HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



103 



despise the prevailing exaltation of mere linguistic 

 grindery. 



In the same magazine is a letter from Mr. E. C. 

 Mason, of Madison, Wisconsin, stating a fact which 

 refutes the widely prevalent notion— I may almost 

 say superstition — that many of the lower animals are 

 endowed with marvellous powers of predicting the 

 far-ahead weather. In America the musk rat is one 

 of these supposed meteorologists. It is there believed 

 that when he builds his winter quarters lightly, he 

 does so because he is inspired with foreknowledge of 

 a mild [coming winter. Last autumn, the musk rats 

 of Wisconsin built their houses " exceptionally light 

 and unsubstantial." The winter was severe, and the 

 rats perished exceptionally. The actual reason for 

 the flimsy building was that the autumn was 

 unusually mild, and the rats simply adapted their 

 present proceedings to present weather. 



This American delusion, however, is a very mild 

 one compared with that which still prevails here, 

 concerning the complex intelligence, foresight and 

 benevolence of the holly, which is seriously credited 

 with developing an extra supply of berries on the 

 approach of a hard winter, in order that the birds, 

 especially sparrows, shall be provided with food when 

 the snow covers the ground. 



I need scarcely add that anybody who knows how 

 to observe facts accurately, and record them fairly, 

 may refute this absurdity. The development of the 

 berries, like the proceeding of the rats, is a result of 

 past and present weather, with possibly some other 

 past and present conditions co-operating. 



Before closing the above quoted magazine, I must 

 borrow from it an amusing story of medical evidence, 

 given in a trial for damages. A physician, called as 

 witness, stated that the plaintiff was suffering from the 

 remote effects of an injury to the vaso-motor system 

 of nerves, and would in time become insane. In 

 cross examination, the doctor was asked whether he 

 was acquainted with the works of Grosse "On 

 Recent and Remote Effects of Head Injuries," 

 Lanery on "Injuries of the Head," Leymaher "On 

 the Subsequent Effects of Nervous Shock," and 

 Carson " On the Surgery of the Head." The doctor 

 affirmed that he had read these books, and that his 

 library contained them all. The opposing counsel 

 then called to the witness box a clerk from his office, 

 who testified that all these works were fictitious, and 

 that he had invented the titles in order to expose the 

 doctor's ignorance. 



The ruling machine of Nobert is now in London, 

 has been purchased by Mr. Frank Crisp, and was 

 exhibited at a recent meeting of the Royal Micrcsco- 

 pical Society. I remember when a micrometer slide 

 for a microscope ruled to ^ m of an inch was an 

 object of curiosity, and rather costly. With Nobert's 

 machine m ' a6J of an inch is attainable. Remembering 

 that the divisions of -^ gave to the strip of glass the 

 appearance of being ground where they crossed, the 



lines and spaces being separately invisible to the 

 naked eye, this exploit of dividing the invisible 

 divisions into 112 parts appears impossible. The 

 difficulty does not consist in moving the point, or 

 stage holding the glass, accurately through the small 

 distance. An ordinary driving engine constructed 

 on the principle of those of Ramsden and Parsons, 

 which were in active operation 50 and 60 years ago, 

 does this easily, but the two other necessary elements, 

 a point sufficiently fine to cut a line less than x^-, 

 of an inch thick, and a surface of glass capable of 

 receiving such a cut presented problems which 

 Nobert overcame. The cutting point was of course 

 that of a diamond, worked to a knife-edge, either by 

 grinding, or chipping, or slitting. 



Everybody has read of the wondrous rapidity of 

 the growth of Arctic vegetation. Now that summer 

 excursions round the North Cape to the Varanger- 

 fjord are running weekly aud even oftener (see 

 " Belgravia " of June last) anybody who has a month's 

 holiday at about midsummer may witness it and see 

 the midnight sun, &c, at less cost than spending the 

 time in English hotels. On my first visit to Norway, 

 Hammerfest was the ultima thule of steam packets, 

 but even on this short journey, the difference between 

 the aspect of the country, in the course of ten days 

 between going and returning was marvellous, though 

 I did not repeat the experiment of the American 

 tourist who tells us that by placing his head on the 

 ground he could hear the grass growing. Not only 

 is the vegetation stimulated to excessive rapidity by 

 the continuous daylight, but the leaves and seeds of 

 the plants are larger and heavier. Schiibeler has 

 lately analysed these larger seeds (see Biedermann's 

 " Centralblatt fur Agricultur u. Chemie," 1884, 

 p. S60), and finds that the extra weight is not due 

 to nitrogenous matter, as this remains unaltered. 

 Plants that produce white blossoms in other places 

 frequently have violet flowers here. Perfumes are 

 remarkably developed. 



The best time for witnessing the rapidity of vegeta- 

 tion in Arctic Norway, is about the first week of 

 July. Starting from Trondhjem, on, or a little 

 before, the first of the month, the northward trip 

 displays snowclad regions, which on the return 

 journey a fortnight later have become so transformed 

 as to be difficult of recognition. 



A very simple method of testing the quality of 

 compressed or "German" yeast, is given by O. 

 Meyer (Biedermann's "Centralblatt," 1874, p. 792). 

 A small piece of the yeast is placed in water at the 

 temperature of 25 Cent. (77 of our thermometers). 

 If the yeast is in good active condition it will rise to 

 the surface in one and a half to two minutes, if of 

 poorer quality, in about five minutes. Bad yeast 

 will not rise at all. 



Having devoted a whole chapter of my " Chemistry 

 of Cookery " to the subject of "malted food," which 

 until I wrote about it in "Knowledge" had been 



