Cacti ton on imran th Sai ar a Rint me tes tap NS Fin Rian ee Recieve Ho tiny Nd NEN a AE ARTO tN tN oA Rk ote ae ane ete Dap taco Meweaihe byrne © PORT SO Ne oe aed in ae oe NE AN OA eh AN pan AY hash ahh ahin wr eepree ee wire a ar eee nanan eS eae pe RA AL IRR apna Pot AMM Ane Boe eH ee a Ssh Ay neh ee eS! pre perenne ar Ml tae Mo epeersee. Sere Sa ana oe eee TY . - soe yan Pad SRT Teeny anne wens bao pace et fee ne PE DS EN An mite Peet tll nN re nee water te pe ae tiatnaa, Co Oa aI BOP I Lee Pag Bobo A ca tge ei sBeeite Pon ta Mo? he rain dh 2 bet srertieansa <2 nner ela ages AT ae en gharne ghekn 2 pteten Hem ght AMER Gt Oe eri ete ge Sing fm Oe pebeneee ars Nath Fans THE KANSAS CITY REVIEW SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. EDITED BY TELHO, SS: CASE. o> - VOLUME I 166081 KANSAS CITY, MO. — Press oF Ramsey, MiLtetTr & Hupson. aise ae ae DDO VOLUME hOUR: Abstinence from Fluids, Experiments in . 286 Admiralty Surveys . . .229 ABIES Jey WMAP SG) 651g) a Woo oto laa) a eByA African Exploration, 120, 138, 140, 141, 142, 144, 145, tae 147, Se 37 469, a0 Agassiz... Sh omee . 766 Ague a Poison . . Pah yies te} Alexander, W. W., Planetary Phenome- na . .287, 348, 427, 488, 574 625, 692, 742 Almacantar, The . : . 644 America’s River System developed . . . 506 American Science Association . 321 American Pottery . : 663 ANNIE ISNISHS 566) 6 ss Go oye e 622 Ancient Man in Missouri . 327 Ancient Works in New Mexico. - 605 Anglo-American Cattle Company... . . 311 Antiquity of Man. . . Be . 530, 595 Antiquity of Man, Evidence > regarding Ie Aspe ass Peabo acai) Galt 19 Ap pliedm science wi eme sae 480 Aurora Borealis, . 216 Anthropology, .. . sie 045) 320 Archeology, .. ; 149, 235, 419, 602, 659 Arctic Expeditions, 1, 3, 58, 118, 143, 228, 372, 414, 416, 4qy, 418, 460, 464, BT ike 558 Artesian Wells in Colorado... . 536 Astronomical Discovery, A new, - - 359 Astronomy, . 4, 67, 289, 348, 421, 488, 573, 574, 576, 622, 692, 742 Asphalt Pavements. . . ENDS je 7) Aitomatic MentaleAction ey i) cn 23 Award of the Royal Medals . . 119 Award of the School Medals . . 120, 231 Balm of Gilead . 5 7 Barometer, The. . . 275 Beneficial Effects of Smoke . . 699 Berthoud, Capt. E. L., Tertiary Man.84, 236 Berthoud, Capt. E. L., Artesian Wells in Colorado . - 536 Biography - 351 Book Notices, 61, 127, 188, 244, ae, 377, 448, 511, 636 574, 609 & Bice ten Yao! Eee 615, 6 British Science Asssociation. .... ¥ British Science Association, Annual ‘Ad- dress before the . é Bowers, Rev. Stephen, Engraved Stone PLOT ONTO) Me ova cased aoa ae Broadhead, Prof. G. C., Review of ‘‘Con- tributions to Paleontology,” . .. . . 448 BAW ue eexticey) yak) Mayer vedere ell ve! ¢ie)ibe Botany. . - 364 149 Broadhead, Prof. G. C., The Mastodon . 519 Broadhead, PTOteule ce , Extricts from an old Book of Travels . : : HiSeeLOOg) Bromide on ht hy lias a alae . 184 Brown, Dr. R. W., Bromide of Ethyl . : 184 Building with temper ediiGlassy 1) 1 Brie Buried Race in Kansas, A. . .'. . .), 86 Care of Trees and Shrubs. . Case, Ermine, Jr., Sewerage and Street Paying . Case, Ermine, Jr, in Italy . 97 Case, Theo. S., A Visit to the Birthplace of Montezuma Bes - 419 cera: S., Kansas City Electric Time a seme +2 + 333 . 6 Thermometer ‘readings a Maire ot A . 610 Case, Theo. S., The Old i in New “Mexico. Iie) Celluloid Veneer Ie . 581 Chemistry. ... . - . 100, 606 Child, Dr. A. L., Railroad Bridge at Plattsmouth el I Childs Dra Sele LOeee of he wesern Plaing, Subeerial or Subaqueous ? . 2 Chimborazo, Ascent of . te Chloral Hydrate, Test for Sascha ten nlet RIO 188 Choice and Sou eh ART rales ae 37 ning . Aus 3 28 Clouds. 5 iio, 626, 694 678 Comet, The Great Southern Baan ae Sig 71 Congressional peropHations for scien- tific purposes. . 738 Correspondence . .74 240, 02 8, 02, 2 Corwin, Cruise of ihe : 3 5 49 50% 5 ane Crosby, Prof. E. C., The Principles of ie structions . . SN eis tea ea 102, 158 Crozet Islands, Position Co} BEND MT 266 Dakota Group, The . 675 Dawson, Wm., The Sun and Phenomena of its surface . Sy carr ne bee rae Noid yer 6 Deceased of 1880, The. . . : ee Decorative Art, The Bane of. . 581 Deep Sea Researches . . : 362, 704 Delicate Scientific Instruments . . 743 Determination of Mars, ANew..... 4 Diphtheria pRemedy for asc. yee ae 115 Discoveries, Interesting, in Clinton Co., Ohio sy eew es) eins . 236, 237 Drowned, Perseverance with the . iss Dunbar, Prof. John B., Decrease of the North Awerican Indians . - 2905 Iv INDEX. Ear ache, Chloroform vapor in. . . 115 Editorial Notes, 64, 129, 193, 254, 317, 383, 451, 575» 582, 646, 713, 779 Education. . . . 102, 158 Electric Eccentricities . ate eaten 2 17.0) Electric Light, Effect nee vegetation sei Electric Railway - . 220 Electric Time Ball . _ 219, ae 720 Electricity, Seeing By 5 . 122 Engineering . ; : AG. 97. 333, 471 Engineering progress i in the U.S. » 335 Engraved Stone from Ohio . . . 149 Epidemic, A strange . . Be Mey Ethnology. .. 2 . 295 Evolution, Geology and . 90, 162, 195. 289 Expansion of clay . ee e205 Exploration . ; oe 4 OF Bee, Dr: John, Good Eyes and Free Schools..*. . - 441 Fire resisting qualities of Building Ma- terials . a aul) Forests, Preservation of . - 342 Forests, Destruction of . 723 Fossil Forest, A . a ZO7, Fossils in Colorado ; 5 . 176 Fossils in Southwest Missouri 5 6 6 OW Franklin’s Place in Science. . . . 156 Freshet in Missouri River, July. 1880 . - 359 Genesis and Modern Thought . . 170 Geographical Societies . . 264, 265 Geography, I, 115, 131, 221, 257, 364, 409, 460, 551, 685, 736 Geological Climates . . 5 ol Ba Geology, 19, 90, 162, 195, 205, 289, 519, 595, 672, 729 Geology and Evolution . . . go, ee 195; 289 Good Eyes and Free Schools Las - 441 Gour, A Last City. . . S16 0-6 8 FR) Gulf Stream, New Views Of ihe : . 589 Gulnare, Accident to the . ZO Gulnare, Log of the . i . 491 Hair and Beard as Racial Characteristics... 149 Haldeman, S. S., Obituary Notice of . . 359 Haloes, Solar . - 635 Hazen, Gen. W. Be Notice Of : 5 By Heath, Dr. 1I.D., Personal Recollections of Orton and Peru |: . Slo 2 2 210 veath sens i. Re, Dicearadtias in South Avmealen Snes Heasises : . 736 Hermeneutics . m - 373 Historical Notes. . . - 724 Howgate Expedition, The Second, 58, 11s, 257, 418, 551, 552, 685, 688 Howgate, Miss Ida, The Telegraph as ap- plied to Norwegian Fisheries. . - 429 Hudson River Tunnel... - - 99, 249 Hydrophobia, Curare and other cures for.185 Hypothesis, The New. . B66 0 16 Lyon Ice, Breaking up the, in'rivers. . . . . 36 Improvement of the Missouri River .. - 643 India Rubber producing Insect... ... 51 Indians, Decrease of the North American 295 ? Indians, Traditions Respecting their Ori- Sunes Insects, Plants and ‘Animals, Relation ipe: tween . . - . 000 Instruction, The Principles of . stom "102, 158 Iron, A New Process for Protecting . 382 Ischia, Earthquake at . .. Sh eOW, Isthmian Routes, The Three (Ulustrated), 712 Jews; May they eat Oysters?..... . . 124 Jones, J. P., The Spanish Pepe ge to Missouri in 1719. ‘5 Judith River Group 40 Kansas Academy of Science, Proceedings . 665 . 724 . 729 Oy OG 453 Kansas City Electric Time Ball eee 720 Kansas, Scientific Survey of . . 640 Kansas University, Scientific work of. . . 645 Kansas Weather Service . 576, 634, 608, 762 Kansas Weather Summary for 1880... . 631 Larkin, Prof. E. L., Motion. . . neyakegeg: Larkin, Prof. E. Te Delicate Seientific Instruments : - 743 Lawns, Making and Preserving Bciom inte) Li Leavenworth Academy of Science . ... 460 Lewis, Rev. T. L., Indian traditions . . 665 Lewis, Rev. T. L., Destruction of Forests. 723 Lick Observatory, Telescope for . 694 Wife within they Arctic’ Cixcleyy 2. yan 776 Lnghitvof jaupitersahey eyes ie. . . «350 Light, Transmission of Speech by . 578 Lightning, A Talk About. . . Blo) as Linen, The Manufacture of . - 308 Loess ‘of the Western Plains, Subaeriall or Subaqueous?. . . 293 Long, Prof. J. M., Automatic Mental ‘Ac- tony ei: 23 Long, Prof. ie M., “The Synthetic Phi- losophy. . . 649 Lovewell, Prof. he T. Kansas Weather Service: : - - 576, 634, 698. 755 Lykins, W. H. RS ‘Rambles of a Natural- ist. . - - 54, 444 Lykins, W. ie R., Parhelion in Kansas City . . 636 Magnetic Survey of Missouri . . 718 Malaria, Dr. W. B. Sawyer. . . . 614 Mars, A new determination of the dianiee ter ‘ae. A Maxwell, S. Nop Meteoric Shower of Aug. roth, 1880 . Bee : ZO Maxwell, S. A., Clouds | 403, 626, 604 Maxwell, S. Aw Solar) Haloes 3 2 -u oss Mastodon, ANAS Bae Rls 1) elke * r09, 184, 313, 441, ieee Medicine, Taking away the taste of .. . 111 Meteoric Shower Aug. toth, 1880. . 281 Meteorological Stations in Behring’ s Sea. - 741 Meteorology . . . 52, 208, 268, 385, 576, 626, 694, 750 Meteorology and the Signal Service . - 385 Mexico, Explorations in . . 369, 496 Medicine and Hygiene . INDEX. Vv Mexico, the Mammoth Caveof. . . . . 176 Miller, W. H., the Synthetic Philosophy of Herbert Spencer... . . . 328, 431, 566 Mining for Precious Metals in the U. S.. 95 Miocene Beds of the John a river . . 540 Mining in Arkansas. c . 251 Missouri Water Power. 770 Montezuma, a Visit to the J Birthplace of . 419 Moquis, the . : : . 729 Mosaiculture. . . ST GRE MONE ISERIES a as(°) Motion . - 177 Mudge, Prof. B. TA, Geology and Evolu- tome ee . . «90, 162, 195, 289 Myer, Gen’l ‘Albert ike Obituary notice of 315 Myer, Gen’l the Successor of . . eens OS Natural Sciences, their Newness and Value 480 National Academy of Science . . . 546 Necrology . . - 233, 267, 315, 359, 509 Nelson, Prof. E. T., Lune in Ab- stinence from fluids . sakes A280 New Mexico, The Old in. ... AS OZ New Mexico, Oriental Resemblance in . 602 New Mexico, Ancient Works in . 605 Nipher, Prof. F. E., Choice and Chance! 37 Nipher, Prof. F. iD peer eae ae of Missouri . . athe ous Nordenskjéld, Honors Tone et amet Nordenskjéld, The Afloat... . sue 5 Nordenskjéld and his Labors . . 351 Northern Pacific Coal Fields . . 497 Notes and Queries . ; . 765 Noyes, Isaac P., Tornadoes 208 Noyes, Isaac P. , Prophecy of the Weather : 268, 627 Noyes, Isaac P., athe Storm Center and Weather Prophets . iis . 750 Obelisk, Removal of the, from. Egypt to New York . ane Li SRL Obelisks, List of the Notable . PMNS MEE OS (C0) Obelisk, A Short Story of the. . .,. . . 708 Obituary Notice of Prof. W. K. Kedzie. 60 Ore Deposits, Origin and Classification of. ets LOG 200 Original Settlers of America . 239 Orton and Peru, Personal Recollections COLE neulg2y 221 Oysters, May Jews eat them?. . 124 Oysters, Propagation of - 311 Pacific Railway of Canada . - 346 Palestine, Survey of Western... - 409 Paper Car Wheels, How made . = Uf Parhelion in Kansas City . . 636 Parker, Prof. J. D., Proceedings of Kan- sas Academy of Science . : 453 Ranker /brofe|. 5) ihe Tornadoes of Aprils eS, P1880 io ea ea Pre 2 | she 52 Parker, Prof. J. D., Heath’s Discoveries in South America . eens Patagonia, Exploration of : . 207 Pavements, Comparative Merits of differ- ent - Senses Demo tis Pavements, Asphalt Res cee eua AR MUL OY, Peirce, Prof. Benjamin . Perihelia . é : . 250 Peterson, Carl, Death ‘of SH albic Novia AO SO Philosophy - . + 37, 328, 1, 43, 566, 585 Photophone, An Account of A ania © 5 ZOU Physics . 285 151, ae: 359, 610, 718 Physiology. 2)... 3 Ae 246, 281 Pipe-ore Limonites . c 251 Planetarium, A New . 288 Planetarv Phenomena, 287, 3. 348, 427, 488, 574, 625, 692, 742 Pliocene Beds of Southern Oregon . . . 600 Polar Sea, Is there an open?.. . . 262 Population of the Globe . 579 Pompeian House, A. St Sareea NS Practical Formulas. . . 581 Preservations of Foods by Salicylic Acid 253 Prehistoric Cat. . 581 Pritchett, Prof. C. Sie The Hileetiemime Bane ay Pritchett, Prof. H, Se ean DEkeaneme. tion on the inpameeee of Mars.. . Pritchett, Prof. H. S , Electric Time Ball . 219 at Kansas Cikyaisiece . 720 Project, Engineering, for the year 2000 . 774 Prophecy of the Weather. . : 268, 626 Psychology. . . - 23, 78 Pueblo Indians, The . Base 758 Quatenary of Washington Territory . 601 Rae, Prof. Uae Schwatkas Sledge Jour- ney . . 498 Ree Prof. ‘John, Geological Climates . 726 Railroad Ballasting, Burnt clay for. . . 711 Rambles of a Naturalist. . - « . 54, 444 Railroad Bridge at Plattsmouth. . . . 471 Railroad Building in the Rocky Moun- tains Railroad and Telegraph Land Grants . Relation between Insects, Plants and Ani- mals - ins : 123 Remedies for Chilblains ae 684 iXussia in Greece . : ane V4 Sanitray Work, Commercial value of . 112 San Juan Region Nine Slit . 190 Sawyer, Dr, W. B., Malaria ay . 614 Schlieman’s Discoveries at Troy . . 659 Science of the Bible. . ANE 378 Science in the Schools of France. . Tae, Science and Spiritualism... . 82 Science Letter from Paris 74, 240, 3 302, 542, 760 Scientific Miscellany, 54, 121, 190, 246 308, 381, 444, 506, 577, S40, 765 Schwatka’s Arctic Search . . 414 Separation of Metals by Electrolysis 520 FiO Shaw, C. A., the Barometer . OR i Ships on Wheels ais MM Moen ueeinlennia here SiberianyCommercel sin enee . 740 Silver Cliff, Geological Notes on . . 205 Sewerage and Street Paving. . .. . . 333 Six Days of Creation. .... Hine Liege Sixth Sense lhe ne 305 Smuithse! Prot gh. iB. Undulatory Move- ments as affecting our senses & pli Smith, Prof. T. B., The Natural Sciences, 480 VI INDEX. Smiths Prof mie BeAcassizy ees ers Smokeless Fuel from Coal : HIS Snow, Prof. F. H., Meteorological Sum- nebAY MONE IRIS) 5 Gg) 6 ng 615 8 od b 631 Societies Proceedings oe, "321, 322, 453- 546 SoulsslesmWihataisiitinye sect.) ssyeueen its 78 South America, Exploration in. . 147, 736 Spanish Expedition to Missouri in 1719 . 724 St. Louis Academy of Science. .... 459 Steam Engine, History of the. . . . . 486 Storm Center and Weather aes . » 750 SOMES, CLES @ll5 oa (e fac IO Summer Work, Advice respecting - 301 Sun and Phenomena of its surface . 67 Sternberg, Chas. H., Miocene Beds of Liem Ohmu Day WRGVerla we ci cluelcr spi 540 Sternberg, Chas. H., Pliocene Beds of Somehenny Oregon. (louie ver oe 4 ', . 600 Sternberg, Chas. H., The Quaternary of Washington Territory . 5 fe ROOK Sternberg, Chas. H., The Dakota Group, 675 Sternberg, Chas. fet The eee River * Group . ‘ : Steam Heating for Cities. . . i Synthetic pron: The, as a Philoso- jOSy Go - 328, 431, 566, 649. Tanner’s Hast ou 2 246, 281 Telegraph applied to Norwegian Fisher- Hes iy ei . 429 Telephone, Recent Experiments with the, 125 Templin, Rev. L.J., ee of the Vegeta- ble Kingdom . eines Hee OlLIS| OO, 729 - 709 Tertiary Man. . : 5 oe ELS The Thermograph ; “Its Evolution and Destiny (Illustrated) ; 677 Tornadoes.) ee ek We rhe neh nee tennant 208 Tornadoes of April, TO, SOO, meine 52 Travels, Extracts from an Old Book of. . | 563 Trichine in Man. . Sufi Trowridge, Prof. S. Ene Science of the Bible . : 0 BB Undulatory Movements, as s affecting | our senses . = nal United States Signal Service, Credit tOMe7S VanieElorn}) Eon. kcal. The New Hy- pothesis. Or Vegetable Kingdom, History of the, 615, 667 Vegetation, Influence of Electric Light UN OXOD MMM DU Secor cai dict. "GG !so 9 vb 57 Velocity of Shot . 477 Vesuvius Railway, The... STO? Wallace, Samuel J., Notes on Silver Cliff region . - 205 Waterproof Cement . 447 Waterspouts off Kauai . Shere Weather Prophecies of Vennon iy ee 627 West,° Judge E. P., A Buried Race in }. Kansas . : What to do in Emergencies . bo 313 Women, Healthful and Dangerous Occu- tions for . sae . 109 i if 1 AUN, S AS © Ply REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND. INDUSTRY, A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. VOL. IV. WAY 188o.).- NO Ma GOGAT EIN EXPEDITIONS TO THE ARCTIC SEA. We gladly give place to the following letter from Prof. John Rae, of London, correcting a few errors of statement in a former article on this subject. —[Ep. THE EDITOR OF THE Kansas City REVIEW :— « Str, —In looking over your Review of March, kindly sent me by a friend, I find a list—chronologically given—of the various national expeditions to the Polar Seas. In this list there is one entry that was not a National expedition, one error of date, and three omissions, which perhaps you would allow me to point out— | The expedition under Captain (ot Lieutenant) Back, in 1833, was got up by private subscription, aided by the government to the extent of not a third of the money required. No expeditions were sent in 1847 by the British government to search for Sir John Franklin. Sir John Richardson and Dr. Rae were sent by the British government over- land in 1848 to the Arctic Sea, wz. McKenzie River, and searched the coast eastward to the Coppermine River for Franklin. This was a costly expedition, as boats and men were sent from England via. Hudson’s Bay. In 1849 the British government sent Dr. Rae to the Arctic coast, by pie Coppermine River, to search for Franklin. In 1851 Dr. Rae was again employed by the British powerniicne to search for Franklin by the Coppermine River, during which a sledge journey of over Iv-1 2 3 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. a thousand miles was made at the average rate of about twenty-five miles a day; the fastest time on record, considering that both officer and men were hauling sledges or carrying loads all the time. On this journey and the subsequent boat voyage, about seven hundred miles of unknown coast line of Wollaston and Victoria lands were traced, and Victoria Strait discovered and named, remarkable for being the channel in which the crews of the Franklin Expedition abandoned their ships in 1848. Rae’s boats coming from the South, having reached a point on the west shore of the strait in a higher latitude than that where the ships were left, formed a last link in the Northwest passage. These three expeditions were wholly paid for by the British government, and therefore should be included in the chronological list referred to. Yours, &c., | Joun an HONORS TO NORDENSKJOLD. The Swedish government has resolved to award a national testimonial to the -members of the Expedition under Professor Nordenskjold’s direction. The testi- monial is not intended for the officers and scientists of the Expedition alone, but for all the men who shared in its dangers and discoveries. King Oscar gives to each man a medal bearing on one side the head of the Sovereign with the inscription, ‘‘Oscar II, King of Sweden and Norway,” and on the other the insignia of the order of the Northern Star, with the legend ‘‘ For having opened a route in the Glacial Arctic Ocean, 1878-1879.’’ Fifty copies of this medal will be struck off—four of them in gold and the remainder in silver. _ Nordenskjold reached Paris April 2, accompanied by Captain Pallander, the sharer of his adventures in the North. They were received at the railway station by delegates of the various scientific societies—M. Grandidier, president, and M. Maunoir, secretary of the Geographical society; M. Siebbern, Swedish Ambassa- dor, with several attachés; M. Rabaud, representing the Societé de Marseilles; M. Meyners d’Estreye, President of the Societé Indo-Chinoise; Dr. Crevaux, the young explorer of French Guiana; a deputation of Swedish residents and a few journalists, including your correspondent Nordenskjold looked the very picture of health and seemed vigorous enough for a dozen Arctic expeditiofis. He was dressed with the utmost simplicity in a light traveling suit. Captain Pallander appeared to be very much embarrassed in the attire of a private gentleman, being so long accustomed to his naval uniform. M. Grandidier said that he was happy to meet such a distinguished visitor and bade him welcome in the name of the geographical societies of Paris and the Departments and of the scientific societies of France. A banquet was given them on the night of April 4th, by the members of the Swedish Colony in Paris. Upward of two hundred gentlemen and ladies of Swedish nationality were present. But few invitations to foreigners were issued, and these merely to the press. The grand saloon of the Continental Hotel was tastefully arranged for the occasion, one of the decorations being a carved THE NORDENSK/JOLD AFLOAT. 3 prow of the Vega, surmounted by a bust of Nordenskjold, by Runeberg, son of the great Swedish poet. This was projected in the center of the hall. On the columns of the room were escutcheons bearing the names of great Swedish explorers of old as well of those who had taken part in the Nordenskjold Expedi- tion. At the central table was seated Prince Oscar, and among the principal persons present were the Swedish Ambassador, the Swedish Consul General Moltke, the Danish Ambassador, the Consul General of Spain, Colonel Staafe, military attaché; Christine Nilsson, the singer, and M. Rouzeaud, her husband. The Swedish Minister proposed Nordenskjold’s health, and the explorer replied in Swedish, but with a strong Finnish accent. He modestly said that the greatest pleasure which he derived from his success was that it all redounded to the honor of his country. On the sth of April Nordenskjold was formally received by the Municipal Council of Paris, at the Pavillon de Flore, in the Tuilleries. Neat complimentary addresses of welcome having been read by the President of the Council and M. Ferdinand Herold, Préfet of the Seine, who represented the government, Nor- denskjold was then presented with a handsome gold medal commemorative of his expedition and of his visit to Paris. Its value was some $300.00. ‘The explorer acknowledged the compliment in modest phrase, and the ceremony was ended by the President gracefully thanking the French and foreign press for their attend- ance. The hall was tastefully decorated with flags. The Municipal Guards, in full uniform, lined the staircase. A NEW POLAR EXPEDITION. The Presse, of Vienna, announces that Capt. Weyprecht, of the Austrian Navy, in concert with Count Wilczek, is completing arrangements for another expedition toward the North Pole at an early date. This time Capt. Weyprecht will not be accompanied by any of the intrepid companions of his former voyages, as it appears they prefer rest at home to the adventures and dangers of the hyper- borean seas. THE NORDENSKJOLD AFLOAT. — The Calcutta Englishman reports that the Swedish steamer A. E. Nordenskjold, which was sent out in June last in search of Nordenskjold’s Expedition and went ashore two months later on the Japanese island, Jesso, has been got off safely. M. Sibiriakoff, who commanded her, will attempt to return home westward round the north coast of Asia, from Behring’s Strait to Spitzbergen, on the route which Nordenskjold took when going eastward in the Vega. [The rescued craft, though small, being 340 tons burden and sixty horse-power, is admirably calculated to resist the rigors of Arctic navigation, a resistance that has been proved by her successful weathering of a severe winter in the inhospitable region of Jesso.] Her small size will be rather an advantage than otherwise in the difficult route M. 4 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. Sibiriakoff has proposed to follow. The Nordenskjold was built at Malmo, Sweden, for the express purpose of going to the assistance of the explorer, whose whereabouts were then unknown. She was launched on April 23, 1879, and left Malta on June 3 for Behring’s Strait by way of the Suez Canal. She was to pass through Behring’s Strait and thence direct her course to the mouth of the Lena. - On August 4 the vessel left Yokohama and proceeded on her way north. At the time the Nordenskjold started it was considered that the Vega was beset in the ice some forty miles northwestward of East Cape at Behring’s Strait, and at a consid- erable distance from any settlement. The Nordenskjold was to seek the missing vessel there. When the fate of Professor Nordenskjold and his expedition were still undecided and grave fears were entertained for his safety, M. Sibiriakoff, a warm friend and supporter of the explorer, was the first to take practical measures for his relief and his steamer was the first fitted out for the purpose, he bearing all the expenses of the expedition. Not content with fitting out a steamer of his own, he made earnest appeals for assistance in all quarters where it was likely to be given. jevorl IOUN| CML, A NEW DETERMINATION OF THE DIAMETER OF MARS. H. S. PRITCHETT, ASTRONOMER MORRISON OBSERVATORY. During the near approach of the planet Mars, in the recent opposition of 1879, the following careful observations of its diameter were made with the large Equatorial of the Morrison Observatory, partly with the purpose of testing the figure of the apparent disc, and partly to furnish an accurate measure with a filar micrometer for comparison with those obtained from the heliometer. I have just finished a reduction and discussion of these measures, and the results given below represent an abstract of a more complete paper forwarded to the ‘‘ Astronomische Nachrichten.” The observations were made by Prof. C. W. Pritchett. While the measures of such an object as the disc of Mars with a filar micro- meter, will never be entirely free from the effect of irradiation, and therefore will never give the true value of the diameter quite as accurately as the heliometer, still, in a telescope of such good definition as the one used, this effect would be very small. Filar micrometer determinations of the diameter are still further use- ful from the fact that they are to be used in the reduction of incomplete observa- tions made with similar instruments, and for other common astronomical opera- tions. For this reason the values of the diameters of planets used in computing their apparent discs for the Mautical Almanac, Berliner Vahrbuch and American LEiphemeris, are derived from observations with a filar micrometer. | A NEW DETERMINATION OF THE DIAMETER OF MARS. 3) The discrepancy between these and the value obtained from the heliometer is shown in the following table. In the eolumn ‘‘ Diameter” the angular value of the diameter for distance unity is given: Value used in the Nautical Almanac and Berliner Yahrbuch, 11”. r00 Valweiusediini the American) Ephemenrisqy 0.) 2) 2 ros Tos Bessel’s value from the Heliometer, .. . 9.328 Hartwig’s value from Heliometer ‘observations of Bessel, Kaiser, Main and himself: - - . . Bi ee te 9-352 we difference Here shown between the largest ail eine values amounted to 4” at the time of opposition. The value used in the American Ephemeris was derived from observations with the Mural Circle (aperture 4.1 in.) of the Naval Observatory during 1845-46, and is subject to the large probable error +-0”.203. In the observations made at this observatory the diameter of the disc was meas- ured in four different directions : 1. From position angle 143° to 323°, corresponding to the polar diameter. 2. From position angle 8° to 188°. 3. From position angle 98° to 278°. 4. From position angle 53° to 233°, corresponding to the equatorial diameter. The observations extended from October 27 to November 24, the opposition occurring on November 12, and the nearest approach of the planet to the earth on November 4. After correcting the separate observations for incomplete illu- mination and reducing to distance unity, the results of the measures are shown in the following table: DIRECTION. |NO. OBSER’TION.| DIAMETER. | PROBABLE ERROR. 143°—323° ir? g’”.422 + 07.024 8°—188° 9 he OA AS Bac, 1043 Oa eion 8 Or e5L7 IL © ,ORe Ban 258), 17 g .638 + © .044 If these separate results are considered as independent measures of the same diameter, and combined according to the method of least squares, there will result finally, Diameter=9”. 486-+-0”.033, which, combined with Newcomb’s value of the solar parallax, gives for a mean value of the diameter of the planet 4248 miles, with a probable error of 15 miles. ‘This value, as will be seen, agrees quite closely with the determinations of the heliometer, and shows conclusively that the values in use in the Ephemerides are much larger than would be given by any good in- strument of good definition and moderate size. The difference between the polar and equatorial diameters being so much greater than the probable error would indicate, seems to show an ellipticity of the apparent disc. This systematic difference was noted in the individual observa- tions from day to day, and is confirmed by the measures of the intermediate di- ameters. The observations would then assign to the planet the form of an ellip- soid of revolution, with a polar diameter of 4220 miles and an equatorial diame- ter 4317, the amount of compression being 1-45. Very varying results have been arrived at for the amount of compression of Mars. Sir Wm. Herschel -gives it 1-16; Schréeter less than 1-80; Arago, from Paris observations extending over 36 6 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, years, 1-30; Hind gives it 1-51; and Main 1-62. Bessel merely decided that it was too small for measurement with his heliometer. This discordance shows quite clearly the difficulty of measuring such a bright glowing disc as that of the planet Mars. IN GUN aeNGe COMPARATIVE MERITS OF WOOD, STONE AND ASPHALT PAVEMENTS. GEN. Q. A. GILMORE, U. S. A. Assuming the foundation to be firm and solid, so that ruts and depressions cannot form upon the surface except from actual wear, a pavement of stone blocks, of first quality as regards hardness and toughness, will possess the long- est life of the three, and one of wood blocks the shortest; asphalt lies between the two and very near to the stone, and will fluctuate from this position with the amount and kind of traffic, and the influences of the climate. Asa rule wood must be regarded as the least durable. When it begins to go—at the end of two. or three years, under heavy traffic—it wears rapidly into deep and numerous ruts, by the crushing of the blocks to their entire depth. Unless the stone be of ex- cellent quality for pavements, it takes the second place in the order of durability, and asphalt the first. The absolute cost of constructing the different pavements will of course vary very considerably with the locality. It is believed, however that with few excep- tions, the following order of cheapness will obtain throughout the United States : viz., first, wooden blocks; second, asphalt, on a solid cobble stone foundation ;. third, asphalt on a concrete foundation ; fourth, stone blocks on a concrete found- ation. Under the head of cost and maintenance of repairs, the life or endurance is. to be considered, and the total expense must extend over and cover a period of time representing that endurance, under the assumption that at the end of that period, the pavement is in as good a condition as at the beginning when it was new. The repairs for the first two or three years will be comparatively trifling, and in some cities, more especially in England, it is customary for the constructor to maintain the pavements in a good sound condition without charge for one, two and sometimes three years, and subsequently for a longer period, seldom ex- ceeding fifteen years, for a specified sum per square yard per year. With regard to wood and asphalt, the recorded observations make it certain that although a pavement of wooden blocks is less costly to construct than one of asphalt, not only is its annual cost for repairs greater, but its mean annual cost during its life, inclusive of the first cost, is also greater than that of asphalt. With COMPARATIVE MERITS OF PAVEMENTS. 7 regard to stone, there is a vast difference in the endurance of hard and tough ba- salt and trap, and the average granite and gneiss. In economy of maintenance per year during the lifetime of a pavement, in- cluding its first cost, the hard basaltic trap rocks should be placed first, asphalt second and wood third, except in localities where wood is very cheap and suita- ble stone cannot be procured, or is subject to heavy charge for transportation. Under such circumstances stone would take the third place and wood would rise to the first. Where wood and stone are both expensive, or the latter is not of the best quality with respect to toughness, asphalt would take the first position. Both mud and dust adhere with more. tenacity to wood than to asphalt or stone, more especially after the fibers of the former begin to crush and abrade, and the order of merit in respect of facility of cleansing, will be first, asphalt, sec- ond, stone, and third, wood, whether the cleansing be done by sweeping or by washing. It stands to reason that a smooth, even surface can be cleansed more rapidly than one cut up with numerous joints. Mr. William Haywood, C. E., of London, in his report ‘‘ as to the relative advantages of wood and asphalt for paving purposes,” made to the Commissioners of sewers of the city of London, March 17th, 1874, says that ‘‘asphalt is the smoothest, dryest, cleanest, most pleasing to the eye, and most agreeable for gen- eral purposes, but wood is the most quiet.” It might perhaps be better to say that the noise produced by wood is of a different kind, which may be more disa- greeable to some persons and less so to others. Stone is the noisiest of all pave- ments. : The noise produced by wood is a constant rumble, that by asphalt an inces- sant clicking of the horses’ feet upon the street surface, with scarcely any noise from the carriage wheels, while stone gives out a deafening din and rattle from feet and vehicle combined. On the supposition that the surface is kept clean by either sweeping or wash- ing, the difference in slipperiness between wood, stone that does not polish under wear, and asphalt, is not great, although enough, perhaps to place asphalt last ; while a horse not only falls more frequently, but recovers himself less often and less easily upon it than upon the others, by reason of the joints in the latter, which give a foothold. When the surface is covered with mud, asphalt is the most slippery of the three, and very little mud makes it slippery. It cannot be said to be slip- pery when very dry, or, if free from mud, when very wet. In times of snow there appears to be little if any difference in this respect be- tween wood, asphalt and stone, but under a sharp dry frost, asphalt and stone are generally quite dry and safe, while wood retains moisture and is very slippery. In the condition in which they are usually maintained, a slight rain adds to the slipperiness of each of these pavements, with this difference, that on asphalt and stone this state begins with the rain or very soon thereafter, while the worst condition of wood ensues later. It however lasts longer than upon the others on account of its absorbent nature. With regard, therefore, to the convenience and comfort of those using the street, as well as those living adjacent thereto, the 8 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, weight of opinion appears to place asphalt first, wood second and stone third, for all streets except those habitually crowded with heavy traffic, in which case stone would rise to the first place and asphalt drop to the third. A practical and general recognition of the fact—so well known in the medi- cal profession, and indeed among all ranks of cultured people—that the pave- ments of a city exert a direct and powerful influence upon the health of its inhab- itants, has never been secured. Most people claim simply that a street surface should be hard and smooth without being slippery, and, asa measure of economy, that it shall be durable and easily cleansed; but they go no further. The advantages of noiselessness are recognized by many upon various grounds; by the large majority as simply conducive to comfort, but by few as conducive to health; while the kind of material used, provided it satisfies the foregoing conditions, and the character of the surface is satisfactory with regard to continuity and impermeability, is far too generally considered to be a matter of small moment. The hygienic objections to granite, are first, its constant noise and din, and ‘second its open joints which collect and retain the surface liquids, and throw off noxious vapors and filthy dust. Dr. A. McLane Hamilton; Assistant Sanitary Inspector of the city of New York, in an official report dated October 19, 1874, says, ‘‘a quiet and noiseless street pavement would advance the health of the population to a great extent. The sufferer from nervous diseases would find relief from the noise of empty om- nibuses and wagons rumbling or rattling on the rough stones, in the event of a removal of this nuisance. In fact there would be many more sanitary benefits resulting from a change than I can here detail.” _ It is not deemed necessary to enlarge further upon this point. The writings of eminent medical practitioners are full of testimony to the pernicious influence of street noise and din upon the health of the population, particularly upon inva- lids and persons with sensitive nerves. The noisome and noxious exhalations emanating from the putrescent matter, such as horse dung and urine, collected and held in the joints of stone pave- ments, constitutes another sanitary objection to their use in populous towns. — Ex- ceptions to wood may be taken upon the same, and even upon stronger grounds, for the material itself undergoes inevitable, and, sometimes, even early and rapid decay, in the process of which the poisonous gases resulting from vegetable de- composition are thrown off. The joints of a block pavement, whether of wood or stone, constitute, after enlargement by wear, fully one-third of its area, and under the average care, the surface of filth exposed to evaporation, covers fully three-fourths of the entire street. This foul organic matter, composed largely of the urine and excrement of different animals, is retained in the joints, ruts and gutters, where it undergoes putrefactive fermentation in warm, damp weather, and becomes the fruitful source of noxious effluvium. In dry weather this street soil floats in the atmosphere and penetrates the dwellings in the form of unwholesome dust, irritating to the eyes COMPARATIVE MERITS OF PAVEMENTS. 