manufacturers in the ordinary routine of business. The sale of course presented some curiosities, but we will only mention an overcoat pocket for a lady's hand when walking with a gentleman, which brought $350, with the State of Pennsylvania reserved; a double pocket to cheat pickpockets, and a machine to "lick" postage stamps. [From The Galaxy.] THE ARTISTIC HAND. most lovely hands. In both the index longest. 2. A Jewess of Modena, very lovely, and with beautiful hands. Ring finger much the longest. "3. A Tuscan lady with a most lovely hand. Index the longest. "4. A lady of Ferrara, pretty, and with a hand of rare beauty. Ring finger longest," And so the list might be extended, and a long row of shapely hands arranged that would exhibit the ring and the index findis-gers alternately longer and shorter. In nature the type is not positive, but in art it seems to be so. The hands designed by Canova, Titian, and Ary Scheffer have been entirely or partially examined to test this question, and they uniformly make a long forefinger in a beautiful hand. Prof. Mantegazza sustains them in this decision. He recognizes the danger of elevating one's own personal peculiarities, or those of persons we esteem, to the position of a standard in taste, and therefore says that the two critical fingers are of equal length in one of his own hands, and the ring finger is slightly longer in the other hand. After thus premising, he says: "But if artists wish to deduce a practical lesson from this very brief dissertation, I would advise them to give the more perfect creations of their tool or pencil an index somewhat longer than the ring finger, without, however, wishing to deny to human nature the liberty of making very beautiful hands with a ring' longer than the index." He has Some months since we referred to a cussion of the proportions in the human hand, which had been made by Prof. Ecker of Freiburg university. It will be remembered that he found the ideal hand, as represented by the greatest artists, ancient and modern, differed from the majority of living hands in one respect. The artists' ideal has the index, or forefinger, longer than the ring finger. Nature often reverses this proportion, and makes the index finger the shorter of the two, and this not in common but in hands of the most beautiful shape. New interest attaches to this subject from the fact that an Italian, Prof. Mantegazza of Florence, has pursued the inquiry and made several hundred observations on the hands of his countrymen and women. The total results must be expressed in tabular form, for he found that a difference exists between the sexes, men being more inclined to short forefingers than women, and also that they are somewhat more inclined to variability in the two hands than women. His results were: Index and ring fin gers equal in length Men 10 or 2.48 6 or 1.94 712 been able to settle the question of heredity in this characteristic by examining a number of families in which the parents differed in the proportions of the two fingers. He found that the children also varied, taking the characteristic of the parent they most resembled in other respects. HOW SCORPIONS SING. At the September meeting of the London Entomological Society, Mr. J. Wood-Mason announced the discovery of singing organs in scorpions. He procured two large living scorpions; these, when fixed face to face The percentages as given above are cal- and goaded into fury, at once commenced culated on men and women separately. The to beat the air with their palps and simultaproportions of the two together are as fol-neously to emit sounds which were most dislows: tinctly audible. It resembled the noise made by scraping a stiff tooth-brush with one's finger nails. The singing apparatus is developed on each side of the body, the scraper upon the flat outer face of the basal joint of the palp-fingers, and the rasp on the equally flat and produced inner face of the corresponding joint of the first pair of legs. The former was thickly beset with stout, conical, sharp and curved spinules; the latter studded with minute tubercles shaped like the top of mushrooms. The sounds were produced by these parts being quickly rubbed together, friction in a dead specimen producing the same sound. ten States on this side of the Rocky Mountains. These States will include an area of the most important mineral, wheat and lumber production. Every large and fertile valley will be made accessible by railroad, and every great belt of mines will be reached in the same way. It has taken twenty-five years to get the leverage of a great industrial empire; but it is attained at last. [From the San Francisco Bulletin.] THE EMPIRE OF THE PACIFIC. Twenty years hence nearly all the breadstuffs for export from the United States will be produced in the country