POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



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the crooked stick while it is still hot and 

 inserts it in a notch cut in a stout board, 

 placed at an angle inclined from him," 

 where he bends and strains it. "When it has 

 become perfectly straight it is thrown down 

 to cool, after which it becomes rigid and per- 

 manent in its lines. Heat is an important 

 element in this matter, and produces differ- 

 ent effects on the several kinds of wood, the 

 degree of heat necessary to straighten one 

 kind of stick being often sufficient to spoil 

 another kind. The same power which makes 

 a crooked stick straight is applied to make 

 a straight one crooked ; so we find that the 

 rigid stems of bamboos, partridge canes, and 

 all the various kinds of sticks that are re- 

 quired to be curled or twisted, are by the 

 application of heat made to assume almost 

 any shape or form. Thus we often see 

 ladies' sun-shade handles twisted and even 

 tied into double knots. By far the largest 

 number of sticks used are those known as 

 natural sticks — that is, saplings of trees or 

 climbing plants, when the roots have suffi- 

 cient character to form handles or knots. 

 These are always more in demand than sticks 

 cut from solid wood. ' The finished canes 

 are sometimes mounted with precious metals, 

 stones such as onyx, jasper, marbles, even 

 precious stones, ivory, and horns of all 

 kinds. 



Microscopic Structure of Stone. — The 



investigation of the minute structure of min- 

 erals and rocks is recommended by Dr. H. 

 Hensoldt as the application most eminently 

 adapted to afford pleasure and satisfaction 

 to the lover of the microscope. It presents 

 an exceeding complexity of forms and a 

 most wonderful display of colors, and offers 

 a field as yet almost untrodden and affording 

 endless opportunities for research. "Espe- 

 cially striking and lovely is the appearance 

 of many of the volcanic or igneous rocks, 

 when reduced to thin sections, and examined 

 under the microscope. The dullish green 

 lava, called pitch-stone, which is found in 

 dikes on the island of Arran, on the west 

 coast of Scotland, exhibits under the micro- 

 scope whole forests of fern-trees, garlands, 

 leaves, and flowers of marvelous magnificence. 

 A certain granite from Cornwall contains 

 needle-shaped crystals of tourmaline, radiat- 

 ing star-like from a common center. Ba- 



salts, obsidians, porphyries, serpentines from 

 various localities, show labyrinths of multi- 

 colored crystals resembling rows of pillars, 

 turreted castles, and fairy caves, glowing in 

 all the tints of the rainbow. The sediment- 

 ary or stratified rocks, while they can not 

 under the microscope equal their Plutonic 

 rivals in brilliancy of color or gorgeousness 

 of crystalline display, make up for this de- 

 ficiency by other features of interest, com- 

 pensating the inquirer with revelations of a 

 different character, but none the less re- 

 markable. Many marbles and limestones 

 are found to be literally composed of foram- 

 inifera, the tests of rhizopods, resembling 

 tiny shells of the most delicate and beauti- 

 ful forms. . . . Thin sections of almost any 

 piece of flint exhibit under the microscope 

 quite a little world of curious organic re- 

 mains, such as sponge spicules, xanthidia, 

 small fragments of coral, and the foraminif- 

 era already mentioned, furnishing very strong 

 evidence that the flints are silicified fossil 

 sponges. . . . This branch of study, though 

 barely thirty years old, has already contrib- 

 uted such a vast deal of new information 

 to natural science that it has, in more than 

 one respect, revolutionized our old-fashioned 

 conceptions of geological research." 



Asphalt in Building Construction. — Some 

 interesting examples of recent new uses of 

 this substance are given in a paper with the 

 above title by Mr. T. H. Boorman, published 

 in Architecture and Building. The writer 

 says : " From the cellar to the roof, asphalt 

 has been used where the requirements have 

 been water and fire proof floors. Its prin- 

 cipal merits are its utter imperviousness to 

 water or damp, and its elasticity, whereby 

 cracking, especially from the influence of 

 frost, is prevented. Also from a sanitary 

 point of view the advantages of asphalt are 

 incontestable, for it possesses great antisep- 

 tic properties, and, owing to its having no 

 joints, it is impossible for particles of animal 

 or vegetable matter to lodge in crevices and 

 putrefy. It greatly promotes cleanliness, as 

 it can be easily washed, and for this reason 

 is invaluable in hospitals, breweries, stables, 

 etc. Asphalt first appears in your specifica- 

 tions as under the item of 'damp course.' 

 It is advisable to lay throughout the walls 

 on the grade of the cellar-floor half an inch 



