Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/880

856 The Canadian Climate.—In a paper on "The Influence of the Canadian Climate on Europeans," which he read at the British Association, Professor W. H. Hingston said that the heat of the summer in Canada was more easily endured than the humid summer weather often experienced in Europe. The skin was called into greater activity, and the heat of the summer weather acted very strongly on the liver; but if European residents adopted the indigenous customs of the country, lived moderately and temperately, and led an active existence, their livers would give them no trouble. The cold weather in winter stimulated people to activity. The mortality in early life was large, because in no country in the world were there so many children, but the mortality in adult life was not large. With the exception of Malta, the Canadian stations used to be considered the healthiest posts of the British army; and there were really no diseases peculiar to the country, while many which prevailed in England and on the Continent of Europe had no existence there.

The Carpet-Beetle.— The carpet-beetle, which is commonly, but with no good reason, called the buffalo-moth, is a dermestoid beetle whose scientific name is Anthrenus scrophulariœ. It is a foreigner, and was introduced into this country from Europe in 1872. It has since made itself at home in every part of the United States. It is about one twelfth of an inch long, and is prettily marked with regular patches of white and red upon a prevailing black ground. It feeds upon the pollen of flowers, of which it gives the preference to spiræa. It is destructive to carpets, and to nearly all animal substances, in the larval state. Carpet-linings give protection against the pest to all of the carpet they underlie, but the part of the carpet near the base-board is unprotected, and is liable to be infested and eaten by them. It is there that defensive measures should be applied. The beetles are nearly proof against ordinary moth-ex-terminators, and call for stronger remedies. Benzene is one of the best of them; it is efficient, simple, not dangerous, and easily applied. It can be poured on from a tin can having a slender spout, with a nozzle that will let out a stream as large as a knitting-needle. Naphtha, kerosene-oil, and gasolene are remedies of similar character and likewise easily used. Kerosene and naphtha are a little objectionable on account of their odor; kerosene also on account of its greasiness, and gasolene on account of its inflammability. Ironing wet cloths applied over the edges of the carpet is recommended; the beetles are killed by the steam that is generated. Painting with corrosive sublimate bed-bug poison is a sovereign remedy for all vermin. The beetle does its worst work in June, July, and August. The larvæ live in the cracks of the floor during the winter; and it is feared that, under the present methods of heating, the habit of producing a second brood in the colder months is likely to be induced.

The Ruins of Quirigua, Central America.—The ruins of Quirigua, in Central America, according to the account of Mr. A. P. Maudsley, are completely hidden in a thick tropical forest, on the left bank of the river Montagua. They consist of numerous square or oblong mounds and terraces, varying from six to forty feet in height, some standing by themselves, and others clustered in irregular groups. Most of these mounds were faced with marked stone, and were ascended by flights of stone steps. "The interest centers in the thirteen large carved monoliths which are arranged irregularly round what were probably the most important plazas of the pueblo. Six of these monuments are tall stones measuring from three to five feet square, and standing from fourteen to twenty feet out of the ground; five others are oblong or rounded blocks of stone shaped so as to represent huge turtles or armadillos, or some such animals. All these monuments are covered with elaborate carving; usually on both back and front of the tall monoliths is carved a huge human figure standing full-face, and in a stiff and conventional attitude. The sides of the monuments are covered with tables of hieroglyphics, most of them in fairly good preservation. In addition to these tables of hieroglyphics, there are series of squares or cartouches of what appears to be actual picture-writing, each division measuring about eighteen