west of the Rocky Mountains. The exceptions will be in the surplus production of corn in the Mississippi Valley. The agriculture of all the vast region west of the Rocky Mountains is still in its infancy. Some of the great territories are not yet producing breadstuffs enough for home consumption. That was true of Oregon a few years ago. Now there is a great fleet of wheat laden ships sailing from her principal port every year. Utah Territory, with the exception of a little spot about Salt Lake, made no show of agricultural products. Now the best potatoes found west of the Mississippi river are produced in Utah, and sent to California in great quantities for consumption. Fruit culture has been pursued beyond the Sierra. The great apple orchards will be far up the mountains on either slope. The culture of the grape and the wine interest will be west of the Sierra, al- ¦ though it is just possible that we have not yet found the best soils for the production of the grapes. The maximum of lumber production has already been reached in the States east of the Mississippi. The eastern timber belt has been explored, and most of the lands reduced to private possessions. The timber belt of the Pacific coast, north of Oregon, covers an area clear up to the north limit of Alaska, or as far as the climate will permit. No impression has been made upon the forests of Alaska, andings the timber resources of Washington Territory will last a long time. The facts worthy of special note are that in all of the vast region on this side of the Rocky Mountains, from Mexico to Behring's Strait, the production of great staples is yet in its infancy. In particular places mining may have been carried to the limit of production. So of wheat cultivation and of the production of lumber. But for one exhausted mine there are a hundred which have not been fairly opened, and for one acre of land where a maximum production has been obtained, there are one hundred which have not been brought under cultivation. The great cedar forests of the northwest coast have hardly been touched, and it is only near the water's edge that much impression has been made upon the forests of fir. All our industrial development is the product of less than 2,000,000 people. They have dotted the coast with a few small towns, have built one large city and have laid the foundations of many others. The Empire of the West is waiting for population. It comes in slowly, but surely. California is pushing toward 1,000,000. The Territories are filling up; and within a quarter of a century there will probably be THE TRUE GENTLEMAN, He is above a low act. He cannot stoop to commit a fraud. He invades no secret in the keeping of another. He takes selfish advantage of no man's mistakes. He is ashamed of innuendoes. He uses no ignoble weapons in controversy. He never stabs in the dark. He is not one thing to a man's face, and another to his back. If by accident he comes in possession of his neighbor's counsels, he passes them into instant oblivion. He bears sealed packages without tampering with the wax. Papers not meant for his eye, whether they flutter in at his window, or lie open before him in unguarded exposure, are secret to him. He profanes no privacy of another, however the sentry sleeps. Bolts and bars, locks and keys, bonds and securities, notices to trespassers, are not for him. He may be trusted out of sight-near the thinnest partition - anywhere. He buys no office, he sells none, intrigues for none. He would rather fail of his rights than win them through dishonor. He will eat honest bread. He tramples on no sensitive feel He insults no man. If he has a rebuke for another, he is straightforward, open and manly. He cannot descend to scurrility. Billingsgate does not lie on his track. Of woman, and to her, he speaks with decency and respect. In short, whatever he judges honorable, he practices toward every one. He is not always dressed in broadcloth. "Some people," says a distinguished Bishop, "think a gentleman means a man of independent fortune-a man who fares sumptuously every day-a man who need not labor for his bread. None of these makes a gentleman-not one nor all of them together. I have known men of the roughest exterior who had been used all their lives to follow the plow, and to look after horses, as thorough gentlemen in heart as any nobleman who ever wore a ducal coronet. I mean, I have known them as unselfish, I have known them as truthful, I have known them as sympathizing; and all these qualities go to make what I understand by the term a gentleman.' "It is a noble privilege which has been sadly prostituted; and what I want to tell you is, that the humblest man, who has the coarsest work to do, yet, if his heart be tender and true, can be, in the most emphatic sense of the word, 'a gentleman."" [From