854 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and stands ready to assist them in any le- 

 gitimate way. Whether it be a State geo- 

 logical or topographical survey, an academy 

 of science, or association or individual seek- 

 ing to unravel nature's secrets, the Associa- 

 tion desires to strengthen their bonds and 

 to uphold them in the communities where 

 they are located. Its province is to awaken 

 an interest in pure science ; or, where such 

 interest already exists, to develop it to the 

 full. It invites all interested in science to 

 its membership, and opens its sessions to 

 all comers. That its periodical and migra- 

 tory meetings, in the words of the consti- 

 tution, have actually done what they were 

 intended to do, have promoted intercourse 

 between those who are cultivating science 

 in different parts of America, have given a 

 stronger and more general impulse and a 

 more systematic direction to scientific re- 

 search, and have procured for the labors of 

 scientific men increased facilities and a wider 

 usefulness, no one who has watched its his- 

 tory can doubt." 



The following abstracts of the more in- 

 teresting papers read at the meeting are 

 condensed from the reports published in the 

 " Times " and the " Tribune " : 



The Orang-outang at Home. Mr. Wil- 

 liam T. Hornaday read a paper on the orang- 

 outangs of Borneo. The author spent sev- 

 eral months last year in that island, studying 

 its simian fauna and collecting specimens. 

 Each individual of the Bornean orangs, he 

 said, differs from its fellows, and has as 

 many facial peculiarities belonging to itself 

 alone as can be found in the individuals of 

 any unmixed race of human beings, as the 

 Chinese or the Japanese. The faces of the 

 more intelligent orangs are capable of a 

 great variety of expression, and in some 

 the exhibition of the various passions is 

 truly remarkable. The author had in his 

 possession in Borneo four young living 

 orangs. Three were dull and impractica- 

 ble, but the fourth was singularly intelligent 

 and docile; the development of its forehead 

 and entire cranium " would have been quite 

 alarming to an enemy of the theory of 

 evolution." This specimen was a male in- 

 fant seven or eight months old, twenty-two 

 and a quarter inches in height, thirty-seven 

 inches in expanse of arms, and fifteen and a 



half pounds in weight. He exhibited fully 

 as much intelligence as any child under two 

 years of age, with all the emotions of affec- 

 tion, dislike, anger, fear, etc. When teased 

 beyond endurance he would first whine fit- 

 fully, but, if the teasing were continued, he 

 would throw himself upon the floor, kicking 

 and screaming and catching his breath like 

 a child. Touching the habits of adult ani- 

 mals, Mr. Hornaday said that the male orangs 

 are much given to fighting, their huge ca- 

 nine teeth being their principal weapons of 

 offense. One of the specimens exhibited 

 by the author bore the scars of many a 

 fierce contest. Large pieces had been bit- 

 ten out of both lips, and his middle fingers 

 had been bitten off. He. had also lost two 

 of his toes in this way. The orang's nest 

 consists of a quantity of leafy branches 

 broken off and piled loosely in the fork of a 

 tree. The orang usually selects a sapling, 

 and builds his nest in its top. Sometimes 

 the nest is fully three feet in diameter, but 

 usually not more than two, and quite flat on 

 the top. There is no weaving together of 

 branches. On this bed the orang lies, re- 

 posing on his back, his long arms and short 

 thick legs thrust upward, and firmly grasp- 

 ing the branches within his reach. 



Edison's Elcetro - Chemical Telephonic 

 Receiver. An exhibition of Edison's elec- 

 tro-chemical telephonic receiver was given 

 before the Association in the Town Hall, 

 and was prefaced by a very clear and suc- 

 cinct explanation of the principles involved 

 in different kinds of telephones, by Profes- 

 sor Barker. Mr. Edison was present, and 

 offered an explanation of his new instru- 

 ment. Apparently, it is simply a small box 

 provided with a crank, and looking like a 

 coffee-mill. Its working is based on the 

 fact that, when a piece of metal is pressed 

 upon a chalk cylinder saturated with phos- 

 phate of soda, and a current of electi'icity 

 is passed through the metal, there is no 

 friction between the chalk and the metal, 

 no matter how great the pressure. But, 

 the instant the current is checked, the pres- 

 sure applies and causes friction. In the 

 new receiver there is a chalk cylinder which 

 is made to turn by means of a crank. Upon 

 the cylinder rests a metallic arm or bar that 

 is attached at the opposite end to the cen- 