9 and poisonous to the organs of respiration. Its damage to furniture, though se- rious, is unimportant in this connection. In the side gutters and underlying soil the foul matter exists in a more concentrated form, the supply being constantly renewed from the crown of the street, and in many districts, from the filthy sur- face drainage of backways and alleys peopled by the poorer classes. Is it too much to say that under such circumstances the infant population, and especially the children of poor people, in large towns, can only be reared under such pre- dispositions to disease as will constitutionally render them an easy prey to epi- demics in maturer years? . The foregoing are some of the leading hygienic objections to pavements laid in blocks, whether of stone, wood or other material. There are others peculiar to wood alone, arising from its decay, its natural porosity, and the spongy charac- ter conferred upon it by wear and crushing. ‘‘Impregnation of wood with mineral matters, to preserve it from deen, may diminish these evils, but nothing as yet tried prevents the fibers being sepa- rated, and the absorption of dung and putrescent matter by the wood being con- tinted. The condition of absorbing mere moisture is of itself bad, but when the surface absorbs and retains putrescent matters it is highly noxious. The blocks of pavement with this material are separated by concussion, and are thus render- ed permeable to the surface moisture. Mr. Sharp, who examined some blocks taken up for re-pavement, states that he found them perfectly stained and satu- rated with wet and urine at the lower portions, while the upper portions were dry. Mr. Elliott, a member of the society, and for many years a deputy of the Com- mon Council of the city of London, has carefully observed the trials of new modes of pavement there, and objects to wood that it is continuously wet and damp. Wood is wet or damp, more or less, except during continued very dry weather. Its structure is admirably adapted to receive and hold, and then give off in evap- oration, very foul matters, which taint the atmosphere and so far injure health.” (Report of P. Le Neve Foster, Secretary Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce: London, 1873. Prof. Fonssagrives, of France, says: ‘“‘The hygienist cannot, moreover, look favorably upon a street covering consisting of a porous substance capable of absorbing organic matter, and by its own decomposition giving rise to noxious miasma, which, proceeding from so large a surface, cannot be regarded as insig- nificant. Jam convinced that a city with a damp climate, paved entirely with wood, would become a city of marsh fevers.” The dust produced by the abrasion and wear of a wooden pavement is re- garded by physicians as extremely irritating to the organs of respiration and to the eyes, and being light in weight it floats longer in the atmosphere and is car- ried to a greater distance, than that from any other suitable material in use for street pavements. The evidence from a sanitarian point of view, against the use of wood for _ paving purposes in populous towns, is very strong, but the evils are not developed to the same extent in all localities. Decomposition begins in two or three years 10 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. in clayey and retentive soils, while it is very considerably retarded and the wood remains habitually drier and emits less effluvia where the subsoil is sandy and porous. The most characteristic features and properties of asphalt pavements have been briefly summarized and it is not deemed necessary to repeat or enlarge upon them here. Professor Fonssagrives remarks that, ‘‘The absence of dust, the abatement of noise, the omission of joints—-permitting a complete impermeabi ity and thus preventing the putrid infection of the subsoil—are among the precious benefits realized by asphalt streets.” Upon hygienic grounds, therefore, asphalt conspicuously stands first, stone second, and wood third in order of merit. . The correct inference from the foregoing discussion is that no one pavement combines all the qualities most desirable in a street surface. It cannot be suffi- ciently rough, or sufficiently soft, to give the animals a secure foothold, and at the same time possess that smoothness and hardness which is so essential to easy draught, The advantages of open joints and entire freedom from street filth can- not exist together, under any reasonably cheap method of cleansing the surface. A pavement of impermeable bl icks, if laid upon a solid foundation, may be constructed and maintained in a water tight condition, by thoroughly caulking the joints with suitable material, leaving the surface sufficiently rough and open to obviate the objection to a continuous monolithic covering, but roughness, com- bined with the requisite hardness, is incompatible with the freedom from noise attainable with some kinds of acceptable street surface. In order, therefore, to obtain the best pavement for any given locality a judi- cious balancing of characteristic merits is generally necessary. The best pave- ment so far as we now know, for all the busiest streets of a populous city, where the traffic is dense, heavy and crowded, is one of rectangular stone blocks set on a foundation as good as concrete, or as rubble stone filled in with concrete ; and the next best is one of Belgian blocks set in the same manner. The best pavement for streets of ample width, upon which the daily traffic is not crowded, or for streets largely devoted to light traffic or pleasure driving, or lined on either side with residences, is continuous asphalt for all grades not steeper than t in 48 or 50. If the blocks of compressed asphalt fulfill their present promise, they may be able to replace those of stone upon streets where the latter are now preferable to a sheet of asphalt on account of the steepness of the grade. It has been urged, as an objection to a concrete foundation, that it is diffi- cult to take up in order to reach the gas and water pipes. This is true only in the sense that good work is not easily taken to pieces. But such a foundation when torn up or deranged from any cause, can readily be restored to its former condition, and the pavement relaid upon it with all its original smoothness, firm- ness, and stability, conditions which do not obtain with any kind of pavement laid upon a bed of sand or gravel. — Roads, Streets and Pavements. REMOVAL OF CLEOPATRAS NEEDLE TO NEW VORK. ain REMOVAL OF CLEOPATRA’S NEEDLE FROM EGYPT TO NEW YORK. Through the skill of Lieutenant Commander Gorringe, of the United States Navy, backed by the splendid liberality of one of New York’s citizens, Mr. W. H. Vanderbilt, who has borne the entire expense of the undertaking, the remain- ing ‘‘Cleopatra’s Needle,” which was presented some time ago by the Khedive of Egypt to the United States, has been finally safely lowered from its pedestal to the ground; and if no unforeseen accident should occur, may be expected to reach our shores in the early part of the coming summer. Obelisks are the most simple monuments of Egyptian architecture, and among the most interesting that antiquity has transmitted to us, from the remoteness of their origin, and the doubt in which we still remain as to the period when set up- The oldest which now remains to us is still standing at Heliopolis, near Cairo— the On Ramses or Beth-Shemesh of the Hebrew Scriptures. Abraham was unborn, and the Pentateuch of Moses was unwritten when the inhabitant of Heliopolis adored his gods in the Temple of the Sun and read upon the obelisk, still in its place, the name of Harmachis and that of King Osortisen, who then reigned and reared it, and to whom Mariette Bey assigns the date of 2,851 years B. C. Pliny says that the Egyptian term for an obelisk conveyed the idea of a sun’s ray, which its form was supposed to symbolize. The term obelisk is derived from the Greek obelos, which meant a ‘‘spit”’—a term which the witty epigrammatics gave them, with the view, like all wits in such cases, to cover with an air of ridicule what they could not controvert by reason. Obelisks have, from the earliest periods of antiquity, been regarded as remarkable monuments of the skill and perseverance of remote ages. They must ever be considered as valuable records of the ancient history of the Egyptians, and of the skill of those periods; monumental evidences of their sovereigns and their warlike exploits. Extracted with vast labor from their _ quarries as monoliths, conveyed six or seven hundreds of miles down the Nile and erected with difficulty in front of their temples by kings to commemorate their victories and record their various names and titles, they are emblems of both the perseverance and love of glory of the Egyptians and their rulers. ‘The very fact of their being transported to Europe by the ancient Romans under their emperors shows the high value in which they were held by that people, as witnesses of their own world-wide victories in remote regions. The Egyptians set great value upon the size of their monoliths, and if a large block was extracted from a quarry not quite corresponding in all its sides, whether as to size or form, they would without scruple use it for their immediate purpose, or shape it as near as possible to the object they had in view, without diminishing its size. The consequence is that many of thir obelisks, pedestals, and sarcophagi, where one would have supposed the most scrupulous attention to uniformity would have existed, are irregular in shape. The sides of an obelisk rarely corresponded 12 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, exactly with the breadth of its face, or the height of the shaft to any fixed relation with the width at the base; and there is a like disregard in the height of the pyra- midion (the pyramid-like apex), which, however, was high-peaked and never stunted. Nevertheless we may assume that the shaft varied from eight to nine diameters high up to the pyramidion, which itself was from sixty to seventy-five hundredths of the breadth at the base. The four sides or faces of the obelisk were usually square, but occasionally they were convex; a fact proving the nice per- ception for effect which prevailed in the minds of the Egyptians, as thus the light was much softer upon the surface, the shades less crude, and the angles less cut- ting. Some of the huge blocks intended for obelisks came from the quarry mis- shapen at the smaller end, and to remedy such a defect they covered it with a metal capping of the required shape rather than reduce its length by cutting off the rugged portion. The summit of the Luxor obelisk, now in Paris, was irregu- lar in shape and quite rough, and must originally have been capped with metal. Usually, obelisks had one, two, or three vertical hieroglyphs. It may be assumed that only one series was intended by the original Pharaoh; but it appears that his son, successor, or successors, added a line on each side; and it is remarkable that earlier hieroglyphs were much deeper cut than the more recent ones. Mariette Bey, the Egyptologist, mentions the fact that the faces of obelisks were sometimes gilded, the hieroglyphs themselves retaining their original color and actual surface of the granite. On the subject of the dies, pedestals, and steps upon which the monoliths were anciently raised we have little information, for the bottom portions of those now left standing are encumbered and surrounded by huge fallen blocks of stone, preventing their full size from being seen. All of the large monoliths were of pink granite taken from the quarries of Syene. The position of these quarries must have been of the utmost importance in facilitating the application of that fine material. Situated below the cataracts, when once the masses were extracted from their beds, no obstruction presented itself in their course down the river to their destination, whether to Memphis, Heliopolis, or the delta. Twenty-seven of the forty-two obelisks now known were from Syene, and they are doubtless the largest. An unextracted block still remains at Syene, 95 feet long by 11 feet in diameter, with the quarrymen’s marks on it. Sir Gardner Wilkinson states that the final operation of extraction, when three sides of a mass had been worked around, was by cutting a groove or channel about a couple of inches in depth, and kindling a fire along its whole extent. When the stone was intensely heated, cold water was poured into the groove, and the block detached itself with a clear fracture. Wedges of wood were also inserted, saturated with water, then exposed to heat, and the expansion rent the mass asun- der. Thus detached it was drawn down to the river, where it was incased, or upon a galley or raft floated down the Nile to near the spot where it was ultimately to be set up. From the river bank it was then hauled up to the Propylea in front of which it was to stand. There are no hieroglyphics or paintings extant to show us how the obelisk was raised and placed in its final position. That this was a REMOVAL OF CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE TO NEW VORK. 13 most critical operation is obvious, and its difficulty is illustrated by an anecdote related by Pliny: Rameses erected one obelisk 140 cubits high and of prodigious thickness. It is said 12,000 men were employed on the work. To insure the safety of the operation by the extremest skill of the architect, he had his own son fastened to the summit while it was raised. As to the tools used in carving the granite we know nothing. Hardly any iron tools have been preserved among the relics of the tombs. With what mate- rial did the Egyptians sculpture with such refined delicacy and exquisite sharpness the mouth, eyes, ears, and other features of their statues, and the sharp contours of their hieroglyphs? We are possessed of no process by which brass may be sufficiently hardened for the purpose. Could they have softened the surface by — some chemical operation on the harder elements of the stones? No one has as yet been able to inform us, and the secret mystery of the execution of the Egypt- ian sculpture still excites our wonder and admiration. The positions of obelisks were before the gigantic pylons which formed the entrance gateways to the fore courts of their temples, and they were without exception always in pairs. At Karnac the situation of the two lofty ones erected by Queen Hatsou (one of which still stands, and is 108 feet 6 inches high, the tallest known) was between two lofty pylons only forty to fifty feet apart. Those in front of the outer pylon are not so distant in advance of it. Consequently the Egyptians disregarded the immediate proximity of a high wall backing them up, and none are known situated in wide open spaces. ‘The sacred way led up from the river, flanked on eath side with variously headed sphinxes. At Karnac the dromos is one mile and one-third long, with a line of sphinxes on each side... Ap- proaching nearer, the worshipper finds two obelisks on the right and left, not necessarily of the.same height. At Luxor one is seven or eight feet higher than the other, and to diminish the disparity in size, the shorter one is raised on a lofty pedestal and brought some feet in advance of its companion. Attached to the face of the pylon are six gigantic sitting statues of kings, majestic in size, and seated in the hieratic posture. The pylon itself, perhaps 200 feet wide and too feet high, forms the background of the whole, crowned by its cavetto cornice, and its surface covered with the colored sculptures of the victorious Rameses in his chariot, with upraised arm, slaying his enemies, trampling them under his horses’ hoofs, and alone dispersing them in flight. In the center of the structure is the : portal, 56 feet high, through which.the sacred or triumphal procession passe all its gorgeousness to within the sacred precincts, there to observe the ritual ceremonies of the mysterious Egyptian cult of one or more of their eight great divinities or animal gods. Erasmus Wilson, in his book entitled ‘‘Cleopatra’s Needle” (p. 178), enumerates the existing obelisks as follows: Rome, 12; Italy, in addition, 4; Egypt, 6; Constantinople, 2; France, 2; England, 6; Germany, 1 For nearly 2,000 years there have stood on the shores of the Levant, near Alexandria, two obelisks of rose-colored granite known as ‘‘Cleopatra’s Nee dies.” We are told by Egyptologists that they were taken from the quarries at 14 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. Syene, and thence conveyed to Heliopolis, where by Sesostris they were set up before the entrance to the temple of the god Tum, or the Setting Sun. Pliny ‘states that they were transported to the Nile with the aid of flat-bottomed boats, floating in canals specially prepared for that purpose. Sharpe says that they were placed in an erect position by cutting a groove in the pedestal, in which the lower edge of the monolith might turn as if it were a hinge, the top of the shaft ‘being elevated by means of a mound of earth, the size of which was continually increased till the stone stood securely erect. The obelisks were brought to Alex- andria during the reign of Tiberius, but bear their present popular name because of a tradition that they were taken to Alexandria in the time of Cleopatra. Their age is estimated to be about 3,300 years. One of the obelisks has until recently been standing where it was originally placed when brought to Alexandria, but the other, which is the less perfect of the two, has for many years been lying prostrate on the sand. In 1819, Mehemet Ali offered the fallen monolith to the Prince Regent of England, and the British Government accepted the gift, but afterward declined to act in the matter because of the expense attending removal. In 1851, the subject was again brought up; but, as before, no action was taken. Finally, in 1876, Dr. Erasmus Wilson concluded to pay the expenses himself of transport- ing the great monolith, and bargained with Mr. John Dixon, a well-known engineer and contractor, to bring it to England and erect it on the Thames Em- bankment for $50.000. Both of these ‘‘Needles’”—the one transported to England, and its more perfect companion recently presented to the United States by the Khedive of Egypt—possess great historical value, aside from that sentimental estimation which enlightened nations place upon all monuments of antiquity. As far as known the hieroglyphs on the obelisk which is coming to this country have never been deciphered, but as both obelisks are of the same age, and came origi- nally from the same city and temple, it is not unlikely that the inscriptions refer to the same, or, at least, to similar subjects. When the London obelisk was unearthed, it was found to be just 68 feet long, and its weight about two hundred tons. ‘The hieroglyphics which covered each of its four faces were washed, and - then. deciphered by Brugsch Bey, the eminent Egyptologist. He found that they referred to the lives of the two Kings, Thothmes III. and Rameses II. Subse- quently a correct translation of the whole has been made by Dr. Samuel Birch, of the British museum, and is as follows: ‘¢ First Side, Central Line, toward east when erected on Embankment.— The Horus, lord of the upper and lower country, the powerful bull; crowned in Uas or Thebes, the King of the North and South Ramen Cheper has made his. monument to his father, Haremachu (Horus in the horizons), he has set up to him two great obelisks, capped with gold, at the first time of the festivals of thirty years, according to his wish he did it the son of the Sun Thothmes (III.) type of types did it beloved of Haremachu (Horus of the horizons) ever living. ‘« First Side—Left Line.—The Horus of the upper and lower country, the pow- erful bull, beloved of the Sun, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Ra-user-ma, REMOVAL OF CLEOPATRA’S NEEDLE TO NEW VORK. 15 approved of the Sun, lord of the festivals, like Ptah-Tanen, son of the Sun, Ra- meses beloved of Amen, a strong bull, like the son of Nu (Osiris), whom none can withstand, the lord of the two countries, Ra-user-ma, approved of the Sun, son of the Sun, Ramessu (II.), beloved of Amen, giver of life, like the Sun. «¢ First Side—Right Line.—The Horus of the upper and lower country, the powerful bull, son of Tum, King of the South and North, lord of diadems, guar- dian of Egypt, chastiser of foreign countries, son of the Sun Ramessu (II.), be- loved of Amen, dragging the South to the Mediterranean Sea, the North to the Poles of Heaven, lord of the two countries, Ra-user-ma, approved of the Sun, son ~ of the Sun Ramessu (II.), giver of life, ike the Sun. ‘¢Second Side—Central Line, toward river (south), as erected on Embank_ ment.—The Horus of the upper and lower country, the powerful bull, crowned by Truth, the King of the North and South, Cheper. ‘The lord of the gods has multiplied to him festivals on the great Persea tree in the midst of the place of the Phoenix (Heliopolis). He is recognized as his son, a divine chief, his limbs come forth daily as he wishes, the son of the Sun Thothmes (III.), ruler of An (Helio- polis), beloved of Haremachu (Horus in horizons). ‘¢Second Side—Left Line.—The Horus of the Upper and Lower country, the powerful bull, beloved of Truth, King of the North and South Ra-user-ma, approved of the Sun, born of the gods, holding the two lands (of Egypt), as the son of the Sun, Ramessu (II.), beloved of Amen, making his frontier wherever he wished, who is at rest through his power, the lord of the two countries, Ra- user-ma, approved of the Sun, Ramessu beloved of Amen, the luster of the Sun. ‘* Second Side—Right Line.—The Horus of the upper and lower country, the powerful bull, son of the god Chepera, the King of the North and South, Ra- user-ma, approved of the Sun. The golden trait, rich in years, the most power. ful, the eyes of mankind behold what he has done, nothing has been said in opposition to the lord of the two countries. Ra-user-ma approved of the Sun, the son of the Sun, Ramessu (II.), beloved of Amen, giver of life, like the Sun. ‘¢Third Side—Central Line, west side as erected on Embankment.—The Horus, lord of the upper and lower country, the powerful bull, beloved of Truth, the King of the South and North Ramen Cheper, his father Tum has set up to him his great name, placing it in the temple belonging to An (Heliopolis), giving him the throne of Seb, the dignity of Cheper, the son of the Sun, Thothmes (III.), good and true, beloved of the Spirits of An (Heliopolis), ever living. ‘¢Third Side—Right Line.—The Horus of the upper and lower country, the powerful bull, well beloved of Ra, the King of the South and North Ra-urser-ma, approved of the Sun, lord of festivals of thirty years, like his father Ptah, son of the Sun, Ramessu (II.), beloved of men, son of Tum, beloved of his loins; Athor, _ the goddess, directing the two countries, has given him birth, the lord of the two “countries, Ra-user-ma, approved of the Sun, the son of the Sun, Ramessu, (I1.), beloved of men, giver of life, like the Sun. ona ieee ‘Third Side—Left Line. —The Horus, lord of the two countries, the power- 16 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. ful bull, son of the Shu, the King of the South and North, Ra-user-ma, approved of the Ra, the lord of diadems, director of Egypt, chastiser of foreign lands, son of the Sun, Ramessu (II.), beloved of Amen, bringing his offering daily in the house of his father Tum, not has been done as he did in the house of his father, the lord of the two countries, Ra-user-ma, approved of the Sun, the son of the Sun, Ramessu (II.), beloved of Amen, giver of life, like the Sun. ‘Fourth Side—Central Line, toward Road (north), as erected on Embank- ment.—The Horus of the upper and lower country, beloved of the god of the tall, upper crown, the King of the South and North, Ramen Cheper, making offer- ings, beloved of the gods, supplying the altar of the Spirits of An (Heliopolis), welcoming their persons at the two times of the year, that he might repose through them with a sound life of hundreds of thousands of years with very numerous fes- tivals of thirty years, the son of the Sun Thothmes (III.), the divine ruler, beloved of Haremachu (Horus of the horizons), ever living. ‘Fourth Side—Right Side.—The Horus, lord of the upper and lower coun- try, the powerful bull, beloved of Ra, the King of the South and North, Ra-user- ma, approved of the Sun, the Sun born of the gods, holding the countries, the son of the Sun Ramessu (II.), beloved of Amen, the strong hand, the powerfuj victor, bull of rulers, king of kings, lord of the two countries, Ra-user-ma, approved of the Sun, son of the Sun, Ramessu (II.), beloved of Amen, beloved of Tum, lord of An (Heliopolis), giver of life. ‘Fourth Side—Left Line. —The Horns, the powerful bull, son of Ptah-Tanen, lord of the upper and lower country, the King of the South and North, Ra-user- ma, approved of the Sun, the hawk of gold, rich in years, the greatest of victors, the son of the Sun Ramessu (II.), beloved of Amen, leading captive the Rutennu (Syrians) and Petit (Libyans) out of their countries to the seat of the house of his father, lord of the two countries, Ra-user-ma, approved of the Sun, son of the Sun, Ramessu (II.), beloved of Amen, beloved of Shu, the great god, like the Sun. ‘«'The scenes on the pyramidion represent the monarch Thothmes III., under the form of a sphinx, with hands offering to the Gods Ra and Atum, the two principal deities of Heliopolis. The offerings are water, wine, milk, and incense. The inscriptions are the names and titles of the deities, the title of Thothmes III., and the announcement of each of his special gifts. As before stated, the obelisk which is coming to this country is the more perfect of the two, and is the one usually referred to in the books as ¢he ‘‘Cleopa- tra’s Needle.” ‘The fact that the Khedive should have presented this noble mon- ument to America has excited considerable ill-natured comment in England, and has been regarded with considerable jealousy. The temple at Heliopolis, where these two monoliths originally stood, is. of interest to biblical students, as it is sup- posed to be one in which Moses became learned in all the wisdom of Egypt. When the inscription on our ‘‘ Needle” shall have been deciphered, further light may be shed upon the history of the remote past in Egypt, which is so profoundly REMOVAL OF CLEOPATRA’S NEEDLE TO NEW VORK. 17 connected with the whole rise and progress of the religions, the philosophies, and the arts of our own race and our own times. The method of lowering and transporting the obelisk to this country is entirely original with Lieutenant Commander Gorringe, who has been intrusted with the entire matter. The gigantic framework to be used in lowering the mon- olith was shipped for Liverpool, October 7th, 1879, on board the Guion steamer Nevada. From Liverpool it was trarishipped to Alexandria, where it arrived safely, and the work of erection immediately began. The machinery was constructed — at the works of Messrs. Roebling’s Sons Company, at Trenton, after plans made by Lieutenant Commander Gorringe, its total weight being 128,000 pounds. The first operation after arriving at Alexandria was, after erecting the proper scaffold- ing, to incase the monolith with 2-inch oak planking, bound at intervals of 3 feet with strong iron bands. Then the obelisk was guyed at the top from four points, like the mast of a vessel, so that there could be no possibility of its falling over. The center of gravity had been calculated at a point of twenty-six feet above the base, and here trunnions were placed on either side and bolted across the sides by eight 134-inch iron and four 2-inch steel bolts: The trunnions were cast from cannon metal only, and that of the best quality. The trunnion plates were four inches thick, nine feet wide, and six feet high. At the center was the turned trunnion, 33 inches long, and 18 inches in diameter. The weight of each trun- nion and plate was 1,250 pounds, making together 14% tons. The next operation was to quarry out four 6-inch channel ways through the base of the obelisk, and insert I beams to assist in raising the foundations. Next the foundations were constructed. These consisted of two platforms, one on each side, of 3-inch oak planking, each 6 feet wide and 24 feet long: On top of these were set four oak sticks, 12 by 18, firmly bolted together. The iron work of the towers was then built on top of the preliminary foundation. Each tower was constructed of six 12-inch heavy wrought iron I beams, spreading out at the base to a distance of 21 feet, and converging at the top to within 5 feet. The beams at their base rested on four heavy I beams, and were securely riveted to the platform by means of plates and knees. Placed on top of these posts were caps, each five feet long and thirty inches wide, which also were secured by means of plates and knees. ‘The posts were braced from top to bottom by angle and channnel irons, making the towers perfectly rigid. Placed on top of the caps, and securely — bolted to the tower proper, were cast iron journals weighing 3,700 pounds, each forming the grooves for the trunnions to work in. A 6-inch rib had been cast in the bottom of each of the trunnions, and in these ribs were four 2-inch holes. Through each of these holes 134-inch iron rods were inserted, con- nected with similar from the 6-inch I beams running through the base, by means of right and left thread turn buckles, which were used to raise the obelisk from its foundation and throw the weight on the trunnions. On the 6th of December, everything being ready, the monolith was successfully raised in the presence of IV—2 18 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 4 5,000 people who had come to witness the operation; the foundation was then removed, and the obelisk left hanging free. The obelisk having been turned over to a horizontal position, Captain Gorringe next proceeded to build two piles of beams placed crosswise; and, as soon as they reached the height of the stone, jacks were used to lift the latter out of its trunnion bearings and block it up. All the construction was then removed, and, foot by foot, the obelisk was lowered to the ground by reducing the piles, first from one side and then the other. On the ground the obelisk was incased in an iron cradle, consisting of a parabolic truss on each side, connected by means of heavy channel flow beams and braces. To the flow beams two heavy channel bars were riveted, and corresponding channels were laid on the ground to form the track for the obelisk to move on, the move- ment being effected by inserting 8-inch cannon balls into the grooves formed by the channel bars, and the track being laid sixty feet ahead of the cradles, so that as the stone was pushed along, the track behind was taken up and placed in front. From the base of the obelisk to the sea a trench had been dug, which, at the end near the sea, is 95 feet long by 4o feet broad, and 16 feet deep; in this portion a float, constructed for the purpose, will be used to transport the obelisk to the port of Alexandria, a distance of about a mile in a straight line. In digging the pit around the base of the monolith, Captain Gorringe discovered that the shaft stood on a pedestal, the existence of which was before unknown. It was 9 feet square, 7 feet in height, and rested upon three well-preserved marble steps with a base of masonry. From the lower surface of the lower step the obelisk rises 81 feet 2% inches to its summit, and its estimated weight is about 196 tons. At the port of Alexandria the obelisk will be placed on a large ship selected for the purpose, and so brought to this country. [This plan is very different from that adopted by the English engineer, which, it will be remembered, was to inclose the obelisk in a cylindrical vessel formed of wrought iron plates, and provided with water-tight compartments. This, after being rolled into the sea, and towed to the harbor, was ballasted and provided with a keel, deck, sail, and rudder. The vessel was then placed in charge of two or three skilled mariners, for whom a small cabin on deck was provided, and towed to England by a steam tug, the sail being simply for steadying the cylinder.] Should our obelisk reach port in safety the same machinery, with very slight modification, will be used to place it in an erect posi- tion, after a proper site has been selected for it. There can be no doubt that our citizens, as they pass by this obelisk after its erection, will have their curiosity excited by the sight of hieroglyphs which have probably been seen and read by the Jews at the time of Moses, or when the Sav- ior was taken by his parents to Egypt as a place of refuge from Herod’s rage. The following is a list of the more notable obelisks, with their present sites, SIZES, (CEC. THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN QUESTIONED. 19 OBELISKS. Present Site. Size. Height. | By or to whom Dedicated. ft. 2 ita alee ett in.| Heliopolis : SO te OF 3108 210 00)6 Osortisen,, 2, S5r4B. C: Biggeg-Crocodopolis OM Olean ola atts onms| Ditto: Karnak : x go 6 |Thothmes I. Ditto | Mariette. [108 — ro Hatasou, 1,660 B. C. Lateran, Rome QS. GOP TO Lose) Onl (ehothmes Miele Vatican, Rome 5 ie 82. g _ |No hieroglyphs. Alexandria * AT OO ee Ont CO. we h bothmes! Ith: London -|7 104% X%7 8] 68 5% |Ditto. Constantinople Broken. Reo) ID eric, Sion House . . SAO Oe 7 6 = |Ditto. Thebaid, Alnwick . Se OSA SO WO) 7 3. |Amenotep II. Porta del Popolo, Romel8 5 <8 5| 78 6 |Seti Menepthah I. Trinita del Monti,Rome|4 3 Aga Gu» Ditto: EO esc Ao) ated Stan ch as -|ighed 2 o }Rameses II. Paris aes 1B VO) SEO GOS a | MD taKo San, or Tanis . Soe Neco nal ence nO Hagen Monte- Citorio, Rome (hoc: 7 a5) 2) SESOStrIS: Piazza Navona, Rome|4 5 BAe 13 Pantheon, Romie . Fragment. | 50 0 /|Ditto. Villa Mattei, OMe vs Sia Piazza Minerva, Rome| Fragment. | 17 0 Brash Viuseums,) 2. ln V6 >< r* 5) 8 » 2) |Amyrtecus I Constantinople, 3)... |6 o%><6 oc) 35) Oo \Nectancho'l. Corfe Castle, Phile .|2 2 Bia 1% |Ptolemy Evergetes II., 150 B.C. _ Benevento Bais 9 ° Monte Pincio, Rome . Peso) 0) \Eladrianus. *Presented to the United States. — Scientific American Supplement. x CEOEOG _ THE PRESENT STATE OF THE EVIDENCE REGARDING THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.* BY T. MCK. HUGHES, M. A., WOODWARDIAN PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY, CAMBRIDGE, [The following paragraphs, discussing the evidence as to Man’s existence in or before the Glacial era in Europe, and the remarks succeeding, by Professor Dawkins, are cited from a paper bearing the above title. ] We may dismiss at once the case [of supposed human remains], reported *Read before the Victoria Institute, 1879. 20 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. from the Dardanelles, of works of art found in deposits said to be of Miocene age. The descriptions* prove that it was not given on the authority of one competent to judge in such a case, and it never has been confirmed. In beds said to be Miocene; at Thenay, near Pontleroy, the Abbé Bourgeois found flints which he supposed were dressed by man. ‘These flints are now exhibited in the Museum at St. Germain, where I saw them with Sir Charles Lyell several years ago, and again with others since. Some of them seemed entirely natural, common forms, such as we find over the surface everywhere, broken by all the various accidents of heat and frost and blows. A few seemed as if they might have been man’s handiwork—cores from which he had struck off flakes such as we know were used by early man, of which I show examples. Yet this is not quite clear, for, had the evidence been good that they were found in place, there still would have been a doubt whether they were man’s work. But when we came to inquire about the evidence that they occurred in beds of Mio- cene age, we learned that only those that we put down as natural were found by the Abbé himself; the others were brought in by workmen, picked up, we may suppose, upon the heaps turned over by their spades, and so perhaps, just dropped down from the surface. Next in the Crag the teeth of sharks, bored through, as if for wear, were found, } part of a string of ornaments such as are commonly worn by savages. Of these I give examples: one a boar’s tusk, from the lake dwellings of Switzerland ; another, a tooth from a deposit of palzolithic age, in a cave just above the mirac- alous grotto of Lourdes in the Pyrenees. I have examined fragments of bone and teeth [from the Crag] of various sizes and shapes, and found them marked over the surface with many a pit or deeper hole, or even perforation irregularly placed, not as if by design, but by accident. ‘There they were in every stage, all over, yet of one type. One sawn across explains the whole. The chamber of a shell which bores its way into the solid rock. or softer shale was clearly shown. When the mass lay embedded in the mud it was but touched here and there. If it was thin the animal bored through into the sand or clay below, piercing the tooth quite through—a perfectly well-turned and finished work, so good it was thought to be man’s. But if the mass was thick and near the surface, the little mollusk made a home entirely within it, and its shell often remains there, and reveals the _ history and manner of formation of the holes. An account has also been given by the Abbé Bourgeois of flints from Pliocene beds at St. Prest, near to Chartres, said to be worked by man, but this we may dismiss on the same ground as those before referred to given on the same authority. { Another case brought forward from abroad but recently, has found as much favor here as there. Around the Lake of Zurich there are left traces of ancient lakes at somewhat higher levels. A bed of clay below with glacial stones, a bed *Journ. Anthrop Inst., vol. iii, p. 127, April, 1873. fJourn. Anthrop. Inst., vol. ii, p. 91 April, 1872. Bourgeois, Congr. Inter. d’Anthrop., 1867, p. 67. ?@Rutimeyer, Archiy. fur Anthropologie, 1875; Heer, Primzval World of Switzerland. THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN QUESTIONED. 21 of plants between, half-turned to coal, a mass of clay, moraine-like on the top, tell of the time when Alpine ice crept farther down the hills, and touched upon the lake, now more, now less encroaching. In these beds the peaty mass of lignite, known as Diirnten coal, was largely dug for fuel. I have worked a long time down below to see the evidence myself. The sequence of the beds is clear. But recently two Swiss professors have proclaimed that they have obtained proofs incontestable that man was there, and wove a basket, fragments of which were found among the drifted plants which formed the coal. ‘These fragments, it is said, consist of pointed sticks, sharpened across the grain, not tapering naturally, _ and a cross set of binding withes, all now pressed and changed, but by such char- acters referred to work of man. Now I have found myself along the shore frag- ments of wood and twigs half decomposed and waveworn till they were cut to a point obliquely to the grain, as they describe the Diirnten sticks. Across such fragments often others fell, and when the whole was then compressed what won- der if they left a mark of wattle or of basket-work ? and the whole mass has sutf- _ fered such great pressure from the superincumbent weight of clay that all the round twigs and.stems are squeezed quite flat, as in the specimens before you. These Diirnten pointed sticks, however, I have not seen, and, therefore, speak with caution, showing only how I think the thing might be otherwise explained. Widespread beds of loam and sand, and gravel, cover the lower levels of East Anglia; and, probably ranging over a vast period, have been collectively described as ‘‘ middle-glacial,” for below are glacial beds, and in the middle series bowlder clay, and over them, whether in part vemanie or not, another bowlder clay. Lying in hollows and on the flanks of valleys,-cut through this ancient loam and other beds, are river terraces of later date; and these, because in great part — made up of the older beds, are like them, and require experience to distinguish. In these old terrace-deposits implements of man’s undoubted work have long been found; but recently it has been said that some of these beds belong to the older series.