Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 10.djvu/128

118 symptoms of catarrh begin to show themselves, and should be used frequently at first, so as to keep the interior of the nostrils constantly well coated. The powder checks the flow of mucus, and stops the sneezing. It causes scarcely any perceptible sensation. A slight smarting may occur if the mucous membrane is much irritated and inflamed, but it rapidly disappears. After a few sniffs of the powder, a perceptible amelioration of the symptoms ensues, and in the course of a few hours, the powder being inhaled from time to time, all the symptoms may have disappeared.

Evolution of the Horse.—Prof. Huxley devotes the sixth and last lecture of a course upon the origin of existing vertebrate animals to considering the evidences of the evolution of the horse. After tracing the genealogy of the horse from Orohippus, through Palæotherium, Hipparion, etc., to Equus, the author remarks as follows: "The evidence is conclusive as far as the fact of evolution is concerned, for it is preposterous to assume that each member of this perfect series of forms has been specially created; and if it can be proved, as the facts certainly do prove, that a complicated animal like the horse may have arisen by gradual modification of a lower and less specialized form, there is surely no reason to think that other animals have arisen in a different way. This case, moreover, is not isolated. Every new investigation into the Tertiary mammalian fauna brings fresh evidence, tending to show how the rhinoceros, the pigs, the ruminants, have come about. Similar light is being thrown on the origin of the carnivora, and also, in a less degree, on that of all the other groups of animals. It is not, however, to be expected that there should be, as yet, an answer to every difficulty, for we are only just beginning the study of biological facts from the evolutionary point of view. Still, when we look back twenty years to the publication of the 'Origin of Species,' we are filled with astonishment at the progress of our knowledge, and especially at the immense strides it has made in the region of paleontological research. The accurate information obtained in this department of science has put the fact of evolution beyond a doubt; formerly the great reproach to the theory was, that no support was lent to it by the geological history of living things; now, whatever happens, the fact remains that the hypothesis is founded on the firm basis of paleontological evidence."

Wood Pavements.—After a very thorough investigation of the advantages possessed by different kinds of pavements—granite, asphalt, and wood—the corporation of London has decided in favor of the last. The report of the city engineer shows that a horse traveling on a granite pavement may be expected to fall once for every one hundred and thirty-two miles traveled, on asphalt once in one hundred and ninety-one miles, and on wood once in four hundred and forty-six miles. The injury sustained by the animal is also far less serious from a fall upon wood than upon asphalt or upon granite. The mode of constructing wooden pavements in London appears to differ from that which has obtained in this country. The surface-water is kept out by means of a layer of asphalt, and there is a flooring of planks as a superstructure, which gives great elasticity, and by distributing the weight equally over a considerable area, adds to the power of endurance of the pavement. This decision of the London Corporation will occasion surprise on this side of the water, where wooden pavements have been pronounced an utter failure. It remains to be seen whether good material and careful construction will avail to remove the capital objection to wood as a material for pavements—its liability to speedy decay.

The Ice Age in Great Britain.—In a paper on the Ice age in Great Britain, R. Richardson cites facts with regard to the shallow depth of the ocean between Great Britain and Iceland and Greenland on the one side, and over the German Ocean on the other, and adduces reasons for holding that in the glacial era this region was terra firma; that the glaciers of Great Britain came over this emerged land from the north and west; and that the cold of the glacial era was due, in part at least, to the closing thus of the Arctic and exclusion of the Gulf Stream. The facts appear to symptoms of catarrh begin to show themselves, and should be used frequently at first, so as to keep the interior of the nostrils constantly well coated. The powder checks the flow of mucus, and stops the sneezing. It causes scarcely any perceptible sensation. A slight smarting may occur if the mucous membrane is much irritated and inflamed, but it rapidly disappears. After a few sniffs of the powder, a perceptible amelioration of the symptoms ensues, and in the course of a few hours, the powder being inhaled from time to time, all the symptoms may have disappeared.

Evolution of the Horse.—Prof. Huxley devotes the sixth and last lecture of a course upon the origin of existing vertebrate animals to considering the evidences of the evolution of the horse. After tracing the genealogy of the horse from Orohippus, through Palæotherium, Hipparion, etc., to Equus, the author remarks as follows: "The evidence is conclusive as far as the fact of evolution is concerned, for it is preposterous to assume that each member of this perfect series of forms has been specially created; and if it can be proved, as the facts certainly do prove, that a complicated animal like the horse may have arisen by gradual modification of a lower and less specialized form, there is surely no reason to think that other animals have arisen in a different way. This case, moreover, is not isolated. Every new investigation into the Tertiary mammalian fauna brings fresh evidence, tending to show how the rhinoceros, the pigs, the ruminants, have come about. Similar light is being thrown on the origin of the carnivora, and also, in a less degree, on that of all the other groups of animals. It is not, however, to be expected that there should be, as yet, an answer to every difficulty, for we are only just beginning the study of biological facts from the evolutionary point of view. Still, when we look back twenty years to the publication of the 'Origin of Species,' we are filled with astonishment at the progress of our knowledge, and especially at the immense strides it has made in the region of paleontological research. The accurate information obtained in this department of science has put the fact of evolution beyond a doubt; formerly the great reproach to the theory was, that no support was lent to it by the geological history of living things; now, whatever happens, the fact remains that the hypothesis is founded on the firm basis of paleontological evidence."

Wood Pavements.—After a very thorough investigation of the advantages possessed by different kinds of pavements—granite, asphalt, and wood—the corporation of London has decided in favor of the last. The report of the city engineer shows that a horse traveling on a granite pavement may be expected to fall once for every one hundred and thirty-two miles traveled, on asphalt once in one hundred and ninety-one miles, and on wood once in four hundred and forty-six miles. The injury sustained by the animal is also far less serious from a fall upon wood than upon asphalt or upon granite. The mode of constructing wooden pavements in London appears to differ from that which has obtained in this country. The surface-water is kept out by means of a layer of asphalt, and there is a flooring of planks as a superstructure, which gives great elasticity, and by distributing the weight equally over a considerable area, adds to the power of endurance of the pavement. This decision of the London Corporation will occasion surprise on this side of the water, where wooden pavements have been pronounced an utter failure. It remains to be seen whether good material and careful construction will avail to remove the capital objection to wood as a material for pavements—its liability to speedy decay.

The Ice Age in Great Britain.—In a paper on the Ice age in Great Britain, R. Richardson cites facts with regard to the shallow depth of the ocean between Great Britain and Iceland and Greenland on the one side, and over the German Ocean on the other, and adduces reasons for holding that in the glacial era this region was terra firma; that the glaciers of Great Britain came over this emerged land from the north and west; and that the cold of the glacial era was due, in part at least, to the closing thus of the Arctic and exclusion of the Gulf Stream. The facts appear to