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through the intervention of the air and the supports, and, on the other hand, from the vessel also receiving through the supports the slight vibrations due to external sounds communicated by the ground. It is only by withdrawing the vessel, by means of certain expedients, from these two influences that the vein assumes the aspect proper to it. 7. But all the phenomena enumerated under the first five of the preceding numbers become much more decided and regular when, by help of an instrument, we produce, in the vicinity of the apparatus, a sound in consonance with that which would result from the shock of the discontinuous part of the vein against a stretched membrane. The continuous part is then considerably shortened; the diameter of the limpid portion is increased, the dilatations, being still further massed upon themselves, grow larger, so that the nodes which separate them are more elongated, and appear of smaller diameter. 8. Besides the above unison, other sounds, produced by an instrument in the neighborhood of the apparatus, act upon the vein in an analogous manner, but with much less energy. There are also sounds which exert no influence. 9. In the particular case where the instrument varies very little from unison, the continuous part of the vein is lengthened and shortened alternately, and the ear is sensible of beats which coincide with those variations of length. 10. When the discontinuous part of the vein is received on a body which can render only a determinate sound, it frequently happens that the vibrations of that body modify the sound proper to the vein; but this appears impossible unless the interval between the latter sound and that which agrees with the body impinged upon does not exceed a minor third. When the sound of the vein is thus modified by a foreign sound, it frequently requires only, in order to cause a return to the tone which pertains to it, a slight blow on the apparatus or a change of position in the body impinged upon, and it is always by abrupt starts that the return is effected. If the interval between the two sounds be very slight, they may make themselves heard periodically or even simultaneously. 11. The modifications which the vein experiences under the influence of the vibratory movements still increase and acquire a perfect regularity when the sonorous instrument, (7,) instead of being at a certain distance from the apparatus, is placed in contact with the walls of the vessel and renders a very intense sound exactly in unison with that which is proper to the vein. The continuous part is then so much abridged that the upper extremity of the first dilatation almost touches the orifice, and, further, the superposition of the expansions formed by the individual masses (4) is exact, so that no appearance of films is longer perceptible. 12. I'his extreme regularity enables us clearly to distinguish the apparent figure produced by the passage of the spherules interposed between the masses, a figure which occupies the axis of the vein from the extremity of the continuous part; here also may be observed expansions and nodes, but shorter than those which are due to the passage of the masses. 13. By means of an instrument thus placed in contact with the walls of the vessel, almost all sounds can produce effects analogous to those of unison with the tone proper to the vein; but these effects are less decided in proportion as the sound of the instrument varies more from the unison in question. 14. Further, under this condition, when the sound which is natural to the vein is not in accord with that of the instrument, it may be brought to be so, even when the variance between the numbers of vibrations is sufficiently great to constitute an interval of a fifth above or more than an octave below the sound proper to the vein. 15. If the vein, instead of flowing vertically from above downwards, is projected horizontally, and is left to the ordinary circumstances, or, in other words, is not under the influence of a sonorous instrument, but is allowed to strike the liquid of the vessel which receives it, the discontinuous part presents expansions and nodes such as, in the same circumstances, are presented by that of vertically descending veins, (6,) and the vibrations of an instrument modify it in the same manner. If the vein be ejected obliquely from below upwards, the same phenomena are still observed, so long as the angle which it forms with the horizon does not exceed 20° to 25°. Page 3
no tendency to become effaced, it will not be propagated to the subjacent parts, and consequently will not give rise to a wave. Hence the portion of the vein under consideration will be more dilated from the first than it would have been in the absence of vibratory movements; but it will have the same length and descend with the same velocity as in this latter case. After the descending vibration will come an ascending one, and this latter diminishing the velocity of the passage at the contracted section, there will re sult, as has been already remarked, in the portion of the vein which passes under its influence, a diminution of volume, so that this portion will tend to become narrower; but the configurative forces tending to make of this same portion an incipient constriction, the attenuation due to the vibration will be effected without encountering an opposite tendency, and consequently without giving rise to the formation of a wave. Thus we see that, as in the case of the dilatation which precedes it, the constriction formed by the double action of the configurative forces and of the vibration will be less decided, but will have the same length and descend with the same velocity as if the vein were abandoned to the sole action of the configurative forces. In fine, the same thing will take place in regard to all the other dilatations and constrictions : in virtue of the equality between the time occupied by each of these portions of the vein in passing at the contracted section and the duration of each vibration, all the dilatations will coincide with the descending vibrations, and all the constrictions with the ascending vibrations; all will cousequently preserve their length and their velocity of translation, but all will quit the contracted section more distinctly defined, or, to use other words, in a more advanced phase of transformation, than if vibratory movements had not been produced. § 6. But the action of these movements will not be limited to this: in effect, the velocities of the ascending and descending vibrations-velocities which, as we have shown, change direction in the dilatations and constrictions to produce a greater transverse development of the former and a greater attenuation of the latter-cannot be annihilated, in each of these portions, at the moment when its passage at the contracted section is finished ; these velocities thus changed into transverse velocities will continue therefore, as acquired velocities, to form an addition to those which result from the configurative forces. $ 7. In order that the transmitted vibrations shall exert with full intensity on the incipient divisions of the vein the action described in the two preceding paragraphs, it is necessary that at the orifice they should have, as we have supposed, a vertical direction. It would be difficult, doubtless, to show a priori that in being propagated to the orifice the vibrations really take that direction; but Savart, who has been so much occupied with the communication of vibratory movements, admits the fact implicitly : he supposes, in effect, that on the one hand these vibrations only reinforce those which arise, according to him, from the efflux itself and which would necessarily be vertical, and on the other he does not say that, to obtain the maximum of action, it is necessary to give to the sonorous instrument any particular position. For the rest, if we find therein some difficulty, it would suffice to remark that whatever be the real direction in which the liquid molecules, in traversing the orifice, execute tlie vibrations transmitted to them, we may always, save in the wholly exceptional case in which that direction is exactly horizontal, decompose each vibration into two others, of which the horizontal one will exert no influence on the transformation of the divisions of the vein, while the other and vertical one will exert its whole action. . We have supposed, moreover, that the moment when each descending vibration commences is also that when the lower extremity of each dilatation passes at the contracted section ; but if, at the first instant when the vibrations make themselves felt, this coincidence does not take place, there will be a conflict Page 4
And afterwards, in speaking of a vein received at a very small distance from the orifice on a thick solid body: “In this case, as well as when the vein is entire, we observe that the grave and high octaves, the fifth and the sharp minor third of the sound in question—that is, of unisonalso intluence, though in a less degree, the state of the vein." And again, in reference to the modifications experienced, under the influence of the consonance due to the impact against a stretched membrane, by a vein withdrawn from every other extraneous influence : “Analogous results are obtained when, with a stringed instrument, different sounds are produced in the vicinity of the reservoir, but one of the sounds always exerts upon the vein a greater influence than all the others.” Do these passages signify that besides unison it is only the grave octave and fifth, the minor third, the superfluous fourth, and the shrill octave which modify the state of the vein? That is little probable, for then, instead of saying, " there are sounds which do not act in any manner,” &c., Savart would have said, all the other sounds which precede them are without influence, &c. Must we interpret these passages as admitting that the sounds therein specified are the most active after unison, and that, among the remaining tones of the gamut, some are simply less efficacious, while others absolutely exert no influence ? But in that case, can we believe that Savart would have thus expressed himself ? We remark, moreover, that the superfluous fourth mentioned in the first passage is omitted in the second. These vague statements show that Savart had but little studied the influence of other sounds than unison, at least under the circumstances which we are considering, and it appears to us that there could no more be deduced therefrom the existence of any disagreement between our theoretical conclusions and the facts, than that of an absolute accordance. Fortunately Savart contrived afterwards to augment the energy of action of the vibrations produced by the instrument, and then the effects, such as he describes them, must be regarded as wholly conformable with our conclusions, as will presently be seen. § 15. To finish what regards the influence of a sound excited at a distance and different from unison, we have still to account for the facts of No. 10 of $ 3. We shall proceed to show that these facts, excepting the last, depend on a more general principle, which may be stated in the following manner: if the vibrations of the instrument are sufficiently energetic in relation to those occasioned by the impact of the isolated masses, and if at the same time the interval of the two sounds is not too great, the sound of the vein may be brought to unison with that of the instrument. We observe that these circumstances are those of the number cited: in effect, when the vein falls on a body which can only render a determinate sound, such as a diapason, if we suppose for an instant that it undergoes no modification in the number of the isolated masses, the vibrations due to the impact of these masses will be generally of another period than those of the body struck, and consequently they can only proceed from the circumstance that each time a mass reaches that body the air is driven from between them, then returns, to be expelled anew on the arrival of the following mass, and so on in succession; but the sonorous waves produced in this manner are necessarily very weak relatively to those produced by the vibrations of ihe body struck; besides, we have it in our power, by varying either the discharge or the diameter of the orifice, to diminish as much as we please the interval of the two sounds. The vibrations of the instrument, (or, in the case before us, of the body impinged upon) transmitted by the air to the vessel and the liquid, not having the same duration with the transits of the incipient constrictions and dilatations due to the configurative forces, there is, as has been shown, ($ 12,) a variable conflict between these two kinds of action; but, if the two sounds do not Page 5
$ 20. Let us now produce anew a sound which differs from that of the vein, still continuing to place the sonorous instrument in contact with the vessel, so as to give more energy to the action of the vibrations. We perceive, by No. 12 of $ 3, that in this case the last three conclusions of § 12 are distinctly in accordance with the observations of Savart. There may, it is true, seen something vague in the words, almost all sounds; but they cannot be supposed to signify that ineffectual sounds alternate with effectual ones. Let us suppose, in effect, for an instant, the inefficacy of certain intermediate sounds, and imagine that the tone of the instrument goes on deviating in a continuous manner from that of the vein; then, when we quit one of these inefficacious sounds, it will be necessary either that the action on the vein, from being null as it was for this sound, increases gradually to a certain point, which would be contrary to the statement of the number cited, according to which the action diminishes in proportion as we depart from unison; or else that this action becomes suddenly energetic, which is scarcely admissible. It is very probable, therefore, that the idea of ineffectual sounds, implied in the words, almost all sounds, refers simply to sounds too far remote from that of the vein, which, in virtue of the statement in question, must produce but an insensible action. § 21. It was said, § 15, that vibrations differing in period, within certain limits, from those of the sound proper to the vein, may predominate over the configurative forces in the generation of the incipient constrictions and dilatations; that the transformation thus commenced is then completed after this new manner, and that, consequently, the sound of the vein is reduced to unison with that of the instrument. Now, the most favorable condition for the production of this result must evidently be the contact of the sonorous instrument with the walls of the vessel, because of the more immediate transmission of the vibrations. And, in effect, while in the case of No. 10 of § 3, the phenomenon can only be realized in an interval of a minor third, here, as we see by No. 14 of the same paragraph, it extends to intervals of a fifth above its principal sound and of more than an octave below; we inay add that Savart does not employ here, as in the former case, terms of little precision; he says distinctly that the sound of the vein is reduced to unison with that of the instrument. § 22. An upper limit, so high as the fifth, seems, at first glance, to be in opposition with certain results of our second series. In effect, for the sound of the instrument to ascend a fifth, it is necessary that the number of isolated masses which strike, in a given time, against the stretched membrane, should increase in the ratio of 2 to 3, and that, consequently, ($ 2,) it should be so likewise with the number of incipient divisions which pass, in the same time, at the contracted section, and as, under a constant discharge, the length of the incipient divisions is evidently in inverse ratio with this latter number, it follows that, from the principal sound to its fifth, the incipient divisions become shortened in the ratio of 3 to 2; but we know (2d series, $ 83) that when a vein of water renders the sound proper to it, the length of its incipient divisions is equal to 4.38 times the diameter of the contracted section ;* if, then, by the sole action of a sonorous instrument, the sound of such a vein rises by a fifth, the length of its incipient divisions will be reduced to of the above value; that is, to 2.92 times the diameter of the contracted section; now, this number is a little inferior to the limit of stability of liquid cylinders, a limit which, as has been shown, (2d series, $ 46,) is comprised between 3 and 3.6,
