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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



call faults, in which the " throw " or dis- 

 placement sometimes amounts to many thou- 

 sand feet. Earthquakes, mountain-chains, 

 and volcanic eruptions may all be consid- 

 ered as consequences of this readjustment. 

 It is evident that the folds and fractures 

 seen in every mountain-belt could not have 

 taken place without great disturbance of 

 the surrounding country ; and as they have 

 been formed, not all at once, but each by 

 itself, and each one by many paroxysms, an 

 almost infinite series of earthquakes is re- 

 corded in the structure of every mountain- 

 chain. The lines of fracture which are 

 marked by mountain-chains are ever, after 

 the first disruption, lines of weakness, where 

 the resistance to lateral pressure is dimin- 

 ished, and where the strain of large un- 

 broken areas is relieved from time to time 

 by displacements, necessarily attended by 

 earthquakes. So along up the Atlantic 

 slope of the Alleghanies there have been 

 many earthquakes since the country was 

 occupied by the whites. Not a year passes 

 that we do not hear of several in New Eng- 

 land, the Middle, or Southern States. As 

 the population increases, the number of ob- 

 servers is multiplied and the number of 

 structures liable to damage constantly added 

 to ; so that such phenomena now attract 

 more attention and cause greater destruction 

 than formerly. When the data already col- 

 lected in regard to the Charleston earth- 

 quake shall have been tabulated, it will 

 doubtless be found that the displacements 

 which occasioned the vibrations were located 

 along a line parallel with the Alleghanies 

 and at a depth of from ten to twenty thou- 

 sand feet, not under but westward of the 

 city. 



The Ornithorhyncus.— Dr. Pfuhl, in his 

 lecture on "Animal-Plants and Plant-Ani- 

 mals," published in our last number, spoke 

 of the ornithorhyncus as being a true mam- 

 mal, and bringing forth its young alive. 

 Such was believed to be the case till very 

 recently. Mr. W. II. Caldwell, who has re- 

 sided for some two or three years in Aus- 

 tralia engaged in special investigations of 

 the mysteries connected with the mammals 

 of that country, has recorded the discovery 

 that the monotrcmata, or animals of the or- 

 der of which the ornithorhyncus is a mem- 



ber, are oviparous, and lay eggs, the devel- 

 opment of which bears a close resemblance 

 to the development of the eggs of the rep- 

 tilia. He has read several papers relative 

 to his investigations before the scientific so- 

 cieties of New South Wales, in one of which, 

 before the Linnsean Society, he exhibited 

 specimens that he had obtained in Queens- 

 land, showing the stages in the development 

 of the animals from the laying of the eggs 

 to the hatching. 



Some Inherited Phenomena of Alcohol- 

 ism.— Dr. T. D. Crothers, of Walnut Lodge, 

 Hartford, Connecticut, has made a study of 

 a class of phenomena which have not been 

 previously described specifically, in which a 

 liability to exhibit the outward signs of in- 

 toxication upon excitement appears to have 

 been inherited from inebriate parents. He 

 has found two classes of the cases : one, in 

 which the symptoms of intoxication are 

 present all the time; the others in which 

 those symptoms only appear from some pe- 

 culiar circumstances or exciting causes. In 

 the first class, some prominent defect, such 

 as idiocy, imbecility, or congenital de- 

 formity, is present to give the case a dis- 

 tinctness irrespective of the signs of intoxi- 

 cation. The symptoms may appear after 

 birth, or be slowly evolved with the growth 

 of the child, and come into prominence 

 at or before puberty. Of course, all the 

 varied phases of idiocy, imbecility, progres- 

 sive degeneration, and malformation go on. 

 The presence of a special class of symp- 

 toms resembling intoxication so clearly, sug- 

 gests a distinct alcoholic causation. In the 

 second class of cases noted, the alcoholic 

 symptoms are not present, unless from some 

 exciting cause (non-alcoholic), such as anger, 

 fear, or sudden excitement. In this class 

 are idiots, imbeciles, and defectives of all 

 degrees, who at times display distinct signs 

 of intoxication, that subside after a peril d. 

 Often in these cases appear the common de- 

 lusions and deliriums of intoxication ; also, 

 the Bemi-paralysis and stupor. Teachers 

 and superintendents of asylums and schools 

 for this class realize clearly the danger of 

 excitement on these dements and defect- 

 ives, throwing them into various states of 

 mania, as well as intoxication. Several re- 

 markable incidents illustrative of these 



