P OP ULAR MIS CELL ANY. 



761 



for those very laws by which we find the 

 course of Nature to be determined. Take 

 the law of hereditary descent : how did such' 

 a law, or rather, how did such a process, 

 first commence ? If this is not as legitimate 

 a subject for inquiry as the question how 

 came the hand, the eye, or the first germ, 

 into existence, it is only because it seems 

 more difficult to investigate. When the 

 doctrine of the universality of natural law 

 is carried so far as to include the genesis of 

 living beings and the adaptations to exter- 

 nal circumstances which we see in their 

 organs and their structure, it is often pro- 

 nounced to be atheistic. Whether this 

 judgment is or is not correct, Prof. New- 

 comb would not undertake to decide, but 

 said that it is very easy to propound the 

 test question by which its correctness is to 

 be determined : " Is the general doctrine of 

 causes acting in apparently blind obedience 

 to invariable law in itself atheistic ? " If it 

 is, then the whole progress of our knowl- 

 edge of Nature has been in this direction, 

 for it has consisted in reducing the opera- 

 tions of Nature to such blind obedience. If 

 the doctrine is not atheistic, then there is 

 nothing atheistic in any phase of the theory 

 of evolution, for this consists solely in ac- 

 counting for certain processes by natural 

 laws. 



A New Calculating-Machine. Mention is 

 made, in the presidential address of Mr. 

 Spottiswoode to the British Association, of a 

 calculating-machine, devised by Prof. James 

 Thomson, which for simplicity of construc- 

 tion compares favorably even with Edison's 

 phonograph. The description given of this 

 ingenious instrument is extremely meagre 

 and insufficient, and does not give any no- 

 tion of its modus operandi. " By means of 

 the mere friction of a disk, a cylinder, and a 

 ball," says Mr. Spottiswoode, " this machine 

 is capable of effecting a variety of com- 

 plicated calculations which occur in the 

 highest application of mathematics to physi- 

 cal problems. By its aid it seems that an 

 unskilled laborer may, in a given time, per- 

 , form the work of ten skilled arithmeticians." 

 It is applicable to the calculation of all sorts 

 of periodic phenomena as those of the 

 tides, and of magnetic and meteorological 

 variations. It will solve differential equa- 



tions of the second, and perhaps even of 

 higher orders. And through the same inven- 

 tion the problem of finding the free motions 

 of any number of mutually-attracting parti- 

 cles, unrestricted by any of the approximate 

 suppositions required in the treatment of 

 the lunar and planetary theories, is reduced 

 to the simple process of turning a crank. 



Grass and Straw as Domestic Fnel. The 



Mennonites, who, for a few years past, have 

 been immigrating to our Western and North- 

 western States and Territories from the Rus- 

 sian Empire, have introduced into their new 

 homes the "grass-burner stove," by means 

 of which their houses are warmed in winter, 

 and all their cooking done throughout the 

 year. The grass-burner is destined to be 

 generally adopted by settlers in regions des- 

 titute of coal or timber, since by its use 

 straw and dried prairie-grass are made to 

 serve as perfectly satisfactory fuel. A de- 

 scription of this peculiar stove, with illus- 

 trations, is given by Prof. J. D. Butler, in 

 the Gardeners Monthly, from which we 

 copy the following notes on its construction 

 and performance : The material is unim- 

 portant ; some use brick, others stone, while 

 still others prefer a mixture of sand and 

 clay. The size is considerable, not unfre- 

 quently five feet in length, six in height, and 

 two and one-half in width. The stove is 

 erected as centrally as may be in a dwell- 

 ing, so as to heat all the rooms as far as 

 possible. The structure may be said to 

 have six stories, viz., first, the ash-box ; sec- 

 ond, fire-box ; third, cooking-oven ; fourth, 

 smoke-passage; fifth, hot-air chamber; sixth, 

 smoke-passage to chimney or to a drum in 

 an upper room. The fuel box is about four 

 feet long, and in width and height a foot 

 and one-half. The grass or straw is thrust 

 in with a fork. The author says that, in 

 the house of Bishop Peters, the grass or 

 straw is pitched into the fire-box of the 

 stove for about twenty minutes twice or at 

 most three times in twenty-four hours ; that 

 amount of firing-up suffices amply for cook- 

 ing and heating in the climate of Nebraska.. 

 It now remains for American ingenuity to 

 improve on this Russian contrivance to 

 make it simpler, smaller, cheaper, of better 

 materials, of more elegant design, aiid of 

 more economical combustion. 



