862 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



said that he collected a larger body of origi- 

 nal documeuts than had up to that time 

 been gathered in either Asia or Europe. He 

 first brought the Thibetan classics within 

 the range of the Indian and European 

 scholar, presenting the libraries with two 

 copies of the collection of three hundred 

 and forty-five folios, one of which was a 

 gift to him from the Grand Lama. His pub- 

 lished essays corrected the misinformation 

 and dissipated the fantastic theories that 

 had prevailed on these subjects. Retiring 

 from active service, he went to Darjeeling 

 and engaged in the study of Himalayan natu- 



ral history. He discovered thirty-nine new 

 genera and species, contributed " a vast 

 number of papers on Himalayan mammals, 

 raised himself ... to the highest rank 

 among the original ornithologists of the 

 day," and presented collections to a number 

 of societies and museums. An expert is 

 quoted as saying that " in some respects he 

 was in advance of the science of the day. 

 He was fully alive to the importance of geo- 

 graphical distribution, and was the first to 

 attempt a demarcation of the zones of life 

 resulting from differences of elevation in the 

 Himalayas." 



MINOK PARAGRAPHS. 



A CURIOUS plant is the wild tamarind, 

 or jumbai plant {Leuccena glauca), of the 

 river sides and waste places of tropical 

 America; and very strange are its effects 

 upon the non-ruminant animals that feed 

 upon its young shoots, leaves, pods, and 

 seeds, as described in the British Associa- 

 tion by Mr. D. Morris, of Kew Gardens. It 

 causes hoxses to lose the hair from their 

 manes and tails, has a similar effect upon 

 mules and donkeys, and reduces pigs to com- 

 plete nakedness. Horses are said to recover 

 when fed exclusively on corn and grass, but 

 the new hair is of different color and texture 

 from the old, so that the animal is never 

 quite the same as it was. One instance is 

 cited in which the animal lost its hoofs too, 

 and had to be kept in slings till they grew 

 again and hardened. Ruminant animals are 

 not thus affected, and the growth of the 

 plant is actually encouraged in the Bahamas 

 as a fodder plant for cattle, sheep, and goats. 

 The difference in its action upon ruminants 

 and non-ruminants is probably due to changes 

 effected upon it in the chewing of the cud. 



Among the events mentioned in the 

 thirtieth report of the Peabody Museum of 

 American Archaeology and Ethnology is the 

 completion of the arrangement of the 

 Mary Hemenway collection in such a way 

 that a nearly complete exhibition of the 

 archaeology and ethnology of the Pueblo 

 peoples of our Southwest is presented in the 

 u[)per hall and the gallery on the floor 

 below. Mr. Valk's explorations in New 

 Jersey, enforced by the observations of 

 Prof. G. F. Wright, are mentioned as con- 



firming the opinion that stones worked by 

 man are found in the glacial deposits of the 

 Delaware Valley. Valuable relics have been 

 obtained from the prehistoric sites of Mount 

 Kineo and from the Indians of Maine. Mr. 

 Gordon has examined deposits in Honduras 

 attesting a mixture of several types of cul- 

 ture, and has obtained many objects of in- 

 terest from the exploration of two caves. 

 His general report on the ruins of Copan, 

 already noticed in the Monthly, is a publica- 

 tion of very great value. Many contribu- 

 tions of literature and specimens, all deserv- 

 ing fuller notices than we can give them, 

 are acknowledged in the report. 



Physiological experiments are of vari- 

 ous kinds, and while some are of such a 

 character as to suggest cruelty unless per- 

 formed under the most careful guards, there 

 are probably others to which animals may be 

 indiffei'ent, or which may be even agreeable 

 to them. Of the last seems to be one de- 

 scribed by Dr. E. A. de Schweiuitz in a re- 

 cent address before the Chemical Society of 

 Washington. " A fine blooded horse, not 

 available for ordinary use on account of his 

 propensity to run away, was converted into 

 a subject for the cultivation of the tubercu- 

 lin antitoxine. He was, of course, expected 

 to rebel ; but, on the contrary, he received the 

 hypodermic injection of the poison of the tu- 

 berculosis germ in quietness and even seemed 

 interested in watching the operation. As a 

 burned child dreads the fire, it was supposed 

 he would resist the second operation. But 

 as soon as he observed the doctor appear 

 with the syringe Hnd bottle, he trotted to- 



