P OP ULA R MIS CELL ANY 



7i5 



tions of oxygen disappear in the liquid con- 

 dition. Phosphorus or potassium may be 

 plunged into the liquid without any sign of 

 combination. But the magnetic properties 

 of the gas are intensified, and the action of 

 the liquid upon light is identical with that of 

 an equivalent quantity of oxygen in the gase- 

 ous condition. But while thus strongly mag- 

 netic, liquid oxygen is an extremely bad 

 conductor of electricity. The boiling-point 

 of liquid air is 192 C. below zero, or 10 C. 

 lower than that of oxygen. The doctrine of 

 the text-books that the oxygen liquefies first 

 and the nitrogen afterward is erroneous. Air 

 liquefies as air ; but the boiling liquid parts 

 with its nitrogen first, and becomes gradually 

 richer in oxygen. Both in appearance and 

 in spectroscopic behavior liquid air is sim- 

 ply diluted liquid oxygen. The blue tint of 

 the oxygen is lost, and the absorption bands 

 in the red are proportionately faint. Were 

 this globe cooled down to some 200 C. be- 

 low zero, it would be covered with a sea of 

 liquid air thirty-five feet deep, of which about 

 seven feet would be oxygen. 



The Eleventh Census. In an address de- 

 livered before the American Statistical Asso- 

 ciation Robert P. Porter, Superintendent of 

 the Eleventh Census, stated that sixty thou- 

 sand persons took part in the work of this 

 census, and that its reports will make not 

 less than twenty-five quarto volumes of one 

 thousand pages each. Of the thirty experts 

 and chiefs of divisions, at least twenty-three 

 held similar or prominent positions in the 

 tenth census. By the use of the electric tab- 

 ulating machine it has been possible for the 

 first time to aggregate from the schedules 

 all the information which appears in any way 

 desirable. Taking warning from the fate of 

 educational statistics in the tenth census, 

 which largely failed of publication, it was de- 

 termined to confine the inquiries in the elev- 

 enth census to a small number of essential 

 questions most readily answered. The sta- 

 tistics of mortgage indebtedness was a novel 

 feature of this census. Under this head was 

 made only the simple inquiry whether the farm 

 or home was owned or rented, and, if owned, 

 whether free from debt or not. Although 

 these and some other inquiries increased the 

 cost and added to the difficulties of the con- 

 stitutional enumeration, the superintendent is 



confident that the work did not thereby suffer 

 to any serious extent. In conclusion, Mr. 

 Porter points out some defects of our census 

 system, and urges a permanent Census Bu- 

 reau. 



The First Cigars in Paris. Some inter- 

 esting information has recently been pub- 

 lished respecting the time when cigars first 

 came into use. A passage in Hippolyte Au- 

 ger's Memoires, now very rare, relates that 

 " our return to Paris (in 1823) was made by 

 way of Orleans. On the road we met quite 

 frequently officers returning from Spain. 

 They swaggeringly had cigars in their mouths 

 a new habit, which has since become gen- 

 eral." Another document carries back the 

 use of the cigar to a somewhat earlier date. 

 The Hermite de la Chaussee cPAntin (vol. 

 iv, 1813), going to call upon his nephew, a 

 young officer on leave in Paris, found him at 

 his hotel in morning costume with a black 

 silk cap on his head, and smoked a Havana 

 cigar with him. The taste for the cigar was 

 so common at that time that grocers, alive 

 to their interests, were accustomed to present 

 them to their customers. A set of compli- 

 mentary verses, composed by Armand Gouff e 

 for the actor Chapelle, of the Vaudeville, 

 who had added to his professional occupa- 

 tions dealing in colonial produce, included in 

 the nomenclature of articles that might be 

 obtained in his shop 



" Gum, marshmallows, rum and rack. 

 Barley-sugar, almonds, and cigars." 



Natural Selection among Egyptians. 



"In spite of what appears to us a meager bill 

 of fare, the Egyptian fellah," says Prof. 

 Robert Wallace, "is very often a man of 

 splendid physique, superior in strength and 

 in endurance to the Indian ryot, whom he 

 strongly resembles in many of his ways of 

 working, his habits, his stolid lack of 

 nervousness, and the absence of fear of 

 sudden danger to his person. It is believed 

 that the fellahin are almost exact reproduc- 

 tions of their predecessors for generations, 

 and that, although the country has beeji fre- 

 quently conquered, the new-comers were in- 

 significant in numbers to the mass of the 

 people, and consequently became rapidly 

 absorbed. It is also a common belief that 

 the soil and climate, and possibly the Nile 