{ This, then, becomes a matter of opinion. For my part, being well acquainted with the deposits in question, and having listened to the evidence, I give my testimony quite against the Glacial or inter-Glacial age of any of the beds from which the hatchets came. It is, however, said that other evidence has since been found, conclusive as to this. I can but criticise that which has been adduced ; but I will say that if such has been found and been so long withheld, while there are so many deeply interested, and so many who would like to verify at once and on the ground, the statements made, then I do hold that there has not been shown that love of full investigation which is the soul of science. In many countries where rocks of limestone tower in cliffs and crags above the valleys, and are tapped below by undermining streams, the rain which falls — upon the higher ground is lost in cracks and joints, and carries off the rock dis- solved in water, which contains a little acid caught by the falling rain or drawn from decomposing plants. ‘The fissures thus enlarged into the gaping chasms aa called ‘‘swallows’ holes,” the ‘‘katabothra” of the Greeks, admit a copious tor- {Mem. Geol. Surv. Geology of Fenland. 22 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. rent, carrying stones and sand which grind and bruise and open out the jointed rocks into great caves and subterranean courses. ‘These, when tapped at lower levels, are soon left dry, and offer to prowling beasts of prey a safe retreat, and often man availed himself of them, as testify the Adullamites and Troglodytes of every age. From such a cave up in the crags of Craven some evidence is adduced tha man existed far back into Glacial times, and this, perhaps, is the best case that. has been urged* There a large group of animals, such as occur elsewhere along with man, and more doubtfully, traces of man himself, were found in beds over lapped by Glacial clay which had sealed up the mouth of the vast den in which these relics lay. This excavation I have watched myself at intervals from the commencement, and I hold that as the cliff fell back by wet or frost, and limestone fragments fell over the cave mouth, with them also came masses of clay, which, since the Glacial times, had lain in hollows in the rock above. We dug and found such there, and, more, I observed that the clay lay across the mouth as though it had thus fallen, and not as if it came direct from Glacial ice that pushed its way athwart the crag in which the cave occurs. It seemed to have fallen obliquely from the side where the fissured rock more readily yielded to the atmospheric waste, so that it somewhat underlay the part immediately above the cave. On the inside the muddy water which collected after flood, held back by all this clay, filled every crevice and the intervals between the fallen limestone rock, while still outside was the open /a/us of angular fragments known as ‘‘screes.” These are the most important cases that I know where man has been referred. to Glacial or inter-Glacial times; but, all, it seems to me, quite inconclusive. On the contrary, there is much in them, and much besides, pointing the other way. In support of which opinion I will now offer some independent evidence, showing that some similar beds with man and the beasts that are found with him in earli- est times can be proved to be post-Glacial. * * * [ Remarks on the foregoing paper by Professor W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S.| I entirely hold with Professor Hughes in the view which he takes relating to. the antiquity of man, and the necessity of looking narrowly into facts bearing on the question. All the alleged cases of the existence of man before the Palao- lithic age, on the Continent, seem to me on a careful inquiry to be unsatisfactory. If the flints found at Thenay, and supposed to prove the existence of Miocene man, be artificial, and be derived from a Miocene stratum, there is, to my mind, an insuperable difficulty in holding them to be the handiwork of man. Seeing that no existing species of quadruped was then alive, it is to me perfectly incredi- ble that man, the most highly specialized of all, should have been living at that time. The flints shown in Paris by Professor Gaudry appear to be artificial ; while those in the Museum of St. Germain appear to be partly artificial and. partly natural, some of the former, from their condition, having been obviously picked up on the surface of the ground. The cuts on the Miocene fossil bones. *Tiddeman, Brit. Assoc. Reports, 1870-8. AUTOMATIC MENTAL ACTION. 28 discovered in several other localities in France may have been produ ed by other agencies than the hand of man. Nor in the succeeding Pliocene age is the evidence more convincing. The human skull found in a railway cutting at Olmo, in Northern Italy, and supposed to be of Pliocene age, was associated with an implement, according to Dr. John Evans, of Neolithic age. Some of the cut fossil bones discovered in various parts of Lombardy, and considered by Professor Capellini to be Pliocene, were undoubt- edly produced by a cutting implement before they became mineralized, a point on which the examination of the specimens leaves me no reason for doubt. I do not, however, feel satisfied that the bones became mineralized in the Pliocene age; and the fact, that only two species of quadrupeds now alive then dwelt in Europe, renders it highly improbable that man was living at this time. This zodlogical difficulty seems to me insuperable. The only other case which demands notice is that which is taken to establish the fact that man was living in the inter-Glacial age, in Switzerland. The speci- mens supposed to offer ground for this hypothesis consist of a few pointed sticks in Professor Riitimeyer’s collection at Basle, of the shape and size of a rather thin cigar, crossed by a series of fibers running at right angles. They appear to me after a careful examination to present no mark of the hand of man, and to be merely the resinous knots which have dropped out of a rotten pine trunk, and survived the destruction of the rest of the tree. As the evidence stands at present, there is no proof, on the Continent or in this country, of man having lived in this part of the world before the middle stage of the Pleistocene age, when most of the existing mammalia were alive, and when mammoths, rhinoceroses, bisons, horses and Irish elks, lions, hyenas, and bears haunted the neighborhood of London, and were swept down by the floods of the Thames as far as Erith and Crayford. —American Journal of Science. Pov CEOLoOGy: AUTOMATIC MENTAL ACTION. BY PROF. J. M. LONG. The development of the life of man depends upon the dynamic arrangements in his constitution for action. Those who study man from both the physiological and the psychological point of view, should, therefore, take into the account all those springs of action with which the Creator has endowed him. That part of the physical nature of man directly concerned in action is the nervous system, the functions of which are the generation, transmission and distribution of motion. That part of the nervous organism known as the Cerebro-Spinal system may be properly termed the Physical Mechanism of Mind, because psychical phenomena 24 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. are conditioned by its action. Psychical, or mental action, assumes three distinct forms, namely, Reflex, Latent, and Conscious. We have two kinds of reflex mental action—one natural and instinctive; the other artificial and acquired. Reflex mental action is that form of psychical phe- nomena which occur without the intervention of consciousness,and which, though unconscious, accomplish ends analogous to those which take place under the direction of thought and volition. We have what is termed a reflex psychical action when impulse is sent along an afferent nerve from the sunface of the body, and which,on reaching the sensory ganglia, is reflected or thrown back along an efferent nerve, in the form of muscu- lar motion. In this case an ingoing movement, resulting in a sensation, is con- verted into an outgoing movement without an intervention of consciousness. Such movements are called Automatic, because they are effected through the medium of the nervous mechanism mechanically, like the movements of automata. Illustrations of this class of psychic actions are furnished in the batting of the eyes when some object is suddenly thrust before them; in the unconscious throwing out of the hands to stay the body when about to fall; in the drawing up of the feet of a sleeping person when the soles are tickled. To ascertain the seat of reflex psychical action, has been one of the interest- ing and important questions of modern psychology. The study of psychical phenomena from the objective point of view has proved that the brain is not the sole seat of mind. The seat of consciousness is in the brain ; but the other forms of mental action cannot be restricted to that organ, but are developed, with more or less intensity, in the other parts of the nervous system. Consciousness is the eye of the soul, and is, therefore, a faculty. But it does not thence follow that the mind is active only when this faculty is active. The mind has other sources and springs of action. Descartes, followed by many philosophers, identified con- sciousness with mind, as though one should confound seeing with perceiving. Unconscious mental action we regard as the basis and condition of conscious mental action. In pure reflex actions, the brain, or cerebrum, takes no part. They are effected through the medium of the spinal cord and the other motor centers, of which the cord is a prolongation into the baseof the brain. Hence, animals of a low order, being more tenacious of life than those highly developed, when deprived of their brains will still perform reflex movements. Brain- _ less pigeons will smooth down their feathers ; brainless frogs will rub off sulphuric acid which has been dropped upon them, or adjust themselves on a board as it is inclined at different angles. Infants, born without brains, have been known to perform the usual operation of sucking. There is said to be a man ina French hospital who, in consequence of a wound received in the late war with Germany, passes out from his normal conscious life once in each month, and lives, for a day or two, a life of unconscious reflex action, like a decapitated frog or pigeon. He neither sees, hears nor tastes, nor smells, having only one sense organ in a state of activity, namely, that of touch, which is exalted into a state of preternatural AUTOMATIC MENTAL ACTION. 25 acuteness. Yet, without consciousness, he is said to go through his daily routine - of movements with automatic regularity. All those accustomed actions he per- forms through the medium of the spinal cord and the other motor centers, inde- pendently of the brain. Primary reflex mental action constitutes the innate and fundamental provision in the human organism for the maintenance of life. The conditions of life require that there shall be something from which to start at the time that the animal sets up an independent existence, in order that the organism shall be, to a certain ex- tent, in harmony with environing relations. This primitive and innate provision for action is called Instinctive, because it is original and unacquired, and exists in its full power previous to experience and instruction. . Man, at birth, begins a life without knowledge and experience. In this condition, his only guide is in- stinctive reflex action, until intelligence and volition become developed. Hence, instinctive reflex action forms the basis upon which all subsequent mental develop- ment and education take plaee. The organism of man is arranged in harmony witha fixed and preéstablished system of nature. ‘To render the development of the organic and mental life pos- sible, the rudimentary psychical nature must begin in unconsciousness, or reflex action, in harmony with the conditions imposed by external relations. As intel- ligence and will become developed, the mind rises into a consciousness of this preéstablished harmony which from the beginning has rendered the developmen; of life, both mental and organic, possible. Thus the mind grows and develops from simple reflex action—which presents psychical phenomena in their lowest typical form—into conscious volition, in which the intelligence adjusts itself to the com- plex relations of space and time. We thus recognize simple reflex action as the germ out of which will is developed. Hence, to understand the nature of will,we © must study it in its genesis as related to reflex action. It is also by studying primary reflex action that we become prepared to understand the nature of sec- ondary reflex, or automatic action. Secondary automatic mental action is one of the important contributions of modern psychology to mental science. Even after this doctrine had been stated and received as the only theory which could explain a certain class of mental phenomena, it was stoutly opposed by the metaphysical school of thinkers. Sec- ondary automatic mental action belongs to that class of psychical activities which have, by the force of habit, assumed the form of aptitudes, and which go on with- out an effort of the will. Actions which, at first, require all one’s attention, may, after many repetitions, become automatic, and go on, of their own accord, through the operation of the lower nerve centers, without a conscious effort of mind. The larger part of our daily mental actions which constitute the efficient machinery of life, is of this character, such as walking and reading aloud while the mind follows the thoughts of the author. If all the actions and mental processes which the necessities of our daily life impose upon us had to be brought under the review of consciousness, it would be burdened down with the weight of complex details. 26 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. The use and value of consciousness as a mental element in running the machinery of mind do not lie in what it is in itself, but in what its separate and successive states may become. By continual repetition, these separate states may become organized into a consolidated whole, which,-like the individual cells in the animal organism, finally develops into a complex form of automatic mental action. Hence, the mental machinery does not consist in separate conscious states, but in organized forms of action into which the mind has grown by the force of repeti- tion. : The fact of mental automatism finds its explanation on the physical side of being in the relation which the cerebrum sustains to the lower sensory and motor centers. Impressions are made on the cerebrum by being propagated upward through the sensorium. These impressions, after being combined and co-ordinated, are reflected downward to the motor centers which execute the mandates of the | will in the form of muscular movements. By constant repetition, these motor cen- ters grow into the modes of action which have been consciously and artificially imposed upon them, so that the only conscious effort required to set them going is a mere initiative impulse of the will. In this way the mental and the physical organism may be made to take on themselves an artificial and secondary auto- matic action, as distinguished from that which is natural and primary. We should not pass over this part of the subject without calling attention to the important office which this form of action performs in the economy of human life. We should regard the spinal cord, together with the motor and sensory ganglia, in which it terminates, as charged with spontaneous force, and as conse- quently the seat from which emanate ‘‘ the lightning gleams of power”’ exerted for the well being of the organism. Man must have some provision in his consti- tution which shall serve as a guide and protection, before he can rise into the dig- nity of an intelligent and conscious being. Such are the dangers to which life is often exposed, that action must come before thought to save the organism, or some part of it, from destruction. Automatic mental action has a most important bearing on education, whether this looks to physical, intellectual, or moral and religious training. It is that, in fact, which makes man an educable being. It is only the new school of psychol- ogists who, as yet, fully recognize the great value of this form of action as one of the capacities of our physical and mental being. ‘It is,” says Huxley, ‘‘ because the body is a machine that education is possible. Education is the formation of habits, a superinducing of an artificial organization upon the natural organization of the body; so that acts, which at first required a conscious effort, eventually be- come unconscious and mechanical. If the act which primarily requires a dis- tinct consciousness and volition of its details, always needed the same effort, education would be an impossibility.” ‘*The acquired functions of the spinal cord,” says Dr. Maudsley, ‘‘and of the sensory ganglia, obviously imply the ex- istence of memory, which is indispensable to their formation and exercise. How else could these centers be educated? The impressions made upon them,and the AUTOMATIC MENTAL ACTION. 27 answering movements, both leave their traces behind them, which are capable of being revived on the occasion of similar impressions. A ganglionic center,whether of mind, sensation, or movement, which was without memory, would be an idiotic center, incapable of being taught its functions.” The educators of youth should never lose sight of the fact that their work is well done only when both mind and body have been trained to act with automatic readiness and precision. ‘This high degree of mental and physical power and specialization can be attained only by incessant repetition. Practice, and practice alone, makes perfect. All beginnings are difficult; but, by virtue of this capacity for automatic mental action, they become easy and pleasant, so as to require little or no effort of the will to spur the mind on to its accustomed work. After this form of mental action has once been acquired, the mind is no longer perplexed with the routine of petty details, but is left free to attend to the few unaccustomed matters which turn up during its regular work, and which require a distinct consciousness. The educator of youth, in availing himself of this spring of action, must take into the account the question of vital dynamics. Unless he does this, he is liable to err in two particulars: first, as to the extent to which this form of mental action should be carried ; second, as to the class of mental operations to which it should be confined. Automatism requiring long and laborious repetition must make a heavy draft upon the plastic energies of the brain. The consumption of all the nervous energy in organizing automatic forms of action would result in a deaden- jng of consciousness, and tend to reduce the mind to the level of a machine. Prof. Huxley says that he would not object to being thus reduced, provided that when wound up inthe morning, like a clock, he would run on with automatic precision, and never go wrong. But sucha result, if possible, would not be de- sirable, for the reason that it would put an end to all further mental progress in making new acquisitions. Mental operations by repetition tend to wear for them- selves a channel. The nervous mechanism embodies in its structure the im-— pressions made upon it as a part of its organic growth. But this mechanism of “nerves is truly a machine, governed by mechanical laws, and is hence capable of performing only a limited amount of work. If a certain amount of the brain force be consumed in impressing upon the organism a particular form of action, just so much less will be left as a stimulus for exciting the mind to other acquisitions. Hence, if automatism has been carried to excess, the effect upon the young and growing organism must be injurious. The rigid and automatic condition of the nervous mechanism produced by habit, brings on a corresponding rigidity and deadness of consciousness itself, thus rendering the mind incapable of further progress. Automatic action gives efficiency and ease of execution; but,if carried too far, renders it difficult and even impossible to make new acquisitions. It is also evident that automatic action should be confined to those mental and physical movements which will be of daily use, which look to the practical side of life, and which, from their nature, must be largely automatic to fulfill their 28 KANSAS CITY REVIEW. OF SCIENCE, ends. Learning to play on the piano, or other musical instrument, must attain to automatic quickness, to give that ease and readiness of execution which the nattfre of the process demands. The fundamental operations of arithmetic should be so thoroughly learned as to be largely automatic. When these fundamental pro- cesses of numbers have become organized, as it were, in the mental organism, the mind is then left free to attend to the logical processes involved in the mathemat- ical operations. But, for the reason that automatism is an expensive acquisition, it should be limited to such mental operations as necessarily demand it. Those operations which can be well performed by deliberate thought, should be left to the conscious control of the will. 1. The education of the mental organism into automatic action should begin early, while the nervous system is plastic and impressible. 2. One of the practical problems of education is to duly antagonize con- sciousness and automatism. 3. The energies of childhood should not be utilized in the automatic de- mands of business, for this would bring on an arrested development of mind and body. 4. The mental life of the school demands that provision should be made for the exercise of both these forms of mental action, the automatic and the con- scious. Rises: A TALK ABOUT LIGHTNING. F. W. CLARKE, PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTY, UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI. A year or two ago a house not far from Cincinnati was struck by lightning, and its inmates were pretty well scared. Among them was quite an intelligent young lady, recently from school, who had studied a little about electricity, and knew that metals would attract the spark. The flash had fallen, the danger was over, but her panic remained; and in her fright she rushed eagerly down stairs in search of a pair of scissors with which to cut the steel buckles from her shoes. This act, comical as it seems in all its bearings, was yet based upon rational grounds. ‘To be sure it was like closing the stable door after the horse had been stolen; of course the young lady might simply have removed her shoes; and we all know, moreover, that lightning does not generally attack its victims’ feet first, unless, indeed, they happen to be sitting in what might be termed the bar-room attitude. Yet the fact remains that the wearing of metals during a thunder storm slightly increases the danger of the wearer. The metallic object has a determining influence upon the course of the flash. In one instance a lady’s bonnet, because A TALK ABOUT LIGHTNING. 297 of its wire framework, was entirely consumed by lightning, although the lady hetself escaped serious injury. Another lady inadvertently thrust her arm’ out of a window during a thunder shower, and her gold bracelet was dissipated in vapor. Still another flash of lightning found a gentleman seated on the top of a stage coach and rifled his pocket of a valuable watch, leaving only a few links of the chain. The general fact which our heroine had in mind is, then, quite clear. Only her peculiar application of it serves very well to illustrate the crudity of pop- ular notions about lightning. Many people are so bewildered and dazzled by the flash, and so stunned by the explosion which follows, that they become unable either to appreciate the beauty of the display, or to reason correctly concern- ing its nature. Indeed, very few persons realize how varied are the phenomena presented by the lightning in its color, its form, and its effects, and still fewer understand in more than a vague, general way, the principles involved in the erection of conductors. Every summer the country is scoured by lightning-rod agents, each with some eccentric contrivance to sell, who not only take advantage of the popular ignorance, but even make it deeper still. Spiral rods, patent tips, novel insulators, and goodness knows what else, are carried from house to house and forced upon the attention of puzzled listeners with an assiduity worthy of better employment. In consequence, a great many of the rods put up are not only unsuitable and inefficient, but also much more costly than thoroughly good, substantial and adequate conductors even need to be. Lightning, by the best observers, has been divided into three kinds. First, there is the common zigzag line of light, sometimes as much as ten miles long, which seems to shoot from point to point with great velocity, and which lasts, it has been estimated, only about the thousandth part of asecond. Secondly, there is what is known as ‘‘sheet lightning,” in which vast masses of clouds are sud- denly illuminated, as if from behind, no line being seen. This flash is also of inconceivably short duration, and varies much in color. White, blue, purple, violet, and rose-color are common tints for it to have. With it may be classed the so-called ‘‘heat lightning” of hot summer nights, which is probably but the reflection of active lightning at a distance. It is worth noting in this connection that thunder is rarely heard more than ten miles away, so that the flashes are often visible when no sound can be detected. The roar of artillery, as at Water- loo, has been audible at a distance of over eighty miles from the scene of battle. The third kind is called ‘‘ globular lightning,’’ and is comparatively rare. It appears like a ball of bluish fire, rolling with relative slowness on or near the surface of the ground or of the sea. When it reaches certain obstacles the ball explodes with a loud noise and works much mischief. When two young ladies were killed by lightning on the Malvern Hills, England, in June, 1826, the dis- charge was described as a globe of fire which rolled slowly along the ground toward the building in which they had taken shelter. Such a globe has been known to remain in sight for at least ten seconds. Another remarkable case of this kind of lightning is mentioned by Mr. Chalmers, who saw it from on board a el 30 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. ‘ship in 1749. His attention was called to a ball of blue fire, as big as a millstone, which was rolling along the surface of the water three miles away. Very soon it reached to within forty yards of the main chains, when it rose perpendicularly with a fearful explosion, and shattered the maintopmast to pieces. Still another “ instance of a sort of globular lightning was furnished by the great storm in Brit- tany in 1718, during which twenty-four church towers were damaged. Three globes of fire, each more than a yard in apparent diameter, fell at once upon a spire near Brest, destroying the church completely. I need say little of the nature of lightning, since everybody is familiar with the story of Franklin and his kite. Every child knows that the flash is produced by the discharge of electricity accumulated in the clouds. But atmospheric elec- tricity may become manifested in either of two different ways. When lightning is seen we observe what is called a ‘‘ disruptive discharge;” while in the phenom- enon best known as ‘‘St. Elmo’s Fire” a ‘‘ glow discharge” takes place. The latter is harmless, and rather rare. Occasionally its peculiar brushes or balls of fire tip the ends of masts and spars during storms at sea, as many as thirty of these flames having been seen on one vessel at the same time. Once in a while, too, it is produced on land. ‘Troops of soldiers have been terrified at finding the tips of their lances or bayonets adorned with mysterious fires. Similar flames have decorated the hair and the finger ends of travelers caught in a storm above the snow line in the Alps. A wagon loaded with straw has been so electrified that every straw seemed to be in a light blaze. And at Plauzet in France the three points of the cross upon the church were seen surrounded by flame during every thunder-shower for twenty-seven consecutive years. But with these glow dis- charges we have little to do. The disruptive discharge concerns us, especially with regard to its effects. ( These effects may be conveniently studied under two heads; first, the effect of the lightning upon the air through which it passes; secondly, its effect upon the object struck. The first of these heads needs to occupy our attention but very briefly. Often after a thunderstorm, especially near articles which have received the flash, a peculiar odor is perceived. This odor is commonly described as a ‘“ brimstone smell,” and, taken in connection with the bluish, sulphurous color of the spark, has led people to imagine the actual presence of sulphur in the storm. But the odor really belongs to ozone, a modification of oxygen produced by the passage of an -electric spark through that gas. Three volumes of oxygen have been condensed to two, and the product has the pungent perfume so well known. But it is when we come to consider the effects produced by lightning upon the objects which it strikes that we reach the most interesting ground. Some of these effects have already been described or hinted at, and most of them are so familiar to everyone that they seem hardly to need extended notice. Yet the material is so abundant and so varied that it becomes easy to select many interest- ing illustrations of our subject. Take for instance the formation of ‘‘fulgurites” A TALK ABOUT LIGHTNING. 31 in the soil. When a flash of lightning strikes a bed of sand it penetrates down- ward with great force for many feet, partially melting the sand on the way. Deep vitrified tubes are thus formed, fragments of which can easily be preserved as curiosities. These are known as ‘“‘ fulgurites.”’ The mechanical effects produced by lightning are often of the most stupen- dous character. In June, 1764, the steeple of St. Bride’s in London was struck and damaged. A stone weighing seventy pounds was flung fifty yards, and an iron bar two feet long was broken in two, one piece of it beang bent back upon itself at an angle of forty-five degrees. When the ship Le Patriote was struck in 1852, a block of wood weighing about one hundred and sixty pounds was torn out from the mast, and flung with its thicker end against a massive plank partition, a hundred paces away, so violently as to become firmly imbedded in the obstacle. A still more remarkable effect was produced when the ship Desirée was struck in Port Antonio harbor, Jamaica, in 1803. The maintopmast was broken in two, and the next morning one-half of it was found sticking in the mud on one side of the harbor, while the other half lay in a lumber yard upon the opposite shore. Again, the ship Rodney was struck by lightning in December, 1838. The top gallant and royal masts, fifty-three feet long-and weighing about eight hundred pounds, entirely disappeared from the vessel, with the exception of the end of the royal mast. ‘The sea was covered with chips and splinters, and the water along- © side looked as if it had received all the refuse of a carpenter’s shop. The main- mast was bound by twenty-six great iron hoops, and of these thirteen were burst asunder and thrown down upon the deck. Each hoop was half an inch thick and five inches wide. These instances serve not only to illustrate the power of the stroke, but also the special liability of ships to receive it. Their long, slender masts, rising amid an almost level wate, offer the best possible work for the celestial fires. Indeed, a ship has been known to receive seven distinct flashes of lightning in the course of a few minutes. But the mechanical injury which a ship receives is not always its greatest damage. The electricity is apt to derange the compass, and play strange freaks with the chronometer. In consequence of these disturbances many a ship has been lost long after the danger seemed quite over. ‘The packet ship New York, which was struck twice during a storm in the Gulf Stream in April, £827, although it came safely to port, had particularly severe experiences. The “waves ran very high, the vessel was surrounded by waterspouts, the rain was mingled with hailstones as large as filberts, and the lightning was flashing in all dire tions with simultaneous reports. The main discharge, which made the ship lurch so violently as to throw down people standing upon deck, fell on a pointed iron rod about four feet long, melting a few inches of its point. From this rod an iron chain one-fourth of an inch in diameter, a wholly inadequate conductor, - descended to the water. This chain was knocked in pieces, and some of its links made to burn like a taper; while drops of melted iron fell to the deck setting fire ‘to the woodwork wherever they touched. When the ship reached Liverpool it 32 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. was found that the compass had been completely demagnetized; while on the other hand the steel work of the chronometer had been affected in the opposite manner, and the instrument accelerated over half an hour. Powder magazines have also been made the particular favorites of lightning stroke. Many of them have been exploded by lightning, and thousands of lives lost. But no magazine protected by a suitable rod’ has ever been thus damaged. Such have been struck, but the shock has always been carried off harmlessly into the ground. The gyeatest disaster ever worked by lightning was doubtless that which happened at Brescia in 1769. The tower of St. Wazaire, having 207,600 pounds of gunpowder stowed beneath it, was struck and the powder fired. The tower rose bodily into the air, to return in a shower of stone; three thousand persons were killed, and about one-sixth of the city destroyed. Thirteen years later Fort Marlborough in Sumatra was struck, and four hundred barrels of pow- der exploded. When living beings booms the subjects of a flash of lightning the effects may vary quite considerably. In one case which happened about a year ago, a man’s boots were torn from his feet by lightning, while he himself was only stunned. In another instance a lady was lying in bed, and the flash entered her window and singed away her hair without doing much other mischief. Other freaks of light- ‘ ning were mentioned at the beginning of this article. When death results from such a stroke the body may present any one of a great number of appearances. It may be almost unmarked, or covered with burns. Livid welts sometimes appear upon it, as if the flesh had been bruised by a blow. Sometimes impres- sions, we might almost say photographs, of near objects are imprinted upon the skin. A man was killed by lightning at Zante in 1836, and marks of coins which he had carried in his pocket were found stamped upon his person. Yetthe coins themselves were at a considerable distance from the marks! Such a death is probably painless. ‘The electric shock moves so much more rapidly than the nervous impression that the victim dies before he has time to become conscious of injury. The lower animals seem to be in special danger from lightning. Instance after instance could be cited in which animals have been killed in close proximity to men while the latter remained unharmed. A ploughman was once, ploughing with four oxen. Being struck by lightning, both man and beasts were over- thrown. The man, however, was but slightly stunned, while two of the oxen were killed outright, and a third paralyzed. According to D’Abbadie, a single . flash of lightning in Ethiopia destroyed two thousand sheep. Even the fish are not exempt from the paralyzing influence. When lightning falls upon the water many of its inmates are killed. Fortunately the danger from lightning can be diminished by certain precau- tions. Some of these are quite generally known. For instance, one should always keep away from all large masses of metal, and from isolated trees. But — although isolated trees are such dangerous companions during a thunderstorm, a man is but little exposed to risk in a dense forest. Trees may be struck in the A TALK ABOUT LIGHTNING. 