Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 15.djvu/591

 American; the Emballonura have only one representative in Europe—a Molossus found on the shores of the Mediterranean, and which visits Switzerland in summer; two species of Rhinolophus (the great and the less horseshoe bat) are found in Great Britain, and the former of these species is distributed as far eastward as Japan. The Vespertilios constitute a truly cosmopolitan family, extending in latitude from the border of the Arctic region down to the Strait of Magelhaens. The Scrotina occurs throughout Europe, in Asia, and in Africa down to the Gaboon; and one race of this species is found in America as far south as Guatemala. But in those parts of both hemispheres which lie farther south, the Serotina is succeeded by nearly allied species of the same subgenus Vesperus. Of fossil Cheiroptera we have but very few. The gypsum strata of Montmartre have yielded to science Vesperugo parisiensis, which is closely analogous to, if not identical with, the Serotina of France. Again, among the Eocene Cheiroptera of North America described by Marsh occurs a Serotina, resembling the race now existing in the same region. And as the power of flight possessed by the Cheiroptera accounts for their geographical distribution (which is analogous to that of birds), so, too, it affords a probable explanation of the inconsiderable changes which the order has undergone since Tertiary times. Undoubtedly it is through this power of flight that they were enabled to escape amid the geological cataclysms which long ago annihilated the giant land mammals which were their contemporaries in the Eocene.

Ancient American Pottery.—A very remarkable collection of ancient American pottery is now on exhibition at No. 77 Maiden Lane, New York. It consists of about twelve hundred pieces, and is the fruit of explorations conducted by Mr. J. A. McNiel in an ancient cemetery in Chiriqui, Panama. The graves in which these articles of pottery were found lie scattered along the Pacific slope of the foot-hills of Mount Chiriqui, and the "cemetery" covers thousands of square miles. The graves do not appear to have been disposed according to any definite plan, nor do they lie with reference to any one point of the compass. They are found at varying depths, sometimes being as much as fifteen feet below the surface, and sometimes not more than two or three feet. Many of them appear to have been opened again and again for successive interments. They are walled up on the sides and at the ends with large round stones, which are plainly water-worn, and must have been brought from river-beds at a considerable distance. The graves are covered with flat stones, some of them weighing three hundred pounds. These stones do not belong to the local formations, and can only have been procured from situations several miles distant up the mountain-side. As there are no indications on the surface as to where the graves are hid, they are discovered by thrusting an iron rod into the earth till it strikes a stone. The articles of pottery found in these graves are principally jars and tripods, with a few small objects, toys, and whistles, and certain thin, flat disks pierced with a hole in the center, that may have served as wheels of toy carts.

Adulteration of Drugs.—In France all pharmacies are subject to inspection with regard to their general management, and more particularly to their practice in dispensing poisonous substances, and to the purity of the drugs and medicines kept on sale. But even in that country unscrupulous pharmacists are found who palm off upon the public adulterated drugs. Indeed, so common is this practice that careful physicians, whenever they prescribe any medicine that is difficult to prepare or specially costly, are wont to advise their patients to have the prescriptions made up only by pharmacists of approved integrity. At a meeting of one of the medical societies of Paris the following instance was given of the ill effects of using adulterated medicines: A physician having been called to attend a girl suffering from a violent attack of fever, prescribed a strong dose of quinine sulphate, hoping thus to prevent, or at least to mitigate, the second attack. But this second attack was worse than the first, and the patient's condition became very serious. Seeing that the quinine was without effect, the physician procured some of it for analysis, and procured at a reputable pharmacy another dose of the drug. This having been administered to the patient, the third attack