FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



285 



does not concern you. But if the creditor 

 proves that which you deny, you will receive 

 twenty blows on the back, and will pay an 

 amend of twenty thousand [fakoudj) pieces 

 of copper.' " The antiquity of this custom is 

 of especial interest just at present, because 

 of the rise into prominence of the so-called 

 Bertillon system of identifying criminals, 

 which is based on the finger-print method. 



Solid Air. — In a recent address on The 

 Liquefaction of Air and Research at Low 

 Temperatures, before the Chemical Society, 

 Prof. J. Dewar gave some very interesting 

 descriptions of such unusual substances as 

 "solid air" and "liquid hydrogen." He 

 says : "If a litre of liquid air be exhausted 

 in a silvered vacuum vessel, half a litre of 

 solid air may be obtained and kept solid for 

 half an hour. The solid is at first a stiff, 

 transparent jelly, which, when placed in a 

 magnetic field, has the still liquid oxygen 

 drawn out to the poles, showing that solid 

 air is a nitrogen jelly containing liquid oxy- 

 gen ; solid air can only be examined in a 

 vacuum, or an atmosphere of hydrogen, be- 

 cause it instantly melts on exposure to the 

 air, causing an additional quantity of air to 

 liquefy. It is strange to see a mass of solid 

 air melting in contact with the atmosphere, 

 and all the time swelling up like a fountain. 

 , , . A small ignited jet of hydrogen burns 

 continuously below the surface of liquid oxy- 

 gen, all the water produced being carried 

 away as snow. ... By means of a jet of 

 liquid hydrogen, liquid air and oxygen 

 were transformed into hard white solids re- 

 sembling avalanche snow, quite different in 

 appearance from the jellylike mass of solid 

 air got by the use of the air pump." The 

 only widely distributed element which has 

 not yet been liquefied is fluorine. 



Curious Verbal Customs in Madagascar. 



— A curious custom — said to be common 

 throughout the country — of changing names 

 and words, is described in J. T. Last's Notes 

 on the Languages Spoken in Madagascar. 

 The mention of the name borne by the king 

 while living is tabooed after his decease, and 

 violation of this law may be punished even 

 with death. The name of a chief is tabooed 

 to all in any way connected with him, and 

 that of a notable person to all belonging to 



his family; and should there be another 

 person in the family bearing the same name 

 as that of the person deceased, that name 

 must be laid aside and another one taken. 

 This change of name is often made as a 

 mark of respect for a friend. It is consid- 

 ered an honor to the dead man to change 

 one's name. The author while traveling once 

 heard some guns fired off in the distance- 

 denoting death. He found, on inquiry, that 

 the deceased was a grown-up daughter of a 

 certain person ; but the people were careful 

 not to mention her name, because it was to 

 be changed, and they did not yet know what 

 new name would be adopted for her. The 

 names given to deceased kings and chiefs 

 are invariably formed of three words, of 

 which the first is always Andriana — lord ; 

 the second some word denoting respect or 

 honor, or pointing to some characteristic of 

 the deceased ; and the third and last, arivo 

 — a thousand. Even among the common 

 people it is considered highly indecorous to 

 mention the name of a deceased person. 

 Some special words are the exclusive prop, 

 erty of kings and queens. Besides these, a 

 number of words are common to kings and 

 chiefs, but can not be used in the same man- 

 ner by the other people. Again, the king 

 has power to make certain words " fady," 

 that is, to prohibit their use either for a 

 time or entirely ; and then other words 

 must be adopted to be used in their place. 

 Changes are often made in the use of 

 words by the prohibition of words contain- 

 ing part of the name of the king or queen. 

 These customs may be made to account for 

 some of the differences existing between 

 neighboring dialects ; and their value as 

 factors may be estimated when we consider 

 the number of petty kings in Madagascar, 

 and remember that the rules as to the name 

 of each produce more or less permanent 

 changes in the language. 



Tlie Deepest Sounding yet made. — It is 



stated that Captain Balfour, of H. M. S. 

 Penguin, has obtained three soundings of 

 over five thousand fathoms. They were 

 taken in the Pacific Ocean at the following 

 points: Latitude south, 23° 39°; longitude 

 west, 1*75° 4', 5,022 fathoms, at which point 

 the wire broke; latitude south, 28° 44'; 

 longitude west, 1*76° 4', 5,147 fathoms; and 



