36 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
[MaklJi, 1S90. 
the difficulty still remained of determining the value 
and sound of each character. It was observed that 
about the place corresponding to the name Ptolemy 
in the Greek version, there was in the hieroglyphic 
inscription an oval ring enclosing a group of char- 
acters. This ring suggested many ideas, but, on 
further researches, it was observed that a long series 
of sitting figures on the temple of Karnak had also 
such rings placed over them, apparently indicating 
their names or titles; therefore, it was conjectured 
that this ring was the sign which indicated the 
proper name. 
Champollion discovered that the Greek proper 
names on the Rosetta stone were transcribed pho- 
netically in the demotic version. These results 
were obtained by guessing that a group occurring 
ih almost every line was the conjunction; that a 
group repeated twenty-nine times in the demotic 
version corresponded to kivg in Greek, when this 
word occurred about the same number of times'; 
and for the words Alexander and Alexandria in the 
fourth and seventeenth lines of the Greek, were 
discovered two groups of equally close resemblance 
n the second and tenth lines of the demotic. 
The next difficulty was to determine the order in 
which the characters were written — which might be 
as in Hebrew from right .to left, or as in modern 
systems from left to right. This point was soon 
settled by Champollion. Mr. Banks brought a little 
obelisk, found in the island of Philae, which was 
inscribed with a dedication in Hebrew and Greek to 
Ptolemy and sister, Cleopatra. This inscription 
was copied by Cailliand in 1816, and commented on 
by Letronne and Champollion in the French scien- 
tific journals in 1822. There was a ring identical 
with the ring for Ptolemy in the Rosetta stone, 
and another for Cleopatra. By a fortunate coinci- 
dence, these names have several letters in common. 
Assuming from the analogy of other systems, that 
objects depicted signified the initial letter of their 
Coptic names, both groups were spelled out, and 
Champollion was in possession of eleven phonetic 
signs of the old Egyptian language. It now became 
plain that in this case the signs were not syllabic, 
but alphabetic. Applying them to monuments 
which appeared to be of the Roman epoch, and 
attempting to decipher the royal rings upon them, 
Champollion found an almost ample list of Roman 
emperors, each with his title, emperor, added ; and 
this title became a clue to all similar inscriptions. 
[Original in Popular Science 2)ew$.l 
WHAT THE WINTER WOODS. AFFORD. 
BY PROF. W. WHITMAN BAILEY. 
It might seem as if the student of Nature would 
find little to do in the depths of winter. He has, 
however, many occupations. In the first place, if 
he is a collector, there are all his summer stores to 
examine. Often, as he turns them over, he is led 
in imagination to the spot where he found them. 
Suppose it is a set of plants he is viewing. Each 
specimen will recall to him pleasant scenes and 
delightful companionship. T,he outside storm no 
longer has a voice for him ; he is in the woods with 
his pets, breathing sweet perfume of leaves and 
flowers, listening to the merry birds, or chasing 
gilded butterflies. The memory of the noonday 
halt comes back to him; the little spring, half 
buried in moss and fringed with ferns, the over- 
arching birches, and the " checquered shade" in 
which he rejoiced. 
But even now, cold as it may be, he who walks 
with his eyes open will see much in the forest that 
is worth possessing. The hazels, alders, and 
birches, the sweet-fern, poplars, willows, iron- 
wood, hop-hornbeam, etc., have all winter shown 
their tassels. They are closely compacted now, 
each scale closing over the minute flowers, but at 
home we can coax out some of them in water. It is 
always a delight to see them evolve, — the light, 
pendulous, graceful "tags" of alder are an especial 
joy. It is a not unusual thing to see the silver- 
leafed maple' {Acer dasycarpum^ in full flower in 
February. It is a frequent shade-tree in the cities, 
and is known at this season by its exfoliating bark, 
and the pendulous habit of the branches. 
Crocuses and snow-drops sometimes shiver into 
bloom on sunny banks before the calendar mentions 
spring. It is not so astonishing after all. Do not 
the 'most delicate of plants embrace the feet of snow- 
drifts in the Alps.' On the top of Mount Washing- 
ton, when the tourist is hugging his overcoat or 
shawl about him, the little Arenaria is fluttering its 
white blossoms in the gale. By the Lake of the 
Clouds, fed by icy streams, which one hears mur- 
muring under the rocks beneath him, there grows a 
perfect garden of flowers. Mosses and licliens we 
have ever with us, clothing the rocks, encrusting 
the trees, spattering the grave-stones, or even 
perching airily on our very house-tops. These are 
the precursors of higher life — living chapters, as it 
were, of that old history which ante-dates the 
coming of man. Tree-ferns, that' tell of the Car- 
boniferous period, do not, after all, inspire one so 
much with awe as these Paleozoic forms. Then, 
how beautiful they are I 
Among mosses the student will flnd miniatures 
of palms and spruces. The Pohjtrichum, indeed, 
will show us a little pine forest, or a further stretch 
of the imagination will convert the clump into an 
army of pygmy spear-men. Do the breezes, we 
wonder, sing in the tiny foliage that sad song that 
the sombre trees have learned from old Ocean ? 
There is no time so good as this for learning the 
actual shape of the trees — when they have, so to 
speak, left off their corsets. Look at the spire of 
that maple, the fountain-spray of that elm, or the 
dark silhouette of yonder rounded horse-chestnut. 
