POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



57» 



organic ingredients into their tissues. Of 

 hyacinth-bulbs treated in a similar way, only 

 the one treated with tannic acid developed 

 roots. The hydrochloric-acid bulb died, and 

 the sulphuric-acid bulb a month later. After 

 the tannic-acid one, a bulb treated with ox- 

 alic acid did best. Tannic acid seemed to 

 increase the intensity of the color of the 

 flower. The plants were dwarfed by the 

 treatment. 



Temperature of the Glaeial Period. — 



Mr. G. F. Becker closes a carefully consid- 

 ered review, in the " American Journal of 

 Science," of the phenomena of glaciation 

 with the conclusion that, if the generally 

 received view (the substantiation of which 

 would not be superfluous) that the sun is a 

 gradually cooling body is correct, "it ap- 

 pears nearly certain that the absolute maxi- 

 mum in the development of glaciers is past, 

 and that the glacial period was not one of 

 general cold, but one of higher mean tem- 

 perature at sea -level than the present." 

 This is advanced without denying that a 

 variety of other causes than those immedi- 

 ately considered by him may have had an 

 influence, and, perhaps, a great influence, 

 upon glaciation. "Indeed, it seems more 

 probable that the formation of glaciers was 

 affected by all contemporaneous changes, 

 such as extraordinary upheavals and sub- 

 sidences or periodic fluctuations in the ec- 

 centricity of the earth's orbit ; but, if the 

 reasoning offered is correct, it is not neces- 

 sary to resort to such events to account for 

 the occurrence of a glaeial epoch." He be- 

 lieves that the production of glaciers is 

 chiefly a question of differences between the 

 temperatures at the sea-level and at the 

 level at which the glacier is formed. 



Pathology of the Pear. — At a meeting 

 of the New Jersey State Microscopical So- 

 ciety, a paper was read by the secretary. Dr. 

 Samuel Lockwood, on " Fecal Sclerogen," the 

 last word meaning the indurated particles 

 of lignine in the pear. He showed a quan- 

 tity of material like sand, which had been 

 passed by a person to whom it had caused 

 great distress. In the microscope it looked 

 unlike any mineral sand, and each particle 

 was composed of a cluster of sharp-pointed 

 crystals, like dog-toothed spar. It even re- 



sisted the action of nitric acid, but was dis- 

 solved readily by ammoniuret of copper. 

 Suspecting its nature, he took the rind and 

 core of a ripe Bartlett, and gave them to his 

 bees, which were suffering from a dearth of 

 flowers. The insects cleaned away the glu- 

 cose and all the juices, leaving the pear-grit 

 clean ; which, by comparison in the micro- 

 scope, was identical with the fecal grit. 

 The truth was, the person had been feasting 

 inordinately on ripe Bartletts. The doctor 

 remarked that it had never been cleared up 

 why the pear should cause to many such 

 suffering in the alimentary canal, as its 

 juices were really far less acrid than those 

 of the apple. He showed that it was due to 

 the sclerogen, or pear-grit. Each particle 

 literally bristles with sharp angular points, 

 and the cathartic energy is due to the me- 

 chanical action irritating the walls of the 

 alimentary canal. 



Growth of Boys and Girls.— The in- 

 vestigations of the Anthropometric Com- 

 mittee of the British Association have made 

 more or less clear several interesting facts 

 respecting the rate of growth of the two 

 sexes in the British Isles, The period of 

 most rapid growth is from birth to five 

 years of age, and then both SQxes grow 

 alike, the girls being a little shorter and 

 lighter than the boys. From five to ten 

 the boys grow a little faster than the girls, 

 but from ten to fifteen the girls grow the 

 faster, and at between eleven and a half 

 and fourteen and a half years old are actu- 

 ally taller, and from twelve and a half to 

 fifteen and a half arc heavier than the boys. 

 The boys, however, take the lead between 

 fifteen and twenty years, and grow at first 

 rapidly, but afterward slower, and complete 

 their growth at about twenty-three years, 

 while girls grow very slowly after fifteen 

 years of age, and attain their full stature 

 at about the twentieth year. The tracings 

 and tables show a slow but steady increase 

 in stature up to the fiftieth year, and a more 

 rapid increase in weight up to the sixtieth 

 year in men, but the statistics of women are 

 too few after the age of twenty-three to de- 

 termine the stature and weight of their sex 

 at the more advanced periods of life. The 

 curve of the chest-girth in men shows an 

 increase at a rate similar to that of the 



