FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



429 



neys than men, and the length of their mi- 

 grations in time and distance was equaled, 

 perhaps, by those of fishes and marine ani- 

 mals. The simple motives that governed 

 these movements were the same as consti- 

 tuted the incentive to human movements 

 over the earth. The coming and going of 

 birds and marine creatures are likewise the 

 occasion of an enormous amount of human 

 bustle and running about. Most of the do- 

 mestication of animals is prompted by a de- 

 sire to have them at our doors, and to make 

 us independent of their migrations. Land 

 animals, as well as birds and sea animals, 

 were often obliged by natural conditions to 

 travel great distances, and men followed 

 them in order to live upon them. In every 

 tribe there are stories of travelers who made 

 long voyages and returned. Dr. Boas says 

 that the myths of the northwest coast of 

 America point across the Pacific. Besides 

 the traditions that fix upon the present habi- 

 tat as the primal home, there is a class of 

 migration myths. The perfection of devices 

 also prolongs travel. The East Greenlanders 

 journey around to West Greenland to get 

 snuff, and will consume four years in a sin- 

 gle excursion there and back, often, accord- 

 ing tc Nansen, remaining no longer than an 

 hour at the trading station before taking up 

 their homeward march. The Manchus and 

 Manyarg, who navigate the Sungari River, 

 spend from eight days to a month, according 

 to the destination, in their journeys; the 

 Turki, near East Cape, from four to six 

 months. According to Seton Karr, the tribes 

 of northwest British Columbia were afraid 

 to quit their tribal territory, but now Indians 

 are willing to accompany the white man 

 through regions that are as strange and un- 

 known to them as to him. The extent and 

 direction of aboriginal journeys have been 

 in some places cut off, and in others greatly 

 stimulated, by contact with the Caucasian 

 race. 



Utilization of Wind Power. A summary 

 of the conclusions reached by M. Maximilian 

 Plessuer from a study of the economies of 

 wind as a source of power is given by M. 

 Henry de Varigny in a paper on Air and 

 Life, published by the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion. The irregularity of the wind forms 

 the chief objection to placing reliance upon 



it, but much depends upon localities. There 

 are places and large regions where it is 

 fairly regular. It seldom fails at the sea- 

 shore, and the trade winds are nearly con- 

 stant; while in most parts of the globe it 

 becomes more regular as the altitude in- 

 creases. Hence, upon the whole, a consid- 

 erable part of the world is well suited for 

 investigations upon the best methods of 

 deriving power from the winds. The first 

 requisites of a wind-power machine are some 

 sort of a motor driven by the wind, and an 

 accumulator to store the energy and yield it 

 at the required moment. Dismissing the old 

 windmill and the asolian wheel as not fully 

 coming up to the mark, M. Plessuer turns to 

 sails as affording a possible solution of the 

 problem. " The utilization of the power of 

 the winds," he writes, " and its transforma- 

 tion into mechanical work are only possible 

 by means of sailing vehicles, driven by wind 

 upon a circular railway, the power generated 

 by such rotation being transmitted to an 

 axle and thence to machinery." On this 

 railway a circular train, made of small cars 

 coupled together, each carrying a mast and 

 two sails at right angles with each other, is 

 driven by the wind. The sails are auto- 

 matically trimmed, and automatically also 

 they expand or contract, or rather take in 

 the wind or withdraw from it. As long as 

 the wind blows the train continues rotating, 

 and if it is connected with a central axle the 

 latter may work dynamos and charge elec- 

 trical accumulators. A similar apparatus 

 might be arranged in water, boats taking 

 the place of the cars, and, since the wind 

 power is transformed into electricity, the 

 latter may be stored and kept in reserve, or 

 transferred to a distance to perform ten, 

 twenty, or fifty miles away any work that 

 may be required. 



" Onr Friends the Monkeys." Why, 

 asks M. Paul Megniu in La Nature, should 

 we not call monkeys our friends ? They 

 have been calumniated and had all sorts of 

 evil qualities attributed to them, because 

 when we make pets of them we encourage 

 and cultivate their odd traits, and spoil them 

 as children are spoiled. All monkeys have 

 not equal degrees of intelligence, but most 

 of them are capable of a development equal 

 to if not above that possible to any other 



