POPULAR MISCELLANY, 



711 



much the same as he would without the 

 telescope if it were only a hundred miles 

 away. " The fact of mere elevation (less 

 than a mile) above the sea-level," Mr. Todd 

 observes, "will not, as is often supposed, 

 greatly increase the apparent light of celes- 

 tial objects, as the stars will appear to be 

 only a small fraction of a magnitude bright- 

 er on the mountain than at the sea-level. 

 But what is incomparably more important 

 the gain in steadiness of the atmosphere 

 has been much greater than any one ex- 

 pected at the onset, and will enable the 

 astronomer not only to make good use of a 

 multitude of clear nights which at less ele- 

 vated stations are found to be of little 

 value, but also to elevate the grade of all 

 his work to the last degree of precision. 

 Fewer observations will be required for the 

 accurate determinations of the positions of 

 stars. The elevation also makes effectively 

 available a much larger region of sky than 

 can be commanded at other stations in a 

 like latitude, where observations at zenith 

 distances much greater than seventy degrees 

 are usually not worth the making." 



Horse-Eating. The origin of the use of 

 horse-flesh as food is lost in the night of 

 the past. The ancients held the meat in 

 high esteem, and a number of modern peo- 

 ples use it unhesitatingly. Several Latin and 

 Greek authors mention it. Virgil, in the 

 third book of the "Georgics," speaks of 

 peoples who live on the milk, blood, and 

 meat of their horses. Pliny and Martial 

 refer to the same fact. Pliny says that the 

 ancient Germans killed horses for food, and 

 ate their raw flesh after they had made it 

 tender by carrying it under their legs as 

 they rode. Mixed with mare's milk and 

 blood, this meat formed a royal dish ; and 

 the Sarmatian when pressed by hunger nev- 

 er hesitated to procure it for himself by cut- 

 ting the veins of the animal on which he 

 was riding. The ancient Persians held 

 horse-meat in high esteem for their great 

 feasts. Several Asiatic peoples offer it to 

 guests as a mark of honor. The Tartars 

 regard it as a most delicate meat, preferring 

 the fat and viscera ; and Tott, who was sent 

 by the King of France on a mission to the 

 Khan of Tartary, ate excellent smoked 

 horse-sides at his Highness's table. The 



Yakut bride offers her spouse a cooked 

 horse's head garnished with sauces from 

 the same animal, and this dish constitutes 

 the staple viand of the wedding-feast. The 

 Arabs think as much of horse as of game, 

 and the Chinese use it generally and daily. 

 The South American Indians are passion- 

 ately fond of horse-meat. The natives of 

 Sumatra have a decided preference for it, 

 particularly if the animal has been well fed 

 on native grains. While horse-flesh was 

 generally eaten among the Germans till 

 they were converted to Christianity, or till 

 the days of Charlemagne, it was regarded 

 with aversion by the early Christians as a 

 relic of idolatry. Gregory III, in the eighth 

 century, advised St. Boniface, Archbishop 

 of Mayence, to order the German clergy to 

 preach against horse-eating as unclean and 

 execrable. This prohibition being ineffect- 

 ive, Pope Zachary I launched a new anathema 

 against the unfaithful " who eat the meat 

 of the horse, hare, and other unclean ani- 

 mals." This crusade was potent over the 

 defectively informed minds of the people of 

 the middle ages, and they, believing the 

 meat to be unwholesome and not fit to eat, 

 abstained from it except in times of extreme 

 scarcity. Nevertheless, it continued to be 

 eaten in particular localities down to a very 

 recent period. The present revival in the 

 use of horse-flesh, concerning which the 

 French papers have had much to say, is 

 the result of a concerted movement among 

 a number of prominent men, the principal 

 object of which was to add to the food re- 

 sources of the world. 



Extremes of Weather in the Past. 



Captain W. H. Gardner has examined, for 

 the Alabama Weather Service, the records 

 of the weather such as exist from 1701 

 to 18S5, and concludes from them that 

 spells of severe weather of all kinds ex- 

 treme heat and cold, violent storms, hurri- 

 canes and tornadoes, disastrous floods, and 

 parching droughts were no more rare in 

 the last century and the earlier part of the 

 present century than now. In 1701 there 

 were recorded at Biloxi, Mississippi, a winter 

 cold that instantly froze water poured into 

 a tumbler, and an August heat that made 

 labor impossible except for two hours in the 

 morning and two in the evening. In the 



