70 



NATUKAL2SCIENCE jNEWS. 



Newspaper Natural History. 



I am a firm supporter of popu- 

 lar natural history, but unless the 

 articles on that subject disseminat- 

 ed by the dailies and weeklies of 

 our land do not improve soon the 

 results will be surprising. 



The Washingtoh Star furnishes 

 shining examples of journalistic 

 effort in this direction. Some 

 years ago it published an interview 

 with Mr. F.A.Lucas of the Nation- 

 al Museum and quoted that gen- 

 tleman as saying that the principal 

 difference between toads and frogs 

 was that one produced the young 

 from an egg, while the other pro- 

 duced living young. I held quite 

 a different idea from that. It also 

 published from "an exchange" the 

 past winter a hair-standing account 

 regarding a big bird, which not sat- 

 isfied with carrying off a little girl 

 must tackle a hunter who though 

 "loaded for ba'r" came off second 

 best. Perhaps by this time it may 

 have fallen into the clutches of 

 some taxidermist or amateur, more 

 blood thirst}- by far than the W. 

 Va. mountaineer. 



The Youths Companion which cer- 

 tainly does furnish many good ar- 

 ticles on natural history, published 

 a very misleading statement a short 

 time ago. In a few paragraphs on 

 the seal herds of Behring Sea it is 

 stated that the fur seal and sea-ot- 

 ter are one and the same. Such a 

 statement, or rather misstatement 

 could have resulted only from dense 

 ignorance of the subject on the au- 

 thor's part. 



Seldom, indeed, can the average 

 newspaper account of an archaeo- 

 logical find confine itself to the 

 truth. As the editor of the Archae- 

 ologist recently remarked of such 

 an account, "the usual lie about 

 the size of the skeletons spoiled it 

 all." 



A grave or two becomes a pre- 

 historic cemetery; the site of a few 

 Indian wigwams, nuns of an an- 

 cient civilization; an Indian fire- 

 place or hearth where cooking was 

 done, is a savage sacrificial alter, 

 etc., etc. 



Though accounts of swallows 

 hibernating in the mud, a n d 

 similar facts in ornithology and 

 the other sciences have been dis- 

 continued there is still room for 

 improvement. To be sure the 

 public enjoy sensations and start- 

 ling statements, but we can have 

 them and still stick to facts, for all 

 nature is full of marvels and won- 

 ders past finding out. 



The papers mentioned are not, 

 I believe, worse than most others, 



but merely furnished the examples 

 most readily recollected. There is 

 no better form of education in the 

 natural sciences, for busy people, 

 than concise, clearly written ac- 

 counts in popular language, but 

 writers of such should bear in mind 

 the frontiersman's motto, "Be sure 

 you are right, then go ahead." 

 When science is not truth it ceases 

 to be science though it ma} 7 be 

 popular in one sense. 



Messrs Gibbs and Gaines have 

 also referred to the absurd ideas 

 regarding reptiles, often printed 

 in our periodicals. 



Albert B. Faknha.m, 



Benning, D. C. 



Lifting Power of Roots. 



A Tennessee correspondent, 

 signing himself "One curious to 

 know," makes the following in- 

 quiry: — 



There are here in the street side- 

 walks, which are paved with very 

 heavy flag stone, shade and Mag- 

 nolia grandifiora trees from twenty 

 to thirty years old. The stones 

 weigh from fifty to two hundred 

 pounds each, and many over that, 

 yet the roots of these trees, especi- 

 ally the magnolia, raise the flag 

 and curb stone high, as if by hand 

 or lever power. 



Now, wherein is the powers." 



The exact nature of these lifting 

 powers has not been accurately de- 

 termined, so far as the conductors 

 of this magazine know. The im- 

 mense power, however, has long 

 been recognized. A mushroom 

 has been known to lift a heavy 

 paving stone in one night; but 

 after all, this lifting power is not 

 much greater than the sustaining 

 power of the branches themselves. 

 It must have often occured to ob- 

 servers that the leverage possessed 

 by some of the horizontal branch- 

 es of trees must be enormous. Just 

 in sight of where this paragraph 

 was written, is a horizontal branch 

 of elm, extending at least thirty 

 feet, and not more than three inch- 

 es thick at the point where it starts 

 from the main branch. The weight 

 of the smaller branchlets which 

 this has to sustain is probably not 

 less than one hundred pounds. 

 Yet it has taken that horizontal 

 direction for some four or five 

 years, and is still not an inch out 

 horizontal line. There is a fine 

 field for original discovery in this 

 direction. — Meehan's Monthly for 

 May. 



Gum Thus for Mounting Micro- 

 scopic Objects. 



By Arthur M. Edwards, M. D., 

 Newark, N. J. 



The use of a substitute for 

 mounting microscopic objects in- 

 stead of Canada balsam does not 

 seem to have been looked for un- 

 til I have found it in gum thus. 

 Canada balsam was used from 

 time immemorial for mounting — 

 I do not know how 'long. But "it 

 is sticky and dissolves easily only 

 in spirits of turpentine; besides it 

 does not have a high refractive in- 

 dex as gum thus does, and higher 

 still of oil of cassia or oil of cinna- 

 mon. Oil of cinnamon has a re- 

 fractive index of 1.508, and oil of 

 cassia has a refractive index of 

 1.626 to 1.647, while Canada bal- 

 sam has a refractive index of 1.540 

 according to the table in Dalling- 

 er's compendium of the micro- 

 scope. Best gum thus is soluble 

 in weak aqua ammonia, the 

 "household ammonia" of the 

 shops. It is the resin of the lob- 

 lolly pine {Finns- ta'da, L. ) and 

 is called I believe white turpen- 

 tine. It is also called frankin- 

 cense. I use the gum thus dis- 

 solved in commercial alcohol and 

 used as Canada balsam is, viz: the 

 object is dried on the slide, and 

 whilst warm, gum thus in solution 

 is put on. The alcohol dries off, 

 and when it is boiled off the cover 

 unwarmed is placed with a forceps 

 down on it. Rinsing is not nec- 

 essary, but I find it convenient. 

 Asphaltum is good but gold size is 

 better. It can be cleaned off with 

 aqua ammonia, borax or common 

 salt, or even water if used in plen- 

 ty enough. I have used gum thus 

 alone with various other sub- 

 stances, as sulphur, phosphorus, 

 oil of cassia, oil of cinnamon, mon- 

 obromide of naphthaline, quinidine, 

 borate of lead, chromate of lead, 

 and other things. But gum thus 

 alone is used constantly. In the 

 Observer for January and June, 

 1893, are papers on the use of 

 gum thus; and it is coming into 

 use" for microscopic objects, and 

 will, I am sure, consign the Can- 

 ada balsam bottle to limbo. — 

 Queen's Microscopical Bulletin. 



. ^» e> < - 



A Comma Bacillus. 



Laura — Tell me, Uncle George, 

 is that deformed gentleman, what 

 is called a crook? 



Uncle George — No, indeed. He 

 is a bicyclist. — Ex. 



