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ONTENTS. yprazoic Actip: A New Form or APPARATUS ‘: For ITs PREPARATION ; ITS PHYSIOLOGICAL Action. Cyril Go Hopkins........... 1 ‘On PROTOPTERUS ANNECTENS. R. W. Shufeldt. 2 CycLonE NEAR WILLIAMS- OBSERVATIONS ON A_ s f HE. H. S. Bailey....... ..- 3 TowN, KANSAS. why | Walker Prizes in Natural History. The Boston Society of Natural History offers a first prize of from $60 to $100 and a second prize of asum not exceeding $50 for the best me- moirs, in English, on one of the following sub- jects: 1, The relations of inflorescence to cross-fertiliza tion illustrated by the plants of Eastern Massa. ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, Terre Haute, Ind. A College of Engineering. Well endowed, well equipped. Courses in Me- chanical, Electrical, Civil Engineering, and Chem- istry. Extensive Machine Shops. Laboratories, Drawing Rooms, Library. Expenseslow. Address H. T. EDDY, President. The Batrachians and Reptiles of Indiana. Nores ON THE COPEPODA OF WISCONSIN. C. BPI IGhe MLOT SIs oo 2c eleieietercc cesn ele clae nine ene 3 | chusetts. 3 ‘dE HILLOCK AND MounD ForMATIONS.OF SOUTH- eRN Catirornia. Daniel Cleveland... ... 4 ‘CuRRENT NoTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. —XXXI. ¥ D. G. Brinton, Editor ores AND NEWS......- SoeROeEG setts ? ¢ the theory of evolution. ores oN THE FLoRA or Lone Isuanp. Smith Bly TOUAGe. «oe. 8 sawn ener eciecnrncececerse 6 CONSUMPTION AMONG THE COLORED PEOPLE OF THE SOUTHERN States. G. W. Hubbard.. 6 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...........-. 8; 9; 10; 115 12 ‘Boor EVEN LENS Mente aletcteietalctsiaicie\sicte(eini-e clei! eial As one wan ders over the snow-clad hills on some frosty night, he may near #..'¢ Clear clé#-Ho of this bird starting from the snow where he lies hidden, Lynps JonEs. Oberlin, Ohio. The Earth as a Conductors. In reference to the commiunication on the use of the ground iz: an electric circuit, June 16, you may allow me tosay: The earshi? is not a conductor of electricity in any sense, omy as a conven-~ tion. All Du Moncel’s measurements, and they were many, gave the resistance of the earth as about 100 ohms. This resistance is negligible in long circuits, telegraphic or telephonic, but not in short circuits. On the principle of contact electricity (see Ayrtom and Perry, Jenkins or Gorden) it was wrong to place a copper plate at one end and a tin plate at the other, as their contact or connection by wire would produce a current along the wire. Wor was it proper to put charcoal or carbon or iron around either plate on the same principle. Both plates, preferably, should be of copper surrounded by sulphate of copper. There is considerable resist- ance offered in the passage of a current from one kind of mate- rial to another (see Jenkin passim). The earth may, for convenience, be called a reservoir of elec- tricity, but its quantity is always constant and no electricity can be taken from it at one point without putting an equal quantity into it at another point. The action or roll of the earth im the -circuit is like this. Consider a lake of large dimensions with a ‘Tift and'ferce pump at A connected with a pipe which crosses the lake to B;zthe water lifted at A and forced over to B falls into the lake, but not a drop of it ever gets back to A. Tf you will consider a ground wire in a large telegraph or tele- ‘phone office with a number of circuits of variable resistances and different polarities attached to it you will see that it is absurd to isay that a positive current from one battery goes down that ground wire and off to a distant point while at the same instant a positive current from adistant battery comes up the same wire. ‘That is the common sense view of it, and it is supported by ‘Kirchoff's law,.= C = 0, or the sum of all the E M F’s or currents ‘meeting in a point equals nothing. In fact, the ground wire in ‘a large office may be cut (as I have often seen it done for experi- mental proof) without stopping communication. When three or ‘more wires are*joined to the same ground either one of the wires jacts as a return wire for the others when the ground wire is cut. -But when all are open at once, then the ground comes into play ‘to form the circuit for the first one that closes. It is also useful ‘as a regulator of,-current, but the manner of doing this is not ‘properly introduceable here. If nothing-had ‘been said of the use of tin at one end and cop- ‘per at the other the resistance of 102 ohms as found would indi- cate a good ground. ; But as some current probably arose from SCIENCE. II their use, G6ibt is cast Upon the measuvéiieits. Still, on thé whole, the gtownd was as good as is usually wade. One hundted ohms’ resistatice in the earth cixetit ander all cir- cumstances should be reckoned on and may be regarded as a constant, D, FLANERY. Memphis, Tenn., dune 30. os oe ——d On the E¥6lution of the Habit of Incubation. If tay be stated aia general rule that harmless snakés prG- duce their young by mé#iis of eggs, while poisotious serpents are viviparous, to which facé they probably owé their generic appel- ation of ‘" vipers.’’ The’ d¥iparous snakes, like most other rep- tiles, deposit their eggs in a! swany spot, and pésér trouble them- selves about thie incubation, Hit leave the eges fo Hatch out as best they may wader the influiwece of the sun's Aéat, There is, however, a very carious thoust aathentic instanc®dn t&cord of a caged python, in tht Jardin dés Plantes, at Paris, hich batched out her own eggs. She laid fifteen m all, and then cdlied' herself around them, and so ifcubated théiin much the san’® diitiner as a sétfing hen, her temperature belive observed to incised par- ceptibly duxing the period. _ This stramge fact, whether an dhomiull’ or whether a witudail habit of the' pythons, seems tb 'throw coiderable light of the evolution of the abit of incuddtion, so universal among bits) for it must b#remembered thai” the @ra is Gosely allied to she” stptire, and isin fact but a higher'form of tHe type. This rela: tionship is clew#y shown by the stsdy of the morphology of the’ biret organs, f%r every part of a bitd’s body ##dut a modification of th=‘correspoiiting part of the reptiid: it‘igsalso shown by the fact that'birds ar found in geologica?'stratA” immediately after the repitlés, and Lense must have appeared upotthe face of the earth at a Jater'pertod: Were any furth#t ‘ptoof! necessary, it is furnished: in an'irrefztwble manner by th ‘science: af embryolo- gy, for the bitd passessimthe egg through 24 thé reptilian stages of developmént: before’ itt is finally hatch@’ out: in) its perfect form. This being thé case, we-may rest assured tha ‘the:Hailit of in- cubation has béén evolvediat some time during the evoliition of reptiles into birds; and‘henos this case of the pythdén ‘HatcHing its own eggs acquirés exceptions! interest. We may premise’that'the-Habit could never have’ been evailyed unless it were of some vallie’to-the species, but we must! at the same time admit that'the incubated ege would in all cagesliatich out far in advance of thatiheated only by the sun, hence those individuals which thus appeared earlier than their brotherssran a better chance of surviving in the struggle for existence. Sod far,. so good, but how did the habit oviginate ? What first led snakes: or other reptiles to think of hatching out their eggs? That. it: was not intelligence we can’safely assert. for all who have had any experience in keeping snakes, agree in stating that their in- telligence is of the lowest order. Iam therefore inclined to be— lieve that what first led animals to incubate their eggs was the heat developed in the egg during the process of hatching. Snakes: are exceedingly fond of heat, in fact I have known them to in- jure each other in cages in the attempt to retain the warmest places. Hence we can infer that if, when basking in the sun, a snake chances to lie near its eggs, especially if these have already begun to hatch, it will soon feel their heat and so be led to coil more closely about them, and while thus warming itself it will at the same time hasten the process of incubation. The next question that arises is, how this habit of incubating her eggs, even when thus acquired, will be transmitted to the off- spring, for if not transmitted, the habit could never become general. i So little is known of the principles of inheritance that we can- not hope to solve this problem at present. Even Darwin, who made a life-long study of the subject, and to whom we are in- debted for the ingenious theory of pangenesis, was forced to ad- mit our abject ignorance of the laws of transmission of characters from parents to children. We can, however, infer that those serpents most susceptible to the cold would be most likely to re- main by their eggs, and this susceptibility to cold would tend to be inherited by the young 12 Moreover, when we remember what unexplainable cases of in- heritance occur, such as special movements during sleep, we must admit that even the tendency in a snake to incubate its eggs may ulso be transmitted, the more so as we have an indis- putable inheritance of the same nature daily shown us in the case of birds, for the tendency of the parents to incubate their young is in all cases inherited by the offspring. CLEMENT FEZANDIE. 686 Lexington Avenue, New York. Another Ancient Argillite Quarry Near Trenton, ON the left bank of Neshaming ‘“‘ Creek,” Bucks County, Penn- sylvania, about three-fourths of a mile above the mouth of Labaska or Mill Creek, I discovered at the base of the cliffs of metamorphosed slate that there overhang the stream, on June 23, another ancient work-shop where blocks of argillite, lying zn situ, have been chipped into ‘‘turtle-backs.” A layer of chips, hammer-stones, and the now familiar rude leaf-shaped forms is laid bare for several hundred yards where the stream has worn away the margin. The blocks of workable stone in various instances show peckings upon their sides, as do similar specimens at Point Pleasant, inferably made by the ancient workmen to split them with the grain. No search has yet been made for diggings and refuse-heaps higher up the slope, nor hasg@xcavation been made into the ex- posed layers; but thus far the story of the workings on Gaddis’ Run, near Point Pleasant (Bucks County, Pennsylvania), discov- ered on May 22, seems to be repeated, though on a smaller scale. There we were twenty-five miles from Trenton; here we are but fifteen. H. C. MERCER. Do Nestlings Drink. This question suggested itself to my mind very lately, when I observed the following, and to me, entirely new fact: A piazza-roof, on which my windows open, is provided witha SCIENCE. {[Vot. XXII. No. 544 shallow gutter, in which there is a considerable accumulation of the winged seeds from a neighboring tree. These were standing in shallow water, left there by the recent rains. I observed a robin alight on the roof, and noticed that she picked from the gutter a bunch of those seeds, which she held in her bill while she seemed to be preparing to fly away. Presently, apparently dissatisfied with what she had picked up, she dropped the seeds, and moving to a place where they were lying in a thicker bed, she gathered a much larger mass of them, about as many as her bill would hold together. After gathering them and satisfying herself that she had enough, she deliberately dipped the mass into the water and flew away with it to a dis- tant tree. Perhaps some of your readers may suggest a truer explanation; but to me she seemed to be carrying a supply of water to her brood in what was no inadequate substitute for a sponge. FRANCIS PHILIP NASH. Geneva, N. Y., June 28. BOOK-REVIEWS. Logarithmic Tables. By PROFESSOR G. W. JONES, the Author, Ames, Iowa, THE title of this book does not exactly describe its contents. The strictly logarithmic tables are only about one-half of those given. The arrangement of the tables, of which there are eigh- teen, has been made to meet the wants of those who desire to have, ina handy form, tables to be used in computations covering a wide range. Table I. is a four-place, of numbers from 1 to 1,000, followed by one of the same accuracy giving the six prin- cipal trigonometric functions, and of the lengths of ares in radians. The first five degrees of the quadrant are given to each five minutes, the following to each ten minutes, with differences for single minutes. All books reviewed in SCIENCE can be ordered From us. SEND FOR A SAMPLE Copy oF Book Cuat. A Month- ly Index of the Periodical Literature of the World. $1.00 per year. BRENTANO’S, Union Square, New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris. 1869. Wiel); 1893. Manufacturer and Builder. Published Monthly. A handsomely illustrated me- chanical journal, edited by Dr. Wiitiam H. Want. Every number consists of 48 large quarto pages and cover, filled with useful information on all subjects of a practical nature. Specimen copy free. For sale by all newsdealers. Agents wanted every- where. Address HENRI P. 0. Box 1001. ER ANIA A monthly magazine for the study of the German language and litera- ture, is highly recommended by college professors and the press as ‘“‘the best effort yet made to assist the student of German, and to interest him in his pursuit.” Its BEGINNERS’ CoRNER furnishes every year a complete and interesting course in German rammar. $2ayear. Single copies 20 cents. P.O. ox 151, Manchester, N. H. CERARD, 83 Nassau St., N. WV. The Boston Surgical BOSTON, Medical and Journal. MASSACHUSETTS. A FIRST-CLASS WEEKLY MEDICAL NEWSPAPER. ESTABLIZHED 1828. Terms of Subscription: In the United States, and to Canada and Mexico, $5 00 a year in ad yance. To Foreign Countries embraced in the Universal Postal Union, $1.56 a year additional. Single numbers, 15c. ‘Yen consecutive numbers free by mail on receipt of $1.00. This JouRNAL circulates chiefly through the New England States, and is seen by the great majority of the profession in that important district As a means of reaching physicians it is unequalled. It is under the editorial management of Dr. George B. Shattuck, assisted by a large staff of compe- tent coadjutors. Subscriptions and advertisements received by the undersigned, to whom remittances by mail should be sent by money-order, draft or registered letter. DAMRELL & UPHAM, 283 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. No. 545. RACES AND PEOPLES. By DANIEL G, BRINTON, M.D. “The book is good, thoroughly good, and will long remain the best accessible elementary ethnography in our language.—The Christian Union. “We strongly recommend Dr. Brinton’s * Races and Peoples’ to both beginners and scholars. We are not aware of any other recent work on the science of which it treats in the English language.” —Asiatic Quarterly. “His book is an excellent one, and we can heartily recommend it as an introductory manual of ethnol- ogy.” —The Monist. “A useful and really interesting work, which de- serves to be widely read and studied both in Europe and America.’’—Brighton (Eng.) Herald. “This volume is most stimulating. It is wrmuten with great clearness, so that anybody can under- stand, and while in some ways. perforce, superficial, grasps very well the complete field of humanity.” — The New York Times. “Dr. Brinton invests his scientific illustrations and measurements with an indescribable charm of nar- ration, so that ‘Races and Peoples,’ ayowedly a rec- ord of discovered facts, is in reality a strong stim- ulant to the imagination.”—Philadelphia Public Ledger. ““The work is indispensable to the student who re- quires an intelligent guide to a course of ethno- graphic reading.”—Philadelphia Times. (VoL, XXII. Price, postpaid, $1.75. THE AMERICAN RACE. By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. “The book is one of unusual interest and value.”°— Inter Ocean. “«Dr. Daniel G. Brinton writes as the acknowledged authority of the subject.”—Philadelphia Press. “‘The work will be of genuine value to all who wish to know the substance of what has been found out about the indigenous Americans *—Nature. ‘““A masterly discussion, and an example of the successful education of the powers of observation.” —Philadelphia Ledger. Price, postpaid, $2. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y Send 25 Cents For a 3-months’ trial subscription to THE MOTHER’S NURSERY GUIDE, Phe recognized authority on the care of infants and children. $2 per year. Health, Education, Dress, Pastimes. “Of incalculable value."—. VY. Herald. BABYHOOD PUBLISHING CO., Box 3123, N. Y.. ee POPULAR MANUAL OF VISIBLE SPEECH AND: VOCAL PHYSIOLOGY. For use in Colleges and Normal Schools. Sent free by post by iN. D C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N.Y. Price 50 cents. ee SCIENCE © NEW YORK, JULY 14, 1893. PAO wo" THE WRENS OF TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS. BY CHARLES D. OLDRIGHT, AUSTIN, TEXAS. 1. Catherpes Mexicunus conspersus, Cafion Wren. This bird is an ‘‘ endemic” species, its occurrence in any district depend- ‘ing on the topographic features. The great rock walls of the “Colorado River, and the numerous side cafions form an ideal dwelling-place for this little bird, and here it may be found at all seasons, and its loud, ringing song re-echoes from cliff to cliff in the dreary days of November as well as in April’s sunshine. ut it penetrates into the city, and every morning this year one of the first sounds that I have heard has been the matutinal song Of a cafion wren whose nest was in a cranny of an: unoccupied “house standing next to mine. The cafon wren (as active a busy-body as the rest of his tribe) ‘seems to be never too tired to sing. Reclining on the soft grass ‘at the margin of the rivulet you look up the great frowning cliff and see a tiny bird, now clinging to the perpendicular rock, now _ disappearing in some crevice of the cliff and then perching on a projecting fragment, he utters a succession of clear bell-like notes ‘in a descending scale As this wren usually nests in some crevice far up in the cafion wall its eggs are often safe from the hands of the odlogist. ‘Many times have I gazed longingly at a few straws projecting from a hole, while the owner of the nest watched me compla- cently. In such cases ‘‘’tis distance lends enchantment to the view.” However, I have had the pleasure of examining several nests containing eggs and young, and asI have never seen any detailed account of the nidefication of this species, I will give “some particulars about them. _ This bird begins building early in the season, a nest with hatching eggs in it having been taken on the 30th day of March. ‘Tn 1890 fresh eggs were found April 3, 4 and 11. * The nest is placed in some cranny or hole of convenient size, "always in the face of the cliff; other situations are on a rafter in a barn, under the cornice on a veranda and in the chimney of an uninhabited house. The nest is composed of grass and weeds and lined warmly with hair, wool and cotton. The complement of eggs varies ‘from three to five, four being perhaps more usual than either of . other numbers. iu The eggs always have a clear white ground, while the mark- “ings vary froma very slight sprinkling of brown pin-points to numerous large blotches and spots of reddish-brown and lilac, forming a confluent ring encircling the crown; this is the most common pattern of coloration. Their shape is ovate or rounded ‘ovate, but I have seen one pyriform egg in the nest with three other normally shaped eggs. 2. Phryathorus ludovicianus, Carolina Wren. An abundant bird in the bottom lands along brooks and in all heavily timbered country. The Carolina wren is another fine singer, but spends too much of its time in scolding owls, crows and men. But often, especially in the spring and at sunset on a summer’s day, one of these birds will perch on the topmost twig of a tall shrub and wili, with his tail drooping and head thrown back, call ‘sweet William ” until the woodsresound. By the way, ‘‘sweet _ William ” does not express the exact sound of the bird’s notes to ‘me, but I am so hopeless of expressing birds’ voices by English words that I will not attempt to amend it. This bird cannot be called particular in its choice of a nesting- place, for their nests have been found in hollow logs, under the cornice of a house, in a tin can placed ina tree, in a hole in a ‘rock wall and on the window-sill of a farmhouse. The hollow “jog is, I believe, the most usual situation. The nest is made to fit the cranny in which it is built and generally fillsit. Twigs, LE grass weeds, leaves, hair, cotton, wool, rags, paper and even other materials enter into its composition. In shape it is more or less rounded, with an entrance in the side. The eggs are four, five or six in number, five being most common. There is not much variation in the eggs ; the markings being in some heavier than in others. The ground color is white, spotted thickly and finely with specks of reddish-salmon color and lilac, generally forming a poorly defined ring around the crown. The ground color is usually well concealed. Fresh eggs may be found from April 1 to May 15, the height of the breeding season being during the middle of April. 3. Thryothorus bewickit murinus, Baird's Wren. Probably our commonest wren, found in all kinds of country, bottoms or uplands, forest or prairies, mountains or plains. I believe, however, that Baird’s wren prefers a broken country, little patches of prairie and mesquite groves alternating with the timber. A number of these birds must spend their whole lives in the city of Austin, for in nearly every garden one may find a pair. They are fussy little creatures hardly ever silent for a moment but keeping up a lively chatter or queruluous ‘‘ chee, chee, chee.” But all through the spring, even as early as January, the males are great singers, and early on an April morning one cannot go far without hearing the sweet and cheerful song of one of these little birds. At such times one finds the bird perched in a tree-top, but on other occasions he will be hopping amongst the bushes or along a rail fence. flirting his long tail, uttermg a continuous ‘- chirp, chirp,” and at each third ‘‘ chirp” stopping a moment to pour forth his little ditty. This is kept up for hours at a time. In February the wrens become restless and may be seen promenading tie back yards in pairs peering intoevery hole and bird-box. They seem to be often undecided as toa nesting p'ace, for I have known of a pair starting four different nests witbin a week, without any apparent cause for their fickleness. Any place seems good enough for this bird to start a nest—though as I have just stated they are more particular about its final location. Many people here have put small wooden boxes at their gates for the reception of mail matter, and I verily believe that each one is looked into once a year by a Baird’s wren, with a view to building in it, and indeed many are chosen as nesting sites. The nestissimply a mass of rubbish—but always warmly and softly lined with feathers or cotton. Six is a common comple- ment of eggs, but as many as eight or as few as four may con- stitute a full set. The eggs are white, more or less speckled with brown of varying shades and lilac, sometimes the specks of red- dish brown are th‘ckly and uniformly distributed, again they are collected into a ring surrounding the crown or else rather larger specks of chocolate brown and lilac shell markings are more sparingly disposed. Two “albino” eggs came under my notice last spring; one was immaculate white, the other had a very faint speckling on the crown; both these eggs were with other normally colored eggs. I also found a peculiar ‘‘ runt” egg of this species, it is of normal coloration but measures only .55 by .44, being thus the size of a humming-bird’s egg. I f»und it one day ina hole in a telephone pole, and left it thinking that more eggs might be laid, as I saw the birds at hand; but when, after the lapse of several days, none were deposited, I tookit. Why the bird laid no more I do not know. Surprise at the first one may have had something to do with it. 4. Troglodytes aédon aztecus, Western House Wren. Of this member of the family I can say but little, for during his winter stay with us he is very silent and indeed shy. I am aware thathe, like his kinsmen, can scold with remark- able vehemence, for I have heard him. While he remains with us he is to be found in the creek bottoms wherever there are 16 SIGIUSIN Cig, thickets of brush-wood. He remains with us until late in the Spring, indeed the other wrens have young ones before he thinks of leaving for his northern *‘summering place.” Last year lsaw some on the 22nd of April. Isent one of them to Washington where the ‘bird doctors’’ pronounced it ‘‘aztecus.” 5 Salpinctes obsoletus, Rock Wren. : This bird hardly deserves a place to itself, being quite uncom- mon and differing little in appearance and mode of life from” the Cafion wren, which seems to represent it withus. Itis more common further west. Indeed, this is the most easterly record in Texas of its occurrence. METALLIC CARBIDES. BY F. P. VENABLE, CHAPLE HILL, N. C. TuIs name is given to compounds formed by the direct union of carbon with the metals. They are not numerous nor do they seem to be easy of formation and it is very difficult to prepare them ina pure and definite form. Consequently they have been but little studied so far. None of them are known to occur in minerals of terrestrial origin. Interest in these bodies has been heightened of late by the discovery of new ones, and by the instructive decompositions of some of. them. op ae First as to the general mode of formation. _They are usually formed by the action of intense heat upon the metal in the presence of carbon. The form of this carbon is capable of being greatly varied. Graphite, amorphous carbon and many hydrocarbons can be used. The carbide is especially formed when the metal is being extracted from its compoungs, that is, in the nascent state. Several metals thus unite with carbon in the process of manufacture, as zinc, copper and notably iron, andthe presence of the carbides renders the metal hard and brittle. The purification and analysis of these bodies is not at all an easy problem, and hence little or nothing is known of their formulas or chemical constitution Five or more formulas have been assigned to iron carbide, and, of course, several may exist, still the correctness of any of these formulas is questionable. The heat of the ordinary furnace is sufficient to form the carbides of the metals already mentioned. For others, more recently discovered, as the carbides of aluminium, of calcium, of barium, etc., the intense heat of the electric furnace is neces- sary. The first of these, aluminium carbide, isa most interesting body, of a light golden yellow color, it can be gotten from tke electric furnace in a mass of corundum and metallic aluminium. It was described first by Sterry Hunt. Though it will stand intense heat in the air without appreciable change, yet really it is undergoing change all the time as is proved by the odor of hydrocarbons coming from it and the fact that left to itself in air it crumbles in a few weeks into a mass of white alumina. A few shining golden scales of the pure substance can be separated, but so far no analysis has been given to the world. All of these carbides, under certain conditions, give off their carbon in the form of hydrocarbons. The same smell can be detected in all during their decomposition. In some cases, as iron and zinc, the decomposition is caused by the action of an acid, The carbides of the earths decompose in moist air and more rapidly in. water. Calcium carbide decomposes the most energetically of them all. The evolution of the hydrocarbons would be called violent. Of course, the hydrogen needed for the reaction comes from the decomposition of the water or from the hydrogen acid. ; A most interesting fact recently publisbed in the scientific journals, is that the calcium carbide on decomposition yields lime and pure acetylen gas. The acetylen seems very pure. A thousand cu. em. of the evolved gas was passed into an ammoniacal solution of copper chloride and not a bubble went ihrough. All was absorbed and precipitated. This is very im- portant because the modes of preparing acetylen in common use are tedious or expensive, and hence this important hydrocarbon has not been as carefully studied as it otherwise might have been. The formation of hydrocarbons by the decomposition of iron earbide has furnished a basis for one of the theories as to the origin (Vor. XXIf. No. 545 of petroleum. If great quantities of iron carbide existed beneath the earth’s surface and were subjected to decomposing influences, such oils and gases as are found in petroleum regions might very - easily be formed. So far there has been little utilization of these carbides commer- cially. One of the purer forms of iron carbide is used in a process for preparing metallic sodium, and the iron carbide in cast iron confers upon it many of its useful properties. If these bodies can be produced cheaply enough, however, there is strong probability that certain of them will prove very useful. PHILOSOPHY IN THE COLLEGE CURRICULUM. BY HOLMES DYSINGER, CARTHAGE COLLEGE, CARTHAGE, ILL. STUDIES under the name of philosophy are to be found in almost every college curriculum. Either because the subject is too vague or abstruse for the comprehension of the average stu- dent, little more than elementary ysychology, which is rightly regarded as a unecessary part to the introduction to the subject proper, and a brief discussion of practical ethics, aretaughtin most of the schools outside of the few real universities. While the — number of subjects advocated for introduction into the college course is increasing constantly, one so fundamental as philosophy should not be neglected. Apart from its theoretical value, it has practical bearings upon the intellectual range of a man, regardless of the system he adopts, that commend it to the thoughtful con- ~~ sideration of educators. The subject-matter with which philosophy deals bears a peculiar relation to all other subjects in the course, in as much as its office is, partly at least, to systematize and explain all the principles of the particular sciences. This gives the unity so desirable in a course of study, and so essential to the thoroughly-trained mind. From this it serves the highest purpose in education and deserves a prominent place in every course of liberal culture. The philosophical powers of man are last in order of develop- ment. The subject-matter makes it necessarily so. It is the most abstruse of all forms of knowledge. The mind in its unfold- ing passes up through perception and conception to the realm of widest generalizations and the discovery of the principles that are assumed in all our thinking. Philosophy deals with forms of knowledge that stand at the farthest remove from that furnished in so-called presentation — the first development in the mind’s unfolding. When the mind reacnes that stage of development in which it apprehends the principles fundamental to all knowledge, it turns in upon itself and critically examines its own processes and as- sumptions to determine the certainty of being and the validity of our knowledge. This is the highest stage in man’s intellectual ascent. Here he stops. He has completed the circuit of the globe of knowledge. Hestarted with the facts furnished in sense and consciousness, and ends in the principles that underlie and embrace all knowledge. These stand accredited in his own think- ing. Beyond this the mind of man cannot penetrate. That many students cannot attain this stage of knowledge is evident to all who have taught the upper classes in our colleges ; that but few who attempt it get further than the outer court, is to be expected ; but that all are gr atly benefitted intellectually would not be denied by those who have Jooked into the merits of the case and examined the evidence with impartiality. A few additional facts will give our reasons for this conclusion. Notwithstanding its abstruseness, as a discipline in thinking and in logical method, philosophy has no equal. Facts as fur- nished by the senses and distinguished from principles are not dealt with in philosophy, but the relation of facts to one another and to all things else. A!l these in a system of philosophy de- serving of study or worth elaboration must be included in their | relations of codrdination and subordination. The unity of all b ing is the ultimate problem of philosophy. A narrower range and lower ideal may satisfy science, but it cannot attain to that which comprehends all knowledge. Only the mind well disci- plined in logical method can grasp the facts, but the one who attempts to do so will develop a power that is the possession of few and the desire of all. JULY 14, 1893. ] This apprehension of facts as related is essential and necessarily precedent to the discovery of principles which govern these rela- tions. In this respect practical fruit is to result from the study of philosophy. Not simply philosophers, but even the students of philosophy, must get a more comprehensive grasp of facts and principles, as each is assigned its place in the whole system of knowledge. Truth is apprebended in its harmonies and whole- ness. It is seen in its proportions. If more attention were given to a careful study of philosophy as a system, rather than in its history, much of the conceit of knowledge which is so prevalert to-day would be unheard of. The specialist would soon discover that he was occupying a very small niche in the universe of knowledge; the broadest scholar that his horizon included but an infinitesimal portion of the sphere of truth. BRITISH STONE CIRCLES. — ILI. DERBYSHIRE CIRCLES.,? BY A. L. LEWIS, TREASURER ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, LONDON, . ENGLAND. THE Peak district of Derbyshire, so justly famed for its scenery, possesses also many attractions for the archeologist, among which are two stone circles. The larger of these, called Arbor Lowe or Arbe Lowe, is about six miles from Bakewell, and consists of an oval ring, the diame- ters of which were about 126 and 115 feet, the precise lengths being difficult to ascertain in consequence of the stones, which doubtless originally stood upright, being now all flat. and having fallen, some outside, some inside, and some across their original positions, while others are broken into fragments or buried in the soil. There were perhaps about forty stones, of which nearly thirty remain entire or in fragments, the largest being about twelve feet long, six broad, and four thick. The longest diameter of the oval ran nearly northwest and southeast, and somewhat more to the west and east, two of the stones seem to have stood back outside the regular line of the oval. Within the oval, and on the line of the longest diameter, but not in the centre of it (the distances from the northwest and southeast ends being in about the proportion of three to two), are the remains of some large stones — one fourteen feet long — which were apparently three in number, forming a ‘‘cove,” |_, like that in the centre of the northern circle at Abury, the central stone of which faced the rising sun on Midsummer Day. Like the circles at Abury, the stones at Arbelowe are surrounded by a ditch, which is about seven feet deep and fifteen wide at the bottom, outside of which is an embankment, formerly perhaps ten feet high and eight wide at the top; Sir G. Wilkinson says somewhat more, but it may be that he took the maximum and I took the minimum of the measure. This embankment is now very irregular, and in one place a tumulus has been formed from the materials com- posing it, in which were found two Celtic vases and a bronze pin. This tumulus could hardly have formed part of the original plan of the monument, and would therefore seem to have been made after the latter had fallen into disuse. The embankment, like that at Abury, is not a true circle, and there is much similarity in the irregularities of both, but that may he quite accidental. There are two entrances, one southeasterly, in the same direction as the Kennet entrance at Abury, and one to the northwest, but not quite opposite to the other; altogether Abury and Arbelowe, notwithstanding the great difference between them in size, have more points in common than any -other circle has with either. Just outside the southeast entrance are two small stones, quite as likely to have been taken from the interior as to be in their original places. Nearly three hundred yards to the southwest is a tumulus, called Gib Hill, about twenty feet high and as wide at the top, in which a small cist was found, two feet under the surface, which contained a vase, two worked flints, and an iron fibula with places for stones — probably a secondary interment. A bank of earth of doubtful antiquity runs from the embankment for some distance in a direction south of Gib Hill. These various 1 No. 1, Abury, appeared in No. 529, ’arch 24; No. 2,Ston»henge, appeared in No. 537, May 19. To those who may wish for more minute details of meas- urements than can be given in a short article, I would recommend ‘‘ Stone- henge,” by Prefessor Flinders Petrie, D.C L. (Stanford, London). SCIENCE. . 17 earthworks have been supposed to give the form of a serpent to the monument, but Sir Gardner Wilkinson’s plan shows this idea to be quite incorrect; this is a point for the visitor to verify. On the moors at the top of the hills above Eyam is a small circle of a different character from Arbelowe; it is called the ‘‘ Wet Withins,”’ and consists of a bank of earth, about six feet wide and two high, inside which, but close to the bank, was formerly a ring of small stones about two feet high and of proportionate size, of which ten remain, out of perhaps twenty or more. The di- ameter of this circle is about one hundred feet, and some sixty feet to the north-northeast there is a barrow, eighty-three feet leng (from northeast to southwest) and forty-six feet wide. There are some other small remains of a similar character in Derbyshire, but I have not seen them myself, and doubt whether they are worth the trouble of a visit. CHARAKA SAMHITA. BY F, A. HASSLER, M.D., PH D., SANTA ANA, CAL. THE student of Hindu literature has before him an ever-widen- ing field of research. He must be prepared for glimpses and magnificent views of learning and wisdom which will astonish and delight him at every turn. The thoughts and the meth d of expression are different from those of other nations, and there is scarcely a subject, except, perhaps, electricity and steam, that has not been discussed by these ancient sages. The philosopher wiil find his theories, the anarchist his ideas, probed to the bottom, and thestudent of the supreme soul, high, noble thoughts, and even from this grand subject down to the every-day question of mis- tress and maid, we do not think of any matter that will nct be found fully investigated in the pages of the Mahabharata. So the physician of our day will find in the Charaka and other works of ancient India many views of health, disease, and reme- dies which he fondly imagined were jewels in the crown of modern science. When a young man wishes to study medicine, he may receive a little instruction from his pr ceptor, but places his chief reliance upon the teachings of some medical school from which he receives his diploma. This was not the custom in ancient India. There were no colleges. Every student became a part of his preceptor’s household, was lodged and fed by him, and beyond a few Jight services was not asked for any return. It is plain that such teachers could not instruct all their scholars by word of mouth. This accounts for the immense number of med- ical works of ancient India. We cannot tell the age of the Charaka, it is based upon a-work of Agniveca, which carries us back to almost mythical times. The very name of this supposed author sounds like the mystery of long past ages, for it may be translated “the dwelling-place of fire.” Ten years of study of the Mahabharata has led me to auite certain conclusions as to the time when that great work was written, and I should say that the style, of the first part at least, of the Charaka corresponds with that portion of the Mahabharata which I think was written about the sixth century before Chri-t, or, in other words, about the time of the rise of Buddhism. Whatever its age may be. this we know, it is exceedingly ancient. It is mentioned by Avicenna, Rhazes, and others, and is supposed to have been translated by the early Persian and Arabian writers on medicine. But we forget its age when we read its pages. The work is immense. An English translation, now being pub- lished by Doctor Kiviratna, the learned editor of several Sanscrit works and of a medical journal in Bengali. will probably cover from fourteen to fifteen hundred royal octavo pages. But it is not its size to which I wish to call attention, it is the wisdom and learning found in it that make it so valuable and interesting. In a short article like this I cannot expect to do more than give the reader a glimpse of the work and a quotation here and there. We are told that in the earliest times some fifty-odd learned men assembled to study the science of life and the causes of disease; in fact, it was a medical convention similar to those of our day. The first conclusion they arrived at was that —‘‘ Freedom from disease is the excellent root of religion, profit, pleasure, and sal- vation. Diseases are depredators thereof, as also of happy life. This, therefore, is a great enemy of men that hath appeared. 