Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 33.djvu/439

Rh agent at our command," and that "the apparatus to be used should be arranged to permit the current to pass through the centers of function and intelligence in the brain," resuscitation under such conditions being impossible. As to the appliances, the commission said: "All that would be essential would be a chair with a head and foot-rest, in which the condemned could be seated in a semi-reclining position; one electrode would be connected with the headrest, and the other with the foot-rest, which would consist of a metal plate." The current of electricity might be supplied from the wires used for street-lighting, or from an independent plant at the place of execution. The most effective machines for the purpose are those known as "alternating machines."

Mound-Builders' Units of Measure.—Mr. R. P. Gregg, of Buntingford, Herts, England, has made investigations concerning the units of measure among certain ancient nations, including those of America. He concludes that the Peruvians of the time of the Incas, the Aztecs, Toltecs, and Central Americans, employed a common measure, comprising a foot equal to 11 inches English, or a fraction more than the old Roman or Solon's foot, which foot, = 0·298 of a metre, was divided into twelve equal parts. These feet, being to English feet as 100:102, are reducible by simply adding two per cent. The mound-builders' measure, as derived from a curious tablet found in Cincinnati in 1841, and from implements described by Dr. Abbott and the investigators of Ohio mounds, consisted of a foot equal to ten English inches, or 0·254 metres, which was divided into twelve mound-builders' inches, seven of which were equivalent to six Mexican inches. Incidentally, the author has reason to suppose also that the mound-builders' acre, or larger unit of superficial measure, was equal to from 1 to 1 English acre, with square side of 300 mound or 250 English feet, and that the favorite square and circle areas of 20, 27, and 40 (or 41) acres English, meant 16, 20, and 30 mound acres respectively. A third unit was the prehistoric measure of North America, the inch of which was intermediate between the mound inch and the Mexican inch, and of which the author is not certain whether there were eleven or twelve to the foot. As no mound-builders' measures have so far been found in Central America, Peru, or Mexico, that people are apparently excluded from the presumption of ever having lived there; but from the occurrence of the southern measures along with those of the mound-builders in the latter's country, it would seem to follow "that the mound-builders, and the people allied to, or the ancestors of, the Toltecs, etc., must have, perhaps some two thousand years ago, coexisted and lived together in large parts of America, extending from New York to Ohio and Tennessee, and not been exclusively confined to the mound districts par excellence."

Flower-Farming.—Flower-farming and the manufacture of essences constitute a special industry in southern France. The principal center of the business is at Grasse, in the Alpes Maritimes, but it branches out into other districts. The flowers grown include the violet and jonquil, which are gathered in winter or early spring, roses, orange-blossoms, thyme, and rosemary, in May and June, jasmines and tuberoses in July and August, lavender and spikenard in September, and the acacia in October and November, so that the season may cover three quarters of the year. Thyme, rosemary, and lavender are usually side-products, grown by farmers of the grape and olive, who distill from them inferior essences, which are used to dilute and adulterate those of superior quality. According to Consul Mason, of Marseilles, the best situations for growing perfume flowers are at altitudes of from five hundred to two thousand feet. Flowers grown on such elevated positions are said to be richer in perfume than similar varieties that bloom in valleys and lowlands. The plantations want to be provided with a soil rich in calcareous elements, and to be sheltered from cold winds. The rainfall being scanty, irrigation is necessary. All fancy and "improved" varieties of flowers are discarded, and the natural, simple, old fashioned kinds alone are grown. Middlemen go through the flower districts every day during the season, and deliver the flowers to the distillers while they are yet fresh and crisp. The manufacture of perfumes includes the making of pomades and