POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



429 



clothes, and the soiling that is caused by 

 transpiration from the body. It is most 

 important that the elements of bodily soil be 

 removed, and this is probably accomplished 

 quite as much in the drying as in the wash- 

 ing. We judge of the purity of clothes by 

 their " sweetness." This is, to a large ex- 

 tent, proportioned to the completeness with 

 which they have been acted upon by the at- 

 mosphere, or by its great oxidizing agent 

 ozone, and is consequently dependent on 

 the atmospheric conditions under which they 

 are dried. The lesson is, that atmospheric 

 drying is the best, and that laundry drying 

 by artificial heat can not be depended upon 

 to do its work, unless pains are taken to 

 give a free circulation of ozonized air. 



Voice - Figures on Glass. — A curious 

 mode of decorating glass is practiced by an 

 English lady, Mrs. Watts Hughes. The fig- 

 ures which she produces are shell-like forms, 

 trumpet and snake like shapes, twisted to- 

 gether and combined, and crossed in va- 

 rious directions by lines, but not exactly 

 like anything in nature. The instrument 

 by which these lines are drawn is the voice, 

 and the method of procedure differs for 

 different figures. For a daisy -like figure, 

 Mrs. Hughes prepares a paste of flake-white 

 powder-color and water. On a thin mem- 

 brane of India-rubber stretched over one 

 end of a ring, resembling a napkin-ring, she 

 spreads a little water, to which some of the 

 flake-white paste is added, and thus floated 

 all over the disk. This ring is inserted into 

 the lower end of a tube turned up like the 

 letter J. She then sings into the upper end 

 of the tube a low note, firm but not very 

 loud. Tiny globules of the paste are thrown 

 up into the air by the vibration of the mem- 

 brane induced by the sound, and fall back 

 upon the center of the disk, making a little 

 round heap, like the center of a daisy. Mrs. 

 Hughes then sings a note of a different char- 

 acter from the first, when from the round 

 center of white paste will fly out, at un- 

 equal distances, little tentative star-like jets. 

 Sometimes two or three abortive attempts 

 will have been made, when suddenly a sym- 

 metrical row of petals will start out and 

 create with the center a dainty daisy -like 

 figure. The pansy form is produced some- 

 what in the same way as the daisy, but 



more water is put on the disk in propor- 

 tion to the paste, and the note is sung dif- 

 ferently. In singing the shell and trumpet 

 figures, the paste is made with Prussian 

 blue, madder lake, or other pigment whose 

 weight and character suit it to the vibrations 

 of the particular note to be sung. Glass is 

 rubbed over with the paste when the figures 

 are to be called out upon it as well as the 

 membrane. With a small piece of glass, 

 Mrs. Hughes uses a bent-up tube and moves 

 the glass rapidly round on the disk. Should 

 the glass be too large to hold in the hand, 

 she uses a straight tube, and sings the note 

 while moving it round or along the glass. 

 Specimens of this work were shown in the 

 "Arts and Crafts Exhibition," at London, 

 last fall, and panes decorated in this way 

 form the lower part of the windows in Mrs. 

 Hughes's Home for Little Boys, at Islington. 

 The explanation of the phenomenon is that 

 the particles of coloring-matter are thrown 

 off from the vibrating parts of the mem- 

 brane and collect on the nodal lines — the 

 lines of no vibration. The nodal lines of 

 vibrating membranes were first thoroughly 

 studied by Savart. 



Taming the Pnma. — To show what may 

 be done in the way of training the puma, or 

 Rocky Mountain lion, usually deemed one of 

 the most intractable of animals, William 

 Lant Carpenter writes to " Nature " an ac- 

 count of one he has recently seen at Livings- 

 ton, Montana. She is now three years old, 

 and was raised from a cub by Mr. W. F. 

 Wittich, who devoted eighteen months to 

 training her. He now has her under com- 

 plete control. " The beast not having been 

 fed for twenty-four hours, he trailed pieces 

 of raw meat over her nose and mouth, which 

 the puma never attempted to eat until the 

 word was given, as to a dog. Occasional at- 

 tempts were made, but a twist of the ear by 

 Mr. Wittich was sufficient to control her. 

 When meat was placed a few yards off, the 

 puma fetched it by word of command, and 

 permitted the meat to be taken from her 

 mouth by Mr. Wittich, who fondled her as 

 he would a cat. A very fine dog, a cross 

 between a pure setter and a pure St. Ber- 

 nard, five years old, named ' Bruce,' is on in- 

 timate and even affectionate terms with the 

 puma, who allowed him to remove meat 



