264 



• KNOWLEDGE 



[Sept. 15, 1882. 



C. C. H., in Lain! and IVat-^r, remarks : — " Heloderm is its 

 name, Ilfh^lerma horriduin scientilically. My only know- 

 letlge of the Gret-k language is that it is subservient to 

 science, and zoologically defiant of gender and case, some- 

 times of 'spelling ; therefore conjecturally helo, the first 

 part of the generic name, may have reference to the palo 

 yellowish or sunny colour of this creature, as certain flowers, 

 heliantheraum, heliotrope, and helianthus, are named from 

 heliot, the sun, as our botany books instruct us ; and derm 

 is certainly skin. Helodenn is of a pale ochre or maize 

 colour, with a coarse reticulation of black marks all over 

 it; and its specific horridnm, deferentially inferring its 

 terrible, dreadful qualities, is not given in slangy disgust, 

 as is supposed to be the case with its neighbour, Crotahts 

 horridii.i. • Horrid rattlesnake ' ' exclaimed a lady visitor 

 in my hearing. ' What's the use of calling t/iat one 

 ' horrid," as if they are not all horrid 1 ' " 



The explanatian of the name is erroneous. If the 

 reference were to the colour of the sun, helioderma would 

 have Wen the name. The reference doubtless is to the 

 black marks on the skin, which were fancifully compared 

 to nails {/ifliig=a nail or stud) ; so that the name would bo 

 luiilnkin. Why the adjective should be neuter, we fail to 

 see, IJeltHl-'rma horridnm would imply that the skin is 

 horrid, horridum agreeing with the neuter word derma 

 (Gk.). But it is the animal, not the skin, which is horrid, 

 and the animal is the Lacerta, of the species heloderm, or 

 nail-skinned — a Lnrerta called horrida, or guspecta, because 

 of its real or suspected venomous (jualities. Our contributor, 

 Dr. Wilson, is certainly mistaken, by-the-way, in calling 

 the animal haloderma. 



FISHERMEN'S SUPERSTITIONS. 



THE " Fighcrman's Own Book" contnins an intcrestinff chapter 

 on the above subject, from the pen of Capt. J. W. Collins, who 

 savs that the fact that fishermen seem to bo more dependent upon 

 lutk than almost any other clafs of men, and that they are con- 

 Btonlly meeting with events calculated to excite superstitions, may 

 account to somo extent for their lM?in(; credulous. Amonp the 

 finhemien's suiiorstitions of which he treats are — a belief in lucky 

 and unlucky sailing days ; a belief in Jonahs ; the superstitions 

 concerning dropping a hatch in the hold, breaking a looking-glass, 

 driving nails on Sunday, Ax. ; and instances are cited where such 

 Bupcrstitions scorn to have been well founded, and others in which 

 they arc shown to have been without any foundation. 



Mr. .Scudder, in his interesting report on the Greenland halibut 

 fishery, trtats briefly of the game subject. " The only difference 

 betw< en .'Sunday and any other day of the week," ho says, " w.is that 

 no nail must be driven on that day, for they said that would ' nail tlio 

 trip.' Their superstitions are a little curious. The old notion that any 

 cnterjirine commenced on Friday would bo unlucky has, in a great 

 mcABure, dinapiK-ared, on account of the fishermen having read in 

 the p.-i[*rs a long list of great events that ha<J happened on Friday. 

 The ••bjcK-tion to hammering on Sunday was so strong that tho 

 captain delayed fixing a part of tho rigging from Sunday until 

 Ml. !.<!.;.• •ill iliiii .•i...,nr,t. There is one superstition about which 

 *'■ .1 ir. They will never leave a hatch np- 



*■ 11 Cling the fire, and had taken up the 



I •■ ■ coal, which was kept in the bottom 



'! on fl'.or. The hatch I had placed in 



'■'■ le of tho cabin that, if it had fallen 



d 'om side up. Ono of tho fishermen, 



*> I as vcrj- sensible, scning tho hatch in 



t' Mr. Scudder, don't leave tho hatch that 



way,' lit. I wl .t, I ii-k. .| liim why, he explained that if it should 

 •lip down it would be upside down, which would bring ill-luck upon 

 tho whole trip. I replied, ' I^et's try it,' and knocked tho hatch 

 down on the floor Ixjttom up. I do not rcmeml*r of ever fiaving 

 bc«n more suqiriiH^l than I was to see him jump to turn tho hatch 

 over. f(e then said, ' I don't know what tho captain would say if 

 he saw that.' One of the fishermen tolil of a captain he was with 

 who nrorc terribly at him because ho pushed a dory off from tho 

 retfil with the bow of tho dory toward tho sun. I found, however, 

 ■omo difBcally in gcttinf; tbo men to acknowledge their belief in 



many superstitions, and I should not havo found out thoso I havo 

 mentioned, had not tho incidents spoken of culled them into action. 

 I think, as a whole, they wore, for sea-going men, rciniukiibly free 

 from suporstition." 



UTILISING SMOKE FROM WOOD. 



