Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 42.djvu/297

Rh monuments at once of the slow development of organic types and of the prolonged vicissitudes of the terrestrial surface, have furnished materials for a chronological arrangement of the earth's topographical features. Nor is it only from the organisms of former epochs that broad generalizations may be drawn regarding revolutions in geography. The living plants and animals of to-day have been discovered to be eloquent of ancient geographical features that have long since vanished. In their distribution they tell us that climates have changed, that islands have been disjoined from continents, that oceans once united have been divided from each other, or once separate have now been joined; that some tracts of land have disappeared, while others for prolonged periods of time have remained in isolation. The present and the past are thus linked together, not merely by dead matter, but by the world of living things, into one vast system of continuous progression."

House "Leader Pipes" as Lightning Rods.—Mr. W. H. Preece called attention in the British Association to a new danger in the destruction of lightning protectors by recent municipal legislation. He said that the immunity of private houses from being struck by lightning is very marked, and this is considered to be due to the fact that the lead on the roofs and the iron stack-pipes that drain these roofs, connected as they are together, form admirable lightning protectors. Any charge of atmospheric electricity which may fall upon a house so protected is conveyed harmlessly away to the earth. British householders are now required to remove these pipes from direct connection with the drains, and to leave an air-space between the end of the pipe and the grating of the drain. The result is that the electric conduction of the pipe is broken, the stack-pipe ceases to be a lightning protector, and houses are left exposed to the danger of atmospheric electricity. The remedy is very simple. The pipe need not be entirely cut away. Three fourths of its circular section may be removed for the distance required, and one fourth may be left to maintain the old electrical connection; or, if the separation has been effected, then the stack-pipe should be connected with the drain by a wire or rod so as to restore a path for the charge to the earth. Householders are also now compelled to put up stack-pipes to ventilate their soil-pipes, erecting above their roofs a metal tube forming a prominent object exposed to the atmospheric charge, and terminating frequently in an earthenware pipe on the first floor. They are thus liable to be struck by lightning without being offered any means of escape. The tubes should be connected electrically with the earth either directly or indirectly through the stack-pipes, which would then make them sources of safety rather than of danger.

A Haida Indian Pole-raising.—The keeang poles of the Haida Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands, according to Mr. Alexander Mackenzie's account of them, were erected to commemorate the event of a chief taking position in the tribe by building a house and making a distribution of all his property. Each pole has also an individual and distinguishing name. Thus, one of the poles at Masset is named Que-tilk-kep-tzoo, meaning "watcher for arrivals" or "looking" or "watching for arrivals." It was erected by a Haida chief named Stultah, on his decision to build a new lodge. The occasion, as usual, was marked by a large distribution of property, hundreds of blankets and other valuables being given away to all who assisted at the making of the pole, or who were invited to the ceremony. When it was decided to erect a keeang and build a lodge, invitations were sent to the tribes in the vicinity to attend, and on arrival the people were received by dancers in costume and hospitably treated and feasted. When all the Indians from adjacent places were assembled, at the appointed time they proceeded to the place selected for the erection of the pole. A hole seven, eight, or ten feet deep having been dug, the pole was moved on rollers till the butt was in a proper position to slip into it. Large ropes were fastened to the pole and gangs of men, women, and children took hold of the ends at a considerable distance away. The most able-bodied men advanced to the pole, standing so close all along on each side that they touched each other, and grasping the pole from underneath they raised it up by sheer strength, by a succession of lifts, as high as