690 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



structure. A similar effect is found in '* the partings," or " horsebacks," in coal 

 mines, which become polished and striated by the continuous quiver and motion 

 of the crust of the earth. 



Dr. Collett says that all car axles, after a reasonable run, become crystalized 

 two-thirds of the length from the hub and one-ihird from the outside extremity, 

 rendering them worthless. On one Indiana railroad bridge he found that the 

 bottom parts of the vertical strain pieces were crystalized for from two to four feet 

 in length, and, as a precaution against what would inevitably have caused a 

 great catastrophe, they were replaced. The matter is one of great interest to 

 railways, and the specimens which Dr. Collett has collected in his experiments 

 are to be sent to the Stevens Institute of Technology, where an investigation of 

 the subject has been in progress for yeais by a scientist connected with the Insti- 

 tute. — Boston Journal of Commerce. 



HISTORY. 



A PAPER ON NEW MEXICO. 



FLORA ELLICE STEVENS. 



I am tempted to write a slight sketch of the history of this new and yet old 

 territory, not because I imagine that I am in any wise competent for such an at- 

 tempt, for New Mexico has one of the most interesting pasts of any part of the 

 Union, but that I would like her to have more of an audience in the recital of her 

 history than she perhaps has had, and such an one the Review furnishes me. 



New Mexico is even to-day but semi-American ; the laws are published in 

 Spanish as well as English, four-fifths of the population speak the former — adult- 

 erated to be sure — the Pueblos, the Plazas, the old Spanish names yet linger, 

 and, excepting perhaps Louisiana, she is the most foreign quarter of the United 

 States. 



Twenty-five years will radically alter this, the Senors Dorsey and Ingersoll 

 with their Palo Blanco cattle companies are going to push out the Mexican, that 

 is the Mexican as Mexican ; but as yet the delightful romantic antique flavor 

 hangs about her. One sees the remnant of the Pueblos casting their pottery in 

 the ancient forms ; the descendants of them who followed Cortez mingling with 

 the fairer-countenanced Americanos. 



When is mentioned in Mexican history the Indians, it is not the Indians as 

 commonly denominated but the Pueblo aborigines that are considered, the an- 

 cient native race, or races, who were* far above — in intelligence and civilization — 

 the red men who bear their title. A few of their descendants still exist, dwelling 

 in their pueblos in the ancient commune way. It is with these Indians, now 



