43 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



evil " by means of toads. Some of the Ger- 

 man peasants are said to have a way of cru- 

 cifying toads, which must be caught for the 

 purpose on Easter-Sunday morning before 

 sunrise; then burying them in an ant-hill, 

 and leaving them there till Whitsunday, when 

 their clean and white bones, worn in a little 

 bag around the neck, will always make the 

 possessor win in games of chance. The 

 Thibetans, according to Abbe Hue, tell of a 

 toad that dwells amid the mists of a lofty 

 mountain-range, and, unless he is propiti- 

 ated, flings ice and avalanches down upon 

 those who pass in the valleys below. 



Cuban Storms. The "Meteorological 

 Annual " of the Royal College of the Society 

 of Jesus at Havana, for 1875, which has only 

 recently been published, contains several 

 instances of coincidences between Cuban 

 storms and meteorological phenomena in 

 the United States, and particularly of seem- 

 ing relations with magnetic manifestations. 

 During three days in April 3d, 4th, and 

 5th a " norther " prevailed, and was suc- 

 ceeded on the three following days by a re- 

 markable magnetic perturbation, which was 

 accompanied with a high barometer and a 

 strong wind, with daily manifestations of 

 aurora in the United States, but without 

 accompanying electric phenomena. A mag- 

 netic perturbation on the 13th of April was 

 coincident with a norther, much thunder and 

 lightning, a very heavy rainfall and a dis- 

 position and state of the aqueous vapor 

 which gave rise to solar and lunar halos, 

 and other optical effects ; but during the 

 time no auroras were reported from the 

 United States. Father Vines, the compiler 

 of the "Annual," points out various other re- 

 lations between the magnetical and meteor- 

 ological phenomena which suggest that this 

 line of inquiry is likely to lead to valuable 

 additions to our knowledge of weather- 

 changes. The diurnal and seasonal fluctua- 

 tions of the barometric column in their 

 varvins; amounts are significant in their re- 

 lations to the analogous phenomena in the 

 United States and over the high-pressure | 

 area of the Atlantic. For four days previ- 

 ous to the observation of the highest tem- 

 perature of the year July 30th, at 4 p. m., 

 98*8 auroras had been observed in the 

 United States, and the magnetic and elec- 



trical conditions showed marked disturb- 

 ances at Havana. Of eighty recorded thun- 

 der-storms, sixty-five occurred during the 

 five months from May to September, and 

 only three during the four months from 

 January to March, and December. This al- 

 most total absence of thunder-storms from 

 the rains of the winter months, as compared 

 with the summer months, when lisrhtninjr 

 or some other electric phenomenon occurs 

 almost daily, is important in its bearing on 

 the theory of the thunder-storm. 



A Xew Species of Box-Wood. A new 



species of box-wood has been discovered 

 growing in the neighborhood of the Cape 

 of Good Hope and in Caffraria, and a quan- 

 tity of it has been sent to the English mar- 

 ket. The first sample specimens that were 

 sent were marred by defects in the grain, 

 which made them of inferior quality for 

 engraving purposes. A second and larger 

 lot appears to promise better, for it is said 

 of it that the logs are of good sizes, sound, 

 and clean grown. The wood possesses a 

 closeness equal to the best Abassian box- 

 wood, and it is thought will suit admirably 

 for engravers' purposes. It appears to be 

 one of the best hard woods that has yet 

 been put forward as a substitute for genuine 

 box-wood. The new species very closely re- 

 sembles Buxus sempervirenS) and has been 

 named Buxus macowani. 



The Spectroscope and the Elements. 



Professor Balfour Stewart, from an exami- 

 nation of the evidence afforded by the spec- 

 troscope as to the nature of the elements, 

 concludes that it is, on the whole, in favor 

 of their being in reality compound struct- 

 ures, the components of which possess at- 

 tractions for each other vastly greater than 

 those exhibited in ordinary chemical com- 

 binations. The fact that in the hottest 

 stars we have the fewest atomic structures 

 is also in favor of this hypothesis. Sum- 

 ming up the evidence derived from both 

 terrestrial and celestial sources we have, 

 first, experimental evidence of various 

 kinds, tending to show that the so-called 

 elements are not essentially different from 

 other bodies ; second, in the terrestrial spec- 

 trum of pure metals at a high temperature, 

 certain lines are obtained for some one ele- 



