234 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



flow of fresh water. This inflow is called endosmosis, and the outflow 

 of the solution is called exosmosis. If an India-rubber bottle be filled 

 with water and immersed in alcohol or ether, the endosmosis of the 

 spirit will be so powerfully exerted as to distend the bottle consid- 

 erably. If the bottle be filled with alcohol or ether and surrounded 

 by water, it will nearly empty itself. 



The force exerted by this action is displayed by the rising of the 

 sap from the rootlets of a forest giant to the cells of its topmost leaves. 

 Not only plants, but animals also, are complex osmotic machines. 

 There is scarcely any vital function — if any at all — in which this os- 

 miosis does not play an important part. I have no doubt that the 

 mental effort I am at this moment exerting is largely dependent upon 

 the endosmosis and exosmosis that is proceeding through the delicate 

 membranes of some of the many miles of blood-vessels that ramify 

 throughout the gray matter of my brain. But I must wander no fur- 

 ther beyond the kitchen, having already said enough to indicate that 

 exosmosis is fundamental to the philosophy of beef -tea extraction, and 

 reserve further particulars for my next paper. 



Postscript. — I feel bound to step aside from the proper subject of 

 these papers to make public acknowledgment of an act of honorable 

 generosity, especially as many hard things have been said concerning 

 American plagiarism of the work of British authors. As everybody 

 knows, we have no legal rights in America, and any publisher there 

 may appropriate as much of our work as he chooses. American legis- 

 lators are responsible for this. Nevertheless, I received, a short time 

 since, a letter from Mr. E. L. Youmans, of New York, inclosing a 

 check for £20, as an honorarium, in consideration of the fact that these 

 papers are being reprinted in "The Popular Science Monthly." Shortly 

 before this, a similar remittance was sent from another publishing firm 

 (Messrs. Funk & Wagnalls), who have reprinted " Science in Short 

 Chapters." These facts indicate that some American publishers have 

 larger organs of conscientiousness than the present majority of Ameri- 

 ican legislators. 



I am told that another American publisher has issued another re- 

 print of " Chemistry of Cookery " without making any remittance ; 

 but, as Mr. Proctor would say, " this is a detail." — Knowledge. 



YINOUS SUPEESTITIONS. 



By Db. TH. BODIN. 



ALTHOUGH the world no longer believes in the gods, demi-gods, 

 and heroes with which the ancients and our pagan ancestors ani- 

 mated nearly every object, old-country people still retain a consider- 

 able relic of heathenism in the shape of myths of a host of spirits of 



