FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



137 



in papers read at the recent meeting of the 

 American Association by Prof. D. T. Mc- 



Dougal. 



Meteorology and Sacrilege. A recent 

 debate in the Yolksraad, at Johannesburg, 

 on the subject of artificial rain-making has 

 some scientific interest for the psychologist. 

 The report is as follows : " The debate on the 

 memorials from Krugersdorp requesting the 

 Eand to pass an act to prevent charges of dyna- 

 mite being fired into the clouds for rain was 

 continued. Mr. A. D. Wohnaraus spoke in 

 favor of his proposal, and denounced the ac- 

 tion of certain persons in Johannesburg as 

 invoking the wrath of God. Mr. Birkenstock 

 said there was nothing irreligious or sac- 

 rilegious in these experiments ; they were 

 purely scientific experiments. The chairman 

 said it was a monstrous thing to shoot into 

 the clouds ; it was nothing less than defiance 

 of the Almighty ; it should be made a crimi- 

 nal offense. Mr. Labuschagne was of the 

 opinion that the offenders should be impris- 

 oned. After a further discussion it was re- 

 solved, by fifteen to ten votes, to instruct the 

 Government to draft a law to prevent such 

 things happening in future, and submit it 

 this session." 



A Cambodian Lesson in Anatomy. M. 



Adhemard Leclere, in his examinations of 

 Cambodian schools, came upon a retired 

 scholar-bonze who continued to teach in his 

 rural retreat. He was giving lessons on 

 anatomy to six students of a religious vo- 

 cation, describing the bones of the human 

 body. He said : " There is a bone in the 

 tongue, which you do not know of, which 

 you have never seen, but which nevertheless 

 exists, for I have seen it. The most surpris- 

 ing thing about it is that it is isolated, and 

 not attached to any other bone. It is all 

 alone." The teacher had given a lesson on 

 the Pali language the day before, and the 

 day before that on the world as described in 

 the sacred books, and also according to what 

 he had heard from Europeans concerning it. 

 " He showed me," says M. Leclfere, " on his 

 blackened tablet, a map of the world which 

 he had drawn according to the best of his 

 knowledge. I had some difficulty in recog- 

 nizing France among all the round marks he 

 had drawn, for it was larger than India, sur- 



rounded by water on all sides, and placed 

 northwest of the Himalaya Mountains. ' My 

 map,' he said, ' is not like the map in the 

 sacred books, but it is true all the same.' I 

 did not dare tell him, before his pupils, that 

 it was not like our maps ; so I asked him to 

 go on with his lecture, and said I was very 

 glad to be present. The students, each with 

 his palm-leaf tablet and his iron-pointed 

 stylus, listened quietly and respectfully, writ- 

 ing down the names of the bones as he men- 

 tioned them. ' The bones of the back are 

 boxed into one another like the bones of a 

 snake or of a fish ; if there was only one 

 bone, you would not be able to bend yourself 

 gracefully, or to bend back, or to round your 

 back or to turn yourself. At the slightest 

 shock the bone would break, and you would 

 not be able to carry anything heavy. If the 

 bones of the back were imperfectly boxed, 

 they would not roll upon one another, or else 

 they would roll too much; and your body 

 would be too stiff or too supple, and you 

 would not be able to carry anything heavy.' 

 While he was speaking thus I was looking 

 at him. His body was bare ; his long, bald 

 head was slightly inclined toward his hearers, 

 and his bright eyes had an expression befit- 

 ting an old professor seeking to be correctly 

 understood. He spoke slowly, pronouncing 

 distinctly, and in dignified language ; and his 

 six students looked at him attentively, trying 

 their best to understand all he said." 



Wire-Glass. Some instructive tests of 

 wire-glass as a protection against fire were 

 recently made by the Philadelphia Fire 

 Underwriters' Association. Wire-glass con- 

 sists of a more or less open meshwork of 

 wire imbedded in glass plates in such a 

 manner, it is claimed, that under conditions 

 where, unsupported by the wire network, 

 the glass would speedily be shivered, and of 

 no use in retarding the fire the wire-glass 

 interposes a barrier which, even when heated 

 to incandescence and then drenched with 

 cold water, still retains its effectiveness. A 

 brick test house, about three feet by four 

 feet, inside measurement, and nine feet 

 high, was constructed. In one side of this 

 structure a wire-glass window was fastened 

 in a wooden frame covered with lock-jointed 

 tin. In another side a Philadelphia standard 

 fire door was hung. The upper part of this 