33 latter, but they are less likely to be than when standing alone in the midst of a level plain. Safety is also found in deep narrow valleys or ravines. Lightning rarely reaches to the bottom of such places, but is scattered against their sides. The wearing of silk is said to be a safeguard against lightning, and the case of the church at Chateauneny les Moutiers in the Lower Alps has been cited to confirm this view. The church was struck during divine service on the 11th of July, 1819. Nine persons were killed outright, and eighty-two wounded. Two of the three officiating priests were injured, while the third, who wore a silken robe, escaped. One more fact is worth noticing in this connection. Whenever any number of men or animals standing in line are struck by lightning, the individuals at the ends of the line always suffer the most severely, Many examples of this are on record, but one will suffice for us. Thirty-two horses standing in line in their stalls were once struck by lightning, and thirty of them were knocked down. But only two were killed, and they formed the extremities of the line. Although at first sight lightning seems to act so capriciously, leaping from point to point in the most irregular manner, and playing tricks more freakish than those of Puck, it yet moves in accordance with rigid, definite laws. Certain substances are better conductors of electricity than others, and even the same substance varies in its conducting power according to conditions. Differences of temperature, of internal structure, of form, and of surroundings, will cause two samples of copper or iron to conduct electricity very differently. And the light- ning in its course, fickle and irresponsible as it seems, invariably follows that path in which conduction is the best. In other words, it moves in the line of “east resistance, and never leaves that line under any provocation. A river would as soon leave its bed and flow along the tops of the hills. Upon this general princi- ple the construction of lightning-rods is based. A line of least resistance is artifi. cially furnished, through which the flash may pass harmlessly into the ground. Occasionally, however, buildings which were apparently protected by suitable conductors have been seriously damaged by lightning. Hence many intelligent persons have been led into a distrust of lightning-rods. Some have even asserted that the rods not only failed to protect buildings from the effects of a stroke, but actually attracted the danger. But the difficulty always has been that the offend- ing conductors were not properly arranged, or, in short, did not ccnstitute the desired line of least resistanee. Many precautions have to be observed in the erection of lightning-rods, and to these we shall recur presently. Let us first see, however, whether there is evidence to warrant faith in good rods, and whether there is any truth in the notion that they increase the danger which they claim to avert. Now a vast number of facts go to prove the efficacy of suitably arranged rods. The church at Antrasmes, for instance, was twice struck by lightning, the flash following both times in precisely the same track. Certain picture frames were ungilded, certain bars of metal destroyed, and the portraits of the saints black- ened. A lightning conductor was finally applied to the building and it has not Iv—3 34 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. been struck since. The chapel of Count Orsini in Carinthia, standing in an exposed situation, was so frequently struck and injured that divine service was no longer celebrated within its walls. But in the year 1778 a conductor was applied. Since then the edifice has been struck less frequently than before, and every stroke has been carried harmlessly away. A similar instance is furnished by the tower of St. Mark at Venice, 340 feet high. This tower was repeatedly and | seriously damaged by lightning until in 1766 a conductor was put on. Since that time no harm has been done. The tower has passed unscathed through every storm. Still another example is offered by the cathedral at Sienna, which was a favorite victim of the lightning. After a while, about the year 1777, a rod was attached to the building, causing much anxiety among the ignorant neighbors, who called it the ‘‘heretic rod.”” Soon, however, another stroke fell upon the cathedral and was rendered harmless by the dreaded conductor. The natives began to respectt the ‘‘heretic,”” and have since had no cause to alter this feeling. I will cite one miore instance, in which a flash of light-. ning, after working serious mischief, was caught up and tamed by a metallic ‘chain. The ship Hyacinth was struck in the Indian Ocean in 1833. ‘The top gallant and topmasts, forty feet long and weighing nearly eight hundred pounds, were knocked into bundles of laths which scarcely held together. At the base of these masts the electricity encountered an iron chain, fifty feet in length and made of half inch metal, which communicated with a copper pipe running through the vessel. By these conductors the flash was carried off safely. After reaching them the flash could do no more harm. The question whether buildings armed with lightning-rods are more likely than others to be struck, is partly answered by some of the foregoing examples. But, had I space, I might cite evidence of a more convincing character. The matter has been many times tested by houses standing closely together, one pro- tected by a rod, and the other without defense. Time and time again the unpro- tected edifice has been struck and damaged, while its neighbor, which should, according to the popular theory, have attracted the lightning, escaped altogether. The same thing has also been observed at sea. ‘Two ships, the one equipped with conductors and the other not, have been exposed to a storm scarcely half a cable’s length apart. And the flash has fallen, not upon the attracting conduc- tor, but upon the masts of the unarmed vessel. In fact, nothing is more certain than that lightning rods do not increase the danger from lightning. That a lightning conductor may be adequate to its purpose several things are needful. The rod must be made of proper material. It must be large enough to carry off any stroke which may fall upon it. It must be continuous through- out, it must terminate in a proper locality, and it must be in part at least pro- tected against rust. Negligence on one of these points might render the whole affair worthless. First, of what material should the rod be made? Of course, the better the conducting power of the material, the more efficient the rod. Now, but two A TALK ABOUT LIGHTNING. 35 metals are practically available, namely copper and iron, the first of these- con- ducting electricity about eight times as well as the other. Copper, then, is the best material. Next to copper ranks the so-called ‘‘ galvanized iron,” iron coated with zinc. The latter metal not only conducts better than iron, but protects the iron from rust. Common iron is the worst material of the three. The size of the rod is the next consideration. If copper alone is used, a half-inch bar will carry off any stroke which is ever likely to fall in our latitudes. Of galvanized iron a three-fourths inch rod should be used, but of common iron nothing less than an inch in diameter is a perfect protection. ; Now, how shall the rod be constructed? Here we come into collision with certain popular whims. It is common to see rods carefully separated from the buildings they are intended to protect by neat little insulators of glass. These are utterly useless. An electrical spark which could break through the thousand or more feet of air intervening between the earth and the clouds would pay but little respect to the inch or so of space occupied by the insulator. Besides, if the path of least resistance lies in the lightning-rod the flash will not leave it for any more difficult channel. Another popular whim concerns the shape of the rod, many people having an idea that a spiral form is the best. This is a matter of no im- portance, and need be considered no farther. Let us begin at the tip of our rod. This needs to be protected from rust, and also to some extent against fusion. The latter difficulty may be gotten over by forking the tips, so that a flash falling upon it shall be divided into several parts. The other object is to be attained in several ways. ‘The tip may be made either of platinum or aluminum, or it may be plated with nickel, or simply gilded. The last-named plan is the best and cheapest. The gilding costs but little, does not tarnish, and affords a surface of actually higher conducting power than either iron, aluminum, platinum, nickel, or zinc. Gold ranks next to copper in the scale of conductivity, silver standing at the head of the list. A silver tip, however, would be bad, for many reasons which need not be given here. As regards the body of the rod, this should be perfectly continu_ ous throughout. No breaks should occur in it. Wherever joints are necessary the continuity of the conductor should be preserved by soldering. The lower extremity of the rod must be arranged with great care, and ought to extend sey- eral feet beyond where it leaves the building. If possible, it should terminate in a spring, well, or sheet of water, by means of which the electric shock may be scattered and lost. But by no means ought it to dip into a closed cistern or cesspool. A discharge of lightning, prisoned in such a place between stone walls, will send them asunder in order to escape. Ordinarily it is well enough to divide the lower extremity of a rod into several branches, and allow them to run about four feet deep into moist earth. By making the rod terminate directly under the water- spout, the earth into which it plunges may be thoroughly drenched at every shower. Another good plan is to fill a pit with several bushels of charcoal, which, previously heated to redness, has been suddenly quenched. The forked termination of the conductor is then buried in this pit. But such precaution is needed only where there is but very little moisture in the soil. 36 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. Qne more thing is needed. If several rods are placed upon an edifice, they should be connected with one another by horizontal rods like themselves. And they should also be connected directly with all large masses of metal upon the exterior of the building, such as gutters, spouts, cornices, crestings, balconies, or metallic roofings. Thus the line of least resistance may be made to communicate with nearly all parts of a wooden house, and the protection rendered more sure and complete. Let me sum up these directions, fitting them for an ordinary dwelling house of moderate expense. I will not give a description of an absolutely perfect light- ning-rod, but simply of one which will serve all common purposes. Make it of three-quarter inch galvanized iron, and let the gilded tip project as much as two feet above the ridge-pole or chimney top. See that it connects with the proper metallic masses, render it continuous to the ground, and conduct its termination, divided into three branches, either into a body of water, or else let it plunge four feet below the surface beneath your water-spout. With two such rods any dwell- ing of common size may be considered proof against the lightning. Some trials were made lately on the Seine, at Paris, to determine the best way of breaking up river ice with dynamite. Bernard and Lay, assisted by two specialists, Flegy and Streits, of the Nobel Dynamite Company, directed the operations and recorded the results. The best effect was obtained by placing three cartridges of 406 grammes of dynamite beneath the ice, each connected with an electric machine on the bank of the river. When the cartridges were exploded it was found that the ice was shattered a distance of about eighty me- ters and through a width of from five to six meters. The pieces of the fractured ice were, moreover, found to be very small, and easily carried down stream past obstructions such as bridge piers. The amphioxus, a fish-shaped animal of a very low grade of development which affords Haeckel one of his firmest stepping-stones in the lively work on evolution, has been the subject of very interesting observations on the part of Henry J. Rice, at Fort Wool, on the Chesapeake. He had the good fortune to find two males, a ripe female and twenty young. The animal stands on de- batable ground between the vertebrates and invertebrates, and received its name from its shape. Amphioxus is the Greek of Mr. Yarrel for ‘‘sharp at both ends.” Descriptions of the habits, structure and deyelopment of this curious primitive animal are being issued in the American Naturalist by Mr. Rice. CHOICE AND CHANCE. 37 el ULOS Olea, CHOICE AND CHANCE. BY FRANCIS E. NIPHER, PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS IN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY.* In a lecture delivered in this city during last winter, and entitled ‘‘ Thoughts on our Conceptions of Physical Law,” some points were lightly touched which it seems desirable to develop more at length. For the sake of brevity, some of the statements which will be made have assumed a slightly dogmatic form. They are not so intended. Be kind enough to regard them as thoughts of the truth of which we are in some cases all more or less uncertain, which are submitted to the judgment of sober minds. It does not make a statement true if the whole world affirms it; the world has often blundered. This consideration suggests the frame of mind in which we should approach difficult subjects where men are likely to differ in opinion. He who comes to debate—to defend previously formed ideas —is at a disadvantage. It is difficult for such persons to place a proper value on the thoughts of others. In this manner the chances for error are increased. The method of the scientific man should be different. If he investigates phenomena, he seeks to use methods of experiment which eliminate from his results the per- sonal bias of his own mind. He must learn to have no preference for one fact over another. He must learn to have no anxiety about the result. He must learn to be stringently honest with himself—a most difficult thing. If he works induc- tively, he should try to find out what @// of the facts teach. If he has occasion to frame an hypothesis, and wishes to work deductively, then his work is, not zo demonstrate, but to zest the truth of his hypothesis. In the debating school, young men are taught to defend assumed positions. In the Academy of Science it should be our only object to search for truth. When we differ it is better to think, rather than to dispute. In the transaction of business we are constantly estimating chances, or prob- abilities. All our predictions for the future, even when based on the experience of centuries, are simply more or less probable—in no case certain. We cannot be absolutely certain that the sun will rise at its accustomed time to-morrow. It is wholly in accord with human experience and with the theory of probability, that very unexpected things will occasionally happen. If we were to learn the contents of an urn, containing a million balls, by drawing the balls one by one, replacing them each time, we might, in course of time, gain a general idea of the contents; thus if 100,000 draws gave each a * Delivered before the Kansas City Academy of Science, Feb. 18th, 1880. 38 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. white ball, we would properly decide that white balls are greatly in the majority, but we might continue for a century without drawing the single black ball that the urn might contain. So it is with all human experience in this world. If we could range at will through space and time, we might well be surprised, as Tolver Preston has sug- gested, by the greatly varying conditions which we might find in other and un- known parts. of the all-embracing universe ; just as a minute being, inhabiting for a brief moment a single atom of a gas, and who might imagine that he had be- come quite familiar with his little world, would find much to learn, could he ex- tend his observations over a longer time, or over a wider space. He would then find the greatest variety in the motions of neighboring molecules of the gas. Some moving with extreme slowness—others with extreme velocity—the same differences being observed in the velocities of their rotations. Moreover these velocities are being constantly changed, by collision of neighboring molecules— collisions which must often result in the separation of the molecules into their constituent atoms. It may well be, as Preston ingeniously suggests, that all this is repeated on an immensely grander scale. Perhaps our solar system is rushing through space, with a motion compared with which the relative motions of its various parts are _ utterly insignificant. Collisions, instead of happening to each atom many millions of times per second, as in the case of gases, are here separated by im- mensely long intervals, and it is a minute portion of one of these intervals which represents the life-time of our humanity upon one of the atoms of the uni- verse. Possibly we are not yet acquainted with the average conditions of the universe, our attention being confined, for a comparatively brief interval, to a few of the atoms which for the present are nearest to us. We are able to predict the probable history of our earth, in the comparatively near future, but we know almost nothing of what the remote future may bring. Here we have fairly entered the domain of chance, which is the domain of human - ignorance. It is essential to bear in mind that probability is a thing which belongs, not to the events which are probable, but to the mind, depending as stated upon our knowledge, or rather upon what we think we know. This is clearly shown by the fact that different persons may regard the same event with very different degrees of probability ; for example: A thinks he saw a ball dropped into a box, and thinks he knows that it is yet there. B is certain that it was a juggler’s trick, and that the boxis empty. CC did not see the act and . has no opinion in the matter. The conclusions which these men will form will depend upon their previous experiences, their opportunities for observation and their native ability. Their confidence in their conclusions is not necessarily de- pendent upon the real facts. Or, to take another case cited by Jevons: ‘*‘A steamer is missing, and certain workmen in a dock-yard, knowing that she is poorly built, believe she is lost. The public is informed that she is well built, 8 ° Ss 32 e@® 2g ono oS .9. oe. 8: So: “8 os 8 ° S-S8s431-°8 ° Ss Sn wn BG =F HF wa 2 A See So Ss 5 Bo ONe Ss 8! Screen ol Paseo RS AO ‘S$ 20 42 2% 26 28. JO 32 3¢Y 36 38 ¥e x) ~ ) 8 rs ~ ~~ n 3 wn = Ka) :] @ S 8 xt = ™~ & & 3 x 2 3 CHOICE AND CHANCE. 39 and is probably safe, although delayed. In the event itself there is no uncertainty. The vessel has either sunk or not. Nevertheless the probabilities will vary with different persons, and in the same person from day to day, as information is re- ceived in regard to storms at sea, signs of wreck picked up, the trustworthiness of her officers, etc.” Finally after all have united in believing the vessel lost, she sails into port. While the general opinion is still the same, a few on land know that she is safe. Those on the vessel have never been in doubt about it. In order to understand more clearly the application and importance of the Theory of Probability, let us take a single example : Let us suppose that we have an urn, containing a large number of equal balls, and for simplicity, let us suppose that half are white, the others black. Draw from the urn any number of balls at once, say six, (of course without choosing) and repeat this drawing a large number of times (say 1,000) replacing the balls and shaking them up each time. Set down each time the.number of white balls drawn. There are seven possible chances, viz: ; 6 white and o black. 5 66 ce I 66 4 6c a) 66 3 (a 66 3 66 6c 66 6c e 2 4 I 66 ce 5 6c fo} 6é 66 6G (3 We all know something in regard to the probability in each of these cases. We should meet least frequently with the two extreme cases—all white and all black—and in the long run we should meet with one as many times as with the other, since there is nothing in color or lack of color which could affect the chances in drawing. The following table gives the distribution of the number of draws out of 100 for each of the possible cases. The greater the number of draws, the more nearly these values would be obtained: Chances. No. of Times. White. Black. 2 6 5 66 ome 4 (a 2 2 I fe) fe) I 2 Gua 66 3 6c 36 3 4 66 24 Gs 5 3 6 C6 6 100 That is, we should draw 6 white balls twice out of each hundred draws, etc. These numbers can be quite accurately determined by 1,000 draws, if the urn contain several hundred balls * i *These numbers represent the successive terms of the expanded binomial (% plus %)6 where the sum of the terms is taken as 100, and where the exponent represents the number of balls drawn at once. 40 KANSA>s CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. In order to represent these chances to the eye, divide the horizontal line of Fig. 1 into six equal parts, laying off at right angles to it, and at the points of division, the vertical lines whose lengths are proportional to the number of draws for the various cases. The fact that the continuous curve passed through the extremities of these vertical lines, is symmetric on each side of the middle, means that white balls and black balls stand an equal chance of being drawn. If the black balls were less in number or were smaller, and had a tendency to sink to the bottom, then the curve would be unsymmetric, the probability being in favor of the white balls.* We come now to the application of what we have here learned. If any dimension—for instance the length of an iron rod—be measured with the greatest attainable accuracy, the successive measurements will, in general, all disagree. Taking a great many such measurements, all differing from each other, which shall we adopt as the true value? We may assume that all the observations are made with equal care; one can have no preference over another. ‘The fact that they all disagree, and that the tendency to disagree increases with the deli- cacy of the determination, is sufficient to show that no one observation can be adopted as the true value; and further, that it is impossible for us ever to deter- mine the true value. The best that we can do is to take the mean of all determi- nations. ‘To this mean we give greater or less weight, according as the separate determination more or less nearly approximates to the mean. In order to illustrate this point we may take the 470 determinations of the right ascension of the star Sirius, as made by the astronomer Bradley. In the following table d represents the difference between the observation and the mean of all observations (in tenths of a second); n represents the number of times the respective differences were found to occur. The positive and negative distances are thrown together without regard to sign : . es 5 Oo wn AM BPW DN on Lt DOW ta aie ee iy Tit Wal Oye a 4 Zz. €., Out of 470 observations, 94 showed differences of less than 1-10 second, 88 fell between 1-10 and 2-10, etc. As was to have been expected, the greater *Jn this case the terms of the binomial would be no longer equal. CHOICE AND CHANCE. 41 ‘‘errors” are met less frequently than the smaller ones. The results are repre- sented in Fig. 2 of the plate where the values (d) are laid off on the horizontal line and estimated from the point marked zero (0). The line o 2 represents a certain positive ‘¢error,” and the distance from 2 to the curve represents the number of times it is met in 100 observations. 0 2 in in the opposite direction represents an equal negative ‘‘error,” while the vertical line at the point 2 represents its frequency. It can here be observed how the frequency diminishes, as the magnitude of the error increases, until cells the curve intersects the base line, indicating that larger ‘‘ errors” do not occur.* The law expressing the divergence of these values from the mean is the same as that which expresses the probability in drawing balls from an urn containing an equal number of white and black balls. In the case supposed, the differences are due to imperfections in the instru- ments and in the observer, to unknown variations in temperature, etc. Let us consider another case, which will perhaps aid us in gaining a clear idea of the subject. Let us suppose that we have a rifle mounted like a swivel-gun, so that it can turn only in a horizontal plane. In the same plane let a thin, hard board be placed with its edge turned toward the gun __If we fire at a certain point in the edge of the board, a sufficient number of times, we should cut into the board a gap which would be bounded by a curve precisely like the one before given. In case of a good marksman, the gap would be narrow and deep. (Fig. 3.) With an equal number of shots a very bad marksman would cut out a wide and shallow curve, while if all kinds of people were allowed to try their skill, we should get the curve of average human marksmanship. The errors of the former case are here re- presented by deviations from the mark, small deviations being most common. It might be said that these deviations are caused by chance. ‘They are in fact the result of unknown but purely mechanical causes, such as gusts of wind, irregularities of the balls, fouling of the gun, or deviations caused by pulling the trigger. Chance is neither a thing nor a cause; it is simply a name to cover over ignorance of the real causes; it is a matter of experience, that a great number of simultaneously acting and constantly varying causes, affect the result in such a regular way that we can predict in a statistical way, the frequency of different errors or deviations. When these causes are unknown, we say that it is a matter of chance. A curve of this kind would at once exhibit the success of any person in shooting at a mark, and it seems probable that the success with which we accom- plish any other thing involving a great number of acts, would be represented by a similar curve. We have a large class of people in this world who aim to be as good as other people. Some of them resemble the good marksman. ‘Their deeds all lie very close to the mark. They are never very good and never very bad; but always ‘‘indifferent honest.” Others are like wild shooters. If we could grade their acts, we should find some decidedly bad, others far above the average of good_ +As the mean value is not the true value, it is not strictly correct to call these differences “ errors.” 42 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. ness, while a greater number would be ranked about average. The shallow curve of the bad marksman is suggested. The two cases are, however, not exactly alike, for a good shot is one which lies nearest to the mark, while the virtue of an act is judged by a higher standard than the supposed mark. Hence the marksman would always aim at the mark, while the man who wishes to be as good as other people, usually tries to make sure of having enough of good deeds by putting in a few extra good ones toward the last—that is, he changes his aim somewhat in order to polish up his curve into satisfactory shape. That this same law of probability applies to the distribution of mental ability in a mass of people is well known. Comparatively few people are brilliant and comparatively few are stupid (the opportunities being supposed equal). The great majority of people rank near the average. Among others, Professor Hinrichs has investigated this subject, by a comparison of class markings at the State Univer- sity of lowa. The results here given are from the markings of the Freshman class “in Physics. The results are obtained by combining independent markings for recita- tion, notes on lectures, and laboratory work, as determined by three differ- ent instructors. The greatest pains were taken to secure just markings, the valu- ations being repeated several times. ‘The best students were marked 100, and below 65 was counted a failure In the following table the numbers are grouped in fives, go per cent. including 88 to 92, inclusive, etc. The total number of students in the class was 287, and the results agree as closely with the theoretical values as would those obtained by making 287 draws from an urn containing black and white balls in equal number : Standing Piro] ise go 84) 78| 72| 66] 60/Total. Number of Students SG sie Se7 80 INS OMY <3 3\287 NOs penToo fj a | 4.5) 18.5 19.9 28.0 15.7 8.4) 4.2| 1.0|100 This shows that the chances that the standing of a student will fall in the group marked 84, is 80-287 or 28-100, or a little less than one-third. This is the grade of the average student, and here the greater number are ranked. For higher or lower markings, the number of students is less, the fewest numbers being at the extremes of excellence. It will be observed that in this case the numbers are not quite the same for grades equally removed from 80 per cent., the probability being somewhat in favor of the higher markings. This might possibly be differ ent if a greater number of cases were examined. Tt is also to be remembered that such students are a selected class of society, and if all of the young people of a state were to be thus examined, the grade would probably be somewhat lower, and the numbers would perhaps show a more symmetrical arrangement. We have previously discussed the mental divergence of men from the norma or average man. As might be expected, the same law holds in regard to physi- cal dimensions, as was first shown by Quetelet. CHOICE AND CHANCE. . 48 For any given nation at any given time, there is a certain typical or average man, whose dimensions could be obtained by taking the average dimensions of all the men of the nation. Mr. Galton has even shown us how to obtain his pho- tograph.* This is done by taking photographs of a large number of men, mak- ing the photographs of the proper size relatively, and taken in similar positions, although no great exactness is necessary. Each photograph is then exposed to the camera in such a way that all the faces are re-photographed successively on a common plate. The best method of doing this, is to pin the first photograph to a block which can be set up in front of the camera. Its position there is fixed by nails driven into the base board, so that the block may be removed andreplaced in exactly the same position. In order that the next picture may be exposed in the same way, an ivory or wooden scale, with a beveled edge, is placed with its edge tangent to the iris of the eyes, and with any division of the scale bisecting the nose. ‘The position of the ruler is then fixed by guide nails or pins, driven into the block. ‘This enables each photograph to be placed in the same position on the block, and the block to be always placed in the same position before the camera. Each portrait is then exposed for a few seconds to the same plate, so that when it is finally developed a generalized picture is obtained. It is not a portrait of any one person; it represents a type, in which those points which are common, are emphasized, and the purely individual peculiari- ties are almost wholly suppressed. The greater the number of component pic- tures the more truly will the resulting composite picture represent a type. We present here a composite picture from three criminals. It is from a wood cut in Mr. Galton’s paper. As Mr. Galton remarks, ‘‘the villainous irregularities of the originals have. disappeared, and the common humanity that underlies them has prevailed. This picture represents then, not so much the criminal, as the man who is liable to commit crime.” [Portraits of nine members of the univer- sity faculty were also shown, together with the results obtained, by combining them in various groups.| It is evident that this work of Mr. Galton is an im- mense step in the study of race characteristics, and as has been suggested by him, it will be of immense service to art in enabling artists to study various types of beauty. th : These portraits are shown here to aid you in forming a definite idea of what is meant by an average or typical man. If, however, we wish to get the azmensions of the average man, we must re- sort to physical measurements. In this way it was determined that the height of the American soldier is 68 inches; his chest measurement is 35 inches, etc. These determinations were derived from the measurements of 26,000 soldiers of the Union army. The greater number of the men approximate the mean height, © the number taller and shorter diminishing with great regularity to the dwarfs of 5 feet, and the giants of 6 feet 4 inches. *Nature, Vol. 13, p. 95. 44 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, The number of persons in each rooo, of the various intermediate heights, is given in the following table :* EGON | Ons o2 620 Gn") (O51 7200 sora aos N I I Py 20m Aung Goi uae 134 157 | COO I ee || S| 72 | TAO 2 te Soni 57/4 20) ln 5 2 The numbers here are the same as we should get in the various chances in drawing 30 balls from an urn, containing an equal number of white and black. The curve (See Fig, 4) representing the above observations, is the same as that which might be made by a marksman in shooting at a mark. If we were to determine the heights of all the men in a nation for each year of life, we should get a very interesting series of curves. ‘Take all male children of one year of age; they differ comparatively little in height, or in mental power. They all approximate closely to the average. If we were to calculate the divergence from the average for 1000 cases, we should get a curve resembling the curve of an ac- curate marksman. It would be deep and narrow. Examining children of greater ages, say 10 years, we should find that they have begun to diverge from each other. Circumstances have arrested the development of some, and have caused others to surpass the average. In 1000 cases we shall therefore have a less number of persons of average dimensions. The curve for this case would be like that formed by a poor marksman, the curve becoming more and more shallow, as we come to higher ages. If we could grade the various members of society according to their opinions upon any subject which agitates the whole of society, we should find some such distribution as the one just examined. We should find two extreme parties, (cor- responding to the dwarfs and giants of the previous case) comparatively few in numbers, but active, resolute, aggressive. Between, we have the great mass of respectable society, interested in other things, and giving little real thought to the matter; anxious to hold proper views, and therefore holding average views as the safest ; pulled upon by the opposing workers, and yielding slowly to the resultant force, and thus, by reason of its immense mass, securing comparative stability and order against the rough jostlings of the more active, but less ponderous extremes. According to the investigations of Horstman, Hinrichs and others, the velocity of chemical reactions in time, is represented by this law. It has been proved theoretically in some cases, and experiment has confirmed the conclusion. If we throw small fragments of zinc into sulphuric acid, we get an evolution of hydrogen gas. At first the velocity of evolution is very small; it increases, however, and finally reaches a maximum. ‘Thereafter the velocity diminishes *Quetelet—Anthopoimetrie, p. 252. CHOICE AND CHANCE. 45 until it finally ceases. Fig. 5 represents an actual experiment. The time in min- utes is laid off on the horizontal line, while the velocity of evolution of the gas at various moments is represented by the distances from the base line to the curve. Hinrichs has shown from the experiments of Guldberg and Wage, that the proba- bility curve represents this case very closely. Operations based upon heat con- form more closely to this law, as there all the particles have a more equal chance of being acted upon—an essential condition. In society there are manifold oper- ations which closely resemble this. Almost every year society is agitated by some idea, which at first interests very few people, but the interest gradually grows, and apparently with considerable regularity, reaching finally a culminating point, and then gradually dying out. The base-ball and blue-glass fever and the zig-zag puzzle may be mentioned as cases of this kind, and other cases will readily suggest themselves. Movements in society which are properly classed as reforms, usually make slow progress at first. The case is, however, advocated by a few tireless enthusiasts, like Wm. Lloyd Garrison, and after dragging along for years, the matter suddenly makes rapid progress, and is abruptly settled. In other movements of less momen, tlike the adoption of some fashion in dress, the matter makes great headway at first, rapidly receiving the assent and adoption of the great mass cf people, a few laggards bringing up the rear. These cases, which are symmetrically related to each other, would be repre- sented by the chances in drawing balls from afy urn containing unequal numbers of white and black balls. Another well-known case lies at the base of all life insurance. We can pre- dict with great confidence how many persons out of 1000 who are 10, 20, 30 or 40 years of age will live through the next year. ‘This case is so well known, that we will discuss a somewhat more interesting one, which has been investigated by Dr. Granville. I refer to the probability of marriage. Dr. Granville determined In some manner the age at which 876 English women were married. ‘The values thus determined are given in the following table, where the number marry- ing at the various ages from 13 to 4o is given: re A CS Ni ee ne a eee Age. | malay es uo ins | Pronaonl an sia iy 2a0(iion attain por a aa | rei) 43 45 | 76 | tts | 118.) 86 | 85 | 59 153 | 36 Age. | 26 | 27 | 28 | 24 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33.1 341 35 | 36 137 | 38 | 39 | 40 - ees ez itr) ol 7 shale 2lvel 2) ol tl o.. From such values, extended to a greater number of cases, we might easily ‘deduce the probability of marriage at various ages. In this table, those who do not marry at all, are not included. These facts are represented in Fig. 6 of the plate. This operation reminds us very strongly of the chemical re-action. The hydrogen is liberated, at first slowly, the velocity increasing for a time, and grad- ually diminishing to zero. If we consider the velocity of marriage, the same 46 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. general relation exists. Starting with tooo young ladies at 13 years of age, three of the young ladies marry during this year. ‘The velocity of marriage increases until during the 19th year the number is 131, the maximum velocity of 134 per year being reached at 20. Half of them are now married, and from this time these interesting creatures drop off much less rapidly. At the age of 30, only ro out of 1000 marry, while at the age of 4o, the chances for a fist marriage are practically gone. Those who have had previous experiences of this kind might perhaps manage to make some arrangement even then. It will be observed that the chances do not diminish symmetrically on oppo- site sides of the maximum. In the operation of drawing balls, this would be rep- resented by the case where the number of white balls was say greater than the number of black, making the probabilities less in drawing black. We are thus able to calculate how many times out of too draws we shall draw all white balls from an urn, but we cannot predict what will be the result of any particular draw. We can predict how many times in too measurements a person will make an error of a thousandth of an inch, but we cannot predict what the error will be in any particular case. We can predict how many shots a certain marksman will put into a circle two inches in diameter, but we cannot predict where any one shot will strike. In a class of sufficient dimensions we may be able to predict how many will have mental ability enough to reach a mark of go per cent., but we cannot discuss the infinite number of subtile influences that have been acting on any one person, giving to each its proper weight; we cannot repeat the same thing for his ancestors, tracing back from him through the centu- ries the numberless divergent threads of inherited tendencies, and thus give a complete reason for the ability and inclination to learn, which any given student manifests. We cannot tell why any person varies an inch in height from the average of his kind; nor can we give a complete reason for similar divergencies in moral stature. Quetelet has shown that we can predict how many men will commit murder or suicide in Paris during a year, but we cannot discuss the matter in such a way as to enable us to predict who the unfortunates will be, at what moment they will decide to commit the fatal act, and exactly what they severally lacked, mentally or physically, the possession of which would have changed their decision. But we can imagine a being, who shall be mentally able to do all this; to give a complete solution of any problem that the human mind can propose. The causes for the breaking down of a railroad bridge can be given by a competent engineer, and he may be able to detect the weak points in the theory of its con- struction: he may be able to guard in part against flaws in the material. In the same way, and in a much more perfect manner, an infinite mind could discuss the breaking down of a human resolution, under the strain of temptation, and could | give a precise reason for the physical, mental, or moral divergence of any given man, from the average man. CHOICE AND CHANCE. 