574 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



for an increase of temperature of 1° Fahr., 

 exceptional gradients, both higher and lower 

 than this, have been obtained in some places. 

 Measurements were computed in five mines 

 having depths running from six hundred and 

 seventeen feet to nineteen hundred and fifty 

 feet, with distances between rating stations 

 in each about one hundred feet less than the 

 total depth of the mines. The results ob- 

 tained show that the thermic gradient in 

 this region — the average of the five mines 

 giving ninety-nine feet to the degree — is one 

 of the lowest that has ever been noted. A 

 view to the cause of the low gradient is in- 

 dicated by the variations between the differ- 

 ent mines. Keweenaw Point is a tapering 

 peninsula extending some seventy miles to- 

 ward the middle of the lake. None of tbe 

 mines are, consequently, very far from the 

 water ; and those nearest to the lake-shore 

 have the lowest gradient, while those farther 

 away have the higher or more rapid rate of 

 increase. Considering the magnitude of 

 Lake Superior, and tbe fact that only its 

 surface waters change in temperature, while 

 the great body of its deep waters remains at 

 the temperature of maximum density, or 

 about 39° Fahr., the lake appears to act "as 

 a great cold blanket," giving the general 

 coolness to the rocks which has been ob- 

 served in the region, and preventing the 

 rapid rise of temperature within the depths 

 to which the mines have penetrated, which 

 occurs under normal conditions. 



The Mounds of the Canadian North- 

 west. — In a paper read before the British 

 Association, Mr. F. X. Bell, of Winnipeg, 

 described the sepulchral mounds of the 

 Canadian Northwest. He pointed out that 

 a continuous line of mounds may be traced 

 from the mound-centers of the Mississippi 

 River to Lake Winnipeg, numan remains, 

 much decayed, were found in them, all 

 buried by being placed on the surface un- 

 der heaps of earth, in which patches of 

 charcoal and ashes frequently occur. One 

 mound had a burned-clay and bowlder 

 floor, similar to the "sacrificial mounds and 

 altars" of Ohio. Ornaments of sea-shells, 

 which must have been fully twelve hundred 

 miles from their native waters, had been 

 found in these mounds. In addition, the 

 author had discovered an ancient camp on 



the bank of Red River, near a group of 

 mounds. The mounds from Lake Winnipeg 

 down to the Gulf of Mexico were of the 

 same character, and were probably made by 

 one race. Though whites had found great 

 diversity of mortuary customs prevailing 

 among Indian tribes inhabiting that great 

 tract of country, little exploration had yet 

 been made in the Canadian Northwest, 

 which offered a wide and productive field 

 to archaeologists. The mounds were very 

 ancient, and were situated in what were the 

 best game districts. 



Some Parrot-Stories. — An English pa- 

 per publishes a number of interesting and 

 some amusing parrot-stories. One of them 

 might help to illustrate the proverb, "When 

 the cat's away, the mice will play." A young 

 couple went away from home for some weeks, 

 leaving the house in charge of the servants 

 and a parrot. After their return, the par- 

 rot would repeat, from time to time, " Let's 

 have another bottle — there's no one here to 

 know ! " accompanying its words with the 

 sound of the appropriate "plop!" An- 

 other story is not unlike it. A Yorkshire 

 gentleman had a fever, and his parrot was 

 taken from the dining-room to the kitchen. 

 During its abode there, of several weeks, it 

 stole the raisins intended for a plum-pudding. 

 The cook in anger threw some hot grease at 

 it and scalded its head. When the master 

 got better, the parrot's cage was taken up- 

 stairs again, and the bird, seeing the gentle- 

 man's newly shaven head, said, slowly, " You 

 bald-headed ruffian, so you stole the cook's 

 plums 1 " Some of the stories may throw 

 light on the question whether or not the par- 

 rot adapts its remarks to the circumstances. 

 There was a cockatoo that never asked for po- 

 tatoes except when dinner was on the table, 

 and never said, " Oh, you are a beauty ! " ex- 

 cept to a child. Dean Stanley, when Canon 

 of Canterbury, had a parrot which, one morn- 

 ing at breakfast-time, got up into a tree and 

 attracted the attention of all the servants, 

 who gathered around it. The canon then 

 came out, when the parrot looked down at 

 him and said in a low but distinct voice, ex- 

 actly like Stanley's, " Let us pray." It was 

 evidently reminded of the assembling of the 

 servants at morning prayers. A gray par- 

 rot was stationed in a nursery, where his 



