POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



141 



objects of beauty. The quiver is largely of the 

 region. The material out of which each ex- 

 ample is made must be furnished by Nature : 

 hence it is of sealskin in one place, of cedar 

 wood in another, of soft pelt in another, and 

 in the south land is frequently made of some 

 kind of soft basketry. " Among several of 

 the mountain tribes the squaw lavished all 

 her skill upon her husband's quiver. The 

 costliest beaver, marten, otter, and mountain- 

 lion pelt was invoked. It was lined with soft 

 buckskin, or in after times with red stroud- 

 ing. Beads of every imaginable color were 

 worked upon the border of the arrow case 

 and upon the lining of the long pendant there- 

 from. Strips of fur, daintily cut in fringes, 

 were sewed about the bottom of the bow case, 

 and every spot capable of rich decoration re- 

 ceived it. Between this and the plain salm- 

 on-skin capsules into which the Eskimo 

 thrust his arrows there are many gradations 

 of quivers." 



Prof. Sergi's Human Classifications. In 



studying the varieties of the human species, 

 Prof. Giuseppe Sergi, as he is quoted in a 

 paper by Dr. D. G. Brinton, finds that hy- 

 bridism is a syncretism or propinquity of 

 characteristics belonging to many varieties ; 

 that these do not modify the skeletal forms 

 as do individual variations ; and that hybrid- 

 ism may affect different parts of the skele- 

 ton, constituting characteristics in themselves 

 distinct. The stature, the thoracic form, the 

 proportion of the long bones may be united 

 with external characteristics differing from 

 each other, as well as from different cranial 

 structures. The cranial form may be associ- 

 ated with different facial forms, and inverse- 

 ly. It happens, however, that the structures 

 taken separately remain in part unvaried in 

 the hybrid constitution. The face preserves 

 its own characteristics in spite of the union 

 of different cranial forms; so also the crani- 

 um preserves its structures, associating them 

 with different facial forms. The stature 

 preserves its own proportions in spite of its 

 association with different cranial and facial 

 types, and in spite of the different coloration 

 of the skin and form and color of the hair. 

 All this may be affirmed, particularly of 

 much larger human groups which, accord- 

 ing to external characteristics, may be con- 

 sidered much nearer than they really are in 



geographical position, as the so-called white 

 races in Europe, the negroes in Africa, in 

 Melanesia, and so on. Seeking a criterion 

 of classification, the author finds that exter- 

 nal characteristics can not be relied upon. 

 Regarding the internal or skeletal charac- 

 teristics as presenting greater stability, he 

 chooses the cranium, as at the same time 

 the most important and most useful. He 

 thus impliedly accepts the brain in its vari- 

 ous forms. He finds sixteen varieties of the 

 human species, without considering that he 

 has exhausted the number, and fifty-one sub- 

 varieties. 



A Monkey's Caprices. The last of the 

 famous group of pets which Frank Buckland 

 collected at his house died January 17th. 

 It was the monkey, Tiny the second, of the 

 species Cercopithecus mona. She was a 

 beautiful and graceful creature, covered with 

 a thick coat of handsomely shaded hair, and 

 had been under Mrs. Buckland's care seven- 

 teen years and a half. She had the life- 

 long reputation of being exceedingly mis- 

 chievous, and was an accomplished thief. 

 She led a gray parrot, which had been an 

 inhabitant of the house for twenty-five years, 

 a terrible life ; and when she was let out of 

 her cage she played havoc with her master's 

 papers and manuscripts. She would dash 

 about the room, make a clean sweep of the 

 table, and fill her pouches with anything 

 that appeared especially nice. Her two 

 later companions were a gray parrot and 

 a thoroughbred dachshund, Olga. Every 

 morning Tiny and the dog had a game of 

 romps that invariably ended in the discom- 

 fiture of Olga. The dog would run round 

 the monkey's cage, barking loudly ; Tiny, 

 inside the wires, would run round also, and 

 when opportunity occurred would seize the 

 dog's ears and keep pulling at them till 

 Olga released herself. Notwithstanding 

 these little disagreements, the dachshund 

 appeared to miss Tiny, and went about the 

 house as if seeking her. The parrot, too, 

 seemed to regret the loss of the monkey, 

 and efforts were made to cheer her drooping 

 spirits, if possible. 



Qualities of the Acetylene Light. The 



method of producing acetylene, one of the 

 most brilliant constituents of illuminating 



