Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 2.djvu/264

250 in the act of consecrating the eucharistic elements, entertained a doubt as to transubstantiation, when suddenly he perceived on his alb (white robe) drops of blood, which had previously been concealed by the plaits of the garment. He hastened to hide the stain, but in the excited state of his imagination only saw the appearances of bleeding hosts multiplying. This wonderful occurrence (as it was then esteemed) gave occasion to the establishment of the festival of Corpus Christi by Pope Urban IV., and is the subject of Raffaelle's beautiful Miracolo di Bolsena, which he painted in the year 1512. The well-known savant, Ehrenberg of Berlin, was the first to attempt an explanation of the occurrence, by assigning natural causes for it. A Berlinese lady, having shown to him some potatoes boiled in their skins, and then laid aside for the space of one day, with a deep-red color appearing where the skins had burst, he discovered the existence, at the broken places, of a microscopic animalcule $1⁄3000$ to $1⁄8000$th of a line in diameter, which he recognized as the cause of the phenomenon. In memory of the marvels wrought by the creature in past times, he gave it the name of Monas prodigiosa—the miraculous monad.

"The City of the Future."—There is a tendency among the more comfortable classes to make cities merely places to work in, but to abandon them for the country as soon as business is over for the day. Mr. O. B. Bunce, in, opposes this movement, and claims for city-life superiority over country-life, in almost every respect. He proposes to utilize the pure air above our heads, by erecting buildings of many stories, with steam-elevators and every modern convenience. This would bring the entire population within easy reach of the theatre, lecture and concert-hall, art-gallery, museum, etc. In short, the writer makes out a strong case for the city, as regards intellectual life. Then come physical health and comfort. It is an error to suppose that the city is less salubrious than the country; a walk up Broadway is sufficient to prove this. Dyspepsia, rheumatism, and diseases arising from damp houses and undrained lands, are more common in the country. The city, too, is not subject to the plague of mosquitoes. The writer would have city people employ all the resources of science, to evolve from their surroundings all the health and comfort, all the enjoyment and intellectual life, which the town can afford.

An Aged Carp.—The following remarkable story concerning the age of a carp recently killed at Chantilly, while fighting with a pike, is told by the Paris Gaulois: "It was the oldest carp in the world, being 475 years of age, and belonged to M. C, the proprietor of a fine property at Chantilly. It was an historical carp, a carp which was born at the Comte de Cosse's, in the time of Francois I.; it had passed through various fortunes, having had no less than thirty-two masters. M. G purchased it a year since for 1,300 francs. The name of the carp was Gabrielle, and it measured nearly 29¾ inches round, and 38⅔ inches in length."

The Potato-Disease.—According to recent statements in the English papers, one of the most serious of the multiplied ills from which England is now suffering is the almost total failure of this year's potato-crop, due to the attack of a parasitic fungus peculiar to plants belonging to the same natural order as the potato. This affection, which is known as the potato-disease, or more commonly rust, was first observed in Germany in 1842, where it assumed a serious character. In 1844 it broke out in Canada, and did a great amount of damage. In the following year it was first noticed in England, and in 1846 prevailed all over Europe, but was most destructive in Ireland, where it gave rise to the celebrated Irish famine. The mycelium of this fungus eats into and completely destroys the tissue of the leaf and stem, and, when once its ravages have commenced, there is little hope of arresting them. From the leaves and stem the disease frequently extends to the tubers, where it sometimes lies dormant for months, so that, after being stored, apparently sound in autumn, they become affected in the following spring. When the disease appears in the growing plant, brown spots are first seen on the margins of the leaves, corrugating them as they spread. Very rapid