* Such, at least, is the value of the ratio under moderate or strong discharges; under a weak one, the incipient divisions taking, in virtue of the hypothesis of $ 2, a less volume, and consequently a less length, the ratio would be also less. But we are led to the conclusion that, in the experiments in question, the discharge employed by Savart was not of this latter kind. Page 6
diately to approach that limit, so that the progress of the transformation after the anomalous mode originally impressed becomes more facile. § 24. Thus the theory accounts for all the phenomena resulting from the action of vibrations on veins ejected in a descending vertical, for all those at least which Savart describes in a precise manner. We pass to veins ejected in other directions. And first, since, in these veins, there is equally a transformation into isolated masses, sounds must necessarily exert on them an influence analogous to that which they exert on veins ejected vertically from above downwards; No. 15 of § 3 has therefore no need of explanation. § 25. But this is not the case with No. 16. If all the divisions, on attaining one after the other the extremity of the continuous part, became isolated in identically the same manner, and if all the masses parted from thence with the velocity precisely corresponding to the movement of translation of the liquid at that point, these latter would all describe exactly the same trajectory, and then the discontinuous part of the vein could present no dispersion or sheaflike jet ; there are irregularities, then, as Savart remarks, in the emission of the isolated masses of the extremity of the continuous part; yet these irregularities must be very small, as the sheaf has no great extent. I had thought at first that they proceeded from the same causes with those which were considered in § 10. But if that were so, the suppression of the extraneous action would cause the sheaf to disappear and thus reduce the whole vein to a single jet; but this is what experiment has not confirmed: by employing, in regard to such a vein, the means used by Savart in the case of descending vertical veins—that is to say, by receiving the discontinuous part on a thick board, suitably inclined, and by placing soft bodies under the vessel from which the vein issues, under that in which it is received, and under the supports, I have not succeeded in producing any considerable diminution of the sheaf. We must infer from this that the irregularities are not owing to the vibratory movements, and that, consequently, they affect the action itself of the configurative forces. We perceive, in effect, that, considering the nature of the phenomenon of transformation, even slight disturbing causes must have an influence on the perfect identity of all the divisions which arise one after the other at the contracted section; we have seen, for example, in the experiments of $$ 50 to 55 of the 2d series, an extraneous cause alters the equality of length of the divi. sions of a cylinder. This premised, we proceed to show that small differences of this nature in the incipient divisions of a vein, ejected under a suitable obliquity, must necessarily give rise to a certain dispersion of the discontinuous part. Let us consider particularly two of the constrictions with the dilatation which they comprise between them. As we have seen, each of these two constrictions, at first very feebly indicated on quitting the contracted section, afterwards deepens gradually in the transit of the continuous part, by transferring half of its liquid to the dilatation; this then receives, by its anterior extremity, a portion of the liquid which is driven in a direction contrary to the movement of translation, and, by its posterior extremity, a portion which is driven in the same direction with that movement, so that its velocity of translation tends to be diminished by the first and increased by the second of these accessions, Now, although these two opposite actions are in general unequal, because the anterior constriction is, at each instant, in a little more advanced phase of transformation than the posterior, yet if the two constrictions were perfectly identical at their respective inceptions, and if, in the sequel, they have undergone identically, though not precisely at the same instant, the same modifications until their respective ruptures, it is evident that after these two ruptures, that is to say, at the moment when the dilatation exists in the state of an isolated mass, the sum of the quantities of movement supplied to this mass by the anterior constriction will have been absolutely compensated by that of the quantities of movement which have been supplied, in the other direction, by the posterior constriction, and that hence this mass will quit the continuous part with the velocity exactly corresponding to the general movement of transsation. But it is clear that the compensation will be no longer entire if the two constrictions differed in their inception; if, for example, they were unequal in length: it results from the less duration of the transformation when the divisions are longer, (2d series, § 66,) and when, consequently, the constrictions are longer, that the more elongated of the constrictions in question will deepen more rapidly than the other, and as, in virtue of its excess of length, it comprises more liquid, it will convey into the dilatation a greater afflux of material with greater velocities, and consequently a greater quantity of movement. If, then, this constriction is the posterior one, the mass will quit the contracted section with an excess of velocity, and if the anterior, with a defect of velocity. Thus, slight differences of length in the incipient constrictions will result in establishing small inequalities in the velocities of the successive isolated masses ; but these masses will then, necessarily, traverse parabolas of unequal amplitude, and will, consequently, be spread out in a vertical plane, thus forming the sheaf. Page 7
Figures of equilibrium of revolution, other than the sphere and the cylinder. § 1. The preceding series having completed the theoretical study of the liquid vein, wo return to liquid masses withdrawn from the action of gravity, and propose to prosecute the examination of figures of equilibrium of revolution. Let it be remembered, in the first place, that if we designate by R and R' the two principal radii of curvature at the same point of the free surface of a liquid mass virtually without weight, and by C a constant, the expression of the general condition which such a surface should satisfy in a state of equili 1 1 brium is (2d series, $ 5) *+R=C, an expression in which R and R' are positive when they pertain to convex curvatures, or, in other words, when they are directed to the interior of the mass, and negative in the opposite case; let it be also remembered that this equation is a simple transformation of that which implies that the pressure exerted by the liquid on itself, in virtue of the mutual attraction of its molecules, does not change from one point to another of the surface of the mass, (ibid. ;) and be it remembered, lastly, that, according to a known property of surfaces of revolution, if the figure of equilibrium pertains to that class, one of the radii R and R' is the radius of curvature of the meridian line at the point under consideration, and the other is the portion of the perpendicular comprised between the point in question and the axis of revolution, or, as may be expressed more simply, the perpendicular to that point. In this case, that is, in the case of surfaces of revolution, the preceding expression, put in the differential form, is completely integrable by elliptical functions, so that the forms of the meridian lines may be deduced from it, and it is this which M. Beer has proposed to do in a recent memoir,* in which, for the second time, he has done me the honor of applying the calculus to the results of my experiments; and, besides this, a property discovered by M. Delaunayt by means of the calculus, and since demonstrated geometrically by M. Lamarle,f enables us to attain the same object without having recourse to elliptical functions. We shall speak, in a proper place, of these resources of analysis and geometry; but, in the present series, we purpose to arrive at the forms of the meridian lines, at all their modifications and all their details, by a reliance upon experiment and by availing ourselves of simple reasoning applied to the relation which the equation of equilibrium establishes between the radius of curvature and the perpendicular. Our undertaking, in which experiment and theory will proceed side by side, may thus serve as a verification of the latter. To avoid all ambiguity, we will replace the letters R and R' by the letters M and N, the first of which will be understood to designate that one of the two principal radii of curvature which pertains to the meridian line, and the second that which constitutes the normal or perpendicular; so that, as regards 1 1 figures of revolution, the general equation of equilibrium will be, § 2. This notation being adopted, we shall proceed, first, to demonstrate that the sphere is the only figure of equilibrium of revolution whose meridian line meets the axis. To this we may add the plane, if we consider it as the limit of spheres, or as the surface generated by a right line perpendicular to the axis. Page 8
while, as regards the other, it is directed to the exterior, and is consequently 1 1 negative. Now, the equation + =C cannot comprise this change of sign of M the perpendicular N in passing from one branch to the other, for it would require that at the point of retrogression this perpendicular should be null or in. finite; and in the present case the perpendicular in question is evidently finite, since the tangent is not perpendicular to the axis, and the point of retrogression cannot be upon the latter. Second case.--If the point of retrogression be of the second kind-that is to say, if the two branches which meet therein are situated on the same side of the common tangent-we see that, for one of these branches, the perpendicular and the radius of curvature are both positive, while for the other they are both 1 1 negative; the quantity + would then change the sign in passing from one M'N to the other, and thus would not be the same through the whole extent of the liquid figure. 'If the point of retrogression is of the first kind—that is, if the two branches are situated on the two opposite sides of the common tangent—the radius of curvature, we know, is there null or infinite, but a radius of curvature null would 1 1 render infinite the quantity i+ No so that we have to examine only the hypothM . esis of a radius of infinite curvature. Since, then, from the direction of the tangent, the perpendicular is also infinite at the point which we are considering, 1 1 + would be reduced to zero at the same point; it would therefore be necessary, for equilibrium, that this quantity should also be null at all other points of the meridian line. Now, this is impossible, since, when we depart from the point of retrogression, the radius of the curvature and the perpendicu. lar assume, on each of the branches respectively, values finite and of the same sign. Third case.--If the point of retrogression is of the second kind, the radias of curvature has opposite signs on the two branches, and consequently must be either null or infinite at the point in question; but, as has been already shown, we need not occupy ourselves with the hypothesis of a radius of curvature null; there remains, therefore, that of a radius of curvature infinite. Now, the perpendicular at the same point being likewise infinite, equilibrium requires, as above 1 that the quantity + should be null for all the points of the meridional line. N Here, at first glance, the thing seems possible, since, near the point of retrogression, the radius of curvature and the perpendicular, on each branch considered separately, are of contrary signs, but we shall presently see that this possibility is but apparent. If the point of retrogression be of the first kind, the radius of curvature is there necessarily null or infinite, as has been already shown; and since we must 1 reject the radii of curvature null, the quantity M+r is again equal to zero at the point in question, and must be so likewise at all other points; which appears possible as in the former case, and for the same reason. But in order that at all points of the meridian live the quantity should be null, it is evidently M'N necessary that in each of these points the radius of curvature must be equal and opposite to the perpendicular. Now geometers are aware that one curve alone possesses this property, and that that curve is the catena, (chainette,) which has no point of retrogression. Page 9
its meridian section or vertical projection, by Fig. 7, a m and b n being the sec'tions or projections of the disks. It will be stated hereafter for what reasons we have suggested the use of a cylinder rather than of disks or rings.
