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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of the nectaries more closely than does that 

 elaborated by aphides. 



Horse Racing in Bosnia. — The Bosnians 

 are very fond of horse racing. Their meet- 

 ings were Isept up for five hundred years 

 under the native laws, and are supported 

 with still more splendor by the Austrian 

 Government. The horse is the favorite com- 

 panion of the native, who celebrates it in his 

 songs, and cares for it as he would for a 

 child, guarding it .against the evil eye and 

 malice. The Bosnian mountain horse pos- 

 sesses fine qualities, and is sober, agile, and 

 hardy. Previous to being put in a race he 

 is subjected to a very curious special train- 

 ing. For three or four weeks he is en- 

 veloped in thick coverings, and is bled re- 

 peatedly and thoroughly. He is walked all 

 day, and especially in the evening and the 

 morning, in the open air. No hay is given 

 him, and as little as possible of barley and 

 water. His legs are massaged time and 

 again, and rubbed with a mixture of water, 

 salt, and two yolks of eggs. He is given 

 only a few hours of rest, and the treat- 

 ment is kept up till the very moment of the 

 race. 



M. Danbree. — By the death of M. Dau- 

 br4e French geology has lost one of its 

 most brilliant workers. Born at Metz on 

 June 25, 1814, he soon developed a special 

 interest in minerals. He passed in 1834 

 from the Ecole Polytechnique into the Corps 

 des mines. He already, while a student, be- 

 gan to display that breadth of view and 

 width of sympathy which distinguished his 

 later career. Gradually his attention was 

 more and more directed to the experimental 

 side of his favorite science. He studied the 

 artificial production of various minerals, and 

 entered upon a course of profound investiga- 

 tion in which he became the great leader, 

 and did more than any other observer to ad- 

 vance that department of the science. The 

 difficult problems of metamorphism had a 

 peculiar fascination for him, and he devoted 

 himself with admirable patience to the task 

 of trying to solve some of them by actual 

 experiment. The various researches col- 

 lected in his l^tudes synthetiques de G6o- 

 logie experimentale have taken their place 

 among the classics of modern science. He 



also devoted much time to the study of 

 meteorites. His last important volumes dis- 

 cussed in detail the phenomena of under- 

 ground water, and traced the various solu- 

 tions and changes which water is now 

 producing and has formerly effected within 

 the crust of the earth. M. Daubr6e spent 

 the greater part of his scientific life in Paris, 

 where he occupied official posts in the Ecole 

 des Mines and Museum d'Histoire naturelle. 

 He retired from office two or three years ago, 

 but still continued to interest himself ac- 

 tively in scientific research. He was one of 

 the most regular attendants of the Academic 

 des Sciences, and one of the most influential 

 members of that distinguished body, serving 

 on many committees and taking an active 

 part in all its concerns. He began to be 

 somewhat ailing before last Easter, and, 

 though for a time he appeared to rally and 

 hopes were entertained that his life might 

 still be prolonged, he died peacefully at his 

 house in the Boulevard Saint-Germain on 

 May 29th. 



Cacao Coltiyation in Mexico. — The ca- 

 cao tree is a native of Mexico, and long be- 

 fore the conquest the Aztecs used the cacao 

 bean in making a beverage which they called 

 chocolatl. " All nations subjugated under 

 the Aztec eagle had to bring, among other 

 valuables, a certain number of bags of cacao 

 to the palace in the great Tenochtitla as an 

 annual tribute to the emperor. It was so 

 highly prized among the ancient natives that 

 in trade it was utilized as currency among 

 the lower classes. The varieties cultivated 

 were quauhcahuatl, mecacahuatl, zochicuca- 

 huatl, and tlacacahuatl." The tree grows 

 wild and in cultivation in the States of Co- 

 lima, Michoacan, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, 

 Tabasco, and central and southern Vera 

 Cruz, where the elevation is from a hundred 

 to twelve hundred feet above sea level. 

 Chiapas and Tabasco, however, contain the 

 most favorable climate and soil for the ca- 

 cao tree, and the finest cacao in the world is 

 grown in these two States. The species most 

 cultivated in Mexico are cacao or Theobroma 

 ovali/oiia, T. hicolor, and T. anyustifolui. 

 A warm, moist cHmate, having a mean tem- 

 perature between 76° and 77" F., is neces- 

 sary for its most successful cultivation. The 

 be.^t elevation is from three to five hundred 



