MISCELLANY. 



379 



and possess the extreme characteristics of 

 those of the deer. They are hollow except 

 near the roots and extreme points, and are 

 filled with a sort of light pith, like tuat found 

 in the quill of the turkey. The hairs are non- 

 elastic and fragile, in this respect resem- 

 bling more those of the caribou than of any 

 other quadruped. The entire absence of 

 the hind or accessory hoof distinguishes the 

 prong-buck from both the deer and the an- 

 telope. A very important feature of the 

 prong-buck is its glandular system, from 

 which is emitted a rather pungent odor. 



The eye of the prong-buck is exception- 

 ally large much larger than that of the 

 deer, the ox, or the horse. The entire ex- 

 posed part of the orb is intensely black, with 

 a mild and gentle expression. The animal is 

 the swiftest-footed of all known quadrupeds, 

 but it cannot continue the race at high 

 speed for a great length of time, although 

 for a few miles or a few minutes its career 

 seems like the flight of a bird. While it 

 can make astonishing horizontal leaps, even 

 from a standing position, it caunot or will 

 not make high vertical leaps. The author 

 thinks that it could not under any circum- 

 stances be driven over an obstruction a yard 

 in height. The most interesting of all its char- 

 acteristics is its horns. These appendages 

 are given to both male and female, but in 

 the latter they are scarcely more than rudi- 

 mentary till they are fully adult, and even 

 then the horns are quite insignificant. In 

 both sexes the horn is hollow, like that of 

 the goat and the ox, and it is deciduous, like 

 the antlers of the deer. Altogether this is 

 a most interesting animal, occupying an in- 

 termediate place between ruminants with 

 hollow and persistent horns, and those with 

 solid and persistent ones. In skin and coat 

 it is like the deer. Its eye is most like that 

 of some of the antelopes. Its glandular 

 system is most like that of the goat. In 

 salaciousness it even excels the goat. 



Process for Condensing Beer. The pro- 

 cess for condensing beer was recently ex- 

 plained by Dr. Bartlett, in a paper read be- 

 fore the London Society of Arts. Essen- 

 tially it is the same as the process for con- 

 densing milk ; the only difference between 

 the two consists in the provision made, in 

 beer-condensing, to save the alcohol. The 



apparatus employed consists of a copper 

 vacuum-pan, with which is connected a 

 condensing-worm. Two copper globes are 

 attached for collecting the alcohol. A cer- 

 tain quantity of beer being pumped into the 

 pan, a vacuum of twenty-five or twenty-six 

 inches pressure is maintained, and a tem- 

 perature of 130-160 Fahr. during the first 

 stage of the process. In a short space of 

 time all of the alcohol flows into the lower 

 globe, the connection between which and 

 the upper is then closed. Thus the alcohol 

 is collected without breaking the vacuum. 

 This alcohol contains all the delicate fla- 

 vors of the beer. The alcohol having been 

 removed, the removal of water goes on till 

 the beer is reduced to a semifluid state. In 

 this way thirty-six gallons of beer is concen- 

 trated into a bulk of little over two gallons, 

 and besides there is a little over two gallons 

 of proof-alcohol. 



When the condensed extract is taken 

 from the vacuum pan and cooled, the alcohol 

 is mixed with it. All the aromas and vola- 

 tile matters that went over with the alco- 

 hol are thus returned to the extract. Ev- 

 ery valuable constituent of the original beer 

 is there present, minus only nine-tenths of 

 the water. When it is desired to remake 

 the beer, all that is required is to empty one 

 of the tin cans of condensed beer, and make 

 it up to the thirty-six gallons by the addi- 

 tion of water. The product is "flat," but 

 carbonic-acid gas can be reproduced in it to 

 any extent that may be desired by the addi- 

 tion of a little yeast or uncondensed beer. 

 The total expense of condensing beer does 

 not exceed the sum of fifty cents per barrel, 

 and that of remaking about twice that sum. 



Damming of Streams by Drift-Ice. In the 



American Journal of Science and Art for 

 March, Prof. J. D. Dana remarks upon cer- 

 tain phenomena attending the spring over- 

 flows of Connecticut rivers, and in these 

 finds reasons for believing that, during the 

 breaking up of the long glacial winter, the 

 gaps, gorges, or narrows, along the river- 

 courses, would have been liable to obstruc- 

 tion by floating ice. Such obstruction, he 

 says, would have been of all grades, from 

 that which could simply impede the free 

 flow of the waters, to the nearly perfect 

 dam. In particular cases the obstructions 



