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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Do Plants absorb Diatoms ? Prof. John 

 Phin, in the American Journal of Mi- 

 croscopy, criticises the results of Wilson's 

 microscopic examination of wheat-straw 

 grown on land which had been treated with 

 infusorial earth. The substance of Prof. 

 Wilson's paper we gave in the September 

 number of the Monthly. Prof. Phin repro- 

 duces Wilson's engraved representation of 

 the diatom forms said to have been found 

 in the remains of the straw after treatment 

 with nitric acid, and says: " A single glance 

 at the engraving is sufficient to convince any 

 microscopist that Prof. P. B. Wilson never 



saw ' upon the field of his microscope,' 

 under the circumstances which he has de- 

 scribed, the objects which he has delineated. 

 . . . Bearing in mind that these organisms, 

 as figured, have been obtained by destroy- 

 ing the organic matter with nitric acid, we 

 find Bac'dlaria figured as it exists only in 

 the living condition the frustules being 

 joined together in the peculiar way which 

 has given to this form the specific name 

 paradoxa. For this diatom to have passed 

 through a bath of nitric acid, and come out 

 in the condition figured, would have been 

 almost as great a miracle as the passing 

 of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, un- 

 scathed through the fiery furnace of Nebu- 

 chadnezzar. So, too, we find a calcareous 

 foraminifer figured under the same circum- 

 stances. After such instances, the numer- 

 ous minor features which are utterly irrec- 

 oncilable with facts may be safely passed 

 over." 



Another Way of securing the Chest- 

 nuts. The following narrative is taken 

 from the Chronique de la Societe d 1 Acclima- 

 tion ; we give it for what it is worth : " A 

 Frenchman, fifteen years resident in the 

 Transvaal Republic, where he has estab- 

 lished a number of plantations, recounts to 

 us the following fact, which no naturalist 

 has as yet reported : The coffee-plantations 

 are much exposed to the ravages of the 

 great cynocephalous monkeys. Among the 

 coffee-plants there grows a shrub, the scien- 

 tific name of which I have not been able to 

 ascertain, which has its fruit growing very 

 near the trunk. Some wasps, of a kind 



whose sting is very painful, had chosen sev- 

 eral of these bushes for attaching to them 

 their eggs, and the cynocephali were often 

 seen eying the fruit very eagerly, but they 

 dared not touch them for fear of the wasps. 

 One morning, the planter heard terrible 

 cries, and with the aid of a good opera-glass 

 was enabled to witness an interesting spec- 

 tacle. A fat old monkey, the leader of the 

 troop, would take hold of the young ones, 

 and pitch them repeatedly into the middle 

 of the bush, despite their cries and groans. 

 The shock brought down the wasps' nests, 

 and the irate insects attacked the victims ; 

 meanwhile the old rogue quietly ate the 

 fruit, throwing down the remnants of the 

 meal to the females and young ones on the 

 ground." 



Taking Impressions of Plants. -M. Ber- 

 tot, of the Paris Academy of Sciences, offers 

 a simple method of* taking impressions of 

 plants. A sheet of paper is first lightly 

 oiled on one side, then folded in four, so 

 that the oil may filter through the pores, 

 and the plant may not come into direct 

 contact with the liquid. The plant is placed 

 between the leaves of the second folding, 

 and in this position pressed (through other 

 paper) all over with the hand, so as to make 

 a small quantity of oil adhere to its surface. 

 Then it is taken out and placed carefully on 

 white paper ; another sheet is placed above, 

 as two impressions can be taken at once, 

 and the plant is pressed as before. On 

 now removing it, an invisible image re- 

 mains on the paper. Over this you sprin- 

 kle powdered black-lead, which causes the 

 image to appear. With an assortment of 

 colors, the natural colors of plants may be 

 reproduced. To obtain fixity, resin is mixed 

 with the black-lead in small quantity ; the 

 impression is fixed when it is exposed to a 

 heat sufficient to melt the resin. 



Ancient Weapons. Among the Michigan 

 exhibits of ancient stone and copper im- 

 plements at the Philadelphia Fxposition is 

 a weapon fashioned after the model of the 

 " patu-patu " of New Zealand. It is de- 

 scribed by Dr. C. C. Abbott, in the Ameri- 

 can Naturalist. The patu - patu of New 

 Zealand is, according to Tylor, quoted by 

 Dr. Abbott, " an edged club of bone or 



