POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



715 



Bilbao, in Spain, nine lines run from the 

 station at the foot of the mountain to the 

 mines at different levels along the summit, 

 and carry on an average twenty- three hun- 

 dred tons of ore a day, none of which touches 

 the level of the ground through its journey 

 of five miles. It is calculated that one hun- 

 dred thousand tons of ore can be carried on 

 each of these cables before it becomes unfit 

 for service. In crossing wide ravines or 

 rivers, where one bank is lower than another, 

 the gravity system is employed, the descend- 

 ing load being used to haul up the ascending 

 car. In the Italian Alps a span of fifteen 

 hundred yards is crossed without a support, 

 and the method is soon to be applied to dis- 

 tances of two thousand yards. 



Effects of Freezing on Plants. The study 

 of the effects of freezing upon plants has 

 made less advance than that upon the best 

 temperature to promote their growth. Some 

 observations oil the subject have been pub- 

 lished by Signor Sebastiano Cavallero in Ital- 

 ian journals. All plants, aside from a few 

 tropical species, resist temperatures ranging 

 from the freezing point to 110 F. Beyond 

 these extremes their resistance varies with 

 the species. It is well known, moreover, 

 that woody plants and many herbaceous 

 plants freeze and thaw without being visibly 

 injured. Forests of larches, birches, and 

 pines grow in Siberia as high as the seven- 

 ty-second degree of latitude, where the tem- 

 perature often falls below 50 F. Several 

 kinds of pines, willows, junipers, and alders 

 grow along the Mackenzie River in latitude 

 69. Mr. C. Gibbs, of Abbottsford, found in 

 1882 that the apple crop of twelve Russian 

 villages, on the western bank of the Volga 

 and south of Kazan, was valued at fifty 

 thousand dollars a year. The fruits are 

 sold in the markets of Nijni-Novgorod and 

 Kazan. The region is subject to tempera- 

 tures, as was experienced in 1887, of 40 . 

 So apples grow well in the northern United 

 States, where such temperatures are not un- 

 usual. The greatest resistance to cold is of- 

 fered by seeds. Next in power of endurance 

 are the cryptogams mosses, algaj, and fungi. 

 Except the hardy trees and shrubs of the 

 temperate and frigid zones, and the hardy 

 perennial herbs, most of the phanerogams 

 perish between the freezing point and 20. 



The most obvious effects of freezing upon 

 plants are noticed in herbs and bulbs, which 

 are stiffened and assume a shining appear- 

 ance, often oleaginous and transparent. The 

 effects of frost on trees are not visible un- 

 less the temperature descends to near zero, 

 when they are often cracked to the center. 

 Internally the sap is congealed in the ti.s- 

 sues. Until recently the death of the plant 

 was attributed to the frosts dilating the cells 

 and distending the tissues. During the win- 

 ters of 1887-'88 and 1888-'89 Signer Caval- 

 lero found, with a microscope magnifying 

 three hundred times, that the tissues of a 

 frozen vine were not torn and that the cells 

 were not frozen. The crystals of ice, on the 

 other hand, were formed only in the inter- 

 cellular spaces. These facts do not afford 

 indications of the vital condition of the 

 plants, for they are observed in those that 

 resist the cold as well as in those that suc- 

 cumb to it. The chemical modifications are 

 of much greater importance, for they deter- 

 mine or attend the death of the frozen plant. 

 Signor Cavallero's data agree with those of 

 MM. Sachs and Jumelle, and point to the 

 thawing as the principal factor of the death, 

 for frozen plants may be made to live by 

 taking precautions to thaw them slowly. In 

 fact, while the plant is thawing rapidly, the 

 water leaves most of the tissues before it is 

 reabsorbed by them ; and the abnormal con- 

 centration of the tissues provokes death. 

 But when the thawing process is slow, most 

 of the water returns to the cells and restores 

 the equihbiium which primarily existed in 

 them. 



Sounds made by Ants. That ants are 

 capable of producing sounds intelligible to 

 their fellows and even audible to our ears 

 seems to be proved by the experiments of 

 Sir John Lubbock, Landois, Robert Wrough- 

 ton of Bombay, C. Janet, Forel, E. Warsmann, 

 and others. It also seems to be determined 

 that the sounds are produced by the rubbing 

 together of superficial portions of the body. 

 A simple yet ingenious contrivance is de- 

 scril)ed for enabling an observer to hear and 

 study these sounds. A glass tunnel is set, 

 small end down, in the middle of a square of 

 window glass of five or six inches side, fitting 

 closely enough to prevent the insects crawl- 

 ing out under it. A bunch of ants about as 