18 SCIENCE, What shall be the means of checking them? they beto»k themselves to meditation.” They did not discuss questions of life and health only, but moral and religious subjects also, and their effect upon life in general. The wind, or breath, disorders of the billiary system and phlegm, or improper secretions, seem to have been fully rec- ognized as causes of bodily diseases, while passion and darkness of mind brought about mental disorders. Long lists of drugs and directions for their proper use are given, and there is abundant evidence that the properties of vaccine matter were well known. We are told that ‘‘ He who knows how to apply these in disorders is conversant with the science of medicine.” And listen to the following in regard to drugs and those who use them: ‘‘ He who is acquainted with their applications according to considerations of time and place, after having observed their effects on individual patients, should be known as the best of physicians. An un- known drug is like poison, or weapon, or fire, or thunder, while a known drug is like nectar. Drugs unknown by name, appearance, and properties, or misapplied even if known, produce mischief. Well appitied, a virulent poison, even, may become an excellent medicine, while a medicine misapplied becomes a virulent poison. Only a physician who is possessed of memory, who is conversant with causes and applications of drugs, who has his passions under control, and who has quickness of decision, should, by the appli- cation of drugs, treat diseases.” Thirty-two kinds of powders and plasters and six hundred pur- gatives are next described, after which a chapter on food and its proper use gives us as good advice as is to be found in any treatise published in this learned nineteenth century. Great stress is laid upon the proper care of the teeth, and a list of plants is given from which brushes can be made, there not being manufactories of such articles as there are now. “As the chief officer of a city protects bis ci y, as the charioteer protects his chariot, after the same manner should the intelligent man be attentive to everything that should be done for the benefit of his own body.” Therefore, bodily, mental, and, if we may so call it, religious hygiene is discussed at length, and many excellent rules given, The question of the duality of the mind and of its connection with the understanding and the soul leads us into all the intricate mazes of Hindu philosophy, but are bere discussed in such a lucid manner that one 1s not bewildered and can easily follow the line of thought with pleasure and profit. *- The objects of the mind are ideas. Here, again, the proper, excessive, scant, and injudicious correlation of the mind with its objects, or of the mental understanding with its objects, becomes the cause of the normal or abnormal condition of oneself.” In other words, a man is sane or insane according to the proper or improper agreement of the mind and its ideas, the ideas the un- derstanding corceives; and, therefore, ‘‘ One should act in such a way as to preserve one’s normal condition, in order that one’s untroubled senses and mind might continue in an untroubled state; that is to say, by keeping oneself in touch with such ob- jects of the senses as are productive of beneficial results; by prop- erly achieving such acts as deserve to be achieved (and abstaining from such acts as should be abstained from), repeatedly ascertain- ing everything by a judicious employment of the understanding; and, lastly, by resorting to practices that are opposed to the vir- tues of the place of habitation, season of time, and one’s own particular nature or disposition (as dependant upon a preponder- ance of this or that attribute or ingredient). Hence all persons desirous of achieving their own good should always adopt with heedfulness the practices of the good.” Selfishness was never a cause of happiness, and we are told “one can never be happy by taking or enjoying anything alone without dividing it with others.” And this advice is good in every age of the world — ‘‘one should not trust everybody, nor should One mistrust everybody.” Having said this, Hindu works teach that everyone should have complete mastery - of his body and his senses, hence we frequently come across such a sentence as this: ‘‘ One should not suffer oneself to be overcome by one’s senses.”’ A very interesting chapter is that which treats of “The Aggre- Each is considered and as good advice as can be found given for the guidance of three of the aggregate. One thing, the first of — the four, is taught which it were well to remember in our day; ~ that is, that time must be considered in the treatment of all dis- — eases, and one must not try to force a cure. : q It would take more time and space than are at our disposal for © us to consider all of even the four parts of the Charaka that have : been published so far, but if any of our readers are interested, we would be glad to give them any information in regard to the work or the other publications of the learned editor of this great monu- ment of ancient Hindu wiscom and leaaning. A NEW THEORY OF LIGHT SENSATION ! BY CHRISTINE LADD FRANKLIN, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, BALTIMORE, MD. THE reasons which make it impossible for most people to ac- cept either the Hering or the Young-Helmholtz theories of light sensation are familiar to every one. The following are the most important of them: The Young-He!mholtz theory requires us to believe: (@) some- thing which is strongly contradicted by consciousness, viz., that the sensation white is nothing but an even mixture of red-green- — blue sensations ; (6b) something which has a strong antecedent improbability against it, viz., that under certain definite circum- stances (e. g., for very excentric parts of the retina and for the totally color-blind) all three color-sensations are produced in ex- actly their original integrity, but yet that they are never produced ~ in any other than that even mixture which gives us the sensation of white; (c) something wlich is quantitatively quite impossible, viz., that after-images, which are frequently very brilliant, are due to nothing but what is left over in the self-light of the retina after part of it has been exhausted by fatigue, althuugh we have otherwise every reason to think that the whole of the self-light is excessively faint. The theory of Hering avoids all of these difficulties of the Young-Helmholtz theory, but at the cost of introducing others which are equally disagreeable; it sins against the first principles of the physiologist by requiring us to think that the process of building up highly organized animal tissue is useful in giving us knowledge of the external world instead of supposing that it takes place (as in every other instance known to us) simply for the sake of its future useful tearing down; it necessarily brings with it a quite hopeless confusion between our ideas of the bright- ness and the relative whiteness of a given sensation (as is proved by the fact that it enables Hering to rediscover, under the name of the specific brightness of the different colors, a phenomenon which has long been yerfectly well known as the Purkinje phe- nomenon); the theory is contradicted (at least the present con- ception of it) by the following fact—the white made out of red and green is not the same thing as the white made cut of blue and yellow; for if (being mixed on the color-wheel) these two whites are made equally bright at an ordinary intensity, they will be found to be of very different brightness when the illumi- nation is made very faint. Nevertheless, the theory of Hering would have to be accepted if it were the only possible way of escape from the difficulties of the Young-Helmho!tz thecry. But these difficulties may be met by a theory which has the following for its principal assump- tions. In its earliest stage of development vision consisted of nothing but a sensation of grey (if we use the word grey to cover the whole series black-grey-white). This sensation of grey was brought about by the action upon the nerve-ends of a certain chemical substance set free in the retina under the influence of light. In the course of development of the visual sense the molecule to be chemically decomposed became so differentiated as to be capable of losing only a part of its exciting substance at once; three chemical constituents of the exciter of the grey-sen- sation can therefore now be present separately (under the influence 1 Abstract from the Proceedings of the International Congress of Experi- mental Psychology, London, 1892. - JuLy 14, 1893. | . of three ditferent parts of the spectrum respectively), and they severally cause the sensations of red, green and blue. But when all three of these substances are present at once they recombine to produce the exciter of the grey sensation, and thus it happens that the objective mixing of three colors, in preper proportions, gives a sensation of no color at all, but only grey. This theory is found, upon working it out in detail, to avoid the difficulties of the theories of Helmholtz and of Hering. Its assumption of a separate chemical process for the produc- tion of the sensation of grey gives it the same great advantage over the Young-Helmholtz theory that is possessed by the theory of Hering ; it enables it, namely, to account for the remarkable fact that the sensation cf grey exists unaccompanied by any sen- sation whatever of color under the five following sets of circum- stances—when the portion of the retina affected is very small, when it is very far from the fovea, when the illumination is very faint, when it is very intense. and when the retina is that ofa person who is totally color-blind. This advantage my thecry at- tains by the perfectly natural and simple assumption of a partial decomposition of chemical molecules; that of Hering requires us to suppose that sensations so closely related as that of red and green are the accompaniments of chemical processes so dissimilar as the building up and the tearing down of photo-chemical sub- stances, and farther that two complementary colors call forth photo chemical processes which destroy each other, instead of combining to produce the process which underlies the sensation of grey. Of the first four of the above enumerated cases the explanation will readily suggest itself; in the case of the totally color-blind it is simply that that differentiation of the primitive molecules by which they have become capable of losing only a part of their exciting substance at one time has not taken place; the condition, in other words, is a condition of atavism. In partial color-blind- ness and in the intermediate zones of the retina in normal vision the only colors perceived are yellow and blue. This would indicate that the substance which in its primitive condition excites the sensation of grey becomes in the first place differentiated into two substances, the exciters of yellow and blue respectively, and that at a later stage of development the exciter of the sensation of yellow becomes again separated into two substances which produce respectively the sensations of red and of green. In this way the unitary (non-mixed) character of the sensation yellow is accounted for by a three-color theory as completely as by a four-color theory. A three-color theory is rendered a necessity _by the fact that it a'one is reconcilable with the results of K6nig’s experiments for the determination of the color-equations of ¢color-blind and of normal eyes,! experiments which far exceed in accuracy any which have yet been made in color-vision, but which, owing to the intricate character of the theoretical deduc- tions made from them, have not hitherto been allowed their due weight in the estimation of color theories. The explanation which the theory of Hering gives of after- images and of simultaneous contrast are not explanations at all, but merely translations of the facts into the language of his theory. My theory is able to deal with them more satisfactcrily ; when red light, say, hes been acting upon the retina for sone time, many of the photo-chemical molecules have lost that one of their constituents which is the exciter of the red sensation; butin this mutilated condition they are exceedingly unstable, and their other two constituents (the exciters of the sensations of blue and of green) are gradually set free ; the effect of this is that, while the eyes are still.open, a blue-green sensation is added to the red sensation with the result of making it gradually fade out into white, and, if the eyes are closed, the cause of the blue-green sensation persists until aJl the molecules affected are totally de- composed. Thusthe actual course of the sensation produced by Icoking at a red object, —its gradual fading out. in case of care- ful fixation, and the appearance of the complementary color if the illumination is diminished or if the eyes are closed, ~ is exactly what the original assumption of a partial decomposition of molecules would require us to predict. The well-known ex- treme rapidity of the circulation in the retina would make it im- +4 Kon'’g und C. Dieterici. Sitzungberichte der Berl. Akad.vom 29 Jull, 186. SCINEGE: My possible that the partly decomposed molecules just referred to should remain within the boundaries of the portion of the retina in which they are first produced; and their completed decomposi- tion after they have passed beyond these boundaries is the cause of the complementary color-sensation which we call simultaneous contrast. The spreading of the actual color which succeeds it would then be accounted for, as Helmholtz suggests, by a diffusion of the colored light in the various media of the eye. No effort has hitherto been made to explain a very remarl able feature in the structure of theretina,—the fact that the retinal elements are of two different kinds, which we distinguish as rods and cones. But this structure becomes quite what one might expect, if we suppose that the rods contain the undeveloped molecules which give us the sensation of grey only, while the cones contain the color molecules, which cause sensations of grey and of color both. The distribution of the rods and cones cor- responds exactly with the distribution of sensitiveness to just per- ceptible light and color excitations as determined by the very care- ful experiments of Eugen Fick.? Two other theories of light sensation have been proposed besides the one which I have here outlined, either one of which meets the requirements of a possible theory far better than that of Hering or of Helmholtz; they are those of Goller’ and Donders.* The former is a physical theory. That of Donders is a chemical theory, and very similar to the one which I here propose. Every chemical theory supposes a tearing down of highly complex molecules; Donders’s theory supposes, in addition, that the tearing down in question can take place in two succes- sive stages. But Donders’s theory is necessarily a four-color theory; and Donders himself, although the experiments of K6nig above referred to had not at that time been made, was so strongly convinced of the necessity of a three-color theory for the explanation of some of the facts of color-vision that he sup- plemented his four-process theory in the retina with a three- process theory inthe highercentres. The desirableness, therefore, of devising a partial decomposition of molecules of such a nature that the fundamental color processes assumed can be three in number instead of four is apparent. But the theory of Dondersis open to a still graver objection. The molecules assumed by him must, in order to be capable of four different semi-dissociations, consist of at leasteight different atoms or groups of atoms. The red green disscciations and the yellow-blue dissociations we may then represent symbolically by these two diagrams respectively : But it will be observed that the two completed dissociations end by having set free different combinations; in the one case 1 is combined with 2 and in the cther case 1 is combined with 8, ete. If, now, the partial dissociations are so unlike as to cause sensa- tions of yellow and blue (or of red and green) it is not probable that ecmpleted dissociations which end in setting free different chemical combinations should produce the same sensation, grey. The difficulty introduced by Donders’s theory is therefore (as in the case of Hering’s theory) as great as the difficulty sought to be removed. It is the desire to secure the advantages of a partial d’ssociation theory, without the disadvantages of the theory of Donders, that has led me to devise a partial dissociation of mole- cules of a different kind. The theory will be found more explicitly set forth in the next number of the Zeitschrift fur Psychologie. 2Studien uber Licht und Farbenempfindung. Pfliiger’s Archiv, Bd. XLIV., s. 441, 1888. Soe Analyse der Lichtwellen durch das Auge. Du Bois-Reymond’s Archiv, 1889. 4 Noch einmal die Farber-systeme. Grdfe’s Archiv fiir Ophthalmologie, Bd. 30 (1), i884. 20 SCIENGE: PuBUISHED BY N. D. C. HODGES, 874 BRoADway, NEw York. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in advance, one nundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reasons we desire to circulate as many copies of Science as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect lib erty to have their articles reprinted elsewhere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photo- engraving should be supplied by the contributor, Rejected manuscripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accom- panies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenti- cated by the name and address of the writer; not necessarily f-r publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold ourselves responsible for any view or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Attention is called to the ‘‘ Wants” column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions, The name and address of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The ‘‘Exchange”’ column is likewise open. THE CAPABILITIES OF PHOTOGRAPHY NOT UNLIMITED FOR ILLUSTRATING ALL CLASSES OF OBJECTS. BY 0. G. MASON, OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER AT BELLEVUE HOSPITAL, NEW YORK CITY. THE comparatively recent departure from old methods in vari- ous fields of scientific research, bas called into action agencies for sol: ing problems of initial progress and results not known or utilized by earlier workers. Discoveries within the last few years have so advanced the lines of study, and an active scientific press has scattered so broadcast the knowledge of progress made that, although the field is boundless, he who reads has little excuse for reworking ground from which all reachable fruit bas been gath- ered. In eagerness for the new, a desire to find some hidden, shorter paths into the mysteries of nature, do we not often fail to recognize obstacles, or to sufficiently consider the best means for their removal? With pen and pencil our predecessors sought to leave a record of their work. What they thought and what they saw have been handed down to us through the best means at their command. For the physician, the botanist, mincralogist, and the geographer the artist sketcbed, elaborated, and finished illus- trations having a more or less amount of truth, often obscured by some personality, which rendered them valueless or even mislead- ing. In no class of objects have such defects been more con- spicuous than that requiring the use of the microscope, Therefore, he who had used with dissatisfaction the hands of the draftsman was eager to utilize the means offered by photography. He had seen the results obtained in other fields, and, without knowing the difficulties in the way, believed it easy to obtain all desired bril- liancy, detail, and amplification. It may be asked, Why have not these expectations been more fully realized? When we pause to consider that color isa most important feature in photographic work, and that a majority of objects studied under the microscope reflect or transmit the least actinic rays of light, red, orange, green, and yellow, we may well understand why we do not secure brilliancy. Again, when the microscopist studies his subject for detail, he mentally eliminates all those parts which do not belong to the special point under observation. A crystal, cell, or fibre which over- or underlies his object or forms a full or partial back- ground in the field of the objective is left out in the mental sum- ming up of his study. The laws of chemistry and optics do not permit such selection and elimination from the photographic mage. A slight tremor conveyed to the microscope by a passing vehicle in the street, a step about the room or house, may be an- noying to the observer, but does not prevent securing results by longer application. But when we consider the necessity of abso- lute immobility of the instrument, often for a considerrble length of time, in order to impress upon even the most sensitive plate the image of many-colored objects, we can well understand one of the greatest causes of failure to secure detail; and this obstacle of moticn becomes far greater as the amplification increases, It SCIENCE. «*« Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. [VoL. XXII. No. 545 is plain that motion is multiplied equally with the diameter of the object; or, in other words, if we magnify an object one thousand diameters, a motion of that object to the extent.of one-tt ousandth: of an inch becomes in the amplified image a motion of one inch, which very readily shows why good results cannot be obtained under such conditions. When observing with the microscope, it is possible and quite feasible to focus the instrument above and below the general plane of the object, in order to study any pro- jecting points which may be within or without the general plane. This feature is not possible with the photographic process, save in so far as diaphragming the lens and modifying the light may effect the result. Overestimation of the possibilities of photogra- phy and underestimation of the careful preparation of objects have occasioned much unnecessary labor and great disappointment by failure to produce results which should be sought through dif- ferent channels. When the investigator contemplates the em- ployment of photography for illustrating his work, let him consult. his photographer before preparing his objects. No one human being has yet encompassed all that is known. _When the anato- mist takes to his photographer a thick section of muscular or ossified tissue and asks to bave the individual striz and cells iso- lated and delineated with distinct ovtlines and minute detail, he will fail to realize bis expectation. When the mineralogist or geologist prepares his sections of crystallization or deposits, he must not calculate that all his various planes will be perfectly shown in one photograph, even if the specimen be translucent. Coler, mass, and position are important factors in al] photographic work. With orthocbromatic plates many objects beretofore im- possible of proper illustration may be quite successfully treated; but, with objects of this class, another factor, that of time of ex- posure, offers a barrier of limitation. The mobility of life, animal and vegetable, is a most important element which cannot be ig- nored in exposures of hours, or even minutes, and seconds. A vegetable fibre, when placed in concentrated light, may make one or more entire revolutions during the time of exposure necessary to properly impress its image upon an orthochromatic plate; and especially is this the case when a high-power objective is used. Thin sections devoid of the less actinic colors, red, orange. yellow, and green in their darker tints, or admixtures, may be easily treated. Circulating fluids or objects changing size or position are susceptible of instantaneous exposures only. When such ob- jectionable features as motion and non-actinic color are present, the problem becomes far more complicated, and if the photogra- pher fails in its clear and complete solution his patron sometimes looks upon such failure as a proof of incompetency or a lack of proper effort. Like her sister handmaids in the advance and illus- tration of scientific thought, photography stands ready to do her proper work. She has done much, and it is believed will do more to enlarge the field of human knowledge and gather the harvest; but we should not ask her to accomplish the impossible. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. The writer's name ts in all cases required as proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number containing his communication will be furnished free to any correspondent. The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. Worms on the Brain of a Bird. In the issue of Science for June 2, is a short account of my finding thread worms in the brain cavity of Boturus mugitans. The title of the article should have read ‘‘on” instead of ‘* in, ” as they were not in the tissue of the brain but, as I state there. in the subarachnoid space. Since writing the short article above referred to I have received a.card from Professor J. W. P. Jenks of Providence, R. I.. im whicb he gives an account of his investigation of a similar if not the same parasite on the brain of the Snake Bird (Plotus anbingus). To quote a little from his communication, he says: ‘Tn 1874 I camped for 50 days near Lake Akechobee in south Florida, and shot dozens of the Snake Birds, and in 19 out of 20 mature birds found a bunch of 10 to 20 parasitic worms just. beneath the arachnoid membrane, but in no instance extending JuLy 14, 1893. ] into the substance of the brain. In young just hatched I never found any. In young from two to three weeks old Ifound them in their stomachs and the alimentary canal. When about ready to fly I found coiled perhaps two or three on the brain.” Further on in his note tome hesays: ‘‘I was surprised to learn of your finding them in Boturus—but I should not have been for I consider them primarily a fish parasite and developed from the eggs taken with the fish into the stomach of the bird, and hence like Trichina spirulis finding their way to the brain.”’ Professor Jenks called my attentionto a note he published on this find in his ‘‘ Popular Zoology,” but which I had overlooked. He also gave me the address of Dr. W. Cahall of Philadelphia who had published an article on the subject, based largely on the material Professor Jenks obtained from Florida There is only one point in Dr. Cahall’s article (Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases for June, 1889), that I wish to speak of, and that is that while 19 out of 20 Snake Birds have these brain parasites they do not seem to affect them untavorably. This was not the case with the Bittern. It was poor in flesh, of inferior size and deficient in intelligence: That birds do get parasites from fish I might add the following case of circumstancial evidence: When skinning a perch (Perca jlavescens), I found in the muscles a number of encysted parasites, the cysts white and about an eighth of an inch long A short time afterwards in skinning a wild duck I found a similar if not the same parasite in the pectoral muscles. The two parasites were of the same size and color and seemed to be the same. G. H. FRENCH. Carbondale, Ill. The International Botanical Congress at Madison. In looking over the ‘:Circular and General Programme of the Forty-Second Meeting of the American Association for the Ad- vancement of Science” just distributed, I am surprised to read on page 12, under the heading ‘: International Botanical Con- gress,” the following statement: ‘‘The congress will consider questions of general botanical interest, but papers embodying the results of research will be excluded. The International Standing Committee upon Nomenclature, appointed last year at the Genoa ° Congress, is expected to present a report at thistime.” This is all that is said in the circular to indicate what we may expect to hear at the Congress. The Botanical Gazette, in an editorial,! urges ‘‘If any botanist has a suggestion . . . now is the time to give it expression. . . . Silence means apathy.” I fear a certain class of our botanists have been silent too long, judging from the above statement. It seems to me outrageous to announce a programme from which all original research is excluded. ~to papers which are merely ‘‘a play of words,” not the results of research. I should consider it an insult to our foreign guests to offer such a programme. The one subject suggested, nomen- clature, is indeed about the only one possible under such restric- tions, being truly void of all scientific research. Botanical congresses do not come every year, especially in America, this being the first ever held here, if I am rightly in- formed. This being the case, it seems to me, as a matter of course, that this should be the time and place fcr a discussion of the vital questions of physiology, morphology, anatomy, etc., that this should be the time for an extreme effort on the part of every American botanist. If we desire to gain standing as true botanists among the true botanists abroad, our supreme effort should be directed to botany, not as appears to be the intention, to a mere machine of botany. It would seem a better restriction if all papers not the result of research were excluded. Papers from America have long presented this characteristic — no ‘‘result of research.’”? Nomenclature and floristic is truly all that we have thus far accomplished. One is, unfortunately, compelled to believe that ‘‘ Free Lance’? accidentally omitted to include botany when he said: ‘‘The Entomological Society is ” 1 Botanical Gazette, vol, xvii. (November, 1892), p. 384. 2 “On the Organization of Science,” by A. Free Lance, Edinburgh, 1892, p. 25. No scientific man cares to listen - SGIE NCE: aye recruited very largely from the ranks of ‘ collectors’ who notori- ously infest entomology far more than any other branch of natu- ral history.” The omission is at least unfortunate. The follow- ing sentences of the paragraph are so pithy and to the point that Icannot refrain from quoting them also: ‘‘The great majority of these have probably no interest in science generally, but care only for those things relevant to butterfly collections (herbaria, in our case). They would never become Fellows of the Linnzan, and care chiefly to discuss ‘collectors’ topics, that would be quite: out of place in that society; so that the Entomological Society affords them a soft purgatorial limbo, midway between the para- dise of science and the inferno of popular nescience.” I trust that I missunderstand the word research as used by the committee, but it would seem desirable that they should better explain what is meant. It may be intended that all papers con- taining research should be presented to Section G of the American Association, fearing that if the congress were not restricted Sec- tion G would be scantily patronized. This, however, does not seem a reasonable interpretation, for if there is a limitation on the congress, we should expect it to be open only to the best papers. of most general interest, which could readily be decided by a committee on programme; lesser papers and papers of local ia- terest being referred to Section G. The claim cannot be made with justice that nomenclature has more than a factional interest. The majority of good botanists of the world pay no attention to nomenclature, and to them a discussion of its intricacies would be dry and worthless in the extreme. If such factional questions are to be the only ones con- sidered, the congréss should not be called a ‘: Botanical Congress,” but a Nomenclature Congress. Whatever may be intended, it is an unfortunate use of words. It is announced that a separate circular will shortly be dis- tributed to botanists, giving further information. It is to be hoped that a clear explanation of this point will be given. H. J. WEBBER. Subtropical Laboratory, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Eustis, Fla. A Plea for a Fair Valuation of Experimental Physiology in Biological Courses. ” DuRING the discussion of the biology question, one point has interested me more than any other, namely, that none of the parties who have taken part in the discussion have been able to avoid speaking at the same time of evolution and of natural selec- tion. This thinking of biology, with constant reference to those two features of Darwinian teaching, has led me to believe more strongly than ever that my view of the matter is not very much wrong. However, an article in this journal, entitled ‘‘ Biology in our Colleges: A Plea for a Broader and More Liberal Biology,” induces me to take up my pen once more and explain matters a little more closely. The tendency of the above-named paper ‘‘ is —a plea for sys- tematic biology,” but it is marked by such a number of wonder- ful views on the different lines of physiological investigation that many specialists will really te at a loss about what they shall think. ‘‘Systematic zodlogy has gone, or, if still tolerated in a few colleges, is restricted to a very subordinate position.” I imagine that the biologist would not know what to do if syste- matic work, both zodlogical and botanical — the latter holds still, says the article, ‘‘an honored place in many universities, though evidently on the wane” — was not carried on, so that we could know how to lay our bands upon the different forms for further study. But the methods of such a work may be wrong, snd, fatally, often are so, namely, when it presents itself merely as simple regristation work, which strikingly has been called museum zodlogy or botany. Systematic work of any kind is to be valued just as much as morphological or physiological wok, and so, even if it is done still —as in fact it is in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred — after the old Linrzean principles. On the other hand, a biological classification, or even only a morpbologi- cal classification, which employs biological characters of tbe forms, is to be more highly valued. There is no doubt but that any naturalist enjoys the *‘ delight 22 n contemplating the aspects of nature,” and ‘‘ derives enjoymert from studying the forms, habits, and relationships of animals and plants,” but-how can he do so, and thus become a ‘‘biolo- gist,” unless he peers ‘“‘through the tube of a compound micro- scope,” etc., and does his proper hardening, and staining, and «monographs the same bit of tissue.” How such investigations can ‘obscure the objects” we are trying to explain is rather a mystery. If, at least, anybody allows them to obscure our gen- eral views, there can be no speaking of scientific work. Natural history has become, in our century, so broad that no man possibly can become a ‘general naturalist” ora good “faunal naturalist” any more; he will, at least, not be able to treat all the questions that arise in any other way but in that of the amateur. The ob- jects of our investigations lie a little deeper than to glance at all that is ‘‘most beautiful” and attractive to the eye. How the article comes to the conclusion that the study of the minute structure is histology or that of development embryology, is rather doubtful, Further, I am anxious to know if any of the readers walking over the scientific border-land commanded by the naturalist who might be educated according to the principles given in the article of which we speak did ever meet with ‘‘ the various pathogenic micrococci of fermentation and disease” which are mentioned (p. 353). However, I shall not enter upon fur- ther details, but turn towards the view expressed in the said article about ‘‘section-cutters and physiologists,” and I shall trys to show that the work done by the workers in this particular field is far from being one-sided, at least, when we are speaking of real scientific men who put an equally fair valuation on all of the branches of their science. There are, as Professor E L. Greene said, ‘‘a good many men trying to figure somewhere” as scien- tific writers, but where are the scientific men to be found when we look towards the ‘ scientific border-land” (Greene)? There- fore, we shall see that the right sort of scientific physiologists do not dare to depreciate any of the branches of their science. Professor P. L. Panum once said that he who would not acknowl- edge phys‘ology as the fundament of pathology and of the other departments of medical science has. no right to be called a scien- tist. The vegetable physiologist who dces not know anything about the principles of agriculture, horticulture, and forestry also loses this right, and so he does, if he is ignorant with regard to a great deal of the practical, industrial branches. If we go to the opposite side, he must know bow to carry out more minute investigations; he cannot avo'd being something of a ‘‘slice- cutter,” and if he should be unfortunate enough to find ‘‘ some new form of cell or new property of protoplasm,’ he must under- stand how to trace such a discovery as far as itcan betraced. Iam, therefore, very much surprised to hear that ‘+ the modern school of histologists, under the head of biology, teach little besides the minute structure and function of tissues.” For my personal ac- ‘count, I have studied physiology almost from the time when I could appreciate the blessings of the study of natural history, but I have never met a man who claimed to be a physiologist, — in casu vegetable physiologist,— and who, speaking, for example, of the nitrogen question, did not know the theoretical investigations quite as well as the practical experiments with fertilizers. But it must be noted that natural science has, at present, reached such an extent that no man possibly can cover the whole ground. Thus we have, with regard to special work, to become specialists, and. therefore, it is possible to take a farmer's boy and make out of him ‘‘a general naturalist of the present day” or a ‘local faunal” —or floral — ‘‘ naturalist.” He will be no scientific man. ‘* Biological” teaching is a failure for other reasons than those presented in the article. A cvllege professor may offer a course in ‘‘ general biology” and include ‘‘cell structure and the struc- ture of the less complex tissues of animals and plants.” But this is not ‘‘ general biology;” the structure of two different forms has not the least to do with biology, it comes under the heading of