62 TJic \Vest American Scientist. 



new thermo-magn<jtic<^cneratoi'and motor devised by M. Menges, 

 of Hague. Like the recent pyro-magnetic dynamo of Edison, it 

 depends on the fact that the magnetic metals lose their magnetic 

 power when heated. It claims several important advantages, 

 however, the chief being that the necessary alterations ot heating 

 and cooli 'g are given automatically, and that the cores of the 

 armature coils are relieved from changes of temperature. 



Considerable differences in the standard barometers of the 

 principal European observatories have been found by Mr. E. A. 

 Sundell.. ot the Scientific Society of Einland. 



The shadow of the total solar eclipse of last August was fifty" 

 six times as bright as the light of the full moon, as estimated by 

 the time required to photograph a landscape 



The government of Egypt has been pursuaded to make sur- 

 veys which prove the existence of a depressed region nearly 

 sixty miles long by twenty miles wide, reaching a depth of 250 to 

 300 feet belovv high Nile. This depression has lor several years 

 been held by Mr. D. Cope Whitehouse to be the site of the won- 

 derful artificial Lake Moeris described by Herodotus — fictitiously, 

 many have believed — with a circumference of 450 miles. The 

 interest at last aroused in Egypt makes it probable that the Nile 

 will soon be admitted to this valley by a canal eleven miles long. 

 The creation or restoration of this great artificial lake will give 

 fertility to a wide area, and will reduce the annual inundations of 

 the Nile, while storing water to replenish the river in dry seasons. 



TERMS USED IN T A EKING TO DOMESTIC 

 ANIMAES. 



Editors of the West American Scientist: — In controlhng 

 the movements of domestic animals by the voice, besides words 

 of ordinary import, man uses a variety of peculiar terms, calls 

 and inarticulate sounds — not to include whistling — which vary in 

 dififerent localities. In driving yoked cattle and harnessed horses 

 teamsters cry 'get up,' 'click click' (tongue against teeth), 'gee,' 

 'haw,' 'whoa,' 'whoosh,' 'back,' etc., in English speaking coun- 

 tries; *arre,' 'arri,' 'jiih,' 'gio,' etc., in European countries. 



In the United States 'gee' directs the animals away, from the 

 driver, hence to the right, but, according to Webster's Dic- 

 tionary, in England the same term has the opposite effect because 

 the driver walks on the right hand side of his team. In Virginia 

 mule drivers gee the animals with the cry 'hep-yee-ee a;' in Nor- 

 folk, England, ' whoosh-wo; ' in PYance, 'hue' and 'huhaut;' in 

 Germany 'hott' and 'hotte;' in some parts of Russia 'haitii,' serve 

 the same purpose. To direct animals to the left another senes of 

 terms is used. 



In calling cattle in the field the following cries are used in the 

 localities given: 'boss, boss' (Conn.); 'sake, sake' (Conn.); 'coo, 



