POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
[Jakcary, 1891. 
Of course this position only obtains for a very 
small fraction of a section, autl it was a piece of 
good fortune tliat the person taking tliis picture 
snapped his camera at exactly tlie right moment. 
Fig. 3. 
Tlie above engravings are copied from the photo- 
graphs, taken by French amateurs, and are repro- 
duced from La Nature. 
JOB AND KAILKOADS. 
An enthusiastic Hebrew scholar, wlio, we liope, 
will excuse us for calling liim the most original 
crauk we have yet met witli, has i)uhlished a vol- 
ume of over tliroc luindred pages to prove that tlie 
book of Job contains a full account of our modern 
railroad system, not even omitting tlie tinaneial 
reorganization so fasliionable in tliese latter diiys. 
We believe that he is unable to find any allusion 
to Mr. Jay Gould, or the Interstate Commerce 
Law In that ancient document, but little else is 
omitted, according to this ingenious commentator. 
steam engine. A little further on, verse 17, it says, *'His 
tail will set upright like a cedar." This, the author con- 
cludes, refers to the smoke-stack. In verse 18 we find, "His 
hollow bones are tubes of brass, his solid bones are bars of 
iron," which is a very good embodiment of modern engi- 
neering practice. In verse 21, w'liich the special translation 
renders, "He will rest benealli light shelters and within a 
covering o'f iil)rous reeds and clay," the author finds an 
allusion to non-conducting covering for boilers and f-t.am 
pipes. Going on to the next cliapter, we flnU verse (i thus 
rendered, " Companies will feast ujion him, they will share 
him among sjieculators," which it is needless to say fits the 
case of modern railrond companies and .speculators exactl}'. 
This is one of the extraordinary parallels of the work. It 
is, perhaps, equaled by verse i of the same chapter^ where 
the hook (ring) in the monster's nose is construed as an 
allusion to ttie piston rings of a locomotive, and where the 
jaw bored through witii a thorn supplies an allusion to the 
piston head bored through with its piston rod. Tlie bad 
effects of an engineer allowing his watsr to run down is 
given in the same chapter, verse 26, " From dryness render- 
ing him furious, he will not have power to withhold ; the 
curved vault being caused to break up and also the armor." 
This, of course, means that the engineer must watcli his 
water-gauges or there will be an explosion. 
For a i)ortioii of verse 23, chapter xl., and for verse 34 
immediately following, tlie author furnishes the ftiUowing 
translation: "Behold he will absorb a river and will not 
fret; .... he will gather it up in his fountains by 
means of traps and with a perforated nozzle." <-)ur author 
in this finds described the action of a pump with its valves 
(traps), and the jierf orated suction pipe with a screen at 
its end to exclude solid particles. Kven the coupling 
together of a train of cars is found in verse 1 of the next 
chapter : " Thou wilt extend Leviathan with a hook, or with 
a snare which thou wilt cause his tongne to press down." 
The tongue, our author believes, is the reiire-sentative of the 
coupling link, and tlie hollow drawhead and pin is the 
" snare." The caulking of the seams of the boiler is found 
in verse 13 of this chapter: "His strength depends on 
courses of shields closed up tightly witli a seal." Our 
author finds nothing clearer than that the "shields" are 
boiler plates, and the " seal " the caulking iron. He 
reserves, however, the possibility that the steam riveter is 
the Healing mechanism. 
Fig. 4. 
As might l)e supposed, the authoi-, in order to 
fully support his theory, has been compelled to 
furnisli a new rendering of the parts of the liook 
of Job which lie uses ; but that is a minor matter, 
and lie is equiil to the occasion, and gives a new 
translation of the passages in chapters xl. and xli., 
whieli relate to tlie JSehemotli and Leviathan. 
We copy from tlie Scientijic American some of 
the passages on which the aiitlior bases liis enter- 
taining theory : 
The account begins chapter xl., verse 15, " Behold now 
(me with great heat, ... he will consume fodder as 
well a-s cattle do," which is a pretty fair description of a 
[Original in Popular Science News.] 
