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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the interstices of the iron, saturating it. 

 When the iron has remained under this 

 liquid pressure a sufficient time, it is grad- 

 ually cooled by turning cold water instead 

 of steam into the pipes, the pressure being 

 kept up, however, until the iron is cool. 



Destruction of Birds by Telegraph- 

 Wires. It is the opinion of Dr. Elliott 

 Coues that in the United States many hun- 

 dred thousands of birds are yearly killed 

 by telegraph-wires. To show that this es- 

 timate is not extravagant, he cites his own 

 observation while journeying on horseback 

 from Denver, Colorado, to Cheyenne, Wyo- 

 ming, the road for a considerable part of 

 the way coinciding with the line of the tele- 

 graph. The most abundant birds of that 

 region at the time (October) were horned 

 larks and Maccown's bunting. "Almost 

 immediately upon riding by the telegraph- 

 wire," writes Dr. Coues in the American 

 Naturalist, " I noticed a dead lark ; and as 

 I passed several more in quick succession, 

 my attention was aroused. The position 

 of the dead birds enabled me to trace cause 

 and effect before I actually witnessed a case 

 of the killing. The bodies lay in evei*y 

 instance nearly or directly beneath the 

 wire. A crippled bird was occasionally 

 seen fluttering along the road. Becoming 

 interested in the matter, I began to count, 

 and desisted only after actually counting 

 one hundred in the course of one hour's 

 leisurely riding representing perhaps a 

 distance of three miles." During the hour 

 he saw three birds strike the wire ; of 

 these one had a wing broken, and another 

 was dying in convulsions. 



Natural Histary on the Great Lakes. 



Prof. Comstock, of Cornell University, pro- 

 poses to organize an aquatic school of nat- 

 ural history for work during the summer 

 along the shores of Lakes Erie, Huron, and 

 Superior. A steamer is to be chartered for 

 the use of the school, and inland excur- 

 sions are to be made to the mining regions 

 and other points of scientific interest. A 

 strong corps of instructors for zoology, 

 botany, geology, etc., will be engaged, and 

 collections will be made illustrative of the 

 work done in these various departments. 

 A portion of the collection will be the prop- 



erty of the students, while the remainder 

 will be disposed of to such local societies, 

 colleges, and schools, as may desire to pur- 

 chase them in advance by taking shares at 

 $10 each. The terms for admission to the 

 school are very reasonable, viz., not to ex- 

 ceed $125 for thirty days, and $3.50 for 

 each additional day. This, however, does 

 not include the expenses of inland trips : 

 such trips will only be made by such pupils 

 as desire to take part in them, and will be 

 so arranged as to require the least possible 

 expenditure. 



Winter-Quarters ia the Arctic Region*?. 



The ship Discovery, of last year's Brit- 

 ish Arctic Expedition, wintered in latitude 

 81 40' north, longitude 64 30' west, in a 

 well-sheltered inlet directly opposite to the 

 winter-quarters of the Polaris. Here she 

 lay imbedded in the ice for ten months and 

 a half. In preparation for the long winter, 

 a layer of snow ten or twelve inches thick 

 was laid on the deck, but as it was found 

 not to bind, it was mixed with ashes and 

 water, and soon made a good macadamized 

 road. Then snow was piled up outside the 

 ship about fifteen or twenty feet thick. This 

 and the layer on deck kept the warmth in 

 the ship, and the temperature in the lower 

 deck ranged from 48 to 56. Between 

 April 26th and October 16th the ship's 

 company shot thirty-two musk-oxen, thirty- 

 six hares, six seals, and five eider-duck 

 about four months' rations of fresh meat. 

 Captain Stevenson, commander of the Dis- 

 covery, considers the long winter the most 

 enjoyable time of the whole period spent in 

 the arctic regions, the ship being very 

 warm and comfortable, and all hands em- 

 ployed in the work most interesting to 

 themselves. 



Voice of the Elephant. According to 

 Major Leveson, author of "Sport in Many 

 Lands," elephants utter four distinct sounds, 

 each of which is indicative of a certain 

 meaning. The first is a shrill whistling 

 noise, produced by blowing through the 

 trunk ; this denotes satisfaction. The sec- 

 ond is the note of alarm or surprise, a sound 

 made by the mouth ; it may be represented 

 thus : pr-rut, pr-rut ! The third is a trump- 

 eting noise indicative of anger; when the 



