POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



285 



the condition of mathematical science in Eng- 

 land is not fully satisfactory, there is more 

 cause for congratulation at present than there 

 has been at any time during the last one hun- 

 dred and fifty years, and we are far removed 

 from the state of affairs that existed be- 

 fore the days of Cayley and Sylvester. The 

 author concluded with a plea for the study of 

 the theory of numbers. 



Value of Living Traditions. According 

 to Mr. J. G. Frazer, the author of a compara- 

 tive study of religions, entitled the Golden 

 Bough, the best source for knowledge of an- 

 cient folk-lore is among the people of the 

 present. Every inquiry into the primitive 

 religion of the Aryans, he says, "should 

 either start from the superstitious beliefs 

 and observances of the peasantry, or should 

 at least be constantly checked and controlled 

 by reference to them. Compared with the 

 evidence afforded by living tradition, the tes- 

 timony of ancient books on the subject of 

 early religion is worth very little. . . . The 

 mass of the people who do not read books 

 remain unaffected by the mental revolution 

 wrought by literature ; and so it has come 

 about that in Europe, at the present day, the 

 superstitious beliefs and practices which 

 have been handed down by word of mouth 

 are generally of a far more archaic type 

 than the religion depicted in the most an- 

 cient literature of the Aryan race." 



The Magnctograph. The magnetograph, 

 the adaptability of which to use as a seis- 

 moscope has been tried by Prof. T. C. Men- 

 denhall, is described by him as a system of 

 magnetic needles, free to vibrate, and con- 

 nected with a mirror that turns with the 

 needles. It has long been noticed that an 

 earthquake causes a considerable disturb- 

 ance of the needles ; and that this is not an 

 effect of vibration is shown by the fact that 

 a series of brass needles is not thus dis- 

 turbed. It appears from the study of the 

 magnetic records that there are two distinct 

 vibrations, one due to solar influence and 

 seeming to be dependent jointly on position 

 and temperature ; the other series were de- 

 pendent on the relative position of the earth 

 and the moon, and were therefore regarded 

 as of a tidal nature ; and the disturbances of 

 the magnetic needle may be, and probably 



are, due to the stress of the earth's crust. 

 The author mentioned as a remarkable fact 

 that a periodic disturbance, smaller in am- 

 plitude than the thickness of the line re- 

 corded, could be positively and perfectly 

 determined. This evidence that the lunar 

 influence is due to variation of stress fur- 

 nishes a clew to the explanation of the dis- 

 turbances due to earthquakes. The stress 

 to which the earth is then subjected causes 

 an alteration in its magnetic condition which 

 is recorded upon the sheet. It may there- 

 fore be possible to recognize an earthquake 

 by disturbance of the magnetic needle, even 

 when the motion is too small to be recog- 

 nized by a seismoscope. It is a curious fact 

 that it is supposed in Japan that an earth- 

 quake can be predicted by the vibrations of 

 a loadstone. 



The Natural Gas Supply. The perma- 

 nence of the natural gas supply was dis- 

 cussed in the American Association, which, 

 meeting in the heart of the natural gas re- 

 gion, visited some of the more famous sta- 

 tions at Noblesville, Marion, Muncie, and 

 Anderson, where the new fuel is used. Presi- 

 dent Goodale warned the people at Anderson 

 against waste of the gas, because, he said, it 

 will surely give out some day. Dr. Edward 

 Orton affirmed in a paper in the Economic 

 Section that the supply in the Indiana and 

 Ohio fields is not only exhaustible, but is 

 rapidly and surely being exhausted. It is 

 not now being generated, and every foot that 

 escapes to the surface leaves the quantity 

 remaining for future use just so much 

 smaller. This is proved by the fact that 

 the pressure of the gas is steadily diminish- 

 ing, the decrease having already amounted 

 to thirty or forty per cent. Prof. P. II. Van- 

 der Weyde is of a different opinion. He be- 

 lieves that the gas is formed in much the 

 same manner as water-gas ; that the evolu- 

 tion of oxygen and hydrogen is constantly 

 going on in the regions of the earth's in- 

 terior, where the temperature of dissociation 

 exists; and that when carbureted metals 

 having great affinity for water are present 

 within reach of the dissociated gases, they 

 will be oxidized by the ascending oxygen, 

 while the hydrogen will combine with the 

 carbon to form hydrocarbons. Thus the pro- 

 cess of generating the gas is going on all the 



