634 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the disintegration of several feet in thick- 

 ness of limestone and dolomite, which have 

 been dissolved out and carried away by the 

 rain. 



Albertite. This substance, now largely 

 consumed as an enricher of illuminating 

 gas, is thus described in a recent number 

 of the Iron Age : 



" A very curious mineral known as albertite 

 is found in New Brunswick. It occurs in con- 

 nection with calcareo-bituniinous shales, and 

 has been by some regarded as true coal, by oth- 

 ers as a variety of jet, and by others again as 

 more nearly related to asphaltum. The true na- 

 ture of the mineral was made the basis of a law- 

 suit in Scotland a few years ago, in which the 

 amount involved was something more than a 

 million pounds sterling, as the decision settled 

 the question of the liability to pay a royalty. It 

 resembles asphaltum very closely, being very 

 black, brittle, and lustrous, and, like asphaltum, 

 is destitute of structure, but differs from it in 

 fusibility and in its relation to various solvents. 

 It differs from true coal in being of one quality 

 throughout, in containing no traces of vegeta- 

 ble tissues, and in its mode of occurrence as a 

 vein and not as a bed. The vein occupies an ir- 

 regular and nearly vertical fissure, and varies 

 from one inch to 17 feet in thickness. It has 

 been mined to the depth of 1,162 feet. The ac- 

 companying shales are abundantly filled with 

 the remains of fossil fishes, and it is not im- 

 probable that from these, in part at least, the 

 mineral was derived, existing at first in a fluid 

 or semi-fluid state. Vegetable remains are al- 

 most entirely wanting in the shales. During 

 twelve years since the discovery there have been 

 shipped 154,800 tons of albertite, chiefly to the 

 United States, where it has been used for the 

 manufacture of oil, and for the admixture with 

 bituminous coal in the manufacture of illuminat- 

 ing gas. It is admirably adapted for either of 

 these purposes, yielding lOO-pallons of crude oil, 

 or 14,500 cubic feet of gas of superior illuminat- 

 ing power per ton." 



Singular Feeding Habits of Wood-Ants. 



Mr. McCook, of the Academy of Nat- 

 ural Sciences of Philadelphia, has pub- 

 lished in, the " Proceedings " of that body 

 some highly-interesting observations on the 

 habits of Formica rufa, from which it ap- 

 pears that these ants have in their separate 

 communities regular provision made where- 

 by the workers are fed without having to quit 

 the scene of their labors. The foragers of 

 a community, as they come down the tree- 

 paths, their abdomens swollen with honey- 

 dew in which condition they are called by 

 the author rcplctcs are arrested near the 



foot by workers from the hill seeking food. 

 The replete rears upon her hind-legs, and 

 places her mouth to the mouth of the hun- 

 gry worker, or " pensioner," as the author 

 calls him, who assumes the same posture. 

 Often two, sometimes three pensioners are 

 thus fed at once by one replete. The latter 

 commonly yields the honey-dew complacent- 

 ly, but sometimes she is seized and arrested 

 by the pensioner, occasionally with great 

 vigor. The author described a number of 

 experiments leading to the conclusion that 

 there was complete amity between the ants 

 of a district embracing some 1,600 hills 

 and countless millions of creatures. Insects 

 from hills widely separated always frater- 

 nized completely when transferred. It was 

 found, however, that ants immersed in water, 

 when replaced upon the hills, are invariably 

 attacked as enemies ; the assailants being 

 immersed were themselves in turn assaulted. 

 Experiments indicate that the bath tempo- 

 rarily destroys the peculiar odor or other 

 property by which the insects recognize 

 their fellows. 



How Meteorites were regarded in Olden 

 Times. There was a noteworthy fall of me- 

 teorites in Berkshire, England, in the year 

 1628, and devout persons with one accord 

 seem to have looked on the phenomenon as 

 a special act of Divine Providence. The 

 meteorites are " the arrows of God's indig- 

 nation," and he is entreated " to shoote them 

 some other way, upon the bosomes of those 

 that would confound his Gospell." One 

 Mistress Green had the courage to order 

 one of these heaven-sent " thunder-stones" 

 to be dug out of the ground, and a chroni- 

 cler of the time gives a description of it. 

 The chronicler himself had little sympathy 

 with the curiosity of Mrs. Green, for he 

 warns his readers against being " so daring 

 as to pry into the closet of God's determina- 

 tions. His workes are full of wonders, and 

 not to be examined." A letter written by an 

 eye-witness of this fall of meteorites well 

 illustrates the devout credulity of the time. 

 It opens with the following passage : " The 

 cause of my writing to you at this time is 

 by reason of an accident that the Lord sent 

 among us. I have heard of the Lord by 

 the hearing of the ear, as the prophet speak- 

 eth, but now mine eyes hath seen him. You 