$ 6. The figure which we have thus obtained, and in which the meridian line stops at the points a and b where it touches the cylinder (Fig. 6) or meets the borders of the disks (Fig. 7,) evidently constitutes but a portion of the complete figure of equilibrium. Let us attempt then to follow the meridian line, starting from these same points a and b where its elements are parallel to the axis. It is easy to show that the points a and b are not points of inflexion. At such points the radius of curvature is either null or infinite; but since, in our meridian lines, there can be no question of a radius of curvature null, which would render the first member of the equation of equilibrium infinite, it would be necessary to suppose this radius infinite at the points which we are consider 1 ing, and the equation would there be reduced to =C. Now, the points candd N (Fig. 6) are really points of inflexion of this kind, as the aspect of the figure shows, in so much that the equation of equilibrium is there necessarily reduced 1 =C; the perpendicular N should then, at the points a and b, have the N same length as at the points c and d, wbich is evidently not the case; for, in the first place, the points c and d are more remote from the axis than the points a and b, and, moreover, the perpendiculars which proceed from the former are oblique to the axis, while those which correspond to the latter are perpendicular to it. Beyond the points a and b, then, the curve begins by preserving a curvature having the same direction as before, that is, a curvature concave towards the exterior (Fig. 8.) Now, let us suppose that in the prolongation starting from a, for instance, this curvature should continue either augmenting or diminishing less than it diminishes on the other side of a ; we can always take on the prolongation in question a portion a m so small that at each point the curvature shall be stronger than at the corresponding points of a portion a n of the same length taken on the first part of the curve. By virtue of the greater curvature of all the points of the arc a m, the point m is necessarily more remote from the axis than the point n, and, moreover, the perpendicular mr which proceeds from the former is more oblique to the axis than the perpendicular n s which proceeds from the second; the perpendicular at m is, for this double reason, greater than the perpendicular at n. On the other hand, conformably with the same hypothesis relative to curves, the radius of curvature at m is smaller than at n. Thence it results that in passing from the point n to the point m, the first term of the 1 1 quantity will increase and the second diminish. Now, in the parts of M'N the curve which we are considering, the radius of curvature and the perpendicular are opposite to one another, and have consequently contrary signs, so that 1 1 the quantity + constitutes a difference; if, then, one of the terms of this M N Page 10
A 1 stratum has for its value P+ + , an expression in which A is a con 2 R'R' stant dependent on the nature of the liquid and which cannot be null, and P the pressure corresponding to a plane surface. Now, in the case with which we are occupied, the pressure at any point of the complete figure must be equal to that of a plane surface, since the bases of our partial figure are planes; the above expression then will, in this case, be reduced to P, so that we have 1 1 ;=0. Thus the figure in question is such that at each point of its sur R face the mean curvature (2d series, $ $ 5 and 6) is null, or, in other terms, at each of these points there are, as in the portion formed between our rings, concave curvatures whose effect exactly destroys that of the convex curvatures, so that the pressure remains the same as if there had been no curvature. 1 1 Now, the equation =0 becoming here, according to the notation which R' R' 1 we have adopted for figures of revolution, =0, we deduce therefrom M'N M=-N; whence we see that, at each point of the meridian line, the radius of curvature is equal and opposed to the perpendicular. Now, geometers have demonstrated that the only curve which possesses this property is the catena, (chainette.)* This, then, is so placed relatively to the axis to which the perpendiculars are referred, that the right line, which divides it symmetrically into two equal parts, shall be perpendicular to that axis, and the summit of the curve distant from the point of intersection of those two right lines by a quantity equal to the radius of curvature of that summit. Our figure, then, in its complete state, is that which would be generated by the revolution of a catena thus placed in relation to the axis. We will, accordingly, give it the name of catenoid, of which Fig. 19 represents a meridian section sufficiently extended, the axis of revolution being ŻZ. The catena being a curve, whose branches are infinite, the catenoid also is extended to infinity, like the cylinder and the unduloid, but no longer in the direction only of the axis. § 15. We recall here a principle which was cursorily noticed in $ 8 of the 2d series, and of which we afterwards made use in § 31 of the same series : when a surface satisfies the general condition of equilibrium of our liquid figures, that condition is equally fulfilled whether we suppose the liquid on one or the other side of the surface in question. In effect, the inversion of the position of the liquid, with regard to the surface, only changes the signs of the two principal radii of curvature corresponding to each of the points of the latter, but evidently does not at all alter the absolute values of those radii, so that if 1 the quantity + is constant in one of the cases, it will be so in the other. R'R' There are always, then, for any one surface which satisfies the condition of equilibrium, two liquid figures, the second of which presents in concave what the other presents in relief, and, vice versa, figures which are both figures of equilibrium. We see this realized, for instance, in our experiments as regards the sphere; a mass of oil left free to itself in the midst of the alcoholic mixture gives a sphere in relief, and, on the other hand, when some of the alcoholic mixture is introduced into one of our masses of oil, the surfaces into which the bubbles of this mixture are moulded constitute spheres of oil in concave, (2d series, $ 10.) In virtue of this principle we have two catenoids; that, namely,
* The catena will be recognized as the curve formed, in a state of equilibrium, by a heavy and perfectly flexible chain suspended at two fixed points. Page 11
We will mention first a remarkable transformation which the partial figure undergoes when the ratio between the distance and the diameter of the rings is sufficiently below to allow the abstraction of a large quantity of liquid without occasioning disunion, and we carry this abstraction as far as possible. The constricted portion and the bases alike becoming more concave, we know there must arrive a moment after which their surfaces can no longer co-exist without mutually cutting one another; there is then produced a phenomenon of the same nature as with the liquid polyhedrons, (2d series, $$ 31 to 35)—that is to say, the figure passes gradually to a laminar slate: two conical films are seen to form, proceeding respectively from each of the rings, and at the centre of the system a plane film, such as is shown in meridian section at Fig. 23. These films acquiring more and more development in proportion to the continued absorption of oil, the whole tends finally to be reduced to a sort of double laminar and truncated cone; but one of the films always breaks before we can reach that point. It hence results that if we wish to observe the constriction in all its phases with the form proper to it as pertaining to the new figure of equilibrium, it is necessary to oppose an obstacle to the generation of films. Now this is accomplished without difficulty by substituting disks for rings, and thus preventing the bases from becoming concave; we may then remove oil until the figure spontaneously disunites at the middle of its height. § 23. Before pursuing the meridian line beyond the limits of the partial figure, we should offer two important remarks. In the first place, the constricted portion, whether realized between rings or disks, always shows itself perfectly symmetrical on both sides of the cercle de gorge. This is equally required by the theory, for the mode of reasoning of Š 6 is independent of the nature of the meridian line, and applies as well to the constricted portion with which we are occupied as to that of the unduloid. If, then, in a meridian plane, we imagine a right line perpendicular to the axis of revolution and passing by the centre of the cercle de gorge, all that the complete meridian line presents on one side of the above right line, it will also present, in a manner exactly symmetrical, on the other side, so that this right line will constitute an axis of symmetry. In the second place, since, by employing rings, the bases of the partial figure are concave, it follows that, through the whole extent of the complete figure the pressure is less than that of a plane surface. Now, agreeably to the formula 1 1 of such pressure, ($ 14,) this requires that the quantity or, according to R'R'' 1 1 the notation adopted in this series, t should be finite and negative. In M'N' our new figure, therefore, the mean curvature (2d series, $$ 5 and 6) is negative that is to say, at each point of this figure concave curvatures predominate. $ 24. The points a and b, (Fig. 22,) at which the partial meridian line stops, cannot, in the complete meridian line, be points of inflexion. We see, in fact, from the direction of the tangent at those points, that if the meridian line, at its departure thence, pursued a curvature in the contrary direction, (Fig. 24,) the radius of curvature would, in this part of the figure, be directed to the in 1 terior of the liquid like the perpendicular, and that thus the quantity + would M 'N become positive; which cannot be, by reason of what has been said above. Beyond the points a and b, then, the meridian line begins with a concave curvature; and the same direction of curvature is evidently maintained, for the same reason, so long as the curve continues to retire at once from the axis of revolution and the axis of syinmetry. But the curve cannot continue to sepa Page 12
