POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



28! 



They now threaten to cover up the few ex- 

 isting fields on the Tigris. While extensive 

 tracts in these regions have been lost to 

 cultivation from the lack of water, another 

 part is suffering from its superabundance, 

 and the land is swamp at the normal level 

 of the streams. Such is now what was 

 once the most populous region of the earth. 



Tests of Woods. — A system of tests of 

 woods was described by Prof. Fernow at the 

 meeting of the American Association, which 

 have been undertaken at the Department of 

 Agriculture for the determination of the re- 

 lation of technical and physical qualities to 

 each other and to conditions of growth. 

 The method includes the selection of test- 

 material from as many essentially different 

 soil and climatic conditions as the species 

 may occupy; the examination of the struct- 

 ure and physical condition of the material 

 down to the minutest detail ; the usual test- 

 ing with special care ; and the compilation 

 and comparative discussion of the results of 

 the tests in connection wiih the physical 

 examination and the known conditions of 

 growth. Besides more reliable data than 

 have been hitherto obtained of the qualities 

 of our principal timbers, the investigation 

 promises to furnish us with a knowledge of 

 the conditions under which desirable quali- 

 ties can be produced by the forest-grower. 



Phosphoras in Plants and inimals. — 



In a paper presented to the American Asso- 

 ciation meeting in 1890, Mr. Walter Maxwell 

 showed that a vegetable organism, during 

 the initial stages of growth and under the 

 action of the ferments operating in germina- 

 tion, possesses the power of taking the phos- 

 phorus present in seeds or in soils as min- 

 eral phosphates, separating the phosphorus 

 from the inorganic combination, and causing 

 it to appear in the young plantlct in an or- 

 ganic form as a lecithine. In a second part 

 of his paper, which was read at the associa- 

 tion meeting of 1891, the author showed 

 that the lecithine bodies present in the ani- 

 mal kingdom revert to the mineral form un- 

 der the action of the ferments present in the 

 animal organism. The phosphorus contained 

 in a hen's egg, with which the investigations 

 were conducted — both in the forms of min- 

 eral phosphates and of organic phosphorus 



compounds as lecithines — was first deter- 

 mined. Next, eggs were incubated, and the 

 products of incubation were studied. It was 

 found that the phosphorus contained in the 

 natural egg as a lecithine reappeared in the 

 incubation product as calcium phosphate, 

 forming the bone of the chicken. It thus 

 appears from the investigations that the 

 lecithine bodies are a medium through which 

 phosphorus conducts its circulation between 

 the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms 

 — passing from the mineral, through the veg- 

 etable, into the animal kingdom, where it re- 

 appears as a mineral compound. 



Carpet- weaving in Persia. — Few ancient 

 carpets are to be found in Persia now, the 

 stock having been gatherel up by European 

 travelers, merchants, and cmio hunters. 

 It may seem almost incredible to many peo- 

 ple that among the ancient carpets ^o many 

 are still in good condition and comparatively 

 little worn. The secret of this is, accord- 

 ing to M. G. de Vries, that not only has 

 great care been bestowed on the weaving of 

 the carpets and on the quality of wool used, 

 but because of the custom prevailing in the 

 houses of Eastern people. While we enter 

 our own and other people's rooms with the 

 same boots with which we walk through the 

 muddy streets, a Persian never enters any 

 room without leaving his boots or shoes at 

 the door. The most important present man- 

 ufacture of carpets is carried on at Sultana- 

 bad. The weaving is done exclusively by 

 women. The only share the men take in the 

 work is, that to them the merchants give out 

 the designs, the colors, and the money re- 

 quired for the weaving. The loom is an in- 

 expensive and simple structure, consisting of 

 four wooden poles, which generally occupy 

 the whole length of the weaving-roora. When 

 weaving is going on regularly, three or four 

 women work at a carpet of fairly large size, 

 the weaver's wife being, as a rule, the prin- 

 cipal weaver, and at the same time superin- 

 tending the work of her daughters or hired 

 women. The rule is, that, at each end of the 

 board on which the women arc seated, there 

 shall be one female overseer. For carpets 

 of very large size, in the weaving of which 

 seven or eight women are employed, there is 

 also an overseer in the middle. At the age 

 of seven years girls begin to assist in the 



