n8 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



symptoms of catarrh begin to show them- 

 selves, and should be used frequently at 

 first, so as to keep the interior of the nos- 

 trils constantly well coated. The powder 

 checks the flow of mucus, and stops the 

 sneezing. It causes scarcely any percep- 

 tible sensation. A slight smarting may oc- 

 cur if the mucous membrane is much irri- 

 tated and inflamed, but it rapidly disappears. 

 After a few sniffs of the powder, a percep- 

 tible amelioration of the symptoms ensues, 

 and in the course of a few hours, the pow- 

 der being inhaled from time to time, all 

 the symptoms may have disappeared. 



Evolution of the Horse. Prof. Huxley 

 devotes the sixth and last lecture of a course 

 upon the origin of existing vertebrate ani- 

 mals to considering the evidences of the 

 evolution of the horse. After tracing the 

 genealogy of the horse from Orohippus, 

 through Pakcotherium, Hipparion, etc., to 

 Equus, the author remarks as follows : 

 " The evidence is conclusive as far as the 

 fact of evolution is concerned, for it is pre- 

 posterous to assume that each^nember of 

 this perfect series of forms has been spe- 

 cially created ; and if it can be proved, as 

 the facts certainly do prove, that a compli- 

 cated animal like the horse may have arisen 

 by gradual modification of a lower and less 

 specialized form, there is surely no reason 

 to think that other animals have arisen in 

 a different way. This case, moreover, is 

 not isolated. Every new investigation into 

 the Tertiary mammalian fauna brings fresh 

 evidence, tending to show how the rhino- 

 ceros, the pigs, the ruminants, have come 

 about. Similar light is being thrown on 

 the origin of the carnivora, and also, in a 

 less degree, on that of all the other groups 

 of animals. It is not, however, to be ex- 

 pected that there should be, as yet, an an- 

 swer to every difficulty, for we are only just 

 beginning the study of biological facts from 

 the evolutionary point of view. Still, when 

 we look back twenty years to the publica- 

 tion of the ' Origin of Species,' we are 

 filled with astonishment at the progress of 

 our knowledge, and especially at the im- 

 mense strides it has made in the region of 

 paleontological research. The accurate in- 

 formation obtained in this department of 

 science has put the fact of evolution be- 



yond a doubt; formerly the great reproach 

 to the theory was, that no support was lent 

 to it by the geological history of living 

 things ; now, whatever happens, the fact 

 remains that the hypothesis is founded on 

 the firm basis of paleontological evidence." 



Wood Pavements. After a very thor- 

 ough investigation of the advantages pos- 

 sessed by different kinds of pavements 

 granite, asphalt, and wood the corpora- 

 tion of London has decided in favor of the 

 last. The report of the city engineer shows 

 that a horse traveling on a granite pave- 

 ment may be expected to fall once for ev- 

 ery one hundred and thirty-two miles trav- 

 eled, on asphalt once in one hundred and 

 ninety-one miles, and on wood once in four 

 hundred and forty-six miles. The injury 

 sustained by the animal is also far less se- 

 rious from a fall upon wood than upon as- 

 phalt or upon granite. The mode of con- 

 structing wooden pavements in London ap- 

 pears to differ from that which has obtained 

 in this country. The surface-water is kept 

 out by means of a layer of asphalt, and 

 there is a flooring of planks as a super- 

 structure, which gives great elasticity, and 

 by distributing the weight equally over a 

 considerable area, adds to the power of en- 

 durance of the pavement. This decision of 

 the London Corporation will occasion sur- 

 prise on this side of the water, where wood- 

 en pavements have been pronounced an ut- 

 ter failure. It remains to be seen whether 

 good material and careful construction will 

 avail to remove the capital objection to 

 wood as a material for pavements its lia- 

 bility to speedy decay. 



The Ice Age in Great Britain. In a pa- 

 per on the Ice age in Great Britain, R. 

 Richardson cites facts with regard to the 

 shallow depth of the ocean between Great 

 Britain and Iceland and Greenland on the 

 one side, and over the German Ocean on the 

 other, and adduces reasons for holding that 

 in the glacial era this region was terra 

 firma ; that the glaciers of Great Britain 

 came over this emerged land from the 

 north and west ; and that the cold of the 

 glacial era was due, in part at least, to the 

 closing thus of the Arctic and exclusion of 

 the Gulf Stream. The facts appear to war- 



