doos, Persians, and Arabs the rainbow was regarded as a bridge uniting the abode of the gods with that of men, the road over which souls travelled; with the Jews it symbolized the eternal

alliance of God and man; with the Greeks and ancient Romans it was considered a baleful sign of war or of

storms.

SEVERAL centuries ago, before the Indian Ocean had been well explored, the curiosity of those who sailed its waters was often much excited by the appearance of something like a huge double coconut, of forty pounds weight, floating on the surface. Similar fruit was found occasionally washed up on the shores of Ceylon and the adjacent coast; but no one had ever seen a tree thus fruited, and so some fabulous submarine plant was believed to produce them. The fruit was called coco de mer, or "sea coconut," and many were the marvelous tales which arose to account for its origin. Moreover, as has so often been the case with other natural objects of mysterious origin, most extraordinary curative powers were ascribed to this wonder of the sea. Thus a medicine prepared from the kernel was supposed to possess great potency, and it was believed that water drunk from vessels made out of the shell was a preventive against all disease. Consequently the nuts were treasured almost religiously in India, and brought extravagant prices.

The first real knowledge of where these mysterious nuts came from was obtained in the year 1742. by French navigators. who discovered the Sechelles group of islands, and on two of these found large numbers of a species

of palm bearing the famous "double coconuts." "The astonishment of those previously acquainted with the coco de mer," writes one who has visited these islands, "may well be imagined, upon their finding large forests entirely composed of this palm, growing upon a small and quite uninhabited island, and towering far above all ordinary tropical vegetation." It is not a little remarkable that the species, so far as known. grows only on the small islands where it was first seen, and the plant has been named accordingly Lodoicea Sechellarum.

Since the time of its discovery much curious information has been gathered regarding the parent plant which produces this largest known of all tree fruits. Especially noteworthy is the long period which the plant takes to prepare itself for the great work of fruit-making. It must vegetate thirty years before a flower-bud is produced. During this time it builds a columnar trunk, which, since it must support the heavy fruit and resist the force of tropical gales, needs to be of extraordinary strength. To compensate in a measure for the consequent rigidity, a unique arrangement acting like a ball and socket joint is developed at the The lower end of the trunk is hemispherical and fits into a sort of bowl composed of extremely hard

base.

material like the shell of the nut, and pierced by holes the size of a thimble, through which the roots make their way into the surrounding soil. This ar rangement permits the tree to sway in response to strong winds in spite of the rigidity of the trunk. The maximum height of the tree, about one hundred feet, is attained in about as many years. This statement, however, applies only to the male, or staminate, trees, the female ones being somewhat shorter, in order that the pollen which is transferred by the wind may more readily reach the pistils. After the ovules are fertilized, ten years are required to ripen the fruit. In four years they reach their full size, which is about eighteen inches long by the same in breadth, and nearly as much in thickness, but at this time the nut is soft and filled with a semi-trans

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parent jelly. This becomes firm and edible like the meat of a coconut, and is surrounded by an extremely hard shell, which, in turn, is covered by a fibrous husk. As many as eleven of these enormous fruits may be produced at one time, thus making a cluster of between four and five hundred pounds weight!

Now that the origin of the Lodoicea is no longer veiled in mystery, the belief in its medicinal virtues has largely died out. The nuts still have their use, however, which if more commonplace than formerly, is at the same time more real. When sawed in half the shells make excellent jugs, and are also commonly used for bailing boats. An entire nut will hold three gallons, and, being durable, they serve as well as water kegs.

FRED'K LEROY SARGENT.

A large ship needs much water. Where the ship can go the brigantine can go.

It is easier to get away from the bank than from the bottom.

The ship which doesn't mind her helm will mind the hidden rocks

He who can steer need not row.

It will not do to have two mainmasts. in a ship.

Better lose an anchor than the whole ship.

Good roller, good sailor.

Do good and cast it into the sea; if the fish ignore it. God will know it.

If clouds look like they had been scratched by a hen, get ready to reef your topsails then.

The full moon eats clouds.

He who sends a mean man to sea will get neither fish nor salt.

Every port serves in a gale.

A mariner must have his eyes on the rocks and sands as well as on the north star.

Ill goes the boat without oars. From the boat we get to the ship. Don't judge of the ship from the land.

The freshest and sweetest fish come from the saltest sea.

No one can complain of the sea who has been twice ship-wrecked.

He gets his passage for nothing and winks at the captain's wife.

The sea isn't burning.

He that is embarked with the devil must sail with him.

IT SEEMS a pity that the word "refinement" should have drifted so far from its simple and original meaning, which was purification." We still use it in that sense in regard to sub stances, and speak of the refining processes to which sugar, metals, liquors, etc., are subjected, when all extraneous or defiling matter is removed. "refinement," as applied to individuals, does not generally convey the idea of purity. Indeed, it is often supposed to have less to do with what is within a man, and proceeds from him, than with what surrounds him and acts upon him from without.

