Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-28

utlKrI AHAi Ing, perhaps. was the
sin ~ MY subject Of crystals.
~ "N which. according to
NEN1fv recent theory. mani
fest symptoms of
possessing a sort Of
ufa They certainly do grow II injured
end broken. they redevelop into their Gus
tonary forms. Their vitality. though sus-
pended for ages. Is retained. The zoologist
speaks wonderingly OF snaiis resuscitatsd
BY warm water after a score of years spent
In museum drawer. while the botanist is
amazed at the sprouting OF seeds taken
from the collins OF ancient Egyptian num-
mics But how much more surprising Is II
70 find that grains OF sand. torn from their
rocky beds ages ago and worn to round
ness by the waves of the ocean. will. under
proper conditions, reassume their original
shapes OF exquisite symmetry. with polish
ID faces Of geometrical regularity
Crystals Of all kinds will build them
solves up and repair damages In this way
H placed In solutions containing their own
siements. They seem to preserve their vi
taIity indefinitely. though 1t may be de-
stroyed with acid by the flame Of a
blowpipe. 1t might be said that while the
lie Of animals Is brief and active. of plants
slower and longer that OF minerals is vast
discovered that the first step In the forma-
ton OF crystals is the separation OF minute
giobules from a solution. These globules
arrange themselves according to mathemat-
tcal laws. building up skeletons OF crystals,
which are afterward clothed and made COM
plsta
Natures Fancics.
II - no easy matter to construct a perfect
cubs-a sx-sided body with each face q
square. Yet nature turns out such objects
CT symmetry in countless numbers off-hand.
Allow a cupful Of salt and water to evap-
crate slowly In a cool place and the salt viii
take the form Of ever SO many cubes as &C
curateiy shaped as IL designed by a geome-
Gtcian- Crystals OF salt always assume
mat shape. sometimes measuring three
inches on an edge. Ali OF the more impor-
tant metals crystalline as cus rs, including
gold. silver. copper and lead. Some crystals
take very remarkable shapes. Those of
iron sulphide. for example, look like wild
roses counterfeited In metal There is a
crystalline lime formation known as land
scape marble" which. when a slice OF II is
cut and polished. exhibits to the imaginative
eye all sorts Of wonderful pictures.
Natures freaks OF fancy afford strange
study. People are constantly sending to the
National Museum supposed fossil animals
and other oddities which are In reality mere
accidental forms carved by water. A pebble
In a stream gathers about itself grains of
sand until an odd-shaped lump is made A
favorits shape for such Jumps Is that of a
turtle, with four legs. head and tail. even
the lines OF the shell being sometimes dis
tinct Similar concretions Of carbonate of
Iron and clay assume the appearance of
petrihed peanuts. Break one. and you will
Always find inside a small spiral Wrinkle
shell. which has served as the nucleus A
queer counterfeit OF this kind forwarded TO
Washington not long ago. was an alleged
FOSSIL foot or a child. with little stocking
on, the latter showing signs of wear on the
ball Of the foot and on the heel 1t was
only concretion, as was likewise what APP
shell.
Microscopic Quarts Threads.
One eminent scientist has been amusing
himself Of late making imitation spider
webs out Of quartz fbers. 1t Is well known
that copper wire can be drawn to a fineness
much less than the thickness Of a hair-in
fact, to the diameter OF a one-thousandth
part of an inch But glass may be spun
inner than copper. while even the finest
spun glass Is not so fine as silk fiber The
latter, however. is coarse compared with
the threa Is that can be obtained BY melting
quartz under blow pipe and pulling II out
Such threads may be reduced to a thickness
Of one-rntllionth of an inch. Drawn to such
tsnuity. they are invisible under micro
scope OF the highest power. Yet they are
stronger in proportion TO their thickness
than the best guilty Of bar steel. Enough
thread like this could be made from a Gin
Ble CUBIC men OF quartz TO go around the
world e5s times. A grain Of sand barely
large enough to be visible to the naked eye
would yield 1000 miles Of thread.
Obviously. no practical use can be made
Of threads so extremely fine. Comparative
ly coarse ones were woven into cobwebs by
the scientist aforesaid. They would not
catch dies. because they were too slippery,
having no gluten on them like real cobwebs
This difficulty was got over by noistening
Q straw IN castor oil and gently stroking
the threads with II. Then the webs cap
tured lies fairly we'll But a cobweb Is in
complete without a spider. So Ii occurred
10 the experimenter to attract an arachnid
to his web by the buzzing OF fly. II was
6tnicult to make fly buzz to order, but a
satisfactory imitation was produced by per-
uniting a tuning fork to vibrate against the
quartz fbers. This fetched the spider right
away. The scientist also amused himself
with blowing bubbles of quartz. which look
s sa.:s .A0'' nA' 'n' most beautiful soap 0u0-
Problems to Solve.
The government scientists are dreadfully
pusxled sometimes by odd things sent to
them for Identification. For a long time they
could make nothing out of box full of
small hard balls of fbrous material, stated
&c have been picked up on q western prai-
sfs. which were forwarded to the National
Museum It was finally discovered that
they were buffalo cuds. When the animals
were killed and cut up on the plains the
cuds were left behind-hard wads of dried
grass made compact with digestive gluten
and calculated to remain intact for
IN indefinite period. Another problem was
. remarkable stone of great hardness which
whan sawed through was very pretty to
look at. though It smeiled exceedingly bad
~ proved To be calculus from the bladder
q hog.
People are continually mistaking iron
pyrtes for gold They send In samples to
the geological survey for assaying 1t Is
An error easily made. but anybody may tell
ths difference by scraping the stuff with a
knife II pyrites. II will be hard; II gold. IL
VIII be soft and the knife will leave a shin
ING mark Quartz crystals pass In similar
fashion for diamonds. and now and then a
fragment OF bottle glass. rolled to roundness
In stream. Will be taken for a sapphire or
ether gem OF enormous value. Likewise old
alag from Iron furnaces is supposed to be
psteoric iron Some strange fossil shells
forwarded TO Washington a while ago were
found to be OLD and damaged specimens of
'-perfuned shells" which used to be made
IN mods out Of scented clay or some such
material.
Goodies are frequently received by the geo
logical survey from persons who come
across them Natures treasure caskets they
might be called. They are nodules of chal-
csdony. filed with beautiful crystals At
the beginning there was a cavity In rock
Water percolating into 1t deposited silica