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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Valley, and then going northeasterly to the 

 corner of the temple inclosure. As it will 

 be represented on new maps, the present 

 wall on the south side will be a nearly 

 straight line, placed east and west, with a 

 loop southward from its ends like a bow 

 with cord loosened. The space between the 

 straight and the curved lines has been very 

 little explored as yet, but at the pool of Si- 

 loam Dr. Bliss has found the perfect forma- 

 tion of a very early Christian church, show- 

 ing its whole plan. This place will be kept 

 open, and will be one of the most interest- 

 ing places in or near the city. 



NOTES. 



Some funeral jars found in Arkansas ex- 

 hibit representations of the human face 

 which contrast greatly with the crude figures 

 usually characteristic of Indian and even of 

 American art, they being accurate in anato- 

 my and physiognomy. From a study of them 

 Mr. F. S. Dellenbaugh concludes that they 

 can be accounted for without supposing some 

 exotic or wonderful native artist, by regard- 

 ing them as death-masks made by takmg a 

 mold of the face and transferring it to the jar. 



The effect of fasting upon the power of 

 the system to resist infection from micro- 

 bian toxines has been investigated by MM. J. 

 Teissier and L. Guinard, and they find it a 

 strengthening one. Animals which had been 

 kept fasting bore out against inoculation 

 much better than the control animals, and 

 the resisting power seemed to increase with 

 the length of the fast. 



The Russian thistle, concerning the intro- 

 duction and spread of which in the United 

 States much alarm was expressed a few years 

 ago, is likely, if we can credit the reports 

 from the Western States, to prove a com- 

 paratively harmless pest, after all. It does 

 not thrive so vigorously as it promised to, but 

 rather declines after a year or two. In some 

 districts the dried weed was chopped up fine 

 and fed to cattle ; and it has proved to be 

 good fuel, and is even said to be marketable 

 for that purpose. 



Analyses of the air taken in the ascen- 

 sion of the "A6rophile," February 18, 1897, 

 at the height of fifteen thousand five hundred 

 metres, made by MM. Schloesing and A. 

 Muntz, show that the composition of the air 

 at that elevation, as has always been sup- 

 posed, does not differ materially from that of 

 the air of lower regions. 



A very interesting question was brought 

 up in the British Association, in the discus- 

 sion of a paper by Mr. W. Barlow on homo- 

 geneous structures and the symmetrical par- 

 titioning of them with application to crys- 

 tals. Lord Kelvin remarked on the immense 



number of possible methods of partitioning 

 space, and said that, although Schucke was 

 generally credited with having been the first 

 to investigate the subject, it had been thor- 

 oughly worked out by Bi avals, whose mind 

 gave way under its overwhelming complexity. 

 Prof. Miers said there were two hundred and 

 thirty types of symmetry and only thirty- 

 two types of crystal, so that the same crys- 

 tal might contain several types of symmetry. 



A RAILWAY is to be built up the Hoch- 

 stauffen Mountain at Bad Reichenhall, Aus- 

 trian Alps, of which it is contemplated that 

 a balloon shall be the propelling power. The 

 balloon will run along a track, consisting of a 

 peculiarly shaped rail. This is clasped by a 

 trailer, furnished with many wheels, to which 

 a passenger car is fastened. The operator 

 has a seat in the car, and a cord swings be- 

 tween his place and the balloon, by which 

 the gas supply is regulated ; and provision is 

 given under his control of brakes and devices 

 for safety against accident. The gas gen- 

 erator at the foot of the railroad will supply 

 the town with ilhmiinating gas, as well as 

 furnishing that with which the balloon is 

 tilled. 



Arterio-sclerosis is described by M. Hu- 

 chard, in his treatise on Diseases of the 

 Heart, as peculiarly the disease of physicians, 

 politicians, and financiers, their liability to 

 which is largely due to their practicing pro- 

 fessions in which emotion is often intensified 

 and which involve great liability to over- 

 work. In addition, doctors have to experi- 

 ence unavoidable irregularities in hours, and 

 sometimes continuous periods of work with- 

 out rest. The single means of arresting and 

 avoiding these consequences is by a diminu- 

 tion of anxiety and an avoidance of over- 

 work, with measures taken as far as possible 

 for repair of the wasted tissues. 



Dr. Alfred Marshall Mayer died July 

 13th, after a protracted illness, in the sixty- 

 second year of his age, at Maplewood, N. J. 

 He had been Professor of Physics and 

 Chemistry in the University of Maryland 

 and in Westminster College, Missouri ; Pro- 

 fessor of Physics in Pennsylvania College, 

 Gettysburg; Professor of Physics and As- 

 tronomy at Lehigh University ; and, since 

 1871, Professor of Physics at Stevens Insti- 

 tute of Technology at Hoboken, N. J. In 

 1869 he had charge of one of the official 

 parties sent out to observe the total eclipse. 

 He was a member of seven scientific so- 

 cieties. 



Fritz Mltller, who died May 2l8t at 

 Blumenau, Brazil, was best known by his 

 book Fur Darwin, enumerating facts in 

 support of the Darwinian doctrine of the 

 origin of species, which was translated into 

 English. Darwin received also direct assist- 

 ance from him in his investigations. He 

 was the author of numerous memoirs on 

 mimeti.sm, coloration, etc. 



