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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



density of atmosphere that prevail in mount- 

 ain regions, and in acquiring the ability to 

 do full labor or take continuous exercise 

 without detriment to the system. The di- 

 minished heat at the high altitude, together 

 with the increased tissue-changes consequent 

 on the accelerated circulation and respira- 

 tion, create an increased demand for food ; 

 hence the Coloradan mountaineer is blessed 

 with a keen appetite and vigorous digestion, 

 and, while his store of adipose is usually 

 small, his muscular powers are, as a rule, 

 high. The cool nights promote refreshing 

 sleep, and the dry atmosphere enables one 

 to withstand without inconvenience changes 

 of temperature that in more humid regions 

 would be detrimental or dangerous. The ag- 

 gregate of persons who become acclimated in 

 Colorado and thereby cured may be divided 

 into three classes, viz. : first, a few who are 

 absolutely cured and who may go to any part 

 of the world or engage in any business, and 

 enjoy an immunity from consumption ; those 

 who may go to lower and less favorable cli- 

 mates during certain selected seasons ; and 

 those who can not with safety make any 

 change of climate. According to Dr. Dodge's 

 observation and recollection, the first class 

 includes about nine per cent of the patients ; 

 the second class, including the first, about 

 fifty per cent ; and the third class about fifty 

 per cent. Concerning the safety of a return 

 from the high altitudes after having enjoyed 

 an arrest of the disease, Dr. Frederick I. 

 Knight, of Boston, thought that those who 

 show a strong hereditary tendency to the 

 disease had better be encouraged to remain 

 in the climate where the arrest has taken 

 place. But a patient who has no inherent 

 tendency to this form of disease in himself, 

 but has been the victim, as it were, of ex- 

 ternal circumstances, may be allowed to try 

 a return under different conditions. 



Science at McGill rniversity. During the 

 past year McGill University, Montreal, has re- 

 ceived gifts from citizens of that city aggre- 

 gating one million dollars, one half of which 

 sum has been given by Mr. William C. Mc- 

 Donald. The larger part of the donations is 

 being expended by the Faculty of Applied 

 Science, of which Prof. H. C. Bovey is dean. 

 A group of new buildings, to accommodate 

 classes in civil, mining, mechanical, and elec- 



trical engineering and practical chemistry) 

 will be completed for the reception of stu- 

 dents in September. A large additional build- 

 ing for instruction in physics will be in readi- 

 ness early next year. The laboratories in the 

 engineering departments are provided with 

 the latest and best appliances, including a 

 hundred-ton Wicksteed and a seventy-five- 

 ton Emery machine for strength-testing, a 

 one-ton Fai'ja spring-tester for cements, a 

 high-speed steam-engine coupled direct to a 

 dynamo for incandescent lighting, and two 

 Thomson electric balances. The museum will 

 contain the Reuleaux collection of kinematic 

 models, the most complete in America. The 

 workshops are fully equipped with machin- 

 ery of the best and most modern type. Stu- 

 dents will be trained in carpentry, turning, 

 pattern-making, smith-work, molding and 

 casting, and in machine tool-work. In the 

 details of buildings, appointments, and cur- 

 riculum the faculty has endeavored to profit 

 by the examples of the best technical col- 

 leges of the United States ; in some respects 

 it has succeeded in taking a stride ahead. 



The Central Group of the Caucasus. The 



central group of the Caucasus Mountains is 

 thus described by Mr. Douglas W. Freshfield : 

 "Elbruz and Kasbek stand some one hun- 

 dred and twenty miles apart, the former due 

 north of the easternmost bay of the Black 

 Sea, on the edge of the Scythian steppe, the 

 latter in the center of the isthmus overhang- 

 ing the Dariel road. About midway between 

 these ancient volcanoes the Caucasus culmi- 

 nates in grandeur, in extent of glaciers, and 

 (setting aside Elbruz) in height, in a cluster 

 of magnificent granite peaks and ridges, in- 

 closing great firths of ice which roll gently 

 into the northern valleys, or pour down south- 

 ward in frozen cataracts till they touch the 

 forests of Suanetia, where they end at an 

 average elevation of seven thousand feet. 

 The snow-level varies between nine thousand 

 five hundred and eleven thousand feet, ac- 

 cording to the nature of the soil, the level, 

 and the exposure. Of the peaks, two ex- 

 ceed seventeen thousand feet, and five six- 

 teen thousand feet, while another is higher 

 than Mont Blanc. The longest glacier, the 

 Bezingi Glacier, is ten miles in length 

 longer than any glacier in the Alps except 

 the Aletsch." 



