POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



l 39 



the highest point. The rim of a crater, the 

 south side of which has been broken in, 

 occupies a part of the summit. The explor- 

 ers came down in a violent rain-storm which 

 flooded the valleys and did much damage to 

 the corn and destroyed some of the natives' 

 huts. This was regarded by the people as a 

 penalty for the sacrilege which the party had 

 committed in intruding upon the holy summit. 

 According to an Ossete tradition, when God 

 had determined to send Jesus Christ down to 

 the earth he could find no place except this 

 peak which had not been defiled by the sin- 

 ful feet of men. He therefore placed the 

 child in this spot in a golden cradle, and by 

 the side of it a dove, and a sheep with gold- 

 en horns. The dove was to rock the cradle 

 and coo, and the sheep to amuse the child 

 with its bleating. The animals were fed 

 from a pile of wheat which the Lord pro- 

 vided for them. When Jesus had grown up 

 he came down to the earth, performed his di- 

 vine acts, and went back to heaven ; but he 

 left the cradle, the dove, and the sheep on the 

 mountain as memorials of his abode there. 

 The dove is still rocking the cradle, and the 

 bleating of the sheep can sometimes be plain- 

 ly heard in the evening ; and they are still fed 

 on the wheat, which has never failed. The 

 belief prevails among the Ossetes that God 

 will never permit any one to go up to the top. 

 of the Kasbek. Many have tried it without 

 succeeding. Some have been made blind, 

 others have been cast into the gorges, and 

 others have been buried under the snow. 

 Now the Russian has gone up and taken away 

 the golden cradle ; for which God manifested 

 his anger in a terrible storm. 



Gas Cooking-Stoves. Gas cooking-appa- 

 ratus have the advantages over coal stoves 

 that they produce no dust or cinders, and 

 are more cleanly in every way. The oven 

 can be heated to a desired temperature in 

 only a few minutes after the gas is lighted, 

 while the degree of heat can be regulated ac- 

 cording to the nature of the articles to be 

 cooked by simply adjusting the valves that 

 control the supply of gas and the ventila- 

 tion. While gas may be somewhat more ex- 

 pensive than coal, by careful regulation of 

 the supply and attention to turning off the 

 gas the instant it is out of use, the difference 

 can be reduced till it is hardly perceptible. 



Gas-ovens may be heated by burning the 

 gas directly within them, or by applying the 

 flame to the walls. In the former case the 

 products of combustion are present with 

 the meat, with effects on taste and odor that 

 are not always agreeable. In the other case 

 the meat is not distinguishable from a joint 

 roasted before the open fire. The stove 

 should be supplied with an escape flue to 

 the open air. Boilers for the kitchen only 

 may be attached to the larger stoves and 

 heated from below by atmospheric burners. 

 The average consumption of gas in a range 

 for a family of ten persons is estimated to 

 be twenty feet an hour for six hours a day. 



Geology as an Educational Instru- 

 ment. Prof. A. H. Green spoke in the Ge- 

 ological Section of the British Association 

 over which he presided, on the value of ge- 

 ology as an educational instrument, and cer- 

 tain attendant risks that need to be guarded 

 against. Geologists, he said, are in contin- 

 ual danger of becoming loose reasoners. 

 They are too ready to accept conclusions 

 upon insufficient evidence. The reason is 

 not far to seek. The imperfection of the 

 geological record is a phrase as true as it is 

 hackneyed. Then, how many of the geolog- 

 ical facts gathered from observation admit 

 of diverse explanations as in the theories 

 of the nature of Eozoon ccnadensc! That, 

 after all, is only one of the countless un- 

 certainties that crowd the whole subject of 

 invertebrate palaeontology. In what a feeble 

 light have we constantly to grope when we 

 attempt the naming of fossil conchifers, 

 for instance ! It is from data scrappy to 

 the last degree, or from facts capable of 

 being interpreted in more than one way, or 

 from determinations shrouded in mist and 

 obscurity, that geologists have in a large 

 number of cases to draw conclusions. In- 

 ferences based on such incomplete and shak- 

 ing foundations must necessarily be largely 

 hypothetical. That that is the character of 

 a great portion of the conclusions of geology 

 all are ready enough to allow. The living 

 day by day face to face with approximation 

 and conjecture must tend to breed an indif- 

 ference to accuracy and certainty, and to abate 

 that caution and wholesome suspicion which 

 make the wary reasoner look to his founda- 

 tions and refuse to sanction superstructures 