Break off' a branch, tack it to a white .wall, and 
sketch it. What a study of light, and shadow, and 
form : You will discover beauties of which you 
never dreamed. Open the buds, so neatly packed 
in tarpaulins and wool. Here are little leaves, or 
flowers even, so soft and tender that one feels a 
human pang at having revealed them prematurely. 
Life is dormant about us; but, after all, it is life. 
The gray trees are no mere skeletons. Ere long 
their opening hands will beckon us to the woods. 
Brown University, Providence, R. I. 
SCIENTIFIC BREVITIES. 
An Economical Battery. — M. JablochkoflT has 
furnished the Societe des Ingenieurs Civilswith the 
models of a new primary battery consuming iron, 
which he fondly believes will supplant the dynamo. 
The battery is said to be interesting from a theoret- 
ical point of view, but M. Hospitaller, in a note to 
the "Bulletin" of the society, throws a doubt on the 
accuracy of the flgures given by M. Jablochkoff, 
who neglects to give the E. M. F. and consumption 
of the battery, though he states the cost to be two 
to three cents per horse-power per hour. 
Fruit Blossoms. — A chief cause of unfruitful- 
ness is the imperfection of the floral organs of many 
of our fruit trees. In this particular the Russian 
fruits are far superior to most of those of western 
Europe, or of this continent. They are mostly 
vigorously self-fertilizing, and bear full crops on 
solitary trees. Yellow Transparent, Tetofsky, Ol- 
denburgh, Longfield, Antonovkai Switzer, Titus, 
Prolific Sweeting, St. Peter, Alexander, and many 
other Russian apples, are sure croppers for this 
reason, and large croppers, too. Russian crosses 
will greatly benefit all our tree fruits, by infusing 
their wonderful vigor into their progeny. 
A 'Variable Star. — Professor Vogel, the German 
astronomer, has recently made an interesting dem- 
onstration of the existence of a companion to the 
big variable star Algol, from photogfaphs of the 
star's spectrum. Algol is one hundred and thirty- 
four times as large as the earth, but suflFers a partjal 
eclipse at short and regular intervals, wheiv it loses 
about. five-sixths of its brilliancy, and falls from a 
star of the second magnitude to one of the fourth 
magnitude. Professor 'Vogel demonstrates by pho- 
tographs of its spectra, what was before suspected, 
that Algol has a dark satellite, a hundred times as 
large as the earth, and moving at a speed of fifty- 
six miles per second, the interposition of which 
between us and the big star perfectly accounts for 
its remarkable rariations. 
The Cost of Atlantic Racing. — The recent 
breakdown of one set of the engines of the " City of 
New York" affords a startling illustration of the 
enormous cost at which the fast records of ocean 
racers are obtained. During a trip eastward, one of 
the crank pins of the port engines was broken, and 
the trip was finished »ith the starboard engines 
alone. Comparing the three days' run with the 
single set of engines to a corresponding period on 
the previofis voyage with both engines, we find the 
average ratio of the speeds in the two cases was 
0.S20 to I. When they consider that the loss of 
one-half the propelling power had the effect of 
reducing the speed by only 18 per cent., the pro- 
moters of the line of 2S-knot steamships will have 
some idea of the cost of their projected scheme. 
ft 
Vegetable Hybrids. — An agricultural exchange 
says : There Is a class of vegetables that mix badly 
when in bloom, and which in one season become 
almost worthless. We allude to the various vines. 
Farmers and gardeners de not, as a rule, exercise 
enough care in planting them. Take, for instance, 
the several varieties of squashes. They should be 
planted quite a distance apart. Last autumn, while 
attending a fair, we noticed an exhibit of squashes 
marked Hubbards, which were yellow, showing 
that they had been planted too near the Marrow, as . 
they had all the characteristics of that variety. 
Squashes should never be planted near pumpkins, 
watermelons near citrons, or cucumbers near musk- 
melons. If so planted, they will in one season 
become worthless hybrids. Too much care could 
not be exercised in this matter, and the farmer 
should give careful attention to planting, or the 
whole crop may be a loss. 
Dangerous Fun. — Professor Cook, the chemistry 
professor of Harvard College, has a reputation for 
facetiousness, and his lectures are highly popular, 
though the attraction appears to partake somewhat 
of the fearsomeness with which little children pay 
their first visit to Madame Tussaud's Chamber of 
Horrors. One of his lectures, says the Toronto 
Mail, is devoted to dangerous explosives, and a stir 
always goes over the room when he picks up a 
bottle labelled nitro-glycerine. When he takes the 
bottle and holds it up, the yellow liquid stirring 
with the shaking of his hand, he always says some- 
thing like this : " Now, gentlemen, it is commonly 
believed that if I were to drop this little bottle, we 
should all be blown to the skies (his hand trembles 
a little more, and timid freshmen look longingly at 
the door) ; but if this compeund is pure, — perfectly 
pure, mind you, — I can light a match with perfect 
safety and thrust it down the neck of the bottle." 
Here he feels for a match. "But," he instantly 
adds, "I am free to confess that I have not enough 
confidence in its purity to try the experiment." 
(Many sighs of relief.) 