STUDIES IX PLAKT BIOLOGY. 
BY PHOF. JAMKS H. STOLLER. 
I. 
A COJIMON DESMID. 
The series of brief studies in animal biology 
given in tlie volume of the Popular Science 
Xews just closed, it is proposed to follow in the 
new volume by similar studies in the department 
of plant biology. Following the method employed 
for animals, we shall choose plants typical of the 
main divisions of the botanical kingdom, proceed- 
ing in order from lowest to higliest, and study 
tliem in regard to form, structure, and manner of 
lite. We shall keep in mind tliat these plants 
exliibit, in their forms and in their life processes, 
tlie operation of the laws that govern the realm of 
organic nature, and we will endeavor to gain some 
knowledge of these laws. 
The lowest plants, like the lowest animals, con- 
sist of but a single cell. And it is important to 
keep in mind that the terms plant and animal when 
applied to the lowest living things do not by any 
means denote the wide distinctions that exist 
lietween the higher members of the two great 
divisions. Modern biological research has shown 
tliat the two kingdoms of organic nature run into 
each other; and while, for i)urposes of classiflca- 
tiou, the various groups of unicellular organisms 
are still relegated eitlier to the one kingdom or the 
otlier, this is done rather as a convenience than as 
the expression of full and exact know ledge. It is 
better to ignore the classification of the lowest and 
obscurest forms of life, in respect to the category 
of plants or animals, and to speak of them simply 
as micro-organisms. This is especially true for 
tliat very large class — that infinitely poi)ulous 
realm — of organisms known variously by the 
names of bacteria, microbes, germs, etc. 
Fig. 5. 
'nie author lias, strangely enough, overlooked 
;i Biblical passage of, perliaps, even earlier date, 
wliieh. if his theory is correct, undoubtedly con- 
t aiiis a distinct reference to the iucomijatibility of 
-tray cattle and limited express trains. In Gene- 
sis, chapter xv., verse 17, we read : " And it came to 
|iass that when the sun went down and it was 
ilark, behold a smoking furnace and a burning 
lamp that passed betvveeu the pieces'" [of slaugh- 
tered cattle]. The description is complete even to 
tlie locomotive headlight. 
Seriously, such a burlesciue of scriptural criti- 
cism and interpretation is only wortli notice from 
its very absurdity, and as an illustration of the 
vagaries of the hiunan mind, when its reasoning 
powers are led captive by a dominant idea. AVe 
ha\'e heard of commentatoi's who liave found defi- 
nite allusions to tlie events of .American history in 
tlie Bilile, liut to put into the moiitli of the wortliy 
])atriarcli, .lob, a complete description of ii modern 
locomotive, is a flight of fancy liigher tlian any- 
thing lieretofore brought forward. 
In our present study it will be best for us to 
neglect these minjjtest and obscurest members of 
the living world and choose for examination a 
lowly, but unquestionably, true plant. Of the 
multitudes of kinds (species) of unicellular plants 
coiimion everywhere in the water of ponds, pools, 
and slow streams, we clioose Micrasttrias radiosa, 
one of the desniids. Its ai>pearance, as seen under 
the microscope, is shown in the accompanying 
figure. It consists in form of a splierical mass' 
ranch indented in the surface, and in one circum- 
ference deeply constricted, so as to show division] 
into two equal parts. In size this minute plant iai 
no more than one two-hundredth of an inch in] 
diameter. (Tlie figure shows it enlarged about 
two liundred diameters.) In structure it is mad 
up of an outer, firm, membranous coat, tlie ce 
wall, and inner contents of a soft, Jelly-like sub- 
stance. Tlie cell wall is composed of cellulose,] 
and the cell contents of protoplasm. 
The cell wall is clear, transparent, and colorlessj 
but the protoplasm is granular in appearance, an 
more or less coloied green. Tlie green color, liS 
that of the protoplasm contained in the cells 
the leaves of trees, is due to tlie presence of chlfl 
rophyl. It is well known tliat this green colori 
matter lias a very important function in the phys^ 
ology of iilants. The protoplasm of the plant celj 
