POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



279 



in the movement of the transmitting and re- 

 ceiving instruments, a condition practically 

 impossible of realization. Unlike these ear- 

 lier devices, the system of Prof. Gray does 

 not depend at all upon the timed movements 

 of the instruments at each end of the line, 

 but like the telephone the transmitter posi- 

 tively actuates the distant receiver. The 

 fundamental principle of the apparatus is 

 that first applied to this purpose by Mr. E. 

 A. Cowper, of England, some fifteen years 

 ago; but Prof. Gray has greatly simplified 

 the construction and given a range and flexi- 

 bility to the instruments which practically 

 constitutes a new departure in this method 

 of transmission. The principle involved is 

 the familiar geometric one that any plain 

 curve, no matter how intricate, may be de- 

 composed into component parts along two 

 lines at right angles to each other. If, then, 

 a point be affixed at the junction of these 

 lines, all that is necessary to reproduce its 

 movements is to cause two other similar 

 lines to reproduce the movements of the 

 first two. A point at the junction of the 

 second lines will then travel in exact con- 

 formity with the first point. This principle 

 is made use of in the familiar draughtsman's 

 instrument, the pantograph, used for pro- 

 ducing enlarged or reduced copies of an origi- 

 nal drawing. In Prof. Gray's apparatus the 

 transmitting instrument consists of a box 

 provided with a leaf or table, upon which 

 the paper, which is fed from a roll mounted 

 upon the instrument, rests. The pencil is 

 placed at the junction of two silk threads at 

 right angles to each other, the farther ends of 

 which are wound upon drums in such a way 

 that the motion of the pencil serves to ro- 

 tate them backward and forward in exact ac- 

 cordance with the linear components of the 

 curves described by it. These drums have 

 each an arm which sweeps over a series of 

 electrical contacts, thereby sendiug a suc- 

 cession of electrical impulses into its line 

 wire proportional to its movement. A con- 

 tact playing between stops serves to reverse 

 the current with the reversal of the motion 

 of the drums. The receiving instrument con- 

 sists of a pen mounted at the junction of 

 two light metal arms, the movements of 

 which are controlled by the electrical im- 

 pulses sent to line by the transmitting mech- 

 anism. This control is effected by means of 



a gear-wheel — one for each metal arm — 

 which is actuated by clutch-weights, which 

 weights are in turn controlled by the current 

 through the medium of an electro-magnet. 

 The gear-wheels, therefore, move in one di- 

 rection or the other in exact accordance with 

 the currents sent over the line wires and give 

 motion to the arms carrying the transcribing 

 pen. The pen is of the ordinary form in 

 such instruments, namely, a glass tube drawn 

 out to a capillary bore near the point and 

 supplied with a free-flowing ink. 



Relations of Leaves and Roots. — As a re- 

 sult of investigations of the influence of ma- 

 nure on the development of roots, M. Deherain 

 has found that roots in unmanured ground 

 have a larger growth than in manured, having 

 to spread more in search of the scanty nutri- 

 ment. It having been previously found that 

 transpiration largely depends on the activity 

 of the roots as well as on the evaporative 

 surface, and is not, therefore, strictly pro- 

 portional to leafy development, it follows 

 that if a plant with small leafy growth evap- 

 orates relatively more water than one with 

 more abundant foliage, it is probably due to 

 large root-growth procuring more water. 

 Volkens has observed that desert plants have 

 extraordinarily long roots. M. Deherain 

 further points out that solar rays falling on 

 a plant have the twofold work of assimila- 

 tion and transpiration to perform, and that 

 these are complementary. In strong, leafy 

 plants, assimilation is vigorous, so that trans- 

 piration is limited ; while in the leaves of an 

 " anaemic " plant a large fraction of the solar 

 energy is given to transpiration 



Folk Lore of the Rootenay Indians.— 



Among the Kootenay Indians of southeast- 

 em British Columbia there exist some 

 strange ideas of mythology. Their folk lore 

 is extremely picturesque, and bears strong 

 resemblance to that of the earlier European 

 and Asiatic races. The moon is regarded 

 by them as a man, and the sun (natd-nik) as 

 a woman. There was no sun in the begin- 

 ning (according to the Kootenay-Indian 

 mythology), but after the Indians had vainly 

 endeavored to discover it, the coyote was 

 successful in making it rise above the moun- 

 tains. Another version makes the chicken- 

 hawk cause the sun to rise, and the coyote, 



