March 2, J 888.] 



SCIENCE 



105 



tween horses and the storage-battery, including every thing but the 

 deterioration of the battery, is from one to three dollars per car per 

 day in favor of the battery. Taking a well-known form of battery 

 as a type, supposing fifty per cent over the cost of manufacture is 

 charged for the cells, and estimating the cost of horse-power for one 

 of the New York street-railways : the difference of cost of the two 

 systems is roughly two dollars and a half per car per day. Now, 

 whether the repairs of the battery will cost this much is a matter 

 that only experience can settle, but on roads where the grades are 

 slight it is very probable that the batteries will be most economical. 

 The matter at present stands thus : only about fourteen per cent 

 of the possible storage capacity of storage-cells is utilized ; their 

 discharge rate is limited, so that even this comparatively small 

 capacity is great in comparison to it; the cells deteriorate, so that 

 a large item of expense is in repairs ; the efficiency of the cells is 

 not greater than seventy per cent. Even with these disadvantages, 

 storage-batteries can be largely applied for lighting and traction- 

 work. It seems impossible, w'ith the number of investigators work- 

 ing on the subject and the great possibility of improvement, that 

 the next few years will not see a great increase in the economy, 

 storage capacity, and discharge rate of storage-cells; and a very 

 moderate increase in any of these, especially the latter, will throw 

 the balance decidedly in their favor for traction-work. For lighting, 

 their field is equally extended. 



Primary and Secondary Currents in Induction-Coils' 

 — The relations between the primary and the induced secondary 

 currents in induction-coils have been investigated mathematically 

 by several writers, the clearest and most satisfactory treatment be- 

 ing probably that of Mascart and Joubert. Since the experiments 

 of Ewing on the magnetization of iron, it has been clear, not only 

 that the assumptions hitherto made have not accurately represented 

 the facts, but that any rigorous mathematical treatment would, 

 with our present knowledge, be impossible. The work of Prof. 

 Galileo Ferraris in this connection is important as showing the ex- 

 tent of the modification that can take place. He has determined 

 experimentally the difference of phase between the primary and 

 secondary currents in an old-type Gaulard and Gibbs transformer, 

 and, comparing them with theoretical deductions of his own, finds 

 the agreement satisfactory. The objections to his work seem to be 

 that the apparatus he experimented on is. obsolete, and is not of the 

 type at present universally used ; the old transformers having an 

 open magnetic circuit, while now the magnetic circuit is always 

 closed. The work is important, however, as showing the inade- 

 quacy of the at present accepted treatment. 



ETHNOLOGY. 

 Notes on the Kwakiool of Vancouver Island. 



Dr. George M. Dawson gives in the Transactions of the 

 Royal Society of Canada for 1S87 a very interesting sketch of the 

 Kwakiool, a people inhabiting the central part of the coast of Brit- 

 ish Columbia. He describes the numerous tribes of this nation and 

 their several villages, but the most interesting part of the paper is a 

 description of their mode of life, traditions, and language. They 

 live in large wooden houses, the front of which is painted with de- 

 signs representing the fabulous thunder-bird, whales, snakes, or 

 salmon, while the posts and beams supporting the roof are carved 

 in similar forms. The children are for a long time kept tied into 

 the cradle. When they leave it, the cradle and the bedding 

 must be deposited at a place reserved for this purpose. Then a 

 great festival is celebrated, and the child is given a name. On this 

 occasion the father has to give away a great part of his property. 

 Dawson gives very valuable information on this giving-away of 

 property, which was well known to be practised by the tribes of the 

 north-west coast, but the meaning of which was not clearly under- 

 stood. He says, — 



" The rules governing the potlatch (as this festival is called in the 

 Chinook jargon) and its attendant ceremonies have gcown to be so 

 complicated that even those persons most familiar with the natives 

 can scarcely follow it in all its details, and it is sometimes difficult for 

 the natives themselves to decide certain points. The custom was 

 formerly almost entirely confined to the recognized chiefs, but of 

 late years it has extended to the people generally, and become very 



much commoner than before. It is regarded as a means of acquir- 

 ing and maintaining prestige and power, but it has nowadays 

 spread to all classes of the community, and become the recognized 

 mode of attaining social rank and respect. 



