POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



859 



other hardly ten miles distant. While a 

 number of the holiday observances are more 

 or less common to all the Aryan natives, the 

 features more peculiarly Irish are mainly 

 derived from the old Druidic worship. Aside 

 from some essentially foreign customs not 

 noticed in Mr. Mooney's paper, many of the 

 genuine Irish observances have been consid- 

 erably modified by English influences. This 

 is especially true of the May-day and Christ- 

 mas celebrations ; and many holiday rhymes 

 and children's rhymes, riddles, and other 

 formulas even in the remote parts, where 

 Celtic is the ordinary language of the peo- 

 ple have been imported bodily from Eng- 

 land. Mr. Mooney has also reprinted, from 

 the " Journal of American Folk-Lore, " a 

 paper on the " Folk-Lore of the Carolina 

 Mountains," which, while it can hardly be 

 summarized, is full of matters of curious and 

 quaint interest. 



Ants and the Plants that harbor them. 



In a paper read before the British Associa- 

 tion on the Humboldtia laurifolia as an ant- 

 harboring plant, Prof. Bower observed that 

 the peculiar relations between plants and 

 ants had been the subject of considerable 

 observation from time immemorial. The 

 literature on the subject could be traced as 

 far back as 1750, and Captain Cook, in de- 

 scribing his voyages, distinctly alluded to 

 the matter. In one place he said that he 

 had seen on a certain tree a number of black 

 ants which perforated the twigs, and, after 

 eating out the pith, formed a lodging in the 

 cavity, and yet the tree continued in a flour- 

 ishing condition. In tropical climates there 

 were many plants pre-eminently associated 

 with ants. The Italian botanist Picari con- 

 tended that the relationship was advanta- 

 geous alike to the plants and to the ants. The 

 former afforded shelter to the latter, and in 

 some cases supplied them with food. In the 

 course of a short discussion Dr. Tieman said 

 there were five species of Humboldtia in trop- 

 ical countries. The ants took advantage of 

 the hollowness of the plants, but he did not 

 think the latter derived any benefit from 

 their presence. 



Alcoholism and Consnmption. In three 

 professional papers Prof. Thomas J. Mays 

 exhibits relations between consumption and 

 nervous disorder, and between consumption 



and alcoholism. The former connection is 

 illustrated by the citation of numerous cases 

 in medical practice, the deductions from 

 which lead to the conclusion that " he who 

 looks at the disease which goes under the 

 name of pulmonary consumption solely from 

 a pulmonary standpoint obtains but a very 

 limited and distorted conception of its magni- 

 tude and nature ; but that he who takes the 

 view here indicated will realize that the lung 

 affection is only a special manifestation of 

 the disease which invades the whole body ; 

 and that all its diversified symptoms, such 

 as fatigue and exhaustion, anorexia, dyspep- 

 sia, wasting, dyspnoea, sweating, diarrhoea, 

 haemoptysis, intercostal tenderness, hoarse- 

 ness, aphonia, oedema, are not the conse- 

 quences of the pulmonary disease, as is gen- 

 erally believed, but in all probability find a 

 common bond of union in a general disorder 

 of the peripheral nervous system." In the 

 other aspect of the theory cases are cited to 

 prove that " alcoholism and phthisis are not 

 mere coincidences, but that they have a rela- 

 tionship so intimate that one may be con- 

 verted into the other " ; and that pulmo- 

 nary phthisis can be produced through the 

 toxic action of alcohol on the nervous system. 

 " Such, then, being the relation between al- 

 coholism and pulmonary phthisis, it is very 

 readily understood why these two diseases 

 should so frequently change places in differ- 

 ent members or generations of the same 

 family, and why they are so often associated 

 with various other nervous disorders." 



Old Panama Canal Projects. The feasi- 

 bility of cutting a canal across the Isthmus 

 was discussed by William Paterson, in 1701, 

 in connection with his Darien scheme, but 

 only incidentally. He thought that the ca- 

 nal could be easily cut for six out of the 

 eight leagues between the oceans, while the 

 other two passages would be difficult. Hum- 

 boldt, in a report made in 1799, enumerated 

 nine different points at which the two oceans 

 might be connected. Previous to this, in 

 1788, a passage between the two oceans for 

 small craft was actually accomplished. The 

 author of this achievement, says Mr. J. 

 Stephen Jeans, in a paper on the subject, 

 was the curate of Nevita, who induced his 

 Indian flock to cut a trench between the 

 upper streams of the San Juan River, near 



