POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



281 



poses of ship-building. The tree is neces- 

 sarily destroyed in the manufacture of cam- 

 phor, but the law requires a new one' to be 

 planted in the place of every one taken 

 away. The gum is extracted by distillation 

 from the chips, the whole tree being cut up 

 for the purpose, and steamed in a tight ves- 

 sel or box. The steam, camphor, and oil, 

 the immediate products of the process, are 

 conducted through a bamboo tube to a sec- 

 ond tub, and from this to a third, which is 

 divided into an upper and a lower compart- 

 ment. The partition between the two di- 

 visions is perforated with small holes to 

 allow the oil and water to pass to the lower 

 compartment. The upper compartment is 

 supplied with a layer of straw, which catch- 

 es and holds the camphor in crystals. The 

 camphor is then separated from the straw 

 and packed in wooden tubs containing a 

 picul, or one hundred and thirty-three and 

 one third pounds, each, for the market. 

 The oil is used for illuminating and other 

 purposes. The exports of camphor from 

 Nagasaki in 1882 were valued at $290,000. 



Protect the Birds. The Committee on 

 Protection of Birds of the American Or- 

 nithologists' Union has begun the issue of 

 circulars, calling attention to the threatened 

 danger of the destruction of our native 

 birds by the greed of specimen-collectors, 

 milliners, egg -hunters, and Vandal sports- 

 men. A paper by Mr. J. A. Allen, in the 

 first "Bulletin," gives an estimate of the 

 alarming extent to which this destruction 

 is going on. The conditions of modern life 

 are in themselves furnishing what we might 

 now call natural agencies that is, sponta- 

 neous and of constant operation which 

 contribute more, perhaps, than all pre- 

 viously operating natural agencies com- 

 bined to limit the increase, or, perhaps, 

 diminish the numbers, of birds. To these 

 may be added the growth of a passion for 

 hunting birds for various purposes and 

 sometimes under mistaken views, which has 

 become so violent that it is almost a won- 

 der that any birds are left. Collectors ap- 

 pear to be charged with a larger share of 

 responsibility in this matter than notwith- 

 standing there is vastly too much reckless 

 collecting they deserve. Mr. Allen calcu- 

 lates that the number of birds killed for 



their purposes since collecting began does 

 not exceed 500,000 ; while, to gratify the 

 vanity of the "dead-bird-wearing gender" 

 of the human race, not less than 5,000,000 

 are sacrificed every year ! Mr. George B. 

 Sennett, in a paper in which he tells how 

 the pelicans were exterminated from an 

 island off the coast of Texas in an experi- 

 ment at making an oil from them which 

 proved to be worthless, says that "if a 

 tithe of the truth were known throughout 

 the country at large concerning the sacrifice 

 of bird-life in the names of l business,' ' en- 

 terprise,' ' food,' ' sport,' and what not, 

 from Maine to Mexico, and from California 

 to Alaska, there would be such a cry of 

 remonstrance as would make the bird-de- 

 stroyers hang their heads for shame " that 

 is, if there is any shame left in persons capa- 

 ble of engaging in such business. By far 

 the largest numbers of birds are slaughtered 

 to supply ladies' hats; and it is for the 

 ladies themselves to apply the remedy for 

 the evil, by refusing to wear such barbaric 

 ornaments. Noble women in this and other 

 countries are organizing to put down the 

 iniquitous fashion. The object deserves 

 universal support. 



Professor Pickering's Telephone. In 



a paper read by him before the Ameri- 

 can Academy of Arts and Sciences, on 

 his "Early Experiments in telegraphing 

 Sound," Professor Edward C. Pickering 

 showed that in 1870, several years before 

 the telephones now in use were invented, 

 a receiver was devised, constructed, and 

 tried, which consisted of a flexible iron 

 diaphragm, supported at the edges and re- 

 placing the armature of an electro-magnet. 

 Musical sounds were telegraphed success- 

 fully, and the apparatus was described at 

 a scientific meeting, of which a report was 

 published in the "Troy Press" of August 

 24, 1870. In 1872 and later, the experi- 

 ment was repeated under various condi- 

 tions. In 1879 it was shown that the in- 

 strument was capable of serving as a tele- 

 phone, and of rendering articulate speech 

 audible at a distance. It appeared to differ 

 in no way in principle from the receiver 

 now used. Professor Pickering explains, 

 however, that all his experiments were 

 made, or were intended to be made, with 



