636 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



a perch well up in the largest trees in his 

 range, and as he grows older he is disposed 

 to roost higher and higher, till he is fre- 

 quently found at the very apex of the tallest 

 tree. This habit is scarcely impaired by 

 domestication in the second and third gen- 

 erations, but after that the birds grow less 

 and less ambitious of high places, till at last 

 they come down to about the level of the do- 

 mestic turkey. The timidity characteris- 

 tic of the wild-turkey is eradicated very 

 slowly. When the wild-turkey in the forest 

 voluntarily leaves her nest, she always cov- 

 ers it carefully with leaves. This is done 

 with less care by the first descendants of the 

 wild hen, and each succeeding generation 

 becomes more careless in this respect. 



Prof. Thorston on onr Domestic Metals. 



The statement is made by Prof. Robert 

 H. Thurston that this country has for years 

 been importing cast-iron, while domestic 

 products of equal and even greater intrinsic 

 value sell at lower price. Other similar 

 instances of unwisdom are cited by Prof. 

 Thurston, as, for example, the fact that we 

 are importing boiler-plate at eleven cents a 

 pound, when we can purchase American 

 steel, vastly superior in all respects for the 

 special purposes to which the former article 

 is applied, at eight cents. Again, we im- 

 port vast quantities of foreign steel tools, 

 when at Pittsburg and elsewhere we make 

 steel fully its equal. In New England and 

 Pennsylvania we have ores from which is 

 made the finest cast-iron ordnance in the 

 world. In Ohio we make a metal for car- 

 wheels such as is never seen in Europe, and 

 of such tenacity and elasticity that foreign 

 engineers listen incredulously when it is 

 described. Our Lake Champlain ores make 

 an iron fully equal to Swedish for conver- 

 sion into steel ; and around Lake Superior 

 and in Missouri we have deposits from which 

 comes Bessemer metal far superior to the 

 phosphorus-charged metal we import. New 

 Jersey supplies us with zinc which meets 

 with no competition as a pure metal, and 

 which can be used without purification even 

 for chemical purposes ; and our native cop- 

 per is absolutely free from admixture with 

 injurious elements. It is time that these 

 facts should be known, and that the people 

 should disabuse their minds of the idea that. 



because a commodity is " imported," it is 

 therefore of greater intrinsic value than a 

 domestic product. 



The Deterioration of Silli Fabrics. The 



complaint is frequently heard that the silk 

 fabrics now manufactured are by no means 

 as lasting as similar fabrics manufactured 

 twenty or thirty years ago. That this com- 

 plaint is justified, the Wareliouseman and 

 Draper admits, and then points out the 

 causes of the deterioration. Adulteration 

 of silk on a large scale, and systematically, 

 began about eighteen years ago, soon after 

 the Bilk-worm disease had made its appear- 

 ance in the silk-producing countries of Eu- 

 rope, when raw silk rose from twenty-one 

 and twenty-two shillings sterling per pound 

 to as much as sixty shillings. In order to 

 keep down the price of the manufactured 

 goods, foreign materials were introduced, 

 and these were often in excess of the silk. 

 "It would be curious," says a writer on the 

 subject of " weighting " silks, " to follow one 

 pound of China or Italian silk through its 

 various processes in reaching a silk dress. 

 The silk is sent to the dyers, and the first 

 process is boiling off". All silk in its natural 

 state has a certain amount of gum in it ; this 

 must be boiled off, and, when this is done, 

 sixteen ounces are reduced to twelve. It is 

 then dyed black, and the process of weight- 

 ing commences. The twelve ounces is sent 

 to the manufacturer, varying from twenty- 

 four to fifty-two ounces. I have to-day seen 

 silk dyed and weighted in Lyons up to fifty- 

 two ounces. Very large dye-works exist in 

 Lyons for the purpose of doing this busi- 

 ness ; and it is done to perfection." 



Fatality of Inebriety. In an article on 

 the "Duration, Mortality, and Prognosis of 

 Inebriety," by Dr. T. D. Crothers, published 

 in the Quarterly Journal of Inebriety, we 

 are informed that the mortality of this dis- 

 ease has been estimated at from 96 to 98 

 per cent., or less than four per cent of re- 

 coveries. Under treatment in asylums the 

 lowest estimate has been placed at 33 per 

 cent., and from that up to 62 per cent. 

 This excessive mortality is due, according 

 to Dr. Crothers, to profound degenerations, 

 produced by alcohol, and the peculiar con- 

 ditions of low vitality, impaired and per- 