§ 27. The constrictions realized in the experiments of § 25 being gen-rated by a portion of the node of the complete meridian line, it is obvious that the figure generated by the entire node, from the summit of the latter to its point, would be concave in the interior of the oil; but it is indifferent, we know, ($ 15,) as regards equilibrium, whether the liquid be situated on one or the other sid, of the surface; the figure generated by the node may, therefore, be equally well supposed full or in relief, and it is in the latter state that our experiment will realize it. Only when the liquid is transported to that side of the curve, the quantities M and N at once change their sign, and consequently the quantity 1 1 it from being negative, as it was previously, becomes positive. M'N We form, in a ring of iron wire, a bi-convex liquid lens, (2d series, § 18,) whose thickness shall be about equal to the sixth of the diameter : for instance, with a ring 70 millimetres in diameter, the thickness of the lens should be about 12 mm. If we pierce perpendicularly this lens in its centre, by means which will be indicated below, we obtain a regular annular figure, limited externally by the solid ring, and continuing for two or three seconds; after which, the central opening is seen to stretch towards a point of the solid ring, the mass disunites at that point, and all the liquid flows towards the opposite part of the ring, there to form a large and perceptibly spherical mass. Now, the momentary annular figure, which is formed under these circumstances, is, though unstable, a figure of equilibrium, since it subsists for some moments, and its duration is long enough to enable us to observe that its meridian section has the form represented by Fig. 31, in which the dotted line is the section of the plane of the ring. This.meridian section shows evidently that the surface of the figure produced is generated by a node having its summit turned towards the axis of revolution and its point to the solid ring Let us dwell for an instant on the details of the experiment just described and on certain modifications of it. To pierce the lens, we should employ a small cylinder of wood pointed at one end and joined at the other to an irou wire, which is bent obliquely, so that, holding it with the hand, we can intro. duce the small cylinder into the vase and pierce the lens perpendicularly. If the diameter of the solid ring be 70 mm., as we supposed above, that of the small cylinder should be about 16 mm.; and the cylinder and its point should be covered with cotton cloth in order to prevent all adhesion of the oil. If we give the lens a thickness sensibly exceeding the sixth part of the diameter of the solid ring, the liquid returns upon itself as soon as the cylinder is withdrawn, and the mass resumes its lenticular form ; but we may give a less thickness than the above limit, when the central opening will assume larger dimensions, and the node of the meridian line be consequently smaller. When the thickness of the lens is sufficiently inferior to the limit in question, the man. ner in which the spontaneous destruction of the unstable figure takes place is not the same; the central opening does not then extend towards a point of the solid ring, but the annular liquid mass contracts and disunites in several places at once, so as to be converted into a series of small isolated masses, which adhere to different parts of the metallic ring. The unstable liquid ring spoken of in § 19 of the second series pertains to the sort of figure which we are now studying, and it will be remembered that it proceeds from a lens whose thickness has been rendered as small as possible. § 28. As the liquid ring may thus assume, in the same solid ring, very dif. ferent dimensions according to the thickness of the lens, or, in other words, according to the volume of the liquid of which it is formed, it results that, for the same distance from the point of the node of the meridian line to the axis of revolution, the length of the node may vary between wide limits : in the experiments above described, these variations are comprised between a very small fraction of the distance in question and nearly three-fourths of that distance. The complete figure with which we are occupied is thus not always similar to itself, as are the sphere, the cylinder, or the catenoid ; like the unduloid it is susceptible of variations of form. A comparison of the liquid figures represented by Figs. 25 and 26 leads to the same conclusion. Page 13
know that the convex partial figure with which we started is not portion of an unduloid, since its convexity exceeds the sphere; it is perceptible that it is not portion of a catenoid, and from what precedes we see that the above contraction cannot be portion of a node. Thus our original hypothesis of a point of inflexion in the part of the curve which is withdrawing from the axis of symmetry and approaching the axis of revolution leads inevitably to impossibilities, and, consequently, the curve maintains the same direction of curvature until it deviates from those conditions. But to do so it is evidently necessary that it should first cease to withdraw from the axis of symmetry, or, in other terms, that it should present a point where the tangent is parallel to that axis. Neither is this point one of inflexion, for the perpendicular and the radius of curvature would there be both infinite, 1 1 which would annul the quantity Beyond this point, then, the curve M'N redescends towards the axis of symmetry, still preserving the direction of its curvature. Further, this same direction is maintained, as we shall show, so long as the curve continues to descend. In effect the liquid of the partial figure realized, and which has served us for a point of depariure, being situated in the concavity of the curve, we readily see that at all the points of our descending branch the perpendicular is negative. But if this branch contained a point of 1 1 inflexion the quantity would be reduced at that point to the term M'N. N' and consequently, on account of the sign of the perpendicular, would be also negative; while on the meridian arc of the realized partial figure the radius of 1 1 curvature and the perpendicular being both positive, the quantity + is itself M'N positive. But the branch in question cannot descend indefinitely by still approaching the axis of revolution, or, in other terms, cannot tend toward an asymptote parallel to that axis; for, at the point situated at infinity on the asymptote, the 1 1 1 quantity i+ would again be reduced to the term N' and consequently would be again negative ; it is necessary, therefore, that one branch should pass at a minimum of distance from the axis of revolution, and should thus form the generating arc of a constriction; and as this constricted portion could pertain neither to the unduloid nor the catenoid, it necessarily constitutes the summit of a node of the nodoid. We must recur, therefore, to the meridian line of the nodoid, and conclude that all the figures obtained in the experiments of § 31 are partial nodoids, whatever the degree of approximation of the disks, provided the spherical curvature be overpassed, and whatever the volume of oil in relation to the diameter of the disks. § 34. We are now in a position to consider what is the nature and what the limits of the variations of the nodoid. Since, in the experiments of § 31, we pass by a portion of a sphere, after which, as has been just seen, the partial nodoid is immediately realized, and since the latter then varies continually until it reaches the phase at which instability commences, it is obvious that the portion of a sphere constitutes one of the limits of these variations, and that hence the limit of the corresponding variations of the complete nodoid is an indefinite series of equal spheres, having their centres on the axis. But it will readily be perceived that the only possible mode of continuous variation tending towards that limit is the following : in proportion as the complete nodoid approaches the series of spheres, the dimensions of the nodes as well as the distance of their summits from the axis diminish more and more, while the curvature of the arcs which connect these podes verges towards that of the circumference of a circle having its centre on this same axis ; finally, at the timit Page 14
shape of cast-away shells, arrow-points, and broken pottery, may be discovered almost in every field belonging to the farm. Their principal camping-ground, however, was situated close to the road already mentioned, and is indicated by the dark dotted space on the accompanying plan. Here we have a Kjoekkenmoed. ding in the real sense of the word. Seen from a distance, this place has almost the appearance of a snow-covered 10 e19 field, owing to the great number of bleached shells constituting this path To elniogTonaye hun. Wort Esze deposit, which spreads over an w galwadenat od 09 do 30 area of six or seven acres and forever bona spada le CONASKONCK P: forms several extensive heaps or WOTE 10 LATIBOS do te baas10 mounds of an average height of about five feet. But these heaps | 3.975 649 oled Bals Jud donotexclusively consist of shells: Bin Anlquier the latter are mostly imbedded in sand, probably carried thither in aisio 19:11 by the action of winds-by æolic De 98 action, as science calls it and in 100 termingled with innunerable peb 1999 bles representing various mineral substances, among which those of bad the quartz family seem to predominate. As in other localities Stocol of the neighborhood, the shells on G.POOLE barod this spot are the remains of oys tests மாரன் Tuoiyi ters, hard-shell clams, and peri r 90032 winkles, the last-named kind of shell-fish being represented, as God ody akibat elsewhere, by a comparatively small number of specimens. 10 contblogs sida Cadru od oni That considerable time was required to heap up these shells is KEYPORT 1 evident, and, moreover, indicated SYmgr muya by the chalky, porous appear THE 15 Dot De ance and fragility of many of the valves, while those that were cast away at later periods exhibit these signs of decay in a far less degree, and are even sometimes as sound as though they had but lately been left on the shore by high water. A great number of the shells are broken, especially those of clams, which seem to be more brittle than oyster shells. This breaking into fragments is caused by the sudden changes of temperature, in consequence of which the valves crack and ultimately fall to pieces. Concerning the depth of this deposit, I learned that about twelve years ago several hundred loads of shells were taken away from a certain spot for making a road. The excavation thus produced reached about eight feet downward, and the mass was found to consist throughout that depth of shells, sand, and pebbles. My own diggings, which were, however, of a more superficial character, led to the same result. This shell-bed is about half a mile distant from the shore at low tide, and the intervening area consists chiefly of so-called salt-meadow. In transporting the shell-fish to the camping place it is probable that the aborigines availed themselves of a small nameless creek (marked a on the plan) running towards the sea, west of the shell-bed, and not very distant from it. This creek, though rather nairow, is sufficiently deep for canoe navigation during high water, and joins the more considerable Conaskonck creek, which flows into the beach. There was, consequently, a water connexion between the sea and the camp. The space enclosed by a dotted line on the accompanying plan indicates the continuation, or rather the running out, of the shell-bed just described; for here the shells' Page 15