the London Society.] THE FIRST CHAMPAGNE. Scientific. [From the Scientific American.] THE GEOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF It happened that about the year 1668 the office of cellarer was conferred upon a worthy monk named Perignon. Poets and roasters, we know, are born, not made; and this precursor of Moets and Cliquots, the Heidsiecks and the Mumms of our days, The gaseous envelope which surrounds our seems to have been a heaven born cellar- globe plays a very considerable part in the man, with a strong head and a discrimi-chemical changes ever going on in rock nating palate. The wine exacted from the formations, whether actually at the surface neighboring cultivator was of all qualities--as in what is called the "weathering of good, bad and indifferent-and with the | rocks"-or in the less apparent, but perhaps spirit of a true Benedictine, Dom Perignon more powerful action carried on below the hit upon the idea of "marrying the surface. In a late number of the Quarterly produce of one vineyard with that of an- | Journal of Science, Edward T. Hardman, F. other. He had noticed that one kind of C. S., has a very exhaustive paper on "The soil imparted fragrance and another gen- Atmosphere Considered in its Geological erosity, and discovered that a white wine Relations," from which we extract the folcould be made from the blackest grapes, lowing interesting facts: which would keep good, instead of turning yellow and degenerating into the wine obtained from white ones. The white, or, as it was sometimes called, the gray wine of Champagne grew famous, and the manu-acid, and other matters derived directly or facture spread throughout the province, The cellarer, ever busy among his vats, presses, barrels and bottles, alighted upon a discovery destined to be far more important in its results. He found out the way of making an effervescent wine-a wine that burst out of the bottle and overflowed the glass-that was twice as dainty to the taste, and twice as exhilarating in its effects. Perfectly pure water has a very appreciable solvent effect on rocks, which is immensely augmented when it is chemically charged with carbonic acid, oxygen, nitric indirectly from the atmosphere. But while on the one hand the influence of the atmosphere disintegrates and destroys rock masses, on the other it is mighty in building them up. Without the small percentage of carbonic acid contained in the air there could be no vegetation, and there would be none of the coal beds which form such important members of our rock formations. The immense masses of limestone found everywhere, and the coral reef of the present carbonic acid of former atmospheres. A drop of rain water absorbs a trace of carbonic acid from the atmosphere, falls on a rock containing lime in some form, dissolves the lime as a bicarbonate, carries it down to the ocean, and finally gives it up to become part of the skeleton of a coral or mollusc, which in its turn may form a portion of an immense mass of limestone rock. The bulk of the atmosphere is made up of oxygen and nitrogen, but these do not take so active shares in geological matters as the almost infinitesimal trace of carbonic acid present. The amount ranges from 3 to 10 volumes in 10,000 volumes of air. The principal sources of increase are, volcanic and other subterranean exhalations; respiration of animals; combustion of fuel, and vegetable decay. It was at the close of the seventeenth century that this discovery was made-day, must owe their being indirectly to the when the glory of the Roy Soleil was on the wane, and with it the splendor of the Court of Versailles. The king, for whose especial benefit liquors had been invented, found a gleam of his youthful energy as he sipped the creamy foaming vintage that enlivened his dreary tete-a-tete with the widow of Scarron. It found its chief patrons, however among the bands of gay young roysterers, the future roues of the Regency, whom the Duc d'Orleans and the Duc de Vendeme had gathered round them at the Palais Royal and at Anet. It was at one of the famous soupers d' Anet that the Marquis de Silery-who had turned his sword into a pruning-knife, and applied himself to the cultivation of his paternal vineyards on the principles inculcated by the cellarer of St. Peter's-first introduced the wine bearing his name. The flowerwreathed bottles, which, at a given signal, a dozen of blooming young damsels, scantily draped in the guise of Bacchanals, placed upon the table, were hailed with rapture, and thenceforth sparkling wine was an indispensable adjunct at all the petite soupers of the period. In the highest circles the popping of champagne-corks seemed to ring the knell of sadness, and the victories of Marlborough were in a measure compensated for by this grand discovery. The