Vol.. XXV. No. 7.] 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
101 
the dear little houstonia that turns the fields white 
in spring, I have heard no less than five names for 
it, "bluets," "poor-man's violets," "innocence," 
".Tune hours," and "poetry." — Katik W. Shan- 
non. 
ELECTRICAL QUESTION. 
Will some one explain why blowing the breath 
through an electrified glass tube discharges the 
electricity, if the latter resides on the outside, 
if glass is a non-conductor? The experiment was 
shown last evening at our meeting. — William 
GOKMAN, Pulaski, N. Y. 
»TIIE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION SAVED HER. 
The following testimonial to the uplifting 
power of the study of natural science is only 
one of hundreds that delight and encourage us in 
our work : "I shall never be able to express what 
the X. A. has ))een to me; it saved me from the 
fate of a frivolous young woman, devoted to soci- 
ety and sentimental novels, and taught me to ap- 
preciate what is best and truest in life." 
A FEW NOTES IN REGARD TO CATS. 
It has been a question with me, whether It is an 
ostablished fact, that cats loose their canine teeth 
in their infancy. Four kittens th.at were raised in 
the house, during the space of four or five years, 
lost their canine teeth at the age of three to four 
months. The second tooth often appearing next 
to the first, which finally dropped out. Some- 
times the cat had lost one of the canine teeth for 
some time before the appearance of the second 
tooth. Two of our finest cats, now six years 
old, have lost from one to three canine teeth. 
ITiese teeth were the second ones, and this makes 
me presume that cats may suft'er from toothache. 
Some old cats still have all their teeth. In regard 
to the second dentition, I have asked friends if 
they had noticed the loss of the first teeth, and 
they had, but of canine teeth only. I never saw 
anything of this mentioned in natural histories, 
and am curious to know whether the fact has 
been stated, also whether dogs have a second den- 
tition. — J. IIUSSON. 
VITALITY OF BL.VCKBIRD'S EGGS. 
The common blackbirds take up their summer 
residence with us in great numbers. They build 
nests around the marshy places, both on the 
ground and in the low bushes, from June till 
September, and doubless raise several broods of 
young birds of four or five each during the sea- 
son. Last September I was walking across a 
field and came to an irrigation ditch that was 
overflowing its t)anks. Suddenly a blackbird, 
standing in the water on the bank of the ditch 
flew up almost at my feet. Closer inspection 
revealed her nest with four eggs in it, and the 
nest full of cold water. The poor bird had been 
doing her best to protect them. The water in the 
ditch was as cold as one would wish to drink. I 
felt of the eggs ; they were cold to the touch. I de- 
cided to leave them until I passed that way again 
and then take them to the house. It was now 
about diirk and the air cool, and almost frosty. 
'ITie ditch remained flooded until the next day. 
A few days afterward I went to get the eggs. 
The old bird again flew away in distress, and to 
my astonishment, instead of the eggs I expected 
to see, there were four hungry young birds in the 
nest. I concluded that blackbird's eggs must 
possess wonderful vitality. — S. A. Spkay, Cor. 
Mem. A. A., No. 14,200, Salida, Colorado. 
A GEOLOGICAL RAMBLE — A NEW SUL- 
PHUR SPRING. 
My last walk was to I^ittle Falls, a very pretty 
glen about one mile from this village. The creek, 
obtaining its water from numerous springs and 
the drainage of the surrounding country, flows 
quietly over a gradually sloping bed of slate for 
about three miles. Then,^ turning almost at a 
right angle, it suddenly plunges into a dark, nar- 
row ravine, not more than fifteen feet wide at the 
bottom, the sides of which are heavily wooded 
with spruce, pine, and hemlock. Flowing swiftly 
for four rods it comes to the first fall, which is an 
almost perpendicular descent of fifteen feet. Con- 
tinuing over an almost level bed for about a hun- 
dred and fifty feet, it comes to the second fall, 
which is thirty feet in height, and falls into a pool 
about fifty feet wide, the depth of which I was 
unable to ascertain. Here the ravine suddenly 
expands to a width of no less than a hundred and 
twenty-five feet at the bottom and two hundred 
feet at the top. 'I'he banks are walls of slate, 
alternating with shale, and naiTOw bands of lime- 
stone from one-eighth of an inch to an inch in 
thickness. This structure is best seen on the 
right bank, where for six feet from the surface of 
the water the rock is planed perfectly smooth, 
showing beautifully the waving lines of limestone 
alternating with the slate. On the left bank near 
the last fall and at the base of the clifl" may be 
seen an example of the folding of strata, and fur- 
ther down the creek on the right bank a very 
peculiar formation, in which the lines of stratifi- 
cation seem to radiate in all directions fi-om a 
center. This glen is well worth an afternoon's 
study. 
