POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



7*7 



the specimens of their handiwork useful 

 articles of straw and bark, tastefully made 

 head-dresses of feathers, and ingeniously 

 fashioned weapons of war and the chase, 

 decorated in geometrical figures point to 

 a capacity for civilization. Hitherto these 

 Indians have had the advantages of civiliza- 

 tion presented to them too often only with 

 arguments of fire and sword ; but Senhor 

 Eibeiro asserts that they may be easily in- 

 duced to work, and that with kind treatment 

 and proper direction they might be made 

 instrumental in the development of the nat- 

 ural wealth of their land. 



John Duncan, the Weaver-Botanist. 



John Duncan, the Scotch weaver and bota- 

 nist, to whose scientific merit attention was 

 drawn about two years ago, just in time for 

 public recognition to make his dying days 

 more comfortable, gained a thorough knowl- 

 edge of botany and formed a valuable her- 

 barium in the face of formidable difficulties 

 arising from poverty and laborious occupa- 

 tion. He had also some knowledge of as- 

 tronomy, learned something of Latin, so that 

 he might understand botanical terms, and 

 even tried Greek. In his pursuit of knowl- 

 edge he bore privation cheerfully, denying 

 himself almost the necessaries of life to 

 buy books, and carrying on his studies in a 

 loft above a stable, lighted only by an un- 

 glazed hole in the door, where he lived with- 

 out fire or candle for fear of burning the 

 thatch. His love for plants began to de- 

 velop when he was about ten years old, and 

 out on farm-service. " I just took a no- 

 tion," he used to say, " to ken ae plant by 

 anither when I was rinning aboot the braes. 

 I never saw a plant but I lookit for the mar- 

 rows o't " (the like of it) ; " and as I had aye 

 a guid memory when I kent a flower ance, 

 I kent it aye." He read in the " Herbal of 

 Nicholas Culpepper," imbibed that quaint 

 author's doctrine of the effect of astrologi- 

 cal influences on plants, and was led from 

 it to study astronomy as far as he could go 

 without mathematics. When forty years 

 old he fell in with a gentleman's gardener 

 of the village who was also a scientific bot- 

 anist, and was introduced by him to the 

 regular study of the science. Before long 

 he had learned enough to help his friend in 

 the formation of a herbarium. For many 



years, at the season when weaving was dull, 

 he was accustomed to go about doing har- 

 vest-work and studying the flora of Scot- 

 land, while he earned a little extra money ; 

 and he turned these excursions to such 

 good account that, when in his old age he 

 handed over his collection to a friend to be 

 catalogued, as a preliminary to presenting 

 it to Aberdeen University, it contained 1,131 

 specimens of the 1,428 species that form the 

 flora of England and Scotland. A selection 

 was made from this collection, and 750 spe- 

 cimens were finally presented to the univer- 

 sity. Up to his seventy-third year, Duncan 

 was able to earn his own living by work at 

 the loom. Then work became scarce and 

 his strength feeble, and he was forced to 

 seek parochial relief. Finally attention was 

 called to his case in " Nature," in January, 

 1881, and a subscription was made for him. 

 The story of his life has been told by Mr. 

 W. Jolly, in a book which has just been 

 published in London. 



A Smoke-consuming Furnace. Mr. P. 



H. Jackson, of San Francisco, has patented 

 a device for securing the more perfect com- 

 bustion of coal by, first, securing the re- 

 moval of the carbonic acid which arises 

 from the fire, and, if allowed to remain 

 mingled with the other products, interferes 

 with their further combustion ; and, second, 

 by causing the hydrocarbons and other com- 

 bustible products to be drawn under the fur- 

 nace and perfectly mixed with atmospheric 

 air before passing through the fire again. 

 The carbonic acid is eliminated through the 

 action of the affinity of carbonate of soda, 

 which is placed in a chamber above the 

 furnace, whence an outlet is provided for 

 the escape of any surplus of acid. The 

 hydrocarbons are drawn down under the 

 furnace through a pipe at the side of the 

 stove, by the suction of a strong current of 

 atmospheric air, which is made to flow to 

 feed the fire through a chamber into which 

 the lower end of the pipe abuts. 



Curves of Mortality in London and New 

 York. Dr. John W. Tripe, President of the 

 Society of Medical Officers of Health, Eng- 

 land, has observed, from a comparison of 

 the mortality returns of London and New 

 York, that the curve representing the prev- 