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, Washington, D. C., June 17, 1862. REVEREND AND Dear Sir: Being engaged in the preparation of a work on the Indians of Northwestern America, among whom I have resided a number of years, I am desirous of comparing my observations on some points of vital statistics with those of other parts of the country. Among these the question of intermarriage of the two races is prominent, and I take the liberty of applying to you for information upon it. As a general thing the metifs of Oregon have been short-lived, and it is at once noticeable that in the length of time which has elapsed since the entrance of the fur-traders into that country, (a half century,) and the great number of marriages that have taken place with native women, only a very small indigenous mixed population has sprung up. Yet at the same time the half-breeds who arrive there from the Red River country appear healthy, and the men strong and able-bodied. The cause of mortality does not arise from vice only, for it is noticeable in the families of the better class, as well as among the lower. As regards the intermarriage of Oregon half-breeds among themselves, I do not know a single case where they have left offspring. You, on the other hand, have a large mixed population, and they must, of course, intermarry. They have the reputation of being a bardy, athletic, and vigorous people, and I am curious to know in what the difference, if any there is, consists. Will you, therefore, be kind enough to inform me, as nearly as possible, as follows: 1. The actual number of the mixed race in the Red River colony. 2. The average duration of life by estimation, if not otherwise attainable absolutely, and as compared with that of white settlers. 3. Whether instances of prolonged life are frequent. 5. Whether marriages between metifs are common; and if so, whether they are as prolific as those between white persons, or between Indians; and whether the offspring of such intermarriages are as vigorous and long-lived as the results of the first cross of the two races. 6. Whether this class of population is increasing, and likely to result in a permanent mixed race or variety of the human species. This question is the more interesting, as I suppose your pure white settlers to be a fair-haired race, wbich has in general not crossed as well with the Indians as the darker nations, such as the Spanish and Portuguese, and because mixed races seem always to have thriven better in warm than in temperate or cold climates. I am, reverend and dear sir, very respectfully, GEORGE GIBBS. Right Rev. Bishop Tacht.
DIOCESE OF ST. BONIFACE, RED RIVER SETTLEMENT, Hudson's Bay Territory, July 21, 1862. DEAR SIR, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your interesting favor of the 17th ultimo, which duly came to hand by the last mail. You certainly have no need of apology for having addressed me on the points mentioned in your letter. I only regret my inability to satisfy you as fully as I might wish. The burning of my cathedral and palace, with all the archives of the bishopric, renders it impossible for me to be very precise. The little information in my possession on the subject I will cheerfully give, trusting that it may be of help to you in your scientific labors. I now proceed to answer your questions. The answer to your first query will be fonnd in the annexed copy of a statistical table from the official census of this settlement taken in 1856. 20. We have as many instances of longevity among the half-breeds as among the white population, Page 16
ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF CALIFORNIAN PENINSULA.
The Californians do not readily confess a crime unless detected in the act, because they hardly comprehend the force of evidence, and are not at all ashamed of lying. A certain missionary sent a native to one of his colleagues with some loaves of bread and a letter stating their number. The messenger ate a part of the bread, and his theft was consequently discovered; another time, when he had to deliver four loaves, he ate two of them, but hid the accompanying letter under a stone while he was thus engaged, believing that his conduct would not be revealed this time, as the letter had not seen him in the act of eating the loaves. In the mission of St. Borgia the priest ordered his people one day to strew the way with some green herbs, because he was about to bring the holy sacrament to a sick person, and his order was promptly executed by them, but to the great damage of the missionary's kitchen-garden, for they tore up all the cabbages, salad, and whatever vegetables they found there, and threw them on the road. Yet, notwithstanding their incapacity and slow comprehension, they are, nevertheless, cunning, and show, in many cases, a considerable degree of craftiness. They will sell their poultry to the missionary at the beginning of a sickness, and afterwards exhibit a disposition to eat nothing but chicken-meat, till none of the fowls are left in the coop. A prisoner will feign a dangerous malady and ask for the last sacrament in order to be relieved from his fetters, and to find, subsequently, a chance to escape. They rob the missionary in a hundred ways, and sometimes in the most artful manner. If, for instance, one has pilfered the pantry and left it open in his haste, another one forthwith requests to be admitted to confession, in order to give the thief time for closing the door, and thus to remove all cause of suspicion on the part of the missionary. They also invent stories and relate them to their priest for the purpose of frustrating a marriage engagement, that some other party may obtain the bride. These and many hundred similar tricks have actually been played by them, and show conclusively that they are well capable of reasoning when their self-interest or their needs demand it. The Californians are audacious and at the same time faint-hearted and timid in a high degree. They climb to the top of the weak, trembling stems, sometimes thirty-six feet high, which are called cardones by the Spaniards, to look out for game, or mount an untamed horse, without bridle and saddle, and ride, during the night, upon roads which I was afraid to travel in the daytime. When new buildings are erected, they walk on the miserable, ill-constructed scaffoldings with the agility of cats, or venture several leagues into the open sea on a bundle of brushwood, or the thin stem of a palm-tree, without thinking of any danger. But the report of a gun makes them forget their bows and arrows, and half a dozen soldiers are capable of checking several hundred Californians. Gratitude towards benefactors, respect for superiors, parents, and other relations, and politeness in intercourse with fellow-men, are almost unknown to them. They speak plainly, and pay compliments to no one. If one of them has received a present, he immediately turns his back upon the donor and walks off without saying a word, unless the Spanish phrase, Dios te lo pague, or, “God reward you,” has been previously, by a laborious process, enforced upon his memory. Where there is no honor, shame is ever wanting, and therefore I always wondered how the word “žé," that is, “to be ashamed,” had been introduced
According to Baegert's own statement, (p. 309,) the forced departure of the Jesuit migsionaries from the peninsula caused great distress among the Indians, who expressed their grief by a general howling and weeping, which shows that the feelings of gratitude and attachment were not entirely wanting in their character, although selfishness may have had a large sbaro in the demonstration. The parting scene is well described in a few lines by W. Irving.- Ado. of Captain Bonneville, p. 332 Page 17
happier than the civilized inhabitants of Europe, not excepting those who seem to enjoy all the felicity that life can afford. Habit renders all things endurable and easy, and the Californian sleeps on the hard ground and in the open air just as well and soft as the rich European on the curtained bed of down in his splendidly decorated apartment. Throughout the whole year nothing happens that causes a Californian trouble or vexation, nothing that renders his life cumbersome and death desirable; for no one harasses and persecutes him, or carries on a lawsuit against him ; neither a hail-storm nor an army can lay waste his fields, and he is not in danger of having his house and baru destroyed by fire. Envy, jealousy, and slander embitter not his life, and he is not exposed to the fear of losing what he possesses, nor to the care of increasing it. No creditor lays claim to debts; no officer extorts duty, toll, poll-tax, and a hundred other tributes. There is no woman that spends more for dress than the income of the husband allows; no husband who gambles or drinks away the money that should serve to support and clothe the family; there are no children to be established in life; no daughters to be provided with husbands; and no prodigal song that heap disgrace upon whole families. In one word, the Californians do not know the meaning of meum and tuum, those two ideas which, according to St. Gregory, fill the few days of our existence with bitterness and uncountable evils. Though the Californians seem to possess nothing, they have, nevertheless, all that they want, for they covet nothing beyond the productions of their poor, ill-favored country, and these are always within their reach. It is no wonder, then, that they always exhibit a joyful temper, and constantly indulge in merriment and laughter, showing thus their contentment, which, after all, is the real source of happiness. The Californians know very little of arithmetic, some of them being unable to count further than six, while others cannot number beyond three, insomuch that none of them can say how many fingers he has. They do not possess anything that is worth counting, and hence their indifference. It is all the same to them whether the year has six or twelve months, and the month three or thirty days, for every day is a holiday with them. They care not whether they have one or two or twelve children, or none at all, since twelve cause them no more expense or trouble than one, and the inheritance is not lessened by a plurality of heirs. Any number beyond six they express in their language by much, leaving it to their confessor to make out whether that number amounts to seven, seventy, or seven hundred. They do not know what a year is, and, consequently, cannot say when it begins and ends. Instead of saying, therefore, “ a year ago," or " during this year,” the Californians who speak the Waïcuri language use the expressions, it is already an ambía past, or, during this ambía, the latter word signifying the pitahaya fruit, of which a description has been given on a previous page. A space of three years, therefore, is expressed by the term “ three pitahayas ; ' yet they seldom make use of such phrases, because they hardly ever speak among themselves of years, but merely say, “long ago," or, not long ago,' being utterly indifferent whether two or twenty years have elapsed since the occurrence of a certain event. For the same reason they do not speak of months, and have not even a name for that space of time. A week, however, they call at present ambúja, that is, “ a house,” or “ a place where one resides," which name they have now, per antonomasiam, bestowed upon the church They are divided into bands, which alternately spend a week at the mission, where they have to attend church-service, and thus the week has become among them synonymous with the church. When the Californians visit the missionary for any purpose, they are perfectly silent at first, and when asked the cause of their visit, their first answer is vâra, which means “nothing." Having afterwards delivered their speech, Page 18