47 The equations involved in this discussion must be sufficiently comprehensive to include the surroundings of each man, as well as the man himself. The decis ion a man will reach, by reason of all influences brought to bear on him, depends upon the man, and upon the zntensity of the influence, just as the inter- action between two planets depends upon doth of the acting bodies. That is to say, in the equations there will appear certain constants the values of which will differ with different men, just as in building a bridge, the values of certain con- stants in the formule depend upon the kind of material used. In the former case the value of these constants will be determined by the previous experiences of the man upon his inherited ability, tendencies, etc. We recognize all this in the popular saying, that different men under the same influences act differently, just as different beams of wood under a given tension, would act differently. Some would safely carry a load under which others would break down at once. The values of these constants may change for the same man, as when experience in any emergency causes him to resolve to do aifferently next time. Our equations must then enable an infinite mind to trace out, in such a man- ner that they could be predicted, all such events in the life history of a man as these: On a certain day and hour he will decide to take a pleasure walk, influ- enced by motives which we need not consider. Passing near the river bank, he sees a fellow-man struggling in the water. At once various mental forces are brought into action. He has, during his whole life, found pleasure in deeds of benevolence. For this trait in his character there is an adequate cause, but we need not consider it. His first impulse is to rush in and save the drowning man. The fact that he is an expert swimmer tends to influence him in the same direction. But he also knows that his lungs are in feeble condition, and, more- over, he is overheated by vigorous walking, he is far from help, and the water and. air are cold. The drowning man is strong, and thoroughly frightened. The events press for an immediate decision, and this may also have its influence in determining what the final decision will be. Some of us think-that a higher power may also influence him in some way. All these influences, brought to bear on this man’s mind, resemble a system of parallel and opposing forces acting upon a particle of matter, only, the relative sagnitude of these forces will be different, for different men. As in the one case there will be a certain resultant, in the direction of which the mass will move, so in the other case, there will be a resultant—a decis- ion, which will bring about a corresponding line of action. For a time, his judg- ment may hold him in equilibrium, as previous experience causes him to act with prudence. The discovery that the drowning man is his son, would probably determine his decision at once, and the discovery of a rope upon the bank, would attach upon his mind another intensely acting force. _ During his moments of sus- ‘pense, the intensity of these forces would be constantly varying, as one after another consideration presents itself for the moment prominently in his mind. ‘The infinite mind, fully learned in mathematics and mental philosophy, could predict at what moment the man would decide to rush in, and by continuing the Ag KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. calculation, might find that as a result, his respiration and circulation would be affected in a certain way, a large secretion would form in his lungs, and that at a certain moment, in a fit of coughing, it is calculated that a certain point in one of the large blood vessels would be strained a few grains more than it would be able to endure, resulting in its rupture. In the region over which we have now been traveling, all questions of prob- ability have vanished. Everything has become certain. In a world full of such minds, many kinds of business——as life insurance—could not be carried on, as the individual risks would be perfectly known. Our reasoning is all biased on the assumption, that all events, whether in the world of matter or of mind, are preceded by events which may be taken as direct and adequate causes. Even when a man willfully decides to do an unwise and an unreasonable thing, there is a cause for it, and the existence of the effect is of itself sufficient evidence of the sufficiency of the cause. ‘That is, there must be some reason why a man decides against reason. A rule which seems to be quite general is, that in any given case (so far as reasonable motives enter into consideration) we decide to do that which we then think will give us on the whole most pleasure or least pain, often deciding, however, to give up a greater pleas- ure, to be enjoyed only in the future, for a lesser one, to be enjoyed immediately, precisely as we sometimes allow a note to be discounted, in order that we may realize upon it at once. The actions may in many cases be unaccompanied with any elaborate reasoning, and may be without special reference to consequences, as when in consequence of previous reasoning of himself, or his ancestors, a man may form the /aézt of doing certain things. In such cases the action seems to be largely automatic. A man’s ideas of pleasure may be very low and vulgar, he may possess very poor judgment, and foolishly discount his happiness for too high a per cent., and the question arises then, why is he so? We cannot answer, ex- cept in general terms. He has inherited certain peculiarities, certain tendencies. He may have been placed in surroundings not favorable to mental and moral growth, and one of these inherited peculiarities may be the lack of a deszre to cul_ tivate his finer feelings, just as others may evince a lack of desire to cultivate | mathematics, or music, or chemistry. Even when placed under the most favorable auspices, the mathematician, the musician, the chemist or the moralist, _ fail to arouse in him the least sign of appreciation. The lack of appreciation 1s | fatal to success in mathematics; why should it not be equally fatal in morals? | Precisely what it is that such men lack, whether it be merely a matter of nerve | tissue, or whether something infinitely deeper is involved, is a problem, the com- | plete solution of which is merely a matter of ability. | The fact that our most earnest thinkers on such subjects come to such widely | different conclusions, makes it probable that we are all incapable of dealing with the subject in any exact manner. Whatever we may think of ourselves, and our | reasonings, we are probably all one-sided, and take altogether narrow and incom- | plete views of the subject. CHOICE AND CHANCE. 49 The difficulty of reaching precise results is increased by the impossibility of «ur making precise measurements of the influences about which we are talking. A person of rather limited information, who might happen to observe that his butcher is sending him less and less beef for a quarter of a dollar, and who might incidentally learn that the earth’s mass is being constantly increased by the fall of meteoric matter upon its surface, might possibly argue that this apparent rise in beef is due to the fact that it requires less beef to pull the index of the spring-balance down to the one pound mark. The reasoning is perfectly correct, but when we come to measure the zw/ensity of the influence it is found entirely in- significant. Such a person would need to learn that there are many other potent influences that affect the price of beef. So in the difficult subjects which we have been discussing. There may be secret springs in the human mechanism of which we are all wholly ignorant, and we may attach undue importance to many influcnces. However this may be, it seems to me possible to imagine beings of a higher order of intelligence, having perfect knowledge of men physically, mentally, morally and spiritually, and capable of predicting all our future surroundings, and all our future decisions. Of course this has nothing whatever to do with the zature of mental or spiritual operations. We may agree that they are as unlike ‘‘ merely mechanical” operations as we please. The infinite Being, particularly if He be assumed to be a Creator, can trace out the future of a man with much gieater precision than a ‘‘mere”’ manufacturer can trace out the future of a watch. Al- though the latter may be able to predict approximately what his watch will do, 7 properly treated, he cannot know how it will be treated. With infinitely greater precision an infinite mind could trace out the totally different class of phenomena, known as spiritual and mental operations. He would know that at a certain mo- ment some one of us will be surrounded with peculiar dangers and temptation ; he would know whether the man. will be able to deliver himself without external aid, (from either a human or a superhuman source) and he would know whether or not this aid will be given, and the precise effect which it will produce. If there are beings who mow the future orbits of men, as astromomers know approx- imately the future orbits of planets, the question at once arises, in what sense are men free to decide, as distinguished from the freedom of a planet to move? If amy being knows absolutely that an event will happen, seeing clearly ai of the acting causes, is there a single possibility that it may not happen? Would notits failure to happen be taken as proof positive that there was no such knowledge as was assumed ? It is of course possible for me to decide to do a thing, avd to decide not to do it, but it is not possbile to do these things simultaneously. They must come “successively, and each decision would be determined by the mental forces before ‘discussed. Each decision could be predicted. One of these forces might arise rom a desire to avoid the conclusions which here seem to force themselves upon us, and lead to an attempt to exert the mind in a purely arbitrary manner. it Iv—4 50 _ KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. This view of the matter is from the standpoint of perfect knowledge. From our standpoint we can only observe that men differ from each other in height, in weight, in mental or physical strength, in moral worth, and that they appear to group themselves in a definite way about the average man. If we now attempt to grade men according to the wisdom which they exhibit in their choices, we should find comparatively few people exhibiting the highest forms of wisdom; the representatives of extreme foolishness would probably be more numerous. Between these extremes we should have all possible grades, in which the mass of society would be represented. It is hardly probable that the resulting curve would be symmetric. The greater chances would probably be in favor of foolishness, corresponding in the drawing of balls from an urn, to the case where the number of white balls is greater or less than the number of black. That is, from the human standpoint, the wisdom of human choice, in the aggre- gate, appears to be a matter of chance, in the same sense in which it is a matter of chance where shots will strike a target. From the higher standpoint of perfect knowledge no element of chance can enter. Each choice, whether wise or foolish, whether the reasoning which has led to it be logical or not, is determined by perfectly definite causes, admitting of precise mathematical discussion. In what way can we then justify the enforcement of law? The stability of society is here involved. Society has the right to protect itself against attack, and the greatest good to the greatest number demands that this right be exercised. Some of us act as missionaries in elevating the aims and tastes of less fortu- nate men, in placing before them motives for a better life, decawse, all things con- sidered, we prefer to do so. Many of us admire fine paintings, grand music, and generous, self-sacrificing deeds. This will ensure their perpetuation. Those who, as a result of pre-existing causes, find themselves in the possess- ion of a high appreciation of all that is pure and noble, will strive, more or less wisely, to surround others with influences which will draw (or push) them towards a higher life. A being sufficiently wise and powerful might at once solve our problem by at once removing all tendency to evil. Society must, however, settle the matter by a slower process—the process of education of head and heart—a process necessarily slow, and accomplished with infinite pain. | Even in so small a matter as the preparation of our food we have reached | our present knowledge by painful degrees. Our rules for cooking, yet imperfect, | have been reached through centuries of experiment, and at the expense of a count- | less number of sour stomachs and aching heads. So it has ever been in morals. | Here we are all doubtless blundering experimenters, but we are gradually learning | that some things are better than others, and the tendency is, slowly but irresisti- | bly, toward a morality which is not only practiced butappreciated. In the mean- time criminal law is the rude and only partially effective means for repressing those evil spirits, upon whom better influences have not chanced to act sufficiently. CHOICE AND CHANCE. dl If we add sulphuric acid to zinc the hydrogen does not all pass off at once; the process which follows requires “me for its completion. So it is with the good leaven in society. The individualsare not all changed at once; those who chance to be most favorably situated are first changed. The whole process requires time, and in the meantime, urged on by our necessities, we have taken the responsibility of hanging some individuals, just as we kill obnoxious wolves and bears. So that for the present, notwithstanding all our efforts to better the condition of the poor, a large number of them will never have the opportunity to learn the instincts of gentlemen, and their senses will remain so blunted that they will not be able to realize, as we can realize, the utter wretchedness of their situation—a situation into which they are born, and from which, experience shows, the greater part of them cannot escape, even when they chance to possess the desire to escape. The misery of their condition is made yet deeper by the successful struggles of stronger and better men after ¢hezr ideals of happiness. It is difficult to see how an all-wise and an all-powerful Creator could have been the author of so much misery. But the other hypothesis that there has .been no creation, that the universe is but the sporting-ground of irresponsible force, and that finite intelligence has been self-evolved from inanimate matter, seems equally incredible. In whatever way we view the matter this difficulty seems to me logically insurmountable, and I do not wonder that in the great poem of Milton, he describes the fallen spirits as deeply engaged in a hopeless contro- versy upon “« Fixed fate, free-will foreknowledge absolute, And found no end, in wandering mazes lost.”’ . —Book II. (560-561.) Happily for the business of life the irrepressible love and admiration of humanity for the pure and good saves rational men from practical error, or from rebelling against the eternal law, in which science and faith agree that although time and chance happen to all, yet that whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap; and in this fact that we believe that we shall be held responsible, the feeling of responsibility appears to find, at once, its explanation and its justification. An insect which produces a species of India rubber has been recently dis- covered in the district of Yucatan, Central America, by an American explorer. It is called meen, and belongs to the Coccus family; feeds on the mango tree, and swarms in these regions. It is of considerable size, yellowish brown in color, and emits a peculiar oily odor. The body of the insect contains a large proportion of grease which is highly prized by the natives for applying to the _ skin, on account of its medicinal properties. When exposed to a great heat the lighter oils of the grease volatilize, leaving a tough wax, which resembles shellac, and may be used for making varnish or lacquer. When burned, this wax, it is said, produces a thick semi-fluid mass, like a solution of India rubber. 52 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. IMB TE ORONO Ne THE TORNADOES OF APRIL 18, 1880. BY PROF. J. D. PARKER, KANSAS CITY. Again the state of Missouri has been visited by a devastating tornado, which occurred April 18th, and again the phenomena and calamities of St. Charles in 1877 and Richmond in 1878 have been repeated. We observe sudden high tem- perature and low barometer, intense electrical activity and displays of enormous atmospheric force, with heavy loss of life and destruction of property. The aérial disturbance seems to have been very general over the western portion of the continent, from the Ohio valley to the Pacific coast and from the Lakes to the Gulf, but,:so far as can be now ascertained, the most direct and well-marked line of destructive force extended from the Indian Territory, near the Arkansas River, northeastwardly, by way of Fort Smith and Fayetteville, Arkansas, Springfield, Marshfield, Russellville, Jefferson City, New Bloomfield, and Fulton, Mo., toward and to Jacksonville, Ils. Whether the other disturbances were from independent causes, or were offshoots of the same storm, is uncertain. Besides the destruction of property and Joss of hundreds of lives on this line at Marshfield, which is the county seat of Webster county, 215 miles southwest of St. Louis, on a plateau of the Ozark Mountains, though not particularly exposed by its elevation, great damage was done at Fayetteville, Arkansas, (though by an error, probably, the tornado is reported to have struck Marshfield and other points north and east of it several hours before it reached Fayetteville); also at Oak Bower, Ark., near the line between Arkansas and the Indian Territory, New Bloomfield, etc., all of which has been fully detailed by the daily papers. On the same day, but in the morning, a fierce storm was raging in Kansas, the velocity of the wind at Lawrence reaching 80 miles an hour, the greatest ever recorded there. At Leavenworth the U. S. signal officer recorded 60 miles an hour, while at all neighboring points the fury of the storm was almost unprece- dented. The barometer at the U. S. signal station at Leavenworth marked the greatest depression ever noted there, viz.: 29.04, corrected to sea level. The amount of sheet or ‘‘heat” lightning was so great in the western sky that many of the people of Leavenworth thought that Lawrence was on fire. At this city the storm of Sunday morning was light compared with that of the evening, though throughout the whole day there was an alternation of wind, hail and rain storms, culminating in a gale at mght which did some damage to roofs and fences. The maximum temperature was 82° and the minimum depression of the barometer 29.20. | THE TORNADOES OF APRIL 18, 188o. 53 It is almost impossible to indicate the paths of these storms from the data at hand, but the Signal service charts and reports, when fully made up, will doubtless give to the meteorologists some very remarkable information and suggestions. The early appearance of tornadoes this year in this latitude seems to be exceptional. The equatorial wave of high temperature appears to have drawn them forward nearly a month. Tornadoes will occur whenever the conditions are supplied, and will of course appear earlier with premature heat. I wish simply to call attention to the fact that the Marshfield tornado con- forms as far as known to the physical laws as explained by the thermal theory.. Prof. Tice, who holds to another theory, in his report of the tornado, says: ‘< Everywhere along the track of the tornado there is evidence of a wave of water flowing in the rear of the cloud spots. At some places there are only faint traces of such a wave; at others the debris is carried up and over obstructions of from two to three feet high. These waves or currents flowed in greatest volume up hill. There are places where the entire top soil is washed away by the cur- rents. Fibrous roots and tufts of grass show their direction to have been up hill, and what is significant, from all points of the compass to the top of the hill where the tornado was raging at the time and expending its force. No trace can be found at any point where they flowed down hill. Many level places are swept clean of soil. Leaves, grass and debris of the wrecked buildings, fragments of plants carried along by the current and left in its track had arranged themselves longitudinally to the current.” This reported wave is evidently only the great condensation of vapor rushing from all directions into the core of the tornado. Colonel R. T. Van Horn, in discussing the fact that tornadoes follow the isothermals, says: ‘«The cause is the meeting of two waves of air at different temperatures, and -where should that meeting be more marked or the effects produced of as great intensity, as on the line that marks the mean between the two conditions? If there is a general law that governs in their origin and formation, there must be one that controls in their movements. And we have traced enough of them on the isothermal maps to be satisfied of the fact that their movement does corre- spond to these lines of mean temperature.” If tornadoes follow the lines of mean temperature must there not be some vital relation between them and heat? This is what is claimed by the thermal theory. Electricity seems inadequate as the cause of the tornado or for the produc- tion of the fundamental movements. Why does electricity revolve the tornado north of the equator in the direction contrary to the hands of a watch, and south of the equator in an opposite direction? Why does electricity cause tornadoes to move along the lines of the isothermals northeasterly? Why do not some of them, even if only for variety, move in an opposite direction? ‘True, light substances under a charged receiver will be attracted toward it to restore the equilibrium. But will electricity, as in a tornado in Georgia, carry up a tree, 54 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. sixty feet in length and two and a half feet in diameter, half a mile high, and then fling it out of the tornado to come crashing to the earth? Why did the tree ascend in a sfzral path? And in the Camanche tornado of 1860, why did a man, and two horses in a reversed position, sail around on the opposite sides of a cir- cle? Can electricity under its known laws produce such results? Possibly some one may yet discover a spiral kind of electricity, and show that zigzag lightning is only the transverse section of spiral electricity blazoned on the sky.. Forests present the most efficient safeguards against tornadoes. As long as cyclones can sweep unobstructed over our prairies we shall see the sudden destruction of villages and cities and the terrible loss of life and property. But forest countries present such obstacles to the translation of tornadoes on the sur- face that when one touches the earth it is soon driven into the upper air where it passes off comparatively harmless. Tornadoes are one of Nature’s voices telling us in unmistakable tones to plant forests. Indeed abundant forests would free us from destructive winds, drouth and locusts, our three most serious physical evils. With abundant forests, inhabited by an enlightened people observing the moral law, our prairie world would become almost a paradise. SCISNMEIEe MisCHZ hl Anne A NATURALIST’S RAMBLES ABOUT KANSAS CITY. NO. I. WM. H. R. LYKINS. For the lover of Nature in all her forms there are few better localities for a ramble than the hills around our city. The botanist, the entomologist and the geologist can here find much to interest them, and add many good and not a few rare specimens to their several collections. And for the fortunate possessor of a good microscope there is a never-ending fund of instruction and amusement in the thousand forms of fresh water infusoria inhabiting the many mossy springs oozing out on the hillsides. The Diatomaciz are especially abundant, encrusting the rocks with their peculiar brown hue in places where the water streams over the cliffs. As we stand upon the top of the bluff fronting westward and look down at our feet we find the rocks strewn with fossil shells; and we can easily imagine the time when this was a wave washed shore and the vast expanse spread out before us was a region of shallow seas dotted with reefs and islets; once the homes of myriads of Mollusca, from the tiny Cyéhere, no bigger than a pin’s head, to the great coiled and chambered shell of the Vautilus, thirty inches in diameter, whose fossilized remains go to make up these rocks. In these waters also roamed a great shark, the Petalodus destructor, doubtless the terror of these A NATURALIST’S RAMBLES ABOUT KANSAS CITY. 59 seas, whose sharp triangular teeth we occasionally find here, being all that is left of their cartilaginous bodies. Descending the hill, we come to the base of a cliff thirty feet in height. The rock is solid and close-grained, barren of fossils except here and there a crinoid stem or stray shell of an Ayris, showing that it was formed in a still, quiet sea too deep for animal life, and we pause to think how many thousands of years it took to form this one bed, if it is true, as geologists suppose, that these rocks were formed by the slow deposition of sediment washed from the ancient shores, settling down at the rate of a few inches ina century. Yet this one bed is no more in the carboniferous formation alone than a single leaf in Webster’s Great Unabridged, compared with the whole volume. This cliff rests upon another bed of limestone formed under different conditions. It is an impure shaly limestone, bedded in irregular wave-like layers,. showing that it was deposited in a shallow, muddy sea under the influence of a strong current. It has but few fossils except in the upper part, where there are many of the lace-like skeletons of a species of coral (Fenestella). And so each stratum’ of rock or shale tells its own history to. the experienced eye of the geologist as he passes along. Next below this is a bed of shale about fifteen feet in thickness. It is entirely destitute of fossils except a thin seam about two inches in thickness near the cen- ter, which is one mass of the stems and plates of crinoids (stone lilies) and other fossils peculiar to the carboniferous. Here, under favorable conditions, an anima} life suddenly sprang into existence, grew and flourished for a while, and as sudden. ly perished. This place has yielded many beautiful fossils to the collector, crznoids, Edmondia, Euomphalos, Hemipronites, Bellerophon percarinata, &c., all in a fine state of preservation. Here was found an almost perfect specimen of the head of Zeacrinus Mucrospinus, a crinoid, and the only perfect one ever found anywhere, so far as we know. In a little pool of water at the bottom of this bed of shale we found our first Rotifer Vulgaris, or wheel animalcule, after having long sought for it in vain in other localities. Marvelous tales have been told of the tenacity of life in this little animal, especially by the Abbe Fontana, who wrote a celebrated work on the Poison of the Viper. It was claimed that it could be boiled, baked and dried for an indefinite time, and then resuscitated with a drop of water. The savants fought long and bitterly with their accustomed acrimony and tenacity over this question, and finally left off where they began, neither side being con- vinced. All that we ever found perished on the slide as suddenly as any of their species, when deprived of moisture. They are, however, a most beautiful and wonderful object under the microscope at all times, and well worth the trouble it sometimes takes to find them. Their brilliant and crystalline structure allows the inspection of their inner formation, and they will kindly feed on indigo, vermilion _ or any other coloring matter and make curious and interesting spectacles of them- selves. Often they can be found in almost any puddle of water, and again we _ may hunt a whole season for them and not find one—at least such has been our _ experience. 56 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. A little farther’down we come upon a clump of Asclepia tuberosa, their scarlet blossoms blazing like torches set upon the hill-side. The root of this plant is much sought after by old-fashioned country doctors, who consider it a ‘‘ powerful rem- edy”’ for coughs, colds and diseases of the lungs. It has many common names, such as Canada root, white root, pleurisy root, &c. It is naturally an inhabitant of the prairies, but is often found growing in the woods, the only difference being in the stalks, which here rise more tall and slender owing to the more confined space in which they grow. The root is essentially the same. Many plants which grow almost exclusively on the prairies are found in the open places on the west side of these hills, such as the prairie sunflower and compass plant. ‘The seeds, no doubt, having been brought by the prevailing west winds, lodge here and flourish, con- tented exiles from their native homes. There is often an interesting mixture of wild and cultivated plants, the latter being probably from stray seed from the old gardens of the early French settlers. At the foot of a little ledge of rocks we find a pile of the dismembered limbs . of the red-leggéd grasshopper (that bandit from Colorado, famous for its ravages in Kansas), which looks curiously like the remains of a miniature cannibal feast. We have not far to go to find the Ogre; he is at home in his cave, or crevice in the rock, a great bloated, black spider, so gorged with the juices of his victims that he can scarcely move, and we easily transfer him to a bottle and send him on a long journey to a scientific gentleman in Massachusetts. These warm, sunny slopes are favorite places for spiders, and collectors of the arachnidae can find many different species. There is also found here a most gorgeous beetle, whose name we do not know. It is about half an inch in length, of a slender shape, beautifully striped in green and gold, with purple legs. It is not plentiful, but can occasionally be found in bare sandy places, running about in the warm sun- shine. One of the most interesting stratum of rocks in our hills is the Odlite, a granular limestone formed of small round grains, having the appearance of petri- fied fish roe, and takes its name from QOon, a Greek word for egg. It is a fine building stone, easily dressed, and was much used in early times in our city. In places it yields beautiful fossils, especially a large Pleurotomaria, a coiled conica} shell. Its striated surface, of a rich chestnut brown, having the appearance of being newly varnished, will vie in beauty with many a recent shell fresh from the sea-shore, and make a collector’s eyes turn green with envy. The fish remains found in our rocks are principally teeth, of many species, in excellent condition. The bed, however, which has afforded the greatest variety of fossils to our col- lectors is found at the extreme foot of the hills. Its upper part is a layer of shale, passing into a black, flinty stone, which rests upon a fine-grained, dark gray lime- stone. In many places this layer of shale is one mass of fern-leaves, of several species, but principally a species of Pecopierts. In other places the jointed stems of an aquatic plant of the rush family, takes the place of the ferns. A curious and interesting object is the fossil shells of several species of animals, which lived on INFLUENCE OF ELECTRIC LIGHT UPON VEGETATION. 57 these water plants, still adhering to the stems. This bed from top to bottom is the richest field for the collector, and has furnished our cabinets with many splen- did specimens of Vautilus, Orthoceras, Gontatiles, Euomphatos, Allorisma, Pinna, Phillipsia —in fact, nearly everything that is usually found in the Upper Carbonif- erous of Missouri. It is particularly rich in Nautili, and some of the cabinets in our city contain magnificent specimens of a half a dozen different varieties, some not described or figured by any of our Paleontologists. In the different collections made in this city are to be found many fossils from our hills not named or de- scribed in any of the State Reports or books on this subject, and we believe it would well repay some good Paleontologist, like the late Prof. Meek, to visit this city and examine the fossils of this locality. We have arrived at the foot of the hill, but have glanced at ouly a few of the many objects of interest to be found as we strayed alonz. But, alas, these pleas- ant ‘‘rambles” are fast disappearing under the ‘‘ building hand of man.” Soon stately piles of brick and marble and busy streets will cover the places where we once held pleasant converse with nature, studied the pages of her book and pried into her secrets, and those who have a love for such things should improve the present opportunity to enjoy that most healthful and instructive of recreations—a ramble on the hills. (Zo be Continued.) ‘THE CURIOUS INFLUENCE OF ELECTRIC LIGHT UPON VEGETATION. At the meeting of the Royal Society last evening (March 4th) Dr. C. W. Sie- mens, F. R. S., gave a detailed description of some experiments upon the above subject which have been conducted during the last two months at his house at Sherwood, and exhibited specimens. ‘The method pursued was to plant quick- growing seeds and plants, such as mustard, carrots, swedes, beans, cucumbers, and melons, in pots, and these pots were divided into four groups, one of which _was kept entirely in the dark, one was exposed to the electric light only, one to the influence of daylight only, and one to daylight and electric light in succession. The electric light was applied for six hours each evening—from 5 to 11—and the plants were then left in darkness during the remainder of the night. The general result was that the plants kept entirely in the dark soon died; those exposed to electric light only or to daylight only throve about equally; and those exposed to both day and electric light throve far better than either, the specimens of mustard and of carrots exhibited to the society showing this difference in a very remarka- ble way. x t ii ° Dr. Siemens only considers himself as yet on the threshold of the investiga- tion, but thinks the experiments already made are sufficient to justify the following conclusions: 1. That electric light is efficacious in producing chlorophyl in the 58 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. leaves of plants and in promoting growth. 2. That an electric center of light equal to 1,400 candles placed at a distance of two meters from growing plants appeared to be equal in effect to average daylight at this season of the year; but that more economical effects can be obtained by more powerful light centers. 3. That the carbonic acid and nitrogenous compounds generated in diminutive quan- tities in the electric arc produce no sensible deleterious effects upon plants inclosed in the same space. 4. That plants do not appear to require a period of rest dur- ing the twenty-four hours of the day, but make increased and vigorous progress if subjected during daytime to sunlight and during the night to electric light. 5. That the radiation of heat from powerful electric’arcs can be made available to counteract the effect of night frost, and is likely to promote the setting and ripen- ing of fruit in the open air. 6. That while under the influence of electric light plants can sustain increased stove heat without collapsing. a circumstance favora- ble to forcing by electric light. 7. That the expense of electric horticulture depends mainly upon the cost of mechanical energy, and is very moderate where natural sources of such energy, such as waterfalls, can be made available. Before concluding his observations, Dr. Siemens placed a pot of budding tulips in the full brightness of an electric lamp in the meeting-room, and in about forty minutes the buds had expanded into full bloom. THE SECOND HOWGATE EXPEDITION. Captain Howgate’s bill having passed the House, active preparations are being made for the start of the expedition, which is fixed for the 15th of May. The Gulnare, a steamer of about 200 tons, is lying at Alexandria, Va., being strength- ened and thoroughly refitted for the voyage under the experienced direction of Captain Chester. It is expected that the vessel will be ready in a fortnight. She will start from Washington, fully manned and equipped, with two years’ supplies. The members of the expedition number about twenty-five, including a corps of scientific observers. Touching at various points on the coasts of Labrador and Greenland, the expedition will proceed to the west coast of Smith’s Sound at lati- tude 81 degrees and 40 minutes, where the first permanent depot will be made. Landing the men and supplies, the vessel will return in the fall. The general features of Captain Howgate’s plan of operations are too well known to require explanation. He proposes to reach the Pole, if possible, by a system of slow but continuous advances, made during several successive seasons, pushing his camps farther and farther northward as rapidly as may be found practicable, establishing a secure basis of supplies and replacing men, who may become disabled or dis- heartened, with fresh recruits each year. Though this necessarily involves a large outlay of means and may perhaps cost some sacrifice of life, it will prove in the event of success the least expensive and most humane method of accomplishing the result. To lay siege to the desired goal in this systematic and persistent man- WATER-SPOUTS OF F KAUAT, 59 ner is to put a stop to the desultory and ineffectual attempts thus far made by the several nations which have so earnestly striven to carry off the prize. The Captain finds no difficulty in securing men to undertake the enterprise; his funds are ample, and he is sanguine of the success which he certainly deserves after so many years of constant effort. The Hon. J. R. McPherson, chairman of the Senate Committee on Naval affairs and Hon. W. C. Whitthorne, chairman of the House Committee on Naval affairs are entitled to the thanks of all friends of science and exploration through- out the world for their persistent and successful advocacy of this measure.—[ Ep. WATER-SPOUTS OFF KAUAI. On Monday, the oth of March, there was a fine exhibition of water-spouts off the eastern coast of Kauai. When first seen just after light in the morning there were two in company. ‘They were tall, straight and symmetrical, and as alike as two peas, extending like pillars from the ocean to the sharply-defined lower edge of a black cloud, from which was precipitated at quite a distance in the rear of the water-spouts a heavy shower of rain. To the rear again of the shower there was at frequent intervals seen the quick flash of electricity as it leaped from the cloud to the briny abyss. The whole procession was passing majestically toward the south, some ten miles out to sea, in a direction nearly parallel with the coast. One peculiarity which added to the interest of the spec- tacle was the slow revolution of one of the water-spouts around its mate, describ- ing an orbit perhaps two thousand feet, or even more, in diameter. After a time the two water-spouts faded away and disappeared, and presently after a lapse of several minutes a third one was seen to be forming. The whirling base of mist on the sea and a descending cone of cloud appeared simultaneously, and soon became connected and developed into a perfect column.