Vol. XXIV. No. 7.] 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
99 
of the e^e. Thus the compound torm compensates 
for the immobility of the organ. Besides the com- 
pound eyes, there are three simple eyes, or ocelli, — 
one in the middle of the front of the head and a 
pair at tiie summit. 
The long, manj-jointed, highly flexible antenna.- 
attached at tlie front of the liead, seem to be highly 
sensitive and ellicient organs of touch. 
The ears, curiously enough, are not situated in 
the head, but in the first (anterior) segment of the 
abdomen. The external part is a tympanum, or 
membrane upon which atmospheric vibrations act, 
thus affecting the nerve-centre of hearing. The ear 
can be readily seen by the naked eye. 
A tongue is present, and while it does not appear 
to be a definite organ of taste, it is not to be doubted 
that the grasshopper possesses this sense. As to 
smell, it is unlikely, perhaps, that this sense is 
differentiated from that of taste. 
A distinctive feature of insects of the grasshopper 
family' is the manner in which they produce sound. 
The sharp, stridulating noise with which the air 
resounds all through the day and far into the mid- 
summer night, is produced by the rubbing of the 
stiff edges of the wing-covers against the basal 
joint of the hindmost pair of legs; or, in some 
species, by rubbing the edges of the wings against 
each other. 
The interested reader, having observed these 
points in the insect selected for study, would do 
well to compare other common insects in respect 
to the same and other features. Any simple obser- 
vational study thus begun is sure to lead to the 
acquisition of many interesting facts of knowledge, 
and to help to an understanding of the laws 
of nature. 
Union College, Schenectady, N. Y. 
[Original ill Popular Science XewM.] 
CURIOUS METHODS OF MAKING FIRE. 
II Y WALTER HOUGH. 
TiiicRE are few things more curious and which fur- 
nish such food for reflection as the ways in which un- 
civilized man makes fire. The problem of the easiest 
and best way to get a spark must have been worked 
at in the earliest times, when the human race realized 
the need of fire, and the man who solved the prob- 
lem is one of the world's great, but unknown, bene- 
factors. It is not unlikely that various methods 
have been invented as the result of these attempts; 
it is true of the beginning of our marvellous age of 
inventions. The modern period furnishes the most 
singular ways, for the reason that chemistry and 
physics have enlarged the field. For an immense 
period in man's history the method of kindling fire 
afresh was by turning or rubbing one stick upon 
another. •• 
In Burma a tribe called the Kakhyens carry for 
striking a light a cylinder of buflalo horn, with a 
central bore three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter 
and three inches deep burned into it. A closely- 
fitting plunger of iron-wood works in the hole. 
When the native wants a light, he withdraws the 
plunger and puts a bit of tinder into a cavity in tlie 
end of it. The piston is then inserted and driven 
down with a quick blow, suddenly withdrawn, and 
the tinder is found to be ignited. 
The Dyaks of Borneo, who were systematic head- 
hunters before the advent of Rajah Brooke, also 
made use of a besiapi, or fire syringe of brass, lined 
•with lead, fitted with a wooden plunger. This 
implement was known in this country, under the 
name of "instantaneous light-giving syringe," 
before the invention of matches, but was not gener- 
ally used, since, at best, it gave uncertain results, 
leading the lecturer to saturate the tinder with 
bisulphide of caibon to minimize the burden of 
proof. It is an interesting question how the Dyaks 
and Burmese came to employ the aerophore for 
fire-making. 
The Cochin China people strike two pieces of 
bamboo together and ignite tinder. The coating of 
amorphous, silex-like flint on the surface of the 
bamboo yields a spark at a sharp blow. The trav- 
eller, Mr. W. T. Ilomaday, tells me that the jungles 
are frequently fired by the excessive friction of the 
bamboos during a gale. The Tungaras of British 
North Borneo and the Ternate Malays carry at- 
tached to the girdle a joint of bamboo, often finely 
carved, containing tinder and. a fragment of porce- 
lain. The bit of china with tinder is held in one 
hand and struck against the bamboo tinder-horn 
held in the other, generally getting a light at the 
first blow. 
The Aleutians of Alaska make fire by dipping 
two pieces of quartz in sulphur, which abounds in 
the islands, and striking them together over a small 
heap of down on which sulphur has been sprinkled. 
Some tribes of Eskimo use two pieces of iron 
pyrites, or pyrites and flint, in the same way. 
Matches have gone everywhere and supplanted 
the native fire-making processes. Holm, the dis- 
tinguished Danisli Arctic explorer, relates that an 
Eskimo, on being presented with a box of matches, 
gave away his fire-drill, saying he would have 'no 
further need of it. The National Museum has a 
collection of fire-making apparatus, showing the 
representative methods of making fire used in vari- 
ous parts of the world. It would be impossible to 
duplicate the majority of the pieces now, since trade 
has carried matches to the ends of the earth. 
