5 oo THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



capital, interest, taxes, etc. Of course, they have all had their 

 attention called to the single-tax doctrine. It has been " in the 

 air " for ten years, and it is their business to know all the discov- 

 eries in their science, just as it is that of astronomers to know all 

 the finds of new comets and satellites. If any one of them, either 

 in Europe or America, has given his adhesion to the doctrine, I 

 have not heard of him. All who have taken the trouble to give 

 any opinion about it have spoken adversely. It can not be said 

 that they are afraid to speak their real sentiments ; most of them 

 are free-traders, and nothing has been more unpopular than free 

 trade, although that tide appears now to be turning. If the single 

 tax contains the germ of truth, is it not a little remarkable that 

 no member of the profession should have perceived and acknowl- 

 edged it ? 







CHINESE SILK-LORE.* 



By General TCHENG-KI-TONG, 



SECRETARY OF THE CHINESE EMBASSY AT PARIS. 



THE time of the hatching of silk-worms in China always cor- 

 responds with the first thunder of spring. As soon as the 

 detonations are heard, a watch is set upon the eggs, which have 

 been carefully made ready beforehand for the occasion ; and the 

 appearance of the larvae may usually be counted on within five 

 days, more or less.f Thunder at this season is the sign of that 

 condition of electrical movement in the air which is produced 

 artificially in Europe to hasten the hatching, by means of a shower 

 of sparks. 



For the protection of the mulberry -trees, the raising of poly- 

 voltines, or worms that hatch several broods a year, is forbidden 



* From an address given at the Orange Garden of the Tuileries, during the exhibition 

 of Useful and Injurious Insects. 



f The Emperor Yu, called the Great, ascended the throne 2205 b. c, and reigned twenty- 

 seven years. He founded the second dynasty and completed the civilizing work of the Em- 

 peror Hoang-Ti, of whom he was a descendant. He divided each of the signs of the zodiac 

 into two equal fractions of 15. The farmers observe with the greatest attention the man- 

 ner in which the several parts of this cycle follow one another, and prognosticate concern- 

 ing meteorological phenomena from them. The observations made at Zi-ka-wei by Father 

 Dechevrens do not lead us to suppose seriously that there was any foundation for this su- 

 perstitious meteorology. The date of the entrance of the sun into each of these twenty-four 

 divisions was indicated by that of the Chinese New Year. According to the calendar for 

 1888, as marked out by Bishop Perney's table, the 14th of February was the date for 

 the opening of spring ; February 29th, for rain ; March 15th, for the hatching of silk-worms ; 

 March 31st, for real spring, etc. There is nothing absurd in the idea of a connection be- 

 tween the first electrical phenomena and the hatching of the worms ; for the early electri- 

 cal phenomena are usually associated with an atmospheric temperature favorable to such 

 changes. 