internal or external morphology, and, when making a study of this kird, the student does not see more of life in general and of the laws by which it is governed than he saw before. Here the experimental physiology of animals and plants must be held up Lefore a school of ‘‘ biologists” who are following a phantom of SCIENCE. (Vor. XXII. No. 545 their own imagination if they really believe that function can be explained out of form. It is here that ‘‘ the pendulum has swung too far,’ and it is not in the direction of ‘‘ exclusive microscopic and physiologic work.” The latter is safe enough. The fault lies entirely in the methods of modern biology, which begins with giving itself a wrong definition. If the modern biologist had cared more for experimental physiology, he would know now how to direct his actions when the pendulum “swings back.” Tf I understand the article aright, the student should begin his biological work with elementary ‘‘general biology.” He will, then, come to the university without, practically speaking, know- ing anything about “biological” questions, and he will plunge into the study of cell-structure at once. This beginning of a course would be anything but beneficial to the young, ignorant student. If we take the example of the farmer’s boy, he would naturally have to start with the study of what we call external morphology, collect plants, insects, or shells, and perhaps study their ways. It would be entirely lost on him to train him in the study of the cell and its organs. The other special sides of biology which are proposed for study are: 2. Morphology, taxonomy, and relationships; 3. systematic work in widely-separated groups; 4, faunal work; 5. the distribution of life in time and space; 6. the princi) les nal philosophy of biology. These are the constituents of ‘‘ biology !” If it were so, the condition of natural science would be very lamentable. Not a single word or hint is given about the exis- tence of experimental work, which should be the main factor in the whole course of training. It is true, as has been said, that ‘*sham” is a hard expression, but. here it might be used very properly. Many of the ‘: biologists” of the present day will hardly understcod my view, because they have been taught to regard the study of morphology as the essential part of their biological studies, but the physiologists will do so, because they know that we can take but very few steps in any direction without ex- periment. So long as biological courses do not include a preper course in experimental physiology of animals and plants, they cannot be called properly scientific. Anybody who will not be- lieve this may be referred to Paul Bert’s ‘‘ La Science Experimen- tale.” There is no danger that I should have misunderstood the article. I see clearly that it wishes the ‘‘systematic biology,” which might have been called, more logically, biological classification, to take a place a little more ahead of what it holds at present. But, try- ing to give a fair valuation of the other branches of physiology, it fails entirely. It is well known how language can command the thoughts, and if biologists go forth without knowing what they are teaching, the present confusion will grow instead of being settled. Perhaps *‘ biology” will gain more and more lovers and become (as it is) very fashionable, but the amount of restless work, chasing new problems and pursuing all that is interesting merely because it is new, will not, intime, be very much valued. Nothing can save ‘ biology ’’ except experimental physiology. J. CHRISTIAN Bay. Missouri Botanical Garden, July 7. Mr. McGee and the Washington Symposium. It strikes me as curious, and certainly contrary to scientific usage, that the succinct statements made by Mr. King as to the limitations of his inferences on the earth’s age are ignored by our Washington friends. One might actually imagine that we were not on the scent of polymerism ! considered either with reference to its volume or the inseparable thermal effect; or that we were unaware of the high pressure and long range thermal variations of the physical constants of rocks. It takes so little time, so little cerebration to adduce critical commonplaces of this nature, 1 Tf there was one subject in which we imagined that our work had reachcd the point of prolixity, it was the change of chemical or molecular constitution as resulting from temperature and stress. (_f. Am. Journ., Xxxiil., p. 28, 1887; ibi7., sxxvii., pp. 339, 351, 1889; ibid., xlil., p. 498, 1891; ibid., Xliv., p. 242, 1892; etc.; Phil. Mag., xxxl., p. 9, et. req, particularly §25, 1891; ibid., xxv, p. 174, § 3, 1893; Am. Chem. Journal, xil, p. 1, 1890; Bull. U. Ss. Geolog. Survey; No. 94, 1892: and els:where). And row comes Mr. McGee with obviously well-meant instruc.ion on the feasibility of our polymeric mechanism. JULY 14, 1893.) that they are always bountifully forthcoming. But the things which one really wants, the physical character of an alleged discrepancy, its numerical value, the so-many per cent of error under such conditions,— these one is left to wish for in vain, sup- posing that one has not long since learned to pay the personal groining for the personal satisfaction. So far aslam concerned, if I could not adequately state how big a sin it is under which somebody else is staggering, I should prefer to hold my peace, believing that matters of vague conjecture are not fit to be chronicled. Nobody on the same side of common sense would to- day attempt to exhaust so com;lex a problem as the one in question ina singleinstance. It is reasonable, however, to try to remove piece by piece, element by element. What we did was an endeavor to remove the preponderating element, and I must re iterate that if our respite had not been cut short by recent unfavorable legislation, other things would have been brought out in their turn andin due time. Perhaps it is heresy to state that an immense future awaits laboratory research in physical geology ; but stating it, one would like to refer not so much to the punching of clay or the pulling of taffy candy, as to legitimate physical measurement However, others have survived even the odium of cultivating ‘‘exact” methods. We are soothing ourselves with the comfort of so thinking. CaRL BaRUs. Phys. Laboratory, U.S. Weather Bureau, Washington, D.C. The Lac de Marbre Trout, A New Species. Description: B. 11 12; D. 13; A. 13; V. 9; P. 14; Ver- tebrze, 60. : The specimen described is about twelve inches in length. Body subfusiform, compressed, pointed at snout, slender at the tail. Height of body near one-sixth of the total length; head one-fifth, crown convex. Snout oneand one third, and interorbital Space one and one-half times the eye. Eye little less than one- fifth of the head, two-thirds of the space between the orbits on the forehead. Mouth large; maxillary straight, extending back- ward almost as far asthe hinder edge of the eye, bearing strong teeth on itslower edge for nearly its entire length. Teeth on intermaxillary and mandibles stronger. The tongue hears a series of four strong booked teeth at each side, and behind the glossohyal on the basibranchials there is a band of several series of smaller ones. Gill rakers straight, short, sharp, rough, 8 + 14 on the first arch. Opercle thin, with a few striae. Scales very. small; apparently there areabout two hundred and thirty in the series immediately above the lateral line and more than two hundred and fifty in a row five or sixscales above this. Distance from first ray vf dorsal to end of snout little more than that fronr the same ray to the tip of the adipose fin. The middle of the total length fallshalfway between the ends of the hinder rays of the dorsal and its base. Dorsal and anal fins are slightly emarginate at the ends of their median rays. Pectorals and ventrals small; base of latter slightly behind the middle of that of the dorsal. Caudal pedicel slender, notch very deep, hinder border sinuous, as in Salmo alpinus, lobes pointed. The caudal notch is deeper in this species than in any other of the American forms except S. namaycush. Back dark brown with an iridescent blueish tint, unspotted. Dorsal dark, clouded, without spots or bands. Pectorals, anal and ventrals orange in the middle, yellowish or whitish toward bases and at their margins. The dark color of the back shades into whitish tinged with pink below the lateral line. Ventral surfece white, no doubt reddish in breeding season. Head black on top. silvery on the cheeks, white beneath. Flesh pink. Caudal tin yellowish toward the base, brown toward the hinder border, which has a narrow edging of light color. Faint areas of lighter tint suggest a few spots of red inlife a'ong the lateral line; the condition of the specimens is such that this may be left in question, as also the number uf caeca or presence of parr- bands of which there are faint indications This fish is evidently allied to the blue-back of the Rangeley Lakes, S. oquassa, but reaches a greater size than that species, SCHENGE: 23 and is readily distinguished by the maxillary and its dentition, the caudal fin, and thecoloration. Similarly when compared with S. arcturus, S, stagnalis and S. Rossi, it isseen to be quite distinct. With the saibling, S. alpinus, introduced in Sunapee Lake and elsewhere, it has still less in common. Our specimens were taken in Lac de Marbre, Ottawa County, Province of Quebec, Canada, whence they we:e sent by favor of the Hon. J. G. A. Creighton. They reached us at the instance of Mr. A. N. Cheney, fishing editor of Shooting and Fishing, who when asked to suggest a specific name replied with the question, ‘* How would it doto name it for Mr. R. B. Marston, editor of Fishing Gazette, London, an Englishman overflowing with good feeling for everything pertaining to fish. fishing and America, and whois doing’much to enhance friendly interest between the people of the two countries?” In consequence of the suggestivn this handsome char. one of the handsomest of our species, is introduced under the name, Salmo (Salvelinus) Marstoni. S. GARMAN. Mus. Comp. Zool., Cambridge, Mass. ; Tucumcari. THE writer first visited this historic locality in 1887, before he had had opportunity to define the Denison beds at the top of his Lower Cretaceous section in northern Texas, and fell into the error, which others have not escaped, of concluding, from the peculiar Jurassic-like Gryphceea dilatatu, Marcou, the only fossils found upon that visit, that the beds were Jurassic, and so puk- lished his opinion. Later, however, after having had an opportunity to complete his study and arrangement of the stratigraphy of the Comanche series in central Texas, he discovered in the Denison beds! of his Washita Division certain features which led him to believe that his early diagnosis of the Tucumcari beds was erroneous, and that they were really closely allied in age to the Denison beds. Under this impression, which was communicated orally to all interested, he availed himself of the first opportunity to revisit Tucumcari, Apri] 30,1891. He then discovered in association with G. dilatata the list of additional species herewith given, and, at earliest op- portunity, under date of May, 1892, published, in a general dis- cussion of the region, the following revision of his previous con- clusions, which was the first printed announcement of the Cre- taceous age of the G. dilatata beds: —2 “The Trinity Sands and Red Bed Regions. ‘““The writer has twice visited the Mesa Tucumcari and found it a most interesting geological remnant of the former area of the Llano Estacado. The table or summit described by Capt. Simpson is covered with the typical Llano Estacado formation, identical in composition and formerly continuous with the sheet which covers the Llano proper, some 20 miles distant. Below this is a vertical escarpment of 50 feet or more of typical Dakota sandstone resting upon loose sands and clays, forming a slope identical in aspect and fossil remains with the Denison beds of the Washita Division, which have been eroded away from the 400 miles intervening between it and the main body of those beds at Denison, Texas. Beneath this is a large deposit of the typical Trinity sands country * of white pack sands, thin clay ‘seams, and flagstones, while the base is composed of the typical vermilion sandy clays of the Red Beds.” Notwithstanding the above clear statement of my opinions, the Third Annual Report of the Geological Survey, printed nearly a half-year afterward, devotes many pages to asserting that I held to the Jurassic age of the O. dilatata beds at Tucumcari. Upon pointing out this misquotation, instead of acknowledging the error, and repairing the injustice, it was followed up by a privately 1 Denison beds as originally defined and used by writer. Not the Denison beds of Taff, as used in an entirely different meaning. Compare Bulletin of Geological Society of America, Vol. 11., p.591, and Third Annual Report of Texas State Geological Survey. 2 “On the Occurrence of Artesian and Other Underground Waters in Texas, Eastern New Mc xico, and Indian Territory West of the 97th Meridian,” by Robert Thomas Hill (being part of Vol. III. of Senate Dccument 41, 1st Session, 52d Congress, Washington, May, 1892. 3 For “country of ” read ‘‘ consisting of ”*— a typographic error. 24 SCIENCE printed, bitter, and vindictive attack upon my report, endeavor- ing to discredit all the work I had done in the Texas region. This last-mentioned paper is so utterly incorrect in its assertions, and so malicious in tone, that I do not think it needs other answer than a perusal of it. Certainly it has no place in scientific litera- ture, and if any of my friends should be so deceived by it as to believe any of its assertions, I shall be glad to clear any doubts by correspondence. In Science of May 26, 1893. p. 283, the author of the foregoing attacks again misquotes me by saying that. after my second visit to Tucumeari I again affirmed Marcou’s reference, an assertion which has no foundation, for hardly had the two lines after my first visit been printed before I realized my mistake, and orally communicated it to everyone interested, and have never since maintained by word or pen, and was the first to publish the true age of these beds. It was impossible, in a general report written upon the subject of Artesian Water, to go into controversy over the age of a fos- siliferous horizon. Thad given a full outline of the region with its broader problems in a Bulletin of the Geological Society of America for 1891, entitled ‘‘ Notes on the Texas New Mexico Region.” In this paper I clearly set forth the Tertiary age of the Llano Estacado, and amplified many points which have since been published entirely de novo. Inasmuch as several parties have criticised me in public print for not giving the minutiz of Tucumeari, I submit the following amplification of my previous remarks, and hope it will prove satisfactory to all fair-minded readers. Section of Tucumcari Mesa. Preliminary. Thickness (esti- mated on spot). 6. Summit of Mesa (Neocene). White, calcareous, silicious, marly limestone of character peculiar to Tertiary formations of Great JF RIS eo ontoween.ocanenus bE ROA oor LolmEaraoR ea 25-50 5. Escarpment around summit of Mesa (Dakota). Consisting of the massive brown-yellow sandstone, which I had traced for days from LaMora, and other points on the Las Vegas Plateau, and which Stevenson had called (I think properly) Dakota. Histimated}to beraboubirs...-)i-)-1-/ev-peyecieiecisleierereleiens 75 4. Crumbling yellow sandstone at base of above, and (4a). Gentler slope, forming bench around summit escarpment, (Washita) Division of Comanche se- ries. Decomposing sandstone of base of 4,and arena- ceous clays and marls. Containing fauna of Deni- son beds, Washita Division at top, and G. dilatata, Marcou, in debris, apparently weathered out..... 100 3. Shoulder at base of above. Impure, yellow, arenaceous stone................ 15 Pedestal, or lower slope of Mesa. 2a. Upper part (Trinity). White and red unconsolidated sands (pack sands), with thin strata of dimension-layers of hard quartz- itic rock, and thin layers of blue clay, resembling in general character thé Potomac sands of Mary- land and the Trinity Sands of Texas. This horizon contains a peculiar granular mineral, resembling red coral, and outcrops in all the escarpment of the Las Vegas Plateau on the north side of the Canadian, and is denominated the white band in that region, to distinguish it from the brown band (Dakota) and underlying Red Beds...... diKpringo Go 150 1(b) Lower portion of slope (Pre-Cretaceous). Bright, vermilion, argillaceous clays of the Red Beds continuing to bed of Canadian............. 250 The above section is not final or complete in details of the indi- vidual beds, but it illustrates the sequence of the four great forma- tions as preserved at Tucumcari and in the adjacent Llano Esta- cado, and shows the geologic position of the following fauna, which [VoL. XXII. No. 545 were collected near the summit below the base of the sandstone escarpment which surrounds it, in beds numbered 4 and 4a. "List of Fossils. 1. Turbinolia texuna, Conrad. United States and Mexican Boundary Survey. 2. Ostrea (Grypheea) dilatata, Marcou. America. 3. Ostrea quadricostata, Shumard. Science, St. Louis, 1860. 4. Plicatula, species undescribed. 5. Neithea occidentalis, Conrad. Boundary Survey. 6. Trigonia emoryi, Conrad. Boundary Survey. 7. Protocardia multistriata, Con. Boundary Survey. ; 8. Turritella marnochii, White, or Seriatim granuluta, Roe- mer. 9. Ammonites leonensis, Conrad. Boundary Survey. In addition to the above there are four species of Pelecyopoda, which Iam unable to determine generically, but they resemble Astarte, Lucina, Panopea, and Isocordia. All of the species enumerated, with the exception of No. 2 (G. dilatuta, Marcou), occur elsewhere in the greatest abundance and similarly associated in the Washita Division of the Comanche Series of Texas and Mexico, and, with the exception of Nos. 5 and 8, have never been found in any other beds than those of the Washita Division. Nos. 5 and 8 range downward into the Fred- ericksburg Division. No. 1 (Yurbinolia tecana Con.) has not been reported east of the Pecos, but it cecurs near El Paso, and at Arivichi. Sonora (as shown by Gabb), associated with a fauna similar to that of Tucumeari. The forms from No 2 tu No. 9, inclusive, are the most common and characteristic species of the Washita Division, and can be collected at nearly any locality where the entire division is ¢x- posed, between Marietta, Indian Territory, and the Rio Grande. The ammonite is the common, characteristic ammonite of the Fort Worth beds of the Washita Division, at Denison, Fort Worth, Austin, and elsewhere, and has hitberto not been found except in the Fort Worth beds of the Washita Division. Ostrea quadricostata, Shum., Trigonia emoryii. Con., and the other species mentioned are especially characteristic of the Deni- son or uppermost beds of the Washita Division, at Denison, an | hence my reference of these beds at Tucumcari to the Denison beads of the Washita Division. As I have previously maintained, G. dilatatu, Marcou, is a good species, entirely distinct from G pitcheri, Morton, and, as has been said, has remarkable resemblance to the Jurassic G. d.dlatata of Sowerby. Under these con/itions it is not strange, then. that before the stratigraphic and paleontologic position of the Washita Division was known, that the distant Tucumcari beds should have been adjudged Jurassic upon the evidence of the two species col- lected therefrom by Marcou, which certainly have, when consid- ered alone, a most Jurassic aspect. ! The section and list of fossils above given differ in detail from those published on page 208 of the Third Annual Report of the Texas State Geological Survey. The two lists, however, both show the Grypheea dilatata beds to be of the age of the Washita Divi- sion of the Comanche Series, and the author of the Texas report, which was printed several months after the writer's, came to the same conclusion, although he seems to have been unaware of the fact that the writer had abandoned his early reference of the G. dilatata beds to the Jurassic. With the exception that the beds which the writer refers to the Trinity, are referred by the Texas auth’ r to the Triassic, there is no dissimilarity between their con- clusions. Following is the list of fossils published in the Texas reports, “collected from the Tucumcari beds in the vicinity of Tucumeari Geology of North Transactions Academy of United States and Mexican United States and Mexican United States and Mexican United States and Mexican 1 Grypheea dilatata, var. tucumcari, Marcou, and O. marshii, Marccu. JuLy 14, 1893. ] and Pyramid Mountains,” It is unfortunate that the exact local- ity of the collection is not given :— Gryphea dilatata var. tucumcari, Marcou. ' Ostrea marshii, as determined by Marcou. Gryphea pitcheri, Mortcn, Exogyra texana, Roemer. ‘Ostrea quadriplicata, Shumard. Trigonia emoryii, Conrad. Cardium hillanum, Sow. Cytherea leonensis, Conrad. Turritella seriatim granulata, Roemer. Pinna, Sp. Ammonites. Pecten. Finally, the writer wishes to state that he is not prepared, nor does he desire, to write a final treatise on the Tucumcari, which can never be properly related until the atlas-sheets of the United States Geological Survey are completed for the region. Tucum- cari is but a single station in the vast group of phenomena belong- ing to the deposition and degradation of the Las Vegas and Llano Estacado Plateaus and the Canadian Valley, and to be properly understood, it would be necessary to write a treatise on the whole region. One thing is settled beyond all doubt in my mind, how- ever, and that is that the G. dilatata beds of the region do not belong to the Jurassic, but are undoubtedly of Cretaceous age. On the otber hand, it may also be safely assumed that the Gryphceea dilatata, Sow , of Marcou, is not the same as G. pitcheri, Morton, as has been asserted by many authors, nor does it occur in the Cretaceous beds of central Texas, so far-as the writer is aware. But this is a question which cannot be discussed intelligibly until a thorough revision of the Grypheas is made. In conclusion, permit me to say that there is not one trace of the Jurassic formation over the Texas region, as Mr. Marcou so positively affirms, and, furthermore, that there is no evidence that it was ever there, the whole trend of the testimony being to show that that region was land during the Jurassic period. If the writer should devote his time to criticising the works of his contemporaries or predecessors, he would have little time for research. It has been my practice, however, under the opinion that all knowledge is progressive, to see the good in the works of others, and to correct any errors without abuse. In all I have published on the Texas region, there is not a line which was written with the desire to discredit any man, and yet I believe that my severest critics will confess that there has been great ad- vance in opinion since I undertook the renaissance of geologic -study in Texas. My collections from Tucumcari are in Washington, and are open to the inspection of anyone inter sted. Rost. T. HILu. Chloropia. THE case of Wallian, reported on page 360 of the latest vol- ume of Science, would seem to be one of temporary Chloropia. More extended and carefully recorded observations, while the ob- server is looking at various objects under various conditions, would be very desirable. E. W. ScRIPTURE. Yals University, New Haven. Trees as a Factor in Climate. I ONCE observed a signal case of the effect of trees in determin- ing rainfall. A few years ago I was walking along a road in the so-called backbone of England at an elevation of from 800 to 1,000 feet above the sea-level. It was a dull, calm October day, -and the hills on either side were cased in mist. -Where I was no rain was falling and the ground was quite dry. As TI passed on the road entered and traversed a wood of fir trees. Here I at once encountered a gentle drizzle. Far from suspecting that the ‘trees were playing any part in the matter, I concluded that the expected wet weather had at last set in. When the road emerged from the wood at its opposite extremity I found that no rain was there falling or had fallen. Still Idid not connect the trees with ithe downfall, but imagined that the weather bad again improved. On returning from my destination about three hours after- SCIENCE. oe wards I found that the rain was still falling in the wood, but that it ceased as soon as I emerged into the open country. The ground, too, within the wood was wet, stil! all around it was dry. Hence it appeared that a slight rain must have been fall- ing for the greater part of the day within the wood, but not in the bare fields and heath land outside. Thus under certain conditions of the weather the presence of trees may determine rainfall which would not take place in their absence. J. W. SLATER. London, England. Mineral Wax. I notice an account and inquiry in Science of June 16 in regard to the receipt at the National Museum of specimens of natural wax coming from Portland, Oregon, derived from the shore: of the Columbia River, and from other accounts it is found along the coast from the Columbia River to Puget’s Sound. The material has been well known for the past half century as mineral wax, native paraffin, ozokerite and lastly as ozocerite, a hydro-carbon compound (hydrogen, 15 per cent; carbon, 85 per cent — variable); supposed to be derived from bituminous and lignite coal formation by infiltration and crystallization. It is generally found in situ in the neighborhood of coal and lignite beds and in the bituminous clays or shales. The legend as to its being derived from a wreck is a most ab- surd one. It is a resinous wax in consistency and translucency, with structure sometimes foliated; color brown or yellowish- brown by transmitted light; leek green by reflected light ; odor, aromatic, in specimens that I have examined, having the char- acteristics and feel of beeswax that had been lying for some time in water. It is mined in variable quantities in Germany, Austria, Turkey, and England, associated with the soft coal and lignite beds. In Galicia alone about 31,000 tons have been mined since its discovery there in 1859. It is used in Europe principally in the manufacture of candles and by refining in place of beeswax and paraffin. It is said to be an excellent electrical insulator. In the United States it is mined 7m situ at Soldiers Summit, Uintah County, and in Emery County, Utah. Sixty-five thousand pounds were marketed in 1888, with a yearly increasing output. The whole product of the United States in 1890, including the Oregon find, reached 350,000 pounds. The imports of mineral wax, ozocerite, under the names of bay or myrtle, Brazilian and Chinese wax, in 1890 were over one and a half million pounds. It has been found in situ in thin seams in the lignite beds of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. The deposits along the Columbia River and on the sea-shore of Oregon are no doubt the debris from lignite beds near by. C. D. Hiscox. 361 Broadway, New York. BOOK-REVIEWS. The Seismological Journal of Japan. Edited by JoHN MILnNz, F.R.S. In 1880 the Seismological Society of Japan was founded by a number of earnest students of seismology in that country, prominent amongst whom was the editor of this Journal. In the earlier years of its existence iis membership included such well-known names as Milne, Gray, Ewing, Mendenhall and others at that time resident in Japan, and their interest in the science led especially to the invention of many instrumental appliances for the study of earthquake phenomena, some o! which have been copied wherever earthquakes are observed, and in some respects have revolutionized the science of experimental seismology. It also resulted in the establishment of a chair of seismology in the Imperial University of Japan, and the organization of a bureau controlling a central observatory and some 700 outside stations. Of late years, however, the interest in the society has declined, partly through the return of some of its most active supporcers to England and America, and, after publishing sixteen volumes of Transactions, in 1892 the society ceased to exist. Professor Milne, bowever, still remains in Japan and has determined to continue the publication of seismological literature in the present 26 journal, which is therefore to be regarded, not as an entirely new venture, butas a continuation of the series heretofore known as the Transactions of the Seismological Society. The new journal is issued in the same form and from the same printers as the old Transactions, and the first number, now at hand, bears on its title page Vol. XVII, which is its number in the old series, so that the new volumes can be bound uniformly with those previously issued. The annual subscription is five dollars, In this number the first article is on ‘ The Mitigation of Earth- quake Effects and Certain Experiments in Earth Physics” by Professor Milne, in which various lines of experiment are pro- posed that might possibly lead to the prediction of severe earth- quakes so as to guard against their effects. In the second, ‘‘On the Application of Photography to Seismology and Volcanic Phenomena,” Professor W. K Burton describes with illustrations the photographic records from Milne’s t emor indicators. In the third Professor Milne gives an abstract of the ‘‘ Seismometrical Observations for the Year 1890,” from which it appears that in that year 845 earthquakes were felt in Japan, of which 49 were classed as severe, 264 as moderate and 532 as feeble. Of the severe earthquakes, four (Jan. 7, Mar. 19, Apr. 16, Nov. 17) were accorded more detailed description. Inthe fourth article ‘“‘On the Overturning and Fracturing of Brick and other Columns, by Horizontally Applied Motion,” Professor Milne and F. Omori describe a very interesting series of experiments, wherein various objects such as blocks of wood of different dimensions, bricks, columns built of brick or of cement, were mounted on a wheeled truck to which a reciprocating horizontal motion could be communicated, and the circumstances of the motion, with the overturning or fracture of the object, were electrically recorded. From thedata the maximum velocity and maximum ~accelleration necessary for overturning were calculated and compared with the experimental results with a fairly good agree- ment. Inan article on ‘‘ Earth Pulsations in Regard to Certain Natural Phenomena and Physical Investigaticns,” Professor Milne concludes that ‘‘ the movements called earth tremors are move- SCIEN GE: [VoLt. XXII. No. 545 ments in the crust of the earth not altogether unlike the swell upon the ocean,” and infers a connection between them and the steepness of the barometric gradient. In an article ‘‘ Onthe Move- ments of Horizontal Pendulums,” he gives an abstract with notes of certain observations made by Dr. E. von Rebeur-Paschwitz at Potsdam, Wilhelmshaven and Teneriffe, and published in the Astronomische Nachrichten. F. Omori gives ‘‘A Note on Old Chinese Earthquakes,” and as the concluding article Professor Milne gives a twenty-page ‘‘Note on the Great Earthquake of October 28, 1891,” the phenomena of which are further discussed in his report to the British Association, 1892, and the complete account of which is to be issued under the auspices of the Imperial University of Japan, but is not yet ready for publica- tion. According to the statements of this account the killed numbered 9,960, wounded 19,994, and houses totally destroyed 128,750. The immediate cause of the disaster was the formation of a fault which can be traced on the surface of the earth for a distance of between forty and fifty miles, and shows a difference of level amounting in many places to twenty or thirty feet. There is also abundant evideace of horizontal displacements, sometimes as great as eighteen feet, and the whole Neo Valley appears to have suffered a permanent compression, becoming narrower, the piers of bridges being left closer together than before the earthquake. There were also many observations of surface waves in the earth, involving .a perceptible tilting of objects resting upon it; and the maximum horizontal motion indicated by the instruments was from 25 mm to 3) mm, with a period of from 1 to 2.5 seconds. Notions de Chimie Agricole. Par TH. SCHLOESING, FILs. Paris, Gauthier- Villars et fils. Quai des Grands-Augustins, 55. 208 p. 8°. Broché, 2fr50. Cartonné 3 fr. FOLLOWING in the footsteps of the elder Schloesing, M. Th. Schloesing, Fils, Ingenieur des Manufacteurs del’Etat, presents us with an admirable treatise on agricultural chemistry covering in detail the physical and chemical relations of soil.and atmosphere Reading Matter Notices. Ripans Tabules : for torpid liver. Ripans Tabules banish pain. THE MODERN MALADY ; or, Suf- Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Mineral Water For Liver, Kidney and Bladder Troubles. For Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. azines. Rates low. AM. MAG. EXCHANGE, Boe NUMBERS and complete sets of leading Mag- Schoharie, N. Y. RESTORE YOUR EYESIGHT Cataracts, scars or films can be absorbed and paralyzed nerves restored, without the knife or risk. Diseased eyes or lids can be cured by our home treatment. ‘We proveit.” Hune dreds convinced. Our illustrated pamphlet, ‘Home Treatment for Eyes,” free. Don’t miss it. Everybody wantsit. “THE Eyn,” Glens Falls, N.Y, Se, WORLD-ENGLISH. 25 Cents. HANDBOOK OF WORLD-ENGLISH. 25 Cents. Ex- President Andrew D. Z White, of Cornell University, says: ‘‘I believe thatthe highest interests of Chris- tian civilization and of humanity would be served by its adoption.” “So set down, our tongue is the best for the world to unite upon.”—Brooklyn Eagle. “The idea of Mr. Bell has much to recommend it; and the presentation is charmingly clear.”—Ameri- can, Phila. “The result is a language which cannot fail to meet with acceptance.’—Boston Traveller. “ World- English deserves the careful consideration of all serious scholars.”"— Modern Language Notes. Sent, postpaid, on receipt of price. N. D. €. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. ferers from ‘ Nerves,’ An introduction to public consideration, from a non-medical point of view, of a con- dition of ill-health which is increasingly prevalent in all ranks of society. In the first part of this work the author dwells on the errors in our mode of treating Neuras- thenia, consequent on the wide ignorance of the subject which still prevails; in the sec- ond part, attention is drawn to the principal causes of the malady. The allegory forming the Introduction to Part I. gives a brief his- tory of nervous exhaustion and the modes of treatment which have at various times been thought suitable to this most painful and try- ing disease. By CYRIL BENNETT. 12°, 184 pp., $1.50. THE RADIOMETER. By DANIEL S. TROY. This contains a discussion of the reasons for their action and of the phenomena pre- sented in Crookes’ tubes. Price, postpaid, 50 cents. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright’s Disease, Diabetes. For Hemorrhcids, Etc. It has been used medicinally and prescribed by pbyeicians for nearly one hundred years. IRECTIONS:—Take one or two glasses about a half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50. Bedford Mineral Springs Co., Bedford, Pa. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. toAgenta, ha Or $25 to $50 fig Gentlemen, using or selling “Old Reliable Plater.” Only practical way to replate rusty aud worn knives, forks, spoons, etc; quickly done by dipping in melted I metal. No experience, polishing =] or machinery. Thick plate at one operation; lasts 5 to 10 years; fine finish when taken from the plater. per week, Every family has plating to do. Plater sells readily. Profits large. W. P. Harrison & Co., Columbus,O. New Store. New Stock. MINERALS. Sse sis cmente Send for our ‘‘ Winter Bulletin,” recently issued. Minerals, Gems, Microscopical Sections, Fine Lap- idary Work. GEO. L. ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists, Removed to 64 East 12th Street, New York — ASK us @ +—C-WE MAKE THEM, B.COLT&CO. | I6 BEEKMAN ST 189 LA SALLE ST NEW YORK “s" CHICAGO.Iu. JULY 14, 1893. | to plant life. Methods of chem‘cal analysis are wisely left for a separate work and the results of analysis alone. are given whena knowledge of the same is necessary to an understanding of the discussion. The nature of the experiments, however, and the manipulation of the same, are given with sufficient fullness to enable the reader to judge of the value of the conclusions. The general arrangement of the bookisas follows: Part I. treats of the nutrition of plants, of germination, and of the origin of the organic and inorganic constituents. Part II. makes a study of the atmosphere in its relation to plant life and of the gases influencing this life, of nitrogen, oxygen, carbonic acid, nitric acid,ammonia, etc. Paurt IIL. treats of soils, their formation and composition, and of their physical and: chemical properties. A bibliography, coinciding with the arrangement of the text, com- pletes the work. The author is particularly interesting in his section on nitri- fication and also in treating of the assimilation of free atmospheric nitrogen by plants andsoils. The experiments and conclusions of Berthelot and André are noted as well as those of M. Schloesing, the author concluding with; ‘‘Il n’entre pas dans notre pro- gramme dinsister davantage sur ces diverses recherches; car nous tentons d@’ordinaire a4 n’avancer que des faits positifs. Ici il ne nous est guére permis de faire un choix entre les opinions produites. Il est a espérer qn’un prochaine avenir levera les doutes qui régnent encore sur ce grave sujet.” The book has the usual exquisite neatness of first-class French publications, with full-bodied paper, clear print and broad margins, making it altogether a most enjoyable volume. CHARLES PLATT. Outlines of Forestry, or the Elementary Principles Underlying the Science of Forestry. By Epwin J. Houston. Philadel- phia, J. B. Lippincott Co. 2654p. 12°. $1. THIS little book is a useful manual of facts relating to the sub- ject. Among the matters considered are the conditions neces- sary for the grow h of plants, distribution over the earth, forma- SCIENCE: 27 tion of soil, animate and inanimate enemies of the forest, vapor, rain, drainage, climate, hail, reforestation and tree planting, etc. The last chapter, called ‘‘ Primer of primers,” contains in short, concise sentences the substance of what had been given at length in the earlier chapters. Taken by itself, it would serve a use- ful purpose in the education of the general public to the import- ance of the subject. The book is, perhaps,. unfortunately written in a loose and rather slovenly manner. It abounds in repetitions of not only the same ideas, but also of nearly identical words. The fol- lowing extracts are particularly bad examples, but they fairly represent the ordinary style of the writer: ‘‘ Heat and light are to be found in practically all parts of the earth. They differ, however, in amount in different regions of the earth, and such differences cause the differences that are noticed in the plants that grow in different regions” ‘‘ The quantity of moisture in the air differs greatly in different parts of the earth, and on this difference, together with the difference in temperature, depends the differences observed in the plants of various regions.”’ ‘‘ Each section of the country possesses, so to speak, a nationality in its plants, or, in other words, there lives in each section of country a particular nation of plants. Such a nation of plants, or the plants peculiar toa particular section of country, is called its flora.” The author makes use of a new word, ‘‘heatshine,” which is rather difficult to define. ‘‘Thesunshine and the heatshine which awaken the sleeping germ and call it into activity,” ete: Inthe appendix are given var ous lists of trees suitable for planting, and these contain some curious errors. For example, under the head of ‘‘ deciduous trees” we find maples, hickories, cedars firs and pines, while under ‘‘ evergreens’ are placed spruce, larch, sweet gum, poplar, oak, walnut, etc. In another place we ob- serve under ‘‘conifers” bald cypress, red cedar, white pine, black cherry and European alder, while the European larch fig- ures in another table as an evergreeen. Errors of this kind rather detract from the value of the book. JOSEPH F.. JAMES. Delicious _ Drink. Horsford’s Acid Phosphate with water- and sugar only, makes a delicious, healthful and invigorating drink. -Allays the thirst, aids diges- tion, and relieves the lassitude so common in midsummer. Dr, M. H. Henry, New York, says: ““When completely tired out by pro- longed wakefulness and overwork, it is of the greatest value to me. Asa bev- erage it possesses charms beyond any- thing I know of in the form of medi- cine.” Descriptive pamphlet free. Rumford Chemical Works, Providence, R. I. Beware of Substitutes and Imitations. Exchanges. [Freeofcharge to all, if ofsatisfactory character. Address N. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New York.] For sale or exchange.—A complete set of the re- port of the last Geological Survey of Wisconsin, ‘’. C. Chamberlin, geologist. It consists of four large volumes, finely illustrated, and upwards of forty large maps and charts. Will sell for cash or exchange for a microscope. Address Geo. Beck, Platteville, Wis. For sale or exchange for copper coins or rare postage stamps. Tryon’s American Marine Conch- ology, containing hand colored figures of all the shells of the Atlantic coast of the United States. Presentation copy, autograph, etc. One vol., half morocco, 8v0, usual price, $2*, postpaid, $15. Botany of the Fortieth Parallel of the Hundredth Meridian of the Pacific R. R. Survey. Other Botanical works and works on Ethnology. F. A. Hassler, M.D., Santa Ana, Cal. I have a fire-proof safe, weight 1,150 pounds, which I will sell cheap or exchange for a gasoline engine or some other things that may happen to suit. The safe is nearly new, used a short time only. Make offers. A. Lagerstrom, Cannon Falls, Minn., Box 857. For exchange.—Hudson River fossils in good con- dition from the vicinity of Moore’s Hill, iat, also land and fresh water shells. Desire fossils and shells from other groups and localities. Address Geo. C. Hubbari, Moore’s Hill, Ind. For sale at low price.—A fine old-fashioned photo- graphic camera, rosewood box, one foot square, lenses, four inches diameter, made by C. C. Harri- son. Plateholders, troughs, baths, etc., all in large wooden case, formerly the property of the late President Moore, of Columbia College. This is a fine example of an instrument of the best make for the old wet-process methods, and valuable to any institution or amateur interested in the history of photography in the U. 8. Address M. S. Daniel, 236 W. 4th St., New York. I wish to exchange a collection of 7,000 shells, 1061 species and yarieties, American and foreign, land, fluviatile and marine, for a good microscope and accessories. Address, with particulars, Dr. Lorenzo G. Yates, Santa Barbara, California. For exchange.—I wish to exchange Lepidoptera of South Dakota and other sections, for Lepidoptera of the world. Will purchase species of North Amer- ica. Correspondence solicited, particularly with collectors in the Rocky Mountains, Pacific coast and Hudson’s Bay regions. P. C. Truman, Volga, Brooking county, South Dakota. Wants. YOUNG man who has been through the course in mathematics in Princeton University, wishes some tutorirg thissummer. Rates reason- able. Address P.H Westcott, Cramer’s Hill, Cam- den Co., N. J. (NG oesar of an American Polytechnic insti- tution and of a German university (Géttingen), seeks a position to teach chemistry in a college or similar institution. Five years’ experience in teaching chemistry, Address Chemist, 757 Cary St , Brockton, Mass. AMS experienced teacher in general biology wishes a position in a first-class college or university. Three years in post-graduate study. Extensive experience. Strongindorsements. Address E. W. Doran, Ph.D., 1327 G St., N. W., Washington, D. C. HREE teachers wanted for a male and female seminary in central New York. Typewriting, etc., languages, mathomaties, sciences, et. al. Send stamp with and for particulars. Box 701, Hemp- stead, L. I. ZOOLOGICAL collector and taxidermist of ten years’ experience in the field is now open to en- agement, for either field or laboratory work. aterences furnished. Address Taxidermist, Box 75, White Sulphur Springs, West Va. ANTED, as principal of a flourishing technical school, a gentleman of education and experi- ence who will be capable of supervising both me- chanical and common school instruction. Special familiarity with some technical branch desirable. Address, giving age, qualifications, etc., J.B. Bloom- ingdale, Fifty-ninth street and Third avenue, N. Y Wes young man as assistant in our AY microscopical department. Queen & Co., Philadelphia. : HE undersigned desires specimens of North American Gallinae in the flesh for the study of their pterylosis. These species are especially de- sired: Colinus ridgwayi, cyrtonyx montezumae, deudragapus franklini, lagopus welchi,tympanuchus cupido and pedioecetes phasianellus. Any persons haying alcoholic specimens which they are willing to loan or who can obtain specimens of any of the above are requested to communicate with Hubert ' Lyman Clark, 3922 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa. 28 SCIENCE. [VoL. XXII]. No. 545 THE American Bell Tolehon COMPANY. 125 MILK ST., BOSTON, MASS. This Company owns the Letters - Patent "No. 186,787, granted to Alexander Graham Bell, January 30th, 1877, the scope of which ‘has been defined by the Supreme Court of the United States in the following terms: ‘The patent itself is for the mechanical structure of an electric telephone to be used ‘to produce the electrical action on which the first patent rests. The third claim is for the use in such instruments of a diaphragm, made of a plate of iron or steel, or other ma- terial capable of inductive action; the fifth, of a permanent magnet constructed as de- ‘scribed with a coil upon the end or ends nearest the plate; the sixth, of a sounding box as described; the seventh, of a speaking or hearing tube as described for conveying the sounds; and the eighth, of a permanent magnet and plate combined. The claim is not for these several things in and of them- selves, but for an electric telephone in the -construction of which these things or any of them are used.’’ This Company also owns Letters-Patent) No. 463,569, granted to Emile Berliner, No- vember 17, 1891, for a combined Telegraph and Telephone, and controls Letters-Patent No. 474,231, granted to Thomas A. Edison, May 3, 1892, for a Speaking Telegraph, which cover fundamental inventions and embrace all forms of microphone transmit- ters and of carbon telephones. BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY. There is an opening fora young man to open a New York office of the American Lightning Protection Co., operating under my patents. But little capital will be re- quired. N. D.C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, NEW YORK EINE YD) Te OS TO VOLUME XVIII OF 5 C TEN Gis is in preparation, and will be issued at an early date. IN DE Ce LOW iGo Ss), 874 Broadway, New York, N. Y. LIGHTNING DESTROYS! Shall it be your house or a pound of copper ? Entirely new departure in pro- tecting buildings from lightning. One hundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made under patents of N. D. €. Hodges, Editor of Sccence) will be sent, prepaid, to any ad- dress, on receipt of five dollars. Corraspondence solicited. | Agents wanted, AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION CO., 874 Broadway, New York City. Fact and Theory Papers I. THE SUPPRESSION OF CON- SUMPTION. By GODFREY W. HAMBLETON, M.D. 12°. 40c. F Il. THE SOCIETY AND THE “FAD.” By APPLETON MORGAN, Hsq. 12°. 20 cents. III. PROTOPLASM AND LIFE C. F. Cox. 12°. 75 cents. IV. THE CHEROKEES IN PRE-CO- LUMBIAN TIMES. By Cyrus ee 12°, $1. V. THE TORNADO. By HA. Hazen. 12°. $1. ~ VI. TIME-RELATIONS OF MENTAL PHENOMENA. By JOSEPH JASTROW. 12°. 50c. VII. HOUSEHOLD HYGIENE. By MARY TAYLOR BISSELL. 12°. 75 cents. N. D. C. HODGES, Publisher, 874 Braadway, New York. By QUERY. Can any reader of Sczence cite a case of lightning stroke in which the dissipation of a small conductor (one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter, say,) has failed to protect between two horizon- tal planes passing through its upper and lower ends respective- ly? Plenty of cases have been found which show that when the conductor is dissipated the build- ing is not injured to the extent explained (for many of these see volumes of Philosophical Trans- actions at the time when light- ning was attracting the attention of the Royal Society), but not an exception is yet known, al though this query has been pub- lished far and wide among elec- tricians. First inserted June 19, 1891. No re- sponse to date. N. D.C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, N. Y. SCIENCE CLUBBING RATES. 10% DISCOUNT. We will allow the above discount to any subscriber to Science who will send us an order for periodicals exceeding $10, counting each at its full price. N. D. € HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. ed ‘ living rooms. A few minutes’ daily exercise ‘on our fascinating apparatus clears the brain, tones up the body, develops weak parts. Our cabinet contains chest weights, | rowing-weights, lifting-weights, > clubs and dumb bells, adjust- able for old and young. J? és the only complete exercising outfit _ tn the world suitable for use in IZ All prices. i can order on approval. ~ machine separate, $4.50 and up. _ Educated agents wanted. Puyst “BUSY FOLKS’ GYMNASIU/1.” You Chest Shoulders and Upper Back, good for Round Shoulders, CAL CuLTuRE CuHartT, with illustrated directions for de- veloping every part of the body healthfully, 50 cts. naming this paper. Sent for half price to those WHITNEY HOME GYMNASIUM CO., Box D., Rochester, N. Y. Vou. XXII. No. 546. THE SouTH DakoTA ARTESIAN BASIN. W. S. ICL Ca: : odo ‘A Row oF HifroctypsHs, Casa No. 2, PALENQUE. ze 131, 0, CREBROD, “ocdcs000000000509 ooapoccooce Ul) THE OSAGE RIVER AND Its MEANDERS. Arthur HVGRHOID cocacoognnnb. éocncos0es05 pan9souus 31) 7 Tur BooM OF THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN. TJ. A jects: IRAROUMRscscac Seaencoeaeg | -co0000D00Ne 32 A SiuK-SPINNING CavE Larva. H. Garman,... 33 A New OrtHocrapny. J. I. D. Hinds... 34 | chusetts. EvecrricaL Nores. R. A. F........... ....-+--- 35 A New INSTANCE OF STREAM CAPTURE. Hunter ibe JERS scqRc00 s800 990050 co cuEdDOUD0NN0 36 INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS oF SouTH FLORIDA. G. setts 2 Ws, UAB coo00dccn09 ~~ apo cre 0660 fo ath Z ‘QUANTITY AND QUALITY oF MILK. W.W. Cooke. 38 ; Terrers To THa EDITOR. the theory of evolution. An Unusual Aurora. W. H. Howard........ 39 Light-Shunners and Light-Seekers. J. W. (UTiBReaoadaboa0es Sogacceoso 39 The Aurora. 40 p Natural Selection at Fault. J. W. Slater... 41| tary on or before April 1, 1894. The Habitat and the Diet ofthe Lepidoptera. - | To Uv SUGGS cdceapounddescoDd nse. oAoanoDD 41 ' of adequate merit. Beaver Creek Meteorite. Hdwin EH. Howell. 41 Entered at the Post-Office of New York, N.Y., as Second-Class Mail Matter. Boston, July 3, 1893. ’ ELEVENTH YEAR. JULY 21, 1893. SINGLE Copies, Ten Crnrts. $3.50 Per YEAR, In ADVANCE. Walker Prizes in Natural History. The Boston Society of Natural History offers a first prize of from $60 to $100 and a second prize of asum not exceeding $50 for the best me- moirs, in English, on one of the following sub- 1. The relations of inflorescence to cross-fertiliza_ tion illustrated by the plants of Eastern Massa_ 2. What depths of formerly overlying rocks, now removed by denudation, may be inferred from the 3. Experiments affording evidence for or against Each memoir must be accompanied by a sealed envelope enclosing the author’s name and super- } scribed by a motte corresponding to one borne by ‘the manuscript, and must be handed to the Secre- structure of various rocks in Eastern Massachu- | USEFUL HAND-BOOKS, The Ornamental Penman’s Pocketbook of Alpha- bets, for sign-writers, engravers, stone-cutters and draftsmen, 20 cts. A System of Easy Lettering, by Howard Cromwell, 50 cts. Practical Electrics: A Universai Handybook on Every-day Electrical Mat- ters, 135 pp., fully illustrated, 12mo, cloth, 75 cts. Notes on Design of Small Dynamo, by G. Halliday, 79 pp., with a number of plates to scale, 12mo, cloth, $1. The Phonograph and How to Construct It, b W. Gillett, 87 pp., 12 folding plates, 12mo, cloth, $2. SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, Publishers, 12 Cortlandt St., New York. Illustrated and descriptive cata- logues, 10 cts. The Batrachians and Reptiles of Indiana. A Work of 204 pages, with 3 plates of 12 figures. Contains full descriptions of nearly one hundred species of Batrachians and Reptiles, together with abundant notes on their habits. The identification of the species made. easy by means of analytical tables. By O. P. Hay, Ph.D. Price, in paper cover, postpaid. $1.00. Bowen-Merrill Book Co , Indianapolis, Ind, Prizes will not be awarded unless the memoirs are SAMUEL HENSHAW, Secretary. | GERMANIA A monthly magazine for the study of the German language and litera- ture, is highly recommended by college professors and the press as “the best effort yet made to assist the student of German, and to interest him in his | pursuit.” Its BEGINNERS’ CoRNER furnishes every — year a complete and interesting course in German grammar. $2ayear. Single copies 20 cents. P.O. Box 151, Manchester, N. H. NEW METHOD OF PROTECTING BUILDINGS FROM LIGHTNING. SPARE THE ROD AND SPOIL THE HOUSE! Lightning Destroys. Shall it be Your House or a Pound of Copper? PROTECTION FROM LIGHTNING. What is the Problem? In seeking a means of protection from lightning-discharges, we have in view two objects,— the one the prevention of damage to buildings, aud the other the prevention of injury to life. In order to destroy a building in whole or in part, It is necessary that work should be done; that is, as physicists express it, energy is required. Just before the lightning-discharge takes place, the energy capable of doing the damage which we seek to prevent exists in the column of air extending from the cloud to the earth in some form that makes it capable of appearing as what we call electricity. We will therefore call it electrical energy. What this electrical energy is, it is not necessary for us to consider in this place ; but that it exists there can be no doubt, as it manifests itself In the destruction of buildings, The problem that we have to deal with, therefore, is the conversion of this energy into some other form, and the ac- complishment of this in such a way as shall result in the least injury to prop- erty and life. Why Have the Old Rods Failed? When lightuing-rods were first proposed, the science of energetics was en- tirely undeveloped; that is to say, in the middle of the last century scientific men had not come to recognize the fact that the different forms of energy — heat, electricity, mechanica! power, etc.— were convertible one Into the other, and that each could produce just so much of each of the other forms, and no more. The doctrine of the conservation and correlation of energy was first clearly worked out in the early part of this century. There were, however, some facts known in regard to electricity a hundred and forty years ago; and among these were the attracting power of points for an electric spark, and the conducting power of metals. Lightning-rods were therefore introduced with the idea that the electricity existing in the lightning-discharge could be con- veyed around the building which it was proposed to protect, and that the building would thus be saved. The question as to dissipation of the energy involved was entirely Ignored, naturally; and from that time to this, in spite of the best endeavors of those interested, lightning-rods constructed in accordance with Franklin’s principle have not furnished satisfactory protection. The reason for this is apparent when it is considered that the electrical energy existing in the atmosphere before the discharge, or, more exactly, in the column of dielectric from the cloud to the earth, above referred to, reaches its maxlmum value on the sur- face of the conductors that chance to be within the column of dielectric; so that the greatest display of energy will be on the surface of the very lightning- rods that were meant to protect, and damage results, as so often proves to be the case. It will be understood, of course, that this display of energy on the surface of the old lightning-rods is aided by their being more or l-ss insulated from the earth, but in any event the very existence of such a mass of metal as an old lightning-rod can only tend to produce a disastrous dissipation of electrical energy upon its surface,— ‘‘ to draw the lightning,” as it is so commonly put. Is there a Better Means of Protection? Having cleared our minds, therefore, of any idea of conducting electricity, and keeping clearly in view the fact that in providing protection against light- ning we must furnish some means by which the electrical energy may be harmlessly dissipated, the question arises, ‘‘ Can an improved form be given to the rod so that it shall aid in this d!ssipation? ” As the electrical energy involved manifests itself on the surface of conduec- tors, the improved rod should be metallic; but, instead of making a large rod, suppose that we make it comparatively small in size, so that the total amount of metal running from the top of the house to some point a little below the foundations sh4ll not exceed one pound. Suppose, again, that we iatroduce numerous insulating joints in this rod. We shall then have a rod that experl- ence shows will be readily destroyed — will be readily dissipated — when a discharge takes place; aniit will be evident, that, so far as the electrical en- ergy is consumed in doing this, there will be the less to do other damag 3. The only point that remains to be proved as to the utility of such a rod Is to show that the dissipation of such a conductor does not tend to injure other bodies in its immediate vicinity. On this poin; I cai only say that I have found no case where such a conductor (for instance, a bell wires) has been dis- sipated, even if resting against a plastered wall, where there has been any material damage done to surrounding objects. Of course, it is readily understood-that such an explosion cannot take place in a confined space without the rupture of the walls (the wire cannot be boarded over); butin every case that I have found recorded this dissipation takes place just as gunpowder burns when spread onaboard. The objects against wiich the conductor rests may be stained, but they are not shattered, I would theretore make clear this distinction between the action of elsctri- cal energy when dissipated on the surface of a large conductor and whon dis- sipated on the surface of a comparatively small or easily dissipated conductor, When dissipated on the surface of a large conductor, — a conductor so strong as to resist the explosive effsct,— damage results to objects around. When dissipated on the surface of a small conductor, the conductor goes, but the other objects around are sayed " A Typical Case of the Action of a Small Conductor. Franklin, ina letter to Collinson read before the London Royal Society, Dee. 18, 1755, describing the partial destruction by lightuing of a church-tower at Newbury, Mass , wrote, ‘‘ Near the bell was fixed an lron hammer to strike the hours ; and from the tail of the hammer a wire went down through a small gimlet-hole in the floor that the bell stood upon, aud through a second floor in like manner; then horizontally under and near the plastered ceiling of that second floor, till it came near a p'astered wall; then down by the side of that wall to aclock, which stood about twenty feet below the bell, The wire was not bigger thas acommon knitting needle. The spire was split all to pieces by the lightning, and the parts flung in all directions over the sqiare in whick the church stood, so that nothing remainsd above the bell. The lightning passed between the hammer and the clock in the above-mentioned wire. without hurting either of the floors, or having any effect upon them (except making the gimlet-holes, through which the wire passed, a littl» bigger), and without hurting the plastered wall, or any part of the building, so far as the aforesaid wire and the pendulum-wire of the clock extended; which latter wire was about the thickness of a goose-quill. From the end of the peudu- lum, down quite to the ground, the builiing was exceedingly rent and dam- aged. .. . No part of the aforementioned long, small wire, between the clock and the hammer, could be found, except about two inches that hung to the tail of the hammer, and about as much that was fastened to the clock; the rest being exploded, and its particles dissipated in smoke and alr, as gun- powder is by common fire, and had only left a black smutty track on the plas- tering, three or four inches broad, darkest in the middl», and fainter towards the edges, all along the ceiling, under which it passed, and down the wall.” One hundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made under patents of N. D. C. Hodges, Editor of Science) will bs mailed, pos:paid, to any address, on receipt of five dollars ($5). Correspondence solicited, AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION CO., 874 Broadway, New York City. Agents wanted. ii SCIENCE [VoLt. XXII. No. 546 Probably you take THE Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity do. lf you do not, now is a good time to begin. It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty cents. Address: The Electrical Engineer, 203 Broadway, - - - New York, N.Y. Every reader of “Science” should sub- scribe for the AMERICAN ARCHITECT, THE OLDEST AND BEST Architectural publication in the country. Interesting articles on architecture, Sani- tation, Archeology, Decoration, etc., by the ablest writers. Hichly illustrated Issued weekly. Send stamp for specimen copy to the publishers, Ticknor & Co., 211 Tremont St., Boston. “Extremely useful to beginners and collectors for the region it covers."—Wm. H. Dall. MOLLUSKS OF THE ATLANTIC COAST OF THE UNITED STATES, South to Cape Hatteras. By Austin C. ApGar. This work contains a key to all the genera, a glossary of Molluscan terms. de- scriptions of all the species of shells, and over sixty illustrations. Price, Bound in Cloth, Post- paid, $1. For sale by AUSTIN C, APGAR, 511 East State St., Trenton, N. 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We are prepared to import the above instru- ments, duty free, for educational institutions, at extremely low prices, Correspondence So'icited. QUEEN & CO., Sole Agents. Philadelphia. ‘Oo NEW YORK, JULY 21, 193. THE SOUTH DAKOTA ARTESIAN BASIN. BY W. S. HALL, M.S., M.D., HAVERFORD COLLEGE, HAVERFORD, PA. THE State of South Dakota is about 320 miles long by 210 miles wide. The Missouri River crosses the middle of the north boun- dary and flows south-southeast till it reaches the north boundary of Nebraska, when it sweeps around to the east and forms the boundary line between South Dakota and Nebraska. Five great water-courses pass down the long slope of the high plains from the western boundary of the State to the Missouri River. The largest of these is the Cheyenne River, furnishing a drainage channel for the Black Hills, which lie partly in South Dakota and pattly in Wyoming. A few small, short streams flow from the east into the Missouri. The James River (fcrmerly called Dakota River) flows in a very direct course, south by east, across the State, bisecting the part of the State east of the Missouri River. The James River valley is a broad plain fron 1,200 feet to 1,300 feet above sea-level. As early as 1882 artesian wells were drilled at different places in the valley with the hope of securing a more abundant supply for the cities and villages which were so rapidly outgrowing their water-supply. The uniform success in getting water, the abundant supply, the good quality, and the great force with which it was ejected began to attract general attention. It has been demonstrated by numer- ous and widely-distributed experiments that the whole James River valley is an artesian basin. Geologists and engineers seem to agree that it is the most wonderful artesian basin in the world. The source and limit of the water-supply of this region have been the subject of careful and extended in\ estigations by both Federal and State commissions. In this brief paper the writer will en- deayor to give the results of these investigations to date. 1. The source of the supply of water. There are three general requirements that must be satisfied in seeking for the source of supply of an artesian basin :— I. The source must be as high as the greatest height to which the water, in any well tapping the basin, will rise. II. The amount of rainfall on the source-area must be adequate to account for the supply of the basin. III. The geological formations between the source and the basin must be such as to allow the passage of the water through a per- vious stratum between two impervious strata. Several theories exist as to the source of the supply in the basin in question: (a) The Great Lakes ; (b) the Canadian lakes; (¢) Devil’s Lake, North Dakota; (d) the Missouri River; (e) the elevated region west of the Missouri River, including the foot-hills and the east slope of the Rocky Mountains. Let us apply the three requirements stated above to the regions just named. The height to which the water of the Redfield, South Dakota, well would rise, if the tube were extended, is 1,700 feet A. T.1. There are other wells north and west of Reofield whose water would rise to a greater height.!| The well at Highmore has a flow of nine gallons and a pressure of twelve pounds at an alti- tude of 1,€90 feet.2 But the altitude of the Great Lakes and of the Canadian lakes is many hundred feet below that height. The altitude of Devil’s Lake is about 1,440 feet,! and the altitude of the Missouri River where it enters South Dakota is not over 1,500 feet.* 1 “Artesian and Underflow Investigation,” Part II., Col. E. S. Nettleton, Chief Engineer. Apperdices XVIII., XIX., and Xx. 2“ Artesian ard Underground Investigation,” PartIV., F. B. Coffin, Engl- neer for South Dakota... 3 American Geological Railroad Guide. Macfarlane. It therefore follows that neither the Great Lakes, the Canadian lakes, nor Devil’s Lake can be the source. Nor can the Missouri River within the State be the source. We are now confined to our last alternative,—-the elevated region west of the Missouri River,—which may, for convenience, be considered under two heads: (1) The High Plains, and (2) The Foot-Hills of the Rockies, (1) The high plains attain an altitude of 1,900 feet about 50 miles west of the Missouri River.* They satisfy requirement I. An idea of the water-supply of an artesian basin can be gotten only by finding the amount of water that can be drawn off with- out lessening the flow and pressure of individual wells. W. P. Butler, engineer of Aberdeen, South Dakota, under date of June, 1892, says that “two hundred wells have already been put down in North and South Dakota.”® The same engineer gives a ‘“‘ Table of twenty-four South Dakota wells showing flow in gallons per minute.” ° The range of discharge, as shown by this table, is from 150 gallons to 7,000 gallons per minute; the intermediate points seem to be sufficiently represented to indicate that the table is fairly representative. Taking this table as a basis, the average flow of a South Dakota artesian well is 1,655 gallons per minute. Two hundred wells would, at that rate, discharge 685 million tons perannum. No diminution in the pressure of any of the wells has been detected. The limit has, therefore, not yet been ap- proached. Now many times the amount annually discharged by the South Dakota artesian wells falls each year upon the high plains (region e, 1) west of the Missouri River in South Dakota; but the rapid evaporation from the surface, the ready drainage into the Missouri River, and the impervious shales beneath the surface preclude the possibility of the high-plain rainfall taking any appreciable part in the water-supply of the basin. Driven now to our last alternative, let us apply our three tests in suc- cession. I. The elevation of the foot-hills varies from 3,000 feet to 8,000 feet above sea-level, which is certainly sufficient altitude above the James River valley to overcome the resistance and give the wells a high pressure 240 to 600 miles away. II. The annual rainfall in the foot-hills is greatcr per given area than on the high plains.” The area of the foot-hills, whose rainfall can get access to the water-bearing rocks, is not far from 40,000 square miles, upon which area not less than 69,600 million tons of water fall per annum, which is one bundred times as much as that drawn an- nually from the artesian basin of the Dakotas. IfI. The geological formation between the Black Hills and the James River valley is well shown by the accompanying figure.® A glance at this figure will show that water entering the porous Dakota sandstone above Rapid City will produce the conditions for an artesian flow in the region of the James River and the Missouri River. The lower altitude of the former will make the flow stronger there, even though it be farther away from the source. The increasing altitude as one goes west from the Missouri River will undoubtedly decrease or wholly prevent a flow. Any geo- logical section taken across the Dakotas from east to west would be similar to the one shown. Wherever the section would pass through foot-hills or mountain ranges the upturned edges of the absorbing strata would crop out. The three requirements being satisfied by the last region tested, it has been demonstrated beyond a shadow of doubt that the source of the water-supply of the James River artesian basin is 4“ Artesian and Underflow Investigation,’’ Part IV., F. B. Coffin. 5 Irrigation Manual. W.P.B. p. 9. 6 Irrigation Manual. W.P.B. p. 38 7 Trrigation Mauual, W. P. Butler, p. 94, ‘‘On the high plain the rainfall is 15 to 20 inches, while in the Black Hills it is 20 to 3) inches per annum.” 8’ “Trrigation and Underflow Investigation,” Part III., Special Report by Professor G. E. Culver, State Geologist. 30 the elevated, well-watered hills and low mountains, together with the east slope of the Rockies in South Dakota, Moutana, and Wyoming. 2. The limitations of the supply. It was estimated that about 69,600 million tons of water fall aunually on the foot-hills within this drainage basin. Having limited the source to the foot-hills. it is clear that the limitations -can be carried further. The water flowing through the Dakota sandstone must either (a) have fallen directly upon the area of outcrop, or (b) have sunk into it from streams flowing over it, or (@) have escaped into it at high altitudes from other strata. (a) It is estimated by Professor G. E. Culver’ that about 4, of ithe rainfall of the Black Hills falls directly upon the outcropping Dakota sandstone. If this outcrop forms the same proportion of other foot-hills, then about 966 million tons per annum would fall directly upon this; and, as it is estimated that one-third of the rain-fall is absorbed by the soil, 322 million tons would be poured directly into the artesian basin. (b) As far as the writer knows, but one stream has been care- fully studied as to the quantity of water lost to the stratum in question. Below Great Falls, Montana, the Missouri River flows across the outcropping Dakota sandstone at an altitude of 2.800 feet. Col. E. S. Nettleton? made careful gaugings of the river before and after crossing the sandstone and found that it lost ‘°834 cubic feet per second,” which would amount to 918 million tons per annum. Tne Yellowstone River, which is about as large os ax Length of Section, 385 miles. SCIENCE {[VoL. XXII. No. 546 A ROW OF HIEROGLYPHS, CASA NO. 2, PALENQUE. BY H. T, CRESSON, A.M., M.D., PHILADELPHIA, PA. THERE is a perpendicular row of three glyphs just above the child-like figure, upheld in the arms of the Ahkin (?), on the cen- tre slab of the so-called ‘*Group of the Cross,” Casa No. 2, (Stephens), Palenque, and two hieroglyphs in the parallel line to the right of the perpendicular line just mentioned, which are ex- ceedingly interesting, and al] of them, except the upper-centre component of the glyph, just above the child-like figure, are in a fair state of preservation. The upper centre component of this glyph (Fig. 6) has been badly injured, if we may judge by a pho- tograph of the slab from Casa No. 2, taken by Dr. Manuel Urbino, the learned conservator of the Muséo Nacional, at the City of Mexico - It is a lucky circumstance that this masterpiece of the Maya scribe-sculptor’s art has been cared for by the Mexican gov- ernment, and it is to be hoped that they will protect other tablets at Palenque from the wanton destruction of the Mayas, who have been accused, by recent explorers, of chopping to pieces, with their nachetes, the artistic productions of their ancestors. It will be impossible, in this necessarily brief article, to consider the entire row of glyphs which have been indicated, we will, therefore, confine our remarks to that shown in Fig. 6 of the plate. If we compare this sketch, made from a photograph of the middle slab of the cross group (Casa No. 2,-Palenque), taken by Dr. Urbino, it will be seen that it differs in certain respects from the Tdeal Section across South Dakota. Rapid City to James River Valley, 250 miles. 1, Paleozoic“rocks. mostly water-bearing Carboniferous limestone; 2, Triassic shales, impervious; 3, Jurassic shales, impervious; 4, Cretaceous, Dakota sandstone! witer-bearing; 5, Cretace ous, Benton shales, impervious; 6, Cretaceous, Niobrara limestone; 7, Cretaceous, Pierre shales, impervious. as the Missouri above their confluence, is said to flow across the Dakota sandstone and to losea part of its volume. It is generally true fhat all streams flowing out of the foot-hills or away from the Rockies must, somewhere in their eastward course, cross the absorbing stratum. To estimate three times 918 million tons as the amount received from source (0) will probably fall much within the limits. That gives us an aggregate from (a) and (6) of 3,076 million tons per annum. (c) The outcrop of the Carboniferous forms a much larger part of the foot-hills area than does the Dakota. At least one-third of the water which falls directly upon it sinks, while nearly all of the small streams flowing out cf the central Archzean area of the hills sink completely into the Carboniferous, only a few of the largest streams emerge from the thirsty Carboniferous area. The amount of water entering the Carboniferous strata is many times greater than that entering the Dakota, Now it is possible for vearly all of the water which it absorbs to escape into the Dakota, which it would do anywhere between its source and the James River valley if either one of two things were true: (1) If the overlying stratum ‘pinches out,”’ or (2) if it is fractured or faulted. Both, one, or neither of these things may be true. No one-has yet attempted to answer, conclusively, the question, <‘ What becomes of the water which sinks into the Carboniferous limestone of the hills?”’ Until that question is answered, it will be impossible to determine the limitations of the water-supply of the artesian basin. 1 +* Artesian and Underflow Investigation,” Part III., p. 207. 