SCIENCE, INVENTION, DISCOVER?. 



331 



the tims of the Romans ; sold by apothecaries 

 as a cordial, 1300 ; licenses for vending it, 

 established 1661. 



Woolen Cloth. Although the making of 

 woolen cloth is one of the most ancient of arts, 

 its manufacture was not known in France 

 until 1646, when it was made at Sedan. It 

 was first made in England in 1331, but was 

 not dyed or dressed until 1667. 



Indian Summer. Scientists differ re- 

 garding the cause of this phenomenon, which 

 is peculiar to North America and certain parts 

 of Central Europe. A change in the condition 

 of the upper strata of the atmosphere, confin- 

 ing the radiating heat-rays in the lower strata, 

 is generally held to be the true explanation. 

 A theory to account for the smoky appearance, 

 which appears plausible, is that it is due to 

 the decay or slow chemical combustion of 

 leaves, grass, and other vegetable matter under 

 the action of frost and sun. It was to forest 

 and prairie fires kindled by the Indians that 

 the early settlers attributed the smoky appear- 

 ance of the season. Hence the name " Indian 

 Summer." 



Infusoria are minute animalcules, some 

 large enough to be barely visible to the naked 

 eye (1-100 inch), but most of them altogether 

 microscopic and almost exceeding the power 

 of the glass to detect. They belong to the 

 lowest order of animal life, have neither ves- 

 sels nor nerves, and are made up of a uniform 

 tissue called by Huxley protoplasm. The body 

 has some well-defined form, .of which the varie- 

 ties are very great in different species. Many 

 in the higher orders are furnished with hairs, 

 the motion of which carries them with great 

 rapidity through the fluid in which they live, 

 and by means of which, also, currents are 

 created in the fluid to bring food to the mouth. 

 Some infusoria have a few slender filaments 

 instead of hairs, which they agitate with an 

 undulatory movement. Others move by con- 

 tractions and extensions of their bodies. Some 

 have stiff, bristle-like organs, which they use 

 as feet for crawling on the surfaces of other 

 bodies, and some have hooks, by which they 

 attach themselves to foreign bodies. The food 

 of the infusoria consists of organic particles 

 of various kinds, and the different species have 

 been remarked to show a preference, like those 

 of higher animals, for particular kinds of food. 

 The numbers of the infusoria are prodigious. 

 They are found in all parts of the world, both 

 in fresh and salt water, and in stagnant pools ; 

 but they are most usually developed in infusions 

 of decayed animal and vegetable substances. 



Iron, Discovery of. The actual discov- 

 ery of iron was probably made so early in the 

 history of the human race that it cannot now 



be accurately placed. The Bible ascribes the 

 discovery of working iron to Tubal-Cain. The 

 Egyptians ascribe it to one of their early 

 mythological kings, Hephaestus, who has been 

 identified by students with the Hephaestus of 

 Greek and the Vulcan of Roman mythology. 

 The Egyptians and the Assyrians made iron at 

 a very early period of their history. In ancient 

 tombs and ruins but recently unearthed, many 

 implements of iron are found, cooking utensils, 

 and weapons of various kinds. The Chalybes, 

 a Scythian tribe living south and east of the 

 Black Sea, who attained great skill in iron 

 working, are accredited by ancient writers 

 with being the first to use coal in their fur- 

 naces, the inventors of steel or hardened iron, 

 and the discoverers of magnetic iron. The 

 books of Moses mention the use of iron some 

 eleven centuries before the Christian era, and 

 the Arundelian marbles fix a date for it before 

 1370 B. C. 



Jacquard Loom. The Jacquard appa- 

 ratus, for the purpose of pattern weaving, was 

 invented by M. Joseph Marie Jacquard, a 

 native of Lyons, France, in 1801. Being 

 necessitated to carry on the weaving business 

 of his father, for which he had a distaste, he 

 endeavored to improve the existing machinery, 

 and the Jacquard loom was the result. He 

 enabled, by his invention, an ordinary work- 

 man to produce, with comparative ease, the 

 most beautiful patterns in a style which had 

 only previously been accomplished by skilled 

 labor. The reception of his great invention 

 by the public, however, was most discouraging, 

 for although rewarded with a small pension 

 by Napoleon, the silk weavers offered such 

 violent opposition to its introduction that on 

 one occasion he narrowly escaped with his 

 life. The machine was destroyed by the weav- 

 ers on the public square of Lyons. The merit 

 of the invention, however, was too great to 

 admit of its being long suppressed, and when 

 its value was once fairly recognized it effected 

 a complete revolution in the. art of weaving, 

 especially in the finer kinds of figured silk 

 fabrics. ' 



Jelly Fishes consist of a jelly-like mass, 

 containing a cavity which generally has a 

 mouth from which extend tentacles, varying 

 in length from thirty to one hundred feet. 

 From the center, tubes pass to connect with 

 other tubes around the circumference. Their 

 food is smaller marine animals, which they 

 catch with thread-like lassos attached to their 

 tentacles. Agassiz divided jelly fishes, or 

 medusa;, into three orders : Beroid medusce, 

 medusce proper, and hydroidce. Of the beroids 

 the most curious are the pleurobrachia, found off 

 the northeast coast of America. The medusae 



