576 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



had 727 joints, and a length of a little more 

 than 8 metres. Leuckart, the distinguished 

 helminthologist, says, "According to Bremser 

 and Diesing, the famous Viennese collection 

 of helminths contains chains 20 to 24 feet 

 long, very much longer, therefore, than the 

 preserved specimens I have measured, which 

 were at most only slightly above 14 feet." 

 Hence, Prof. Tuckerman's two specimens, of 

 25 and 27^ feet are remarkable. 



Mr. James Constantine Pilling has un- 

 dertaken the compilation of bibliographies 

 of various North American languages, which 

 are now in course of publication by the Bu- 

 reau of Ethnology. In preparation for this 

 task he visited tlie principal public libraries 

 of the United States, Canada, and northern 

 Mexico, corresponded with librarians, mis- 

 sionaries, and other persons interested in 

 the subject, and examined printed author- 

 ities. Every effort was made to take titles 

 at first hand, with the result that a very 

 large percentage of the books enrolled are 

 described from the compiler's own sight. 

 The bibliographies of the Eskimo and Si- 

 onan > languages have been issued, and that 

 of the Iroquois is to follow. 



Bathing upon a full meal has long been 

 considered dangerous. The physiological 

 explanation of the peril is, that the blood in 

 digestion tends toward the alimentary tract, 

 leaving the brain proportionately anemic, 

 and the action of the heart and lungs im- 

 peded by a distended stomach. A cold im- 

 mersion at this stage naturally inducing a 

 tendency to syncope, and concentrating sur- 

 face blood still more about the central 

 organs, the heart finds the labor imposed 

 upon it too great, and finally succumbs. 



The make of American salt, it is said, 

 has more than doubled during the last ten 

 years. Within the same period two new 

 salt regions have enjoyed a rapid develop- 

 ment. According to the " Saginaw Courier," 

 3,944, .309 barrels of salt were made in Mich- 

 igan in 18S7, against 2,673,588 in 1880, 

 and 561,288 barrels in 1869. More salt was 

 made in Michigan in 1887 than had been 

 made in all the time previous to 1869. A 

 strong rival to the Onondaga district has 

 been developed in the Wyoming region of 

 western New York, where a most extensive 

 salt-manufacture has grown up within the 

 last five or six years. 



There are still, according to the Rev. J. 

 Batchelor, prophets and prophetesses among 

 the Ainos, but they limit their powers to 

 telling the cause of illness, prescribing 

 medicine, using charms, and the like. The 

 person prophesying is supposed to sleep or 

 otherwise lose consciousness, and not to 

 know what he is uttering. The burden of 

 the prophecy sometimes comes out in jerks, 

 but more often in a kind of sing-song mono- 

 tone. 



A DEXTEROUS management of the roller- 

 shades of windows may be made to go a 

 great way in promoting the coolness of 

 rooms. Let the upper window-sash be low- 

 ered, and the inside blind or curtain placed 

 outside and secured in position by passing 

 its tassel-cord beneath the lower sash. 

 Thus the window-glass is protected from the 

 direct rays of the sun, and is at the same 

 time cooled by the current of air that passes 

 between the blind and window. An addi- 

 tional merit of the plan is that it promotes 

 ventilation. 



While the value of kindness in discipline 

 can hardly be overestimated, it must be ad- 

 mitted that suasion alone will not avail for 

 every instance in which a pupil's will is idle 

 or obstinate. Boys are well aware of this, 

 and are apt to look for something more as 

 constituting an authority worthy of obedi- 

 ence. Hence, it is argued by experts in 

 training that it is unwise, and in the end 

 unkind, always to spare the rod. But all 

 striking at random must be condemned, and 

 particularly such barbarity as boxing the 

 head and cars. Nature has furnished a 

 part, well cushioned, but sensitive enough, 

 well adapted to the exercise of chastisement, 

 upon which any punishment within reason 

 will fall harmless. 



Annatto thrives in Guadeloupe at heights 

 of from 1,500 to 2,000 feet above the sea, 

 while greater heights are progressively more 

 unfavorable to it. The seeds are planted in 

 holes prepared to receive them, or in nurser- 

 ies, and the young plants require most care- 

 ful attention during the first year ; but after- 

 ward they grow fast and need but little care. 

 A few pods may be gathered in one year 

 after the plant has been transfen-ed from 

 the nurseries. Annatto bears twice a year, 

 the spring blossoms always yielding the 

 largest crop. As soon as the pods in the 

 bunches begin to dry and open, the bunches 

 are cut, packed in baskets, and carried to the 

 shed prepared for the purpose. The pick- 

 ing of the pods is very tedious. 



Two French gentlemen are constructing 

 a terrestrial globe for the exposition of 

 1889, on the scale of one millionth. It will 

 be thirteen metres in diameter and forty me- 

 tres in circumference, and a kilometre will be 

 represented on it by a millimetre. Paris will 

 occupy a space of about a square centimetre. 

 It is believed that the contemplation of this 

 object, whose size is a measurable fraction of 

 that of the earth, will help, better than any 

 other existing apparatus, to convey a reali- 

 zation of terrestrial magnitudes and dis- 

 tances. 



An attempt last year to cultivate the 

 cotton-tree near Taganrog, on the Don, in 

 European Russia, is said to have proved 

 successful. 



