203 



NATUKAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



great advantage, constructed some- 

 what after the pattern of the cele- 

 brated instrument that is used by 

 the natives of some portions of 

 South America to shoot poisoned 

 arrows. His "gun" is made of 

 pine-wood, and is about four feet 

 and a half long, it is bored smooth- 

 ly the whole length with a quarter- 

 inch hole. For ammunition Mr. 

 Brewster uses balls made of soft 

 putty. These, blown at birds, will 

 hit them hard enough to kill, if the 

 gun be aimed rightly, which art 

 can be acquired by practice. This 

 is certainly the preferable way to 

 collect small birds, as it does the 

 plumage no harm. I would sug- 

 gest, however, that a tube of thin 

 brass be used in place of wood; if 

 it were longer, say six feet, it 

 would carry with greater force and 

 more accuracy. Glass would be 

 still better, if it could be support- 

 ed by wood to prevent breakage, 

 as it would be much smoother. 

 The balls of putty should be made 

 to fit moderately tight. I have 

 never tried this method myself, but 

 Mr. Brewster has, in a satisfactory 

 manner, as described above. I 

 only wait an opportunity to test 

 them myself, and trust that others 

 will do the same. — From Maynard 's 

 Naturalists Guide. 



Preliminary Note on a New Al- 

 kali Mineral.* 



While searching recently at Borax 

 Lake, California for the new spe- 

 cies sulphohalite, Mr. C. H. Nor- 

 thup discovered small crystals of 

 what he considered to be a new 

 form of that mineral. Mr. Nor- 

 thup reports that they are ver^, rare, 

 having been found during a labor- 

 ious working of the "tailings" ur 

 debris from an exploratory boring 

 known as the "New Well," made 

 by the Borax Lake Mining Com- 

 pany, and that they were undoubt- 

 edy formed in stratum of clay reach- 

 ed at a depth of about 450 fecc. 



The entire find was forwarded to 

 Dr. A. E. Foote, to whom the 

 writer is indebted for the material 

 used in this brief examination. 



CRYSTALLIZATION, ETC. 



The mineral crystallizes in reg- 

 ular octahedrons, whose diameter 

 rarely reach one centimeter. They 

 occasionally exhibit triangular 

 markings and a habit of parallel 

 grouping in more or less regular 

 aggregates. Fractnred crystals 

 show in the interior a cross of faint 



* A revison of a paper read before the meet- 

 ing of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, Aug. 27, 18a5. 



lines running perpendicularly to 

 the crystal faces. These are divid- 

 ed by darker planes lying parallel 

 to cubic symmetry, and passing 

 through the angles of the octahe- 

 dron, dividing it into eight parts. 

 The same thing is noticeable in the 

 clearest of the complete crystals, 

 a bundle of striae coming from the 

 center of the crystal to the center 

 of each face with the dividing 

 planes clearly visible. This phen- 

 omenon is strikingly similar to that 

 observed in cubes of boleite (figur- 

 ed by Bombicci in a memoir on 

 mimetical pyrite, Bolgona, 1893). 

 The markings in the present in- 

 stance are probably due to inclu- 

 sion of organic matter, as in chias- 

 tolite. 



The color varies from dirty white, 

 pale yellow and greenish gray to 

 dark brown; the lighter colored 

 crystals closely resemble senarmon- 

 tite. Cleavage is imperfect. It is 

 brittle and shows uneven fracture. 

 Luster, vitreous on broken surfaces, 

 occasionally bright on crystal 

 planes. Hardness, 3-5 to 4. 

 Chemical Examination. 



In powdering the mineral a fetid 

 order is distinctly perceptible. It 

 is easily fusible before the blow- 

 pipe; in the closed tube it blackens 

 and gives off a burnt odor with vio- 

 lent decrepitation and liberation of 

 water (which subsequently proved 

 to be mechanically included), fi- 

 nally fusing to a gray mass. Boil- 

 ing water effects partial decompo- 

 sition of the powdered mineral, 

 with separation of a bulky white 

 residue, consisting mainly of basic 

 carbonate of magnesia. It is de- 

 composed with effervescence in 

 cold dilute hydrochloric acid, with 

 slight residue insoluable. 



A careful qualitative analysis of 

 crystal fragments showed it to con- 

 sist essentially of sodium, magne- 

 sium, hydrochloric and carbonic 

 acids, indicating a double cloride and 

 carbonate of sodium and magnesium. 

 1 rat -sot phosphoric acid, silica, 

 iron, calcium and organic matter 

 were also found. This composi- 

 tion is quite as remarkable as tn<it 

 of other species peculiar to the 

 Borax Lake region. 



The name "2VortliuJ>ite" is pro- 

 posed for this new species, since it 

 was entirely due to Mr. Northup's 

 indefatigable zeal in collecting that 

 the mineral was brought to light. 

 Professor Penfield has promised to 

 make a quantitave analysis of this 

 and several other interesting min- 

 erals found in association, at least 

 one beside the Northupite being 

 new. — By Warren M. Foote in 

 A?nerican Journal of Science. 



The Merits and Demerits of 

 Linnaeus. 



To the great Swedish naturalist 

 Linnaeus, who was born in the 

 year 1707, belongs the honor of 

 having first orginated a system of 

 classification of the vegetable and 

 animal kingdom;, which system 

 (although Linnaeus himself remain- 

 ed perfectly orthodox, believing in 

 the theory of special creations) con- 

 tained in itself the germ of the 

 evolution doctrine, now grown to 

 such mighty proportion. In re- 

 gard to the account of the creation 

 given in the book of Genesis, we 

 must (with Haeckel) acknowledge 

 that it reveals two grand funda- 

 mental ideas, namely, differentia- 

 tion and progressive development 

 of the matter "created" in the be- 

 ginning." Together these forma 

 grand conception, perhaps, far 

 more important to the truth of the 

 narrative than the now ascertained 

 error of considering this little earth 

 as the center of the Universe, 

 around which sun and stars revolve 

 This error was confuted by Coper- 

 nicus, Galileo, and their successors. 

 Another important change in the 

 popular ideas of creation, namely 

 with regard to the position of man 

 in the whole scheme, has been ef- 

 fected by Lamarck, Darwin, and 

 others. It is strange that theolog- 

 ians should so frequently, as they 

 do, content themselves with as- 

 serting the literal accuracy of so 

 ancient a book as the Bible, which 

 has suffered severely by the course 

 of tradition and the vagaries of 

 translators, in place of confining 

 themselves to the grand moral les- 

 sons and the pure religious prin- 

 ciples it inculcates. The Bible is 

 not a text book of natural science, 

 nor has it ever pretended to be 

 one. 



The great progressive step made 

 by Linnaeus was as simple as it 

 was rich in results. It was the 

 designation of each plant and ani- 

 mal by two names. The first, the 

 genus, was given to each family of 

 p'ants or animals;while the second 

 the species, gave greater definition 

 ana more individuality to each 

 single plant or animal. Thus, for 

 instance, he included all animals 

 resembling the tiger, whether large 

 or small, under the genus felis, and 

 he used the name for the whole 

 class; and he added a second name 

 for the species to which the animal 

 belonged. Thus, he called the 

 common tige.' felis tigris, the lion 

 felis lea, the panther felis pardus, 

 the jagnar felis onca, the wildcat 