2 ** Artesian and Underfl w Investigation,” Part IL., p. 77. drawing of Del Rio, Waldeck, Catherwood, and Charaay. Del Rio’s rendition of this hieroglyph (Fig. 1) is absurdly incorrect, and has been suggested, we think, either by a slovenly impression of the centre bar of a cross (see Waldeck’s Fig. 2), or else the artist drew upon his imagination and supplied tbe detail. Waldeck’s drawing (Fig. 2) in four of the small glyphs (compos- ing the compound glyph) is not so far astray as one might expect, judging by the way his drawings have been condemned by some writers, and I find that in the perpendicular and the parallel row of glyphs of the Casa No. 2 tablet, to the right of the symbol of the days, four winds, and cardinal points (called by many the Cross), his work compares quite as well with the photograph as that of Charnay, who used the camera, and Catherwood, who used the camera lucida. So far as I can learn, Mr. Waldeck used no artificial aids to assist him in his work (?); if this be the case, his eye must have been an unusually correct one, considering the amount of work he accomplished, and the confusing details that he encountered, to say nothing of annoyances in the way of flies, mosquitoes, garapatas, and other insects. I think the truth of this assertion will be apparent to anyone who has attempted to make a careful drawing under difficulties of this kind, especially such intricate details as we find in ancient Maya architecture and hieroglyphs, well calculated to give an experienced draftsman the beadache and heartache. The centre-upper component of the hieroglyph, drawn by Waldeck, differs from that of Fig. 6, but I must not neglect to mention that the Urbino photograph indicates that this component of the glyph has been-so injured that it is difficult, at present, to determine the details. The rcund incisions JuLy 21, 1893.] are apparent, as in Fig. 6. but they differ slightly in their position when compared with Catherwood (Fig. 3). Stephens mentions that, at times, those engaged in commercial ventures have reached Santo Domingo del Palenque, and pro- ceeded thence to the ancient Maya ruins, called, for want ofa better name, Palenque, after the village near which they stand. We have represented in Fig. 5 a sketch made by Mr. William Robert Thompson, who visited the ruins of Palenque in December, 1852, and again at a later date. Engaged in commercial pursuits in northern Chiapas and other parts of Mexico and Guatemala, Mr. Thompson has examined many of the old Maya cities, es- pecially Qurigia and Palenque, sketching, in leisure moments, such details as he found interesting, preserving them for his own grati- fication. In looking over his portfolio some years ago I was struck with the resemblance of his drawing (Fig. 5) to that of Waldeck (Fig. 2). Mr. Thompson having returned to Mexico, I wrote to him in 1882 requesting a copy of his sketch, and, with all due courtesy, he presented me with the original, accompanying it with an autograph letter. The letter and sketch [ shall for- ward to the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, so that they can be preserved for future examination. Comparing the Thompson sketch with that of Mr. Waldeck, it will be seen that the latter has omitted the small incised circles which are present in the former, on the bar of the cross and at its top and sides, which Mr. Thompson’s letter especially mentions as present. Waldeck, in the cross-like glyph, to the right, gives two small circles as its components, and Thompson gives three, - which Charnay also indicates in Fig. 5, while both he and Cather- wood omit the small round glyph with the incised circie, which is shown at the lower right-hand side in the Urbino photograph (Fig. 6), also in the sketches of Waldeck and Thompson. It is not surprising that’so careful a draftsman as Catherwood should have omitted details in drawing this glyph, ill as he was with fever and subjected to annoyances which only those who have encountered them can appreciate. All of the drawings of this (Fig. 6) glyph differ more or less; those of Waldeck and Thompson have four of the small glyphs represented with a fair degree of exactitude, accepting the photo- graph as our standard; Catherwood and Charnay have three de- tails of the compound glyph which are, in a measure, correct. The fact that Messrs. Waldeck and Thompson both give a symbol resembling the symbol of the cardinal points as a component of the glyph which we are considering, suggests a probability that it existed and bas been effaced. Thesurface of the glyph at present being so mutilated it would be best to examine the original tablet with care before deciding the matter, which I hope some- One interested in paleeograpby will have the opportunity of doing in the near future. The position of the three small circles in Fig. 6 correspond with the Thompson sketch (Fig. 5), even if the cross is absent, and, as Thompson’gives an incised circle to either side of the cross at the top, it is not improbable that a series of dotted lines, or circles, at one time ran completely around the glyph, as we see a slight suggestion of this in Charnay’s sketch (Fig. 4), and also in Catherwood’s Fig. 3. Mr. Thompson asserts, positively, in his letter, that a cross did exist, and that the three incised circles SGIENCE: 31 were present on its perpendicular and parallel bars. He has, ina recent conversation upon the subject, expressed the belief that this symbol of the winds has been mutilated intentionally, and that the two circles at the sides of the perpendicular bar are quite recent additions, made by someone trying to alter the glyph into the semblance of a face. Twosmall circles on either side suggest the eyes, and the upper portion of the perpendicular upright above heing mutilated across, just beyond its point of junction with the parallel bar, thus produces a semblance to a nose, the parallel bar assuming somewhat the appearance of a mouth. This seems to be the case in the small Urbino photograph, but in the enlarged copy the mutilation of the glyph is more apparent, yet, as we have suggested, these matters can only be decided upon by a careful study of the original tablet. A realistic drawirg of the upper-centre component of this hiero- glyph would be of great value for comparison with the photo- graph, as there are some details which the camera does not repro- duce. If some of our artists visiting the Muséo Nacional, at the City of Mexico, would make a careful drawing of the Casa No. 2 tablet, it would be of great value to those engaged in the study of Maya paleeography, and no doubt determine the question whether a cross and its dots (Fig. 5) are to be accepted as the true com- ponents of the glyph, or the details given in Fig. 6 of the plate ac- companying this article. Until these deubts be settled, attempts at its interpretation are useless. THE OSAGE RIVER AND ITS MEANDERS. BY ARTHUR WINSLOW, OFFICE OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, JEFFER- SON CITY, MO. In the remarks upon the Osage River in Missouri, which form part of his admirable notice of the topographic maps of the U. S. Geological Survey, published in Science of April 28, 1893, Pro- fessor Davis has, with great acumen, hit upon one of the most noticeable features of the drainage of the State, or, at least, of the southern part. The peculiar meandering of the deeply trenched Osage Valley around spurs of high upland country, as referred to by us in a recent report of the Geological Survey,! is a feature shared by nearly all] of the principal streams of the Ozark region. The Meramec and the Gasconade Rivers, the Big Piney and the Bourbeuse Creeks of the northern slope have the same swinging course; as have also their tributaries and those of the Osage itself. White River, on the southern slope, in Missovri and Arkansas, is characterized by similar convolutions. The courses of Big River and of the St. Francois River in the southeast have a like aspect. In strong contrast to this are the streams of that portion of the State lying north of the Missouri River—the drift-covered area. Here the courses are, in a general way, straight, often parallel in groups, the meanders of the streams confined to their present flood plains; their channels apparently having originated in the mantle of glacial drift. They are comparatively of recent origin, the older drainage system which lies masked beneath the drift may have been more tortuous. The suggestive explanation which Professor Davis offers for the sunken curved course of the Osage,ie., that it has been developed, through elevation and corrosion, from the flood-plain meanders of the stream, originating during an earlier base-leveled condition of the country, seems a natural explanation and is in many re- spects satisfactory. Still we hesitate to accept it in the present stage of our knowledge on mere a priori grounds. We see that it calls for a previous base-leveling of the whole Missouri-Ozark region, if not of the contiguous or even remoter Arkansas terri- tory. Further, the hypothesis has so intimate a bearing upon the problems of recent geologic history of this country, over and above its relation to the development of the topography, that we wish to see full test made of its sufficiency before we adopt it as an axiom, According to the best light we have at present, we recognize that the Ozark area was uplifted in late Cambrian times and re- mained above water level, in part at least, probably until the carboniferous period; that, if entirely submerged during the Mississippian epoch, it was so only long enough to receive but 1“ Report on Iron Ores,” yol. ii, p. 89. 32 thin covering of the rocks of that formation; that these rocks were subjected to subareal erosion before and probably during the Pennsylvanian epoch and that coal-measure strata probably never covered the dome of the uplift; that since this time the region has been continuously above water level. According to this record the sculpturing of the topography must have been uninterruptedly in progress from the end of the Paleozoic to the present time. Professor Davis sees evidence in the character of the relief that denudation progressed to such a degree that the present upland was a lowland—‘ well into Tertiary time, and that the new trenckes of the Osage and its neighbors were begun in conse- quence of an uplift somewhere about the close of Tertiary time” —as opposed to this conclusion we have the fact that the Ozark plateau is at present much above the limits which we recognize Tertiary seas to have reached. The altitude of the Tertiary margin of the Mississippi embayment in southeastern Missouri is under 400 feet A. T. The summit of the Ozarks is, however, as much as 1,700 feet above sea level and the greater portion of the upland is over 1,000 feet, and was consequently at least 600 feet above the Tertiary sea level. Could a country having this alti- tude above contiguous seas ke in a base-leveled condition? Fur- ther, another fact to reconcile with this hypothesis is the finding of certain chert gravels fringing the Osage and other valleys of the Ozarks, not very high above the present channels of the streams, which we provisionally correlate with the Orange sands SClENGE: [VoL. XXII. No. 546 pect certain peculiar features of topography to prevail. Tbus, with a stream not yet at base level we should look for its channel to constantly hug the hill on that side of the stream which is im- pinged by the current; here we should expect to find bluffs de- veloped and maintained; conversely, on the ‘‘lee” side of the stream, we should expect to find such flat alluvial plains as exist, with comparatively gentle slopes thence to the uplands. Further we should expect to find the points or promontories of uplands which are nearly surrounded by the loops of the river, sloping somewhat gradually towards their ends and not terminating in bluffs. These features are pronounced, in part at least, to a striking degree along the Osage. They are details which could not be brought out on the maps of the scale of those thus far made of the Osage country, but the constancy with which the stream clung to the bluffs on the impinging side was impressively seen during the recent trip along that river, while the form of the projecting uplands is well illustrated by the following copy of a portion of a map of Grand River, one of the tributaries of the Osage, recently surveyed by Mr. C. F. Marbut, of the Missouri Geological Survey. On the hypothesis advanced the precipitous slopes characterizing the upstream sides of the hills here shown are the result of the sapping action of the stream; the gradual slopes of the downstream sides are primarily a combined result of the lateral movement of the channel accompanying the expan- sion of the meanders, and of its downward movement by corrosion. It is true that similar features would result with the trench of Scale, 1 mile to 1 inch. Contour-interval, 20 feet. MEANDERS OF GRAND RIVER, A TRIBUTARY OF THE OSAGE. of the Mississippi, of probable late Tertiary age. These imply the existence of such valleys with approximately their present phases in late Tertiary times. Still, as the correlation of these gravels is as yet confessedly quite hypothetical, this considera- tion cannot claim much weight. Another hypothesis which has been thought by us to suggest an explanation of the sinuosities of these streams, has gained some strength through the observations of a recent boat trip down the Osage River, from Osceola to its mouth. If we take the case of a stream witha slightly sinuous course and of considerable declivity, moderately incised in a nearly flat, or even in an un- dulating country of horizontal strata—such as might exist ina newly emerged land surface soon after its emergence—we can understand that meanders wil! tend to develop somewhat as they do in the alluvial plain of a stream which has reached base level. Where the current impinges sapping will increase the convexity and the sinuosities will become more pronounced Inasmuch, however, as the declivity of the stream is great, corrosion is still active and the channel thus sinks vertically at the same time that it moves laterally, and in this respect its development will differ from that of a channel in a base-leveled alluvial plain. As a natural result of this process we can see how the stream will eventually shape for itself a tortuous and steep-sided valley, with very narrow flood plains until the channel has reached base level, when corrosion will cease and lateral degradation will in- crease; then, swinging from bluff to bluff in a secondary system of sinuosities, the stream will sap its bordering hills and widen its flood plains. If this explanation be a true one we should ex- previously developed meanders in the manner suggested by Pro- fessor Davis ; for we cannot conceive of a meandering channel sinking absolutely vertically. Lateral degradation and move- ment must always accompany corrosion and vertical lowering of the channel; if the meanders existed originally their shapes must have been modified to the present forms. Hence the effects cited would seem to be attributable to one of two causes, or to both combined. The question is whether one is not all sufficient; whether a previous base-leveled condition is a necessary assump- tion. THE BOOM OF THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN. BY T. A. BEREMAN, MOUNT PLEASANT, IOWA. How many of your readers ever saw a prairie hen, or, as they are commonly called in the west, the ‘prairie chicken?” Doubtless many have seen dead ones, killed and shipped for the market, but I dare say that many of your younger readers, es- pecially those living in the cities and towns, have rarely seen a live one. In 1845, when I came to Iowa, and for several years afterwards, they could be seen here in flocks of thousands to- gether. But now there are only a few remnants of them left; here and there, in isolated fields, some dozen or two survivals have been permitted to remain. They are what is called the pinnated grouse of North America, and were formerly inhabitants of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Kentucky, and all the western prairie country. ; But at present I only desire to call attention to the matinee songs of this wild bird of the prairie. Some morning in the JuLy 21, 1893. | month of April, when the sun rises clear and the air is crisp and frosty, go out upon the suburbs of a prairie town, away from the usual noises of the village, and listen. In a few seconds, if you can recognize the sound, you will hear, above everything else, the male birds go ‘‘ boom, boom, boom.” This is not a sharp, shrill ery, but a round, full, detonating cannon-like sound, which may be heard at long distances. It comprises three clear, distinct musical notes, corresponding with the ‘‘do, si, do” of the diatonic scale. The first two are quarter notes, and the last is drawn out to a full note, and even a prolongation of that. Probably some idea of it could be had from this representation: a VEE Boo- Boo- B-o-o-im. This “‘ booming” may be heard every spring along in March and April, and sometimes till May on clear frosty mornings about sunrise and for an hour or two afterwards; and for that reason I have sometimes from my own fancy called them ‘‘sun worship- pers.” It is worth an hour’s walk to go out and see these birds when engaged in their booming orizons. As I have heard thou- sands of them booming at one time along’in the forties and fif- ties, and have cautiously crept up to within a few yards of them when they were in plain view, let me try and describe them if possible. The males have two neck tufts of feathers, two or three inches long, one behind each ear, and ordinarily they lie down close to the neck. Also on the sides of the neck and extending about two-thirds of the length of it, are two bare patches of skin capa- ble of being inflated with air until they show out on either side as large as a small orange, and are nearly the color of an orange. Now, the proceeding is something like this: The bird stands un- concernedly among his companions for a minute or so, and then suddenly he spreads his tail to its fullest extent like a fan; his wings are spread and thrust down to the ground similar to a tur- key gobbler’s action; he walks around and about, rubbing his wing feathers upon the ground, his feet go patting alternately so rapidly you cannot count the motions, his head and neck thrust forward horizontally, the two tufts of feathers ate erected like two great horns, the bare skins on the sides of the neck are in- flated and then comes ‘‘boom, boom, b—o—o—m.” This is re- peated every few minutes for one or two hours in the morning, when no more is heard until near sundown in the evening. ae A SILK-SPINNING CAVE LARVA. BY H. GARMAN, LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY. In the Bulletin of the Essex Institute, Vol. XIII., 1891, I de- scribed a singular larva from Mammoth Cave, which was com- pared with larve of the Dipterous genera Sciara and Chirono- mous, to which it bears some resemblance. Since this larva was discovered a lookout has been kept for other specimens in hope of learning something of the adult, but thus far no additional ex- amples have been seen. My search has been rewarded, however, ' by the discovery of a second larva, very different from the first but in its way almost as strange. Evidently it is a related insect. I take it to be the young of some cave-inhabiting fly. Large examples measure 12.5 millimetres in length by 1 millime- tre in greatest diameter. The body is composed of twelve somites bebind the head, very distinct from each other and gradually increasing in diameter from the first to the seventh, after which they remain constant to the twelfth, which is only about one-half the length of the preceding somite and not more than one-fourth its size. The head is very small, and is enclosed in a smooth aud shining crust of a pale yellowish brown color. The body -ter- minates in a double finger-like clasping organ. Ona visit to a small cave near Lexington, Kentucky, some ‘months ago my eye was caught by a glistening thread on the lime- stone forming the side wall of the cavity, about four feet from the floor. Thinking it was the trail left by a spider, I began to follow it carefully, expecting by this means to come upon the insect. Instead of a spider this larva was found,—a translucent SCIENCE. 33 slender thing which might easily have been overlooked even when one was engaged in following the thread upon which it lived. A touch was sufficient to put it in motion, then a touch at the opposite extremity would cause it to move backward with equal address. But nothing would induce it to leave the thread, and I have since learned that the heat from a burning candle ap- plied to its body and destroying its life leaves it clinging to this fragile object. Not even spiders show such tenacity in retaining possession of their egg-cases, or webs, when in danger, and I infer that the welfare of this larva is intimately associated in some way with the silken path it makes along the face of the rocks. The thread is always accupied by a single individual, and may be a foot or more in length. I have found no examples nearer the floor than three feet. The larva clings to its thread by means of pads provided with very minute chitinous asperities. One such pad occurs at the anterior ventral margin of the second, and another in the same position on the third, som te. These form rather large transvérse rounded folds of the skin, covered posteriorly with dark denticles in numerous short series. The fourth somite lacks the pad, but on the ventral side and anterior margin of each of the succeed- ing divisions is a pad of another form, these being broader but not extending so far up the sides. When creeping an undulatory motion passes along the body, the pads dragging it forward, the posterior appendage apparently aiding by seizing the thread. ee ee a =A The details of structure have not been thoroughly worked out. In a general way the head is like that of the larva described in the Bulletin in 1891, but the large ocellus-like smooth areas of the Mammoth Cave larva are not present in this, although I find smaller oval areas surrounded by black rims and accompanied by pigment spots, which appear to represent these structures. The mouth parts are much like those of larval Sciara. The palpi: which project from the under side of the head spring from the maxille. In very young examples I can make out large ducts which convey a secretion of some kind (doubtless the material of which the silken fiber is composed) to the under side of the head. No outward trace of respiratory organs is apparent. Four dark- brown Malpighian tubules can be seen, through the body-wall, Opening independently into the intestine. On the dorsal middle line near the anterior margin of each of the somites 8 and 9 is a turret-shaped prominence, the nature of which I have not determined. The top is sometimes a trifle im- pressed as if there were an opening to a gland beneath the skin. They can not» be stigmatal prominences, for these are always paired. A study of sections may yield an explanation of them. The habit of living upon the side walls of the cave is probably ameans of avoiding enemies. Few of the predaceous cave species would find the larvz there. The only available food would seem to be occasional tallow drippings and the molds grow- ing on them. Silk spinning is not general among Dipterous larvee, but the cave species is not peculiar in this regard. I suspect that the Mammoth Cave larva produces a thread also. Among ordinary Diptera the clover midge (Cecidomyia trifolii) occurs to me at this momentas an example of species which produce material in the nature of silk. It envelops itself in a rather tough papery cocoon when ready for pupation. A VERY bright comet has suddenly appeared in the western sky, and is attracting attention from the unexpected manner in which it has presented itself. The object from present accounts was first seen on the 8th inst., by persons living in Utah and Wyoming. Itis very bright, about of the second or third magni- tude, and has a tail that has been reported to be from five to twelve degrees in length. The comet is moving very rapidly to the east, and the only orbit at hand, at present, indicates that it is now passing away from the earth and will diminish very rapidly in brightness. SCIEN GI: PUBLISHED BY N. D. C. HODGES, 874 BRoADWay, NEw York. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD; $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in advance, one aundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reasons we desire to circulate as many copies of Science as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprinted elsewhere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photo- sngraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manuscripts willbe returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accom- . panies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenti- cated by the name and address of the writer; not necessarily fr publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold ourselves responsible for any view or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Attention is called to the ‘‘Wants” column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and address of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The “Exchange” column is likewise open. A NEW ORTHOGRAPHY. BY J. I. D. HINDS, CUMBERLAND UNIVERSITY, LEBANON, TENN. THE orthography of the English language is distressingly had. A reform in spelling would relieve education of one of its heaviest burdens. The hardest task of the first six years of the child’s school-life is the spelling lesson. Indeed, the labor never ends. The veteran school teacher dares not venture too far from his dictionary. None of the phonetic systems which have been pre- sented have met with such favor as to pass into general use. Yet reform must be possible. In the phonetic systems now before the world there are two barriers to their general adoption. In the first place, the change from the present spelling is too great and tooabrupt. The human race is like a heavy body in motion. Change of direction must be effected gradually. In the second place, the proposed systems are too complicated, and present distinctions which are too nice to be generally appreciated. To be acceptable, a system must possess two leading characteristics: (1) It must make the least pos- sible departure from that now in use, and (2) it must be so simple that it may be read at sight and that the little child can learn it understandingly. I think such a system is within our reach and that it might be brought into general use in a few years. I suggest the follow- ing :— 1. The present alphabet should be retained with as little change as possible. This is important, because new characters frigbten the people and lay additional burdens on the printer. Besides, the language can be very well written with the characters which we have. The only deficiency is found with the vowels, and this can be supplied, as I shall show later. 2. Each character should have a fixed sound, and should retain the same sound in all its positions. In carrying out this rule, too much nicety must not be attempted. The vowel sounds are so variable that to represent all of them we should have to multiply characters almost indefinitely. We should thus bave many words spelled differently in different positions and as coming from the mouths of different speakers. Every word should have a fixed form, avd should retain this form in all its positions, though its pronunciation should vary. The written word is the symbol of an idea, and, at best, but approximately represents the spoken word, What we want is a compromise between the two which will do the least violence to’pronunciation and afford the greatest ease in spelling. The mind tolerates a certain amount of am- biguity rather than endure too nice distinctions. This is illustrated in the varying sounds of the vowels as now used. Again, obscure sounds cannot be well represented phonetically. In syllables where they occur the vowel indicated by the etymology of the word should be retained. 38. Words should be spelled as they are pronounced, and each sound should be represented by its proper character wherever it occurs, Here, as before, too much nicety must not be attempted. SCIENCE. (Vor. XXII. No. 546 Let us have a judicious compromise. The great difficulty of English spelling does not depend upon the fact that each of the vowels has several sounds. It is rather because each of these sounds is represented, not only by the other vowels, but also by a wonderful variety of combinations of vowels and consonants. For example, the long sound of a is indicated in at least twenty differ- ent ways, as in the following words: Bass, fate, pain, pay, dahlia, vein, they. great, eh, goul, gauge, champagne, campaign straight, feign, eight, aye, obeyed, weighed, halfpenny. So there are twenty-four combinations expressing the long sound of e, twenty- six for the sound of a@ in all, among which are augh in aught, ough in thought, and augha in Vaughan; and for the sound of short unaccented a Miss Soames finds no less than thirty-four letters and combinations. No wonder the child, when learning to spell, is ready to give up in despair. Now all that is very desirable can be attained through our present alphabet by giving to each letter a fixed sound and supplying a few vowel sounds by the use of double letters. The names of the letters should be so changed as to give to each vowel and vowel combination the sound which it represents and to make the names of the consonants uniform. We will take the five vowels and give them the names which they have in the European languages, and Jet them, when written singly, represent the short sound of these vowels. Let the long sounds be indicated by doubling or adding the letter e. For the diphthongs retain the ordinary com- binations. The vowel system will then stand as follows:— Vowels. Long. Intermediate. Short. aa, as in father, ae, as in mate, ze, as in machine, oe, as in note, ue, as in rule, a, as in last, a, as in mat, e, as in net, Z, as in mit, 0, as in not, 00, as in foot, bull, u, as in up. Diphthongs. ez, like 7 in pine, au, as in laud, ai, as in air, ou, as in house, oi, as in boil, yu, as in you. Examining this table, we see that the short vowels present no change from their present usage. The Italian a is expressed by doubling the letter. The long a really corresponds to short e, and there is a fitness, therefore, in representing it by ae. This is com- monly done now, except that the e usually goes to the end of the syllable. The other long sounds are also appropriately indicated by adding e. The intermediate a is so little used that it hardly seems necessary to provide for it a separate character. Its sound is usually suggested by the consonants which follow it. The sound of u in bull is well represented by 00. The long u is really yu, and it is so indicated. The least satisfactory of all, perhaps, is the use of e7 for the longsound of 7. The combination az would have been better, but this occurs now in so many words and its sound is so well fixed that it was not thought best to change it. As a compromise, the letter J may still be retained for the per- sonal pronoun. When these double vowels are once in use, they will naturally, in the course of time, be combined into one char- acter. Since the short vowel sounds do not occur in accented, open syllables, the lengthening e may be omitted in these, and the spelling thus further simplified. As an additional compromise, the letters in such positions might retain their present sounds. With the consonants, we need have little trouble. We will ob- tain the name uniformly by adding to each letter and combination the long a. The sound being indicated by the name, itis not necessary to givesample words. With an approximate classifica- tion into surds and sonants, stops and continuants, they are as follows:— Consonants. p, pae, b, bae, t, tae, d, dae, f, fae, v, vae, k, kae, g. gae, c, cae (chae), Js jae, th, thae, dh, dhae (they), s, sae 2, zae, sh, shae, zh, zhae, T, rae, 1, lae, m, mae, n, nae, h, hae, Yy, yae, w, wae, hw, hwae (whay). JULY 21, 1893. ] In this table but few innovations will be observed. cis made equal to ch; dh and zh are used for the sonant th and sh; and h is placed where it belongs, before the w in the combination wh. The letters g and & are not needed, but may still be used to avoid the awkward kw and ks. In teaching this alphabet to children, and in spelling, the two characters which represent the long vowels and diphthongs should be pronounced as one sound, and not separately. The following extract will give an idea of the appearance of the printed page in this system :— Soundz at Ievning. Swiet waaz dhe sound, hwen oft, at ievning’z kloez, Up yondur hil dhe villaj murmur roez. Dhair, az I past with kairles steps and slo, Dhe mingling noets kaem sofnd from belo; Dhe swaen responsiv az dhe milk-maed sung, Dhe sobur hurd dhat loed tu miet dher yung, Dhe noizi gies dhat gabbld o’r dhe puel, Dhe plaeful cildren just let lues from skuel, Dhe waac-dog’z vois dhat baed dhe hwispring weind, And dhe loud laaf dhat spoek dhe vaekant meind ;— Dhies aul in swiet konfyuzhun saut dhe shaed, And fild iec pauz dhe neitingael hed maed. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. My object in this paper is not to present a finished system, but to show that the spelling reform is practicable, and to suggest a modification of the alphabet which will bring the desired relief. The time and energy wasted by a child in learning to spell would, if otherwise employed, be sufficient to give him an ordinary edu- cation. Let us do something at once to relieve education of this great burden. The plan here proposed has the following additional advan- tages :— 1. The printed and written pages have no very unfamiliar look. 2. Print and script are easily read at sight by one who sees them for the first time. 3. One can learn in a few minutes to write in this system. 4, Its adoption will make no existing books obsolete or useless except a few primary school books. 5. It will give no special offence to the philologist. 6. It will lead easily to a better and more philosophical pho- netic system. ELECTRICAL NOTES. The displays of high-voltage electricity which formed so promi- nent a feature of the late electrical exhibition held in the Crystal Palace, are not absent from the present one, but neither the dis- play of Professor Elihu Thomson nor that of the Westinghouse Company approach, so far as spectacular effect is concerned, the exhibitions of Messrs. Siemens and Mr. Swinburne at the Crystal Palace. These latter were truly magnificent displays. They were, however, produced by high potentials obtained in the ordi- nary way, by transforming up, and on this account the experi- ments of Professor Elihu Thomson possess much more interest from a scientific point of view. The method used by the latter, as most electricians are aware, consists of passing a very rapidly alternating current through a few turns of a coarse copper wire wound round a glass tube placed in oil. Close to the coarse wire primary is wound a secondary of finer wire, and in this a very high voltage is induced by the current in the primary. This sec- ondary current is also of very high periodicity, and all the Spot- tiswood and Moulton effects can be produced with it. Owing, probably, to the resonant qualities of the room in which the Westinghouse exhibition takes place the noise of the discharge produces a very disagreeable effect on the nerves, even of those accustomed to working with high-potential discharges, so much so that one cannot help wondering at times if the powerful surg- ings in the ether do not directly excite the nerves as a battery does. It is true that in most of the high-frequency experiments no such effect is observed, but this may be because the quantity of current is in general very small. Meantime the coat-tails of SCIENCE: 35> the spectators can be seen, as Rudyard Kipling would put it,. “crawling with invidious apprehension.” One of the signs of the times is the exhibit of electrical heating and cooking apparatus shown by the Ansonia Electric Company in the gallery of the Electrical Building. Here we see all man- ner of utensils, baking ovens, gridirons, chafing dishes, sauce- pans, coffee pots, etc., all arranged so that by simply attaching a plug to an ordinary lighting circuit they are put in operation at once. The subject is such an important one that the writer has thought it best to go into it more in detail (vide infra). Mean- while it may be mentioned that the exhibit is well worth a visit. The new Helios are lamp, exbibited by the same firm, will also attract attention. This may be said to be, perhaps, the first thoroughly successful are lamp for alternating currents. It is almost absolutely noiseless, and almost atsolutely steady, more so than most direct-current lamps. These results are accom- plished by the use of a low potential and of especially soft car- bons. It will be remembered that some years ago Mr. Edison brought out the kinetoscope. In this instrument a combination was made of the well-known zootrope and the phonograph, so that at the same time that the motions of the moving object were seen, the accompanying sounds were heard. The apparatus was ex- hibited at some of the charitable entertainments in New York through the influence of Mrs. Edison, but since then compara- tively little has been seen of it. It has now been more fully de- veloped and forms a part of the Edison exhibit in the gallery of the Electrical Building. Among the instrument-makers the exhibit of Messrs. Queen & Co. stands preéminent. Their display is on the ground floor near the entrance, and includes almost every kind of electrical instru- ment made. A number of new instruments bave been lately brought out by the firm. First among these we may mention Professor Ryan's electrometer, for use in making alternating— current curves. This instrument, which has already been de- scribed in the electrical papers and has been in use for some time at Cornell, consists of an electrometer whose needle is charged through a very fine platinum or silver wire to the potential of the alternating current machine, at any part of its revolution, by means of the ordinary commutating device. So far it does not differ very greatly from the ordinary electrometer. It is a zero instrument, however, and is brought back to its original position by the action of a current in a surrounding coil of wire, which acts on a small magnet fastened to the electrometer needle. The instrument being once standardized, the potential can be found by measuring the current passed through the surrounding coil, and this, from the nature of the operation, is a very short process. While the instrument has been known for some time, this is the first occasion, we believe, that it bas been placed on the market. Tt is to be hoped that some firm will do the same for the dy- namometer method of Dr. Duncan, which has been used with so much success at Johns Hopkins. Another very fine instrument is the cylindrical bridge. It is a. _very mechanical piece of work, and looks as if it could be de- pended on. With the Carhart commutator, standard ratio coils, and one of the new Ayrton-D’Arsonval galvanometers the elec- trician has a most complete apparatus for the measurement of resistances to almost any degree of accuracy. These latter instruments (Lhe Ayrton-D’Arsonyal galvanometers) will probably interest the electrician mcre than anything else in the line of measuring apparatus. With electrical railways running in every direction near one’s laboratory, the path of whose earth returns varies from day to day, with every sprinkle of rain or difference of temperature, the use of an ordinary sensitive gal-— vanometer has been entirely cut of the question unless in the neighborhood of a very strict law and order society, when a little work might be done by getting up to the laboratory at some un- earthly hour on a Sunday morning. For this reason the tangent galvanometer has faded from the scene, and is now only used as- a means of illustrating certain principles of electricity, its place being taken by Lord Kelvin’s balances. And now the Thomson galvapometer must go before these new instruments, for the dif- ference in sensibility is so small that there is practically no advan- 36 tage in using the Thomson, even under the most favorable condi- tions, and under ordinary circumstances there is no comparison between them, the D’Arsonval type being absolutely unaffected by external magnetic disturbances. Moreover, a good Thomson costs at least $400, and an Ayrton-D’Arsonval only about $70. Whether this form of galvanometer will be equally satisfactory when used for ballistic measurements does not, as yet, appear. There does not seem to be any reason why, with a good design and a containing tube of hard rubber instead of silver, it should not be perfectly satisfactory. Several sets of improved portable testing instruments for meas- uring capacity and insulation of cables, etc., are worthy of atten- tion. Full sets of the instruments of Lord Kelvin are also shown. Another exhibit, which may well make an American feel proud of the work which is being done in this country, is the display of the Weston Instrument Company. True it is that Mr. Weston is au Englishman, but the perfection of the instruments is due, not only to Mr. Westen’s ingenuity, but also, to a large extent, to American machine-shop practice. No other country can hope to compete with us until they learn to use the fine and accurate machine tools which fill the instrument shops here. The writer had the opportunity a short time ago of visiting some of the more celebrated European works for the making of electrical and physi- cal instruments, There was not a universal grinder to be seen in them, and in only one was a modern milling machine to be found, and then but a single one. All the last touches were put on by hand, and the result may be seen in the instruments themselves, where every screw has to be marked, because no screw will fit accurately into any hole except the one it is made for, and no two parts of the same type of instrument are interchangeable. In Europe, all the fine work is done in the assembling, here the greater part is done before the instrument reaches the assembler’s hands. Probably there is no instrument in the world whose me- chanical make-up is so perfect as an ordinary Weston voltmeter. A number of new designs are shown, and the new laboratory standards are especially fine. : The long-looked-for manganin wire bridges have begun to ap- pear, the smaller portable testing sets being now on exhibition. This manganin wire is, as the reader is probably aware, the in- vention of Mr, Weston, having been discovered by one of his assistants, Mr. John Kelly, while experimenting on that line. There are a number of varieties of this alloy, which is formed of different proportions of copper, nickel, and manganese. Some of these have a negative coefficient, others a slight positive one, and an intermediate class, no temperature coefficient at the ordi- nary temperatures of working. The researches of the German Government Standardizing Bureau have shown that the alloy is a permanent one, and that it is well adapted for use in standard resistances. It is understood that new bridges of the latest im- proved form, with four and five dials, are soon to be put on the market, made of this wire, and accurate to a small fraction of a per cent. Another new thing, soon to be put out, is the Weston cadmium standard cell. It is well known by those who have done work on solutions that the solubility of a number of the cadmium salts is the same at all temperatures within the ordinary range of working Also that there is a relation between the solubility and the voltage production of asolution. Mr Weston has utilized this property of the cadmium salts to form a cell (of a similar nature to the ordinary Clark cell, but with cadmium substituted for the zinc and zinc salts), whose temperature coefficient is prac- tically nil. It is claimed that considerable usage has shown that it is very reliable. As regards the electrical fountaivs, there is little to be said of them in spite of the great secrecy in which they are wrapped by the officials in charge. The principle is the one generally used, i.e., the projection of a beam of light so as to strike the walls of the jets from the inside, and so be reflected up along the inside of the column of water. Some slight mechanical ingenuity has been exercised in the means of feeding the carbons of the electric arcs, otherwise there is little of interest in the mechanism itself. The display, however, is very pretty, and it may be worth while to give a hint as to the best means of seeing it, as follows: — Take the electric launch at the wharf on the Libera] Arts side SCIEN GE: [VoLt. XXII. No. 546 of the bridge connecting the Administration Building with the Liberal Arts Building, at about 8.30 or 8.15 in the evening (the ex- act time depending upon the time the electric fountains begin to play, the time of starting should be about 45 minutes before they begin). This will bring the launch back to the basin containing the fountains just about the time they are in full operation, and, as the boats make two turns round this lagoon, opportunity is afforded for a long view of the display. Moreover, the voyage around the other lagoons gives one a beautiful view of the grounds and buildings from the water. The illumination of buildings is well under way by that hour, and the long ride on the water is very enjoyable after the heat of the day. The writer has been informed by those who have had the opportunity of comparing the two, that even the most gorgeous sights of Venice do not enter into comparison with the view thus obtained. R. A. F. A NEW INSTANCE OF STREAM CAPTURE. BY HUNTER L. HARRIS, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. The action of arapidly flowing stream in cutting back into the drainage area of another, of less gradient, and, finally, capturing some of its headwaters, has been prettily described in the columns of this journal by Prof. W. M. Davis of Cambridge, under the name of ‘A River-Pirate.” In this notice he describes an™ instance of such action occurring in eastern Pennsylvania, and alludes also to other instances, one of which is that occurring in the Upper Engadine of Switzerland.! By keeping in mind the principles governing the cutting power of streams, we may easily picture to ourselves the conditions which would result from the excessive action of one stream over that of a near neighbor. Briefly, the more active stream, by virtue of its greater activity, would begin to enlarge its catch- ment basin, its headwaters eating their way gradually backward, and so pushing the divide farther and farther into the region formerly drained by the relatively weak stream. In process of time, the aggressive stream may actually tap some of its neighbor’s headwater members, and, since the divide migrates unevenly, this tapping may occur either at the head, or at some point lower down on the invaded stream. If at the head, we may have a short inverted stream, which possesses few marks by which we may afterwards read itshistory. But if the connection takes place lower down, as is often the case, a peculiar back-set direction is given to the stolen tributaries which have been thus forced to discharge their waters through a new main stream of reverse direction. They may be compared to the barbs upon an arrow, the body of the arrow representing the pirate stream. This then constitutes a peculiarity by which we may easily recognize instances of such capture. But other evidence should be sought, such as the former comparative activity of the two principal streams, indications of the former course of the stolen tributaries, etc. The case of the Upper Engadine mentioned above may be taken as typical. Here the aggressor is the Maira, flowing southwest, and it has not only taken a goodly part of the drain- age area of the Inn, which has an opposite direction of flow, but has also appropriated at least three of its tributaries. The Maira is considerably more rapid, and hence more active, than the other. The accompanying sketch, taken directly from one of the maps of the Swiss official topographic survey, shows the characteristic form of the resultant drainage system. 