Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 33.djvu/878

858 as they could, in fact until they fell down drunk. Those who could not afford such tubes made use of reeds." These tubes or reeds, Oviedo says, were called tobacco. Benzoni gives the following account of cigar smoking: "When these leaves are in season, they pick them, tie them up in bundles, and suspend them near their fireplace till they are very dry; and when they wish to use them they take a leaf of their grain (maize) and, putting one of the others into it, they roll them round tight together; then they set fire to one end, and putting the other end into the mouth, they draw their breath up through it; wherefore the smoke goes into the mouth, the throat, the head, and they retain it as long as they can, for they find a pleasure in it, and so much do they fill themselves with this cruel smoke that they lose their reason. And some there are who take so much of it, that they fall down as if they were dead, and remain the greater part of the day or night stupefied."

Stellar Atmospheres.—Orray T. Sherman, in studying the stellar spectra comprising bright lines, has observed that, while persistent in place, the bright line is not persistent in intensity. This peculiarity affords a distinction between bright-line light, bright-background space, and any accidental disturbance the spectrum light may suffer. Collating his own observations, particularly those which he applied to β Lyræ, with Lockyer's results in the study of the solar atmosphere, we may, he says, "picture to ourselves the condition of the stellar atmosphere and the action therein somewhat as follows: An outer layer of hydrogen positively electrified, an inner layer of oxygen negatively electrified, and between them a layer of carbon mingling on its edge with hydrogen. The electric spark passing through the mixture forms the hydrocarbon compound, whose molecular weight carries it into the oxygen region, when combustion ensues with the formation of carbonic acid and aqueous vapor, both of which, descending under the influence of their molecular weight, are again dissociated by internal heat, and return to their original positions. Under the insight which this result gives we have found the spectra of the nebulæ referable to low excitation hydrogen, the spectra of the bright-line stars referable to high excitation oxygen, and hydrogen of higher or lower excitation according as the central star is of high or low magnitude, and, as far as the accuracy of the observations permits, τ Coronæ, Nova Andromeda, Nova Cygni, and the star near χ Orionis, itself a variable, likewise referable to the same spectra similarly conditioned. There is also reason for thinking that a similar atmosphere in similar physical conditions lies between us and the sun, and it seems as if we might consider that from the faintest nebula to the most highly finished star we have but progressive stages of the phenomenon here presented."

Across Greenland.—Mr. M. Nansen is engaged in an attempt to cross Greenland from east to west, with the aid of the Norwegian ski, or snow-skates. The experience of past expeditions has shown that the most successful and farthest advances over the glacial tracts have been made by the scouts provided with these useful furnishings; and he hopes that with their aid a party accompanied by a sledge-load of provisions may cross the country in about a month. He confidently expects to find a snowless tract in the interior; and hopes, by the observations he will be able to take (only rough ones, of course), to add something to our climatological and meteorological knowledge. He will give special attention to the question of the slam, or dust deposit in the snow—which Nordenskiöld regards as cosmic, but he as telluric and derived from the snowless region—to the curious snow plants, and to the fauna and flora, of which casual appearances near the sea-coast indicate that the country is probably not destitute. The party, consisting of Dr. Nansen and six companions, landed July 18th in lat. 65° 30', or nearly two degrees south of the Arctic Circle, implying a journey of some three hundred miles across to the west coast. The two Laplanders, who accompanied Nordenskiöld in his second unsuccessful attempt to cross Greenland (in a higher latitude and from the west side), managed to advance eastward some hundred and forty miles, and attained a height of over five thousand five hundred feet, whence they got a view of what appeared to be an endless snowfield.