564 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 327 



the coating is chipped, the iron rusts, though the rust remains lo- 

 calized : it very rarely spreads or raises the coating, as is the com- 

 mon case with paint or electro-deposits. 



The protection of the iron being due to a superficial layer of 

 magnetic oxide, and not to any thing penetrating the metal (which 

 would weaken it), it follows that any manipulation that would in- 

 jure or destroy the continuity of the surface of the iron must neces- 

 sarily prove destructive of the coating. In riveting, for example, 

 the coating in the immediate neighborhood of the rivet-holes suf- 

 fers ; similarly, in driving nails through sheet-iron roofing, the oxide 

 is chipped at the holes ; in fitting "rustless" gas and steam pipe, it 

 is injured by the bite of the wrench and vise, unless these are fur- 

 nished with lead or copper cheeks ; in shearing, it scales along the 

 edge of the metal ; and in flanging or bending sheet-iron, the coat- 

 ing on the line of the bend is cracked. The limit of elasticity of 

 the oxide is practically the same as that of the iron : it adheres 

 firmly to the metal under tensile and compressive strains until this 

 limit has been reached, and no further. 



A piece of " rustless " iron can be heated on a kitchen range 

 and then plunged into cold water without the least scaling or other 

 change ; while coverings of paint, tin, galvanizing, and enamel 

 suffer very much under such action. For this reason, " rust- 

 less " hollow ware is more readily cleaned than even enamel 



Should a child be born with curly hair, a strabismical eye, or dis- 

 torted limbs, he is accepted as a healer of coming generations, and 

 all his early training is carefully conducted with a view to increas- 

 ing his supernatural powers, and control over the spirits of the air. 

 His food is carefully selected, and many articles of every-day use 

 among the common herd are carefully excluded from his bill of 

 fare. He is put in training for a doctor from his infancy, and great 

 things are expected of him when fully developed and endowed with 

 his degree. 



" The doctor seldom washes his person, and never cuts his hair, 

 which grows long and bushy in masses, knotted from want of 

 combing, and entangled with burrs and general rubbish, such as 

 floats around an Indian encampment. He adorns his scanty rai- 

 ment with eagle's down, and altogether presents a weird, not to 

 say untidy appearance. 



" In cases of serious illness among members of the tribe, the 

 eastern medicine-man will administer sparingly some pulverized 

 herbs and teas in considerable draughts ; but the Haida doctor of 

 the Queen Charlotte Islands scorns all sublunary aids, powders or 

 lotions. When an Indian is very sick, the doctor proceeds slowly 

 at first to agitate his attendant spirit, which is called ' Yek ' (in the 

 Tlingit language), and, by extraordinary contortions and severe 

 gymnastic exercises, succeeds, in the course of half an hour, ir^ 



-ORTHOGONAL VIEWS OF INFANTILE SKULL FROM COWICHAN, B.C. 



ware. The latter must be allowed to cool after use ; and the re- 

 mains of food in it become dried and congealed, and stick to the 

 utensil, necessitating considerable scraping, and involving danger 

 of injuring the enamel. 



Magnetic oxide withstands the action of many brines, alkalies, 

 sulphuretted gases, and weak, organic acids, but it is gradually dis- 

 solved by sulphuric and hydrochloric and other powerful acids. 

 The corroding action of these acids, however, is considerably 

 retarded on " rustless " iron, and hence such iron has been suc- 

 cessfully used in chemical works where it was exposed to strong 

 acid fumes. Coated articles have been exposed for years, without 

 the slightest deterioration, to sea-water and to the most varied at- 

 mospheric conditions. 



ETHNOLOGY. 

 Notes from British Columbia. 



In' 1S79 Mr. Wardman, an intelligent reporter, accompanied the 

 United States revenue cruiser " Rush " on her trip to Alaska, and 

 described his experiences in a number of interesting letters to the 

 Pittsburgh Dispatch. Some of his observations are well worth 

 being rescued from the obscurity of a local paper. 



He gives an interesting description of the Haida medicine-man : 

 " The Indian doctor of the coast is an awfully mysterious person- 

 age. His first steps in the art of healing, according to the tradi- 

 tions of his tribe, are taken at an extremely early day in his career. 



working himself up into a perfect paroxysm of clairvoyancy, throw" 

 ing off his garments as he progresses, till finally he stands arrayed 

 in a Lydia Thompson skirt about his loins, but is otherwise clothed 

 in foam and perspiration. Then he is ready for business. 



" He then makes ' passes ' toward the body of the patient, inhal- 

 ing powerfully through his teeth. Having sucked the disease out 

 of the form of the sick man, the doctor proceeds to the centre of 

 the house, and blows it out up the opening where smoke from the 

 fire finds its exit. Of course, the patient is now in a fair way to 

 recovery. But, in case the patient does not evince any signs of 

 improvement, the doctor finds that the ' conditions are not favor- 

 able ' owing to the influence of some witch who has evoked an evil 

 spirit to operate against the recovery. In such a case it becomes 

 the doctor's first duty to point out the witch, who is stripped, 

 bound, and subjected to a perfectly puritanical course of torture, 

 with a view of forcing a confession. The rack, the scourge, and 

 starvation finally have the desired effect, and the witch acknowl- 

 edges any thing that the doctor demands. This is always gratify- 

 ing, and is considered one of the greatest triumphs of the healing 

 art ; but, should the confession be made too late to effect the de- 

 sired cure, the witch may be killed, and generally is sacrificed on 

 general principles. Even though the patient dies under these cir- 

 cumstances, it is still a triumph for the doctor, as killing the witch 

 is as good a proof of witchcraft in Alaska to-day as it was in New 

 England two hundred years ago. 



" The Haida, as well as other Indians of the north-west coast. 