1 Vol. xili., 1889, p. 108. See alsoR. de C. Ward, ‘‘ Another River-Pirate,” vol. xix., 1891, p. 7. ‘ JuLy 21, 1893.] An instance of stream capture possessing all the ‘“‘ear marks” of the typical case, is found in the Appalachian region of western North Carolina and within a few miles of Asheville. Among the principal streams traversing this elevated plateau region, are the Pigeon River andthe French Broad, which take their rise on the broad back of the Blue Ridge, and, flowing westward, make their way through deep gorges in the Unaka Mountains, whence they descend into the broad, deep valley of eastern Tennessee. At one point, a northward turn of the Pigeon brings it within a dozen miles of the French Broad. Here, within half a mile of the former, and at an appreciably lower level, Hominy Creek takes it rise, and maintains a rapid, torrential course eastward, joining the French Broad at Asbeville. A low and narrow divide separates this young and active stream from the slower moving Pigeon. Reckoning from this low divide, the fall of the smaller stream, within the first three miles, is more than three hundred feet, while an equal distance on Pigeon River yields a difference of level of only a little more than one hundred feet. Here then are conditions favoring the lengthening of one stream SCIENCE: 37 Its 10 to 25 leaves of a reddish color and semi-transparent tex- ture are all radical, forming a tuft or rosette generally not more than two or three inches in diameter, from the centre of which during the months of April and May it sends up a single flower stalk or scape 6 to 10 inches high, and bearing at its summit a one-sided raceme of light rose-colored flowers 4 to 5 twelfths of an inch in diameter. Its oval seeds, when seen through a microscope, are finely furrowed and covered with small granules arranged with perfect regularity. The spatulate leaves are narrowed into a long leafstalk or petiole, the wide portion less than one-half inch in length and one-half as wide. It is known to botanists as Drosera capillaris, and has the usual characteristics of the order Droseracez. The leaves are circinate in the bud, that is, rolled up from the apex towards the base, after the manner of ferns. The upper surface is covered with somewhat fleshy, reddish filaments less than one millimetre in length in the centre of the leaf and gradually increasing to the length of 4 or 5 millimetres on the with loss of territory by the other, and such has clearly taken place. The accompanying map is traced from the topographic map of the region made by the U. S. Geological Survey (Asheville sheet). It will be at once noticed that the branching headwater tributaries of Hominy Creek, instead of flowing with an easterly course like those which enter lower down, have a distinctly back- Set position like the barbs of an arrow. A visit to the region would leave little room for doubt that these were once tributary to Pigeon River. The arrangement of the contours shows, in fact, a depression which may mark their former course over what now constitutes the divide. INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS OF SOUTH FLORIDA. BY G. W. WEBSTER, LAKE HELEN, FLA. As one approaches the moist grounds bordering on the lakes and ponds so numerous in south Florida, a beautiful plant is often found that, while it attracts the attention of the ordinary observor, is especially interesting to the student of natural his- tory. These filaments or tentacles are about 200 in number on each leaf, and each bears at its summit a gland which secretes a drop of perfectly transparent, viscid substauce that glitters in the sunlight like a brilliant dewdrop, hence the common name of sundew. : This secretion is very adhesive, and whenever any small insect attracted by the brilliant color of the plant, the prospect of a sip of dew or from any other cause, alights upon the plant, it im- mediately becomes entangled in the treacherous substance. The tentacles of the outer border of the leaf, which were before curved backward, now slowly but surely begin to curve inward, carry- ing the victim toward the centre of the leaf, and enfolding it closely from every side. At the same time the secretion from the glands is greatly increased, drowning or smothering the insect. The leaf also slowly assumes a more cup-like shape and rolls back from the apex toward the centre of the plant and finally holds its victim in a close embrace, with the 200 glands pressed down upon it, bathing it in their secretion, which has now changed to acid and become capable of dissolving and digest- ing the soluble parts. These are taken into the circulation border. 38 SGLENGE: of the plant and by assimilation assist in its nourishment and growth. When the work is completed, the leaf unfolds, the tentacles uncoil and again fold backward, leaving the skeleton of the insect in the centre of the leaf as a warning to all passing insects. A careful observation of the plants when in active growing condition will show all stages of the process. Some leaves will be folded up enclosing fresh insects, while many more will be seen spread open with the skeletons on their upper surface. Having finished their meal they are ready for the next customer. Occasionally the living insect will be found struggling to free itself from the adhesive secretion of the glands and the grasping tentacles that threaten its life. The larger insects often manage to free themselves and escape the fate that overtakes the less fortunate. I have seen the common house fly after being held for sometime finally extricate itself and fly away. A great variety of insects, such as mosquitoes, small flies and bugs, become the victims of this carnivorous plant. Small spiders with their soft bodies seem to be especially adapted to supplying itsdemands, ~ The plant, which has but a few very small roots, can be easily transplanted to boxes where it can be more readily observed. A sufficient amount of the adhering soil should be taken up with it, which can be readily done by means of a common garden trowel. Tn some experiments lately made I find that it generally takes from 24 to 48 hours for the leaf to become completely folded over an insect. Small house flies required in some instances 48 hours, and it was nearly two weeks before the leaf again unfolded. Small spiders, having softer bodies, were digested in less time. Small pieces of cooked beefsteak placed on the leaves at noon were enfolded by the next morning. At first the leaves appeared to be stimulated to extra activity, but the beef did not seem to be adapted to the sustenance of the plant. After a few days the leaves, instead of unfolding gradually wasted away, the tentacles withered and finally the whole leaf died, leaving the beef ap- parently but little changed. Pieces of wood or solid vegetable fibre placed on the leaves would be partly enfolded but only remain so for aday or two. Tender vegetable tissues in 48 hours were reduced to an apparently decomposed pulp. Besides Drosera capillaris we have here in Volusia County two other species of Drosera; D. brevifolia, a smaller plant, not very common, grows in higher and dryer situations. The leaves are only about one-half inch in length, while the pretty flowers are quite conspicuous, being one-half inch in diameter. D., longifolia is occasionally seen on swampy and overflowed lands, where it is found floating during high water, the few roots taking a feeble hold of the soil as the water recedes. The Venus’s fly-trap (Dioneea muscipula), also belonging to the order Droseracea, I think has not been found so far south as Florida. The spotted Trumpet Leaf (Sarracenia variolaris), also an insectivorous plant, is common here. Bejaria racemosa, a shrub growing 2 or 5 feet high, with large and showy white flowers, secretes a viscid, sticky substance on the stems below the flowers, thus entrapping many insects. It is often called Fly Catcher. It is the general law in vegetable physiology that plant life receives nourishment from two sources — First, from the more solid organic and mincral substances supplying phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, ammonia, etc., taken up by the rootlets and carried in solution to every part of the plant to be utilized in the process of growth, and, second, from the gaseous substances, oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and ammonia, drawn from the atmosphere through the stomata of the leaves. In carnivorous plants alone do we find the power of dissolving and appropriating organic substances through the leaves. In this power there is an approach made toward the function of the stomach in animals, thus forming another connecting link between the vegetable kingdom and those forms cf life so nearly on the dividing line between the animal and the vegetable that it is sometimes diffi- cult to determine on which side they really belovg, and demon- strating to the student of biology that there is a unity in all life. ¥ [Vot. XXII. No 546 QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF MILK. BY W. W. COOKE, STATE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, BUR- LINGTON, VT. SEVERAL attempts have been made to measure the effect of the period of lactation of the cow on the quantity and quality of the milk. In nearly, if not all, of these cases no account is takem of the food or the corditions. In this note it is intended to show how these changes during the period of lactation are modified by the abundance or scarcity of the food of the cow. Most of the cows of Vermont calve in the spring, from February to May. We have the records of twenty such herds of about twenty cows each. Averaging these records, we get figures based on the doings of over four hundred cows. Hence the results ought to be quite reliable. All results are calculated to thirty days in a month. | | | & S| © = PE Pee) Be) é < = 5 5 < 3 lo) a Average daily yield of milk per herd, pounds....... 242 | 313 | 403 | 865 | 300 | 261 | 210 | 114 Ratio of different months, if June is 100........... 6... 60 | 75 | 100 | 87 | 72-| 64 | 50 || 26 Average per cent of fat in Milk. ......-..+2- eee ee 3.60 | 3.75 | 3.86 | 3.90 | 4.04 | 4.36 | 4.61 | 5.07 Ratio of different months, if June is 100........ .... -| 93 97 | 10) | 101 104 | 112 | 119 | 132 Average daily yield of but- ter fat per herd, pounds) 87 | 11.3 | 156 (13.7 | 11.7 | 11 4 9.4 5.8 Ratio of different months, if | | June is 100...... .......5 56 73 | 1¢0 88 75 73 60 37 These cows were fed but little grain at the barn. They were turned to pasture in May and fed no grain while on pasture. As: the pastures dried up in August and September, but little care was. taken to keep up the flow of milk. Almost no grain was fed, and not much of fodder-corn or of fall mowings. When they came to the barn in November, no pains were taken, in most cases, to keep them along in milk. The feeding, then, may be said to be rather poor at the two ends of the season and an abundance of the best of feed in the middle. Under these conditions there is a marked increase in the quan- tity of milk under better feed, reaching its height when the feed is best in June and skrinking still more markedly when cold weather and short feed occur in Nevember. The changes in. quality are especially worthy of note. There is a prevailing idea that when cows go out to grass the milk gets poorer in quality as it increases in volume. Some States recognize this belief in their statutes by lowering the legal milk standard during May and June. Many tests at this station during four consecutive seasons have sbown the incorrectness of this belief, and the figures of these 400 cows show the same very conclusively. The per cent of fat is lowest just after they calve, and there is a rapid increase when they go-to pasture, and a continued increase each month until at the last the increase is very rapid. It is to be noted, however, that this increase of fat per cent is not enough to counterbalance the decrease in the weight of the milk, so that the total daily fat decreases during the fall months. in spite of the increased rickness of the milk. If these records are compared with those of the station herd that have been full fed all the year, it will be seen that there are no such violent changes. When the cows go to pasture the milk increases quite a little, but the fat remains about the same, and for the first eight months of lactation there is only a slight change in per cent fat, and no very large decrease, and no sudden decrease in quantity of milk. Also, it will be noted that in our herd there is not so large an increase in per cent fat at the end of the period. JuLy 21, 1893. | of lactation. But few cows change one per cent from richest milk of last month before drying up to thinnest milk after calv- ing. The following is the record of six cows at the Experiment Sta- tion Farm that calved in the spring and were fed at the barn heavily with grain, hay, and ensilage, before and during pastur- age, and also after their return to the barn until they dried up. | | | | 5 | oO | : 2 : 2 : Ie «| 8 | 8 | 4g = o | oa es 3 2 2 oO Ble |e |e /e)e als q |e | 5 5 < n o) a Ha i] od a ig | ‘Average monthly yield per} | | | | | | | | | cow, pounds,............ | 792 | sey | 918 | 814 | 723 | 711 | 531 | 840 | | | | | | Ratio of different month2, if | | | June is 100.............-. | 84 | on |10 | 86 | 76 | 7% | 56 | 36 “Ayerage per cent of fat in| | | WAR Goodcuns9soqnne8anS 4.07 | 4.38 4.28 | 4.87 |452 | 4.70 | 4.83 - | | | Ratio of different months, tt} | | | TNEROS Ws sosocebeeaeee | 93 | 100 | 103 | 107 | 110 Average monthly yield of putter-fat per cow, lbs... 822 (380 |415 | 85.8 | 31.6 | 32.1 [25.0 ee | | | Ratio of diff -rent months, if, | Juno is 100..............- | 78 | 91 |100 | 84 | 76 | 7 | 60 | 40 The influence of full feeding is seen most strongly during the months of Aprik and May, which yield, with grain, one-third more milk and butter-fat than without. Aninfluence after June is seen, but not so pronounced. Those having grain sbrink in milk-flow only nine-tenths as fast as those not having grain, and have the advantage of only one-twenty-fifth in the shrinkage of butter-fat. OF course, this is not a strict comparison of the effects of feed- ing grain on the total yield or of the financial side of the question, but merely of the effect the grain bas of increasing the flow of the milk at once when the cow calves and of maintaining the milk-flow for a longer period in the latter part of lactation. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. «&*x Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. is in all cases required as proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number containing his communication will be furnished free to any correspondent. The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. The writer's nume An Unusual Aurora. ON Saturday evening, July 15, there occurred an aurora which was unlike any the writer has ever seen, and a brief description -of it may contribute something to the aggregate knowledge of those interesting phenomena. The peculiar feature of this aurora was the movement of a series or succession of whitish flecks across the sky from east to west, resembling somewhat the waves of a body of water. About 9.30, central time, my attention was first attracted to it. Fiecks of white light were forming in the east at an altitude of about 45°, passing in regular succession westward, about 20° north of the zenith, and apparently accumulating in one larger band in the northwest, reaching at times from near the horizon to perhaps 80°. The white flecks or streaks were about 10° in length, strictly parallel north and south, and quite uniform in distance apart. They grew brighter and more distinct as they approached and passed the meridian. Their motion was very regular end quite rapid,—comparable to the swiftest apparent motion of light clouds. If they were as high as the electric theory would suggest, the velocity must have been enormous. At times similar short bands, like strokes with a paint-brusb, were stationary in the north, at about 45° altitude, for several minutes at a time. A few minutes later a number, perhaps ten or twelve, white SGlE NEE: 39 bands appeared north of the zenith, all converging towards a point some 10° south of the zenith, but vanishing before reacbing the zenith. They remained only afew minutes. About 10 o’clock the moving flecks had disappeared, and one long, straight band extended from the northwest horizon, 50° or 60°, toward a point about 45° south of the zenith. Two or three other short flecks appeared parallel with the main band. About the same time the usual diffused glow appeared in the north horizon and continued till after 11 o’clock, but was not observable while the moving bands were seen. Many more gorgeous auroras have been seen in our latitude, but the rapidly-moving bands gave this one a new interest. W. H.- Howarp. Adrian, Mich. j Light-Shunners and Light-Seekers. Tt is well known that in the main divisions of the animal world we find groups which normally withdraw from daylight and which form a very large minority of existing species. Some of these lovers of darkness dwell in caverns, in underground bur- rows or in the seas at depths where the light penetrates feebly or not at all. We might, perhaps, expect that such creatures would feel an- noyed, more or less, by artificial light and would withdraw from what to them must be an exceptional phenomenon. This, how- ever, would bea mistake. The only nocturnal animals which seem to shun fire and light are the carnivorous mammals espe- cially the cats. It has long been customary for travellers in Africa to keep lions, leopards, etc., aloof from an encampment by means of bonfires. Asa rule the sleepers are safe as long as the fires are fed up. The lemurs and loris are even more nocturnal than the cats, since they do not travel or prey by day. Whether they are re- pelled or attracted by a light is not sufficiently decided. The bats are not purely nocturnal. They are sometimes seen bawking for insects in full daylight. Buta light attracts them. Entomologists —I may mention Major Elwes, P. E. 8S. — who have hung out lamps in order to entice moths, have often found that bats come to the lights and secure a large share of the speci- mens. Among birds there are few truly nocturnal species. The owl and the night-jar (absurdly called the goat-sucker) are the most common night fliers. - The owls are attracted by a light, a fact which has given rise to a foolish superstition. They will often dash against the window of a room which is lighted up by night. If, as often happens to be the case, this is a sick-chamber, nurses of, the old school pronounce such a visit a fatal omen. Some would-be wise men have gravely asserted that the owl scents the approach of dissolution and comes in tbe hope of feasting upon the corpse. Now, in fact, the owl feeds by preference on prey which it has just killed, and in captivity it rejects any food which is in the slightest degree tainted. In Australia the emur, though not truly nocturnal, may be seep rapidly scudding over the plains by moonlight. Many birds which are perfectly diurnal, in their ordinary hab- its, fly by night when migrating, and are then attracted by a light. Numbers of various species dash themselves against the windows of lighthouses and are killed by the shock. This is much to be regretted, since the majority of migratory birds feed on insects, and had they survived they would during the coming season have been hard at work ridding our crops of vermin. The habits of reptiles vary greatly. The few European snakes, e.g., the viper, the asp, the Austrian adder, the grass snake and Coronella levis, are rarely met with save in the brightest hours of the day. But of the African, Indian and Australian species it may be said: ““The snake that loves the twilight has come out, beautiful, still and deadly’’—though they also bask in the sun. Nor are they scared away by lights or fire. One species, indeed, if it espies a fire in the forest, seeks to dash or drag the sticks away. Toads, newts and salamanders live very contentedly in the dark, but seem to regard a light with indifference. The majority of fishes and other dwellers in the waters are decidedly attracted by lights. 40 It is well known in various countries that fishes swim up to a boat on a stream if a light is displayed on board. An interesting spectacle is produced if a candle, or better still an electric glow lamp is brought near the glass sides of an aquarium. seek to come as near as possible to the light. Numbers of nocturnal insects are attracted by flame. Moths, gnats, crane-flles and many other diptera are noted for their pro- pensity to commit suicide in our lamps and candles. Many of the smaller motbs are found sitting on the glasses or the iron frame work of street-lamps. I bave known.an old lady made ill with fright because a death’s-head (Acherontia atropos) had flown against ber candle and put it out. But we must now giance at the main question, that is, the meaning of the behavior of nocturnal animals in presence of a light. The alarm of many species is not hard to understand. A bright light is a phenomenon which does not fall within the limits of their experience and seems to them, therefore some- thing to be avoided. But to see nocturnal, abysmal or cave- dwelling species flocking to a light is perplexing. It has been suggested that the moth thinks the flame an outlet through which it may escape. But why should it seek to escape from a condition which to it is as normal as is sunlight to the butterfly or to the bee? It bas again been suggested that noctur- nal insects and fishes areable to preceive the faint phosphorescent light apparently given off by many flowers, and by aquatic worms, etc. Hence the moth rusbes to the lamp mistaking it for a flower. On coming nearer he is bewildered by the intensity of the light and ‘ loses his head.” This same supposition explains why mosquitoes are less attracted by a lamp than are most other insects. They are not accustomed to find their food in phos- phorescent flowers, hence the lamp has to them little attraction. True, this hypothesis fails to show why birds should dash them- selves against the windows of a lighthouse. Their normal food isnot phosphorescent. Nor, to our knowledge, are their eyes capable of perceiving a faint phosphorescent light. SCIENCE: Fishes, aquatic larvee and mullusca swim up and_ , VoL. XXII. No. 546 Probably no single hypothesis will meet all the cases of the at- traction of animals to light. J. W. SLATER. London, England. The Aurora. The contradiction in certain statements of mine with reference to the possibility of tracing the relation of the aurora to disturb- ances upon a particular part of the sun in certain years which Professor Ashe thinks he has detected and which he puts into italics at page 9 of Science for July 7 amounts to simply this: Tn one sentence which he quotes I am giving the reason why the relation in question comes out distinctly in years of minimum,. namely, because the disturbances are well separated from each otber, and, taking 1879 as an example, show by a table that this was the case in that year, in which both auroras and sunspots were so very few that the numbers to be employed were so ex- tremely small that it might justly be doubted whether they show anything, and yet, in spite of this disadvantage, namely, the smallness of the numbers, the relation was plainly apparent. In another sentence, referring to the matter from this point of view, namely, the size of the numbers to be employed, I state that in 1880 the relation in this respect would be much more distinct, this also being a year of comparative minimum in which the dis- turbances were well separated from each other, so that the con- clusion with reference to this year contained in the sentence which Professor Asche quotes would be fully justified, i.e., ‘* the numbers would be larger and the relation in every way more dis- tinct.” The only reason for the publication of the table for 1879 was to show what would appear in the year in which we might suppose the relation exceptionally difficult to-trace and yet in which it was distinctly apparent in spite of the smallness of the numbers. Jt was simply picking out the worst possible case, as: we would naturally suppose, instead of the best possible case, and it is to its discussion that the sentences which Professor Ashe quotes, refer. M. A. VEEDER, Lyons, N. Y., July 13. Reading Matter Notices. Ripans Tabules: best liver tonic. Ripans Tabules cure jaundice. ie 25 CTS. azines, Rates Jow. AM. MAG. EXCHANGE. ni PISO°S* CURE FOR: CURES WHERE ALL ELSE FAILS. Best Cough Syrup. Tastes Good. Use in time. Sold by druggists. “CONSUMPTION _ | Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Mineral Water For Liver, Kidney and Bladder Troubles. For Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright’s Disease, Diabetes. For Hemorrhcids, Ete. It has been used medicinally and prescribed by "SL2:G2 Boe NUMBERS and complete sets of leading Mag- Schoharie, N. Y. _ RESTORE YOUR EYESIGHT Cataracts, scars or films can be absorbed and paralyzed nerves restored, without the knife or risk. Diseased eyes or lids can be cured by our home treatment. ‘We proveit.” Hune dreds convinced. Our illustrated pamphlet, ‘Home Treatment for Eyes,” free. Don’t miss it. Everybody wants it, “‘ Tim Eyn,” Glens Falls, N.Y, physicians for nearly one hundred years. DIRECTIONS:—Take one or two glasses about a half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50. e Bedford Mineral Springs Co., Bedford, Pa. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. STERBROCK’S STEEL PENS. WORLD-ENGLISH. OF SUPERIOR AND STANDARD QUALITY. Leading Nos.: 048, 14, 130, 135, 239, 333 25 Cents. HANDBOOK OF WORLD-ENGLISH. 25 Cents. Ex- President Andrew D. White, of Cornell University, says: ‘‘I believe thatthe highest interests of Chris- tian civilization and of humanity would be served by its adoption.” “So set down, our tongue is the best for the world to unite upon.”—Brooklyn Eagle. “The idea of Mr. Bell has much to recommend it, and the presentation is charmingly clear.”—Ameri- can, Phila. “The result is a language which cannot fail to meet with acceptance.’ —Boston Traveller. op World English deserves the careful consideration of all serious scholars."—Modern Language Notes. Sent, postpaid, on receipt of price. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. THE MODERN MALADY ; or, Suf- ferers from ‘ Nerves,’ An introduction to public consideration, from a non-medical point of view, of a con- dition of ill-health which is increasingly prevalent in all ranks of society. In the first part of this work the author dwells on the errors in our mode of treating Neuras- thenia, consequent on the wide ignorance of the subject which still prevails; in the sec- ond part, attention is drawn to the principal causes of the malady. The allegory forming the Introduction to Part I. gives a brief his- tory of nervous exhaustion and the modes of treatment which have at various times been thought suitable to this most painful and try- ing disease. By CYRIL BENNETT. 12°, 184 pp., $1.50. N. D.C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, NewYork | For Sale by all Stationers. THE ESTERBROOK STEEL PEN CO. Works: Oamden, N.J. 26 John St., NewYork. New Stock. MINERALS. New Departments. Send for our ‘‘ Winter Bulletin,” recently issue@. Minerals, Gems, Microscopical Sections, Fine Lap- idary Work. GEO. L. ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists, Removed to 64 East 12th Street, New York MAGENTS $50 to S100 54- Ladies or Gents. Bestseller known. Need- f}ed atevery house. place of business or farm. m theyearround. “Home” Electric Moter runsallkindsoflightmachinery. Cheap- ¥ est poweron earth. Connected instantly to wash or sewing machine, corn sheller, 4 pumps, fans, lathes, jewelers’ or dentists” machinery, &c. Clean, noiseless, lasts a life-time. No experience needed. To show in operation means a sale, Guare teed. Profits immense. Circulars freee W. P. HARRISON & OO., X-7, Columbus, 0,. New Store. [OLN Bin, Tsk | Natural Selection at Fault. I Am truly sorry if, in my remarks on this subject, I have failed to make myself understood. As regards the common cat, I have seen not merely half-grown kittens, but middle-aged mousers, play with their booty and lose it. The idea of this practice having the object of cultivating agility seems to me exceedingly far-fetched. I have not sought to account for the cackle of hens, but have merely pointed out the undeniable fact that it is very liable to attract the attention of any ovivorous bird or beast to the probable presence of an egg. The rarity in man of the power to erect the ear, or to turn it so as to catch any faint sound-waves has been repeatedly noticed, as . also the fact that it does nct collect all the impinging sound- waves into the orifice of the ear. My only merit, or demerit (?), has been to cite the abated condition of the ear-muscles as an instance of natural selection at fault. The ear is probably in a state of transition, but in what direction ? J. W. SLATER, London, England, April, 25. The Habitat and the Diet of the Lepidoptera. A FEW lepidopterous species select in different countries widely different habitats and food plants. Thus Papilio machaon, the most common European species of papilio, is confined in England to the fenny districts of Cambridgeshire, and cccasionally ex- tends to small portions of the adjoining counties. What with the greediness of collectors for ‘‘ British specimens” of any re- markable insects, and with the drainage of the fields, it is feared ‘that this species will soon be extirpated. The caterpillar of this species, in England, feeds on swamp plants. In central Europe Papilio machaon is fairly abundant on the dry, gravelly hills and certain parts of lower Silesia, Bohemia and Saxony, the very opposite in their character to the fields of SCIEN GE: 4r The three hawk moths, Chanocampa celerio, Ch. elpenar and Ch. porcellus, on the European continent, feed chiefly upon the vine. But in England they feed on bed straw, willow herb and sometimes on the fuchsia. Ihave in vain tried to induce larve of elpenar or porcellus to feed on vine leaves, probably if the ova had been placed upon vine leaves the young larvze would have not refused this, their normal food. J. W. SLATER, London. Beaver Creek Meteorite. Between the hours of 3 and 4 P. M. on the 26th of May last, a meteorite was heard by many persons, and three of the frag- ments were seen to fall near Beaver Creek, West Kootenai Dis- trict, B. C., a few miles north of the United States boundary. The two smaller of these fragments, weighing perhaps 5 to 6 pounds in all, were picked up at once; the larger one, weighing about 25 pounds, was not found untilthenext morning. It made a hole in the wet earth about three feet deep, two feet in soil and one foot in hard pan. The direction of the hole was south 60° east, true meridian, and at an angle of 58° with the horizon. Fresh earth was scattered about the hole in all directions, but farthest (10 feet) in the direction from which the stone came. On the 6th inst. [ saw and purchased this stone from Mr. James Hislop, a civil engineer, who found it and brought it to Wash- ington. : It is a typical aérolite of very pronounced chondritic structure. It is completely coated with the usual black crust, except at one end, where about three pounds have been broken off and scattered, like the two smaller stones, mostly among mere curiosity hunters. The mass now weighs 224 pounds, measures 6 x 74 x 94 inches, and approaches in sbape an acute octahedron. I propose for it the name of Beaver Creek, the banks of which it fell. A microscopical examination and chemical analysis will be from the stream by Cambridgeshire. The larva in Silesia and quently on the mountain asb. Bohemia feeds fre- jyade soon. Washingto», D.C. EDWIN E. HOWELL. Delicious : _ Drink. Horsford’s Acid Phosphate with water and sugar. only, makes a delicious, healthful and invigorating drink. Allays the thirst, aids diges- tion, and relieves the lassitude sO common in midsummer. Dr, M. H. Henry, New York, says: “When completely tired out by pro- longed wakefulness and overwork, it is of the greatest value tome. Asa bey- erage it possesses charms beyond any- thing I know of in the form of medi- cine.” Descriptive pamphlet free. Mumford Chemical Works, Providence, R. I. Beware of Substitutes and Imitations. Exchanges. [Freeofcharge to all, if ofsatisfactory character. Address N. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New York.] For sale or exchange.—A complete set of the re- port of the last Geological Survey of Wisconsin, ’. C. Chamberlin, geologist. [t consists of four large volumes, finely illustrated, and upwards of forty large maps and charts. Willsell for cash or exchange for a microscope. Address Geo. Beck, Platteville, Wis. For sale or exchange for copper coins or rare postage stamps. Tryon’s American Marine Conch- ology, containing hand colored figures of all the shells of the Atlantic coast of the United States. Presentation copy, autograph, etc. One vol., half morocco, 8vo, usual price, $25, postpaid, $15. Botany of the Fortieth Parallel of the Hundredth Meridian of the Pacific R.R. Survey. Other Botanical works and works on Ethnology. F. A. Hassler, M.D., Santa Ana, Cal. I have a fire-proof safe, weight 1,150 pounds, which I will sell cheap or exchange for a gasoline engine or some other things that may happen to suit. The safe is nearly new, used a short time only. Make offers. A. Lagerstrom, Cannon Falls, Minn., Box 857. For exchange.—Hudson River fossils in good con- dition from the vicinity of Moore’s Hill, Ind., also land and fresh water shells. Desire fossils and shells from other groups and localities. Address Geo. C. Hubbard, Moore’s Hill, Ind. For sale at low price.—A fine old-fashioned photo- graphic camera, rosewood box, one foot square, lenses, four inches diameter, made by C. C. Harri- son. Plateholders, troughs, baths, etc., all in large wooden case, formerly the property of the late President Moore, of Columbia College. This is a fine example of an instrument of the best make for the old wet-process methods, and valuable to any institution or amateur interested in the history of photography in the U.S. Address M. S. Daniel, 236 W. 4th St., New York. I wish to exchange a collection of 7,000 shells, 1001 species and varieties, American and foreign, land, fluviatile and marine, for a good microscope and accessories. Address, with particulars, Dr. Lorenzo G. Yates, Santa Barbara, California. For exchange.—I wish to exchange Lepidoptera of South Dakota and other sections, for Lepidoptera of the world. Will purchase species of North Amer- ica. Correspondence solicited, particularly with collectors in the Rocky Mountains, Pacific coast and Hudson’s Bay regions. P. C. Truman, Volga, Brooking county, South Dakota. Wants. YOUNG man who has been through the course in mathematics in Princeton University, wishes some tutorirg this summer. Rates reason- able. Address P.H Westcott, Cramer’s Hill, Cam- den Co., N. J. GRADUATE of an American Polytechnic insti- tution and of a German university (Gittingen), seeks a position to teach chemistry in a college or similar institution. Five years’ experience in teaching chemistry, Address Chemist, 757 Cary St., Brockton, Mass. Nes experienced teacher in general biology wiskes a position in a first-class college or university. Three years in post-graduate study. Extensive experience. Strong indorsements. Address E. W. Doran, Ph.D., 1827 G St., N. W., Washington, D. C. HREE teachers wanted for a male and female seminary in central New York. Typewriting, etc., languages, mathematics, sciences, et. al. Send stamp with and for particulars. Box 701, Hemp- stead, L. I. ZOOLOGICAL collector and taxidermist of ten years’ experience in the field is now open to en- gagement, for either field or laboratory work. References furnished. Address Taxidermist, Box 75, White Sulphur Springs, West Va. ANTED, as principal of a flourishing technical school, a gentleman of education and experi- ence who will be capable of supervising both me- chanical and common school] instruction. Special familiarity with some technical branch desirable. Address, giving age, qualifications, etc., J. B. Bloom- ingdale, Fifty-ninth street and Third avenue, N. Y ANTED.