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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



has allowed to hold them, is entitled to deal 

 with its own in whatever way seems best 

 calculated to promote the public weal ; that 

 those communities which, though unprepared 

 to veto the liquor traffic, desire to reduce 

 the consumption of alcohol, should be grant- 

 ed the option of local management. The 

 " company " feature of the Gothenburg sys- 

 tem is sharply attacked by W. S. Caine, 

 M. P., who, while admitting that there has 

 been a sweeping reduction in the intemper- 

 ance of Scandinavia, in consequence of the 

 Swedish law of 1855, asserts that this is not 

 in consequence but in spite of the company 

 system, " the ingrafting of which upon the 

 law of 1855 has been followed by an increase 

 of drunkenness in every large city in which 

 it has been adopted. Undoubtedly," Mr. 

 Caine continues, " the drunkenness of Nor- 

 way and Sweden is very greatly reduced from 

 that prevailing thirty years ago ; but it is 

 due entirely to other causes than the com- 

 pany system, was realized before the com- 

 pany system came into operation at all, and 

 has reverted to a steady increase since the 

 company system prevailed." The most im- 

 portant evidence adduced in favor of this 

 proposition is derived from the statistics of 

 convictions for drunkenness, which appear to 

 have increased since the company system 

 went into operation. Mr. Bennett replies 

 that the small increase remarked in the num- 

 ber of convictions indicates increased vigi- 

 lance, activity, and efficiency in enforcing the 

 law quite as much as increased violation of 

 it, and he quotes strong counter-evidence 

 against other allegations that drunkenness 

 has increased. 



Flowers and their Cnweleome Visitors. 



Having, in a lecture on the pollenization of 

 flowers, considered the means by w r hich the 

 plants secure the aid of insects in that work, 

 Prof. L. H. Pammel mentions a few of the 

 methods by which flowers are protected from 

 the invasions of unwelcome insects. Aquatic 

 plants are protected by their isolation in 

 water. Land plants have occasionally se- 

 cured the same advantages for themselves 

 by certain leaves forming cups around the 

 stem ; some have a leaf-cup at each joint ; 

 in others there is a single basin formed of 

 the rosette of leaves at the base, in which 

 rain and dew collect, and are retained for a 



considerable time. Some plants have slip- 

 pery leaves, with often a curved surface, 

 over which it is impossible for ants to climb ; 

 others are covered with hairs and spines, 

 especially in the parts near the corolla, 

 which often point downward. Some plants 

 are distinguished by viscid and gelatinous 

 secretions. Kerner believes that the milky 

 juices of such plants as lettuce, asclepias, 

 euphorbia, apocynum, chelidonium, etc., 

 serve to keep ants away. Relative to hy- 

 bridization, Prof. Pammel finds that hybrids 

 between widely separated species are usually 

 tender, especially in their early life, so that 

 it is hard to grow such seedlings. Hybrids 

 of species of closer relationship on crosses 

 of races are usually strong and productive. 

 Such plants are characterized by their great- 

 er size, rapid growth, early maturation of the 

 flowers, longer life, greater productiveness, 

 and unusual size of the separate organs. 



Abrasive Substances. The growing im- 

 portance of abrasives is such as to suggest 

 inquiry concerning our future supply, and 

 that is one of the topics considered by T. 

 Dunkin-Paret in his paper on Emery and 

 other Abrasives. At present we depend for 

 the larger part on Turkey and Greece. 

 Emery occurs also in Sweden, Spain, Saxony, 

 and Greenland, but the lands named are 

 apparently the only foreign countries that 

 afford a commercial supply. Our supply of 

 native emery has come thus far from New 

 York and Massachusetts, while the corun- 

 dum has come from Pennsylvania, North 

 Carolina, and Georgia. While small speci- 

 mens of corundum, in the form of imperfect 

 sapphires, have come from Montana, where 

 the existence of this mineral has long been 

 known, no other locality has yielded corun- 

 dum except the belt which reaches from 

 Massachusetts to Georgia, and seems to 

 have its center in the corner where North 

 and South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee 

 come together. In this belt the localities 

 where the mineral occurs are innumerable, 

 but its prevalence is a poor indication of 

 its quality. Corundum occurs in pockets, 

 seams, sand veins, narrow streaks, and de- 

 tached crystals, seldom in large mass. 

 Chester County, Pennsylvania, is apparently 

 the only locality where large, solid masses 

 have been found. The largest annual prod- 



