66 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIX. No. 469 



of the thorax''and^abdonien, so as to assist the tidal move- 

 ment of air outwards and inwards. 



I may add that one of Chun's figures (copied in the paper 

 in Am. Nat.) correctly represents the spirals of JSristalis, 

 giving even the external slits, highly magnified; but he mis- 

 interprets the slits, and takes them tp be longitudinal ridges 

 on what he supposes are solid threads. I have also pleasure 

 in learning that my young friend. Professor H. T. Fernald 

 of Pennsylvania Agricultural College, after reading my pa- 

 per in 1884, stained and cut Sne sections of Passulus cornu- 

 tus and thus shows the spirals to be a set of hollow grooves 

 enclosing some of the stained hypodermis which secretes and 

 surrounds the trachea. 



Princeton College, Jan. 21. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



♦** Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The writer^s nam 

 is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



On request in advance^ one hundred copies of the number containing his 

 communication will be furnished free to any correspondent. 



The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character 

 of the journal. 



A Lightning Stroke. 



On the 30th of JJay, 1881, a party of ladies and gentlemen went 

 in an omnibus from Washington co the country seat of a friend 

 (H. C. Metzerott's) , distant nine miles, in Prince George's County, 

 Md. 



During the afternoon the party was seated on the spacious 

 veranda of the dwelling, the horses and omnibus standing on the 

 lawn immediately to the front. 



Suddenly a few clouds gathered, and, before any rain fell, a 

 severe and sudden clap-of thunder startled them. At the same 

 instant a flash or streak of lightning descended and ripped apart 

 the south-west corner of the roof of tlie frame carriage house 

 standing alone about two hundred feet distant, descended down 

 the sheathing to midway of the west, or end, wall of the carriage 

 house, then at right angles apparently to the centre of the wall 

 where the clap-boarding was ripped and shattered ; then struck a 

 brass-tipped pair of shafts standing near the north-west angle, 

 shattering the right-hand shaft about midway, where a strip of 

 iron covered with leather was placed to serve as a stay for the 

 breeching strap ; then apparently passed down and out at the floor 

 by the closed door of the carriage house, where it was plainly seen 

 by all the company moving along rapidly in small coils or circles 

 up the road leading to the veranda, to the hoofs of the horses, 

 playing around them with great velocity, and then apparently 

 dissipated, no one could tell where. The horses were greatly 

 agitated, fairly trembled, but did not move ; and most of the com- 

 pany on the porch experienced a tingling, stinging sensation, but 

 none were stunned. The sky soon cleared. J. H. 



Washington, D.C., Jan. 35. 



Traumatic Hypnotism. 

 The case recently stated of a lady thrown into a hypnotic con- 

 dition by being thrown from a carriage, in which condition she 

 said and did certain things of which the next day she was entirely 

 unconscious, brings to mind a fact that occurred near this place. 

 .Two lads of fourteen and sixteen went out to feed the stock. 

 Coming near a young, almost unbroken colt, they leaped on his 

 back. The animal started in a wild run for the barn, and dash- 

 ing in at a low door struck the two lads violently against the 

 beam that formed the top of the door. The door being very low 

 the blow was not on the heads but the chests of the boys, sweep- 

 ing them from the colt's back to the frozen ground. The elder 

 lad sat behind his brother, and was thrown heavily to the ground, 

 striking the back of his head, his brother falling upon him. Both 

 lads rose; the elder rubbed his head, looked about, went into the 

 barn and completed his evening tasks in an orderly manner, re- 

 plying to his brother when addressed. They went to the house, 

 and the lad warmed himself by the stove, went to the table, ate a 



lighter supper than usual, and replied intelligently when spoken 

 to; but his eyes were dull and had a dazed, half-conscious look. 

 After supper he sat -by the fire for some time, laughing aloud 

 once or twice "at nothing" — than went to bed as usual. The 

 next morning it was found that he knew nothing of any 

 event after the instant of jumping on the colt's back, and seeing 

 it dash off toward the bam. He had not felt the blow, nor been 

 conscious of the fall, or of any subsequent words or acts, until he 

 arose the next morning, but his conduct and appearance had 

 been normal, except the causeless laughter and the dull look of 

 the eyes. In the case of the lady flung from her carriage, she 

 went into a druggist's, asked for water and a clothes-brush to 

 renovate her dress, said she was not injured, needed no help, etc. 

 Thus she said and did things suitable to the conditions of her ac- 

 cident. The lad, on the other hand, continued the course of ac- 

 tion which he had begun before his fall, feeding the stock, etc. 

 His acts during the evening were acts of habit, and such as be 

 repeated every evening. Neither the lady nor the lad were domi- 

 nated by any other mind, nor directed in their motions by any 

 person conscious of, or responsible for, their state, but it seems 

 that by reason of a blow given on the back of the head in each 

 case, both the lady and the lad were in a true hypnotic state, and 

 were subsequently entirely oblivious of all that had occurred while 

 they were in that condition. Julia MacNair Weight. 



Rain-Making by Faith. 



Some of the readers of Science doubtless may recall numerous 

 memorable incidents of the adpainistration of the genial, earnest, 

 shrewd, ani eccentric President Phinney of Oberlin. Aproposto 

 recent articles on faith-healing and rain-making is a vivid recol- 

 lection of such an incident. 



Some forty years ago, on a cloudless Sabbath morning, the 

 president walked briskly up the chapel, — there had been a 

 distressing drouth, — and began the service with an extremely 

 fervent prayer for rain. The prayer was long, and before it 

 was finished the skies began to darken, and almost before the 

 congregation was dismissed a copious rain began to fall. The 

 suggestive fact in this relation is that President Phinney had been 

 observed during the morning to give very watchful attention to 

 the barometer. H. Chandler. 



Buflalo, Jan. 25. 



Some Curious Catnip Leaves. 



As I passed by an old deserted log cabin, where the soil was 

 poor and barren, I noticed a bunch of catnip in an angle of the 

 pioneer zigzag fence. So close in the corner was it, that it 

 seemed as if it had crept there for protection. But even in its 

 apparent retreat it was conspicuous, for vegetation generally had 

 succumbed to the frosts of early autumn. A society for the pre- 

 vention of cruelty to plants ought to be organized, I thought, for 

 here was this little stunted looking bunch of catnip, struggling 

 for existence, when it certainly seemed pliysically unable to cope 

 with the unfavorable conditions for growth surrounding it. Poor 

 little lonely weed, I mused, is it just that you should struggle 

 here alone against all the hardships which put even the best dow- 

 ered plants to the test ? and like my humane brothers who, in 

 order to end the misei-y of a poor misused horse, feel compelled 

 to take its life, I terminated its struggles by collecting it. 



The catnip {Nepeia cataria) has a beautiful leaf, with a rather 

 deeply crenate margin; its upper surface has a rich, soft, downy, 

 rather velvet-like appearance, while the deep green color is 

 a witness of its hardihood. But the leaves on this plant, 

 which out of compassion I magnanimously collected, were very 

 different from the normal type ; the surface was nearly smooth, 

 and the margin of many leaves was quite entire ; others were cre- 

 nate only near the base of the leaf, though entire toward the apex, 

 as shown in the accompanying illustration. Why, and where- 

 fore, this difference in the leaves? I queried. Why have they 

 varied from the shape recognized as the typical leaf ? The little 

 leaves themselves replied: "We are the result of poor, unfavor- 

 able conditions; we had neither strength nor vitality sufficient to 



