POP ULAR MIS CELL AN Y. 



857 



Dr. Flagg followed the case up. " On reach- 

 ing the crossing at the head of Hanover 

 Street," he says, " where the traffic is large, 

 the dog lost a little of his dejected air and 

 occupied himself chiefly in getting the man 

 safely across. When his charge was finally 

 over, and meandering down the left-hand 

 side of Hanover Street, then the dog slunk 

 to the opposite side and resumed the shame- 

 faced air I had at first noticed, keeping con- 

 stant watch with furtive glances on the stag- 

 gerer opposite. Where Hanover Street crosses 

 New Washington Street, the dog again pi- 

 loted the man with anxious care. This done, 

 he again declined to be seen on the same 

 sidewalk with him, but slunk along in the 

 shadow of the building opposite. The mas- 

 ter turned into Prince Street, when the sense 

 of degradation seeming to be somewhat less- 

 ened by familiar surroundings, the faithful 

 animal trotted ahead as pilot to the door. I 

 could not perceive in the dog's attitude any 

 sign of fear of his master, or any evidence of 

 wrong-doing on his own part; everything 

 seemed to show that the one explanation of 

 the dog's behavior lay in his appreciation of 

 the common disgrace caused by the man's 

 condition." 



The Use of Lightning Rods. — A discus- 

 sion, by Alexander McAdie, of the question, 

 Shall we erect Lightning Rods? (Ginn & Co., 

 Boston), in which the arguments on both 

 sides are presented, leads the author to an 

 affirmative answer; and he suggests, to 

 those contemplating the erection of a rod, 

 that they get a good iron or copper con- 

 ductor, weighing six ounces to the foot of 

 copper, or thirty-five ounces if of iron, pref- 

 erably of tape form. The nature of the 

 locality will determine in a great degree the 

 need of a rod, as some places are more liable 

 to be struck than others. The very best 

 ground that can be got is after all but a very 

 poor one for some flashes, so that the ground 

 can not be too good. If a conductor at any 

 part of its course goes near water or gas 

 mains it is best to connect it with them, but 

 small-bore fusible pipes should be avoided. 

 The tip of the rod should be protected from 

 corrosion or rust. Independent grounds are 

 preferable to water and gas mains. Clusters 

 of points or groups of two or three along the 

 ridge rod are recommended. Chain or link 



conductors are of very little use. Slight 

 faith is to be placed in what is called the 

 area of protection. Lightning is much more 

 indifferent than has been supposed to the 

 " path of least resistance." Any part of a 

 building, if the flash is of a certain character, 

 may be struck, whether there is a rod or not ; 

 but such accidents are rare with the com- 

 paratively mild flashes of our latitudes. The 

 widespread notion that lightning never strikes 

 the same place twice is erroneous, and plenty 

 of cases are recorded to show the contrary 

 of it. 



Irrigation in Australia. — Australia, great 

 as is its extent, has but one river system 

 carrying any really important volume of 

 water to the sea. This is the Murray and 

 its large tributaries, which water portions of 

 the three colonies of New South Wales, Vic- 

 toria, and South Australia, in the southeast- 

 ern corner of the island-continent. Want of 

 rain and the absence of perennial streams 

 constitute one of the greatest difficulties that 

 settlers on the land, whether pastoralists or 

 agriculturists, have to contend with. Sub- 

 terranean supplies are, indeed, being found 

 in the form of running rivers from sixty to 

 a hundred feet below the surface, but not 

 hitherto in sufficient quantities to compen- 

 sate the lack of rainfall and surface water 

 for ordinary purposes in years of drought. 

 Still less is there enough such water to be 

 found to irrigate the arid plains. The only 

 supply at all adequate for purposes of irriga- 

 tion on any extensive scale is afforded by the 

 surplus water of the Murray system, now car- 

 ried to the sea, and this surplus is obviously 

 a limited quantity. An attempt to fertilize 

 by irrigation some portion of the land lying 

 within reach of this supply of water has been 

 made in the last four years at what are 

 known as the irrigation colonies or settle- 

 ments of Renmark in South Australia and 

 Meldrum in Victoria. The scheme was start- 

 ed in 188*7 by two brothers, the Messrs. Chaf- 

 fey, who had had experience of fruit-raising 

 in California, who have obtained the grants 

 and means necessary to enable them to carry 

 out their plans. The properties are subdi- 

 vided with a view to settlement by individ- 

 uals on small sections, each cultivator enjoy- 

 ing, upon a co-operative system, the use of 

 the fixed plant of the settlements, not only 



