POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



6 39 



tants were principally engaged. In less 

 than two minutes every sign of hostility 

 had ceased except in the case of one small 

 group and two single combatants in the op- 

 posite end ; but a small pellet of perfumed 

 paper, dropped in their neighborhood, put 

 an end to the battle here. Previous to 

 this, occasional stragglers had passed along 

 the connecting glass tube into the smaller 

 box. Most of them seemed to be of one 

 faction, only one of the opposition having 

 entered, upon whom six or eight ants were 

 expending their wrath. This was the only 

 remaining centre of strife, when Mr. McCook 

 replaced ants and earth upon their native 

 territory. The battle was continuing there, 

 between greatly-diminished numbers of 

 course, after the removal of the large bat- 

 talions into the box, but the application of 

 a feather dipped in cologne to the neighbor- 

 hood of the warriors caused the instant 

 cessation of controversy. The next day 

 there were no ants found upon the surface, 

 but digging two inches under ground, close 

 by the fence, he observed a few. The bat- 

 tle was evidently over. There had been in 

 the mean time a great change of tempera- 

 ture, from 96 to 47 Fahr., and this may 

 have had some effect in sending the ants 

 underground. 



How the Lake-Dwellers lived. A re- 

 cently-published work on " The Lake-Dwell- 

 ings of Switzerland " throws much needed 

 light on the mode of life followed by the 

 inhabitants of those curious constructions. 

 That they must have been expert fishermen 

 is shown by the large number of fish-skel- 

 etons, especially the skulb of very large 

 pike, found buried among the piles. So, 

 too, the bones, which lie about in the lake- 

 dwellings in astonishing numbers, of stags, 

 roes, wild-boars, beavers, squirrels, etc., are 

 an evidence of the abundance of game, and 

 of the ability of the settlers to capture even 

 the higher description of wild animals. But 

 the lake-dwellers did not depend on the 

 chance products of hunting and fishing. 

 They had already domesticated many of the 

 animals, which to-day are the companions 

 of man as cows, sheep, goats, pigs. A 

 great variety of seeds and plants were also 

 cultivated by them for their own use and 

 that of their domesticated animals. They 



cultivated flax of excellent quality ; and 

 their textile and other manufactures show 

 considerable proficiency and skill. Tools 

 and utensils of flint, of bronze, and of iron, 

 have been found in the sites of these lake- 

 dwellings, and the question arises whether 

 the inhabitants were one people through the 

 three successive ages of Stone, Bronze, and 

 Iron, or whether each age was heralded by 

 a new invasion. The evidence goes to 

 prove the former hypothesis, of one race 

 successively advancing from one stage of 

 civilization to another. 



Rapid Deeay of Timber. Till recently 

 chestnut-timber has been always employed 

 for beams in constructing houses in Rome, 

 but, in most of the houses built since the 

 occupation of the city by the Italian Gov- 

 ernment, pine joists have been used. After 

 a few years the roofs and floors in which 

 the pine had been employed were found to 

 be falling, the joists having rotted at the 

 point of junction with the walls, while the 

 intermediate portions remained sound. The 

 cause of this decay was discovered by acci- 

 dent on taking down the scaffold which 

 had been erected for the use of the work- 

 men engaged in building the hall of the 

 Ministry of Finance. A correspondent of 

 Prof. Tyndall's, writing from Rome, states 

 that around one of the scaffold-poles, which 

 was imbedded some four feet in the ground, 

 had accumulated a heap about six feet high 

 of pozzuolana mortar that is, mortar made 

 of lime and the peculiar argillaceous sand, 

 of volcanic origin, known as pozzuolana. 

 The underground portion and that above 

 the mortar-heap were perfectly sound ; that 

 covered by the mortar was utterly rotten. 

 Hence it was clear that the mortar was to 

 blame. In what respect, then, does Roman 

 mortar differ from that used in Venice, for 

 instance, where pine-timber has stood in 

 mortar for centuries without impairment? 

 The sole difference was in the use of poz- 

 zuolana, which therefore seems to have some 

 special chemical affinity for pine, while, as 

 regards chestnut, it is neutral. It is stated 

 that, in consequence of this peculiar action 

 of the Roman mortar on the pine-timbers 

 of the numerous buildings erected on the 

 Esquiline Hill since 1870, many of the roofs 

 and floors have had to be renewed. 



