714 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



are occupied in building up rocks, in com- 

 parison with the work of which, the labor 

 of the plants we have considered may be 

 called insignificant. The diatoms, which 

 live in fresh and salt waters, are the small- 

 est of all organisms. They were once 

 thought to be animals, but are now regard- 

 ed as plants, and are one-celled structures 

 which have the property of sucking up large 

 quantities of carbonic acid from the water 

 and storing it in their cell- walls. They in- 

 crease by repeated divisions and subdivis- 

 ions of their cells, and build up rocks by 

 their simple presence. They multiply with 

 such prodigious rapidity, and the number 

 of their genera and species is so great, that 

 under favorable conditions, as in the shal- 

 lows and muddy flats of the seashores and 

 in wet places in the interior, they contribute 

 the substance of whole strata by leaving 

 behind them when they die their silicated 

 cell-walls, which become consolidated with 

 the earthy materials into a harder or softer 

 rock-formation. The magnitude of the oper- 

 ations of this kind that are going on in the 

 present epoch is illustrated in the Liineberg 

 heath, where the diatomaceous formation is 

 more than thirty feet thick. The city of 

 Berlin is built upon a bed of clay of from six 

 to one hundred feet thick, two thirds of the 

 mass of which consist of diatoms. There 

 is a puzzling feature in the life of these 

 diatoms. They contain a coloring matter, 

 dialomin, which is similar to chlorophyl in 

 its properties and in having the power of 

 abstracting carbonic acid from the air and 

 water. It is hard to understand how this 

 power can be exercised where the light does 

 not penetrate. Yet a great mass of the di- 

 atom bed under Berlin is living and active, 

 and streets and houses have been disturbed 

 by its growth. The functions which the 

 diatoms perform in the present history of 

 the earth were also exei'cised by them dur- 

 ing the earliest epochs of which we know, 

 and probably in still earlier times. 



Intelligence of a Pet Monkey.— A writer in 

 " Chambers's Journal " vouches for the truth 

 of the following story about a pet monkey, 

 which, even if taken with many grains of 

 allowance, exhibits a remarkable degree of 

 intelligence that, in many respects, seems 

 scarcely less than human : " Peter " be- 



longed to an officer in the British Army, 

 and was a large and powerful specimen of 

 his class. He was a general favorite, his 

 unusual sagacity and varied accomplish- 

 ments forming a source of endless amuse- 

 ment, and, although somewhat mischievous, 

 his gentleness of disposition and genuine 

 love of fun readily secured forgiveness for 

 occasional annoying pranks. Unfortunate- 

 ly, however, Peter had an enemy in the per- 

 son of a diminutive and unpopular subal- 

 tern, to whom he appears, in some mysteri- 

 ous way, to have rendered himself particu- 

 larly obnoxious. During a temporary ab- 

 sence of his master the monkey was in- 

 trusted to the care of a brother officer, 

 who, being anxious that he should suffer 

 no harm, chained him to a chest of draw- 

 ers in his own room. This well-meant re- 

 straint did not coincide with Peter's desire 

 for freedom, and, left to his own resources, 

 he sought about for some means of diver- 

 sion. Having first forced open the locks 

 of all the drawers, he strewed their contents 

 upon the floor, and seated himself in the 

 midst, " monarch of all he surveyed." Next, 

 discovering an inkstand within reach, he 

 bedaubed with its contents every article be- 

 longing to his hospitable entertainer. When 

 his host returned, Peter appeared totally 

 unconscious of having been guilty of the 

 slightest misdemeanor. He was not pun- 

 ished, but summarily dismissed from his 

 comfortable quarters and allowed to wander 

 freely about the barracks. All went well 

 for a time, but, later in the course of one 

 of his rambles, Peter unluckily encountered 

 his enemy, and, springing upon the shoulder 

 of the irate and alarmed subaltern in the 

 presence of a large number of officers and 

 men, he nearly succeeded in drawing the 

 sword of his victim, who, according to re- 

 port, was not at all likely to draw it him- 

 self. The ludicrous position of the latter, 

 amid the loud laughter of the men, served 

 only to increase the subaltern's hatred of 

 the popular monkey. Shortly after this, 

 Peter was fired at and seriously injured. 

 Though it was impossible to prove who was 

 guilty of this cowardly act, it was natural- 

 ly attributed to the subaltern, who, it was 

 well known, had never forgiven the indig- 

 nity inflicted upon him in public. Peter's 

 friends exerted themselves to save his life ; 