But

There are persons who would indignantly resent the idea that they were lacking in refinement, yet who can only base their claim to it on the atmosphere of luxury and leisure in which they dwell. Their demands

upon the world are constant and exacting, but that anything is expected of them seldom occurs to them. Their appetite is so delicate that every land must be laid under contribution to minister to it. Their beds must be soft, their chairs easy, their dress luxurious and rich. Their nerves are so finely strung that all unpleasant sights and sounds must be bani-hed. Their sensibilites are so keen that they cannot endure to see pain or poverty, or to hear a tale of woe. So they shut out all knowledge of the sorrows of others and hug themselves contentedly in their own life of ease.

Is this refinement? Is it not instead a gross and barbaric selfishness? As has been said by another, "Is it not ungenerous to make such a great hole in the world to crush so many roses for one fragrant drop?" Such persons

are sadly in need of some refining process which shall purge out the dross which is in them, and teach them to abhor so mean and encroaching a lite. Some persons have a vague notion that refinement is the privilege of rank or position or culture. In aristocratic countries it is held to be the exclusive possession of the nobility and gentry, and it would almost create a smile of derision to speak of a refined peasantry.

Even in our own land, where we boast of our freedom from class prejudice, we are apt to associate the idea of refinement with that of certain educational and social advantages, and to feel some degree of surprise when we see its marks among those whose bread is earned by the sweat of their brow. Perhaps, however, if we knew more about these honorable laborers, and were more in sympathy with them, we should see more real refinement of heart and character among them than

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often exist among those who have had greater opportunities.

There are cases of delicate generosity, of willing self sacrifice. of manly tenderness and womanly loyalty in many a cottage that would grace the stately halls of a palace, where only a cold etiquette reigns supreme.

Thoreau says: "I called on the king, but he made me wait in his hall, and conducted himself like a man incapacitated for hospitality. There was a man in my neighborhood who lived in a hollow tree. His manners were truly regal. I should have done better had I called upon him."

Even intellectual possessions, valuable as they are, cannot of themselves refine their owner. If he had in his heart the alloy of selfishness, or ingratitude, or self conceit, or contempt. for those less learned than himself, he lacks true refinement in spite of all his knowledge. He, too, needs to be purified.

PASSING, passing, steadily and slow, Chanting, chanting, requiems sad and low, List to the footsteps of a mystic band, Marching, while from every shadowy hand, Poor, faded garlands fall.

And upon the waiting bier

Of the pale, old, dying year.
They lie, so like a pall.

These, the withered hopes that grew,
But, alas! no fruitage knew,
Promises, all unfulfilled-
Blossoms of the heart frost-chilled;
Loves unspoken, songs unsung,
Living, when the year was young,

But lifeless now-vain tear or sigh,
That they, before the year, should die-
May Heaven forgive us all!

Coming, coming, on merry, dancing feet, Singing, singing, new songs with hope replete, Bright and gay;

Every drooping heart to cheer,

See the joyous infant year

On the way.

Meet him, greet him, smiles must banish tears; Take him, make him the best of all the years, Day by day.

THE telephone cable to be laid across the British Channel will, it is stated, contain four copper conductors, each a strand of seven wires insulated with gutta-percha, and the group will be protected by layers of tanned hemp and an outer sheathing of galvanized iron wires laid on spirally, after the manner of an ordinary submarine telegraph cable. The conductors have been calculated to give good speaking, and the armor to guard the wires from ship's anchors or bottom friction. Four conductors have been chosen, because there are to be two separate lines, and each line will consist of a going and a returning wire. That is to say, the circuit between the terminal stations will be a "loop" one, formed of wire throughout, the earth itself not being used as the return wire.

The skeleton of a mastodon found at Higate, forty miles west of St. Thomas, Canada, is on exhibition in that town. The area of the grave where the monster's bones were found is 35 by 21 feet. The bones were scattered over it, one joint fitting into the other in a bed of gray marl about six feet below the surface. Over the marl is a thick layer of black, loamy soil. The length of the animal, gauged by the measurements of the bones already found, and allowing for those that have not yet been discovered, is, from the point of the nostril to the root of the tail, about twenty-two feet This is greater than that of the cele

JANUARY, 1891.

brated Mastodon giganteus, discovered near Newburgh, N. Y., in the summer of 1845, and the skeleton, as a whole, is larger and more complete than any that have been found in Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri, California or Oregon.

As is well known, certain chemical reactions are accelerated by sunlight; but Herr Bruhl, a German chemist, has recently intensified the effect by placing the retort in the focus of a concave mirror. The vessel contained zinc filings and ethyl iodide, and the mirror, which was about a foot in diameter, concentrated the sun's rays upon it. The reaction soon began and continued briskly till, at the end of a quarter of a hour, the ethyl iodide was all consumed and a good supply of zinc ethyl ultimately obtained. Herr Bruhl considers the concave mirror preferable to a glass lens, which would be less powerful, owing to the athermancy of the glass, so at least it is reported.

ONE of the most marvellous features of astronomical photography is the way that a camera will register the images of stars invisible to the human eye. The same instrument which shows to the human eye stars of fourteenth magnitude, which in the entire heavens would register about forty-four million stars, shows to "the photographic eye" no less than one hundred and thirtyfour millions! After an exposure of one hour and twenty minutes, a photo