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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



operator at will to light or extinguish all 

 the street-lamps of a city. 



The "Khedival" Geographical Society 

 of Cairo lately held its first meeting under 

 the presidency of Dr. Schweinfurth. The 

 Khedive gives to the society a local habita- 

 tion, suitably furnished, and also subscribes 

 10,000 francs a year to its funds. 



Three soldiers were simultaneously 

 struck by lightning at the Satory Barracks, 

 Paris, May 15th. In two of them the light- 

 ning produced complete relaxation of the 

 muscles, and in the third muscular contrac- 

 tion. The latter, unlike the former, retained 

 consciousness throughout. All recovered 

 in a few days. The metallic buttons on 

 their clothing were not affected by the elec- 

 tric current. 



The silver-mining region of Massachu- 

 setts, we are informed by a writer in the 

 Engineering and Mining Journal, appears 

 to extend from Gloucester, Massachusetts, 

 on the south, to Portsmouth, New Hamp- 

 shire on the north, and from the Atlantic 

 on the east to North Andover, Massachu- 

 setts, on the west. The first discovered 

 and thus far most prominent lode is the 

 " Chipman," at Newburyport, which has 

 been traced some three miles. The ore of 

 this lode is chiefly galena, carrying from 50 

 to 150 ounces of silver to the ton. The 

 average thickness of vein-rock on the Chip- 

 man lode is about 60 feet. 



A MILL has been erected on the line of 

 the Los Angeles & Independence Railroad, 

 California, for the purpose of manufactur- 

 ing the fibre of the cactus into paper-pulp. 

 The experiment has been tried, says the 

 Scientific Press, and an excellent quality of 

 paper is the result. 



The managers of the great aquarium at 

 Brighton, England, were very heavily fined 

 a month or two since for keeping open on 

 Sunday. A religious fanatic brought to 

 the notice of the courts the violation, by 

 the directors of the Aquarium, of an obso- 

 lete statute " for preventing the abuse and 

 profanation of the Lord's Day." In the 

 mean time publicans are allowed to keep 

 their places open on the " Lord's Day." 



In the American Journal of Sciences 

 for May, Prof James D. Dana examines the 

 evidences of the contemporaneity of man 

 and the mastodon in Missouri, as presented 

 in various pamphlets issued by Albert Koch, 

 of St. Louis. Prof. Dana shows conclusively 

 that Koch's " evidences " are worthless. 



In consequence of the excessive cold of 

 the past winter, the deaths registered in the 

 eight principal towns of Scotland in Decem- 

 ber amounted to 3,906, or, taking into ac- 

 count the increase of population, 1,000 in 

 excess of the preceding month, and nearly 



VOO more than in any month since 1855, 

 when registration of deaths commenced. 

 The mortality in France from the same cause 

 was equally great. 



Fayette County, Tennessee, is said, in 

 the Report of the Department of Agricult- 

 ure, to have suffered a very great loss of 

 mules and horses last spring by the buffalo- 

 gnat. The best remedy against these pests 

 is to put the stock at once in a dark stable, 

 to be kept filled with smoke. "Death," 

 says the report, " doubtless is partly caused 

 by loss of blood, but mainly by poisoning 

 the circulation." 



In our sixth volume, p. 743, Dr. Abbott 

 confirms Wilson's statement as to the out- 

 side lichen covering of the yellow -bird's 

 nest. A correspondent, writing from South- 

 ern Minnesota, confirms Brewer's statement, 

 viz., that this bird covers the outside of its 

 nest with fine vegetable fibres. The fibre 

 commonly used is hemp. The yellow-bird 

 thus appears to construct its nest differently 

 in the West from what it does in the East. 

 As for the eggs, our correspondent says 

 that all he has ever seen have been marked 

 with brown splotches on the large end, and 

 he has some specimens which are thickly 

 spotted over the entire surface. 



The annual death-rate of various cities 

 in the United States, for four weeks in 

 April, as stated by the Sanitarian, shows a 

 minimum (Toledo) of 11.04, and a maximum 

 (Paterson) of 30.63. The rate in New York 

 was 28.70, Philadelphia 24.42, St. Louis 

 12.65, Chicago 19.11, Boston 20.31, Balti- 

 more 17.53, Cincinnati 15.15, New Orleans 

 21.09, San Francisco 17.71, Pittsburg 19.22, 

 Charleston 27.82. 



The Peabody Museum of Archaeology 

 and Ethnology at Cambridge, Massachusetts, 

 as we learn from the Americari Naturalist, 

 lately received from Mr. A. Agassiz a fine 

 collection of objects illustrating the archae- 

 ology and ethnology of Peru. The collec- 

 tion includes a large number of vases, 

 several mummies, and trinkets, utensils, etc., 

 from burial-grounds; also a number of 

 human crania from the burial-towers near 

 Lake Titicaca. 



Sir William E. Logan, the geologist, 

 recently deceased, was a native of Montreal, 

 born in 1798. He received his early edu- 

 cation in Edinburgh. His first geological 

 researches were made in the coal-fields of 

 South Wales. In 1841 he returned to Can- 

 ada, and two years later was appointed 

 chief of the geological survey of the prov- 

 inces. He held this position till 1869, when 

 age and infirmity compelled him to resign. 

 " He has done," says Prof Geikie, " a great 

 work in his time, and has left a name and 

 an example to be cherished among the hon- 

 ored possessions of geology." 



