FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



567 



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 J. Walter : The Winter Solstice Ceremony at 

 Walpi. Pp. 38.— Fuller. M. L.: Notes on a Car- 

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Rice, Wallace, and Eastman, Bassett. Under 

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Rowley, John. The Art of Taxidermy. New 

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Sloyd Bulletin. Monthly. No. 1. May, 1898. 

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Smithsonian Institution : Review and Bibliog- 

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Still, Alfred. Alternating Currents of Elec- 

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Taylor, A. R. The Study of the Child (Inter- 

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Thomas, Prof. Cyrus. Introduction to the 

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United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. 

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Washburn, F. L. Preliminary Report upon 

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Whitten, R. H. Public Administration in Mas- 

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"^x^Qmtnts 0t ^titutt. 



BALNIBARBIAN GLUMTRAP RHYME. 



(Repeated by the children in the nurseries of 

 Balnibarbi.)* 



Distant scintillating star, 

 Shall I tell you what you are ? 

 Nay, for I can merely know 

 What you were some years ago. 



For, the rays that reach me here 

 May have left your photosphere 

 Ere the fight of Waterloo — 

 Ere the pterodactyl flew ! 



Many stars have passed away 

 Since your ether-shaking ray 

 On its lengthy Journey sped — 

 So that you, perhaps, are dead ! 



Smashed in some tremendous war 

 With another mighty star — 

 You and all your planets just 

 Scattered into cosmic dust ! 



Strange, if you have vanished quite. 

 That we still behold your light, 

 Playing for so long a time 

 Some celestial pantomime ! 



* Balnibarbi is one of the countries visited by 

 Gulliver ; the " Glumtrap " Is the Balnibarbian 

 equivalent of the English nursery ; and the babies 

 of Balnibarbi are brought up on strictly scientific 

 principles — as is evidenced by their knowledge In 

 these verses. 



But, suppo.sing all is well. 

 What you're made of, can I tell ? 

 Yes, 'twill be an easy task 

 If my spectroscope I ask. 



There — your spectrum now is spread 

 DowTi from ultra-blue to red, 

 Crossed by dark metallic lines, 

 Of your cooler layer the signs. 



Hence among the starry spheres 

 You've ai-rived at middle years — 

 You are fairly old and ripe. 

 Of our solid solar type. 



Ah, your sodium line is seen 

 Strongly shifted toward the green. 

 Hence you are approaching me 

 With a huge velocity ! 



But, if some celestial woe 

 Overtook you long ago, 

 And to swift destruction hurled 

 Life on every living world, 



Did there in the fiery tide 

 Perish much of pomp and pride — 

 Many emperors and kings. 

 Going to do awful things ? 



Mighty schemes of mighty czars — 

 Mighty armies, glorious wars ! 

 From the Nebula they may 

 Rise to curse a world some day ! 



G. M. MiNCHIN. 



-From Nature of April Ik, 1898. 



