POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



715 



of the advantages that are commonly at- 

 tributed to iron and stone. In cutting up 

 timber for use, the question of its grain as 

 developed by the annual rings is of very 

 great importance. The shrinkage being 

 greater in the newer layers of wood, it 

 must be cut so that this irregular shrinkage 

 may be of no disadvantage." In oak, in 

 order to show the beauty of the grain, as 

 well as to provide wainscot-boards that will 

 be true in shape, it is necessary to get the 

 boards as far as possible to radiate from 

 the center to the outside of the log. If this 

 is done, the medullary rays are cut through 

 in many places, so as to show the silver 

 grain. Ash-timber does not appear to have 

 any sap-wood, all the wood being of the 

 same color ; and there are foreign woods 

 with the same peculiarity. But the worm 

 finds out the part that is sap-wood. In elm- 

 timber the sap is reckoned as good as the 

 heart. The timber does not improve by 

 seasoning, but should be used green, and 

 even kept wet until wanted for use. When 

 used in flooring, the oldest elm boards have 

 been known to shrink considerably, if they 

 were merely taken up and planed. 



Stanley Jevons on Mathematics and Me- 

 teorology. — Professor Jevons wrote to his 

 sister, June 17, 1857 : " I have never had 

 the courage to open the many mathematical 

 books I brought with me ; but what do you 

 think I would do if I had opportunity ever 

 again ? Attend college and Dc Morgan's 

 mathematical lectures ! The utility of math- 

 ematics is one of the most incomprehensible 

 things about it ; but though I was never 

 bright or successful in his class, in spite 

 of working hard, I feel the greatest bene- 

 fit from it. Mathematics are like the calis- 

 thenic exercises of the mind, and make it 

 vigorous and correct in form and action ; but 

 it depends, of course, on other circumstances 

 how you apply and use your mind as well as 

 your body. To go figuring about with your 

 arms or legs is not the object of calisthen- 

 ics. I think, therefore, you can not waste 

 time or trouble spent over mathematics — 

 the more the better, for the present at all 

 events. ... I do not mean you to enter on 

 the study of meteorology, for it is a most 

 troublesome, extensive, and to most an un- 

 interesting subject. I have, however, in- 



volved myself in it to an awful extent, and 

 must go on with it, I suppose, while I am 

 here [in Australia, engaged in the Mint at 

 Sydney, and furnishing weekly reports to 

 the ' Empire ']. It is a most complicated 

 subject, requiring a knowledge more or less 

 of heat, light, chemistry, electricity, etc. ; 

 and is, therefore, a sort of difficult scientific 

 exercise rather than a science itself." 



A Legend of Monkeys and Stones.— Prince 



Carl, of Sweden and Norway, when starting 

 out from Hyderabad, India, on a tiger-hunt 

 in 1883, was struck by the scenery around 

 the city, where the undulating ground is 

 strewed with huge blocks of stone, "as if 

 they had been tossed hither and thither by 

 Nature in some capricious mood. Some of 

 the blocks are piled upon each other in such 

 a manner as to cause a lively imagination to 

 fancy them giants and trolls barring the way. 

 According to Indian folk-lore, these blocks 

 were brought hither, some four thousand 

 years ago, in this manner: The monkeys, 

 which in the earliest of times in great num- 

 bers inhabited the lands beyond the Hima- 

 layas, seized on the remarkable idea of 

 building a bridge between the mainland and 

 Ceylon, and, headed by their leaders, they left 

 their settlements in great numbers for the 

 south, carrying with them from their mount- 

 ains materials for their gigantic bridge. But 

 the road became too long for them, and they 

 were obliged, on reaching the spot where 

 Hyderabad now stands, to throw their loads 

 away, and here they lie to-day." 



Jade Ornaments in Ameriea. — At a re- 

 cent meeting of the American Antiquarian 

 Society, Mr. Frederick W. Putnam exhibited 

 a collection of celts, axes, and ornaments 

 made of various stones known under the 

 general term of jade. They were from vari- 

 ous places ; and among them were one with 

 a cutting edge at each end, and twelve speci- 

 mens from Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Of 

 the twelve, ten were ornaments which had 

 been made by cutting celts into halves, quar- 

 ters, or thirds, and on each of which a part 

 of the cutting edge of the celt remained. 

 One of the ornaments had been compared 

 by Professor Cooke with a cup of jadeite 

 from China, and found to be like it in color, 

 hardness, and specific gravity. The mineral 



