P OP UL AR MIS CELL ANY 



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where they cut lumber. The men are ex- 

 tremely ignorant, and one of their pastimes 

 is this practice of tickling one another. 

 When the jumpers are excited to strike or 

 jump, or to perform any of their automatic 

 acts, they present the appearance of en- 

 tranced persons: their faces pale, eyes fixed 

 and glassy, and limbs trembling. One of 

 these jumpers is a waiter, and when told sud- 

 denly to " drop it," he at once lets fall what- 

 ever he may have in his hand. Another has so 

 susceptible a stomach that he at once throws 

 up his meal when anyone "gags" or makes 

 the motion of vomiting in his presence. 

 The man has grown thin, and at one time 

 was almost starved. One man, standing on 

 the bank of a pond with a five-dollar gold- 

 piece in his hand, was told to " throw it," 

 and threw the money into the water. An- 

 other was standing near a kettle of fish ; 

 being told to "jump," he leaped into the 

 kettle. In these acts the jumpers are abso- 

 lute automatons, utterly without volition or 

 responsibility : they are to be compared to 

 persons afflicted with St. Vitus's dance, hys- 

 teria, or epilepsy. Performances of a some- 

 what similar character were, last winter, 

 witnessed in a town of Vermont during a 

 revival of religion. Here the victims of 

 abnormal religious excitement would roll on 

 the floor in most absurd and undignified at- 

 titudes, whence the appellation of " the holy 

 rollers ! " 



New Process for the Protection of Iron 

 Surfaces. A new process for protecting 

 iron from rust has been invented by M. 

 Dode. It consists in coating, either by 

 means of a bath or a brush, any objects in 

 cast or wrought iron (freed from the damp 

 they may contain) with a composition of 

 borate of lead, oxide of copper, and spirits 

 of turpentine. This application soon dries 

 on the surface of the iron, and the objects 

 are then passed through a furnace, which is 

 heated from 500 to 700 Fahr., according 

 to the thickness of the articles under treat- 

 ment, so as to bring them -to a cherry-red 

 heat when passing through the center of 

 the furnace. At this point the fusion of 

 the metallic pigment takes place ; it enters 

 the pores of the iron, and becomes homo- 

 geneously adherent thereto, covering the 

 objects with a dark coating, which is not 



liable to change under the action of the 

 air, gases, alkaline or other vapors, nor to 

 scale off from the surfaces to which it has 

 been applied. When any considerable 

 depth of " inoxidation " is desired, the ob- 

 ject may be immersed in the composition 

 for the time requisite to absorb a sufficient 

 quantity of it. This process supersedes 

 painting and varnishing, and iron objects 

 thus heated are impervious to rust. The 

 cost of application is about half a cent per 

 superficial square foot. 



The Mance Heliograph. The Mance 

 heliograph, an instrument for signaling by 

 means of reflected solar rays, is now in 

 use among the British forces in South Afri- 

 ca. The signals made by the Mance helio- 

 graph are visible, under favorable condi- 

 tions of position and atmosphere, to very 

 great distances, and have been read as far 

 as eighty and a hundred miles. It con- 

 sists of a specially prepared mirror, with 

 mechanism for reflecting the sun's rays 

 with absolute precision to any required 

 spot, notwithstanding the sun's apparent 

 motion. By pressure en a finger-key the 

 flashes are made of short or long duration, 

 thus adapting the instrument to the Morse 

 code of telegraphy. A second mirror is 

 provided to permit of signaling being car- 

 ried on irrespective of the sun's position. 

 The instrument intended for field service 

 weighs from six to eight pounds, and is 

 mounted on a light tripod stand. The 

 working parts are protected from injury 

 during transit, and the complete apparatus 

 admits of being easily carried, as it is also 

 efficiently worked, by one man. 



Experiments in Opium-Smoking. The 



Russian traveler, Dr. Miclucho Maclay, 

 while recently on a visit to Hong-Kong, 

 experimented on the effects upon himself 

 of smoking opium. The experiment was 

 made at the Chinese Club, and was under 

 the direction of Dr. Clouth, who made the 

 following notes : Mr. Maclay was in normal 

 health, and had fasted eighteen hours be- 

 fore commencing the experiment. He had 

 never smoked tobacco. Twenty-seven pipes, 

 equivalent to 107 grains of the opium used 

 by the Chinese, were smoked in two and 

 three quarter hours at tolerably regular 



