POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



569 



der the average during the prevalence of 

 the epidemic were diarrhoea and dysentery, 

 liver disease, measles, scarlet fever, typhoid 

 fever, and erysipelas. The death-rate of 

 persons above twenty years old rose consid- 

 erably above the average during the four or 

 five weeks immediately preceding the begin- 

 ning of the registration of deaths due to the 

 epidemic. In studying the dissemination 

 of germs of the disease by winds, it is well 

 not to confine attention to surface winds. 

 It ia now found that atmospheric circulation 

 takes place largely through cyclones and 

 anticyclones, by means of which the levels 

 of the currents are changed. 



Zigzag Lightning. It was asserted by 

 Mr Shelford Bidwell, in a lecture at the Lon- 

 don Institution, that the zigzag lightning- 

 flash of artists has no existence in nature, 

 but is simply an artistic fiction or symbol ; 

 and the speaker produced photographs to 

 prove his point, asserting that not an in- 

 stance of the zigzag flash could be found 

 among the two hundred specimens in the 

 collection of the Meteorological Society. Mr. 

 Eric S. Bruce has since published a paper 

 for the purpose of showing how the zigzag 

 flash, which is really often seen by observ- 

 ers and is frequently depicted by artists, 

 may have a counterpart in nature consistent 

 with the evidence of the society's photo- 

 graphs. In his view, the appearance is not 

 the flash itself, but is the optically project- 

 ed image of the flash formed on clouds, not 

 of a smooth surface, but of the rocky cumu- 

 lus type. The image of the flash takes the 

 angles of the uneven surface and becomes 

 zigzagged. The author has exemplified this 

 process by casting the photograph of a light- 

 ning-flash, by means of the optical lantern, 

 on model cumulus clouds, when the " stream- 

 ing " flash became zigzagged. 



Identification by Measure. M. Jacques 

 Bertillon has described a method now prac- 

 ticed in France of identifying criminals by 

 comparing their measures. Photography is 

 used in it only as an aid to identification es- 

 tablished by other means. The basis of the 

 system is to obtain measurements of those 

 bony parts of the body which undergo little 

 or no change after maturity, and can be 

 measured with extreme accuracy to within 



a very minute figure. Those parts are the 

 head, foot, middle finger, and parts of them, 

 and the extended forearm from the elbow. 

 By the classification of these anthropometri- 

 cal coefficients, a list including any number of 

 persons of whom photographs are obtained 

 can be divided into many groups containing 

 a small number of individuals each. Stress 

 is laid on the importance of the hand and 

 the ear as marks of recognition. The hand, 

 because it is the organ in most constant 

 use in every calling, and in many trades 

 and professions it becomes modified in ac- 

 cordance with the particular character of 

 the work which it has to do. The ear is the 

 precise opposite to this. It changes very 

 slightly, if at all, except perhaps in the case 

 of prize-fighters, who develop a peculiarity 

 which is easily recognized. It is, therefore, 

 an important organ to measure, inasmuch 

 as the results are not likely to be nullified 

 by a change in the conformation. 



Irish Myths. In his book on the Myths 

 and Folk-lore of Ireland Mr. Jeremiah 

 Curtin regards as insufficient the theories 

 of Mr. Miiller and Mr. Spencer, who de- 

 rive all mythology from a misconception of 

 the meanings of words and a confusion of 

 ideas, and refers its origin to a misconcep- 

 tion of the causes of phenomena. " The 

 personages of any given body of myths," he 

 says, " are such manifestations of force in 

 the world around them, or the result of such 

 manifestations, as the ancient myth-makers 

 observed." Mr. James Mooney remarks 

 that the definiteness of detail characteristic 

 of Irish stories contrasts strongly with what 

 is found in other parts of Europe. In Hun- 

 gary, for instance, the usual introduction 

 is, " There was in the world " ; while the Rus- 

 sian story-teller, hardly more satisfactory, 

 informs us that " in a certain state in a cer- 

 tain kingdom there was a man." In the 

 Irish myths, on the contrary, according to 

 Mr. Curtin, we are told who the characters 

 are, what their condition of life is, and how 

 they lived and acted ; the heroes and their 

 fields of action are brought before us with 

 as much definiteness as if they were per- 

 sons of to-day or yesterday. The Gaelic my- 

 thology, so far as it is preserved in Ireland, 

 is said to be better preserved than the my- 

 thology of any other European country. 



