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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



in her journey across the North American 

 continent, for they excited such intense in- 

 terest with railway guards, hotel-keepers, 

 etc., that they always insured their mistress 

 civility or a cordial reception. 



Wild Plants as Fnngus-nnrseries. Prof. 

 B. D. Halsted shows, in a paper on fungi com- 

 mon to wild and cultivated plants, that in 

 many cases diseases are transmitted by spores 

 from one genus or family as well as from one 

 species to another. A bacterium that affects 

 the tomato and potato causes a disastrous 

 form of blight in melons, cucumbers, and 

 squashes. The apple rust that yellows the 

 foliage of the orchard in July is identical with 

 the gynosporangium that produces the galls, 

 swelling out to large size in rainy weather, on 

 cedar trees, and the spores are transmitted in 

 alternation from one tree to the other. It is 

 thus shown by many examples that the evil 

 influences of plant funguses may act at long 

 range. The lesson may be learned from the 

 experiments that " if so much of the smut, 

 rust, mildew, mold, rot, and blight of our cul- 

 tivated plants is propagated by the wild plants 

 hard by, it may be wise for every crop-grower 

 to pay attention to what is thriving outside of 

 his garden wall." 



Skill of Prehistoric Lapidaries. The 



most superficial examination of any fairly 

 large collection of stone implements, says 

 Mr. Joseph D. McGuire, in a paper on the 

 materials, apparatus, and processes of the 

 aboriginal lapidary, is calculated to convince 

 the observer that man in his lowest stage 

 of development was well acquainted with the 

 methods of fracture of various stones, and 

 also that he was a most skillful workman. 

 The articles found in burial-places, in caves, 

 and shell-heaps, as well as surface finds, fur- 

 nish conclusive evidence that man often car- 

 ried material many hundreds of miles for the 

 purpose of fashioning, at his leisure, objects 

 of personal adornment or domestic utility as 

 well as weapons. The evidence of progress 

 in the manufacture of tools made by man is 

 easy to find : " From the splinter of bone or 

 piece of stone used in the hand to the dia- 

 mond drill of to-day is an immense advance, 

 but it can be traced, step by step, without a 

 break. The author has himself experiment- 

 ed on the manufacture of stone implements, 



using tools similar to those of the North 

 American Indians, and beginning with the 

 raw material. The principal work done was 

 the pecking of stone with the stone hammer, 

 and the carving, polishing, rubbing, and bor- 

 ing of stone with the rudest appliances. The 

 result of the experiments goes far to prove 

 that the time required for the manufacture 

 of stone implements by primitive man was 

 very short." If the time occupied by the 

 writer was short, it is fair to conclude that a 

 skillful workman, using the materials which 

 long experience had taught him were the 

 best for his purpose, would accomplish the 

 task in much shorter time. The author, in 

 his paper, records his experiments in pecking 

 nephrite, kersantite, catlinite, obsidian, and 

 basalt, with different hammering material, in 

 drilling and boring, and in hammering cop- 

 per, the results of which all went to confirm 

 the view he has expressed. 



Extermination of Species. Some of the 

 more obvious causes of the extermination of 

 animals now going on, says Mr. Frederic A. 

 Lucas, in his paper on that subject in the 

 United States National Museum, are to be 

 found in the systematic killing of animals 

 for their various products, the destruction 

 caused by domesticated animals introduced 

 into new countries, and the bringing of wild 

 land under cultivation. These causes most di- 

 rectly affect the larger animals, while smaller 

 creatures are influenced by slighter ones. 

 The erection of telegraph wires has proved 

 destructive to birds, while other birds meet 

 their fate by dashing against the electric 

 lights. The extinction of the rhytina and the 

 great auk, the almost complete extirpation 

 of the bison, and the reduced numbers of the 

 walrus, are good examples of destruction 

 wrought directly by the hand of man ; and, 

 besides, there are the still more numerous 

 instances of the very perceptible decrease of 

 animals once abundant. Species used for 

 food, or otherwise of economic value, suffer 

 most ; fashion affects some, some are neces- 

 sarily destroyed for the protection of man 

 and his domesticated animals, and others are 

 killed merely for sport. The passenger 

 pigeons, formerly visiting us by millions, are 

 now unknown in places where they once 

 abounded. Halibut, lobsters, and oysters 

 are getting scarce, and the Atlantic salmon 



