December 7, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



269 



game is played in a lodge or wigwam. Six moccasons are buried 

 with their tops even with the ground, in two rows several feet 

 apart, and filled to their edges with sand. 



The Indians divide into two parties, and draw lots for the first 

 move. The winners of the move take a small black stone, and, 

 raising a blanket between themselves and their opponents to con- 

 ceal their operations, hide the stone in one of the moccasons, bury- 

 ing it in the sand so that it is entirely out of sight. The others 

 then try to find the stone by striking with a ,stick the moccason 

 supposed to contain it. If they find it, they take the stone in turn 

 and hide it, the others guessing ; but if they fail, their opponents 

 hold it until it is found, each time hanging up the blanket, and 

 changing, or pretending to change, its location. The game is 

 ■counted by means of a hundred and two long slender sticks on 

 ■each side, which change hands as the sides win or lose. The 

 system of counting is very intricate, the count depending upon the 

 location of the ball. Four, six, or ten counters change hands at 

 each hiding. The chances are almost all in favor of the holders of 

 the ball ; and frequently one side will lose all of their counters be- 

 fore the ball is found, when the game comes to an end. Two of 

 the counters on each side are notched, and are called ' grand- 

 mothers.' When there has been a long run of bad luck, the 

 ' grandmothers ' are stuck up in the ground and told to go and seek 

 their grandchildren, meaning to bring back the luck and the lost 

 ■counters. It is supposed to be lucky to hold the 'grandmothers ' 

 until the last : so they are not laid out until the others are all gone. 



The myth on which the kesichay is founded is based, like most 

 other Indian traditions, upon the sayings and doings of animals in 

 those ages when the world was supposed to be peopled entirely 

 with beasts. There were some animals, the tradition runs, that 

 saw better, hunted better, and were happier, in the light, and. 

 ■others that liked the dark. As it was thought wise that the exist- 

 ing alternation of night and day should be changed so as to suit 

 one or the other of these classes, it was determined to call a coun- 

 cil of the animals to determine in whose favor the change should 

 be made. When all were together, they decided to play the kesi- 

 chay to settle the controversy. The council was held at night, and 

 the game progressed with varying success for many hours. During 

 the play the animals of either side began to sing songs illustrative 

 of their luck or their feelings, sometimes taunting each other with 

 their ill success. Every animal present sang of his own character- 

 istics, and so the foundation of the present animal songs of the 

 kesichay was laid. When the blanket is put up, the holders of the 

 ball sing a chant to the effect that " the old screen hangs in front, 

 the old screen hangs in front," repeated many times. The bear, 

 the dog, the owl, every bird and animal known to the Navajo, has 

 some appropriate song that is sung in the game. 



Thegame between the nocturnal and the diurnal animals developed 

 into a round of taunting songs, flung from one side to another, un- 

 til some one called on the raven. He sang a song of the morning, 

 and cried that the dawn had come, when the eastern sky began to 

 be filled with light ; and with a mingled cry of disappointment the 

 nocturnal animals fled to their homes, scattering the articles used 

 in the game, which was thus brought to an undecided end. For 

 this reason the alternation of night and day has never been 

 changed. 



The moccasons used belonged to the bear, who, in his hurry, put 

 them on wrong, thus giving his feet their peculiar shape. The sun 

 shone on him before he reached his den, and turned his black coat 

 to a reddish brown, which is its color now. 



A Navajo Indian will not kill a snake, but, if one is encountered, 

 will put a stick beneath it and toss it away : so, if a snake come 

 into the tent where the kesichay is being played, it is tossed from 

 one side to the other by the opponents, in the hope that it will 

 bring bad luck to those with whom it stays. 



ELECTRICAL NEWS. 

 The Use of Condensers in distributing Electricity. 