Blacksmiths can start a fire by pounding violently 
a rod of soft iron, first spreading on the anvil a 
layer of powdered coal-dust. This is a good illus- 
tration of the conversion of force into heat. 
In Germany, before 1S32, a chemical apparatus 
called a " Dobereiner" was used for getting a light. 
It was manufactured for domestic use, and sold 
extensively until superceded by matches, which were 
invented in the year mentioned. The Dobereiner 
was based on the principle that hydrogen gas played 
upon spongy platinum renders the latter incandes- 
cent. 
United States National Museum. 
[Original in Populnr Science .A^eiet J 
FURTHER NOTES ON TIIE CHIGGER (Leptus 
Irritans.)* 
BY H. M. VVHELrLEY, F. R. M. S. 
This exceedingly interesting little fellow formed 
the subject of a paper that I read before you some 
months ago. The publication of the article [Popu- 
lar Science News, February, 1S90] has attracted 
considerable attention, and brought me numerous 
communications on the subject from all sections 
of the country, a few from England, as well as 
Europe. From the information contained in this 
correspondence I have gained several new points 
about the habits and life work of the Leptus irritans 
These I have collected and bring before you tonight. 
In the first place, I desire to state that the Leptus 
irritans is no relation to the I'ulex penetrans 
of South America and the West Indies. The latter 
insect is variously known as the chigger, jigger, 
chiga, chigoe, chique, chic, chics, etc. It is a small 
insect of the flea family {I'liUxce), while the Leptus 
irritans resembles the tick family (^/xodidee.) The 
application of the name chigger to both animals 
has caused some who are familiar with the South 
American insect, but not the North American one, 
*Rc:id before the St. Louis Club of Microscopists. 
to suppose that I was in error when giving the 
Leptus irritans the vulgar name of "chigger." As 
this is the most common name for the animal, I 
was obliged to accept it. 
I find that this pest to human beings is not 
confined to as small a section of the United States 
as my first investigations indicated. The Eastern 
and Southern States share with the Mississippi 
Valley in harboring the chigger. I have not heard 
of it in latitudes north of the 40th degree, nor does 
it seem to thrive in the far West. 
The chigger does not confine himself to a strictly 
human diet, but attacks the house-fly (Miisca ilomes- 
tica.) 1 have not personally observed the parasite 
on flies, but Dr. G. De Von informs me that he has 
examined flies afflicted with chiggers. He thus 
accounts for the transportation of chiggers to infants 
that do not come in contact with living vegetation. 
Dr. J. T. Whitlock finds that chiggers are also 
very troublesome to young fowls, especially small 
chickens. He has observed the parasites collected 
in lumps as large as the head of a pin, and has seen 
as many as a dozen such lumps on one chicken, not 
two weeks old. He further states that in such cases 
the chick generally dies promptly, with all the 
symptoms of poisoning by strychnine. He reports 
the case of a chick dying after a number of tetanic 
spasms, lasting for perhaps an hour. 
There is a great diflerence in the degree of sus- 
ceptibility of diflerent persons to these parasites. 
Several persons have assured me that they are never 
attacked by chiggers, bed-bugs, fleas, or ticks. On 
the other hand, one of the most prominent micro- 
scopists of this age, writes that his daughter is so 
severely afflicted by chiggers that she has been 
confined to her bed for several days. 
Some specimens of the insect are almost trans- 
parent, but they all become darker in color as they 
engorge with blood. I have also found another 
common name for the insect, as in some localities it 
is known as the sea-tick. In addition to the list 
of remedies given in my last paper, I find that both 
kerosene and spirits of camphor are extensively 
employed to prevent the attacks of the parasite, and 
to cure sores when formed. Many correspondents 
have confirmed my statement that chiggers are 
partial to blackberry bushes. Attention has also 
been called to the fact that the insects have a special 
liking for peach trees. 
WONDERFUL OPTICAL PHENOMENA. 
Among the most extraordinary and beautiful 
optical phenomena presented by organic com- 
pounds, it would be diflicult, or perhaps impos- 
sible, to find any rival in this respect to two new 
products lately obtained in the laboratory of a 
Viennese chemist. Dr. Edmund Morvan. Nothing 
similar has been seen hitherto, and it is expected 
that the careful study of the physical properties 
presented by these compounds may ultimately bring 
out new ideas with respect to our theories of light 
and color. 
The first of these is an organic compound of oxide 
of zirconium, and is named by its discoverer zircon- 
ethyl-methyl-phthalein. The other belongs also to 
to the aromatic series and is called monococyl- 
metadi hydroxy l-benzol. 
These compounds exhibit hitherto unknown prop- 
erties of refraction and fluorescence. The former 
appears yellow by transmitted lignt and green by 
reflected light — that is, it looks like a brilliant 
yellow liquid with a bright green fluorescence. 
The latter appears violet and green under the same 
conditions. 
The first-named compound shows a remote re- 
semblance to the substance known for some time 
past as fluorescin, but is distinguished from it hy its 