" As a particular instance of the custom, let us suppose that a 

 man of one tribe has collected together as his own, or obtained 

 control of, say, five hundred blankets, and wishes to make a fiot- 

 latch to some other tribe. He goes to its village, and makes known 

 his intention of distributing a thousand blankets at a certain date. 

 He begins by lending out his. stock of five hundred blankets, giving 

 larger numbers to those who are well off. This loan is reckoned a debt 

 of honor, to be paid, with interest, at the proper time. It is usual 

 to return two blankets for every one borrowed. Thus the stranger 

 obtains the thousand blankets for \\\s potlatch, which, with the ac- 

 companiment of much bombastic speech-making and excitement, are 

 distributed in exact proportion to the social position of those taking 

 part." 



Those who receive presents at such a festival become debtors of 

 the man who gives the feast. These feasts are celebrated at a mar- 

 riage ceremony or when a man wishes to take a new name. 



In connection with the remarks on the potlatch, Dawson refers 

 to the actual condition of this people, and emphasizes the fact that 

 the best way to civilize them will be the establishment of industries 

 among them. The report on the legends of the people is of great 

 interest, and so is the vocabulary of about seven hundred words, 

 which is of great importance, as our knowledge of that language is 

 very scanty. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 

 Great Waterfalls, Cataracts, ajid Geysers. By JOHN GiBSON. 



New York, T. Nelson Si. Sons. 16". $1.25. 

 Chips from the Earth's Crust. By JOHN GiBSON. New York, 



T. Nelson & Sons. 16°. $1.25. 

 These two publications present in a readable form certain phe- 

 nomena of physical geography ; the former treating of famous cata- 

 racts and geysers, the latter with a variety of geological phenome- 

 na such as obtrude themselves upon the attention of the reading 

 public. The book on waterfalls and geysers is well illustrated, and 

 the author has described almost exclusively those cataracts of which 

 he was able to give an illustration. The papers of which the ' Chips 

 from the Earth's Crust ' consist were originally contributions to the 

 Scotsman newspaper. Eruptions of volcanoes, great land-slides, 

 tornadoes, discoveries of new gold-fields, the fall of a meteor, earth- 

 quakes, and similar phenomena, have given occasion to writing 

 these papers; and we think the author has well accomplished his 

 task to write in an agreeable form to such people as have no 

 time and occasion for systematic study, but want to know what has 

 been discovered regarding the history of the earth and the cause and 

 true character of current geological events. The book contains a 

 considerable number of illustrations. 



Mineral Resources of the United States. By David T. Day. 

 Washington, Government. 8°. 



The annual report on the mineral resources of the United States 

 for the year 1886, compiled in the Division of Mining Statistics and 

 Technology of the United States Geological Survey, has just been 

 issued. We find in this volume, which is the fourth of the series, a 

 minute and exhaustive report on the production and economic value 

 of minerals in the United States'. The arrangement is according 

 to materials, and under each heading the total production, re- 

 cently opened mines, technical improvements, imports and exports, 

 are treated. The statistical tables of the preceding volumes have 

 been brought forward to the close of 1886. Besides the report on 

 the annual production, the volume contains a brief and interesting 

 review on the American iron industry, from its beginning in 1619 

 to 1886, by James M. Swank, and an elaborate paper on the iron 

 ores east of the Mississippi River, by John Birkinbine, to which are 

 added analyses of foreign iron ores smelted in this country. The 

 volume is very exhaustive, not only treating of metals, coal, petro- 

 leum, etc., but giving also a review of the production of structural 

 materials, fertilizers, precious stones (the last by George F. Kunz) ; 

 in short, of all minerals of any economic value. 



