766 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



be adopted. Whenever work, itself unal- 

 tered, looks larger than of yore, and is felt 

 to be more trying, then the system is com- 

 mencing to feel the effects of overwork, 

 which, however, may actually have existed 

 for some time unnoticed. This is especially 

 true of the monotonous labor which is under- 

 gone by the clerks and subordinate officials 

 of our commercial houses ; if they are free 

 from the anxieties which affect the princi- 

 pals, they are the more subject to the 

 wearing action of monotonous labor. The 

 institution of bank holidays is a step in the 

 right direction, and ere long the absolute 

 necessity for a more decided increase in 

 the number of national holidays will be 

 palpable enough. What man can safely do 

 is not to be measured by his desires, but by 

 his powers ; and we are all rapidly becom- 

 ing convinced that incessant toil is not only 

 undesirable, but that it is uneconomical. 

 The one day's rest in seven is not now suf- 

 ficient for our needs." 



Frent'h Public Libraries. In a statisti- 

 cal work, comparing France with other 

 European countries, the following interest- 

 ing notes on public libraries occur: Paris 

 has six great libraries, the property of the 

 state, and open to the public, viz. : Biblio- 

 theque Nationale (900,000 volumes), Biblio- 

 th&que Mazarine, Bibliotheque de I'Arse- 

 nal, Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevi^ve, Biblio- 

 theque de la Sorbonne. Outside of Paris 

 France has 338 libraries which twenty years 

 ago contained 3,689,000 printed volumes. 

 Forty-one of these libraries are open in the 

 evening. Great Britain has (in its public 

 libraries) 1,'771,493 volumes, or six volumes 

 per 100 of the population; Italy 11. Y vol- 

 umes per 100. In France there are 4,389,000 

 volumes, or 11.7 per 100 persons; in Aus- 

 tria 2,488,000 volumes, or 6.9 per 100; 

 Prussia 2,040,450, or 11 per 100; Russia 

 852,000, or 1.3 per 100; Belgium 509,100, 

 or 10.4 per 100. Since 1865 school libra- 

 ries have been founded neai'ly throughout all 

 France. We have already in the Monthly 

 given the statistics of these school libraries, 

 but we copy the figures again from the 

 work to which we are indebted for the fore- 

 going statistics. In 1865 there were 4,833 

 of these school libraries in France, contain- 

 ing 180,854 volumes; in 1866, 7,789 libra- 

 ries, 258,724 volumes; 1867, 11,417 libra- 



ries, 721,853 volumes; 1868,12,395 libra- 

 ries, 988,728 volumes; 1869, 14,395 libra- 

 ries, 1,239,165 volumes; 1870-'71, 13,638 

 libraries, 1,158,742 volumes. 



Appearances attending tbe Passage of a 

 Meteor. In stating the results of his ob- 

 servations on the passage of a meteorite 

 seen at Louisville, December 12, 1872, Prof. 

 J. Lawrence Smith says that it first appeared 

 as a large red light in the zenith, which 

 seemed to stand motionless for several sec- 

 onds, evidently because it was then de- 

 scending in a line with the eye of the ob- 

 server. Then starting off with an uncer- 

 tain, faltering motion, it moved slowly tow- 

 ard the horizon, gradually fading from a 

 lurid red to a dark purplish hue, and leav- 

 ing a dense stream of blue smoke behind, 

 which remained for several minutes. " These 

 clouds," continues Prof. Smith, " are not 

 unfrequently connected with the passage of 

 these bodies through our atmosphere, and 

 are usually more striking in the daytime, 

 or, as in this instance, just after sunset, 

 when the sun was well situated to light up 

 the cloud and exhibit it to the observer who 

 could no longer see the sun. What are 

 these clouds ? Are they composed of im- 

 palpable matter abraded from the surface 

 of these bodies in their passage, or are they 

 true vapor-clouds ? From a close study of 

 observations in connection with several 

 well-known falls of meteorites, I am more 

 inclined to adopt the former view ; but 

 there is reason for believing that the vio- 

 lent disturbance of a portion of the atmos- 

 phere (much of it, in the rapid passage of 

 the body, undergoing great condensation), 

 added to an undoubted electric disturbance 

 of the atmosphere, would tend to the depo- 

 sition of moisture, upon the atmosphere 

 being gradually restored to its former equi- 

 librium." 



Insect-killiDg Plants. During a botan- 

 ical tour in Atlantic County, New Jersey, 

 Mr. Meehan, of Philadelphia, found grow- 

 ing, near Hammonton, a great number of 

 plants representing three species of Dro- 

 sera, namely, D. filiformis, D. long'ifolia, 

 and D. rotundifoUa. All of these species 

 had insects attached to them, but many of 

 the plants had none. The remains of the 

 insects which have been caught seem to 



