SCIENCE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4281, 9 December 1874, Page 3

SCIENCE.

. Nature on the Side of the Females,— Among the beings of »’ lower type, 1 plant and animal, all the more recent observations indicate that Nature herself systematically favors the females —the mothers of the destined races. Nature’s sturdiest buds, nud her best fed butterflies belong to this sex; her female spiders are largo enough to eat up a score of her/little, males ; some, of her mother fishes might parody the nursery song, “I have a little husband, no bigger than my thumb.” Natural selection, whether the working out »f 'intelligent design, or otherwise, would make this.result inevitable.. We might expect that tlie neuter bee could he nourished into the queen-mother., ■, If required.to judge a priori, wo should decide, if there is no predetermination of tho sex, that the. beat fed embryos would most readily become females; . since the one special fact in tho feminine. organisation is the innate tendency to manufacture, and, With certain limits, to store up, reserved .force for tho future needs of offspring.— Popular Science Monthly for September. Trek . Frogs.—Of all reptiles we should least expect, to. find frogs of arboreal habits, and yet there is a numerous group .expressly adapted to the leafy abodes. The monkey, as wo know, grasps with its paws the porch whereon it rests ; the same thing, is done, by the .’bird with its claws ; the snake twines itself around tho branch ; the iguana uses its long toes and hooked nailsand the chameleon

holds the bough tight between its toes, as if they formed a vice. But the foot of the tree frog is provided with suckers, resembling those of the geckos, and in this respect it is unlike that of the common species. On the under surface of each finger, so to speak, both of the fore and bind paws, and at the tip, which is enlarged and rounded, is placed a consisting of a little cushion, moist with a thick glutinous fluid, and applying itself so closely to the surface it touches as to support the creature’s weight. So completely, however, is this curious mechanism under the tree frog’s control, that it can detach or fix its fingers at will. The tree frogs are beautiful creatures, both in form and coloring, and their habits give them additional interest. They perch upon the leaves ; they leap from leaf to leaf and from branch to branch, and imitate the actions of a bird. Then they pursue their insect prey with astonishing agility, and enjoy the cheering warmth of summer. The tree frogs differ from others, not only in the structure of their feet, but in the greater length of their hind legs, and in the circumstance of the males possessing a membraneous sac beneath the throat, which is distended while uttering their hoarse-and oft-repeated croaking. The genus is spread over the warmer portions of the old and new world.—“ Cassel’s Popular Natural History.” The Electromotograph *. a New Discovery in Telegraphy.—Within the past few days we {Scientific American ) have had under examination, in practical operation in our office, a novel electric telegraph apparatus, which presents some very remarkable features, and promises to result in the creation of an entirely new and advantageous system of telegraphy. It is the discovery of Mr. Thomas A. Edison, of Newark, N.J., who is well know as a telegraph engineer of the highest ability, and the inventor of a larger number of electrical devices, probably, than any other person living. His improvements are employed upon all the various telegraph lines in this country. The present discovery relates to that form of apparatus known as the automatic or chemical telegraph, in which signals are made and recorded by causing the electricity to pass through paper, the latter being saturated with a chemical substance which changes in color when the current acts. Bines, dots, and dashes are thus produced with greater facility. In the ordinary woriung of this form of telegraph the electricity is sent over the line wire by a key, in the usual manner, and passes through a pen, stylus, or lever, which has no movement, but simply rests upon the paper, the latter being moved by a weight or clockwork. .No magnet and armature are used. The salient feature in Mr. Edison's present discovery is the production of motion and of sound by the pen or stylus, without the intervention of a magnet and armature. By the motion thus produced, he works any of the ordinary forms of telegraph printing or sounding instruments or relays, and is enabled to send messages, by direct transmission, over thousands of miles of wire, .at the highest speed, without rewriting, delay, or difficulty of any kind. More than this, his apparatus operates in a highly effective manner, under the weakest electric currents, and he is able to receive and transmit messages by currents so weak that the ordinary magnetic instruments fail to operate or even give an indication of the passage of electricity. Thus, when the common -instruments stand still, owing to weakness of current, the Edison telegraph will be at work up to its fullest capacity. The author has baptised his discovery the electromotograph, which is, perhaps, as good a title as could be adopted. Death in Soda-water. —Of all the improbable sources of poisoning that could be-ima-gined, death in a soda-water bottle would be usually considered the most unlikely. That the habitual use of so innocuous a beverage as aerated water should result in a pronounced case of lead poisoning is a fact as novel as it is unpleasant. Yet such a case is reported from Lenuoxtown, says the Glasyoio News, on good authority, and accompanied by proofs which place the matter beyond the possibility of doubt. A lady in delicate health was ordered to drink freely of soda-water. She did so, and shortly afterwards manifested all the symptoms that could attach to a patient suffering the effects of poison. Suspicion eventually fell on the soda-water. A bottle was sent for analysis to Dr. Wallace, Glasgow, with the result that the aerated liquid was found to contain lead in the proportion of nine-tenths of a grain in a gallon. The effect of that is stated in the following sentence in Dr. Wallace’s report; “ Ordinary drinking water is considered dangerous if it contains one-tenth of a grain of lead per gallon, and some authorities consider even one-twentieth of a grain deleterious to health if the water is used continuously for a series of weeks or months.” In the- ’case referred to the patient drank this soda-water to the extent of six or seven bottles daily —swallowing in the same time. no less! than threeeighths of a grain of lead. This is a serious business, and Dr. Wilson lias performed a public duty in making it known. A searching investigation into ■ the circumstances should follow, for it is out of the question that our population should be poisoned with non-in-toxicant or more avowedly dangerous liquids.