they sit down, unasked; in doing which the women stretch out their legs, while the men cross them in the oriental fashion. The same habits they observe also in the church and elsewhere. They salute nobody, such a civility being unknown to them, and they have no word to express greeting. If something is communicated to them which they do not like, they spit out sideways and scratch the ground with their left foot to express their displeasure. The men carry everything on their heads; the women bear loads on their backs suspended by ropes that pass around their foreheads, and in order to protect the skin from injury, they place between the forehead and the rope a piece of untanned deer-hide, which reaches considerably above the head, and resembles, from afar, a helmet, or the high head-dress worn by ladies at the present time. The Californians have a great predilection for singing and dancing, which are always performed together; the first is called ambéra diti, the latter agénari. Their singing is nothing but an inarticulate, unmeaning whispering, murmuring, or shouting, which every one intonates according to his own inclination, in order to express his joy. Their dances consist in a foolish, irregular gesticulating and jumping, or advancing, retreating, and walking in a circle. Yet, they take such delight in these amusements that they spend whole nights in their performance, in which respect they much resemble Europeans, of whom certainly more have killed themselves during Shrovetide and at other times by dancing, than by praying and fasting. These pastimes, though innocent in themselves, had to be rigidly interdicted, because the grossest disorders and vices were openly perpetrated by the natives during the performances ; but it is hardly possible to prevent them from indulging in their sports. While speaking of these exercises of the natives, I will also mention that they are exceedingly good runners. I would gladly have yielded up to them my three horses for consumption if I had been as swift-footed as they; for, whenever I travelled, I became sooner tired with riding than they with walking. They will run twenty leagues to-day, and return to-morrow to the place from whence they started without showing much fatigue. Being one day on the point of setting out on a journey, a little boy expressed a wish to accompany me, and when I gave him to understand that the distance was long, the business pressing, and my horse, moreover, very brisk, he replied with great promptness : “Thy horse will become tired, but I will not.” Another time I sent a boy of fourteen years with a letter to the neighboring mission, situated six leagues from my residence. He started at seven o'clock in the morning, and when about a league and a half distant from his place of destination, he met the missionary, to whom the letter was addressed, mounted on a good mule, and on his way to pay me a visit. The boy turned round and accompanied the missionary, with whom he arrived about noon at my mission, having walked within five hours a distance of more than nine leagues. With boys and girls who have arrived at the age of puberty, with pregnant women, new-born children, and women in child-bed, the Californians observed, and still secretly observe, certain absurd ceremonies of an unbecoming nature, wbieh, for this reason, cannot be described in this book. There existed always among the Californians individuals of both sexes who played the part of sorcerers or conjurers, pretending to possess the power of exorcising the devil, whom they never saw; of curing diseases, which they never healed; and of producing pitahayas, though they could only eat them. Sometimes they went into caverns, and, changing their voices, made the people believe that they conversed with some spiritual power. They threatened also with famine and diseases, or promised to drive the small-pox and similar plagues away and to other places. When these braggarts appeared formerly in their gala apparel, they wore long mantles made of human hair, of which the missionaries burned a great number in all newly established missions. The object Page 19
The Waïcuri language is of an exceedingly barbarous and rude description, by which rudeness, however, I do not mean a hard pronunciation or a succession of many consonants, for these qualities do not form the essence of a language, but merely its outward character or conformation, and are more or less imaginary, as it were, among those who are unacquainted with it. It is well known that Italians and Frenchmen consider the German language as barbarous, while the Germans have the like opinion of the Bohemian or Polish languages; but these impressions cease as soon as the Frenchmen or Italians can converse in German, and the Germans in the Bohemian or Polish tongues. In the Waïcuri alphabet the letters o, f, g,l, x, z are wanting, also the s, except. ing in the tsh; but the great deficiency of the language consists in the total absence of a great many words, the want of which would seem to render it almost impossible for reasonable beings to converse with each other and to receive instruction in the Christian religion. For whatever is not substantial, and cannot be seen or touched or otherwise perceived by the senses, has no name in the Waïcuri language. There are no nouns whatever for expressing virtues, vices, or the different dispositions of the mind, and there exist only a few adjectives of this class, namely, merry, sad, lazy, and angry, all of which merely denote such humors as can be perceived in a person's face. All terms relating to rational human and civil life, and a multitude of words for signifying other objects, are entirely wanting, so that it would be a vain trouble to look in the Waïcuri vocabulary for the following expressions : life, death, weather, time, cold, heat, world, rain, understanding, will, memory, knowledge, honor, decency, consolation, peace, quarrel, member, joy, imputation, mind, friend, friendship, truth, bashfulness, enmity, faith, love, hope, wish, desire, hate, anger, gratitude, patience, meekness, enry, industry, virtue, vice, beauty, shape, sickness, danger, fear, occasion, thing, punishment, doubt, servant, master, virgin, judgment, suspicion, happiness, hapry, reasonable, bashful, decent, clever, moderate, pious, obedient, rich, poor, young, old, agreeable, lovely, friendly, half, quick, deep, round, contended, more, less, to greet, to thank, to punish, to be silent, to promenade, to complain, to worship, to doubt, to buy, to flatter, to caress, to persecute, to dwell, to breathe, to imagine, to idle, to insultato console, to live, and a thousand words of a similar character.f The word living they have neither as a noun nor as a verb, neither in a natural nor a moral sense; but only the adjective alive. Bad, narrow, short, distant, little, &c., they cannot express unless by adding the negation ja or ras to the words good, wide, long, near, and much. They have particular words for signifying an old man, an old woman, a young man, a young woman, and so forth; but the terms old or young do not exist in their language. The Waïcuri contains only four words for denoting the different colors, insomuch that the natives cannot distinguish in their speech yellow from red, blue from green, black from brown, white from ash-colored, &c. Now let the reader imagine how difficult it is to impart to the Californians any knowledge of European affairs; to interpret for them some article from a Madrid newspaper, if one happens to be seen in California a year or more after its appearance; or to enlarge upon the merits of the Saints, and to explaig, for instance, how they renounced all vanity, forsaking princely possessions and even kingdoms, and distributed their property among the poor ; how their lives were spent in voluntary poverty, chastity, and humility; and, further, that they subjected themselves for years to the severest penances, conquered their passions and subdued their inclinations; that they devoted daily eight and more hours to prayer and contemplation; that they disregarded worldly concerns and even their own lives; slept on the bare ground, and abstained from meat and wine. For want of words, the poor preacher has to place his finger to his mouth in order to illustrate eating; and concerning the comforts of life, every Californian will tell him that he never, as long as he lived, slept in a bed; that he is entirely unacquainted with such articles as bread, wine, and beer; and that, excepting rats and mice, he hardly ever tasted any kind of meat. Page 20
implements and weapons of bronze alone, without any iron, are found in certain graves, differing from those of the preceding period, both by their structure and also by their dead having been burned. Hence he deduces a second period, which he calls the bronze age. Next comes the iron age, distinguished also by a new system of burial and by the first appearance of silver, which was wanting in the bronze age, though the latter already worked gold. Thus, what iron is now, and has long been, for industry and civilization in general, bronze was formerly, and stone was still earlier. Mr. Thomsen also points out, in his Guide, that no traces of alphabetical inscriptions occur before the appearance of iron, and that each of the three periods is distinguished by its peculiar style of ornament. While these labors were being prosecuted in Denmark, others not less important were undertaken in Sweden. Wm. S. Nilsson, professor of zoology at the Aourishing University of Lund, began the publication of a great work on the fauna of Scandinavia. Considering his subject from a comprehensive point of view, Professor Nilsson included in it man himself and his origin. This called his attention to the flint implements, and he formed a collection of them, constituting now the chief ornament of the museum of Lund. He published his archæological researches first as a chapter on the history of the chase and fishery in the Scandinavian North, inserted in the first volume of his Fauna, (Lund, 1835,) and later, with more ample details, in a separate quarto volume, entitled The Aborigines of the Scandinavian North, a treatise of Comparative Ethnography and a contribution towards the History of the Development of Humanity.” This work, comprising 280 figures, appeared at Lund, in four parts, from 1838 to 1843. The author handles his subject with all the superiority of real genius, expressing thought, deep and rich, in a style characterized by noble simplicity, often verging on the sublime. The illustrious Swede begins by showing that the comparative method of the naturalist must be applied to the study of the prehistoric ages, just as has been done, when the geologist compared the extinct creations with our present organic world. He then applies that method, not in a general manner, as had been done before, but entering into all the details required by serious scientific research. He compares, one by one, the flint implements of the North with those of the savages. He also points out the striking analogy between the most ancient graves in Sweden and the modern huts of the Greenlanders, with a view to prove that the abodes of the dead were imitated from the dwellings of the living, the primitive type of which seems to have been preserved to this day in Greenland. Remarking, that an ancient race cannot be determined by the shape of its weapons and tools, nor even by the style of its graves, but only by its osteological characteristics, Professor Nilsson takes a review of the skulls, and he shows that the type of the aborigines is still reproduced by the Laplanders, whose ancestors seem to have once held the whole North. He finally confirms this by a very curious inquiry into the traditions and myths of the North, apply. ing here, also, the principle of comparison, and showing, for example, how the arrival of the first Europeans had given rise, among the Esquimaux, to similar tales. The work in question, as its title proclaims, treats only of the primitive period, marked by the total absence of all metal, and it contains only a few passing allusions to the later periods. In 1844 Professor Nilsson published at Lund a paper « On the successive periods of human development in Scandinavia, during the prehistorical ages." In this treatise, which is quite as remarkable as the first, although of much less extent, the three ages-of the stone, the bronze, and the iron—are at once recognized as established, and the author enters, respecting each of them, into a series of details, which constitute the main body of the archæological principles, since then current in the North. Thus, when speaking of the bronze age, the Page 21