While walking through the woods north of Still- 
water my attention was attracted by a strong 
smell of hydrogen sulphide to a white sediment 
which covered the rocks near a small creek. Stop- 
ping to examine it, I found that what is com- 
monly called "powder-water" was slowly bub- 
bling up through a bl.ack sediment in a hollow of 
the rock, lliis hollow was less than an inch 
deep, and the water escaped as soon as it came 
up. Taking my chisel I cut a bowl about six 
inches deep, and now have quite a sulphur spring. 
On mentioning my discovery to people in the vil- 
lage, I was told that there is a series of these 
springs running almost in a line and extending 
northeast for many miles. I think this deserves 
attention. Philip S. Millku, 
Stillwater, N. Y. 
SOME GEORGIA MINERALS. 
I hA^e analyzed the following minerals : Leu- 
copyrite, sphalerite, turgite, chalcocite, hematite, 
and chrysocolla. I found in a pile of paving 
stones two very fine specimens of garnet. Under 
an old watering-trough, where it had served many 
years as a prop, I found a beautiful quartz geode, 
sixty-five mm. in diameter. It is lined with deli- 
cate crystals. — Clarence M. Clakk, Savannah, 
Ga. 
<♦♦ 
WHITE CARDINAL FLOWERS. 
Everyone has heard of white blackbirds, and 
everyone knows that blackberries are red when 
they are green, but not everyone has seen a white 
cardinal-flower. A member, William S. Richards, 
writes from Melrose, Mass. : " W. H. Gibson, in 
an article in a recent number of Harper's Maga- 
zine., speaking of albinism in plants, says that ' he 
has heard of a white cardinal-flower.' It may be 
of interest, therefore, to report the finding of two 
white specimens of Lobelia cardinalis this season." 
FOSSILS WANTED. 
I WISH to get by purchase or exchange a few 
specimens of trilobites and other fossils of the 
same age. — II. B. Wiley, First National Bank, 
Miles City, Montana. 
THE A. A. LESSONS IN MINERALOGY. 
Professor Guttenberg's third grade, which 
has been issued for a few months, is meeting the 
same remarkable success which attends the first 
and second grades. The success is thoroughly 
deserved. The specimens are carefully selected, 
and neatly packed in a convenient case; and the 
book that contains the lessons — in this grade on 
blowpipe analysis — is handsomely printed and il- 
lustrated. The charge for book, specimens, and 
case, is only one dollar, and the Professor makes 
no charge for his tuition. Dr. H. Hensoldt, of 
Columbia College, has written of the third grade 
lessons: "The little book is simply admirable; 
at least I do not remember having ever seen any- 
thing half so good, even in England, where ele- 
mentary science primers have been in vogue for 
more than twenty years." 
To show how practical and simple the lessons 
are, we quote from a letter written by a most in- 
telligent and wise mother : 
"Is the third grade ready? I am arranging my 
little girl's lessons for the winter, and it would aid 
me to know when we may expect them. She and 
her little friend Sallie are very eager to go on 
with the course. It has been a most excellent 
thing for them both ; and I was delighted to see 
with what interest and appreciation she examined 
the minerals in the South Kensington Museum 
this summer. She spent many hours there recog- 
nizing old friends and studying new, — always 
with pleasure, — and it is due to your course." 
The following extract shows how the A. A. 
course in mineral study appeals to the average 
boy: 
"I must tell you how the course in miner- 
alogy, — of which I should have known nothing 
had I not joined the Agassiz Association, — has 
benefited me nior.e than all I hoped to gain. After 
mastering the first grade I found that I could 
identify many of the specimens about my own 
home at a glance. Being so well pleased I took 
the second grade, and am now at work upon the 
third. During one of my walks I found a huge 
quartz boulder from which I broke some of the 
purest milk-white quartz I had ever seen. I find 
in pursuing a course in mineralogy some knowl- 
edge of chemistry is indispensable. Is there such 
a course connected with the A. A? — O. W. C, 
Orleans, Mass. 
We clip the following well-deserved notice of 
one of our western Chapters from a Minneapolis 
paper : 
FOLLOWERS OF AaASSIZ. 
WHAT THE LOCAL AOASSIZ ASSOCLATION IS AND IS DOINQ. 
Tomorrow afternoon the Minneapolis Cliapter of the 
Agassiz Association will hold the last meeting of the second 
year of its existence. It was founded in the autumn of 
1889, by Frank Corbett and Fred White, both then students 
at the High School, and has grown until it now has a mem- 
bership of sixty-five. Nearly all the members are Jligh 
School students, but there are some who have entered the 
university and a few outsiders. During the greater part of 
the year meetings are held once in two weeks at the library 
building, at which papers on various scientific subjects are 
read and discussed by the members. The Chapter owns a 
collection of several thousand mineralogical and zoological 
specimens, valued at $800 or $900. Many of the specimens 
were donated by the Academy of Science and by friends of 
the Association. This collection is at present kept in a room 
at the High School building, but it is soon to be moved to 
the Public Library. The Association is recognized by the 
Smlthsoulau Institute, and receives all its publlcationa. 