—AHawazan Gazette. MOSAICULTURE. M. Chretian (writes our Lyons contemporary) has this year given us in the Parc de la Tete d’Or, some pretty examples of what he terms ‘‘ mosaiculture,” in the shape of beds containing mottoes and devices set out with colored foliage plants. Our Scottish neighbors seem to have carried the idea farther, with an eye to business as well as ornament. On a hillside not far from Glasgow may be read the words Glasgow Mews in gigantic letters, each forty feet long and six feet broad, formed of colored foliage plants. This inscription occupies a length of one hundred yards, and covers a space just 1,450 times the size of the Journal it ad- _vertises.— Garden. 60 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. OBIE CAI NG. SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF PROF. W. K. KEDZER: Prof. William K. Kedzie, who was known to many of our readers as former Professor of Chemistry at the Kansas Agricultural College, and who will be re- membered by hundreds of the citizens of this city as having delivered a memora™ ble address at the Commencement Exercises of the Kansas City College of Physi cians and Surgeons in 1877, died-at Lansing, Michigan, of typhoid fever, on the 14th of April. He was skilled.in his profession, an excellent teacher, a ready and perspicuous writer, and a fluent and attractive public speaker. In addition to these qualifications, few men possessed finer social qualities. We condense the following items from the Jndustrialist : He was born at Kalamazoo, Michigan, July 5th, 1851. He graduated from the Michigan State Agricultural College at the age of 19, and at once entered upon his duties as assistant to his father, the esteemed Professor of Chemistry in the same Institution. The two winters succeeding his graduation were spent at Yale College, in study, under Profs. Johnson and Brush, who testified to his great skill in manipulation and proficiency in his favorite branch—chemistry. In the summer of 1873, Prof. Kedzie received a call to the chair of Chemis- try and Physics, in the Kansas State Agricultural College. Commencing with an almost entire absence of the most ordinary essentials in imparting chemical knowledge—without a course of study, without a lecture-room, and without stu- dents even—he succeeded within three years in making chemistry the most attractive study taught in the Institution, and his department, in point of equip- ment and laboratory conveniences, superior to anything of the kind in the West. In January, 1874, Professor Kedzie was elected chemist to the State Board of Agriculture, and at once he commenced and carried through a vast amount of work in the line of chemical analysis. All the principal sorts of Kansas soils, minerals, grains, and even fungi, were subjected by him to rigid chemical exami- nation, and the results have been accounted among the most valuable in the records of our State B ard. In the summer of 1875, the Professor spent four months in Europe, during which time he made a careful examination of the principal laboratories of the Continent and England. The ideas there obtained he was enabled, the following year, to embody in the magnificent laboratory of the Kansas Agricultural College. In July, 1876, he was united in marriage to Miss Ella Gale, of Manhattan, who is left with two small children to mourn his loss. In 1878 he received an urgent call to the chair of Chemistry and Physiology, in Oberlin, Ohio, of which his uncle was president, which he finally accepted, and entered upon the duties of SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF PROF. W. K. KEDZIE. 61 his new position at the beginning of the college year. His success in that institution was fully commensurate with his ability, and the assiduity with which he pursued his studies doubtless led to the disease of whch he died. Major Hudson, editor of the Cafital, says of him: No young man ever came to Kansas who made more or warmer friends than ‘Prof. Kedzie. Old and young prized his friendship, and admired his brilliant scholarly attainments. It was our privilege to know him well and to honor his many manly traits.of character. He was a pure, honorable man in his daily walk, not offensively prudish, but one of the cleanest minded men we have ever known. His idea of honor was chivalric, and his decease is a loss not only to his native state of Michigan, and to his many friends in other states, but to science. The Lansing (Michigan) Aepublecan speaks thus of him : “During his whole life Prof. Kedzie has been an untiring worker, and although not enjoying good health, has accomplished very much. Even before he gradu_ ated, he made a fine collection of birds and birds’ eggs which he donated to the college museum. He was the principal originator of the Natural History Society of the Michigan Agricultural College and has done much to make the Society prosperous.” His loss is a calamity not only to his friends, but to his 4/ma Mater and to the college with which he was connected. His chief published writings, so far as we can ascertain, were a work on the Geology of Kansas, and a number of Scien- tific articles contributed to the Kansas Academy of Science and preserved in its annual reports. His. character was most exemplary in every respect, and his life one to be emulated by all young men. BOOK-NOMI CHS: EyvresicHt—Goop anp Bap. By Robert Brudenell Carter, F.R.C.S. Philadel- phia, 1880; Presley Blakiston ; $1.50. This is a comprehensive popular treatise on the exercise and preservation of vision, with numerous illustrations, and is well calculated to educate the public in regard to the construction of the eyes in health, their changes and defects in dis- ease or old age, and the manner of caring for them in infancy and childhood, as © well as in later life. The chapters upon Natural and Artificial Illumination and upon Practical hints on Spectacles are especially valuable to those persons who are compelled to use their eyes constantly in writing or ypon fine work, and are full of useful information to all. The author is Ophthalmic Surgeon to St. George’s Hospital, London, and ‘has had a vast field of experience in the treatment of diseased and defective eyes, and this little work bears evidence of his entire familiarity with his subject. 62 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. THe SpELL-BounpD FIppLER. By Kristofer Janson. 12mo., pp. LOX. tees Griggs & Co., Chicago, 1880; $1.00. For the past year or two this enterprising firm has been publishing, princi- pally under the editorship of Professor Rasmus B. Anderson, of the University of Wisconsin, a series of books illustrating the literature of the Norse-Land. Among these have been put forth in handsome style The Norse Mythology, The Viking Tales of the North, Echoes from Mist-Land, The Younger Edda, &c. The Spell-Bound Fiddler is a tale by Kristofer Janson, relating in narrative form the events of the life of the wonderful musician of Norway, Torgeir Au- dunson, and evidently intended as an effort to break down the puritanism of the country, which fosters a prejudice against all other than church music and pre- sents an obstacle to the progress of the Orphic art among that gifted people. The introduction, by Prof. Anderson, contains among other interesting facts, some passages in the life of Ole Bull not hitherto published. Sea AIR AND SEA BaTHING. By John H. Packard, M. D. 12mo., pp. 121; Presley Blakiston, Phila., 1880; 5oc. With felicitous appropriateness Health Primer number XI, bearing the above title, makes its appearance, containing just the proper directions upon sea bath- ing, sea-side resorts, accidents in bathing, sea bathing for invalids, amusements at the sea-shore, cottage life at the sea-shore, sanitary matters, the sea-shore as a winter resort, excursions to the sea-shore, &c. With the mercury in the eighties, as during last week here, such a book will be sought for with avidity and read with profit by all who contemplate summering at the sea-side. A SERIES OF QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. By Mary F. Hendrick. t12mo., pp. 76; Davis, Bardeen & Co., Syracuse, N. Y., 1880; B25: The writer of this little work is Teacher of Reading and English Literature in the State Normal and Training School, Cortland, N. Y., and necessarily brings to the task a large experience. Her object is to present to her pupils the subject of literature in connection with prominent historical epochs and to suggest, by a series of questions, noted authors of each and their best known works; and the volume closes with a list of reference books and a course of reading embracing only the most prominent and standard authors. Such a book properly studied cannot fail to be of great value to such readers. BOOK NOTICES, 63 REALITIES OF IRISH Lire. By W. Steuart Trench. Boston, Roberts Brothers, 1880; 12mo., pp. 297; $1.00. The object of the author seems to be to give a clear and truthful account of the occurrences which violent party spirit or local prejudices have placed before the public distorted, and also to give to the English public, in particular, some idea of the difficulties in the way of progress or improvement in Ireland, as well as to show that in spite of these difficulties such progress and improvement are really practicable. The author writes from the vantage ground of long experience among the people he describes, and his stories bear the marks of truthfulnes and candor. Among the titles of chapters or tales may be given The Ribbon Code, The Potato Rot, The Revival, The School, The Battle of Magheracloon, &c. ‘TRANSACTIONS OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE OF ST. Louris. Volume IV, No. 1; Octavo, pp. 190; R. P. Studley & Co., St. Louis, 1880; $2.00. We are indebted to Professor Nipher for the above-named work, which. con- tains two Reports by himself of his Magnetic Observations and Determinations in Missouri; a very interesting article by Judge Nathaniel Holmes, upon The Geo- logical and Geographical Distribution of the Human Race; one by Dr. G. Seyf- farth, upon Egyptian Theology, which displays a great familiarity with the lan- , guage and the history of Ancient Egypt; a very practical paper upon The Improvement of Western Rivers, by C. M® Scott; besides several others worthy of our future perusal. This Academy is of long standing and has done much good work, especially that of Dr. Engelman and Profs. Nipher and Wadsworth in Meteorology and Physics. OTHER PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. The Report of the Board of Trade of Golden, Colorado, for 1879 and 1880, Learning and Health, by Benjamin Ward Richardson; Davis, Bardeen & Co., Syracuse, N. Y., 15c ; ‘‘ Egyptian Antiquities” found in America, Prof. F. W. Putnam; College Libraries as Aids to Instruction, U. S. Bureau of Education, No. 1, 1880; The Effects of Civilization on the Climate and Rain Supply of Kan- ~ sas, by H. R. Hilton, Topeka, Kansas; Report on the Interests and Condition of Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, by W. G. Elliot, President, March, 1880; Report of the State Engineer of California, 1880. 64 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. DD TiORiA aN Od is: THEregular meeting of the Academy of Sci- ence was held at its rooms on Tuesday eve ning, April 27th. A paper upon the Theory of Probabilities, considered from'a mathemat- ical standpoint, was read by Professor J. M- Greenwood, which was followed by one from V. W. Coddington, Esq., upon the Construc- | tion of School Houses. Both papers were interesting and comprehensive, and received the close attention of the audience. They will probably appear in these columns within a short time. On May 21st Rev. Dr. S. S. Laws, Presi- dent of the University of Missouri, and one of the best thinkers and speakers of the West, will deliver the seventh lecture of the Extra Winter Course before the Kansas City Acade- my of Science, upon the fruitful subject of «‘ The Categories of Kant.” This subject was proposed by the Kant Club of this city, and all who desire to hear this difficult metaphysical topic discussed in a popular, yet comprehensive and learned manner should by all means be present. Dr. Laws possesses in an unusual degree the power of popularizing and enlivening an ab- struse subject, and no one need apprehend a heavy or prosy discourse on this occasion. No charge for admittance. Mrs. Mary F. MupbGE, widow of the late esteemed Professor B. F. Mudge, offers to place at our disposal, for publication in the Review, portions of an unfinished work upon which he was engaged at the time of his death, several chapters of which we published last year. Aside from the associations connected with them, these articles have the merit of accu- racy, soundness, vigor and attractiveness of style, and they are in large proportion the result of personal investigation. Pror. H. S. PRITCHETT, who furnishes an article for this number of the Revzew, has recently resigned the position of Assistant Astronomer at the U. S. Naval Observatory to take permanent charge of the Morrison Observatory at Glasgow, Missouri, in connec- tion with his father, the well-known Professor C. W. Pritchett. Such an accession to the astronomical observers of our state tends to place it in the foreground in this branch of science at least. A CARD. The fourth volume of the Kansas Czty Re- view of Science and Industry commences with this number, My time is so fully occupied with my official duties that I find it impossi- ble to call upon my friends in person, and take this means of asking them to patronize it. I may say, without boasting, that the fe- view has met with a very flattering reception as the exponent of the scientific and literary culture of the West, but as it is not yet on a paying basis, I am “compelled to ask addi- tional aid in maintaining it as a home enter- prise, creditable to the community and worthy of a generous support. To those who take no special interest in scientific subjects it is suggested that the articles on Domestic Econ- omy and Hygiene alone are worth more than the subscription price, while those who desire to subscribe for any of the magazines of the country or purchase any kind of miscellane- - ous or scientific books, can save enough on one or two such transactions, made through my agency, to pay for the Revzew one year, Sample copies of this number will be sent to some persons who are not subscribers, in the hope that they will become such. Any re- ceiving it who feel that they cannot subscribe will please return it by the carrier. THEO. S. CASE, Liditor. L£DITORIAL NOTES, Dr. G. F. NEEDHAM, Washington, D. C., sends us his Pamphlet (third edition), ‘ Fig Culture at the North,” in which he seems to show conclusively, that the people of the Middle and Northern States, by using the proper means, can grow figs of as good qual- ity, and in abundance,at the North, as at the South, that is, as fine as the imported. WE have received of Dr. A. L. Child, of Plattsmouth, Nebraska, a copy of an elabo- rate report upon the Progress of the Seasons, Rainfall, Meteorology, &c., of that portion of the state, consisting of observations made and recorded by himself, Rev. S. B. BELL, of this city, has recently commenced the publication of a religious newspaper called the Mzd-Continent Presbyte- vian, into which he has introduced the novel feature of printing the communications of skeptics, infidels, and atheists, for reply. It is a liberal move and one which, if managed prudently and skillfully, will be productive of good, Dr. Bell is an earnest and zealous worker, and we wish him a full measure of success. CaPTaIN HowGaTe is having built at Washington a house, with double walls, win- dows and roof, for the use of the men to be colonized in the Arctic Regions. It is de- scribed as ‘‘a long one-story building that looks like a large livery stable, with a shed- like addendum at each gabled end. When finished it is to be taken to pieces, conveyed aboard ship and re-constructed when the home of the polar bear is reached,”’ THE cranium of Descartes is often adduced as an exception to the general rule that a ‘great mind requires a large brain. This state- ment seems to have rested on no exact meas- urement, and Dr, de Bon resolved to test its accuracy. The result is that he finds the cubic capacity of Descartes’ skull to be 1,700 centimeters, or 150 centimeters above the mean of Parisian skulls of the present time, my 95) IT is now ascertained that nearly two hun- dred years ago a Mr, Benjamin Allen discoy- ered and reported to the Royal Society of England that eggs had been found by him in eels, a fact supposed to have been shown only within the past year. THE Quarterly Report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture for the first quarter of 1880 is filled with the most useful statistics relative to industries, taxes, values, popula- tion, condition of crops, farm animals, mete- orology, &c., and shows that in their choice of Major’ Hudson, as successor to Alfred Gray, for Secretary, the action of the Board was re markably well taken, IT is impossible for us to thank ecch maga- zine and newspaper separately for kind, en- couraging worcs spoken in regard to the Review, so we tender them our thanks ex masse, and hope to reciprocate on all fitting occasions. AT the Ministers’ Convention, held here last week, Rev. A. C. Williams, of Lincoln, Nebraska, read an essay entitled, Do the Revealments of Science Contradict the Re- vealments of the Bible? and Rev. C. C. Kim- ball, of this city, one upon The Influence of Modern Science upon Belief in Miracles, which latter was followed by one upon the same subject by Rev. R. M. Tunnell, of Wy- andotte. These papers were ably written, and we hope to present them to our readers soon. Several other papers, more strictly clerical in their character, were read by other ministers. THE Boston Journal of Commerce, which is one of our best commercial exchanges, com- menced its fifteenth volume in Apri]. It is edited by Thomas Fray, Jun., under whose management it is rapidly gaining popularity as a reliable price current, an authority on mines and stocks, and a gazette of manufac- turing progress and business intelligence. 66 Pror. C, W. PrircHetr of the Morrsion Observatory, at Glasgow, informs us by letter, that he has completed the telegraphic con- nection between that institution and our Union depot, and is now in readiness to commence sending the time signals* mentioned in the Review some months since. THE investigation by Prof. Barker and other experts, of Edison’s method of producing and maintaining the electric light at Menlo Park, does not seem to have settled the question in his favor, as, notwithstanging the favorable report, several of our best known electricians still insist that there is nothing new in his experiments, and that the electric light can- not be made practically and economically successful from his standpoint. In this con- nection, it is quite significant that in the competitive test in London of electric lights, the palm was awarded to the patent of Brush, of Cleveland, Ohio, and the British Government has given an order to the Cleve- land Telegraph Supply Company for over $30,000 worth of apparatus, including twen- ty-four of the largest machines and four hnn- dred and twenty-four lamps. Judge E. P. West has just returned from a trip to Marion county, Kansas, where he has been exploring some pre-historic mounds and burial places. He brings some very striking SPECIAL <2 EDITORIAL NOTES. relics, and his report, which will be published in the June Review, will be read by archzolo- gists with decided interest, The American Naturalist says that Pierre Lorillard of New York is reported to be prepar- ing to defray the expenses of an exploration and spoliation of the ruins of Mexico and Cen- tral America for the benefit and enrichment of some institution in Paris, under the name of the Museé Lorillard. Does not such for- eign spoliation come within the purview of Monroe doctrine ? THE Vega, escorted by a large fleet of steam- ers, arrived at Stockholm April 25th. The city and adjacent coasts for many miles were splendidly illuminated. Prof. Nordenskjold proceeded to the Castle, where they were welcomed by the King and _ vociferously cheered by the people. REV. WASHINGTON GLADDEN, who has hitherto had sole charge of the departments, Editor’s Table and Literature, in Good Com- pany, has relinquished his connection with the magazine, all of which will now be under the supervision of Edward F. Merriam, who has had exclusive management of the Con- tributor’s department. This arrangement begins with Number Eight. NOTICE. Itseems to have become altogether a fixed thing for T. M. James & Sons, to put their latest importations of rich China and Queensware goods and artistic novelties on exhibition at the opening of each week and upon arrival of new invoices, and the frequency of such receipts affords our citizens many oppor- tunities to examine choice handiwork from abroad and emanating from the most celebrated patterns and embellished by the hands of eminent artists. To-day may be seen in the show windows of T. M. James & Sons a late importation of admirable qualities, and splendid display of hand painted vases of Ionic and Grecian shapes and decorated in the most pleasing manner in landscapes, sport- ing scenes and classic groups. These goods are very seasonable and their price is very low, considering their elegance, and will repay a close inspection and ought to find a place in a great number of households in our city and suburbs. Messrs. James & Sons are still in almost daily receipt of rich Chinaware elegant Glassware and a great variety of other goods requisite in their large trade. A visit to this great importing house is time profitably spent both in pleasure and economy of prices. KANSAS CLTY REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. VOL. IV. JUNE, 1880. NO. 2. SI ONNOUMIG THE SUN AND PHENOMENA OF ITS SURFACE. BY WM. DAWSON, SPICELAND, IND. I have no doubt that the sun contributes much more to all the comforts and happiness that we enjoy in life than people generally think. It is very large and very distant. Our earth is a great body, and to travel round it—z5,o00 miles— is along journey. And yet this, more than three times 8,000 miles, is only one- ninth of the distance to the moon. Now if the sun were a hollow sphere and the earth placed in its center, the moon might be at its present distance from the earth and still be but slightly more than half way from the sun’s center to its sur- face. The diameter of this vast source of light and heat is given at 860,000 miles, and its distance at about 92,000,000. Presuming that readers of the Rrvirw already have a general knowledge of the spots on the sun, from an article on this subject in the Number for May, 1879, I will now briefly recite the more important solar phenomena as presented in my six-feet telescope during last year; and then allude to the causes of sun Spots, and other matters with which they are supposed to be connected. During 1879, I observed the sun about every clear day the year through ; generally using a magnifying power of 100, furnished with a reflecting prism which admits the full aperture of the object-glass, 4,6, inches. This arrangement gives a more interesting view of the varied phenomena of the solar surface than the direct view with a common eye-piece, which requires a cap or diaphragm over ‘the object-glass to prevent too much light and heat entering through the object- | IV—5 68 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. ive. The reflecting prism is a piece of glass of such form as to allow a great portion of the sun’s light to pass entirely through and out of the telescope, and still reflect enough to form a good image, and give a fine view of the solar sur- face. Examined in this way when the air is very clear and calm, (which, though, is rather seldom, even when no clouds are visible,) the disk presents a delicate mottled or granular appearance as though there existed many thousands of fine freckles all over the fair face of the sun. Sometimes, indeed, it seems rather difficult to distinguish between the largest of these minute forms and the least of the solar spots. Besides these freckles I sometimes notice a very white curdled or brain-like appearance—possibly masses of ‘‘ rice grains,” etc.—to be described further on. In January two spots were observed in the fore part of the month; and I saw only two others—on the zoth; from which we may infer that the sun was nearly clear of spots all the month. JI saw none in February till the 14th, when a small group appeared, and vanished in a few days. Except a small spot March 14th, no more were seen till the 11th of April, when a group of five little spots and bright faculz appeared at the eastern edge of the sun. Next day the group containéd sixteen spots. On the 13th. nine. In one part of the group, several little spots had united into one, which was surrounded by bright penum- bra. By the 16th a group of twenty-five spots had formed, seven of which were large. On 20th they were mostly gone—only one remaining. It was near 5,000 miles in diameter, and could be seen with a small spy-glass. It grew smaller, and disappeared at the western edge of the sun on the 23d. On 24th no spots, but the mottled appearance was very prominent—like innnmerable little specks over the sun’s face. No more spots this month. May 6th, bright facula at east edge. Next day a group of spots appeared there. On 8th and oth, about a dozen were seen—one of them pretty large. By 13th the group had dwindled to one little spot. No more till June ath, and very few till 27th, when a group of fourteen spots was visible, and in three days it numbered thirty-seven, It fell off to one by July 5th. In six days a group of twenty had formed. On 13th . one of them was near 8,ooo miles in diameter—nearly large enough to be seen without a telescope. It was surrounded with a wide penumbra. On 14th the sky was uncommonly clear and fine, and the general surface of the sun appeared of a whitish, curdled, or brain-like appearance. By 18th the cluster had vanished. It may be noted that the ordinary black spots never, or but very seldom, appear near the poles of the sun; but now one or two w/e spots were visible in the region of the north pole. On 26th the mottled and fine brain-hke appear- ance were very prominent. August 9th, several white spots were seen at inter- vals all round the sun’s margin. It will be understood that these white spots are entirely different from the common sun spots, which are always black or nearly so. Quite a showing of solar spots occurred on the 8th to 14th of August. On 12th a large group broke out near the west edge and soon disappeared. Another spot show occurred in THE SUN AND PHENOMENA OF ITS SURFACE. 69 the last of August. Between 8 o’clock of 28th and the same hour of 2oth, a very large spot broke up and formed three smaller ones. In three or four days after this wreck in the sun, a great rain fell in our country. Very few spots in September. But a large cluster was very prominent from October 7th to rth. In a few days other spots broke out in different places, making a speckled ap- pearance on the sun’s face. About the 21st they had all disappeared, leaving the sun clear for two weeks, and nearly so for three weeks. Toward the middle of November a large group formed and passed over the western side of the sun. A few small spots on several days in December closed the exhibition for 1879. A show of fifty-five spots in three groups occurred in the middle of January, 1880; and since that time but few days have passed without spots being present on the sun. So it is evident that they are now on the increase. AndIam not sure but that it is more rapid than it was in the early part of the period which com- menced in 1867. I consider that the minimum this time occurred in the early part of 1879; making the period twelve years long. About eleven years is the average length of several former periods from one minimum to the next. The extremes are about ten and thirteen years. Greater activity seems to prevail during the first half of the period than during the last half, so that the maximum, or greatest show of spots, occurs about two years before the middle of the period. But Iam satisfied from my own observations that the maximum of the last period was near three years be- fore the middle, particularly as regards the number. However, spots of large size continued two or three years after their number began to grow less. In attempting to explain the freckly or mottled appearance, I would offer the one theory of its being the interstices of the darker or gray portion of the sun’s surface in which a very large telescope, furnished with a polarizing eye- piece, shows ‘‘hundreds of thousands of small intensely brilliant bodies, that seem to be floating in the gray medium, which, though itself no doubt very bright, appears dark by comparison. What these little things are, is still uncer- tain; whatever they are, they are the immediate principal source of the sun’s light and heat.” They bear a certain resemblance to rice grains of different size and shape. Although these little bodies appear quite small when they are magnified even many hundred times, yet they are really hundreds of miles in ex- tent. It is believed that these little fiery bodies collect in dense masses and form the cloud-like faculze which often appear near the edge of the sun, and are apt to precede the formation of large spots, though not in every case. These facule are often so large and prominent as to be visible through a telescope of 114 or 2 inches aperture. Huyghens said of them near two centuries ago, that they seem to be ‘‘something in the sun brighter than the sun itself.” ) It is now a settled belief among those who have given the subject most at- tention, that iron, magnesium, and other metals exist in the sun, and particularly in the region of the spots; though not in the solid state in which we know them, nor even in the melted or liquid condition, but in.the form of gas, or vapor— 70 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. the result of most intense heat. Great masses, or clouds of vapor charged with these gases exhibit the most fitful and ever-changing forms which it is possible for us to conceive. Realize if you can, the effects of one of our most violent hur- ricane storms in which the wind travels two or two-and-a-half miles in a minute, and smashes the largest buildings and trees it meets. Then picture in the mind a raging storm as much more violent than the hurricane as the hurricane exceeds a gentle breeze, and you may approach a faint idea of the wonderful commotion that sometimes pervades the surface of the sun. When a mountain mass many hundred miles in extent, or a vast whirlpool of equal area, is actually seen to form and then scatter and disappear in less than one hour, we have strong proof of the great activity just alluded to. Moun- tain forms of burning hydrogen make up the rose colored prominences which nearly always exist along the edges of the sun. Before the invention of the spectroscope, these ‘‘red flames” were seen only during total eclipses of the sun. But now, this wonderful instrument shows them any tame when they are large enough to be seen. A solar outburst of much interest was observed by Prof. C. A. Young, of Dartmouth College, in 1871, September 7th. On that occasion he saw what seemed to be tongues or filaments of burning hydrogen shoot up from a great prominence whose height was already 100,000 miles, to an elevation of 200,000 miles—having made the hundred thousand miles in ten minutes—denoting a velocity of 167 miles per second. I understand the Professor, as well as R. A. Proctor, of England, to entertain the idea that the internal forces of the sun are sufficient to, and possibly do, eject solid matter from the sun’s interior never to return; and that ‘‘it is by no means im- possible that some of the specimens of meteoric iron in our cabinets are really pieces of the sun.” Whether or not this theory is tenable, there is no want of evidence that most astonishing forces do exist in the sun. The general theory of sun spots, as I understand it, is, that amid the mighty rush of torrent vapors great rents or openings are made in the photosphere (outer visible surface of the sun) extending deep in the sun’s interior ; and that a spot is simply a black and vacant space-—the ‘‘central darkness” of a solar whirlpool. In regard to the cause of solar spots, etc., I wish to introduce an- other paragraph from C. A. Young: ‘‘ What are the causes of such eruptions it is impossible to state as yet with any certainty; still, knowing what we do of the enormous amount of energy which the sun is continually pouring out in the form of heat, it is nothing strange that such things should occur, and that on a solar scale.” A feature of much interest in connection with sun spot periods is their cor- respondence with similar periods of Aurora Borealis, and magnetic force of the earth; the greatest prevalence or maximum of each one accompanying that of the other. A noticeable instance of this occurred in 1859, September 1st. Two observers in England were examining a large group of sun spots at the same THE GREAT SOUTHERN COMET. 71 time, when they noticed an amazing outbreak of ‘‘two patches of intensely bright white light in front of the spots.” These dazzling patches continued visi- ble near five minutes, during which time they passed over a space of 33,000 miles. At the same moment (as was afterward learned) a noted disturbance occurred among the magnetic instruments at the Kew Observatory ; and in sixteen hours a magnetic storm set in, which not only impeded communication by telegraph, but set fire to some of the offices. I well remember seeing brilliant Auroras on several nights at and near that time. The following points, I think, are less entitled to acceptance than the one just mentioned. The theory that Jupiter and Venus exert an influence in the production of sun spots and their periodical occurrence, seems to me very much like that of the moon exerting an influence on the weather, the growth of vege- tables, etc.,—one in which I have but little confidence. Looking at the very face of the matter it seems much more probable to me that the gigantic powers of the sun would produce the comparatively feeble magnetic and electric phenom- ena of the earth, than that Venus and Jupiter in any position they can have, would produce the raging forces in the sun, or even change their directions. A. _Elvins, an observer of Canada, gives the opinion that years of sun spot maxima and minima are generally more cloudy than the intervening years. My own ob- servations hardly confirm this view. So with his conclusion that greatest and least show of sun spots have less rain and more cold than other years. Mr. EI- vins, with one or two other investigators of these subjects, decide that cylones and heavy storms generally occur in about two years after a sun spot maximum. This is doubtless correct. But our cylones occur so frequently in other years, and even during sun spot minima, that I fail to see the foundation of a law in this point. But their idea that both the maxima and minima of spot frequency are immediately preceded by very wet years, or season, I find to be true in most cases that I have examined. And yet, as regards nearly all the above subjects, I heartily endorse the fol- lowing sentiment put forth by Arago: ‘‘In these matters we must be careful not to generalize till we have amassed a large number of observations.” The sun is a great body, and I am sure that: the hidden source of its won- derful energies is the Almighty Hand which created and governs the whole uni- verse. THE GREAT SOUTHERN COMET. The interest of the astronomical world was suddenly awakened early in Feb- ruary by a telegram from Dr. B. A. Gould, at Cordoba, to Prof. Peters, of Kiel, stat- ing simply that there was a great comet passing the sun northward. This, together with the announcement of Dr. Gill, of Cape Town, a few days later, which, from the lack of unity in the system of signalling astronomical discoveries, could not be determined to be the same one, caused an amount of excitement among amateur astronomers that is quite unusual. Sufficient facts have not been as yet determin- 72 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. ed to render a thorough discussion of the comet possible, but nevertheless it is none too early to begin the accumulation of such facts, as this may at a later time be a much more serious undertaking. The story of the discovery of Comet I. 1880, is given in an extract from a letter from Dr. Gould to Prof. Peters, which is in the Astvonomische Nachrichten, No. 2303. On the evening of February 2, Dr. Gould saw, during twilight, a bright streak of light in the southwest, which he immediately supposed to be the tail of a huge comet. An attempt to sketch the object was made, but, owing to the murkiness of the sky, it was unsuccessful. The approximate position of this streak of light was from R. A. 22h. 4om.— 45° to less than R. A. 23h. om.— 50°. On the 3d of February, the object appeared somewhat brighter, and had moved north- wards throughout its entire length, and was evidently the tail of a comet which seemed to be approaching perihelion. All attempts to detect a nucleus were un- availing, and the equality in the brightness of the tail throughout its visible length of fully 40° and the remarkably small decrease of its breadth toward the horizon prevented any safe conjecture as to the position of the nucleus. On the 4th, the comet seemed to be a little brighter, and the tail preserved the same peculiarities as before, and in brilliancy was inno part equal to the milky way. This evening, Dr. Gould observed what he considercd to be the head of the comet, which through the haze and twilight appeared to be a coarse; ill-defined mass of dull light, some 2’ or 3’ in diameter and without any visible nucleus. Observations made by Mr. Gill, at the same time, are noted in the Odserv- atory for March, although not fully. Among the early newspaper items may be quoted that of Prof. Peirce, who lost no time in comparing the data of Gould’s comet with those of the comet of 1843, and announced himself as fully persuaded that it was a return of the earlier comet. Quite early in the field was the Observatory of Rio Janeiro, the Director of which, Prof. Liais, in the Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 2304, under the date of February 20, makes a report of the same. At Rio, the weather was unfavorable, and, save the 4th and 8th of February, the comet was not observed. In other parts of the Empire, however, observations had been made sufficiently numerous to justify the statement of an approximate orbit, which, in view of later data, it is not necessary to give in detail. According to WVatnre, No. 540, Mr. Gill saw the tail of the comet even as early as Fehruary 1. No. 541 of the same periodical contains an extract from a letter by Mr. Gill, specifying his observations up to the 9th of February. As Table Mountain interfered with the view of the comet from the Royal Observa- tory at Cape Town, Mr. Gill went over to Seapoint, on the west side of the mountain, and sketched the position of the tail, on several evenings. The next issue of /Vature contains elements of the comet, by Mr. Gill, which, however, may be considered as in error, in consideration of the elements given in No. 544 of the same periodical. These elements were computed by Mr. Hind from the THE GREAT SOUTHERN COMET. 