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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



intervals. The third removed the feeling 

 of languor caused by his long fast, and his 

 pulse rose from 72 to 80. The fourth and 

 fifth caused slight heaviness and desire for 

 sleep, but there was no hesitation in giving 

 correct replies to questions, though he could 

 not guide himself about the room. After 

 the seventh pipe the pulse fell to 70. The 

 twelfth pipe was followed by singing in the 

 ears, and after the thirteenth he laughed 

 heartily, though without any cause that he 

 can remember. Questions asked at this 

 time were answered only after a pause, and 

 not always correctly. He had for some 

 time ceased to be conscious of his actions. 

 After the twenty-fifth pipe, questions asked 

 in a loud tone were not answered. After 

 the last pipe had been smoked, he re- 

 marked, " I do not hear well." Forty 

 minutes later there was a slight return of 

 conciousness, and he said : " I am quite 

 bewildered. May I smoke some more? 

 Is the man with the pipe gone already ? " 

 Fifteen minutes later he was able to go 

 home, and then retired to bed. He woke 

 the next morning at 3 a. m. and took a 

 hearty meal, after his fast of thirty-three 

 hours. During the next day he felt as if he 

 had bees in a great hollow in his head, as 

 well as a slight headache. The organs of 

 locomotion were first affected, next came 

 sight and hearing, but Mr. Maclay is positive 

 that there were no dreams, hallucinations, or 

 visions of any sort whatever. 



Descartes on the Invention of the Tele- 

 scope. Concerning the invention of the 

 telescope, Descartes, in 1637, wrote as fol- 

 lows: "This invention, as illustrious as it 

 is useful, is, to the shame of our science, 

 due to chance and mere experiment. About 

 thirty years ago there lived in Alkmaer, in 

 Holland, a certain Jacob Metius, who had 

 never studied, though both his father and 

 his brother were professors of mathematics. 

 He found his greatest pleasure in making 

 burning-glasses and mirrors ; and when he 

 was thus once in possession of a lot of 

 glasses of different forms he happened to 

 look at the same time through two glasses, 

 of which the one was a little thicker in the 

 middle than on the edge, and the other 

 thinner in the middle. He afterward fixed 

 them in a tube, and in- that way originated 



a telescope, from which all the later ones 

 have been made, for as far as I know no- 

 body as yet has sufficiently explained what 

 form these glasses by right ought to have. 

 On the 17th of October, 1608, this Jacob 

 Metius (otherwise Adriaanz) applied to the 

 States-General of the Netherlands for a re- 

 ward as the inventor of the instrument two 

 years previously. But one of his own coun- 

 trymen had anticipated him in this applica- 

 tion, for Jan Lapprey (otherwise Hans Lip- 

 persheim) had some days before presented 

 to the States a similar instrument. Thus, 

 then, the first auihentic publication on record 

 of this great invention was made when Lap- 

 prey delivered his telescope to the States- 

 General." 



" This Jan Lapprey," says the author of 

 a paper in " The Observatory," " was born 

 in Wesel, and followed the trade of a spec- 

 tacle-maker in Middelburg. On October 

 2, 1608, he solicited the States for a pat- 

 ent for thirty years, or an annual pension 

 for life, for the instrument he had invent- 

 ed, promising them to construct such in- 

 struments only for the Government. After 

 inviting the inventor to improve the instru- 

 ment, and alter it so that they could look 

 through it with both eyes at the same time, 

 the States determined, on October 4th, that 

 from every province one deputy should be 

 chosen to try the apparatus and make 

 terms with him concerning the price. The 

 committee declared, on October 6th, that it 

 found the invention useful for the conntry, 

 and nine hundred florins were offered to 

 Lapprey for the instrument. He had at 

 first asked three thousand florins for three 

 instruments of rock-crystal. He was then 

 ordered to deliver the instruments within 

 a certain time and the patent was promised 

 him on condition that he kept the invention 

 a secret. Lapprey delivered the instrument 

 in due time. He had arranged it for both 

 eyes, and it was found satisfactory." 



A Carnivorous Goose. In communicat- 

 ing to " Nature " an account of a goose 

 which had learned to eat flesh, the Duke of 

 Argyll remarks upon the circumstance as 

 being extremely curious, but at the same 

 time notes the fact that cows are largely 

 fed on fish-ofl'al in Scandinavia. This car- 

 nivorous goose is in the possession of Mr. 



