6 34 



TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of paper arc moistened on the surface, 

 placed on each other, and thoroughly pressed. 

 They thus are made to adhere firmly to- 

 gether, and are then fashioned into the 

 various forms required. The product may 

 replace corrugated iron for roofing, or it 

 may be made into columns and flutings for 

 internal decoration. It is said to be a very 

 durable material even when exposed to air 

 and rain. 



Bowlder-like Masses of Clay in the Long 

 Island Drift. An extensive excavation in 

 the side of Harbor Hill, near Brooklyn, Long 

 Island, has revealed the presence of de- 

 tached bowlder-like masses of clay embed- 

 ded in the drift. Mr. Elias Lewis, of Brook- 

 yn, who has examined these objects, writes 

 that they lie unbroken like bowlders of 

 granite, and have the same rounded outline. 

 One mass, consisting of a tough, fine-grained 

 bluish-gray clay, was eight feet in vertical 

 diameter, and seven feet through from side 

 to side. Mr. Lewis is of the opinion that 

 these masses were transported by ice and 

 deposited in a frozen state, but adds that it 

 is difficult to understand how they should 

 have retained their form beneath moving 

 water during the long time necessary for 

 the accumulation of the layers of gravel and 

 sand which surround them ; nor is it clear 

 how stratification of deposits could occur in 

 water deep enough to float icebergs. 



Will some one familiar with glacial de- 

 posits inform the readers of The Monthly 

 whether similar masses of clay or earth of 

 any kind are common in the recognized 

 glacial drift ? 



Fnzi-Yania and Hakusan. These, the 

 two highest and most famous mountains 

 of Japan, have lately had a new determina- 

 tion of their respective heights. A British 

 officer made the ascent of Fuzi-Yama, on 

 the 9th of September, and found, by ap- 

 proved and carefully-conducted methods, 

 the height to be 13,080.32 feet, which is 

 less than its accepted altitude, namely 

 14,177 feet. This same officer ascended 

 Hakusan, being the first foreigner that has 

 done so. His measurement makes this 

 mountain higher than the accepted figures, 

 which Stieler sets down at 8,178 feet. The 

 new measurement gives 9,200 feet. Both 



these mountains are held sacred by the Ja- 

 panese, Fuzi-Yama perhaps being specially 

 so, as its singular name would imply, which 

 means the " No-two-mountain ;" that is, the 

 none-such, the peerless, the inimitable. 

 They are both volcanic mountains, with vast 

 craters. Hakusan i3 snow-capped the whole 

 year, while it may be called a snow-moun- 

 tain for two-thirds of the year. It is some- 

 times called " Siro-Yama," White Mountain, 

 and is truly the Mont Blanc of Japan. 

 Both mountains are yearly visited by many 

 thousand pilgrims. This last explorer de- 

 scribes Fuzi-Yama as an ash-heap, with a 

 cone of lava and clinker. The only vegeta- 

 tion at top were lichens. " The crater, by 

 approximate measurement, was found to be 

 2^- miles in circumference, and its depth 

 about 440 feet." As the mountain is a cone, 

 and stands by itself, it is regarded as the 

 most beautiful mountain in the world. It 

 would be rare to find a Japanese landscape 

 in which the artist has not by some in- 

 genuity introduced the peerless Fuzi-Yama. 



Combustion under Pressure. It is 



shown from the observations of James B. 

 Eads, C. E., as given in the Journal of the 

 Franklin Institute, that combustion goes on 

 at the same rate in compressed as in free 

 air. There is, however, this difference be- 

 tween the phenomena of combustion under 

 the two conditions, that a flame is more 

 readily extinguished in free than in com- 

 pressed air. This is demonstrated by Mr. 

 Eads's experiments with the flame of a 

 candle under varying pressures. Thus, at 

 the depth of 108| feet in a shaft, the flame 

 having been blown out thirteen times in 

 rapid succession, it reappeared at the wick 

 each time, except the last. At a somewhat 

 greater depth, and under 52 lbs. pressure 

 to the square inch, the flame was in the 

 same way extinguished fifty-two times, with 

 the same result. Mr. Eads's explanation is, 

 that the abnormal pressure brings the oxy- 

 gen of the air into close contact with the 

 incandescent body, and so tends to keep up 

 combustion ; but the process is not more 

 rapid than under ordinary circumstances, 

 for the reason that the increased density of 

 the air retards the movement of the gases 

 resulting from combustion and surrounding 

 the flame. 