73 observation of Dr. Gould on February 4, and from rough places communicated by Mr. Gill. These elements are as follows :— Comet I. 1880. GouLp. Perihelion Passage, January 27. 6027. Ce eM A: Joyalers Wi Jel cralloveliicoy alan Wek ey ana) ee aielieaaen ive ecyay ous (NR Cay 6’.8. omer yNOd come vrei hi bai elt auu sas Wad > We DNCli a HOT Meier ay ee hea Sa a oar ase 2h im oie By em DiStanCe a ayaiiyh aise uicin Gm 1d OLOORO200: Motion, Retrograde. According to the same periodical, the comet was observed from H. M. S. “ Triumph,” while at sea, between Payta, in Peru, and Manta, in Equador, on the night of February 7. The nucleus was seen at this date, and the comet was again observed on the 8th and oth. According to the Odservatory for April, the comet was so faint on the 23d of February that Mr. Gill conld not discern the least trace of it, there peng strong moonlight, however. As has been stated, sProf. Peirce was very early in the field with an assertion that this comet was a return of that of 1843. and in this his judgment has not been at fault, for, taking either the elements of Mr. Hind or those which may be con- sidered as the next most authoritative, the resemblance is altogether too close to be the result of accident. The elements of the comet of 1843, as computed by Hubbard, were — Wonemmberihelions ayeweavatsetya eee gee nen enero Bl it None Node WPe tare (Gber He hit cs An MIE KU go 20'.6 Hine IvyiVOT 5 aah 2! We 2 eh uk UE ale Meagan Lara 1) iO 38.2 Bete Distance ine as ie Hn ii Uitte 4s OLOOk a TTA Motion, Retrograde. In view of thc relationship, a few notes on this great comet—which, says Cooper, in his Cometic Orbits, has been considered the most interesting of any on record—may be acceptable. Prof. Peirce, in the note to the Boston Advertiser, already referred to, gave as his opinion that Dr. Gould’s comet is that of 1843, and has been seen before mB. ©. 1770, 370, 252, 183, and A. D. 336, 422, 533, 582, 708, 729, 882, 1077, 1106, 1208, 1313, 1362, 1382, 1402, 1454, 1491, 1511, 1528, 1668, 1689, and 1702. “‘ In 1843,” says Prof. Peirce, in a lecture on comets and meteors, ‘‘at about noon on the 28th of February, people in New England were able to see a brill- lant object close to the sun. Such a marvelous spectacle had never before been seen. Accurate and reliable observations of its position with regard to the same were made. A week later, a wonderfully brilliant tail of a comet was seen skirt- (Ce KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. ing the horizon just after sunset, reaching one-third of the way around. At per- ihelion, it was nearer to the surface of the sun than any known comet, save that of 1680, and both of them swept in nearer than the solar corona.” It was estimated by Newton that the comet of 1680 was subjected at perihel- ion to a heat equal to 2,000 times that of red-hot iron. The discussion of this comet made by Prof. J. S. Hubbard, and publieneds in Dr. Gould’s Astronomical Journal, Vol. 1., is pre-eminently the authority concern- ing it. Much difficulty was encountered in an attempt to fix its orbits, owing to the shortness of time for observation, proximity to the horizon, and the slowness of its motion. ‘The peculiarity producing the most remark was the smallness of its perihelion distance, resembling the comet of 1680, while its physical character- istics resembled the comet of 1668. In concluding his discussion (Vol. i1.), Prof. Hubbard states as follows:—‘‘So far as the data employed and the calculations based upon them can be relied upon, the hypothesis of the identity of this comet with that of 1688 is not sustained.’’ The probable error of a single observation of his computed orbit was determined by Hubbard to be = + 107.62, and con- sidering also the probable error belonging to an orbit of 175 years, the difficulty stated by Nicholai shows itself, viz.: that ‘‘ the transition from a period of 175 years to one of infinity, makes almost no difference in the representation of ob- servations.” So small a portion of the orbit is it withm our power to observe, that the differences in the observations upon a long orbit and those on an infinite curve are extremely difficult of determination. In the consideration of the comet of 1880 and its discussion, the observations made in 1843 may be of the gr eate importance.—Scéence Observer. CORE 2S POND ENCE. SCIENCE LETTER FROM FRANCE. ATMOSPHERIC DUST—-KLEPTOMANIA—HUMAN HEAT—PHOSPHORESCENCE. Paris, April 13, 1880. The Scientific Association of France has resumed its instructive Saturday Evening Conferences at the Sorbonne, our Royal Institution, under the presi- dency of the celebrated and indefatigable M. Milne Edwards. ‘The subjects selected are of every day, living interest, are the specialty of each lecturer, and are handled in a popular manner and illustrated with every suitable apparatus. M. Jamin has expounded the latest discoveries in telephones and phonographs; M. Egger has deciphered the recent papyrus finds in Memphis; M. Bouley has examined the question of rabies, and M. Gaston Tissandier, of elevated balioon- ing notoriety, has revealed many interesting facts on atmospheric dust, its con- nection with cosmical matter, and the important réle it plays in fermentation and SCIENCE LETTER FROM FRANCE. 75 decomposition. As the air is purer after being washed by rain, so in dry weath- er and especially in cities, the atmosphere is a veritable dust-bin; we are sensi- ble to the existence of these particles of attenuated matter; in breathing them they disgust us, and in falling and remaining on clothing and furniture they demonstrate not only their presence but their plenitude. Admit a sunbeam into a-darkened room and the molecules will be revealed like nebule; yet the num- bers we perceive, are perhaps but the minimum of what exists, for after the naked eye and the microscope there are minutiz which dance still. Much of this atomic debris is of inorganic origin, and a great deal is derived from animal and vegeta- ble sources; the renowned experiments of M. Pasteur have demonstrated, that among these atomies which live, move, and have their being in the air, are germs or spores of fermentation and decomposition, that is to say, the seeds of disease and death. Showers of dust impalpable as flour, and sometimes red as blood, have fallen in several parts of the world, astonishing or frightening, as the populations are superstitious or cultivated; these showers are simply silicious particles whipped up to the superior regions of the atmosphere, and driven along by aerial currents ; such particles have been lifted in Guiana and showered on New York, the Azores and France, as Ehrenberg detected therein animalcule and shells, peculiar to South America. Over the summits of the high mountains of the latter country, the atmospheric currents are ever charged with silicious powder, and in parts of Mexico, the crests of mountains act as veritable bars, and compel the deposition from — these air streams of the dust, and which accumulate in the valleys to the depth of ninety yards. Geology recognizes these atmospheric deltas. The foam of waves as they dash against the coast, is pulverized into feathery pellicles, which float sky-ward with a trace of saline matter and that a sea breeze carries far inland. Space contributes. as well as earth and ocean to the production of aerial dust ; when meteorites and falling stars are rendered luminous and incandescent by their rubbing against strata of air in their vertiginous flight, they part with quantities of their metallic elements in the form of powder, iron, nickel, and cobalt, sub- stances that Nordenskiold has gathered on the virgin snow of the Polar regions. When atmospheric dust, whether collected directly on a sheet of paper, or from the sediment of snow and rain, is probed by a magnet, the tiny particles of iron attracted, have all a spheroid family likeness, resembling furthermore iron filings if melted in a flame of hydrogen or the extinguished sparks that fall on striking an ordinary flint and steel. Nay more, similar atoms of meteoric iron have been traced in the Lower Lias formation, geology thus affording evidence, that as now, so before the appearance of man on earth, atmospheric dust existed. ‘The air is a vast store house of animalcules; expose a solution of some organic substance to the atmosphere for twenty-four hours, it will be speedily inhabited by myriads of infusoria, rolling and tumbling, yet so small that hundreds of them if placed in a row would not forma line in length. These worms resemble little eels An- alogous animalcules induce decomposition and fermentation, for the latter cannot take place unless the organic matters be in contact with the air, to receive the 76 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, seed of the leaven, which by cellule propagation leavens the whole mass. It has lately been shown that the process of nitrification in certain soils is due to a pe- culiar ferment, that is to say, to a spore floating in the atmosphere, and finding its conditions for action, stops and operates. Marsh fever is due to cellules or spores existing in a bog neighborhood; the same spores have been detected by the microscope in the expectorations of the patient, in the dew that was examined, and on the surface of the peaty soil where they were generated. ‘This is simply poisoning; to a like cause is due the fell disease known as hospital gangrene, the germs in the polluted ward-atmosphere, enter the wounds, induce putrifaction, and death. Hence the importance of washing the affected part with carbolic acid or other anti-septic; then dressing it with a wadding that will intercept, by acting as a filter, the germs to be deposited, from being sown. In many factories workmen become victims to the dust, generated by their special industry, enter- ing and saturating the lungs; on dissecting old colliers, their lungs after forty years respiration of dust, instead of being rose-colored as in health, were as black as the coal itself; the dust in this impalpable form is often the cause of accidents; it can take fire and blaze hke alcohol. Witness the catastrophe at the Minneapolis flouring mills; the confined air highly charged with the flour, became on a par with ether or alcohol, awaiting only ignition from the heated millstone to burst into flame and explode. The Society of Legal Medicine has discussed the question of shop lifting ; no very clear results have been arrived at; it was maintained that in the case where the accused female’s family was liable to hereditary cerebral irregularities, the court ought to accept such as an extenuating circumstance. It seemed to be the opinion, that too much importance was attached to the abnormal inclinations and fancies of women enceznée, and also, that the interests of justice were not served by the numerous classifications that alienists indulge in. Dr. Lasségue repudiates all the doctrines about monomanias; a woman shop-lifts because she has not the strength to resist, and if any obstacle rises up to baulk her thieving; that chance will save her, as reason does in the case of others. He disbelieves in the theory of excitement ; the seduction is not greater than what other females experience at the view of articles of toilet; it is transitory, and the thief speedi- ly forgets not only the pleasure she anticipated from possessing an object easily obtained, but the fault itself. He concludes, the less the impulsion of the weak- minded will be imperious, the more she will be encouraged by every attraction— that of impunity included. M. Hirn has devoted a good deal of attention to the subject of human heat, and in his experiments has been assisted by Professor Herzen, of Florence. Heat, or caloric, is synonymous with force, and there ought to be a gain or loss of heat, following the nature of the work. For example: the exertion to raise our own weight in ascending a stair-case, or a mountain, must represent a loss as compared with descending either. Now, M. Herzen affirms in both cases the contraction © of the muscle is almost the same; there is only a slight difference in the intensity SCIENCE LETTER FROM FRANCE. “7 of the contraction executed, but none in point of view physiological. From the moment there is no external work, there is no consumption of heat; when a muscle contracts, there is a diminution of temperature, and deoxidation. Fol- lowing the contraction or expansion of the muscles, the physiological actions will vary: a Swiss guide will ascend a mountain, carrying a burden, without mani- festing fatigue; but perspiration will be more or less intense; the pulse and respiration will be accelerated; the panting will be more or less sensible, following the robustness of the individual. These phenomena will be less during the descent. Does intellectual work consume or produce heat? No, according to M. Hirn, the course of our thoughts modify at each moment the march of the organic functions ; each feeling of joy, of sadness, of pain, of fear, or of agony, determines special modifications in the rythms of the pulse, of respiration, etc.; nervous persons know how each emotion may create muscular tremblings, and active heart-beatings; intense and sustained intellectual work often produces cutaneous transpiration, amounting to positive perspiration. Is there no loss of heat in this case? None, because the labor is internal, and has nothing in common with external manual work; but the intellectual exertion can influence the nature of the materials that oxygen burns, during the process of respiration; it can modify the employment of oxygen, and thus change the conditions of combustion. M. de Bellesme has been studying the phosphoresence of the glow-worm, from the physiological side; he substituted for the will of the insect, an electric current, and was thus enabled to produce the luminousness desired. He ascer- tained, and so corroborates Matteucci, that the presence of oxygen is indispensable to the production of phosphoresence, hence, there is in the luminous organ the production of a matter, which, in combination with the oxygen of the air, produces light; the structure of that organ excludes the possibility of all secretion, liquid or solid, for the matter is gaseous, and only phosphuretted hydrogen is glowing under ordinary conditions. Not only is there no phosphorus accumulated in the organ, but there is no provision of matter at all. M. de Bellesme has demon- strated conclusively, that the luminous substance is produced in proportion as it is required—never accumulated; that phosphorescence is a general property of the protoplasma, the result of phosphuretted hydrogen produced therein by chem- ical decompositions in connection with the cellules of the organ; the decomposi- . tion in the case of the glow-worm, being under the nervous influence of the insect, and which is essential for setting free the phosphorescence. The estimation of the quantity of cream contained in milk can now be made very accurately and rapidly, by means of centrifugal force. Attach the handle of a can, filled with milk, toa cord; hold the other extremity of the latter in the hand, and twirl as if for a sling; the cream, lighter than the rest of the milk, will accumulate on the surface free from all liquid, and more quickly than if in a state of repose; the time will even be lessened in proportion as the revolutions are rapid. When the milk has a temperature of 59 to 68 degrees F., the separa- tion of the cream takes place in fifteen minutes, at the rate of 600 revolutions per 78 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, minute. At the same time the quantity of water added to the milk for adulterating purposes can be ascertained. M.Gembloux having tested that pure milk contains Io per cent. of cream, added one, then a second tenth, of water, and when whisked, the cream represented but nine and eight per cent. of the volume of milk. Further, when whirled in the cylindrical churn, the contents formed three distinct layers—cream, water, and skim-milk. ‘The same centrifugal test was applied to butter, maintained in the liquid state by means of hot water; the matter separated into three states toward the circumference of the churn—fatty butter, caseine, and salt water; it was in the latter all the mineral adulterations lodged. It was at the Exhibition of Vienna that an apparatus for separating cream from milk by centrifugal action, was first made known: it is to M. Lefeldt that the honor reverts for applying the system on a vast scale by means of a turbine cylinder making 800 rotations per minute, when the cream is formed round the axle of the machine, after which comes the skim-milk, and then the impurities, forming, as it were, three rings or zones. Other skim-milk is introduced, which forces up the cream to run over, and thus out of, the cylinder. M. Lawal’s Swedish skimmer is so constructed, that in proportion as the cream and skim-milk are separated, they pass off by the entrance of fresh milk. In the co-operative dairy at Kiel, 4,000 quarts of milk the produce of 550 cows, are centrifugally skimmed per day. M. Forel’s experiments on Swiss Lakes prove that cold can penetrate therein to the depth of 120 yards. _ M. Nordenskjold has stated, in a letter to M. Daubrée, that judging from his dredgings in the Siberian Sea, the fauna most rich in individuals, at a depth of from 33 to 110 yards, does not exist between the tropics, but in the Glacial Ocean and the Behring Sea, where the temperature, too, remains at the bottom, from 30 to 28 degrees F. The municipality of Paris intends receiving and honoring M. Nordenskjold in the name of French Science. ze HEC: ESoVMenMOLOGY. THE SOUL—WHAT IS ITP Concerning the constitution of man there are three distinct theories. The first regards him as composed simply of a body, actuated for a time either by the ordinary forms of energy or by some modification thereof not yet recognized, and as losing at death his personal individuality. The second and more popular view . acknowledges in him a double nature, comprising, in addition to the palpable, ponderable, and visible part or body, an invisible and immaterial principle, known promiscuously as ‘‘ soul” or ‘‘ spirit.” Butthere is yet a third theory, which con- THE SOUL—WHAT IS 1T? 19 siders man as a threefold being, made up of body, soul, and spirit. It is no part of our present purpose to define the exact sense in which these last two terms are used. It may suffice to say that by the ordinary advocates of the triplicity of human nature the ‘‘ soul” is supposed to be the purely immaterial element, whilst the ‘‘ spirit ’’ forms a connecting link between the two, and, if not purely incor- poreal, possesses none of the ordinarily recognized properties of matter. An author* whose speculations we are about to examine, exactly reverses these two terms, and looks upon spirit as a something absolutely immaterial and trans- cendent, whilst the soul, the seat of the will, the passions and emotions, is per- ceptible by one, at least, of our senses, and is even capable of being experimen- tally isolated and obtained in solution. We find ourselves confronted by a number of facts, hitherto without explan- ation and without connection. Among these must rank the phenomena of sym- pathy and antipathy as between different individuals, human or brute. On first meeting with some person of whom we have no previous knowledge, we often experience a strong liking or a violent dislike, for neither of which we can render any definite reason. Asa rule women and children are more frequently impressed in this manner than are adult men. It very often happens, too, that if we sup- press and overcome these sudden prepossessions, we find in the end that they were justifiable, and that second thoughts were not best. Further, the emotions and passions of men assembled together are infectious, passing from one to another more rapidly than bodily diseases. From one or from a few energetic individuals enthusiasm may be diffused through a senate, a regiment, or a ship’s crew. On the other hand, a few terrified or bewildered persons may spread a panic among thousands. It is commonly said that emo- tions propagate themselves, but we wish to know in what manner and by what means this is effected. os a a es x i as a a We find, again, sympathies, and especially antipathies, which may be traced between entire species of animals, and which some of us seek to explain by the indefinite and long-suffering word ‘‘ instinctive.” If a dog has been stroked with a gloved hand, and if the glove is then held to the nose of a young kitten, still blind, the little creature begins to spit in anger. How is this fact to be ex- plained? The kitten has never yet seen a dog, but in the mere odor it recog- nizes a hostile element. Heredity? True, but how is the antipathy handed down from generation to generation? By what sign does the blind animal detect the presence of an enemy? There is still a further phenomenon which may be looked on as a heightened antipathy—fascination. We all know that very intense fear, instead of prompting to flight, may paralyse. * * ** . “ * 2 Taking a general view of all these phenomena, in so far as they are actually . established, it would seem that animals, including man, must throw off from their surfaces some emanation capable of acting upon other animals and men with whom they come in contact or in near proximity. This supposed emanation may vary *Professor Jager. 80 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. in its character in one and the same individual, according to its psychical condi- tion. If the vapors or gases thus emitted by two animated beings are in harmony, the result is sympathy or attraction, If they disagree, the consequence is antipa- thy, showing itself as hatred in the strong and as fear in the weak. This, it will be doubtless admitted, is a possible explanation of some of the phenomena above noticed; but is it the true or the only one? Do such emanations really exist? It is, we think, certain that many animals become aware of the presence either of their prey, of an enemy, or of a friend, by the sense of smell, even at very con- siderable distances. Our lamented friend Thomas Belt was led to the conclusion that ants are able to communicate with each other by means of this sense, and have in fact a smell-language. Unfortunately the sense of smell is so weak in man that it becomes very difficult for us to decide. Prof. Jager holds that certain decompositions take place in the animal system in strict accord with psychic changes. All observers, he tells us, agree that mus- cular exertion effects but a very trifling increase of the nitrogenous compounds present in the urine. On the other hand, Dr. Boecker and Dr. Benecke* have proved that intense pleasurable excitement effects a very notable increase of the nitrogenous products in the urine, derived, as a matter of course, from the de- composition of the albuminoid matter in the system. Prout and Haughton have made a similar observation concerning the effects of alarm and anxiety. Hence, therefore, it would appear that strong emotion involves an extensive decomposi- tion of nitrogenous matter, and in particular of its least stable portion, the al- buminous compounds. But does the whole of the matter thus split up reappear in the urine? Prof. Jager thinks that a portion escapes in a volatile state, form- ing the odorous emanations above mentioned. TZzzs portion he considers ts the soul, which exists in a state of combination in the molecule of the albumen, and is lib- erated under the influence of psychic activity. Hence his soul, like the body, is not a unitary entity, called once for all into existence, but is a something perpet- ually secreted, and as perpetually given off. It pervades the entire system. Each organ has its distinct psychogen, all of which, however, are merely differentiations of the one primary ovum-psychogen. Further modifications take place from time to time, in accordance with the mental condition of the man or other animal. It will here be remembered that, according to Haeckel (‘‘ Die Heutige Entwickel- ungslehre in Verhaltnis zur Gesammt-wissenschaft”’), all organic matter, if not matter altogether, is be-souled. Even the ‘‘plastidules’’—the molecules of protoplasm—possess souls. , In support of the assumption that a volatile something is given off from albu- men, Prof. Jager gives the following delicate experiment :—If we prepare, from the blood or the flesh of any animal, albumen as pure as possible, and free from smell and taste, and treat it with an acid, there appears a volatile matter which is perfectly specific, differing in the case of each animal species. But this odor varies according to the intensity of the chemical action. If this is slight we per- ceive the specific ‘‘ bouillon odor” which the flesh of the animal in question gives *Pathologie des Stoffwechsels | THE SOUL—WHAT IS IT ? 7) gilt off on boiling. On the contrary, if the reaction is violent, the odor given off is that of the excrement of the species. Here, then, we have the two main modifica- tions of psychogen, the sympathetic and the antipathetic form. Dr. O. Schmidt, Professor of Chemistry and Physics at the Veterinary Col- lege of Stuttgart, has repeated these experiments upon the brains of animals. The odoriferous principle is here evolved much more easily than from egg albumen. Immediately on the addition of an acid an offensive odor appears, which vanishes as rapidly, and cannot be caused to reappear. Nor has it been found possible to elicit from brain the more agreeable odor. It will doubtless be granted that certain yet unexamined specific odors are given off by living animals; that these odors may be repulsive or attractive to other species; that they may be liberated more abundantly under mental excite- ment. But where is the proof that these odors are the soul in any condition? May they not be regarded merely as an effect which psychic emotion, along with other agencies, produces in and upon the body? We will, therefore, though not without misgivings, quote an experiment to which Duntsmaier attaches much importance. He placed in a large wire-work cage a number of hares, and allowed a dog to run around this prison, snuffing at the inmates, and attempting to get at them for about two hours. It need scarcely be said that the hares were in a state of great terror. At the end of that time the dog was killed; his olfactory nerves and the interior membranes of the nose were taken out with the least possible loss of time, and ground up in glycerin. The clear liquid thus obtained contained the souls of the hares, or at least portions of them, in an intense state of painful excitement. Every animal to whom it was administered,*either by the mouth, or by injection under the skin, seemed to lose all courage. A cat after taking a dose did not venture to spring upon some mice. A mastiff similarly treated slunk away from the cat. Now we are here confronted by a serious difficulty: if a second dog was rendered timid by merely a small por- tion of this extract of fear, how is it that the first dog, after snuffing up the whole, did not suffer the same change and become afraid of the hares ? Other experiments, we are told, were tried with analogous results. Thus a glyceric extract of courage was obtained from a young lion, the olfactory nerves of a dog being again used as the collecting medium. A difficulty which must make us hesitate before ascribing animal antipathics to some disagreement in their souls, making itself known by their specific eman- ations, is the following: the animals of uninhabited islands when they first come in contact with man entertain no antipathy for him, until his propensity for indis- criminate slaughter is learnt by experience. Can we assume that his emanations have changed in the meantime? Again, a colony of mice had established them- selves at the bottom of a deep mine, doubtless to prey upon the provisions, can- dles, etc., of the workmen, and had flourished there for many generations. One of them, being captured, was brought up, placed in a cage, and shown to a cat. The cat prowled around and tried to get at its prey, but the mouse gave not the 82 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. least sign of alarm. Why should the emanations of a cat be less alarming to this mouse than to any other? Is the tiger, our natural enemy—which, according to Prof. Jager, bears the same relation to us which a cat does to a mouse,—any more offensive to us than certain animals which never prey upon man at all, such as the polecat or the skunk? If the timid man tempts the dog or the ox to attack him, on what principle does he diffuse panic among his feliow-men? In short, Prof. Jager’s theory is beset with many and serious difficulties. Nevertheless, or, rather the more, we consider it entitled to a careful examin- ation, both as regards its conclusion and the phenomena upon which it is based ; the science of odors has yet to be constituted, and we are convinced that it will amply repay the needful trouble.—London Journal of Science. SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALISM. The recent publication of Professor Zollner’s work in Germany, the death of Serjeant Cox, a distinguished lawyer and spiritualist in England, and the extend- ed publication of Mr. Joseph Cook’s lectures in this country have manifestly awakened a new interest in the alleged phenomena of what is called ‘‘ spiritual- ism.” So many communications have come to us from all parts of the country, the writers earnestly inquiring ‘‘ why scientific men do not investigate the subject fully, and se¢7e it once for all,” that we are led to allude to the matter briefly. In the first place, we will say that scientific men ave investigated it, and published the results of their labors. In England, three representative men of the highest distinction, Wallace, the naturalist, Varley, the electrician, and Crookes, the chemist, have given the subject thorough experimental examination. Crookes devoted four years to the labor, Varley seven, and Wallace ze, and they state in the most decided manner that the alleged phenomena are actual and real. All these scientists are Fellows of the Royal Society, and they represent three of the most important departments of physical and natural science, chemistry, elec- tricity, and biology. In Germany, five of the renowned professors in the univers- ities, with Zollner at the head, have laboriously investigated the problem, and they also avow belief in the verity of the phenomena. In Russia, Wagner and Butleroff, professors in the University at St. Petersburg, after years of patient in- vestigation, have reached similar conclusions. In addition to those named above, Dr. Franz Hoffman, of Wurtzburg University, Camille Flammarion and Hermann Goldschmidt, distinguished astronomers, and a large number of other scientific men in Europe, noted for accuracy of research and great acquirements, render the same affirmative verdict. In this country, the late venerable Dr. Robert Hare, of the University of Pennsylvania, gave five years of experimental labor to the subject, and he also became a convert. With him may be counted, perhaps, twenty other students in science, of less note, who coincide in his views. Let us look at the other side. In England, three distinguished representative SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALISM. 83 scientific men, Tyndall, Huxley, and Carpenter, entirely dissent from the con- clusions and views of the three others named. Tyndall speaks of the “‘intellect- ual whoredoms of spiritualism.” Huxley asserts that he ‘‘should have no in- terest in it if it was true.” Carpenter, in a spiteful way, designates as ‘‘ fools” all who take the trouble to look into the matter; and oracularly declares that “the whole thing is nothing but waconscious cerebration.”’ All of these gentlemen, like the others, are Fellows of the Royal Society. In Germany, Zollner meets with a strong adversary in a distinguished professor in another university, who has written a ‘‘counterblast ” to Zollner’s book. The. great naturalist, Carl Vogt, dissents, and so do Haeckel, Buchner, and Rolle. In this country, Agassiz was incredulous of the whole thing, and so, it would appear, are a large majority of the notable men connected with our colleges and universi- ties. But it is quite impossible to learn the truth in this regard. A considerable number, as we personally know, express views in private which they are careful not to make known in public. From the above brief review it will be seen that “spiritualism” in this country and Europe is regarded, among scholars and invéstigators, with about the same diversity of views as! ‘‘ Darwinism.” On this continent the great names of Dana and Dawson, with numerous others, are counted as disbelievers in Mr. Dar- win’s theories; on the other hand, the young naturalists, with America’s distinguish- ed botanist, Professor Gray, at their head, incline to adopt his conclusions. In Europe about the same remarkable diversity in opinion is found among the great scholars and experimenters. “ There is hardly any theory or doctrine in science upon which learned men are perfectly agreed, and it is not probable that this conflict of Opinion will end very soon in regard t» spiritualism or Darwinism. Whilst it is true that in inves- tigations which so completely baffle the ordinary observer the thorough scientific man has a great advantage, he is still warped by prejudice, and there cling to him certain weaknesses common to humanity under all conditions. He is apt to adopt Faraday’s views: “‘ Before we proceed to consider any question involving principles, we should set out with clear ideas of the naturally possible and im- possible.” If we are to investigate nothing till we know it to be possible, the boundaries of the field of investigation become narrowed almost to a point. The notion is absurd. Nature is chary of her secrets, and we are not permitted to have any very clear ideas of what is zmpossible. Doubtless those who have in- vestigated the subject under copsideration have entered upon the work with all the prejudices and doubts natural to labor in such a field of mist and darkn ess, where tricks and fraud may be presumed to hold sway. The conclusions reach ed in the aggregate have been so conflicting that, so far as the world goes, nothing has been settled, and we do not see how it can become a clear matter of belief or disbelief among. all classes from any investigations that may be undertaken, no matter how learned or exalted the individuals may be who enter upon the labor. To be sure, spiritualism rests upon alleged physical occurrences and facts, and IV—6 84 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. so does Christianity, but science is incompetent to convince the world of the truthfulness or falsity of the later as well as of the former. Seeing is not always believing, and the most obstinate disbelievers in experimental results are among the co-laborers and associates of those who bring forward alleged results for con- sideration. Especially is this the case among those whose prejudices run counter to facts sought to be established.— Boston Journal of Chemistry. ANTE ROPROLOGY: TERTIARY MAN. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF ZABOROWSKI, BY E. L. BERTHOUD, A. M. ‘¢ How far in past geological ages can we demonstrate the existence of man? We have to-day all necessary elements to give a satisfactory answer to this question. Already in the beginning of 1864, M. Garrigou believed that he had proofs of the contemporaneity of man and miocene mammifers. These proofs were bones of Dicrocerus Elegans, broken exactly like those from the quaternary caverns of France. Those bones came from the hill at Sansan, Department of Gers. Submitted to scientific discussion in 1868, this proof made no sensible impression. Nor did the so-called notches on a rhinoceros’ jaw observed by Col. Saussédat from miocene strata at Billy, in France, obtain any greater credence. M. Delaunay reported his discovery of incisions observed by him on the fossil ribs of a Haliterium obtained from the miocene cliffs of Pouance. These, for a long time, were attributed to the action of man. But in 1873, this posi- tion was abandoned by Delaunay and his follower, L’Abbe Bourgeois, and the incisions, on the advice and proof M. Hébert, were attributed to a shark, the carchorodon megalodon, that had probably once gnawed them when yet fresh. These fossils can to-day be seen in the museum of St. Germain. Generally, the only objects incontestably of the miocene epoch, which bear traces of marks actually formed by the intervention of human agency, are the chipped flints of Thénay in the Department (Loire et cher.) These have been gathered by M. Bourgeois at a great depth in the ground, under a more recent deposit that yielded polished implements of flint. All these being in a much more recent quaternary stratum, while under them were miocene layers con- taining abundant fragments of haliterium, mastodon, acerotherium, etc. The rough flint tools consist of scrapers, reamers, and small flint points, but all so roughly fashioned that everybody hesitated for a long time to take them for | flint chippings, designedly so chipped. | TERTIARY MAN. 85 M. Bourgeois presented the first ones found, to the congress of 1867. A few scrapers were then admitted to have been fashioned by human design, among those so agreeing being Messrs. Mortillet and Hamy. But when in 1873, M. Bourgeois presented some more new specimens found by him, to the same congress, opinions of their being the work of human hands, were much divided. But the scrapers were, however, recognized as genuine, some of them even presenting not only marks of fire, but have been shaped by aid of fire, the chipping having been employed only to correct the action of heat, and to modify the rough burnt forms. M. Mortillet, after this, formed of this epoch of the first recognized human labor, the epoch of the ‘‘ astonished stone ’””—in French, ‘‘ Pierre etonnee,”—~.e. astonished or split up. Some of the flint tools are deeply altered and seamed by this action, nevertheless we can not admit, except with repugnance that the beings who constructed these flint chippings, were masters of fire, and capable of lighting it, if even of using it. Were these beings in fact what we might call men? This question has been examined and discussed in all its different bearings by Messrs. Mortillet, Hove- lacque and Gaudry, the Paleontologist, and decided by them in the negative. It is known that animated beings on earth have followed a regular ascending scale, their most perfect developed forms, appearing in the order of succession _as a development of former inferior types. In all paleontological series, we do not see one group of highly organized beings appear on the arena before the appearance of an inferior ancestral group. Hence, this law by no means would prevent us from considering the makers of the flint tools of Thénay, to be considered ‘‘a priori” as human beings. The principal types of monkeys were already in existence in the middle miocene epoch ; the single species of which numerous remains are now known is the ‘‘ Mesopithecus Pentelici,” from Greece. This simian was highly devel- oped, and comes from the upper miocene. M. Lartet has discovered two anthropomorphous monkeys in the middle miocene. Hence, an ancestrial form nearly human, could very well have ap- peared in this same miocene epoch without interfering with the laws of evolu- tion. But there is not in the whole middle miocene, one species of mammifer identical with present species. All species of animals and plants have been changed on earth since that period, and there is nothing startling in this when we reflect on the enormous period of time that has elapsed since the middle miocene period. The Thénay flints occurred below strata that are middle miocene, that is the ‘‘ Calcaire de Beance,” then after this we have the upper miocene of Pikermi and of Vancleve; then we have the lower Pliocene; then follows the submerged forest bed of Cromer, in England; then above that the period of glacial boulder clays, of Norfolk; this to be followed by diluvium; then follows the Reindeer period ; lastly our present age, ‘‘ (Gaudry.)” 