POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



»39 



be expected, " intemperance in drink " heads 

 the list of single causes, with 18,290 cases. 

 Of "moral causes," "domestic trouble," 

 " adverse circumstances," and " mental 

 anxiety and worry, and overwork," are col- 

 lectively held responsible for 25,897 cases. 

 Of other moral causes, "religious excite- 

 ment" is credited with 3,769 cases, "love 

 affairs " with 2,224, and " fright and nerv- 

 ous shock " with 1,953. Of physical causes, 

 "sexual diseases" are credited with 3,447 

 cases, " overexertion " with 761, " sun- 

 stroke " with 1,686, " accident or injury " 

 with 4,199, " diseases of women " with 

 11,315, "old age" with 5,773, "privation 

 and starvation " with 2,607, " fevers " with 

 880, "puberty" with 582, and "other bodi- 

 ly diseases or disorders " with 14,719. 

 Previous attacks had occurred in 22,703 

 cases. Hereditary influence was ascertained 

 in 28,063, and congenital defect in 5,881. As 

 between the sexes, 66,918 were of the male 

 and 69,560 of the female sex. 



Rights on Other Men's Lands. — A paper 

 by Mr. Hyde Clarke, on "The Rights of 

 Property in Trees " on the land of another, 

 relates to a curious custom of primeval 

 times which still survives in some lands. 

 The author first met it as a land judge in 

 Asia Minor in 1862, when he was called 

 upon to grant compensation for olive-trees 

 belonging to one or more persons on the 

 lands of others, and for honey - trees or 

 hoards of wild honey in state or communal 

 forests. Papers read by the Rev. Dr. Cod- 

 ington gave information of the existence of 

 a like system in Melanesia. It likewise 

 prevails, according to Mr. Crocker, of the 

 British North Borneo Company, in Borneo, 

 in respect to the Icatapang, or honey-tree, 

 and also in the case of caves containing edi- 

 ble bird's-nests. Sir Spencer St. John also 

 observes that in Borneo the land nominally 

 belongs to the state or tribe, but the owner- 

 ship is not a private property in land in our 

 sense of the word. He had observed that 

 certain of the tapang, on which the bees 

 construct their nests, often belonged to 

 special families, and were not touched by 

 their neighbors. Sir Thomas Wade has 

 found a similar right in China, where, when 

 hill farms or gardens are leased, the tenant 

 will pay the proprietor a yearly rent. All 



fir-trees or bamboos on the ground before it 

 is let belong to the proprietors, and the ten- 

 ant is "not free to appropriate them. If 

 there were no such trees on the ground when 

 it was let, and such trees were subsequently 

 planted by the tenant, they would be at his 

 disposal. Separate property in trees is also 

 traceable in India, particularly in Chota 

 Nagpore, where Mr. J. F. Hewitt has fre- 

 quently found that fruit trees growing on 

 land are owned by persons other than the 

 owners or cultivators of the soil. The 

 mhowa- trees, which are exceedingly valu- 

 able, are frequently divided among the in- 

 habitants of the villages near which they 

 grow. This individual property in trees is 

 not in Turkey confined to Asia Minor, but 

 prevails as a general law in the empire. 

 Miss Pauline Inby found it in Bosnia, and 

 bought an interest of the kind in a certain 

 estate. It seems also to have anciently 

 existed in the British Islands, and is recog- 

 nized in the Brehon records of Ireland. But 

 there, and in most European countries, the 

 vestiges of the separate rights have ceased 

 to exist. 



Soaping Geysers. — It ha3 been often ob- 

 served that throwing soap into the geysers 

 of the Yellowstone Park will produce or 

 hasten an outburst. The phenomenon has 

 been investigated by Prof. Arnold Hague, 

 of the United States Geological Survey, who 

 finds that two conditions are essential to the 

 production of an eruption in this way : first, 

 the surface caldron or reservoir should hold 

 but a small amount of water, exposing only 

 a limited area to the atmosphere ; and, sec- 

 ond, that the water should stand at or above 

 the boiling-point of water for the altitude of 

 the geyser basin above sea-level. The latter 

 is the principal factor. Many of the geysers 

 and hot springs present the singular phe- 

 nomena of pools of water heated above the 

 theoretical boiling-point, and, unless dis- 

 turbed, frequently remain so for many days 

 without exhibiting any signs of ebullition. 

 Thermal waters in this condition may be made 

 to boil by other artificial means that will dis- 

 turb their equilibrium, as by casting sinter 

 into them, and, in one instance at least, by a 

 strong temporary gust of wind. If soap or 

 lye is thrown into most of the small pools, a 

 viscous fluid is formed ; and viscosity is, in 



