572 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



weight up to the age of fifty years, but it 

 appears to have no definite relation to the 

 curve of stature. The strength of males 

 increases rapidly from twelve to nineteen 

 years, and at a rate similar to that of the 

 weight; more slowly and regularly up to 

 thirty years, after which it declines at an 

 increasing rate to the age of sixty years. 

 The strength of females increases at a more 

 uniform rate from nine to nineteen years, 

 and more slowly to thirty, after which it 

 falls off in a manner similar to that of 

 males. The curves of strength for the two 

 sexes are not parallel : at eleven years fe- 

 males are weaker than males by twenty-two 

 pounds, at twenty years of age by thirty-six 

 pounds. The fact that man continues to 

 grow in stature up to his fiftieth year con- 

 tradicts the popular notions on the subject, 

 according to which he ceases to grow before 

 he reaches half that age. 



The Extinct Volcanoes of the Pacific 

 Slope. According to the " Notes " fur- 

 nished by Messrs. A. Hague and J. P. Id- 

 dings, of the United States Geological Sur- 

 vey, to the " American Journal of Science,'' 

 the series of extinct volcanoes on our Pacific 

 coast extends northward from Lassen's Peak, 

 near the fortieth parallel, at intervals, for 

 nearly five hundred miles, and follows in 

 general the axial lines of the Sierra and 

 Cascade Ranges. The more prominent 

 peaks of the chain are Lassen's Peak 

 and Mount Shasta, in California ; Mount 

 Pitt, Three Sisters, Mount Jefferson, and 

 Mount Hood, in Oregon; and Mounts St. 

 Helen's, Adams, Rainier, and Baker, in 

 Washington Territory. Mount Rainier is 

 the grandest one of the number, and forms 

 the most prominent topographical object in 

 Washington Territory. The surface feat- 

 ures of the western part of the Territory 

 have been greatly modified by the lava-flows 

 of the volcano, and four of the important 

 rivers of the region rise among its glaciers. 

 Snow and ice cover its top, reaching down- 

 ward for five or six thousand feet, while 

 with the most marked contrast the broad 

 base of the mountain supports a dark, dense, 

 grand forest vegetation. The summit is 

 formed by three peaks, the chief of which, 

 a circular cone, with a crater about a quar- 

 ter of a mile in diameter, rises to 14,444 



feet above the sea. Mount Hood is situ- 

 ated directly on the crest of the Cascade 

 Range, about twenty-five miles south of the 

 Columbia River, and is 11,225 feet high. 

 Its summit is a single peak a portion of 

 a rim of an ancient crater. The crater is 

 about half a mile wide from east to west, 

 and its encircling wall, for three fifths of 

 the circumference, rises 450 feet above the 

 snow and ice that fill the basin. Mount 

 Adams and Mount St. Helen's, on the north 

 side of the Columbia River, form, with 

 Mount Hood, a triangle, the area of which 

 has been the center of great volcanic activity. 

 None of the volcanoes along the belt oc. 

 cupy so comparatively isolated a position as 

 Mount Shasta, which stands upon an open 

 plain with the neighboring hills and ridges 

 many thousand feet lower. Its altitude is 

 given as 14,440 feet, and, as the neighboring 

 ridges rarely attain an altitude of over 3,000 

 feet, the volcano presents an imposing spec- 

 tacle surpassed by few mountains in the 

 world. As seen from the west, it presents 

 a double cone, the smaller built upon the 

 flanks of the larger one, and about 2,000 

 feet lower. Around the broad base of the 

 mountain numerous lesser cones have bro- 

 ken out, one of which, Little Shasta, rises to 

 more than 3,000 feet above the neighbor- 

 ing valley. Seventy miles southeast of 

 Mount Shasta, near the boundary between 

 Nevada and California, is Lassen's Peak, 

 which, though it is about 10,500 feet high, 

 is by no means so conspicuous an object as 

 many of the volcanoes, because it is sur- 

 rounded by other peaks of considerable ele- 

 vation. It is a broad, irregularly shaped 

 mountain, with four prominent summits, and 

 bears on its slopes abundant evidence of 

 comparatively recent extrusions of lava. 



Science and Jack-Pnddings. Mr. R. A. 



Proctor, in " Knowledge," notices the single 

 abusive utterance that was made against 

 Mr. Herbert Spencer while he was in this 

 country, and which came, not from a corner 

 saloon, but from a pulpit, and remarks of it 

 that it is difficult to say whether the terms 

 used by the preacher " are more strikingly 

 contrasted with the teaching and method of 

 the writer he attacks or with those of the 

 intelligent, well-trained, and well-educated 

 clergymen who have, indeed, dissented from 