86 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. Since the end of the lower miocene, the mammalian fauna has been re- newed at least three times, and between middle miocene and our present period there have been not only specific differences, but also generic differences. (Zo be continued.) A BURIED RACE IN KANSAS.* BY JUDGE E. P. WEST, KANSAS CITY, MO. Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen : I have the honor this evening of presenting to the Academy some additional facts hastily gleaned, upon a subject heretofore partially considered, and which tend further to strengthen the growing belief that a field, until recently considered barren in archzeological remains, promises now, from developments of almost daily occurrence, to become second to none in interest in this respect. The appliances of our civilization are bringing to notice, in Kansas, a race unknown to history or tradition, and whose very existence, from any monument or vestige appearing upon the surface, might have remained unsuspected and unmarked forever, but for those appliances. The district of country explored is in Marion county, Kansas, and extends from Florence, on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R., to four miles north’ of Marion Centre, situated on a branch of that road. ‘This entire area, extending along the Cottonwood Valley and border of the low hills bounding it on either side, to use the language of my young friend Melvin Billings, to whose indefat- igable researches we are indebted for most of the facts I lay before you, ‘‘is covered and underlaid with human remains.” My own observations sustain the justice of this statement. In the environment of the confluence of Clear Creek, Mud Creek, and the Cottonwood, in the vicinity of Marion Centre, there is evidence of three distinct races, which preceded our present civilization. Evidence of the most recent is to be found in the burial places of our modern Indians; next a hundred or more of low mounds or borrows containing human remains, such as fragments of pottery, stone and bone implements, ashes, charcoal, burnt clay, stone pipes, and human bones, testify to a greater antiquity; and evidence of the remaining, and most ancient race, is to be found in human remains without anything whatever upon the surface to indicate their presence. These last are encountered in excavations for cellars, in well-digging, and in the cuts of the MA) é2 Mi Pi" Ri Rea branch of (the ‘A., Tees: Ho Re iRessietone alluded to. The latter class of remains, especially on the low hills fringing the valley, are all, so far as I had an opportunity to observe them, found in a Lacus- trine deposit, under a deep, black vegetable mold, and rest on the Glacial drift. This was the case at the cellars of Mr. Baylis and Mr. Case, at Marion Centre, *Read before the Kansas City Academy of Science, May 25, 1880. A BURIED RACE IN KANSAS. 87 where human remains were found. At each place I observed the Drift cropping out on the hill-slope at a short distance from the cellars. I also observed drift pebbles, which had been thrown out from the bottom of each cellar. In digging a trench from Mr. Baylis’ cellar a stone mortar was found at about the same depth of the cellar, and was covered over in filling the ditch and left remaining where found. But it must not be inferred that these two cellars are the only places where these mysterious remains are encountered. Mr. Billings, in a former letter to me, says: ‘‘In the excavation of nearly every cellar and well in town some relic of aboriginal inhabitancy has been found.” His residence is with his father, a short distance out of town, and, in the same letter, he says: ‘‘In digging acistern at my home, one of these peculiar graves was struck, from which charcoal, burnt bones, flint chips, etc., were taken. In excavating the basement of our barn, 38 by 40 feet, seven of these graves were discovered.” The M. & M. P. R. R. crosses Mud Creek some two or three hundred yards south of Marion Centre, and, in the same letter, Mr. Billings con- tinues: ‘‘In grading the approaches to the bridges a large amount of pre-historic debris was discovered, among which are broken bone implements, stone arrow and spear points, stone axes, grooved mallets, rub stones, broken pottery, etc.” But the best observed graves of this kind, if graves they are, were found at the brick-yard of Mr. W. S. Moulton, one and a half miles north of Marion Centre. These were well examined by Mr. Billings and Mr. Moulton, and possess some very remarkable features independent of their evident great antiq- uity. The clay used by Mr. Moulton is a Lacustrine deposit containing lime connections, and is very similar to the Loess or brick clay in this city. It is three to four feet in thickness, only, covered by two feet of black vegetable mold, and rests on the Glacial drift. Mr. Moulton has removed the clay, in his brick-making, over a space of less than fifty feet, but in this small area he has found eleven of these buried repositories of the dead. They are cone-shaped, covered over with two feet or more of undisturbed vegetable mold, and all rest on the Drift. From a careful measurement of some of these, by Mr. Billings and Mr. Moulton, they _ were found to be fifty-four inches in diameter at the base, eighteen inches at the top, and thirty-six inches high; i. e. there is found in the clay, of these dimen- sions, -a black cone-shaped mass of mixed ashes, charcoal, fragments of shells, intermingled, perhaps, with clay and containing human remains. What is very remarkable, the base of the cone, at equal distances, sends out three triangular projections of about twelve inches in extent; and, still more remarkable, is the correspondence with this configuration of an ornamentation, or carved figure, on a fragment of the pottery found. The ornamentation seems to have been sculptured after the vessel was partially dried, and before burning. There is but a part of the figure or emblem on the fragment obtained, but there is enough of it remaining to associate it with the peculiar shape of the receptacles found imbedded in the clay, without any great stretch of the imagination. The part of the figure remaining forms an arc of a circle, with one of the triangular 88 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. shaped projections based in it. All this will be better understood by the engraved representations in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The dark lines in Fig. 1 represent the fragment of pottery and segment of the figure remaining on it, and the dotted lines the lost segment, or the figure restored as supposed to have been sculptured on the’ vessel. Fig. 2 represents the base of the repositories as outlined in the clay. Fig. 3 represents a side view of the repositories. Flg 1—Full Size. What is the peculiar shape of these repositories and figures emblematic of? Possibly of the sun. The people who conceived and fashioned them must have had some knowledge of geometrical lines and a considerable degree of intelligence. All who have examinéd the repositories, without exception, with whom I have conversed, agree that the vegetable mold must have formed over them since they were made. They rest on Glacial drift, and must have been formed since that deposit. But the questions remain to be answered—were they excavated in the Lacustrine clay, or were they erected before its deposit and covered in by it ? It seems difficult for a primitive people to plan and make an excavation of such shape; and these repositories may have been formed of some kind of cement upon the surface, before the Lacustrine time and covered by its deposits, and since undergone disintegration. Marion Centre lies on the southeastern slope of the summit dividing the A BURIED RACE IN KANSAS. 89 et ere oreo 12 Tienes A a ene NG Piha Inches wowres eee —— oo eee Sem ww mw — - On OO eee —S 5 ee Inches 12 2 Inches Fig. 3. water-shed of the Arkansas river on the south, and the Smoky Hill river on the north, and is more elevated than the valleys of those streams on either side. What connection, if any, these remains have with those I formerly described, 90 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. found at a greater depth in those deeper valleys, remains to be determined by farther developments. If, however, they rest upon the Drift, as those here described do, and it is most likely that such is the case, the only difference would seem to be in the thickness of the covering over them, which would naturally fol- low from the differences in elevation when the deposit was accumulating, z. ¢., if the lake water was four feet at the Moulton brick-yard and thirty feet at Ellsworth, supposing remains on the surface at each place when the deposit began, those at Ellsworth might be covered to a depth of thirty feet, while those at the Moulton brick-yard would only be covered four feet. Such remains might belong to the same race, if we suppose an occupancy prior to the submergence of the country. It would require months of patien: investigation to bring into order the facts connected with this very interesting and mysterious race, and I regret that I have not the means to prosecute the work; but hope some one more fortunate will do so. The Glacial drift underlying the clay at the Moulton brick-yard is well marked and not to be mistaken. The day devoted to these investigations proved to be tempestuous and rainy, but, by the kindness of my young friend’s father,,who placed a splendid team and wagon at our disposal, we braved the ‘‘tempest and the storm” and accom- plished a good day’s work. We visited several cellars, the Moulton brick-yard, some cuts on the M. & M. P. R. R., and took in mounds by the score. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad deserves great credit for the interest it has manifested in developing the beautiful country lying along its line, and the facilities it has generously afforded scientific explorations in Kansas, and merits the thanks of this Academy. GHOLOGY AND MINE RAEOGY: GEOLOGY AND EVOLUTION.* BY THE LATE PROF. B. F. MUDGE. CHAPTER I.—LAWS OF EVOLUTION. SILURIAN FOSSILS. The doctrine of evolution is by means new. It is found in the oldest writ- ings of antiquity, and appears to have secured a few believers in all ages. But it is only within the last hundred years that it has assumed a scientific garb. La- * NoTE.—We present in this number of the REviEw the introductory chapter of a series of articles written by the late Prof. Mudge on Geology and Evolution. Chapters IV and V of thisseries have already appeared in the REvIEw under the head of Botany and Evolution. While it is to be expected that many of the conclusions and deductions from his train of argument will be denied and objected to by the opponents of Evolution, these are nevertheless a valuable contribution to the literature of the subject, by one of the best observers of our day, and one who has had many opportunities of investigating this theory in connection with his favorite sciences—Geology and Paleontology. The articles are just as they came from his pen, with the exception of the necessary correction ofa few obvious errors.—L. GEOLOGY AND EVOLUTION. 91 marck, and, a little later, the author of Vestiges of the Natural History of Crea- tion, and quite recently, Darwin and his followers, have given it a prominent position in the scientific world. ’ The strongest arguments and facts presented in support of their theory, have been based on living organisms. Our position on this question is, that the pres- ent period, or even the whole of the historic time, is far too short to settle the question of the evolution of the higher orders or genera, from the lower; and it is only in the long, long ages of geology that such changes can be studied with accurate results. To us it appears that geology must be the final arbiter in this great problem. We now propose to see how far this science can furnish evidence upon the subject of evolution. In advance we state three laws which will guide us in the investigation, viz: First. Jf evolution be true, it must be the ruling law, more or less apparent through all animated nature ; or at least be seen in a majority of all species and genera. of organic beings. Seconp. That it should be most clearly observable in those species, whose fossil remains are most numerous and most widely disseminated. Tuirp. That the development from the lower to the higher type, should be symmet- rical and harmonious. By the third law we mean that when animals are claimed to be derived from a lower form, advancement should be seen in all parts of the body, both internal and external, in the same degree. Prof. E’ D. Cope, an advocate of evolution, has expressed the idea in the following terms: ‘‘ The natural deduction is, that if a portion of an animal exhibits a form intermediate between two known forms _ or types, the remainder of the animal structure possesses the same kind of inter- mediacy.”** He has endeavored to show a modification of this rule in some cases, but the main principle stands unchanged. We think these three laws may be fairly and candidly deduced from what we already know of the operations of nature; and are not inconsistent with the principles laid down in the writings of Prof. Darwin and his associates. Now if the student in fossil remains finds forty-nine out of fifty of the most abundantly preserved species, showing no marked change, over large areas and during long geological periods, even if the remainder should present some appar- ent development, in a slow degree, he has a right to conclude, that evolution is not a law of nature, and that no high type has arisen or can arise from the lowest. There are about 50,000 known species of fossil plants and animals. Some of these are represented by very few specimens, others by hundreds or thous- ands, and not a few by millions. We consider ourselves justified in saying, that at least one-tenth part (5,000) are sufficiently numerous and val preserved to show the changes of evolution, if it exists. It is apparent that in all animated nature, there is a great diversity in the ap- pearance of different individuals of the same species. But we take the position, * Cretaceous Vertebrata, p. 8. 92 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. which we believe we can prove, in the following pages, that this constant, ever present variation is always within a narrow limit. Thus, no two oysters, horses or menare just alike, but their varied appearance is within a narrow circle. No two members of the human family are just alike, yet we easily detect the German, French or Irish element, yea, even family traits, in the men we daily meet. This* constant variation, is accompanied by an equally constant adherence to the normal type. No two sharks are just alike, and different genera and species have a regular variance from each other, but the microscopic cell-form of the shark’s tooth, as given by Owen in his Odontography, is the same in the earliest tooth of the Devonian and in all later geological strata, as well as in the living sharks of our ocean. No two pine trees have the same shape, yet the cell-form of the wood, so small as to require a strong magnifier to see it, is always of the same elongated shape and with the same marking, whether from the Devonian age or from the living Auricarian pine. This unyielding persistence will be brought in view in the examination of the varied phases of organic life. In looking at the facts of geology the great rule is apparent that in a very general way the oldest fossiliferous strata contain only low types of animal and vegetable life, while the later formations contain higher forms, in proportion as they become more modern. This general rule, however fails in detail, as we shall endeavor to show. The oldest Silurian does not begin with the lowest forms of the five great sub-kingdoms of animals, as it should according to the laws of evolution, but has numerous representations of four sub-kingdoms, viz: Protozoans, Radiates, Mollusks and Articulates. The Protozoans, which are the lowest, and consequently according to the theory of evolution, should be the earliest and most abundant, are not found at the first; and when found are the least abundant of the Primoidal found. ‘The representatives of the Radiates, Mol- lusks and Articulates, are not the lowest of their kinds. This fact was thus strongly and clearly stated at a recent meeting of the British Association by Dr. Thomas Wright, President of Section C. ‘‘ Instead of a gradation upward in certain groups and classes of fossil animals, we find on the contrary, that their first representatives are not the lowest, but often highly organized types of the class to which they belong. This is well illustrated in the Corals, Crinoids, As- teride, Mollusca and Crustacez of the Silurian Age, and which make up the beginnings of life in the Palaeozoic period. The fishes of the Old Red Sandstone, we have already seen occupy a respectable position among the Pisces; and the Reptiles of the Trias are not the lowest form of their class, but highly organized Dinosauria.” Dana * also says, ‘‘If we may trust the records, Echinoderms, or the highest type of Radiates, were represented by species (Cystids and Crinids) long before the inferior type of Polyps existed.f” The examination of the Silurian fossils in detail are instructive on this point. Barande in his valuable publications on the Silurian, has given us the results of his studies on this system from twelve district regions. Dividing it into three Tee Nature, Aug. 2s, 1875, p. 307. + Mammal, p. 598. GEOLOGY AND EVOLUTION. : 93. periods he tabulates the fossils of the first division. From this he reports from the four sub-kingdoms above named, 366 species. Of these, 264 or seventy-two per cent belong to Crustacea, the highest of these ’sub-kingdoms. So while on theoretic grounds only the lowest sub-kingdom should have been represented, the highest outnumbers all the others by nearly three-fold. In abundance of in- dividual specimens, the trilobites, the most common crustaceans, outnumber by a hundred-fold all other fossils in the first division of the Bohemian Primordial. Barande further states that the families and orders are entirely without transitional forms. If we examine all the fossils of the Silurian Age, we shall find a somewhat similar result. Barande gives 10,074 as the number of Silurian Species known and described up to 1872. Of these only 153, or less than two per cent, are Pro- tozoans—tr, 306 or thirteen per cent are Radiates, while 2,112 or twenty-one per cent are Crustaceans. It will be seen that the highest, though not as numerous as the next lowest -sub-kingdom, contains more than both of the lowest two. This proportion in favor of the Crustaceans is greater than exists in the living species. If we examine the number in the classes of the Mollusks we shall find results, though not as strong, still in favor of the highest. Cephalopods, the most com- plete in organization, are the most numerous. It will also be seen that there is. no order or harmony in the number of each class. Placing them in the order of their rank we have in number of species and percentage ; Cephalopods. . . er NCL OD 2h Noein O07 Pteropods and Heteropods . Bae RO OMe alia OO Gasteropodsueians.: Rie ee ures Saeed NEC PIDL Ay ae Wess Niel caine) are qt DOO Op ai anion) + sO, Brachtopodsian sneer ste EG O7 oo es 1220 The EXTREMES are most strongly represented. Much has been said about the possibility, that all animal life has been de- rived from the Ascidian. If so, it should appear among the earliest fossils. But it has never been thus found. It has been asserted that because it has no solid parts it could not have been preserved if it had existed. It has a tough leathery exterior, far more firm than many an animal found fossilized. We have the im- pressions of the soft bodies of spiders preserved in the Carboniferous rocks; and 185 species of worms have been described from the Silurian. Our marine plants found in all geological ages, are of softer texture, yet we find their outlines well preserved. Besides,.the living Ascidians are frequently covered by the calca- reous material of Bryozoans, which would aid in the preservation of the leathery sack. No intermediate form between the Ascidians and the vertebrates exist among fossils. The size of many species, eight inches and over, would enable them to be easily seen, if only the outline had been preserved. To any one who has studied the character and relations of the fossils of the various geological formations, it is very clearly discernible, that while the first forms are not like the animal life of the present day; they are very far from being KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 94 : “sno ‘O18 AI8}19T, |-govjarp| -sBane \ STVNWNVW HOA - ‘STVIdNSUVN ‘SUTILGAN ANWL Tosts ss * 899810410 A ‘SNVIGIHdWV = ‘HSI SS a, ) sss ee se ss + SUBOOBISNAYD SS Se a ee en en ee ees SYSUTTOW SSeS soyuIpesy Ese * guBozojyorg ‘sno ‘os *£ie10,7, |-908}010] -svane ‘ADV NVINN'TIS ‘sea, | -ruoqae : oe oe +@) UvIUOADG “3 “SEE ‘STIVANVIN al = 5 ‘STVIdNSUVN = ‘SUTILGAU ANAL \ eee eee OL ETCOTLOLAG SS ‘SNVIGIHINV [Se ‘HSId See Me ) esr es ss ss SUBO0DBISNAD Se a ee aa cece a a eph cee e eaneO SHSNIIOW. Sa sa ae ce ee ee a Beare ore a soqBIp Bay Sas S| eee eee Te suoz0j04q i ane ‘IDV NVIMATIS “SBILJ,| -jluogieg ‘uvIUOAOg Sa) a PRECIOUS METAL MINING IN THE UNITED STATES. 95, in harmony with any system of development. To show this the more plainly to the eye, we have given two Figs.—1 and 2, exhibiting the times of the appear- ance geologically of the various forms, and also the relative periods at which they should have appeared according to the system of evolution. Fig. 1 is condensed from Dana.* It will be seen from this that four of the five sub-kingdoms of animal life—all but the vertebrates—came in together at the beginning of the Silurian, when if there was in nature a systematic plan of de- velopment, the Protozoans should have appeared first, and the others followed in the order of their organic rank. The latter idea we have endeavored to show in Fig. 2. We have divided the time nearly equally between the fine sub-kingdoms. This may be giving the lower forms more importance than they deserve for they are not equally dissimilar in the degree of their organization. But it is usually stated by evolutionists, that the lower the type the more slowly is the change of advancement. This we think justifies the statement that the time required for the Protozoan to become a Radiate would be as long as for the highest Crustacean t» become a Vertebrate. Our tables in Fig. 2 may not be entirely accurate, but they are certainly so approximately. It is enough to show how entirely antago- nistic are the facts of the earth’s early history to the theory of development. The great difference of life rank, between the different sub-kingdoms, is admitted by all Zodlogists. coh Similar tables (see Figs. 11 and 12) in relation to the geological and theoretic appearance of vegetration, gives nearly the same results. Note.—We have commenced, in our geological history and observations, with the fossils of the Lower Si- lurian. The fossils below that age are so few and obscure that they throw little, if any, light on the subject under discussion. Whether Eozon Canadense is organic, is an unsettled question in the scientific world. Dana in referring to the oldest Silurian fossils has stated that they were not less than fifty millions of years old. Weshall use that standard of time, in the following pages, though most European geologists assume a much longer period. [See appendix for the Geological Ages and Periods. ] : PRECIOUS METAL MINING IN THE UNITED STATES. BY N. S. SHALER. *k *K *k * *k k *k * *k *k ae * The fields of the precious metals in the United States may-be generally di- vided into two principal areas, that of the Appalachian and that of the Cordil- leran ranges. Besides these there are the smaller regions, which may be termed in a similar fashion, from their neighboring mountains, the Laurentian, including the region about Lake Superior, and the Ozark region about the mountains of that name in Arkansas and Missouri. There are lead ores in several of the States of the Mississippi Valley, at great distances from these mountain ranges, that contain a small proportion of silver, but in few cases does this silver exceed about the four or five thousandth part of the ore; nor is there any chance that they will ever produce this metal in quantities of the least commercial importance. * Manual, pps. 886 and 589. 96 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. The whole of the rich agricultural region of the Mississippi; the whole of the Western plains, through all their extent to the one hundred and second meridian west from Greenwich, and on their northern section to the one hundred and tenth meridian ; the whole of the low-lying plains of the Southern States, in all con- taining a little over one half the total area of the United States, but at least nine tenths of its arable land, is sure never to prove productive of any the metals now known to the arts, save iron, lead, and aluminium; and of these lead will never be again economically produced there, until the mining industry of the Cordilleran region begins to wane. This rejection of the larger part of national area from the list of regions where gold and silver may be found in profitable quantities is based upon actual experience of the generations grown up within the area, as well as the general fact that the experience of other countries shows us that such rocks as underlie this region are always marked by the absence of gold and silver in profitable quantities. Of late years there has been a great advance toward a learc understanding of the natural processes by which metallic deposits are brought into the shape in which the miner findsthem. Allthe old notions about the outburst of mineral veins, by fiery ejection from the deep interior of the earth, have been cast aside. Geol- ogists now pretty generally recognize the fact that all our metals are deposited in our stratified rocks as they are laid down on the sea-floor, having been sepa- rated from the sea-water, as a great part of all the rocks are, by the action of sea-weeds and marine animals. - eos “s a *k oS Whoever looks over the whole field of American precious metal mining will be convinced that this industry is certain to make a very rapid growth in what is left of this century.- He will also come to the conclusion that the production of silver is destined to increase very rapidly for a score or so of years to come, pro- vided the demand for this much slandered metal does not fall too far short of the supply. Beyond a brief term this yield of silver will surely diminish, especially if there is any considerable lowering in its price. ‘The observant eye can also see that the production of gold is likely to extend to many new fields, and that the yield of this metal is in the future likely to be rather more steady than that of its bulkier sharer in the greed of men. North America and the twin con- tinent on the south are doubtless to be the great producers of precious metals in the future; their store of silver must be of greater value at the present price of this metal than their store of gold. If the world continues to use silver in the coming century as it has in the past thirty centuries, there is a fair prospect that our continent will win some thousands of millions from its silver-bearing lodes. Even if we make what seems to me the mistake of using gold alone as a basis of exchange, the production of this metal will no doubt give us a larger mining in- dustry than any other country can expect to gain.—/une Atlantic. ASPHALT PAVEMENTS. 97 BNGINEERING., ASPHALT PAVEMENTS. GEN. Q. A. GILLMORE, U. S. A. Within the last twenty-five years bitumen, in some of its many forms, has been employed to a considerable extent, as the binding material or matrix for road and street coverings laid in continuous sheets without joints. They are all comprised under the general head of asphalt paveinents. The city of Paris took the lead in this innovation upon the former methods of paving with stone, the reasons assigned for the change being, (1) the want of connection and homo- geneity, in the elements of which the stone paving is composed, (2) the incess- ant noise produced by them, (3) the imperfect surface drainage which they se- cure, by reason of which the foul waters are not carried off but filter into the joints, and (4) the ease with which they can be displaced, and used for the con- struction of barricades, breastworks and rifle pits in time of civil war. The forms of bitumen most extensively employed for pavements are mineral tar; asphalt rock, which is an amorphous carbonate of lime impregnated with mineral tar, and known in commerce as Jdituminous limestone ; asphaltuu ; heavy petroleum ous \ike those from West Virginia, or others not volatile under 212 Fah., or the residuum of refined petroleum containing no water, and so refined as not . to be volatile at 212 Fah. The principal sources of the natural mineral tar of commerce are in France, at Bastenne (Landes) and at Pyrimont Seyssel (Ain), and in Switzerland at Val de Travers, in the canton of Neuchatel. At Bastenne as well as at Gaujac, in the south of France, it flows frome sevral springs mixed withwater. Asphaltum is a variety of bitumen generally found in a solid state. At ro- _ dinary temperature it is brittle, and too hard to be impressed with the finger nail. It is black or brownish in color, opaque, slightly translucent at the edge of a new fracture, of smooth fracture, and has little odor unless rubbed or heated. It melts easily, burns with very little if any residue, and is very inflammable. It is found floating on the Dead Sea, and in many places in Europe. Many localities in Mexico supply it, and it abounds in the islands of Barbadoes, Trini- dad and Cuba, and in Ritchie county, West Virginia, and in New Brunswick, Dominion of Canada. A capital distinction must be made between pavements of asphalt hereafter described, made either with natural asphalt rock, or with the refined asphaltum as a cement, combined with suitable calcareous powder, and all or nearly all of those attempted imitations of it, produced by mixing crude mineral tar, or manufactured tar, with one or more pulverized minerals or earths. And more especially must we exclude from the category of asphalt pavements, all those 98 KANSAS. CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. patent street coverings composed of wood-tar, coal-tar, pitch, rosin, etc., mixed with either sand, gravel, ashes, scoria, sulphur, lime, etc., or with two or more or all of them. Some of them will produce a tolerably fair sidewalk, but they are to- tally unfit for the surface of a carriage way. Some of the best of them will an- swer for carriage way foundations. The rock should be of the fine grained variety, of tolerably close texture, and composed of pure carbonate of lime so uniformly and homogeneously im- pregnated with the bitumen, that a cut made with a sharp knife will show neither pure white nor jet black spots, but be of a brownish liver color, mottled with gray. When asphalt rock of this character is heated to a ternperature of 200° to 212° Fah., the bitumen becomes soft, the grains of limestone separate from each other, and the mass crumbles into a partially coherent powder. If this powder while still hot, be powerfully compressed by ramming, tamping, or rolling, the molecules will again unite, and the mass when cold will assume all the essential qualities of the original rock, but in a superior degree, as regards toughness, hardness, and incompressibility. This is the whole theory of asphalt road cover- ings, as applied to the street pavements in Paris and elsewhere. Mention has been made of the superior toughness, hardness and incom- pressibility, conferred on bituminous limestone by compressing it while hot. This property characterizes any genuine asphalt mixture suitable for paving purposes, and advantage has been taken of it, in first forming the material into rectangular blocks under a heavy pressure, and then laying them in courses across the street, substantially after the manner followed in constructing the best stone block pavement. It is, perhaps, needless to say that a pavement of this kind, composed of good materials, properly prepared, and laid upon a firm and unyielding foundation, should be a good one. Specimens of it have been on trial for some years in San Francisco, Cal. The blocks are made with Trinidad asphaltum, softened with 7 to g per cent. of the heavy oils or still bot- toms, used in preparing the asphaltic cement. This preparation is mixed with hot powdered limestone, or powdered furnace slag, and then compressed with a - force of about fifty tons into blocks measuring 4 inches by 5 inches by 12 inches. The pressure, which is applied to the narrowest face of the block, exceeds one ton to the square inch. The limestone or slag is not required to be of the fine- ness of impalpable powder, but is composed of grains of all sizes from dust up to the size of a small pea. Tne blocks are laid close together on their longest edges, in courses across the street, breaking joints lengthwise of the street, the joints being filled with suitable asphaltic cement so as to render the paveinent water tight. The foun- dation should be firm and stable, such as the best of those described on pages 143 to 149. This pavement while new would be nearly as smooth as that of the continuous sheet of asphalt heretofore described, but the wear of heavy traffic would, in a short time, crumble off the edges of the blocks and open the joints THE HUDSON RIVER TUNNEL. . 99 at the surface sufficiently to give the horses a foothold, without impairing the im- perviousness of the covering. It is suggested that it would be better to form the blocks with slightly truncated or rounded edges, so as to give the requisite foot- hold when the pavement is laid, rather than to secure the same end by the irreg- ular and ragged abrasion caused by use. As they are homogeneous in tough- ness and hardness, the blocks can be taken up, and their surfaces become un- even from unequal wear, and relaid in mortar, bottom side up, with all smooth- ness of a new pavement. It may be added that the process of refining and care- ful manipulation, is equally necessary whether the material be applied as a mon. olithic sheet, or as blocks, and any mixture that is suitable for the former is also suitable for the latter; also, that a form of sand is not a proper foundation in either case. — Roads, Streets and Pavements. THE HUDSON RIVER TUNNEL. The work of tunneling the Hudson River is pushing steadily on, and it is expected that in three years from now trains arriving in Jersey City will run di- rectly through to New York, and land their passengers in Broadway, somewhere fear the Metropolitan hotel, in six minutes’ time. The company says that more than too trains of cars could be passed through in twenty-four hours on the double track. Freight trains will use the tunnel exclusively at night, and market trains in the early morning. All will be drawn by engines made especially for the pur- pose. These will consume their own steam and smoke. A powerful engine will be always at work forcing air into the tunnel. The entire length of the tunnel will be 12,000 feet; that is, about one mile under water and three-quarters of a mile on each side. Thus far only the New Jersey end has been bored, but the work on this side will soon be begun and excavations will proceed from both banks until they meet. As many men will be kept constantly engaged day and night, as can be successfully employed at once, in making the hole and building the lining wall. The gangs will be changed every eight hours, thus doing three _ days labor every twenty-four hours. All the work will be done by electric light. The tunnel will be lined throughout with iron plates, and these in turn will be faced all over with the best hardened brick and hydraulic cement, three feet thick. The brick will be made from the refuse taken from the tunnel. This, it is said, will effect a saving of $2.25 on every thousand used. As there will be 2,013 brick in each running foot of wall, it will be seen that the saving is consid- erable. The interior will be painted white and lighted with gas. The entrance in Jersey City will be from Jersey avenue in Fifteenth street. The tunnel will be a single one, twenty-six feet wide and twenty-four feet high in the clear down to within a few feet of the river on both sides, and a double one all of the way un- _ der the water where the two tunnels will run side by side, each eighteen feet high and sixteen feet wide in the clear. It is to extend from Jersey avenue to IV—7 100 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, Hudson street and the river, about 3,400 feet; thence under the river, curving five degrees northward to the New York bulkhead line at or near the foot of Mor- ton street, about 5,400 feet, then curving slightly southward in New York, about 3,000 feet, to a point to be selected-by the city authorities. The extension grade of the tunnel is two in 100 feet descending from Jersey City, then ascending on the New York side three in 100 feet for 1,500. From that point the ascent will be on a grade of two in roo feet to the New York end. The greatest depth of water in the river is about sixty feet. Most of the bottom of the river bed is composed of tenacious silt, underlaid by hard sand. Near the New York shore a small extent of rock is encountered and some gravel.—.S¢. Louis Journal of Commerce. Eis MOLSON NG BOG BUTTER, FROM COUNTY GALWAY, IRELAND. Mr. John Plant, F. G. S., exhibited at a meeting of the Manchester, Eng- land, Philosophical society, January 19, 1880, a piece of mineral resin, familiar- ly known in the west of Ireland as Bog Butter, (Butyrellite). The lump weighed exactly 14 ozs. It came from a good depth in a bog in County Galway.