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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ment and hicroglypbics which they bear. In 

 examining them, Mr. Maudslcy was- struck 

 with the frequency with which the serpent 

 symbol, usually the plumed serpent, is used 

 in the sculptures. It appears in the scroll- 

 work, is often found in connection with a 

 natural or more or less grotesque human 

 head ; ancf occurs under various disguises, 

 in many of which its presence is not re- 

 vealed at first sight. One of the most inter- 

 esting points noticed in the inscriptions — 

 which the author behoves should be read in 

 double columns, from left to right, and 

 from top to bottom — is that all those which 

 there is reason to believe are complete from 

 the beginning are headed by what might be 

 called an initial scroll, and begin with the 

 same formula, usually extending through 

 six squares of hieroglyphic writing. The 

 sixth square, or sometimes the latter half 

 of the sixth square, is a human face, usually 

 in profile, inclosed in a frame or cartouche, 

 like the names of the kings in Egyptian in- 

 scriptions. 



Some Old Natural Distory and Fables. — 



The " Speculum Ilundi ; or, a Glass repre- 

 senting the Face of the World," which was 

 published in 1670, before the advent of real 

 science, contains some very curious state- 

 ments in natural history. The bigness of 

 the whales, it says, " equalizeth the Hills 

 and mighty Mountains." Indeed, some au- 

 thors mention "far greater whales than 

 these." Above all others, mermen and 

 mermaids are considered " the most strange 

 fish in the waters." A fine specimen of 

 mermaid, which was said to have been 

 caught in Holland, " suffered herself to be 

 cloathed, fed with bread, milk, and other 

 meats, and would often strive to steal again 

 into the sea, but, being carefully watched, 

 she could not. Moreover, she learned to 

 spin and perform other petty offices of 

 women ; but at the first they cleansed her 

 of the sea-moss which did stick about her." 

 The ostrich is said to be compounded, as 

 it were, of a bird and a beast. For mak- 

 ing a drunkard loathe his liquor, a pre- 

 scription is given for breaking owl's eggs 

 and putting them into it. Birds-of-para- 

 dise " have no wings, neither do they fly, 

 but are borne up into the air by the subtili- 

 ty of their plumes, and lightness of their 



body." The unicorn is described as being 

 like a two-year-old colt, with a horn grow- 

 ing out of his forehead, " a very rich one 

 . . . being a horn of such virtue as is in 

 no beast's horn besides, which, whilst some 

 have gone about to deny, they have secretly 

 blinded the eyes of the world from their full 

 view of the greatness of God's great works." 

 The gorgon is " a fearful and terrible beast 

 to look upon. He causeth his mane to 

 stand upright, and, gaping wide, he sendeth 

 forth a horrible and filthy breath, which 

 infecteth and poysoneth the air." The 

 cockatrice or basilisk is called the king of 

 serpents, not only on account of his size, 

 but also " for his stately pace and magnani- 

 mous mind." His poison scorches the 

 grass as if it were burned. The " beams " 

 of his eyes will kill a man. The dragon is 

 found chiefly in India and Ethiopia. " His 

 wings will carry him to seek his prey when 

 and where occasion serveth " ; his teeth are 

 very sharp and set like a saw, but his pro- 

 digious strength " resteth in his tail." The 

 amphisbena has two heads and no tail, 

 "having a head at both ends." Africa 

 " aboundeth " with them. 



Volcanic Lava-Cones, — Professor Dana 

 observes, in connection with studies of the 

 recent eruption of Kiiauea, that in external 

 dress the crater of highly viscid lava is very 

 unlike that of the feebly viscid. The cone 

 in the former often rises with slopes of from 

 30° to 35° ; that in the latter often of but 

 from 5° to 10°, The former commonly uses 

 cinders largely in making its cone, or else 

 has the less fusible ortboclase lavas to deal 

 with ; the latter is lava-made, cinder de- 

 posits being subordinate to those of lava. 

 The crater in one is lengthened upward at 

 the top by cinders, and has crater -cones 

 about each vent of liquid lava within the 

 crater ; that in the other is often a broad 

 pit, with a floor of cooled lava, over which 

 are large and small lava-vents, and low, 

 lava-made cones. The volcano of the for- 

 mer kind is more liable to catastrophic erup- 

 tion, with noisy earth-shocks, though often 

 quiet in some discharges ; those of the lat- 

 ter commonly work with comparative quiet, 

 having their large outflows at times without 

 announcements of any kind to those dwell- 

 intr a few miles awav. There are differ- 



