POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



139 



miles. They contained no vitreous grains, 

 but simply the minerals that constitute the 

 andesites of which the mass of the mountain 

 is composed, and in the same state as in 

 them. The andesite of the prehistoric erup- 

 tions of the region when reduced to powder 

 and traversed by the vapor of water gave 

 the same products as the ashes cast out in 

 1893 by the volcano. These ashes, therefore, 

 appear to have been derived from the tritu- 

 ration and pulverization of the old lavas of 

 the region without their having been re- 

 melted. The author remarks that the erup- 

 tion of Calbuco has given out such consider- 

 able quantities of watery vapor that the 

 usual atmospheric conditions have been ma- 

 terially modified by it. Rains are abnor- 

 mally abundant even in central and northern 

 Chili, with snows on the mountain chains and 

 the sky covered with clouds conditions very 

 different from those which normally prevail 

 in the country. 



Children's Letters. The characteristics 

 of children's letters ai-e pertinently described 

 in the London Spectator, which says that the 

 writers " come straight to the point, and get 

 down with it, with a unanimous contempt 

 for self-advertisement, which shows that the 

 dislike to be ' drawn ' on matters nearly af- 

 fecting themselves, which is common to the 

 oldest and wisest of mankind, is fuKy shown 

 by their youngers and betters. The cliild is, 

 in this, the father of the wise man. Not 

 that they refuse information. The bare 

 facts are always at the service of the public. 

 They fall into ' common form,' and in a score 

 of letters written by very young children it 

 is difficult to find one in which the decorous 

 reticence as to self is exceeded. Their age, 

 very accurately stated ; the number of their 

 brothers and sisters, among whom the last 

 baby naturally takes a leading place; and, 

 possibly, a description of their home, limited, 

 as far as possible, to the information given 

 in their postal address, is evidently consid- 

 ered to be sufficient data from which to form 

 an idea of themselves and their surround- 

 ings. Then, in nearly every case, follows a 

 list of the household pets. Judged by the 

 evidence of children, the dog is in every case 

 the most important personage, next to the 

 baby, in the estimation of the nursery. His 

 size, accomplishments, and benevolence, his 



good or bad temper, and in every case his 

 name, are given with a conscientious and 

 personal interest which is accorded to no 

 other animal. Apparently, there is no limit 

 to the number of pets which the fathers and 

 mothers of our race, whether English, Ameri- 

 can, or Anglo-Indian, set to the fancies of 

 their children. . . . Looking through a pile 

 of letters from children, mostly girls of all 

 ages fi'om four to thirteen, the writer finds 

 nearly three quarters devoted to careful ac- 

 counts of dogs, tame mice, a donkey, ' Joey,' 

 a ' ginipig,' ' rabits,' chickens, goats, and in- 

 numerable pigeons. There is hardly a word 

 about themselves or their feelings in the 

 whole collection, though the health, wants, 

 and probable sentiments of the animals are 

 treated at great length and with every diver- 

 sity of spelling. Lists of ' what the pigeons 

 have got ' such as ' the f antail,' two babies 

 and one egg ; the ' Jocobin, two eggs,' etc. 

 are followed by other lists of ' ones that have 

 got nobody.' Chickens are counted before 

 they are hatched and after; and terrible 

 descriptions of the results of a cock-tight, 

 which has made one of the combatants ' all 

 bloddy,' are given at great length, with ac- 

 counts of the illness, treatment, and burial 

 of other creatures. Events, such as games, 

 parties, or expeditions, are, as a rule, only 

 mentioned, without comment." 



Photography of Colors. The process of 

 photography of colors, discovered a few 

 years ago by M. Lippmann, has been con- 

 siderably improved, and has now been 

 brought to such a degree of perfection that 

 with it the composite colors of natural ob- 

 jects, such as flags, flowers, and fruits, a 

 multicolored parrot, and a window with 

 four colors, are photographically reproduced. 

 Li the hands of M. M. Lumiere it has 

 been applied successfully to chromolitho- 

 graphs, natural landscapes, and portraits. 

 The time of exposure required has been re- 

 duced from thirty minutes a few months ago 

 to from three to five minutes. While so 

 much has been accomplished in this art, 

 many requirements remain to be fulfilled : 

 the time of exposure to be further reduced; 

 accurate isochromatic plates to be obtained, 

 and a way found of taking proofs on paper. 

 The colored proofs have the property of the 

 old-fashioned daguerreotypes, of not being 



