858 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



luxury prevails among the aristocracy. It 

 comes from India, where it was acquired. 

 The architecture of the towns is decidedly 

 monotonous. Most of the houses are ex- 

 ceedingly high, many of them reaching eleven 

 stories. They are built of sun-dried bricks, 

 and are externally decorated with chevrons 

 and zigzag patterns. There is always a ter- 

 race on the roof, where the people sleep in 

 the hot weather, and they are usually deco- 

 rated with turrets, domes, machicolations, 

 buttresses, etc., which give them quite a 

 medicEval appearance. Outside in the court- 

 yard the flocks and herds are kept, and the 

 horses are stabled at night. The lower story 

 is devoted to the storage of goods, the second 

 story is inhabited by servants, the third by 

 the guests, and above that come the harem 

 and the family dwelling rooms. Excellent 

 carvings are executed on the parts of the 

 buildings convenient for them, and on the 

 household utensils. Sultan Sallah was much 

 taken with Mrs. Bent's accomplishments, be- 

 cause she could do other things besides paint 

 herself with turmeric and antimony, and lead 

 a listless life of seclusion and squabbles in 

 the harem. The medical condition of the 

 country is terribly deficient. Burning the 

 part affected with a hot iron is a favorite 

 remedy, called kaiji/s, and was seen frequently 

 applied. The doctors consider certain smells 

 dangerous for certain wounds, and those af- 

 flicted are obliged to wear stoppers in their 

 noses for fear of inhaling the odor. On to a 

 wound they will tie iron or tin ; and, as wom- 

 en are not allowed to see medical men, their 

 husbands take a hair from their head, by 

 which the doctors undertake to decide from 

 what the lady is suffering. Sultan Sallah 

 told a curious case which had come under his 

 notice : A man, for a wager, ate all the fat of 

 a goat, and when he was subsequently taken 

 ill, the doctor ordered a fire of wood to be 

 lighted all round him to melt the fat, which 

 had congealed in his inside. 



The Composition of llic Primitive Atmos- 

 pbere. Contrary to the usual doctrine that 

 the proportion of oxygen in the atmosphere 

 is decreasing and that of carbonic acid is in- 

 creasing, a theory was put forth by the late 

 Prof, C. J. Koene, of the University of Brus- 

 sels, that the proportion of carbonic acid was 

 formerly vastly greater than it now is, while 



oxygen was absent from the primary atmos- 

 phere. Force was added to these conclu- 

 sions by the luxuriance of the coal plants and 

 by the frequent presence of combustible sub- 

 stances, such as pyrites, molybdenite, and 

 copper pyrites, in the primitive rocks. Under 

 this hypothesis the origin of the oxygen in 

 the atmosphere should be sought in the ac- 

 tivity of plant life, decomposing carbonic acid 

 and evolving the life-giving element. In the 

 examination of this theory. Dr. T. L. Phipson 

 has made experiments to ascertain to what 

 extent our modern plants can vegetate in at- 

 mospheres of carbonic acid, hydrogen, and 

 nitrogen. Taking such plants as pea, myo- 

 sotis, antirrhinum, and convolvulus, he found 

 that they could exist for many days, and even 

 weeks, in an atmosphere of pure carbonic 

 acid, but did not thrive ; that they appeared 

 healthy in an atmosphere containing so much 

 carbonic acid that an animal exposed to it 

 would perish in a few minutes ; and that they 

 flourished remarkably well in an atmosphere 

 containing one hundred times as much car- 

 bonic acid as in its normal condition. Con- 

 volvulus and antirrhinum in an atmosphere 

 of pure hydrogen were healthy, while the hy- 

 drogen gradually disappeared, probably by 

 uniting with the nascent oxygen, and the 

 plants got covered with water. In an atmos- 

 phere of pure nitrogen vegetation was re- 

 markably healthy for a lengthened period, 

 and in one of carbonic acid and nitrogen 

 mixed it was truly luxuriant. Dr. Phipson 

 found, moreover, that the lowest orders of 

 microscopic plants separate oxygen from its 

 compounds carbonic acid and water. He 

 concludes that, primarily, when the heat was 

 so intense that no compounds could exist, the 

 earth was in the state of free elements, or of 

 atoms all identical, which became differenti- 

 ated as the cooling went on ; that the primitive 

 atmosphere consisted of nitrogen, into which 

 volcanic action poured large quantities of car- 

 bonic acid and water ; that free oxygen, not 

 at first present, was supplied by the evolution 

 from the first organic beings plants that 

 appeared, they deriving it from the carbonic 

 acid they found in the soil and the atmos- 

 phere. This oxygen, poured into the air for 

 an incalculable series of ages, has gone on 

 increasing in quantity from the earth's earli- 

 est history to the present time ; and when it 

 had attained to a certain amount, animal life 



