8 



THE SENSITIVE PLANT. 



The sensitive plant is a name 

 commonly given to very delicate 

 species of the ?>nNOSA — on account 

 of the peculiar phenomena which is 

 exhibited in their pinnre or leaves 

 and stalk when touched or shaken. 

 All species of the minosa possess 

 this singular property to a greater 

 or less degree, but is more particu- 

 larly noticeable in the half-shrubby^ 

 herbaceous plants, indigenous to 

 our western prairies and also to the 

 llanos of Brazil, where the stems 

 are prickly, and some of the species 

 possess small heads of beautiful 

 rose-colored flowers. This plant is 

 one of the most peculiar plants 

 found in nature, and upon being 

 approached in its wild state, lifts its 

 head, seems to look at you very ap- 

 pealingly, and then drops suddenly, 

 shrinking back in great alarm, its 

 leaves and stem appearing to wilt 

 under your raptured gaze. After 

 you have passed on, the earth hav- 

 ing ceased its vibrations, the plant 

 raises its head, quivering and trem- 

 bling, as if not fully recovered from 

 its shock, and in a few moments it 

 is all right digd.'m-NatKralisfs Com- 

 panion. 



SINGING SANDS. 

 For ages the wild Arab had 

 knowm that there was the mystery 

 of music among the sands of Jabel 

 Nakous or the "Mountain of the 

 Bell," about three miles from the 

 gulf of Suez. Jabel Nakous and 

 one other locality, in the neighbor- 



hood of Cabul, were the only places, 

 known where the glistening sands 

 sang their evening hymn, until 

 Hugh Miller, author of "The Old 

 Red Sandstone," etc., in his "Cruise 

 of the Betsey," gave an account of 

 a third locality which he himself 

 discovered. 



Miller says: "Itseemed less w^on- 

 derful that there should be music 

 in the granite of Memnon, than in 

 the loose Oolitic sand of the Bay of 

 Laig. As we marched over the 

 drier tracts, an incessant zvoo, woo 

 woo rose from the surface that 

 might be heard in the calm some 

 tw^enty or thirty yards away, and 

 w^as easily evoked by the foot." 



And nov/ a locality on the shores 

 of Massachusetts has been found 

 where the sand have a similar inusi- 

 cal tendency. 



Not to be outdone in anything, 

 the sands on the shores of San Di- 

 ego have a music of their own equal 

 in sweetness to the singing sandsof 

 all other localities, presenting the 

 beautiful phenomenon that ever 

 since it was first observed has given 

 rise to more or less superstitions. — 

 West American Scientist. 



i 



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