queetion still remained as to wliat part of the time was comumed In the act oi' récognltion. This problem was solved by Donders. I$y meansof a very ngeniusapparatii9, lie has ïoimd that the doublé act of recognizing a sound and giviiii,' a responso occnpied seventy-tivo thoiisandlhs of a te oud, of wfalch forty tl sandthg were requtred rui me Biuipie net u rècogmtion, leaving tliirty-tivc thoomndiba for the ad of volition. One twenty-flfth ofasecond Wal oceupicd in judgin whicli of tWO irritants was acting upon th" same sense; hui a slightly lonirer time was ni'ccssary to determlne the priority of signáis sent' ly different senses; as tliose of hearing and se - iiifr. The described results were tfbtalned from a man of middle age, the young were sotuewhat quicker; hut the average of many experimenta diowed that the time required for a simple tbonght is oever less than the fortieth ofasecond. The mlnd, therefore, at its greatest activity, oan perform net more than tw(;nty-fi)ur hondred ¦Imple acts per minute - nót a great speed when it is considerad liow many of these "simple acts" must be combinad to form any process of reasoning or continued thought.