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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the topmost twig of the tree as he squatted 

 on the ground. But the partridge said : 

 "Friends, there used to be another banyan- 

 tree. One day, after eating of its fruit, I 

 voided a seed here. Hence this tree." So 

 they agreed, the story continued, to honor 

 and reverence the partridge, as he was the 

 oldest, and he trained the others in obedi- 

 ence to the Five Precepts. Thenceforward 

 they lived together in so beautiful a har- 

 mony that it became a proverb, and was 

 known as "the beautiful life of the par- 

 tridge." And they all three went, after 

 death, to heaven. The story accords with 

 the general idea among the ancients that 

 the birds were of very old lineage. 



Asphalt and Petroleum in Venezuela.— 



A part of the department of Colon, in Vene- 

 zuela, is very rich in asphalt and petroleum. 

 At one place a thick bitumen is ejected from 

 the mouth of a cave, in globules which ex- 

 plode with considerable noise. The place 

 called the infernito, or little hell, is a mound 

 of sand, from twenty-five to thirty feet high, 

 on the surface of which are numerous holes 

 of different sizes, whence petroleum and hot 

 water are ejected with a noise equal to that 

 caused by two or three steamers blowing off 

 at once. Considering the immense amount 

 of inflammable gases that accompany such 

 flows of petroleum, it is suggested that some- 

 thing of the kind may be connected with 

 the Taro of Maracaybo — a constant lightning 

 without thunder, which is observed from the 

 foot of the bar at the entrance to the lake. 

 Croppings of asphalt and coal appear at the 

 foot of the mountains in the department of 

 Sucre ; and near the mountains is a flow of 

 a black liquid, distinct from asphalt or petro- 

 leum, and apparently identical with a sub- 

 stance which occurs among anthracite de- 

 posits. 



Habits of Turtles. — Turtles are described 

 as sleepy creatures that rest at intervals 

 throughout the day and become abnormally 

 active at night. When asleep they lie upon 

 the bottom of their habitat, with their heads 

 downward and eyes closed, and are not easily 

 disturbed. Their weight is considerable, and 

 precludes them from moving constantly in 

 the water ; and, as a rule, when swimming 

 they keep near the surface, and stretch their 



heads out, in order to gulp in air readily. 

 Upon land they are helpless, almost as pow- 

 erless as the seal in a similar situation. 

 They capture their prey with great agility, 

 for, with their long necks, they can thrust 

 their heads forward very rapidly. The head, 

 fin, and tail are independent of the shell, and 

 move freely, but can not be drawn wholly 

 under the shell, like those of the tortoise. 

 Turtles, especially young ones, are very pug- 

 nacious, and fight by striking their adver- 

 sary's head with their fins and biting. Mr. 

 Carter, of the British National Fish-Culture 

 Association, thinks it practicable to propa- 

 gate them artificially. The eggs should be 

 placed in sand, heated from beneath by 

 water-pipes to a constant temperature of 

 70° F., which could be raised in the daytime 

 to 100° by concentrating the temperature 

 from without. The young turtles will seek 

 for water at once, and this should be pro- 

 vided, warmed to 100°. While propagation 

 in this way might be profitable, it would not 

 be easy to domesticate the animals to our 

 cool latitudes. 



Influence of Antiseptics on Foods. — It 



has become common in trade to apply anti- 

 septics to perishable foods, in order to pre- 

 serve them, salicylic acid being probably the 

 most used. It is important to ascertain what 

 the effect of the addition is upon the quality 

 of the food, and upon the digestive func- 

 tions. Lehmann has shown that salicylic 

 acid does not usually contribute any injuri- 

 ous quality to food, but apprehends that the 

 indiscriminate use of such substances may 

 be dangerous. Experiments have been made 

 in our Department of Agriculture to deter- 

 mine what effect in retarding digestion may 

 be possessed by such substances as salicylic 

 acid, boric acid, sodium acid sulphite, sac- 

 charine, beta-naphthol, and alcohol. It was 

 found that salicylic acid prevents the conver- 

 sion of starch into sugar under the influence 

 of either diastase or pancreatic extract, but 

 does not very seriously interfere with peptic 

 or pancreatic digestion of albumen. Sac- 

 charine holds about the same relation as 

 salicylic acid. Sodium acid sulphite and 

 boric acid are practically without retarding 

 effect. Beta-naphthaline interferes decided- 

 ly with the formation of sugar by diastase, 

 but not with the action of pancreatic extract 