series of rock-metamorphisms due to the simple absorption of carbonic acid by a plant is very interesting. The carbon is assimilated by the plant, and it dies and becomes thus a part of a coal bed or lies embedded in sediment of some kind. Decomposition sets in; and if there be a reducible compound near it, chemical changes result. If the strata contain sulphate of iron, it is reduced to sulphide, commonly known as iron pyrites or false gold. The reduction is effected by the carbon of the plant abstracting the oxygen from the sulphate. The resulting carbonic acid either is taken up by percolating water and penetrates farther into the heart of the rock, effecting new changes, or it finds its way to the surface through some crevice, or by aid of a mineral spring, and once more mingles with the atmosphere, to be perhaps again absorbed by vegetation and pass through a similar round of changes afresh. In many cases the action of the carbonic acid changes a metallic ore from an insoluble to a soluble compound, thus reducing the ancient crys talline rocks The metals carried away by streams were deposited along their beds, and valuable beds of ore were formed. The atmosphere in the carboniferous age contained a much larger portion of carbonic acid. This has been gradually absorbed into the earth, until the amount stored in the earth is estimated at 6,620 times as much as there is in the atmosphere, although the latter contains 1.250,000,000,000 tons of carbon. All animal carbon is derived from the atmosphere. Say a tiger dines off a cow; the carbon and nitrogen of her flesh have been obtained from vegetation, which in turn extracted them from the air; so that we have a kind of physical "House that Jack built." "This is the Tiger that ate the Cow that ate the Grass that no rain-consequently no denudation by rain and rivers for the vapors of waters could not ascend into empty space. We should have-but, last and worst of all, there would be no "we." Life would be impossible, and the earth would finally degenerate into a pale-faced moon. That this is probably her mission cannot be denied; and probably before Saturn and Jupiter have cooled down to a habitable temperature, the senescent earth will roll through space-cold, void, and airless, [From the World of Wonders.] WONDERS OF THE SNOW. There are wonders in the snow, with which many who look upon its coming as quite a matter of course may be unacquainted. Such a wonder is presented in the phenomena of crystallization. Snow is produced by the freezing of moist vapors suspended in the atmosphere; and in very low temperatures the flakes or particles of snow are found to assume the most elegant and regular forms. These, from their perfect geometrical proportion, are denominated crystals, that name being applied to all particles of matter which take a definite geometrical shape. It was at first thought that only such extreme cold as that of the Any considerable difference in the vol- lization. On investigation, however, it was Arctic regions could produce this crystalume of carbonic acid must result in dimin-discovered that in our own severe winters ution of animal life. Very little above the ordinary standard carbonic acid in air becomes a deadly poison to all warm-blooded animals. If diminished vegetable life would languish, graminivorous animals would die of starvation, and finally the carnivora, being obliged to prey upon each other, would of course become extinct. The result would be a completely barren and desolate planet, perhaps in some degree resembling the moon. absorbed the Carbon," etc. Oxygen is the next in importance as a geological agent. Percolating in rocks, dissolved in rain water, it quickly reacts on all oxidizable substances. Carbonates and proto-salts are converted to peroxides; sulphides are changed to sulphates, and some times alums are formed. Carbon and oxygen are thus antagonistic in their action on rocks and minerals, and are thus keeping up a circulation between the earth and the air. The carbon always reduces the oxides, and the oxygen replaces the carbonic acid of carbonates with the same inveteracy. The ammonia existing in the air is absorbed by plants, and by their decomposition forms nitrates. "And now," Mr. Hardman says in conclusion, "it will be seen what an all powerful agent the atmosphere we breathe is. Without its aid we should know never a stratified formation, and would simply form a ball of truly primitive rock. We should have no coal, no metalliferous deposits, no rivers or seas, and the snow presents an equally wonderful appearance; and the eminent meteorologist, Dr. Glashier, in 1855, gave to the world a representation of 150 figures from the snow, which had come within his own observation during the previous winter. One striking feature in the snow crystal is