—A young man as assistant in our microscopical department. Queen & Co., Philadelphia. AMER undersigned desires specimens of North American Gallinae in the flesh for the study of their pterylosis. These species are especially de- sired: Colinus ridgwayi, cyrtonyx montezumae, deudragapus franklini, Vag ous welchi,tympanuchus cupido and pedtoecetes phasianellus. Any persons haying alcoholic specimens which they are willing to loan or who can obtain specimens of any of the above are requested to communicate with Hubert Lyman Clark, 3922 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa 42 SECIENGE: {[VoL. XXII. No. 546 THE Anerican Dell Telephone COMPANY. {25 MILK ST., BOSTON, MASS. This Company owns the Letters - Patent No. 186,787, granted to Alexander Graham Bell, January 30th, 1877, the scope of which has been defined by the Supreme Court of the United States in the following terms: ‘ All books reviewed in SCIENCE can be ordered from us. : SEND FOR A SAMPLE Copy oF Book CHat. A Month- ly Index of the Periodical Literature of the World. $1.00 per year. BRENTANO’S, Union Square, New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris. 1869. THE 1893. Manufacturer and Builder. Published Monthly. A handsomely illustrated me- chanical journal, edited by Dr. Wint1am H. Want. Every number consists of 48 large quarto pages and cover, filled with useful information on all subjects of a practical nature. Specimen copy free. For sale by all newsdealers. Agents wanted every- where. Address HENRI GERARD, P. 0. Box 1001. 83 Nassau St., N. VY. LIGHT, HEAT AND POWER. THE INDEPENDENT GAS JOURNAL OF AMERICA. PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT PHILADELPHIA. Subscription, $3.00 per year. Newspaper Clippings. 25,000 in Stock, What do you want? Let us know. We can supply you. The Clemens News Agency, Box 2329, San Francisco, Cal. The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. A FIRST-CLASS WEEKLY MEDICAL NEWSPAPER. ESTABLISHED 1828. Terms of Subscription: In the United States, and to Canada and Mexico, $5.00 a yearin ad vance. numbers, 15c. To Foreign Countries embraced in the Universal Postal Union, $1.56 a year additional. ‘Yen consecutive numbers free by mail on receipt of $1.00. Single This JoURNAL circulates chiefly through the New England States, and is seen by the great majority of the profession in that important district. As a means of reaching physicians it is unequalled. It is under the editorial management of Dr. George B. Shattuck, assisted by a large staff of compe- tent coadjutors, Subscriptions and advertisements received by the undersigned, to whom remittances by mail should be sent by money-order, draft or registered letter. DAMRELL & UPHAM, 283 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. RACES AND PEOPLES, By DANIEL G, BRINTON, M.D. “The book is good, thoroughly good, and will long remain the best accessible elementary ethnography in our language.”—The Christian Union. “We strongly recommend Dr. Brinton’s ‘ Races and Peoples’ to both beginners and scholars. We are not aware of any other recent work on the science of which it treats in the English language.” —Asiatic Quarterly. “His book is an excellent one, and we can heartily recommend it as an introductory manual of ethnol- ogy.” —The Monist. “A useful and really interesting work, which de- serves to be widely read and studied both in Europe and America.”’—Brighton (Eng.) Herald. “This volume is most stimulating. It is written with great clearness, so that anybody can under- stand, and while in some ways, perforce, superficial, grasps very well the complete field of humanity.”— The New York Times. “Dr. Brinton invests his scientific illustrations and measurements with an indescribable charm of nar- ration, so that ‘Races and Peoples,’ avowedly a rec- ord of discovered facts, is in reality a strong stim- ulant to the imagination.”—Philadelphia Public Ledger. “The work is indispensable to the student who re- quires an intelligent guide to a course of ethno- graphic reading.” —Philadelphia Times. Price, postpaid, $1.75. THE AMERICAN RACE. By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. “ The book is one of unusual interest and value.”— Inter Ocean. ‘2 “Dr. Daniel G. Brinton writes asthe acknowledged authority of the subject.”—Philadelphia Press. “The work will be of genuine value to all who wish to know the substance of what has been found out about the indigenous Americans.’’—Nature. ‘““A masterly discussion, and an example of the successful education of the powers of observation.” —Philadelphia Ledger. Price, postpaid, $2. ROSSIL RESINS. This book is the result of an attempt to collect the scattered notices of fossil resins, exclusive of those on amber. The work is of interest also on account of descriptions given of the insects found embedded in these long- preserved exudations from early vegetation. By CLARENCE LOWN and HENRY BOOTH: Ww, fal. N. D. €. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. ¥. LABORATORY MICROSCOPES. The Reichert III (ver- tical, No. 8) is a favor- ite pattern for labora- tory work, and is fitted with his best lenses. We are prepared to import the above instru- ments, duty free, for educational institutions, at extremely low prices. Correspondence Solicited. QUEEN & CO., Sole Agents. Philadelphia. ae NEW YORK, JULY 28, 1893. SYSTEMATIZED GRADUATE INSTRUCTION IN PSYCHOL- OGY. BY E. W. SCRIPTURE, NEW HAVEN, CONN. Instruction in psychology cannot be said to have been placed on-a sound basis till it consists of a series of carefully graded teaching from elementary text-book instruction to the highest kind of original work. Haphazard work here is just as bad as any- where. It is self-evident that the student of psychology should properly apportion the amount of time spent in its various depart- ments and in the other sciences he will have need of. The man who starts with the supposition that the way tostudy psychology is to go into the anatomical laboratory on the one hand and to take heavy courses in Greek philosophy on the other, is losing much valuable time. It is hereby not implied that no time is to be given to these subjects any more than that geometry and history are to be omitted from a man’s education. But when a man has finished his college work and goes to the university he is supposed to have received his general culture and to be ready for his life- work. The specialist isa man of broader knowledge than the dilet- tante. The difference between the two is that the latter browses at random, while the former reaches over a much wider field, but with a careful selection and coérdination of the portions re- lated to some central point. There isa maximum of energy and health which a man can employ in work; if this capital is in- vested in a careless way it will bring in small returns; the man will never really gain a complete training in anything. The problem of a specialist is to go over as much ground as possible; to do this it is necessary to pass rapidly over the less valuable portions in order to have time for the valuable ones fur- ther on. Moreover, no essentials should be overlooked, no mat- ter how distant they apparently lie. This Jast requirement is probably the most important of all. There is many a psycholo- gist to-day who is fatally weak in some one or more points; it would be easy to find those who, although making measure- ments, know nothing of the science of measurement, or who, using light, heat, etc., as tools in their experiments, have little idea of the laws of the forces they are handling. To remedy all these defects in the dilettante way a man would have to study a couple dozen sciences; since life is too short to learn even one with any respectable thoroughness, the only way to do is to take just what will be of the most advantage to the psychologist, always bearing in mind that an hour too much on any one point means an hour too little on some other one. It is the first problem of the psychological laboratory or the psychvlogical department to so arrange its courses as to satisfy these requirements. As my own experience may possibly be of use to some one I will indicate briefly the outline of a system of instruction designed to meet this want. It is to be borne in mind that I am not speaking of college work with the object of general culture, but of serious university work for one who de- sires to study psychology. As the science of psychology to-day is based on measurement and experiment, the work of the student must begin with some considerations on the method of making experiments; this should be followed by careful work in the theory of measurements, treating of the probability integral, the mean variation, etc. This work resembies somewhat the corresponding work given in physical measurement-, but although the mathematical princi- ples are the same, the treatment differs considerably. One of the great differences between psychological and physical meas- urements is that the conditions cannot yet be as accurately con- trolled asin physics; our mean variations are thus greater and the deductions we can draw from the results are not the same. In this respect psychological measurements on a single person somewhat resemble measurements taken once on each of a large number of persons. Partly for this reason, but mainly also for the sake of mental statistics, a study of the methods of statistics has to be made. The making of measurements brings in the study of fundamental and derived units and the construction of apparatus. The study of the various subjects of touch, sight, hearing, etc., requires a consideration of the pbysical processes used in stimulation. Thereafter the usual psychological subjects are, in a lecture course, to be treated in detail. Hearing lectures will never make a psychologist; the funda- mental course for all special instruction is the laboratory work. The student must be trained by repeated exercises in making the measurements explained in the lectures, including exercises on touch, temperature, hearing, sight, 1n the graphic method, chro- nometry, dynamometry, audiometry, photoptometry, colorimetry (psychological), ete. This should be followed by work in the construction of apparatus, elements of mechanical drawing, use of tools, etc. It is of great importance not to have too many men at work at the same time, at least not until psychological laboratories are much enlarged. During the past year the aver- age attendance on this course in the Yale laboratory has been eigbt, an unpracticable number. Even with the enlarged equip- ment for the coming academic year, the number admitted to this practice course will have to be limited. The object of university instruction, as distinguished from col- lege training, is to develop the love of research, to train the stu- dent in research methods, to furnish him with the requisite knowledge and skill, and finally to provide him with the appa- ratus and other means of work for carrying out such investiga- tions as may be best for him to undertake. The requisite knowl- edge of the psychological methods is gained from the laboratory course, the training in the difficulties and methods involved in research is obtained by placing the newer students as helpers to the advanced ones. The importance of this last arrangement can hardly be overestimated. It is the one in vogue at Leipzig and elsewhere. It is a very dangerous thing for a man to take up a problem for investigation unless by previous experience with some one else he has found out that research is the hardest kind of work and has learned the thinking, the untiring patience, the courage un- der defeat that are called for at the various stages of work. If we regard the research work as a means of training, it is an important matter to the student that he shall not undertake problems with rather indefinite boundaries or those where he may perchance run wild or be led into careless work. There can be no better training than that found in the investigation of a single point where the most careful measurements and manipulation are required. Once the student has learned the proper habits he will do far better work with suggestive and uncertain problems than could otherwise be hoped for. If a student has had the proper general culture in philosophy, physics and mathematics, such a course as that outlined ought to make a thorough psychologist out of him. If he has not had the proper college training it behooves him to make it up as fast as possible. In the first place, an acquaintance with German is ab- solutely indispensable. Some acquaintance with the epistemo- logical theories of the day is also necessary. A thorough scient- ist in psychology could not get along without knowing some- 44 thing about calculus, at least enough to follow the developments in such works as Miiller’s Grundlegung or Weinstein’s Physikal- ische Maassbestimmungen. The more physics he knows the better. OUR CRIPPLED WEATHER SERVICE. BY JAMES P. HALL, BROOKLYN, N.Y. A recent order of the new Secretary of Agriculture stops all the scientific research which, until this month, was being con- ducted by the United States Weather Bureau, and limits the functions of the experts in the Central Office to mere forecasting. Quite apart from all personal and political considerations, this is a lamentable event on many accounts. Tt appears to be necessary, even in this enlightened age, to prove afresh that ‘‘ pure science” is a prerequisite to most of our _ material progress. We are still under the necessity of making out that Columbus, who conceived that other lands lay to the westward of the great Atlantic, who visited one potentate after another to secure aid for his schemes, who haunted the courts and camps of Ferdinand and Isabella year after year, and who backed up his case with only the calculations of ‘‘pure science,” really served Spain in particular, and civilization in general, quite as well as the ‘‘ practical” men who handled the ropes and sails of the three caravels. We must elaborately demonstrate, all over again, to some of our fellow-countrymen that the unknown inventor of the mariner’s compass and those other ‘‘ pure scient- ists” who make charts showing the deviation of the needle, have conferred as great benefits on mankind as the pilot who uses that quivering bit of steel in bringing his ship safely across the seas. We must be prepared to face a question whether the captain of a New England fishing smack who thumbs his almanac to find out at what hour the tide rises or falls on a given day is not, after all, the superior (as an agent in civilization) to those learned as- tronomers and mathematicians who compute the tables for that little pamphlet. We must not be surprised if- sane, intelligent, even eminent men, tell us that all the amazing development in steel production which we have witnessed in Europe and America jn the last quarter of a century would have come just as soon— perhaps sooner—if Henry Bessemer had not carefully evolved his wonderful process from chemical theories and laboratory tests, nor ought it to startle us if some one insists that the sweating la- borer in a rail mill, who grasps with tongs the fiery snake which emerges from the rollers and drags it away to have its ends sawed off, does more toward the building of a safe and lasting road than the expert who sits at a table and figures out the precise cross-section of rail that will give the greatest resistance to all the complex strains to which those bars must be subjected in ser- vice, even though these calculations extend over years and are based on long-extended and carefully designed tests. We can- not count on the universal acceptance of our opinion—if it hap- pens to be our opinion—that Roebling, in computing the exact size and number of the wires to hold up a bridge over East River, and in drafting all the plans for that wonderful structure, was at all comparable in usefulness with the truckman who now drives a two-horse team across it every day. If we positively assert that the projectors of the great railway systems beyond the Mississippi have done more than the men who drove spikes with sledge-hammers to open up that region to settlement and to provide outlets for the enormous grain and pork product which has resulted, we know not how soon nor how flatly we shall be contradicted. We may meekly hint that the physician who pre- scribes does as much to cure us as the drug clerk who compounds the prescription; that the arithmetic maker is as much of a pub- lic benefactor as the corner groceryman who focts up the total cost of ten pounds of sugar and two pounds of coffee; that Edi- son, who perfected the incandescent lamp after long years of ex- periment with no end of substances for his filament, did as much to give us an electric light as the man who tacks up cloth-cov- ered wire in our offices and screws pear-shaped globes into wall- fixtures; that Grabam Bell was quite as instrumental in enabling us to converse over a wire with people a dozen miles away as the patient girl who answers our ring and sticks a little brass plug in a hole for us; and that we owe as much to the long array of de- SCIENCE (VoL. XXII. No. 547 signers, from Watts to Buchanan, who have brought the locomo- tive engine up to its present perfection, as the engineer on the ‘limited’? express for the marvellous speed we make in going to Chicago; but we must not mistake for conviction the tolerance with which these utterances are received. And so in meteorology. There are minds so constituted that they regard the observer as the equai or superior of the inventor of the barometer and thermometer; the ‘‘ practical” man who jots down figures on a map and then draws “isobars,” ‘‘ iso- therms” and wind signs on it as more useful than the pure sci- entist who, without touching pencil to paper, studies the move- ments of high and low pressure areas across the country, and the man who guesses what changes will occur during the next twenty-four hours, in the shape, size, position, intensity and other features of the cyclonic and anti-cyclonic systems, are doing better work than one who discovers and formulates the laws that govern those changes, and thus renders forecasting possible. What makes this the more amazing is the insufficiency of our present rules for weather predictions. The principles in- volved are not yet fully established. The most successful experts in this line realize that they are working under only a provisional code that must be greatly modified and supplemented. There is not a science so young and undeveloped as meteorology; there is not a bureau in the national government whose maxims and pro- cedure are not better established, nor, when one considers the immense and varied interests—railway, shipping, agricultural, commercial and individual—which are affected by the weather, is there any branch of the service which affects so many people, and affects them so directly, as this, unless we except the postal business? Not to strain every nerve to improve tbe quality and character of the work by fuller inquiry into fundamental theories is folly, if not crime. Sucha policy of neglect involves direct waste, as ignorance always does. Our expenditure, year after year, would not thus be made to the best possible advantage. On the other hand, to use one per cent ($10,000), out of the $1,000,000 appropriated for the bureau, in expert work, would be a measure of true economy by gradually revealing how best to use the rest. That has been true of the bureau from the start; and it has never been a wiser course than it would be now. Any manager of a creamery, sawmill, cotton factory, iron foun- dry or railroad who deliberately threw away such a chance as this for improving what everyone recognized as the inadequate facilities of his business, at a trifling cost, would be set down by ‘practical’? men as strangely blind or culpably reckless. ANALOGOUS VARIATIONS IN SPHAGNACE (PEAT- MOSSES). BY H. N. DIXON, F.L.S., NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND. In the ‘‘ Origin of Species” (6th ed , p. 126) there is the fol- lowing passage, under the heading of ‘‘ Analogous Variations: ” ‘© As all the species of the same genus are supposed to be de- scended from a common progenitor, it ought to be expected that they would occasionally vary in an analogous manner, so that the varieties of two or more species would resemble each other, or that a variety of one species would resemble in certain char- acters another and distinct species,—this other species being, according to our view, only a well-marked and permanent va- riety.” A clear example of this is of considerable value in the support it gives to the theory of descent; but, as Darwin goes on to show, there are several reasons why such examples are not common, A very striking illustration is, however, to be seen among the peat-mosses, or species of Sphagnum, and, as I do not know that anyone has drawn attention to the facts from this point of view, I think it may be of interest to present them briefly. Many of the facts quoted below are taken from a paper by C. Jensen (translated in the Revue Bryologigue, 1887, p. 33, by F. Gravet), entitled ‘‘ Les Variations Analogues dans les Sphagnaceés.” Sphagnum acutifolium may be taken as a typical species of the genus; in its most characteristic form it is a plant with tall, slender stems, bearing at intervals fascicles of simple branches of two kinds, the one (divergent) stouter and more or less horizontal, JuLy 28, 1893. ] the other (pendent) longer, thinner, straight, and appressed closely downwards to the stem; the leaves on the branches being closely imbricated allround. The stem bears leaves very different in form and structure from those of the branches. Now Sphagnum acutifolium is a most variable moss; the list of recognized species in Europe alone numbering about thirty. Among these are several distinct and well-marked forms, such as the following : In onethe branch leaves, instead of being straightand closely imbricated as described above, are bent back in the middle and spread almost at right-angles from the branch — the forma squarrosa. Ina second the branches, instead of being straight or nearly so, are hooked or contorted — the falcate variety. In a third, the forma compacta, the whole plant takes a short, com- pact habit, the stems being much shortened and closely tufted, the fascicles of branches close together, and the branches them- selves short and stunted, with the leaves closely set. In a fourth the differentiation between the stem and branch leaves almost or quite disappears, the former acquiring the form and structure of the latter, the forma homophylla, and so on with two or three more distinct varieties. Now, if we turn to the other species of the genus, we find that of those found in Europe and North America there is hardly one which does not include one or more of these six or seven distinct varieties which we find in S. acutifoliwm. Thus of nineteen European species (all but two of which are natives of North America) sixteen, and perhaps eighteen, have varieties belonging to the forma compacta, fourteen at least, and perhaps four others, have the squarrose variety, and so on to a greater or less degree withthe otherforms. At least two of these forms are found under every one of the species, and in more than one species all the forms are found. Here we have a clear case of analogous variations. It cannot be supposed that they are instances of reversion to a common an- cestral form, for, apart from other considerations, the variation in some of the forms is in a directly opposite direction to that which it takes in others. The delicate, elongated forms of the tenellee and the dense, compact forms of the compactce can hardly both be reversions to a common ancestral type ! So far we have exactly the same thing that we see in many races of domesticated species, such as Darwin has pointed out, for instance, in the races of the domestic pigeon; but we do not often see it carried out on such a wide and instructive scale. But what is of especial interest in the case of the Sphagnacece is that, when we go further and consider the characters that dis- tinguish the different species from one another, we find that the very points which we have seen mark off the above varieties (and render them, as arule, more distinct than the other varieties of . the species) are in several cases those which are most characteristic in separating from one another the species themselves. Thus S. squarrosum is specially marked by the spreading leaves; S. rigidum has for its most obvious features the very characteristics by which the compacta forms above described are distinguished; S. swbse- cundum in most of its forms is marked by its falcate or contorted branches; while a group of species, classed by Lindberg as HOMOPHYLLA, are characterized by that similarity of stem and branch leaves which I have described above as the feature of the corresponding variety; and so on with the other forms. Here we have exactly fulfilled the supposition of Darwin quoted above, “that a variety of one species would resemble in certain charac- ters another and a distinct species,” and fulfilled, too, on a scale which, at any rate, precludes the possibility of its being due to fortuitous coincidence. On any theory of creation that did not presuppose a common ancestry for these species of Sphagnum, it might indeed be possi- ble to account for the analogy between the varieties of different species by assuming the variations to be the direct results of the environment (a more than doubtful assumption, moreover); but the more we lay this cause under contribution to account for the varietal forms, the harder it is to believe that precisely the same variations in the species, only carried out to a higher degree of permanency, are due to entirely different and quite unconnected causes. The above facts appear to me to form a peculiarly interesting SCIENCE. ie support to Darwin's argument from analogous variation. In the first place, the possibility of reversion is, as I have pointed out, eliminated, and reversion and analogous variation, which are quite distinct principles, are too often indistinguishable in their results for us to be quite certain that we have a genuine example of the latter. In the next place, as Darwin points out, analogous variations are liable to be eliminated as not being necessarily serviceable; that they are not eliminated in the Sphagna is, I be- lieve, partly due to the peculiar conditions under which these plants usually grow, but this opens too wide a field to enter upon here. In addition to these reasons, we have here an illustration drawn from species and varieties in a state of nature; examples of analogous variations have usually to be drawn from domesticated forms, where their value is limited by their necessarily applying to races and varieties only, and not to distinct species. Tappend a table (taken from Jensen’s paper quoted above), which shows at a glance the distribution of these varietal forms among the European species of Sphagnum. A + indicates the existence of the variety heading the column under the species opposite to which it is placed; a ? means that the existence of such a form is probable, but is insufficiently attested or not clearly enough marked to be entered as certain. It must be remembered that there is always a possibility of gaps being filled up by future re- search, but the table is, I think, as it stands, sufficiently striking. | | |_| d I) as | 08 alad Group. Species. Bagladleg FElGS S 8 SEIAS|ESlSslog me ae Bale gies a S| sileSiee} a) 8 Sphagnum laxifolium, C. M................-- z eee dae i intermedium, Hoffm............ rte |p NH War : | é af riparium, Angstr................ eataae | icta 3 te lindbergii, Schimp............... 2 i il aP z “ WUE GILE sosina cata eee + + |? F ‘ acutifolilum, Ebrb................)t |t | |+ |+ | + 3 se strictum, Lindb.................. ir ir |e & G fimbriatum, Wils........... ... t iF || £e st teres, Angstr............-. .... t et 2 03 gquarrosum, Pers..............-- t Hae {lar 3 © subsecundum, Nees............. le ere We We lee a 3 be caricinum, Spruce............... aie io ie lo lle mm “ 2 tenellum, Ehrb............. .... er + | + wa —— | | | 3 @ compactum, D. C..............-- | + e |e Be o MOMs Sul ascetics rete a y + tet s os angstrémii, C. Hartm........... + 2/9 R —||— | | | | 5 : | leee| 2 We cymbifolium, Ehrb.............. 1 War | ve liar | | 3 oo papillosum, Lindb............... + t 3 | } | = “ austinis Gulleeeeeeeeeee tesserae | + ae We n | THE CLOSE OF THE ICE AGE IN NORTH AMERICA. BY R. W. MCFARLAND, LL.D , LATE PRESIDENT OF MIAMI UNIVERSITY. THis is a question of interest to scientific men in general, and to geologists and glacialists in particular. In Professor Wright’s ‘‘Ice Age in North America,” p. 448, in speaking of Croll’s table of the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit, he says: ‘‘ According to this table the modern period most favorable to the production of a glacial epoch began about 240,000 years ago, and ended 70,000 years ago.” Again, on p. 450, we have this: ‘‘ If, therefore, the glacial period should prove to have ended only 10,000 years ago, instead of 70,000, the Darwinian would be relieved of no small embarrassment.” A genuine scientist, of course, has no preconceived theory to 46 sustain — whether of Darwin, or of Archbishop Ussher — he seeks only to know the truth, whatever may be the consequences. Perhaps the points mentioned in this paper further along have not had sufficient attention hitherto. ‘‘ Come, let us reason to- gether.” The first extract above sets the close of the ‘‘ Ice Age” entirely too far back. One of the objects of this paper is to make good this assertion. From the facts set forth below, it is reasonable to conclude that even on Croll’s theory alone the close was not over 40,000 years ago, and possibly not over 35,000. If the views of Professor LeConte, given in his paper of January, 1891, have tbe weight and influence which their importance demands, it seems to me that there need no longer be any contest between gacialists who reject the astronomical theory, by reason of the remoteness of the time, and those who refer the ice age to terrestrial causes alone. Professor LeConte’s theory is so clearly and tersely set forth that it is best to quote it entire, as given by Professor Wright on pp. 618-9, including the figure used in illustration :— PLIOCERS Gx ANCIAL “‘1, That the continental elevation which commenced in the Pliocene culminated in the early Quaternary, and was, at least, one of the causes of the cold, and therefore of the ice accumula- tion. ‘©2. That the increasing load of ice was the main cause of the subsidence below the present level. ‘© 3. That the removal of the ice-load by melting was the cause of the re-elevation to the present condition. ‘‘d. That all these effects lagged far behind their causes. ‘*This lagging of effects behind their causes is seen in all cases where effects are cumulative. For example, the sun’s heating power is greatest at midday, but the temperature of the earth and air is greatest two or three hours later; the summer solstice is in June, but the hottest month is July; and in some cases the lagging ismuch greater. The cause of sea-breezes,—i.e., the heating power of the sun, — culminates at midday, but the effects in producing air-currents culminate late in the afternoon and continue far into the night, long after the reverse cause, i.e., the more rapid cool- ing of the land, has commenced. Receménisctly of the Farths Orbcet, Fet the lase- (00,008 45, 2 ° ° ° eo gS i) i a 5 3 a > 3 S ‘. 8 3 Sia sine) Q ° 2) és a 9 S G : 3 ; De s iS] cy ~ S > wa Oo Q ‘ 78 s ‘ ) x “‘Now, in the case under consideration, it is probable that the Jagging would be enormous in consequence of the reluctant yield- ing of the crust and the capacity of ice to produce the conditions of its own accumulation. Although the elevation produced the cold, and therefore the ice accumulation, yet the latter culminated long after the former had ceased, and even after a contrary move- ment had commenced.” So far LeConte. The close of the glacial epoch as above given — 70,000 years — is wholly arbitrary, and is evidently very far from the truth, as will be shown. At that time the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit was nearly twice as great as it is now, and the consequent excess of the sun’s time on one side of the equator above that on the other side (depending on the longitude of the perihelion) was SCIENGE: [Vot. XXII. No. 547 about fourteen days. It had decreased from thirty-five, when the difference was greatest. But this difference of fourteen days would work in the direction of great difference of climate between the hemispheres, and would so continue to work as long as there was any difference at all. And not only so, but the effect would continue and accumulate according to the universal law of nature in the cases above cited, long after the smallest eccentricity had been reached. And that smallest eccentricity occurred less than 45,000 years ago, whether the computation be made by the for- mula of LeVerrier or by that of Stockwell. The last sentence of the extract from LeConte is significant: “Yet the latter culminated long after the former had ceased and even after a contrary movement had commenced.” In this lati- tude the usual temperature for the first week in December is not very different from that of the first week in March. Yet the sun in the first case is more than twenty-two degrees south of the equator, and at the latter date is scarcely five degrees. In like manner, and in accordance with the law above named, suppose the intense cold resulting from the wide glaciation of the northern parts of this continent, to have continued long after the eccen- tricity had reached its minimum, then it is not only possible, but even probable, that the close of the ice age was not more than 35,000 years ago, even if 30,000 would not be a more accurate designation. In which event, the objection to the astronomical theory, by reason of the long time elapsed since the days of high eccentricity, is wholly removed. And Professor Wright himself, although long favoring the sbort period of 10,000 years, has lately seen cause to doubt whether this is not too small. In a letter to the New York Nation, under date of Sept. 15, 1892, in view of his. recent investigation of the old northern outlet of the great lakes into the Ottawa River, he says the facts ‘‘ will . . . considerably lengthen our computation.” This throwing back of the close of the ice age by the glacialist, and the preceding shortening of the period in accordance with a universal law of nature, may both serve to strengthen the hypoth- esis of LeConte, and commend it to all interested in these ques- tions, as the explanation which best accounts for the admitted facts. CURRENT NOTES ON CHEMISTRY.—I. [Edited by Charles Platt, Ph.D., F.C.S.] Properties of Diamonds. THE experiments of M. Moissan in the production of artificial diamonds and other precious stones, his remarkable results in the reduction of the most refractory oxides and his whole line of work at high temperatures, are well known to readers of the sci- entific magazines. Some of the more recent investigations have been of the properties of the diamond when heated in oxygen, hydrogen, chlorine, etc. When the temperature is raised slowly the combustion is correspondingly slow and without production of light, being recognized solely by the action of the gas evolved on baryta solution. At 40°-50° above the point at which this slow combustion takes place the combustion becomes more rapid, pro- ducing a visible flame. Yellowish-brown carbonado burned with a flame at 690°; black carbonado with a flame at 710°-720°; transparent Brazilian diamond without a flame at 710°-720°; transparent crystallized Brazilian diamond without a flame at 760°-770°; cut diamond from the Cape without a flame at 780°-790°; Brazilian bort and Cape bort without a flame at 790°, and with a flame at 840°; very hard bort without a flame at 8002, and witha flame at 875°. Asa rule, the harder the diamond the higher its point of ignition. When heated to 1200° in hydrogen the Cape diamond loses nothing in weight, but becomes lighter in color and less trans- parent; dry chlorine and dry hydrogen fluoride have no action at 1100°-1200°. Sulphur attacks diamonds at 1000°, but with car- bonado carbon bisulphide is readily produced at 900°. Sodium vapor has no action at 600°. Iron at its melting point attacks the diamond with the production of graphite on cooling; melted platinum also combines readily. Fused potassium hydrogen sul- phate and alkali sulphates, potassium chlorate and nitrate are all without action on the diamond, but, according to Damour, attack Juty 28, 1893.] carbonado. The diamond is rapidly dissolved when heated toa high temperature with carbonates of the alkalies, carbonic acid being given off, but no hydrogen, and hence M. Moissan con- eludes that diamonds contain no hydrogen or hydrocarbons. Treated with hydrofluoric acid, and then with aqua regia and finally washed, dried and burnt in oxygen, the diamonds yielded an ash consisting in all cases but one chiefly of ferric oxide. Cape bort contained also silica, calcium and magnesium, and Brazilian carbonado, silica and calcium, with a trace of magne- sium. One specimen of green transparent bort from Brazil left a minute quantity of ash, which contained silica, but no iron. Preparation of Pure Alumina. The preparation of pure alumina from bauxite, which is al- ways accompanied by more or less silica and oxide of iron, has commonly been carried out as follows: Taking advantage of that property of alumina, which enables it to act as either base or acid, according to its environment, the bauxite is fused with sodium carbonate, the resulting products being sodium aluminate and sodium silicate. The mass is then extracted with water and the sodium aluminate passed into solution. The silicate of soda, owing to a deficiency of base, is but little acted upon by the water and with the ferric oxide is left in the residue. From the solution of the sodium salt the alumina is precipitated by passing carbonic acid gas, carbonate of soda being regenerated at the same time. This process has lately been improved by first precipitating a portion of the solution of aluminate by the gas in the cold, pro- ducing a small quantity of crystallized alumina hydrate of the same composition as Gibbsite, Al,O,3 H,O. This, then, isadded to the main bulk of solution, and a complete separation of the whole is secured, the soda being left in the caustic state. The re- action which takes place has been investigated by M. A. Ditte, and is explained as follows: A solution of sodium aluminate may be regarded as amorphous hydrated alumina dissolved in caustic soda. The form in which a body crystallizes from a solution is largely determined by the character of the crystal introduced to start crystallization. Hence in the process described above the tendency of the whole is to crystallize in the form of the several crystals first introduced, and as the crystalline form of alumina is less soluble than the amorphous in alkaline solutions, there is a gradual complete precipitation. Stirring facilitates the separa- tion of the crystals by bringing those already formed into contact with fresh portions of solution. There is finally left only that proportion of alumina corresponding to the solubility of Gibbsite in caustic soda under the conditions existing, Silk from Wood. At the Paris Exposition in 1889 M. de Chardonnet gave to the world his process for the manufacture of silk from wood and re- ceived the highest honors from the jury of award. Since that time the process has been further developed and has presumably attained a practical success; silk is being manufactured at Be- sancgon from wood pulp such as is used in the fabrication of cer- tin kinds of paper According to F. B. Loomis, U.S. Consul at St. Etienne, the following process is used: The pulp is carefully dried in an oven and plunged into a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acids, then washed in several water-baths and dried by alco- hol. The product thus prepared is dissolved in ether and alcohol with the production of collodion similar to that used in pbotogra- phy. This collodion, which is sticky and viscous, is enclosed in a solid receptacle furnished with a filter in the lower end. An air-pump supplies air to the receptacle, and by its pressure forces the collodion through the filter, removing all impurities. The collodion flows into a horizontal tube armed with three hundred cocks having glass spouts pierced by a small hole of the diameter of the thread of a cocoon as it is spun by the silkworm. The spinner opens the cock and the collodion issues in a thread of ex- treme delicacy. This thread, however, is not yet fit to be rolled upon spools on account of its viscosity and softness, being still collodion and not ‘‘silk.” To obtain the necessary consistency the thread as it issues is passed through water, by which means the ether and alcohol are washed out and the colloJion solidified SCIENCE. 