POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



571 



and sulphuric acid, a multitude of hollow 

 bubbles that flew around in every direction. 

 The larger bubbles soon fell back into the 

 mixture, but the smaller ones rose rapidly 

 into the air. The floating bubbles devel- 

 oped the play of colors peculiar to their 

 films ; when they burst they seemed to set 

 free a mixture of air and sulphurous acid. 

 A magnifying-glass revealed little blisters 

 on the surface of a part of the bubble, in- 

 dicating a partial separation of the liquids 

 constituting the mixture. When the larger 

 bubbles burst, they gave rise to a local fog 

 composed of spherical particles, which were 

 supposed, but not known, to be hollow. 

 Though these experiments seem to favor 

 the vesicular theory, they do not overcome 

 the difficulty of accounting for the previous 

 formation of the liquid film ; and the diffi- 

 culty is increased when pure water is sub- 

 stituted for the soapy mixture. 



Hard Literary Work. — Dr. Riart, a 

 Frenchman, has published a book on hygi- 

 ene for literary men, that contains some 

 excellent precepts, which literary men will 

 doubtless commend, think it desirable to 

 adopt, and then go on in their old style. 

 Some of the ways of French authors must 

 have severely exercised the highest powers 

 of physical as well as of mental endurance. 

 Littre, during the thirteen years he was com- 

 posing his dictionary, regulated his life so as 

 to give the least possible time " to the cur- 

 rent requirements of existence," and man- 

 aged to prepare 415,636 pages of manu- 

 script, besides matter for a supplement. He 

 rose at eight o'clock, and wrote for an hour 

 while his room was being arranged. Return- 

 ing to his room, he read proof till luncheon- 

 time ; was at his desk again from one o'clock 

 till six ; and, after an hour for dinner, kept 

 on at his work till three o'clock in the morn- 

 ing, or till the task allotted for the day was 

 done, if it was not done then. Everything 

 having been put in order, "my bed," he 

 says, " almost touched my desk, and in a 

 moment I was there." He slept as soundly 

 as a man of leisure, till his regular hour for 

 rising came. This was at his country work- 

 shop. In town, his hours were more liable 

 to be broken into. Scribe rose every morn- 

 ing at five, and worked steadily till noon, 

 when he varied his employment by gossip- 



ing at the theatres, etc., to put himself in 

 harness later in the day. He lived to be 

 seventy years old, and during his forty yeai-s 

 of solid work produced 345 pieces, compris- 

 ing 897 acts and wrote more than 100,000 

 verses. EUsee Reclus, according to the Lon- 

 don " Spectator," has been occupied for eight 

 years, and expects to be occupied for as much 

 longer time, on his " Universal Geography," 

 He produces a number of the book every 

 week and a volume every year, and has 

 never yet missed being up to time. He 

 works, with a few short intervals for meals 

 and exercise, from seven o'clock in the morn- 

 ing till eight in the evening, is a moderate 

 eater, and has excellent health and capacity 

 for sleep. " He seems to forget nothing, 

 and is always ready to undertake anything, 

 whether it be learning Russian in order the 

 better to write his article on Russia, or mak- 

 ing a journey to Syria in search of materials 

 for his chapter on Asia Minor." It is sim- 

 ply method that has enabled these men to 

 do their work so regularly; having once 

 fixed upon a disposition of the time to which 

 the mind and body can conform, what is 

 necessary is to adhere to it and make it a 

 matter of habit. The great thing is to get a 

 good start ; for, as Dr. Riart says, " morning 

 work is both the easiest and the most profit- 

 able, and, depending as it does upon our- 

 selves, it can be the most regular." 



Przevalsky's Wild Horse. — M. Przoval- 

 sky, the Russian explorer, brought from his 

 Thibetan expedition a specimen of a hitherto 

 unknown species of wild horse, which has 

 been named, after him, Eq^ms Przevalsky. 

 All the genera of the family Equidce known 

 previous to the discovery of this animal were 

 more nearly allied to the genus of asses than 

 of horses, which are distinguished from ass- 

 es by having warts on the hind-legs as well 

 as on the fore-legs, by their broad, rounded 

 hoofs, and by having long tail-hairs growing 

 from the base and from all parts of the tail, 

 instead of the simple brush of hairs at the 

 end of the tail of the asses. Przevalsky's 

 wild horse appears to be intermediate be- 

 tween the asses and the horses. It has 

 warts on its hind-legs and broad hoofs ; but 

 its tail-hairs begin to grow from about half- 

 way down the tail, and not from the base. 

 It differs from the true horse in having a 