AT Elk Rapids, Michigan, is a blast furnace in which aro manu- 

 factured fifty tons of charcoal iron per day. Thero aro 25 

 charcoal pits, constructed of brick. Each pit is filled with 100 

 cords of hard wood, ond then firod. The vast amount of snioko from 

 these pit.", which wos formerly lost in the nir, has now been utilised 

 by Dr. Pierce, a chemist. Cheniienl works havo boon erected, 

 which are thus described : — First, they havo a circular tube mado 

 of wood, with pino staves IG foot in leii^jtli, bound together with 

 heavy iron hoops. This tube is placed directly over tho pits in a 

 horizontal position, with an opening from each pit into tho tube. 

 At the end nearest tho building thero is a largo drum containing a 

 rotary fan propelled by machinery, tho power of which is gas. 

 That acts as a suction or draft for tho smoke, which is conveyed 

 into five stills filled with cojiper jiipo 2J inches in diameter. Tho 

 boxes in which tho pipes are situated are 20 feet square, 8 foot deep, 

 mado of heavy pine, and filled with cold wator ; these aro all con- 

 nected by co|)per pipes ; they are coimected with the main still 100 

 feet in length, 10 feet wide, 8 feet deep, tilled with copper pipes 2^ 

 inches in diameter in a horizontal position, surrounded with cold 

 water, from this convoyed to a purifier, from which runs what is 

 called pyroligneous acid, which is os clear as amber, with an un- 

 pleasant odour. From tho acid is produced ; — First, acotato limo ; 

 second, alcohol; third, tar; the fourth part prodnoea s.is, which is 

 consumed under the boilers. Each cord ol' « i J imhIhh; :iS,000 

 cubic feet of smoke ; 2,800,000 feet of humm . ' - ' 1 ■ ^ ny 2-1 

 hours, lU'oducing 12,000 pounds acetate of li III' :."•' /in jlmhol, 

 25 jiounds tar. These articles havo a eniiMii.i' nl ...hn' in tho 

 manufacturing of various articles. Tho alcolml liiis liein ((.ntracted 

 to a firm in Buffalo, Now York, for fivo years, they furnishing tho 

 packages and receiving it at tho works at 80 cents, per gallon. Tho 

 smoko from 40,000 cords of wood consumed per annum is thus 

 mado a source of much profit, as tho works aro nearly automatic. — 

 Boston Courier. 



The application of dynamite to tho breaking np of masses of iron 

 too great to be broken by other means, was successfully tried near 

 Chicago recently. A refractory chunk, " salamander," of twenty 

 tons weight, was placed in a pit. A hole was drilled in tho iron, 

 and a charge of dynamite was inserted. .Several bars of iron, 

 weighing tons each, wore placed over tho pit in order to prevent 

 small pieces of metal from Hying heavenward. Tho cartridge was 

 connected with a battery, stationed ono hundred feet from tho pit, 

 and after tho spectators had found secluded jilaccs, tho word was 

 given, and in an instant tho twenty tons of iron that had previously 

 stood all kinds of hammering, was reduced to fragments. Tho 

 steel men were completely surprised, and admitted that a feat was 

 performed that before was hold impossible. — Scientific American. 



Anotiieb E.xrEi)iTioN TO Franz. JosEK Land. — Tho Dijmphna, 

 with tho expedition of Lieutenant Uovgaard on board, sailed, as 

 reported from Copenhagen, on July 18. It is tho intention of 

 Lieutenant Hovgaard to adhere to the programme originally an- 

 nounced, viz., to proceed first to Cape Chelyuskin and thence mako 

 for Franz-Josef Lanrl, ])U8hing for the north next spring in slodges. 

 His ship of 150 tons burden has been strengthened for tho ice both 

 inside and out. IJe has jjrovisions for twenty-seven months, and 

 coals for fifty days, with full steam at six knots ; bosidos which ho 

 hos rigged the vessel as a three-mast schooner, with square sails 

 on her foremast. He takes several sledges and nine dogs 

 of a Newfoundland breed. 'J'ho expedition consists, besidos tho 

 commander, of Lieutenants Olson and I'ardo, of tho Danish, and 

 Lieutenant do Rensis, of the Italian Navy, IJr. liarch as surgeon 

 and botanist, and Mr. Holm as zoologist, Mr. Litonins (Swede), 

 engineer, and Mr. Ernest, mate, besido a crew of Cftoon men, 

 ono of whom, tho Norwegian Sivertson, wuh in the Veif.aex|iedition. 

 They aro to ascertain whether Franz-Josef l.nl n ill, i n nils to 

 the neighbourhood of Capo Chelyuskin; win i • ■ : •< •■ ,ii Ijii.uis of 

 the current and ice are such that a basis for lui 1 1 . i i |,l iilnn can 

 bo reached here withotit too great a risk ; ami ..In i,hi i tin; i iiKtom 

 coast of Franz- Josef Land trends to tho northward ut this jioint. 

 They propose to winter near Capo Chelyuskin, or on tho south coast 

 of Franz-Josef Land, if it can bo reached, and they hope to return 

 within sixteen months. Observations will bo taken thronghont tho 

 winter in occordanco with tho jirogrammo of tho international 

 expeditions. 



