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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



of asphalt, with a lap of about two inches 

 on the inside, so allowing a connection with 

 the asphalt finish of the cellar-floor and her- - 

 metically sealing the house from damp, nox- 

 ious gases, and vermin. In residences you 

 will probably consider you have done your 

 duty by asphalt if you have thus specified 

 for your damp course and cellar-floor ; in the 

 latter, by the way, three fourths of an inch 

 of asphalt on three inches of hydraulic ce- 

 ment concrete will serve the desired purpose 

 of a durable damp-proof floor. The yards of 

 city residences are now frequently laid with 

 asphalt, the material being peculiarly adapt- 

 ed to the roller-skates and tricycles of the 

 younger members of a family. From a build- 

 ing, then, in which only one floor, the cellar, 

 is required to be of asphalt, let us consider 

 where every floor and the roof can be of this 

 material ; in printing-houses, lithographing 

 establishments, breweries, sugar - refineries, 

 and slaughter-houses, you will often find this 

 material used throughout. This year, how- 

 ever, sees a novelty in construction with as- 

 phalt. Theophilus P. Chandler, Jr., archi- 

 tect, of Philadelphia, is using rock asphalt on 

 every floor of a large apartment-house ; the 

 carpets will lie on the asphalt, being fast- 

 ened down to narrow strips of wood set 

 against the partitions when the asphalt is 

 laid. Now, I fancy I hear you say, ' Well, 

 asphalt is not pleasant in appearance.' 

 Why, gentlemen, the mayor's private office 

 in the great City Buildings of Philadelphia, 

 the greatest municipal edifice in the country, 

 is laid with asphalt with a border of colored 

 tiles." 



Some People of New Guinea. — Of the 

 natives of the neighborhood of the Owen 

 Stanley Range, New Guinea, Sir William 

 MacGregor says that their features are de- 

 cidedly good, and their faces indicate more 

 character and strength than those of the 

 average coast men. The cheek-bones in 

 some are rather broad and prominent. The 

 nose is generally of the Semitic type. They 

 possess all the volubility of the Papuan race, 

 and are less shy than tribes that have seen 

 more of white men, but are apparently su- 

 perstitious and easily frightened. " They in- 

 formed us that they used both the bow and 

 the spear, but we never saw one of them 

 with a weapon, and I could not induce them 



to bring any to camp; not, as it appeared, 

 as if they mistrusted us, but seemingly 

 doubting whether it would not be misunder- 

 stood should any of them with arms in their 

 hands meet any of our party away from 

 camp." They always left the camp before 

 nightfall. They would exchange food for 

 salt, beads, and cutlery, but did not care 

 much for tobacco, growing a good quality 

 of their own. They also cultivate peas, 

 beans, yams, sweet potatoes, and several 

 varieties of bananas, and have abundant 

 food. 



Origin of the American Indian. — Prof. 

 F. W. Putnam, in an address before the 

 Archaeological Association of the University 

 of Pennsylvania, said, in reference to the 

 origin of our Indians, that two well-defined 

 groups of races are found in America. They 

 have entirely different-shaped skulls. One 

 group starts in Mexico and reaches to Peru. 

 They are a short-headed people. They ex- 

 tended across from Mexico along the Gulf 

 coast, up the Mississippi Valley and along 

 the southern portion of the Atlantic coast, 

 not crossing the Alleghanies and not being 

 found north of the Great Lakes. They were 

 the people that built the mounds and founded 

 the civilization of Mexico and Peru. Another 

 race, a long-headed people, inhabited the 

 northern part of the country, and were the 

 authors, among other articles, of certain 

 objects found in Wisconsin. These two 

 races have ,met and mingled, and the result 

 is the American Indian. 



Results of M. Pasteur's Anti-rahic Treat- 

 ment. — M. L. Perdrix's report of the anti- 

 rabic vaccinations at the Pasteur Institute 

 since 1886 divides the cases treated into 

 three classes : those of persons bitten by 

 dogs ascertained experimentally to be mad ; 

 of persons bitten by dogs decided by veteri- 

 nary examination to be mad ; and of persons 

 bitten by dogs supposed to be rabid. The 

 proportion of deaths after treatment is 

 shown by the tables to be very small ; for a 

 total of 7,893 cases of all the classes, it was 

 0-67 per cent; but the proportion has de- 

 creased from year to year ; it having been 

 0-94 per cent in 1886, 0'73 in 1887, 0*55 in 

 1888, and 0'33 in 1889. The decrease is at- 

 tributed to a better appreciation of the grav- 