Society requests the exact determination, at different temperatures, of at least fifty bodies soluble in water. 8. Of several plants, for instance, Aesculus hippocastanum, Amygdalus communis, Quercus pedunculata, Tilia parvifolia et grandifolia, Geranium, &c., a certain quantity of the ovules do not become developed. It is desirable that the cause of this constant anomaly should be explained by microscopic researches, illustrated by figures. These researches should comprise at least ten species of plants. 9. In volumetric researches the condensation of gases on surfaces exercises an embarrassing influence, inasmuch as the deficiency pf precise data of such condensation at different temperatures and different pressures does not permit us to apply the necessary corrections. The Society solicits new researches on this important question. 10. Determinations of the temperature of deep stagnant waters (lacs) at different depths. 11. A minute description, based on new experiments, of fecundation in the family of the Gramineæ. An exact answer is sought to the following questions : a. Do the anthers open before, after, or at the moment of the separation of the glumellæ (paleæ?) 6. Is the pollen strewn upon the stigmas before, after, or at the moment of the separation of the glumellæ ? c. Does this separation of the glumellæ influence the descent of the pollen upon the stigmas? d. What exterior causes may facilitate or prevent this descent of the pollen upon the stigmas ? e. Do the stigmas secrete a matter qualified to retain the grains of pollen ? f. By what route do the pollenary tubes descend towards the embryonic ack ? These researches should comprise, in the first place, wheat, barley, rye, oats, and next as large a number as possible of other plants pertaining to different classes of the family of Gramineæ. The Society would recall to mind that last year it proposed the following questions to be answered before the first of January 1866: 1. A complete embryology of the Squalus spinaz and the Squalus acanthias, from the egg in the ovary to the complete formation of the young fish. 2. A critical nomenclature of the Annulata and Turbellaria, which are found in the interior and on the coasts of the Netherlands, based upon new researches. 3. A comparative myology of the anterior members of reptiles and of birds, with reference to the denomination of the corresponding or homologous muscles in mammifers, and especially in man. 4. The form of the figures, named after Lichtenberg, whether produced by positive or negative electricity, being different, a new and satisfactory explanation of that difference is requested. 5. Researches are invited on the molecular change produced in the wires of different metals by the sustained action of an electric current as strong as is possible without producing fusion. 6. A complete embryology of the Lepas anatifera. 7. A comparative anatomical description of the remains of birds which are found in different geological formations. 8. The origin of several rocks being still unknown to us, the Society wishes that at least one rock, at the choice of the author, should be examined with a view of deciding whether it has been deposited from a solution in water, or formed by the solidification of a mass melted by heat. 9. The preparation of solid carbonic acid presenting no longer any difficulty, or danger, a complete examination is needed of its physical properties. 10. A microscopic and chemical examination is requested of the matter, diffusing a strong odor of musk, which is secreted by glands placed near the jawbones of crocodiles. Page 22
ANNOUNCED ON MAY 30, 1864, BY THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AT VIENNA.
The great majority of the most accurately studied eruptive rocks, both in and outside of Austria, belong either to the older palæozoic formations or to the later tertiary and quite modern periods. In the Austrian alps, however, still more in the Carpathian mountains, and also partially in Bohemia, there are masses of rocks in great quantity and variety, which break through the stratified rocks or stand in relation to the same, but of which the period of eruption falls within the epoch of a middle age, beginning with the dyas formation to that of the eocene. To name only a few of these, we have the metaphyre of the (Rothliegende) in Bohemia and the red sandstones of the Carpathians, which belong probably to the same formation ; the red porphyry and metaphyre of the trias of the southern Alps; the so-called augite-porphyry and amygdaloids of the east Carpathians standing in connexion with the jurassic limestone; the teschinite of the chalk and eocene formation of the Silesian Carpathians, &c. Many of these rocks have been named heretofore generally and from mere external analogies. An accurate mineralogical and chemical investigation of the same, a comparison of the platonic rocks of the higher and younger periods, constitutes a problem, the solution of which would fill a gap, in the true sense of the word, in our knowledge, and would appear alone to be of vast importance to science. The Imperial Academy can with right expect this solution, because, as far as is yet known, no other country in the world possesses eruptive rocks of the period alluded to in equal quantity and abundance. The mathematical-natural history class of the Imperial Academy of Sciences has therefore determined to offer a prize for the answer to the following problem, viz : “ An accurate mineralogical, and, as far as may be possible, chemical investigation of the largest number of eruptive rocks in Austria of the middle period, from the dyas formation to that of the eocene, and the comparison of these with the more accurately known older and younger eruptive rocks of Austria and of other countries." The period for closing the reception of the prize essays has been fixed for December 31, 1866 ; the announcement and reception of the prize of two hundred royal imperial mint ducats will follow at the commemorative session of the Academy on May 30, 1867. The following paragraphs relating to prize essays, from the order of business of the Imperial Academy, are published for the benefit of the contestants : $ 56. All prize essays should be furnished without the name of the author, but, as usual, with an accompanying motto and with a sealed envelope containing the author's name in the inside and his motto upon the outside. At the commemorative session of May 30, the president shall open the sealed envelope inscribed with the motto of the successful essay, and shall announce the name of the author. The other envelopes shall be burned unopened, but the essays shall be preserved subject to the call of their authors, announcing each his motto. $ 57. The division of a prize between several contestants is prohibited. § 58. Every crowned prize essay remains the property of its composer. Should he so desire, it will be published by the Academy. § 59. The members of the Academy shall not strive for this prize. § 60. Essays which have not received a prize may, if worthy, be published by the Academy, with the consent of the author. Page 23
glimpses rather than any general view; two studies, among others, are here to be created or resumed-paleontology and the examination of volcanic phenomena, which, in Mexico, present themselves in colossal proportions. What has been done by mining associations is worthy of praise, but what is known as yet of the mineralogical wealth of Mexico is undoubtedly the smallest part of that which exists. The sites thus far turned to profit are those for the most part which hazard has presented. A truly scientific exploration would disclose to this branch of industry a future of unexpected prosperity. A country of so bold and broken an outline, and submitted to the powerful and varied action of extremes of climate as well as to that of the forces proceeding from the interior of the earth, holds out large promise to the physics of the globe and to meteorology. Nor will botany be less fortunate. Those endlessly diversified formations, those elevations where all climates present themselves, enable Mexico and Central America to spread before the eyes of the traveller a magnificent and multiform flora, such as is offered by no other region of the globe. The science has here already made many acquisitions, but a full harvest is yet to be gathered, and our gardens, our parks, our forests, and our fields will be enriched with new plants for ornament and use. In these regions where nature scatters life under all forms, the animal king. dom is not less rich nor less curious than the vegetable. Agassiz thinks that he has found living in the Gulf of Mexico certain antediluvian polyps which occur imbedded in the soil of Florida, and the encrinites are extant only here: a mysterious link between the world of primeval times and our own. The almost new science of anthropology cannot fail to derive great light from the calm study of the races buried in the grottoes of Central America, or from those which still live on the plateau of Anahuac or in the neighboring regions. The mixed breeds, resulting from the intercourse of the indigenous and foreign races, will furnish suggestions for a study associated with questions of the highest import, at once physiological, moral, and social. Mexico is still rich in promise for another science—comparative philology: Though hardly of a man's age, this science has already detected the origin of races of men, reunited the broken ties of nations, and prepared the solution of the great problem of the variety or unity of our species; a question which seemed to possess no interest but for scientific curiosity, yet one which, for three years, North America has been seeking to decide in the furious conflicts of a more than civil war. The study of Mexican idioms was commenced, it is true, long since, but there is room for pursuing it on a wider scale. The ruins of Palenque cover mysteries comparable, perhaps, to those which the expedition of Egypt found on the banks of the Nile, and which, thanks to that expedition, Champollion was finally enabled to penetrate. The Mexico of Montezuma has almost wholly disappeared; the expedition will afford the means of its rediscovery. Perhaps our explorers will bring to light some of those rare Mexican manuscripts or yukatéques which have escaped recurring devastations. They will certainly collect those oral traditions of which modern criticism so well knows how to avail itself. In 1855, M. de Saussure discovered, within a few leagues of Perote, an entire city of which, before him, no one had any knowledge. An American traveller, passing directly from the sea to Mexico, by a route traced by himself, encountered from eighteen to twenty considerable monuments, of which the memory was lost. The Mexican solitudes have similar surprises in reserve for our savants. It will be theirs to renovate this great and curious page of the world's annals, which centuries have effaced, and our generation, so arid of the noble emotions of history, will see a wider horizon opened for its contemplation. When our soldiers quit this country, leaving glorious memories behind them, our savants will complete the conquest of it for science. There is no room to doubt but that, by virtue of their labors, certain branches of our knowledge will be stimulated and extended—others, perhaps, created, and that new facts will produce new and fruitful ideas which shall give to our comprehensive studies a salutary impulse. Page 24
EXPLORATION IN UPPER CALIFORNIA IN 1860,
THE AUSPICES OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
BY JOHN FEILNER, U. S. A.