this-that, though differing so widely in character they are all, or nearly all, hexagonal or six-sided in shape. Occasionally three-sided figures are seen, but these are very rare. Sometimes three of the sides are shorter than the other three, so that the figure is like a triangle, with the points cut off; and ed together by a slender bar or link. As a now and then two small figures are connectrule, however, the hexagons consist of thin times surrounded by other stars of similar plates, shaped like beautiful stars, and somenature. The great variety of these appearinvestigation has resulted in the discovery ances is apparently inexhaustible, for each of forms previously unobserved, although possessing the general characteristics to degrees is also found to prevail in all the which we have alluded. The angle of 60 various ramifications of these stars amid the snow, in conformity with the law by which water always crystallizes at this angle. The expenditure by the English Government for education, science, and art has increased from £26,750 in 1835 to £3,972,008 in 1875. The Road. THE HEBERLEIN BRAKE. DEAR SIR. When alluding to the Con tinuous Brake Trials in 1875, and early part of 1876, in my last letter on that subject, I drew attention to the Heberlein system. The editor kindly gave in a foot-note the reason why my information was deficient. Since then I have fortunately obtained the address of the London agency to the above system, and one of the directors has kindly placed at my disposal a series of drawings, showing the manner this system has been attached to the existing brake-vans, &c., of several Continental lines. In my former letter, published in your issue of January, 1876, I advocated the use of the "Heberlein Brake" for "mixed" and "goods trains." One reason I gave was the simplicity of this brake, it could be connected to other brakes in the same train; another valuable feature in this arrangement that I did not formerly notice is -that the present hand brake arrangements can be fully utilized, so the expense in adopting this system cannot be heavy. The Heberlein Brake depends upon the momentum of the train for its action; a cord, similar to the "signal cord," runs through the length of the train, and is fastened to a bell on the engine, and attached to a reel in the rear guards' vans; this cord is attached to detent rods in the guards' vans, also on the tender and the brake vehicles, and, by pulling this cord, the whole of the brakes of the train are put into action. To the axle of one of the wheels of the guards' vans and also to the tender-or any other vehicle-a sheave composed of segments of wood is attached, a weighted lever to which an iron pulley is fixed, placed under the vehicle in such a manner, if the lever is allowed to fall, the pulley fixed upon it comes in contact with the wooden sheave on the axle, the revolution of which turns the pulley and tightens a chain fastened to this pulley, and connected to the brake lever, thus applying the "brake." One advantage of this system, no power has to be created, the revolution of the wheels and the train's own momentum provide the "brake power," and the higher the velocity of the train, the greater the power this brake exerts. tem-also in case of a train parting through ask In conclusion, I need only call attention to a remark in a late Engineering, while criticising the Royal Commissioners' report, in speaking of Earl de la Warr's report, that the noble Earl recommended increased "brake power for passenger trains only;" but what of goods trains, to say nothing of the lives of the men employed working them-a heavy goods train might easily run into a passenger stopped at signalsowing to want of brake power to control the goods train." Now, as I previously recommended the Heberlein system for "mixed" as well as "goods trains" and on our Indian lines-especially the smaller Companies - the principal part of their On the Continental lines it is not only trains are "mixed" and the difficulty of attached to the tender but also to the en- providing a suitable brake for such trains gine driving or coupled wheel, so the guard is only too well known amongst our railfrom the rear can command the whole of way men. But this system supplies that the brake power with equal facility as the deficiency, and so long as the engine, tendriver or fireman in front. By introducing der, and say two vans, and a few intermethis system so that one person applies the diate vehicles are worked by this system, whole of the brakes simultaneously, there the fracture to coupling will be almost can be no fear of the train being parted- unknown and the telescoping or violent as the Northwestern train was at the "New-jerking of the train prevented in case of a ark Trials" by chain brake, a similar sys- sudden stop. |