Two patents have been lately issued in which condensers are 

 employed to reduce from a high to a low potential, in place of 

 transformers or storage-batteries. One of these plans has been al- 

 ready described in this journal, and an objection to it was pointed 



out. Briefly, it consisted in charging a condenser of comparatively 

 small capacity to a high potential, discharging it into a much larger 

 condenser, thereby decreasing the potential, and finally discharging 

 the latter through the lamp-circuit. This operation was continu- 

 ously and rapidly performed. One objection that was pointed out 

 lay in the great capacity that would be required for the large con- 

 denser. Another objection lies in the great waste of energy. The 

 energy of the smaller condenser before it is connected with the 

 larger is 



A — . 

 c 



where m is the quantity of electricity on it, and c is its capacity. 



After it is discharged into the larger condenser, the energy of the 



two is 



where (Ti is the capacity of the latter. If we wish to reduce our 

 potential from 2,000 volts to 100, c^ must be 19 c, and the energy 

 in the last case is only one-twentieth of that in the first, the differ- 

 ence having appeared as heat in the conductor connecting the two 

 condensers. We have, in fact, an efficiency of only five percent. 



Another condenser apparatus for reducing from a high to a low 

 potential has been patented by W. J. McElroy. The groups of 

 sheets of which the condenser is made are of two sizes, the smaller 

 size being connected with the main line, while the larger are con- 

 nected through the lamp-circuit with the earth. The main line is 

 supplied by an alternating current. The inventor describes the re- 

 sult as follows : " The electro-motive force available for the con- 

 sumption circuit is easily regulated or set by the relative sizes of 

 the sheets in the respective sides of the condenser, — the larger the 

 difference, the lower the induced electro-motive force, — and the 

 number of sheets will depend on the current strength needed for 

 the particular circuit supplied. . . . For example : if it be de- 

 sired to carry on the main line a current of 1,000 volts, and to sup- 

 ply a current on the consumption lines of 100 volts, then the size of 

 the sheets on the one side must bear the proper proportion to those 

 at the other side." 



If we consider for a moment what the potential of the sheets on 

 the consumption side will be, we see, in the first place, that, if they 

 are not connected in any way with the earth, their potential will be 

 that of the high-potential plates. If they are directly connected 

 with the earth, their potential will be always zero, and, according 

 as they are connected to the earth through a high or low resistance, 

 their potential will be high or low. As for the increased size of the 

 sheets connected with the lamp-circuit, it has nothing at all to do 

 with the phenomenon, and the effect would be approximately the 

 same if they were reduced to the size of the small sheets. It would 

 not be difficult to calculate whether the system would regulate itself, 

 but it is hardly in place here. Some of the objections to it, outside 

 of the question of regulation, lie in the size of the condensers re- 

 quired, and in the fact, that, if only a few lamps are in use, it would 

 be almost as dangerous to touch the lamp-circuit as the dynamo- 

 circuit. 



The Action of Electricity on the Vesicles of Con- 

 densed Steam. — M. J. L. Soret describes the following interest- 

 ing experiment in the Archives des Sciences : In a dark room a 

 platinum cup containing water is placed on a metal support, which 

 is connected with one pole of a Topler machine. Above this cup 

 a metal point is placed, which is connected with the other pole of 

 the machine. A Bunsen burner boils the water in the cup, which 

 is powerfully illuminated by the projection of a large pencil of the 

 electric light. As long as the Topler machine is at rest, the vapor 

 vesicles ascend in the ordinary way ; but, as soon as the machine 

 is at work, the action of electricity on the vapor is manifested in a 

 most striking manner. For a certain distance from the point to 

 the surface of the water the clouds collect, and whirl along the edge 

 of the cup ; under the influence of the electric light, they look to a 

 certain extent like flames. If the point is brought a little nearer 

 the water, the vapor disappears completely, although the water 

 continues to boil briskly. 



COMMELIN, DESMAZURES, AND BaILH.^VCHE StORAGE-BaT- 



tery. — M. Reymer, in his recent work, ' L'accumulateur Vol- 



