134 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
Bit [September, 1890. 
4. It is also formed in enormous quantities. b^ 
tiie deca^y of animal and vegetable matter. It is 
often found in spring waters, where it is formed by 
oxidation of the animal and organic matter held in 
solution by the water. If the spring rises through 
a sandy district, where vegetation is scarce, there 
will be very little CO2 in the water; but if the 
spring flows from a well-cultivated district, the 
amount will be considerable. 
CO2 may be solidified, and when solid looks like 
snow. When in this condition it will produce 
violent burns if pinched or mixed with ether and 
brought in contact with the skin. 
If carbonic dioxide is heated with potassium, its 
oxygen is entirely taken away; but if iron or zinc — 
metals having a weaker affinity for oxygen than 
potassium — be used instead, only one-half of the 
oxygen is absorbed, leaving a new gas called car- 
bonic oxide (CO). This may also be obtained by 
passing steam over charcoal heated to redness, free 
hydrogen also being formed, (C-|-n20=CO+Il2). 
Carbonic oxide is formed in considerable quanti- 
ties by combustion in stoves and furnaces. In an 
open fire, burning quietly without smoking, a flick- 
ering blue flame is seen, which is due to the forma- 
tion of CO. In such a fire, CO2 is first formed at 
the bottom of the grate, but as this travels up 
through the red-hot coke, it combines with more 
carbon, giving up one-half of its oxygen, and 
becoming CO. Meanwhile, the carbon of the fuel 
with which the detached oxygen has combined, 
furnishes an equal volume of the same gas. The 
hot carbonic oxide ignites as soon as it comes in 
contact with the air passing over the upper surface 
of the fire, forming CO2 again. 
Carbonic oxide is a transparent, colorless gas, 
with a faint, oppressive odor, and a specific gravity 
much below that of CO2. It is very slightly soluble 
in water, and condensed with great difficulty. It is 
poisonous even when mixed with large quantities 
of air, and, if breathed, produces a peculiar head- 
ache. It does not support combustion, but burns 
with a pale, bluish flame. Water gas is,, largely 
carbonic oxide, with small amounts of other sub- 
stances. 
Although CO2 and CO diflTcr widely in properties, 
they have been found to consist of the same ele- 
ments, the proportion of oxygen only differing in 
each case. 
ABORIGINAL CARPENTRY. 
.In speaking of ancient American tools, Mr. H. F. 
McLeod, of the Smithsonian Institute at Washing- 
ton, recently said : "Aboriginal carpentry was the 
chief trade of our predecessors on this continent. 
The Indians and the mound builders had a very 
good idea of wood-working. You will see even now 
some very pretty joining done by Sioux Indians. 
Their tent poles make a fit which many a white 
carpenter would not try to better. 
"The best carpenters, of course, were the 
Aztecs, who had arrived at quite a high stage of art, 
and whose tools, although they knew nothing of 
steel, are really excellent. We have a few of their 
tools at the Smithsonian, but the best collection is, 
of course, in the City of Mexico. The material 
used was almost wholly glass, especially for the 
finer parts of their wood cutting. To chop trees 
they used flint axes, and for the rough hewing out 
of logs the same, but when it came to the accurate 
fitting in of the hewn timber, they handled glass 
knives, chisels, and saws very deftly and with beauti- 
ful results. There is a ceaba wood post in Wash- 
ington with hieroglyphics and faces cyt upon it all 
with glass. You can see bits of the original chisel 
still sticking in a corner of the wood, where it broke 
off three centuries ago under the hand of the work- 
man. The Aztecs knew how to make a very good 
and manageable glass, and their best cutting blades, 
swords, daggers and spears, saws, chisels and axes, 
were made of it. When the edge dulled they broke 
it from the end instead of sharpening it, and got a 
new cutting line. 
"You can see a great deal of aboriginal carpentry 
still in use among the Moqui Indians of the United 
States. Of course they use our tools now, but they 
follow their old patterns. They know how to make 
ladders, and they swing their doors on hinges from 
the top, and they know how to mortise timbers — 
knew liow long before Columbus landed in Amer- 
ica. Of course they use our tools differently from 
our way. The chisel they push rather than ham- 
mer, and they work the board up and down on a 
fixed saw rather than the saw on the board, and 
withal they get creditable results. The frame work 
in the Pueblos is quite as honest as an3'thing we 
have in America." 
INDUSTRIAL MEMORANDA. 
A Novel Industry is to be introduced into Leeds 
by the opening of an establishment for boatmaking, 
on a patent system, which consists of the stamping 
out of a boat from a single plate of soft steel. 
Of course only small craft, such as rowing boats 
and steam launches, can be made by this process. 
A New War Rocket has been tried by the troops 
at Aldershot. It is called a "smoke rocket," and 
is used to screen the advance of a body of troops. A 
battalion of infantry advanced under cover of the 
rockets against Jubilee Hill, which was held by a 
stronger body of infantry. The experiments were 
of a successful character. 
A Remarkable Railway. — The most remark- 
able short line of railway in the world is probably 
the submerged railway at Onton, near Bilbao. 
