Natural science news. 



139 



Can Snakes Hypnotize? 



Having read the article by Har- 

 old S. Ferguson in the Sept. 14th 

 Natural Science News I send the 

 following: 



A few years ago a hole was dis- 

 covered in the door-way of the 

 stable, on our farm near this place. 

 It was freshly dug, but by what 

 animal I do not know. The door 

 was on the north side of the barn 

 and the chickens had gathered 

 there during the heat of the day. 

 One of the family chanced to look 

 toward the barn and noticed all ex- 

 cept two of the chickens were 

 standing at some distance from the 

 door. The two which remained 

 were, a young chicken about as 

 large as a quail, and its mother. 

 The old bird was fluttering around, 

 seemingly in great distress, the 

 young chicken stood perfectly still, 

 its head slightly lowered and its 

 eyes fixed on some object near the 

 hole. I went to the barn to dis- 

 cover the trouble, as I approached 

 the hen ran away, but the young 

 chicken did not move. On the 

 ground near the hole and 3 feet 

 from the chick was a garter snake 

 nearly 2}^ feet long. It was part- 

 ly coiled and did not move until I 

 came within 3 or 4 feet of it. It 

 then removed its gaze from the 

 chick and went into the hole. I 

 picked up the chick, when it gave 

 a few feeble cries and appeared to 

 have a fit. It moped around for 

 several days, when unfortunately 

 it was accidently killed. It never 

 recovered from the effect of its 

 fright or whatever we may call it 

 and when alarmed would fall on 

 its side and utter low distressed 

 cries. Had the snake exerted 

 some strange power over the 

 chicken's will or was it merely 

 fright? 



Clyde Bingham Parker, 



Oberlin, Kans. 



Photographing an Eclipse. 



During the recent eclipse of the 

 moon, I assisted a friend to make 

 a few photographs of it. As this 

 was our first attempt at any thing 

 of this kind, perhaps an account of 

 our experience would be of inter- 

 est to others interested in amateur 

 photography. 



The camera used was a 5 by 7 

 with a lens of eight inches focus. 

 The plate an ortho-chromatic of 

 non-halation. 



By using the back combination 

 of the lens at the end of tube 8 or 

 9 inches long, placed on the front 



end of the lens tube proper, the 

 size of the image on the screen 

 was doubled making it about ]/± of 

 an inch in diameter. After care- 

 fully focusing, with a focusing 

 glass, the exposures were made: 



The first was made before the 

 eclipse was on, and the plate was 

 exposed about four seconds. The 

 plate was developed immediately 

 and was found to be overexposed, 

 therefore the following exposures 

 were of one second each. 



The first exposure was made 

 when the moon was about half 

 covered by the shadow, the next 

 when it was about two-thirds cov- 

 ered. After these exposures were 

 made we concluded to wait until 

 the shadow was passing off before 

 making another. 



But for various reasons, (we 

 went to sleep) there were no more 

 exposures made that night. 



On development the plates were 

 found to be very good ones, the 

 exposures having been correctly 

 timed and we got some good prints 

 from them. On the whole we are 

 very well satisfied with our experi- 

 ment. 



I might add that the last expos- 

 ures were all made on the same 

 plate by simply following the moon 

 with the camera. The images 

 were placed far enough apart to 

 destroy all unpleasant results aris- 

 ing from halation, but because of 

 the plate used we were not troubled 

 by it, in fact the images were very 

 clean cut and sharp, quite equal- 

 ling our fondest expectations. 



W. Carl Ackison, 



Charleroi, Pa. 



El Capitan Meteorite. 



This handsome meteorite was 

 found by a Mexican sheep herder, 

 Julian Jesu, in July, 1893, on the 

 northern slope of El Capitan range 

 of mountains in New Mexico. 

 Three small pieces were broken 

 from the thin edge, which show 

 beautifully the octahedral struc- 

 ure of the iron. The smallest of 

 these, weighing a few ounces was 

 sent to the National Museum, and 

 the two larger, weighing respect- 

 ively 1 pound 12^4 ounces and 3 

 pounds 14 ounces, together with 

 the main mass, 55 pounds came 

 into my possession at different 

 dates in 1894. 



The weight of the iron when 

 whole was about 61 pounds. It 

 measured 10x9x5 inches, thinning 

 at one edge, and had the usual ir- 

 regular pitted surface. 



My information in regard to the 



history of the meteorite, as well as 

 the meteorite itself, was obtained 

 from Mr. C. R. Biederman, of 

 Bonito, N. M. Mr. Biederman 

 says that he, in company with 

 many miners, was standing in front 

 of a store in Bonito some time in 

 July, 1882, when "they saw a met- 

 eorite which looked like a fiery 

 ball moving rapidly toward the 

 north at an angle of 45 0 and van- 

 ish behind the Capitan range." 

 Mr. Biederman thinks the meteor- 

 ite found by the Mexican is the 

 one they saw fall, and there is 

 nothing in its appearance to dis- 

 prove his claim. It is entirely free 

 from oxidation and evidently fell 

 at a comparatively recent date. 



The Widmanstatten figures are 

 developed very easily and clearly, 

 as is usual with irons containing 

 the percentage of nickel which 

 this has, showing it to belong to 

 the usual type of octahedral irons, 

 with rather broad bands of kama- 

 cite somewhat like those in the 

 Cooperstown meteorite. 



I am indebted also to the court- 

 esy of Professor Clarke for the fol- 

 lowing analysis of this iron by Mr. 

 H. N. Stokes, of the United States 

 Geological Survey: 



Fe 90-51 



Ni 8-40 



Co 0-60 



Cu 0 05 



Si tr. 



P 0-24 



S tr. 



— E. E. How ell in Amer. Journal 

 Science. 



The Forests of Alaska. 



The forests of Alaska get so 

 much assistance from the atmos- 

 phere, in comparison with trees 

 growing in dryer climates, that the 

 trees grow so close together as to 

 be in many cases comparatively 

 worthless for timber. Abies Men- 

 ziesii and A. Mertcnsiana, together 

 with a considerable sprinkling of 

 the Arbor vitae, Thuja gigantca, 

 form the bulk. Though of little 

 service for timber, they are of im- 

 mense value to the natives, as from 

 the roots of these trees they ob- 

 tain fibre which they employ in 

 making baskets, twine, and cord 

 for many valuable purposes. — Mec- 

 lian's Monthly for September. 



Dr. Gunther, the well-known 

 head of the department of zoology 

 in the British museum, is to be re- 

 tired on Oct. 1, owing to the age 

 regulation. 