Having been requested by the Smithsonian Institution to make collections of birds, eggs, nests, &c., in the vicinity of Rhett and Klamath lakes, in the northern part of this State, I applied to Captain John Adams, 1st United States dragoons, commanding Fort Crook, California, for permission to visit the lakes, and was granted a furlough of twenty days for this purpose, and was also fur nished with two pack animals to transport whatever collections I might secure. . Captain Adams not deeming it prudent for me to venture among the Indians entirely alone, and wishing to render all assistance in his power for the prosecution of the object in view, allowed private Alexander Guise, company F, 1st dragoons, to accompany me. The following is the itinerary of our journey : May 13.-Left this post en route for Klamath lake, via Yreka; camped at Bear creek; distance, 20 miles. May 14.–After re-arranging our traps, continued our way along the Xreka road, which we found exceedingly rough. Very few birds have at this early part of the season made their appearance; for, although a spring month, every thing wears an aspect of winter, and travelling through a thickly timbered country and over rocky roads, one has not the same chance for observation that a clear and more level country would afford. Of the birds seen to-day I observed Picus albolarvatus, Picus harrisii, Sitta aculeata, Sitta canadensis, and Junco oregonus; but Spyrapicus williamsonii, which heretofore I have found abundant in this section of country, seemed to have wholly disappeared. I did not see even one specimen. At the station-house on McCloud river I saw for the first time, in large numbers, the species marked No. 511, of which I collected several, but lost all, save one, when attacked by Indians. Camped at Pilgrim's camp, on northwest branch of McCloud river; distance 30 miles. After having left the station-house about two or three miles behind, we suddenly struck a desert of about six miles in extent, entirely of sand, and not a particle of snow to be seen. This sudden change from deep snow to a barren sand level, from cold to heat, was very surprising. The desert is between stationhouse on McCloud river and Pilgrim's camp on the same stream, and although a desert itself, has the appearance of an oasis in a snow desert. May 15.-Left Pilgrim's camp early, deeming it more advisable to travel for warmth than to remain shivering in camp. The winter in this section of the country being very severe, the springs are necessarily backward, and one will often find snow on this road in June; in fact, “Shasta butte,” in our immediate vicinity, is covered with snow the whole year, presenting a very picturesque appearance. The height of the mountain is very great, and it can be seen a long distance off. To-day, saw large numbers of the Canada jay, (Perisoreus canadensis.) I collected several, but could save one only, (No. 508.) Gymnokitta cyanocephala, not noticed by me at Fort Crook, California, for the past year, were seen in numbers to day. The country passed, over was, with Page 25
Sitta canadensis, (red-bellied nuthatch.)-This bird resembles in its habits the Sitta aculeata, always moving up or down in spiral circles on the trunk of a tree, upon or on the lower side of a limb, in search of ants, insects, &c., frequently repeating its note “ quank," a good deal sharper than that of Sitta aculeata, and keeping mostly in the dark, distant forest. I often saw it on the point of a dead tree flapping the wings by turning in every direction and making a whistling noise. I found this bird more cunning than the preceding species; their quick movements and great care to avoid the hunter's sight makes it often troublesome to shoot one. It inhabits this part of country during the Sitta pygmæa, (the pygmy nuthatch.)-(Nos. 5, 22, 33, 34, 102, 199, 200, of my collection forwarded.) This bird is very abundant in this section of country, and in color and habits almost like Sitta canadensis. When I first observed it, I supposed it to be a young bird of the species just mentioned, but by closer observation I soon found it to be distinct. More than one pair of Sitta canadensis are seldom found together, whereas this species travels in flocks numbering sometimes twenty and more, accompanied by titmice, Certhia mexicana, Sitta canadensis, and Sitta aculeata, and instead of the note quank quank,” it has a chattering whistle. It usually scarches for its food only on ” branches and limbs; seldom will it be seen moving on the trunk of a tree. The pine nuts are very closely searched for their seeds; when found, it alights on a limb, where, holding it with one foot, it hammers with the bill until it has broken it in such parts as to enable it to eat its seed. If it should happen to one to drop such a seed, two or three will be seen diving after and catching it before it can reach the ground; another place will be found, and the hammer. ing commences afresh. The scene presented by observing a party of these litile birds all in a bustle and activity, engaged in breaking pine nuts, and to hear their chattering and hammering, is very interesting, and reminds one of an immense machine shop, where all the mechanics are busily engaged at the various divisions of their craft. This bird is not so much afraid of the approach of a man as Sitta Canadensis, and I have seen it almost every day on the trees about the post; but at breeding season-June, July-it removes to the thick forest. Pipilio chlorura, (Blanding's finch.)– This bird generally inhabits mountains barren of trees, and only covered with chaparral, always keeping close to the sheltered thickets, where it searches among the dead leaves, &c., for its food. About Shasta butte, (northeast side,) they might be called abundant, but I never saw more than one pair together. Upon alighting on the top branches of a bush it utters a short, sweet, and lively song; if alarmed when so engaged, it dives into the brush and disappears from sight, and is then very ditficult to shoot. Junco oregonus, (Oregon snow-bird )- I found this bird to be very abundant throughout the whole of California. On my route to Rhett lake, &c., I met with large flocks among the brush or underwood, searching on the ground among the dead leaves for their food, uttering a chirping noise. When alarmed they quickly take to the thickets or trees; but if no further danger is apprehended they come out again and continue their search. When undisturbed they are very familiar, sometimes coming almost close enough to the observer to be touched with the hand. Xanthocephalus icterocephalus, (yellow-headed blackbird.)- This bird arrives carly in spring in this part of the country, where it remains until the breeding season, in June; then it removes further north, where it selects the margins of the lakes or swampy valleys covered with tules, in which it builds its nest. This is placed about six inches above the water, and is formed like a basket, by twisting dry or swamp grass around several pieces of tule until it has formed a nest. It generally lays four eggs. While the female is setting, the male, particularly in the morning and evening, does his best to please his mate with his song, which much resembles the creaking of a gate in want of oil. Should a hawk approach their breeding place, the alarm is given and hundreds will be seen fluttering about the intruder, less with intention to fight than to annoy him with their noise, which they continue until he has left. Page 26
judging from several experiments made on serpents, I am led to consider reptiles too highly organized to recover after being completely congealed. In no single instance have I sncceeded in restoring snakes to life that had been perfectly frozen. Under these putrefying tortoises I found numbers of beetles, Oiccoptoma marginata. Saw, to day, the first Sylvicola coronata. 11th.-Had a pleasant drive of thirty miles over a most beautiful prairie country to the “Junction,” in La Salle county. Saw geese, ducks, sand-hill cranes, and golden plover in abundance. 12th.--Left the Junction at half past three in the morning, and in fourteen hours we were in St. Louis, distance 217 miles. At the Junction there was but little evidence of spring, vegetation having scarcely started, but, as we approached Springfield, the influence of a more southern climate was strikingly apparent, for the red-bud-Cercis canadensis—and peach trec were in blossom; and at St. Louis the pears, cherries, and plums are in full bloom. Such a change on the now smiling face of nature, since morning, is more like magic than reality. I noticed in a barber-shop window a black-bellied fox squirrel, just such as we find in the vicinity of Racine; on inquiring I learned that it had been obtained up the Wisconsin river. 13th.—Left St. Louis in the evening on the packet Honduras. 14th Making four miles an hour, including detentions on sand-bars. I saw this morning a number of cormorants; they must seldom be met any great distance from the mouth of the Missouri river, for we saw none above this. Saw a duck hawk fly to her eyrie in the face of an inaccessible cliff with a duck in her claws on which to feast her young 15th. We find ourselves, this morning, only ninety miles from St. Louis. Turkey vultures are nesting in the cliffs all along the river. The crows follow the steamboats for the purpose of picking up whatever is acceptable to their omnivorous craws, just like the gulls on the lakes. No gulls on the Missouri river. 16th.-Arrived at the residence of E. Elliott, esq., on the river, ten miles below Booneville, in Cooper county, where we propose spending a week. 17th.—Made a preliminary excursion to-day. The surface of the country here is much broken; soil on the hills good for wheat and most other small grain; corn and hemp raised principally on the river bottom. The timber growing on the bills is composed of various species of oak and hickory interspersed with sassafras of an unusually large growth; on the bottom lands, of cottonwood, sycamore, maple, elm, hackberry,(Celtis,) honey-locust,(Gleditschia,) coffee-bean, (Gymnocladus;) on the hill-sides, of mulberry and redbud matted together and overrun with grapevines. I was much surprised to find such fine old fruit orchards as we saw here. The trees are remarkably vigorous and healthy, free from the attacks of insects. One pear tree, 35 years old, on the "Elliot farm,” produced the last season 45 bushels of excellent fruit. Peaches seldom or never fail to yield an abundant crop: Apples are now plenty at 25 cents per bushel, delivered; and better flavored, fairer, and more perfect fruit I never saw at this season of the year. Grapes do well with but little cultivation. All things considered, the hilly country bordering on the Missouri is one of the best fruit regions to be found anywhere. But few migratory birds have yet arrived, while vegetation is as forward as it is in Wisconsin on the 15th of May, but the crested tits and cardinal birds by their merry whistle do what they can to compensate for the deficiency of singing birds. Shot several squirrels; the gray squirrel here is no doubt distinct from the Wisconsin spe. cies; the fox squirrel found here appears different likewise. The want of unvarying characteristics by which closely allied species of Sciurida may be distinguished is to be lamented; for after all that has been done by Bachman and others in this department, it must be admitted that there is yet much confusion and uncertainty; we look with hope to the extensive collections being made by |
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