It runs down an evenly sloping shore in double 
line to a distance of 650 feet, and has been con- 
structed by a Spanish engineer for the sole pur- 
pose of facilitating the shipment of iron ores. The 
only car is a massive iron tower on wheels, in the 
shape of a pyramid, rising seventy feet from the 
track. Upon the platform of this tower the ores are 
placed, and thus they are conveyed to the vessel ; 
the pyramidal car, whose wheels are always under 
water, returning automatically as soon as its 
cargo has been mechanically shot into the ship's 
hold. 
Coca in Bolivia. — The cultivation of ErythroTy- 
lon Coca, as carried on in Bolivia in the present day, 
does not appear to differ from that which prevailed 
previous to the conquest; and the province of 
Yungas de la Paz is that which, since the Spanish 
occupation, seems to have supported the most con- 
siderable plantations. All the slopes of the mount- 
ains, below an elevation of 7,000 feet, are literally 
covered witli them, and the traveller has continually 
in view the factories, or haciendas, where the leaf is 
prepared. The first gathering which takes place in 
a coca plantation is at the expense of only the lower 
leaves of the shrubs, and it is therefore called qitita 
calzoii {quita, to be rid of, and calzon, pantaloon). 
The leaves of this gathering are larger and more 
coriaceous than those of subsequent collections, and 
also have less flavor. They are mostly consumed 
on the spot. All the other gatherings go by the 
name of mitas, and take place three times, or, 
exceptionally, four times, per annum. The most 
abundant harvest is that occurring in March, that 
is, immediately after the rains; this is the miia de 
marzo> The most scanty is that which takes place 
at the end of June or beginning of July, and which 
is called mitade San Juan. The third, named riiHa 
de Santos, is made in October or November. 
Tlje Qut-Door morld. 
Edited by HARLAN H. BALLARD, 
President of the Agassiz Associatio> 
[P. O. Address, Pittsfield, Mass.] 
SOME NOTES .ON THELYPUONUS 
GIGANTEUS, LUCAS. 
Thelyphonus giganteus is an arachnid, of the sub- 
order pedipalpi. It belongs to the family phrynida; 
(whip-scorpions.) The genus Thelyjikonus is char- 
acterized by an oblong body, usually ending in a 
slender, many-jointed filament; and the specific 
name, giganteus, evidently signifies that this is the 
largest of its kind. The anterior pair of legs are 
very long and slender, much more delicate than the 
others, while the maxillary palpi are very large. 
The -abdomen is twelve-jointed. This creature 
inhabits Mexico — and Mexico is not to be envied, 
for, all things considered, he is about as repulsive 
as any living thing you will find in a long day's 
travel. He is at home in the country, under some 
large stone, although now and then one ventures 
into town, where he causes great consternation in 
whatever house he enters. When surprised by the 
sudden removal of his sheltering stone he at once 
notifies you-of liis presence and of his resentment 
by erecting his caudal appendage, and gently 
imparting to the atmosphere an efliuvium which, 
if your olfactories are not under perfect control, 
will turn you inside out. The natives call him 
"vinagrou," which seems to mean "the vinegar 
bug;" but this fellow's "vinegar" would have to 
be diluted several thousand per cent, with water, in 
combination with a powerful deodorizer, before it 
would be ready for table use. I was told that he is 
poisonous, but the Mexicans think every "creeping 
thing" is poisonous — even the harmless little liz- 
ards. He certainly cannot sting with his tail, as it 
is too flexible, and I think that he must either bite 
like a spider, or overcome his victims by his " vine- 
gar." I captured a few with difficulty in this 
way: I always carried a tin box with me during 
my mountain tramps. I set this on the ground 
uncovered. Then I cut a long switch, leaving a 
few leaves on at the end. Carefully raising a stone, 
I found beneath it a gigantic thelyphon, and started 
him up with my switch. He crawled upon the 
leaves, and I then transferred him easily to the box. 
Then a little alcohol poured over him gave him a 
complete bath, quieted his nerves, and prepared ; 
him for safe exhibition to my friends. I never 
found any on the Pacific slope, but invariably on 1 
what arc known as the Chihuahua table-lands, also 
called "the cold country." My largest specimen 
was captured in the city of Chihuahua. 
E. WlLKIN.Sf)N, 
Secretary Chapter 537, A. A., Mansfield, O. 
SNAKES SWALLOWING THEIR YOUNG. 
One of the facts settled beyond controversy by 
members of the A. A., if, indeed, it were not deter- 
mined long ago, is that, under certain, circum- 
stances, snakes swallow their young, and allow 
them to emerge again from their retreat when the 
occasion is by. No less' than six members of the 
A. A. .sent us records of their own observations, 
which were published from time to time in the 
Swiss Cross, (notes 115, 189, and 236.) These notin 
were as follows : 
A. While hunting last September with .several 
companions, on the big marsh in Fairfield, we saw 
.some little snakes near a creek, and; wishing to get 
one of them, I asked the boys to help me catch one. 
Just then one of the boys saw the old snake, and 
told us to look out. We all stopped and looked at 