47 and transformed into an elastic thread as brilliant and resisting as ordinary silk. The dangerous inflammability of this substance, as prepared above (two centimetres per second), bas been reduced, according to the inventor, by passing the spun thread through a solution of ammonia, thus rendering it as slow of combustion as any other like dress material. Up to January of this year none of the more important silk manufacturers of St. Etienne or Lyons had invested heavily in this enterprise, but all express confidence in the process and be- lieve it is destined to figure largely in the commercial world. New Method for Melting Points. A. Potilitzin is the author of a new method for the determina- tion of the melting points for substances melting below 4502, this being-the highest temperature which a nitrogen-filled mercury thermometer can indicate. One end of a hard-glass tube, 5 mm. bore and 500-600 mm. in length, is drawn out to capillary fine- ness and the other is bent at right angles. The capillary is dipped into the molten substance, the melting point of which is to be de- termined, so that on cooling the tube is closed by a solid plug of the substance 3-4 mm. long. The other end is connected with a manometer by means of which a pressure exceeding that of the atmosphere is maintained within the tube. The tube, along with the principal thermometer and also one for stem correction, is in- serted into a wide test-tube, which is then immersed in a bath of fusible metal. When the melting-point is reached the plug soft- ens and is expelled by the internal pressure, so that the sudden equalizing of the pressure in the manometer indicates the mo- ment when the substance melts, the thermometers being then read off. Potassium nitrate was found by this method to melt at 336.579 (mean of eight experiments); by immersion of the ther- mometer direct into a large mass of the salt the melting point was found to be 336°. Pigments Used in Some India-rubber Toys. India-rubber has been generally, and correctly, accepted as a suitable material for children’s toys; but investigation into the manufacture of the latter reveals the fact that many as placed upon the market contain harmful ingredients. A. Bulowsky has recently called attention to several dangerous ingredients as, for instance, in black dolls, which are often colored ‘‘in the mass ” with lead pigments. Red articles are also most usually colored in mass, the pigment being antimony sulphide, which, however, being unattacked by the saliva may be considered innocuous. Grey rubber goods generally contain zinc oxide, and hence par- ticularly when, as is sure to be the case, the toy is brought to the child’s mouth, an element of danger is introduced. Superficial coloring is frequently accomplished by means of poisonous pig- ments. These remarks are applied in particular to foreign manu- factures, and though, doubtless, the same coloring matters are used in this country, I have yet to learn of a case of poisoning from coloring in mass. Superficial pigments, from their dispo- sition to flake and from the greater quantity brought into contact with the mouth, are certainly to be avoided. It is difficult, moreover, to estimate the amount of damage done by these toys owing to the many petty ills and derangements of infancy, the poison received by the child very likely is insufficient to develop well-defined symptoms or to direct suspicion, but at the same time may be the cause of an indisposition which itself brings on crying, wakefulness, and general wear on the little body strug- gling for existence. NOTES AND NEWS. Proressor E. W. DorAN has been elected president of Buffalo Gap College, Buffalo Gap, Texas, and has resigned his position at College Park, Md. —C. H. Turner has resigned his position at the University of Cincinnati and accepted the Chair of Natural History at Clark University, Atlanta, Ga. —P. 21, line 9, from below: ‘‘regristation,” read ‘‘registra- tion;” p. 22, line 15, from below: ‘‘ possible,” read ‘‘ impossible ;” and p. 22, column 2, line 31, from above: “understood,” read ‘- understand.” ” 48 SCIENCE: PUBLISHED By N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broapway, New York. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in advance, one aundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reasons we desire to circulate as many copies of Science as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprinted elsewhere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photo- eugraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manuscripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accom- panies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenti- cated by the name and address of the writer; not necessarily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold ourselves responsible for way view or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Attention is called to the ‘‘Wants”’ column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and address of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The ‘‘ Exchange” column is likewise open. THREE SHIPS WITH BERIBERI OUTBREAKS SHOWN TO HAVE HAD EXTENSIVE FORMATION OF CARBONIC OXIDES DURING THE VOYAGE —ANALYSIS OF BERI- BERI BLOOD — CONCLUSION THAT BERIBERI IS NOTHING BUT CARBONIC POISONING OF THE BLOOD. BY ALBERT S. ASHMEAD, MD., NEW YORK, N.Y. In Science, Nov. 18, 1892, I contributed an account of the out- break of beriberi on board the bark ‘‘H. B. Cann,” from Ilo-ilo, Philippine Islands, with a cargo of raw sugar. That cargo fer- mented during the trip, stifling fumes filled the ship, and the beriberi outbreak was considered the consequence of this state of things. In an article which will shortly appear in the Medical News, en- titled ‘‘ Investigation of the Outbreak of Beriberi on Board the Bark ‘ Pax’ from Ceylon with a Cargo of Graphite,” I show that, from the deficient packing of 1,200 tons of graphite, the cargo was exposed to the moist air encountered on a tropical voyage, all but six of a crew of nineteen were stricken with beriberi. The bark ‘J. C. Warns,” from Java and Macassar, with a cargo of green coffee, arrived in New York June 23, 1890. ‘The captain and three men had died of beriberi. The coffee had been picked and shipped too green. Mr. Tobias, consignee of the cargo, showed me a sample of it; it was charred, carbonized, and almost destroyed. The coffee had fermented. The outbreak of beriberi on a ship from Java, where the coffee has been carbon- ized, is a regular occurrence. Java coffee owes its value in our market to its color; in order to obtain this color, the captains take their cargoes quite green, which favors a slight fermentation during the trip. Sometimes they go too far; the coffee is too green, and the fermentation too violent; in such cases there is always carbonization; the grains stick together in great masses, and abundant fumes (carbonic gases) fill the ship. The iron ship ‘“‘Glenmorag,” Captain Currie, 133 days from Colombo, Ceylon, with 1,100 tons of graphite on board, 800 tons of cocoa-nut oil, etc., arrived July 17 in New York. This ship, loaded in Colombo alongside the ‘‘ Pax” (mentioned above), trav- elled the same course, at an interval of two weeks. She lies now at the Atlantic dock, in Brooklyn, again alongside the ‘* Pax.” She had no beriberi outbreak. From her first mate I have the follow- ing information :— Crew, 28 men ; captain's wife and two children on board; or all, 31. She is a Scotch Glasgow boat, and the crew is English and Scotch. Before taking this cargo, this ship had carried from Barry Dock, near Cardiff, a cargo of coal to Buenos Ayres, South America, and taken a ballast of sand to Colombo, Ceylon. Before these trips she had been in the wheat trade from Tacoma, Wash- ington, to Havre, France. She is remarkably dry, and the cleanest ship one would wish tosee. I went down her hold and examined every part of it; there is not a smut nor a stain anywhere about it. The iron part is especially clean: no trace of incrustation of car- buretted iron, which might have indicated the action of hot moist SCIENCE, [Vor. XXII. No. 547 air on the carbon. None of the barrels containing the graphite was broken. The packing was exceedingly good, the dunnage consisted of sticks and cocoa-nut hulls, so that it was impossible for the barrels to roll and break, and thus expose their contents to the action of the air. The diet bill was about tbe same, or even poorer, than that of the ‘‘ Pax.” Nine casks of salted beef and seven barrels of pork were consumed during the trip. Fresh beef (tinned) three times a week, one-half pound to a man, and a half pound of salt meat on the same days; other days a full pound of salt meat a day. One-half pound of rice for each man on Saturdays; no vege- tables except onions with the soup three times a week. The ship being Scotch, oatmeal made part of its fare for two and a half months after starting, when it ran out. No sickness whatever during the voyage. Onedeath by accident. The captain attributes. the good condition of his cargo and his crew to the change of winds and cooler weather which he enjoyed from the Cape of Good Hope to the North Atlantic. His log is indeed very different from that of the ‘‘ Pax.” In Science,, vol. xxii., No. 545, p. 16, Venable states that “the metallic carbides are usually formed by the action of intense heat upon the metal in the presence of carbon. The form of this car- bon is capable of being greatly varied. Graphite, amorphous carbon, and many hydrocarbons, may be used. The heat of the ordinary furnace is sufficient to form the carbides of the metals already mentioned, zinc, copper, and notably iron. All of these carbides, under certain conditions, give off their carbon in the form of hydrocarbons. The same smell can be detected in all during their decomposition. In some cases, as iron and zinc, the decomposition is caused by the action of an acid. ‘The carbides of the earths (of which graphite 1s one, in conjunction with iron) decompose in moist air, and more rapidly in water.” I may point again here to those broken barrels of the ‘‘ Pax,’” which exposed the carbon to the influence of tropical air. I have examined microscopically the blood of four of the suffer- ers of the ‘‘ Pax,” and obtained the following results: Captain Geeseicke, sick since May 16 with beriberi; 800 diameters, #4, inch oil-immersion objective; red discs, irregular in outline, congregated in masses, with ragged edges, not inclined to form rouleaux; quite plastic ; colored streaks or rays of pink and red, showing the pres- ence of biliary matter, biliverdin crystals; black spores, not free but entangled in the hummocks of corpuscles. It may be noted that the oedema of this patient’s legs only left him two days be- fore this examination. : Henry Oelrichs (second mate), German, 27 years old. Has been fourteen days sick with beriberi. Examination of the blood: 500 diameters, } inch objective; red corpuscles, very plastic, ag- gregated in hummocks. Many black spores are seen floating about, free in motion. Fibrine in excess, light in texture, an@ lumpy. Blood very thick, syrupy, and plastic. No motion, show- ing want of circulation. Excess in the coloring matter. This same case examined: 900 diameters, 4; inch objective immersion lens, shows excess of fibrine in ropes, biliary matter in great ex- cess; no crystalline formations; blood quickly oxidizes and forms a solid mass. The black spores above mentioned are quickly held by the fibrine; the red discs are distended, bladder-shaped, and have very ragged edges. The meniscus-shape is lacking, there being great irregularity in outline and color, some are even square- shaped. Some discs have an excess of color, some are very pale. On the edges of the corpuscular mass the color quickly disappears, in consequence of rapid coagulation. Isaac Hegglund, a Swede, 27 years old, has had beriberi since crossing the equator, six weeks ago. Legs are now very thin, but still some soreness remains; lmee reflexes still lost. First sound of heart prolonged. Microscopical examination of the blood, 900 diameters, ;4; inch objective, shows rouleaux well formed, no spores, no filaments, slight feverish condition shown by spiculated outlines of some of the red corpuscles. Fibrine is. assuming a normal form, showing meshes very regular; no dis- tension of red corpuscles. Emil Jensen, a German, 19 years old, sixteen days sick with beriberi. Black spores in active motion and very plentiful; freely scattered in the field of observation; circulation very torpid; fibrine Juty 28, 1893. | very irregular, light in texture; biliary matter freely scattered ; blood discs distended and with ragged edges’; red corpuscles con- gregated in masses ; fibrine forming in heavy clots; blood rapidly coagulating ; black spores are quickly fastening in the fibrine. We have here, in the 14th day sick and the 16th day sick cases, black spores in active motion and b‘liary matter in both cases, and the corpuscles distended bladder-shaped, in ragged-edged condi- tion; the fibrine quickly clotting. And in the captain’s case, which was the worst of all, we have still black spores, biliary matter, and ragged-edged corpuscles. Tn the 6th week case, a much milder case, moreover, than any of the others, it is reasonable to assume that in some way the patient has quickly eliminated the poison. There is no biliary matter in his blood, no black spores, no abnormal fibrine, no dis- tension of red corpuscles; the latter are perfectly formed in rou- leaux. Examinatian of urine of Henry Oelrichs (second mate, bark “ Pax”), July 17th, 1893 (14th day of beriberi) :— Odor, light, aromatic, and feverish. Color, light (yellow) amber. Reaction, excessively acid. Appearance, transparent. Specific gravity, 1.032 +. 2 Weight of a fluid ounce, 470.27 grains. Solids in a st os 35.06 ‘« Nature of deposit, mucus. Quantity of deposit, trace. Bile, coloring matter not present. Salts, % GG Sugar, Fehling’s solution, trace. Chromate solution, 6G Nylander’s solution, GG Sacchrimeter grammes in a litre, 0.00 +. Albumen, nitric acid, 1 fl. %, not present. Picric solution, trace. Touret’s solution, ‘‘ Bichromate solution, not present. Bicbloride solution, trace. Millard’s solution, “ Polariscopic grammes in a litre, 0.00 +. Microscopical appearances :— Pus corpuscles, trace in quantity. Epithelium, bladder, trace in quantity. Quantitative examination :— Urea, proportion per fluid ounce......... Percentage of... 5.52605. 080000% 6 Total, quantitative examination.... 6.605 grains. 1.404 66.050 grains. WT OTM eo sae reisicte esi oecoe coal viele tovezegeietnion cue .960 grains, 204 9.600 grains. Supe AGG scoonc60cce0nn0000 .eeeee .992 grains. 210 9.920 grains. 1.024 grains, 201 10.240 grains. 1.120 grains. 237 11.200 grains. Ibhosphonricacide presences se ccleiieisireere Carbonic acid gas...... pia a GIRS OSLO C.O.e'0 Results on a net basis : — WWiGhte © ttatssracg dt Hibhgd) baal torn ana eiat LU et 1.40 BVVALET eters rece tants a ee aha arS eer siete cscse at ca See eRe 95.00 UE a ahd Dosto Ia COaTns tino SEO RIRRGR mie area 0.00 + TRON CUOTUAS cece ey syste sacn eee cine Soesa Veet a) 5 tes ae a eS 2.76 PAI bUIMen Meat cs oes STL Hai orcas: MOUS 0.00 + (CTLOnITC ee eee eerste cree taesiclareivieyore e Sloe Sept .20 + Sulphuriclacid ys era cvcck oera wee esis ere eactareteetin 221 PHOSPBOLICLACI A ysis cy css ors oe ass ayoloidics svar erereretonersy sore -20 WarboniGacidh easiness) si si-les. «ci ereerleisterclelere 23 100.00 S@GIEN CE: Ais) Traces of sugar and carbonic acid gas are commonly observed in the urine of beriberi patients. Dr. Wallace Taylor, Osaka, Japan, sends me three interesting tables, which he made from examinations of 184 cases of beri- beri. These examinations were made with Hayem’s hematome- ter and Gower’s hemacytometer. The average corpuscular rich- ness for the 134 cases is 94 per cent. This, he says, corresponds to the clinical experience in cases of beriberi. Most of the cases of beriberi seen by the general practitioners are well-fed, well- nourished, full-blooded appearing men. The ill-fed, poorly-nour- ished, weak constitution cases are the exception. During the past few years he has kept a record of the physical condition of the beriberi patients, and he gives this record, together with an- other record, of a beriberi hospital in Tokio :— Beriberi Taylor. Hospital. Sum. Of strong constitution, 323 593 916 ‘* average iG 15 27 42 “© weak ot 9 6 15 Thus, in a total of 973 beriberi patients, there were 94 per cent of strong constitution (a result almost identical with that given in his tables), and only 6 per cent of average and weak constitutions. ‘‘These numbers,” says Taylor, ‘‘are large enough to be con- clusive, and anzemia is not one of the pathological conditions of beriberi.” In his table No. 3 there is shown a general diminution of the heemoglobine. The average hzemoglobine in 101 cases is 81 per cent. In some of these cases the amount is very low, being below 65 per cent, and with but few exceptions the per cent of hemo- globine is below the per cent of corpuscles, showing a deficiency of the individual corpuscles in hemoglobine. . The appearance of biliary matters, which I have shown in my analyses of the four cases of the bark ‘‘ Pax,” would show by itself a deficiency of hemoglobine. In the Tribune Médicale, Sept. 10,1891, Messrs. Bertin-Sans and Moitessier show that it is the presence of hydrogen and car- bonic acid in oxicarbonized blood that prevents the total destruc- tion of hemoglobine. By sweeping their solution of oxicarbonized blood and water, with a current of hydrogen and carbonic acid gas, and an addi- tion of sulphide of ammonia, they obtained the spectrum of re- duced hemoglobine. They thus show that oxicarbonized hemo- globine can be readily transformed into a mixture of methzemo- globine and oxide of carbon. Itis therefore reasonable to suppose that in an outbreak of beriberi where we have the presence of oxides of carbon and a deficiency of hemoglobine (observable in all cases of beriberi) the latter is the effect of the former. In Japan, the universal burning of charcoal produces the oxides, which held down in the low places by the moist atmosphere of the beriberi season, there is produced on a large scale and contin- ually during the moist season what happens on board of each of those ships which come to us from the East with carbonized car- goes and beriberi-sick crews. THE STRUCTURE AND AFFINITY OF THE PUERCO UN- GULATES. BY CHARLES EARLE, B. SC. (PRINCETON). The discovery in 1880 by Baldwin of the presence of mamma- lian remains in the Puerco beds of New Mexico, was one of the most important in the history of vertebrate paleontology in this country. This rich mammalian fauna has been wholly described by that able investigator, Professor E. D. Cope, and to him we are indebted for having made known to the scientific world the interesting mammals which are imbedded in this formation. AsI have lately been studying a collection in the American Museum of Natural History from the Puerco, I propose in this paper to sum up some of the results of my investigations as re- lating in particular to the primitive ungulates of this formation, and especially to attempt to place some of these forms in or near their proper phylogenetic positions in the system. 50 As a word of introduction I would remark that most of the re- mains from the Puerco are in a poor state of preservation, and this applies particularly to the skeleton. The teeth are often well preserved, so that in working out the affinities of these mammals we are generally dependant upon the character of the teeth to discover their relationship to other forms, A very strik- ing peculiarity in the dentition of the Puerco mammals, as pointed out by Professor Cope, is the fact that their superior mo- lars are generally of the tritubercular pattern, and these upper teeth are associated with inferior molars, which are tubercular- sectorial, or a modification of the latter. In the tubercular-sec- torial tooth the anterior portion is raised above the posterior or talon, and consists of three elevated cusps. By the modification of the latter pattern of molar, both the highly specialized secto- rial teeth of the Carnivora and the quadritubercular teeth of the Ungulates have been derived. In general we may say that, besides the characters of the teeth, the mammals of the Puerco epoch, in their skeletal structures, as far as known, are of a decidedly primitive type. The skull is short and heavy, with the orbit well forward over the teeth; the various processes of the skull for muscular attachment are prominent. Correlated with their low structure in general was the exceedingly small brain, as illustrated by the genus Perip- tychus. As the structure of the skeleton in the latter genus is the best known, I will enumerate some of its characters. The feet of Periptychus were plantigrade. The hind foot had five toes, the external one being not much shortened. The struct- ure of the astragalus is well known in Periptychus and im- portant, as teaching us one of the characters of the structure of the primitive foot in general. This bone is short and strongly depressed; the neck of the same is short and heavy. In all mod- ern mammals which are digitigrade the trochlear surface of the astragalus, articulating with the tibia, is deeply grooved, whereas in Periptychus this surface is plane and flat. Another very im- portant and primitive character of the astragalus in Periptychus is that it is perforated by a well-marked foramen. I am not aware that this perforation of the astragalus occurs in any recent Ungulate. The astragular foramen is of constant occurrence in Puerco mammals and also is present in some of their descendants in the Wasatch (Coryphodon). = In one respect the foot of Periptychus is more advanced than that of the genus Phenacodus, which is from a later formation (Wasatch); I refer to the articulation of the cuboid bone with the astragalus, but in general the foot structure of Phenacodus is far advanced in its evolution over that of Periptychus. Phena- codus was a digitigrade mammal, with the outer toes much shorter than the median. The long bones of the skeleton in Periptychus are short and heavy; this applies particularly to the humerus, which is an exceedingly heavy bone; its distal extrem- ity is perforated by an entepicondylar foramen, another primitive character of this genus. The character of the humeral condyles in Periptychus is peculiar and different from all modern Ungu- lates. In the latter group the trochlear surface of the humerus is interrupted by a strong ridge separating the external from the internal articular surface. Now in Periptychus, as well as in Phenacodus, there is no such interruption of the condylar sur- face of the humerus, and it has the same character as in the mod- ern Carnivora, thus showing how these two widely separated orders at the present time approach each other in their osteolog- ical characters in the Eocene. The ulna and fibula are large in Periptychus and more nearly approach the sizeof the bones of the preaxial side of the limbs than in modern forms. Now the question arises, what great groups of mammals of later epochs than the Puerco are represented in this formation. I think that we may safely say that there were only a few main stems of Puerco mammals which persisted until later periods, and I shall endeavor to show that these stem forms were the di- rect ancestors of later types. As in so many cases, in seeking to determine phylogenetic relationships, we must turn to the inves- tigations of Professer Cope to decide this question in part at least. He has described mammals from the Puerco which he considers to be Ungulates in their affinity, others to be related to the Carnivora, and still other types which resemble the Lemu- SCIENCE: (Vor OIE NosA7, roidea in the structure of their teeth. As I am only dealing with the Ungulates in this paper I shall speak of certain genera which Professor Cope and other paleontologists have determined to be closely related to this group. The group of primitive Ungulates which Professor Cope has designated the Condylarthra is not a very homogeneous one, it ap- pears to me, and perhaps with Schlosser we had better speak of a condylarthrous stage, through which all Ungulates are supposed to have passed rather than to attempt to confine these early forms all in the suborder Condylarthra. At least as shown by Professor Osborn, the characters laid down by Professor Cope as limiting the Condylarthra, would not include some of the forms (Periptychus) which Professor Cope has embraced in this sub- order. When we attempt to separate the Ungulates from the Ungui- culates of the Puerco we are met with the obstacle that in most cases the distal phalanges of tbe feet have not been preserved. Accordingly we are dependant upon the character of the denti- tion to diagnose and separate these two groups. However, so low down geologically speaking as the Puerco, the different groups of Ungulates are not supposed to be distinctly differenti- ated, and then again in most cases the structure of the skeleton, and especially of the carpus and tarsus of these forms, is totally unknown. I believe, however, that the stems leading to the main types of the Ungulates which we meet with in the Wa- satch, are fairly well separated in the Puerco, and more so than has been generally accepted. For example, when we consider another group other than the Ungulata, the Creodonta, we find a number of well-marked families of this order in the Puerco, which are distinct and lead up in some cases to types of later epochs. The Creodonta, with low-crowned, purely bunodont teeth, such as are included in the Triisodontide, the more spe- cialized and trenchant dentition of the Provivirridaes (Deltathe- rium), and again the low-crowned and nearly quadritubercular lower molars of the Arctocyonidz (Claenodon, Scott). The last- named genus is very likely the ancestor of the Wasatch (Anaco- don). Turning again to the Ungulates, what are the types of this order which we can distinguish in the Puerco? To attempt to decide this question we must rely on the characters of the teeth in nearly all cases. To ascend to the mammals of the Wasatch period for a moment we observe in that formation the Perisso- dactyles are distinct from the Artiodactyles. The former group has superior molars with six cusps, which may be either distinct or fused; the lower molars are quadritubercular. In the Artio- dactyles of the Wasatch the superior molars are of the trituber- cular pattern and the lower teeth are sexitubercular, or more nearly of the primitive tubercular-sectorial type already men- tioned. Again, the premolars of the Perissodactyles are more complex than these of the Artiodactyles. Returning to the Puerco we find the same state of things well foreshadowed, al- though these two stems may have not passed the condylarthrous stage. In the genus Euprotogonia (= Protogonia), we have the supposed condylarthrous representative of the Perissodactyles, and in the genus Protogonodon of the Puerco I believe we are dealing with an ancestral Artiodactyle. Iam aware of the fact that the skeletons of these two genera are totally unknown, so until they are discovered we will be unable to say whether these two forms were true Condylarthra or if they had assumed more of the characters which are typical of the two great divisions of the Diplarthra. I think that from a study of the teeth of the above genera that the two lines of the Diplarthra were fairly well separated even in the Puerco. The upper true molars of Euprotogonia in the typical form, £. puercensis, consist of six tubercles. The superior premolars are simpler than in Phenacodus. A character of the upper molars of Euprotogonia, and separating it well from Phenacodus, is the ab- sence of the parastyle and mesostyle. When we study the struct- ure of the lower teeth in Euprotogonia, we are surprised to find them so highly developed for a Puerco form. The last lower premolar is nearly as complex as it is in the Wasatch Phenaco- dus, and in the typical species the crescents of the inferior true molars are as plainly marked as in the last-named genus. In Jue 2, WexXe\<). | the supposed ancestors of the Artiodactyles from the Puerco (Protogonodon and perhaps other genera, as suggested by Pro- fessor Scott) the characters of the dentition are well differenti- ated from those leading to the Perissodact)les. I have referred upper teeth in the American Museum collection to Protogonodon, which are of the tritubercular type, with exceedingly brachydont crowns. These upper teeth differ considerably from those of the bunodont Creodonta. The internal cones and intermediate tu- bercles in Protogonodon have coalesced and nearly form cres- cents, The external cusps of these superior molars are depressed and not as conical in section as in the Puerco Creodonta. The lower true molars of Protogonodon are sexitubercular, but differ in form from those of most of the Creodonta by the fact that the anterior portion of the tooth (trigonid) is not raised above the posterior (talon). The cusps of the lower true molars, as in the case with those of the upper molars, coalesce and form continu- ous tracts of worn enamel ; this applies particularly to the poste- rior limb of each crescent. Lastly, the upper premolars in Pro- togonodon are not yet known, but the lower teeth of this series are well preserved and shows them to be absolutely simple in structure, consisting of a cone with slightly enlarged heels. In some specimens there is a trace of an internal cusp on the last lower premolar. The characters above adduced as pertaining to the dentition of Protogonodon approach closely those of the earliest known Amer- ican Artiodactyle, viz.. Pantolestes from the Wasatch Eocene, I would suggest accordingly that Protogonodon may stand in an- cestral relationship to this genus. I do not agree with Dr. Schlosser in deriving the Artiodactyles from any of the known Periptychide, as the latter group has been defined by Professor Cope. In nearly all of the Peripty- chide the premolars are highly specialized and are not adapted for further evolution. Professor Scott, in his very valuable paper on the ‘‘ Creodonta,” only recently published, has subdivided the genus Mioclaenus Cope into several new genera, limiting the Jat- ter genus for a few species only; the type being the Mioclaenus turgidus. Thestructures of the premolars in Mioclaenus are more like those of some of the Periptychidze than the Creodonta, and consequently Professor Scott believes that Mioclaenus is a condy- larth. Other than the genera already mentioned as probably having been persistent types, | would intimate that Mioclaenus turgidus may stand in ancestral relationship to some of the White River bunodont Artiodactyles (Leptocherus). The follow- ing phylogenetic scheme may illustrate the affinities proposed in this paper: Perissodactyla. Bunodont Artiodactyla. Selenodont Artiodactyla. Amblypoda. Euprotogonia. Mioclaenus. Protogonodon. Pantolambda. DO THE LEAVES OF OUR ORDINARY LAND PLANTS ABSORB WATER? BY EDWARD A. BURT, EAST GALWAY, N.Y. CONFLICTING answers have been given to this question. Hales, Boussingault, and Henslow concluded from their experiments that leaves do absorb water; other investigators have failed to obtain such positive results, and have been inclined to doubt ab- sorption. Furthermore, the theory that the transfer of liquids is largely accomplished through differences in density of the liquids in the plant caused and maintained by transpiration from the leaves — this, by giving a sufficient function to the leaves, has probably de- terred investigators from entering upon an inquiry that promised only negative results, and that was beset with difficulties in carry- ing out. Yeta moment’s reflection shows us that during the growing season of several months in each year, our vegetation is covered with dew night after night, and often when periods of drought prevent the plants from receiving an adequate supply of water through their roots. Does it not seem probable that plants are able to use the dew which covers their leaves? Under the direction of Professor Goodale and Mr. W. F. Ganong, the writer has been recently carrying on a series of experiments in the botanical laboratories of Harvard University to determine — (a) Whether it is probable that leaves do absorb water. SCIUSINCIE. 51 (b) Whether the conditions under which such absorption occurs, if it does occur, will not afford suitable ground for more special investigation later on. Some of the results already reached seem to justify a prelim- inary publication. Can Leaves Absorb Water? - To decide this, young branches of Diervilla grandiflora, com- mon house geranium (Pelargonium), and Mesembryanthemum were cut from the parent plants while in fullleaf. The clean-cut ends of these small branches were then dipped into a waterproof varnish — Brunswick black —so as to completely cover the cut ends and the sides for an eighth of an inch up the stem. The branches were then allowed to lie on a table in the laboratory — temperature, 70° F.—for a time until wilting occurred. They were then weighed, sprinkled with water, and shut in a botanist’s tin collecting-box for from 16 to46 hours. Having recovered their original fresh condition, the branches were then removed from the box and dried carefully from adhering water by exposure to the air of the room and by the use of blotting paper. They were then weighed. In each case there was an increase in weight indi- cative of absorption. The details are given in the following table :— | Period | Weightof,| Time | Weight of | of wilted shut in water | wilting | branches. | the box. | absorbed. | | Hours. |Grammes.| Hours. | Grammes. Diervilla grandiflora................ fy oe 12,12 16 0.36 Common geranium (Pelargonium). 49 2679 =| 46 5.76 Mesembryanthemum (a succulent- leaved plant) .................-- 49 40 55 46 0.77 Henslow obtained absorption with cut branches in a large number of cases and under a variety of conditions; but as he did not cover the cut ends of his branches, it has been objected that the absorption in his experiments occurred through the cut ends rather than through the leaves. My experiments show that the objection was not well taken. We must conclude that slightly wilted leaves may absorb water. Do Leaves of Rooted Plants Absorb Water? Small vigorous-growing plants of Ricinus and of a small- leaved Begonia were used. They were obtained from the green- house in 2- and 38-inch pots. The pot and the lower portion of the stem of each plant were then inclosed in a covering of sheet rubber in the following manner: A small circular opening of less than half an inch in diameter was cut in the centre of a piece of sheet rubber of suitable size. The rubber was then stretched in the region of the opening so as to make the aperture temporarily larger. The pot was then slipped down through this opening. Upon lessening the tension, the rubber contracted clasping the stem just below the lowest leaves. With a stout thread the rub- ber was then wound firmly against the stem for a sufficient dis- tance to make a close contact of the two. With its centre suspended from the place where tied about the stem, the rubber now hung down covering the pot loosely and completely conceal- ing it. The lower portions of the rubber were now gathered together underneath the pot and firmly tied together with strong cord. A thrifty young begonia plant with its pot so covered had its leaves thoroughly sprayed with water by means of an atomizer at 6P.M. It was then placed under a large bell-jar in an atmo- sphere made and kept damp by wetting the inner surface of the jar with water and by suspending in the jar two large sponges dripping wet. With its leaves wet, the plant was kept in this damp atmosphere in the dark during the night. In the morning it was removed from under the bell-jar, dried carefully, and then weighed at 8.40 a.m. It had increased its weight 0.09 grams 52 SCIENCE. during the night. This increase must have been due to absorp- tion of water by the leaves. At 8.40 A.M. the bell-jar was removed to a window space and the damp atmosphere was obtained within the jar as before. The leaves of the plant were then thoroughly sprayed again and the plant was placed under the jar and left there in a strong light during the day. From time to time, as the water began to dis- appear from the leaves, they were resprayed. At 4 P.M. the plant was removed from the moist chamber and carefully dried. Tt was then weighed and showed a loss in weight since 3.40 a M. of 0.41 grams. On repeating the experiment with the same plant, the increase in weight was 0.04 grams during the night—from 6.10 P.M. to 8.20 A.M. From 8.20 A.M. until 2.30 P.M., there was a decrease in weight (transpiration) of 0.23 grams. But was the increase in weight during the night in these ex- periments really due to absorption of water by the leaves? May not the moist air surrounding the plant have passed through the rubber covering and deposited some of its moisture upon the earth or pot, thus giving absorption by the earth rather than by the leaves? Such an interpretation of the experiment is forbid- den by the condition of the interior found upon opening the rubber covering at the close of the confirmatory experiment. (That condition was not precisely known while the experiments described were in progress, for the plant had been subjected to experiments for several weeks, during which time its growth had made it difficult to give to the plant amounts of water exactly equal to the amounts transpired from day to day). Upon open- ing the rubber covering, the earth in the pot was found wet to the touch, the pot was wet, and the whole inner surface of the rubber covering was wet. In this condition of things, the greater movement of the water must have been from within the pot outward through the rubber to its dry outer surface and the drier—comparatively drier—air surrounding it in the moist cham- ber. If such a movement of water did occur, its effect was that of diminishing the weight of the plant during the night. We must regard absorption by the leaves as the cause of the in- crease which really occurred. How potent a factor light is upon the functions of the plant, is readily seen by a comparison of the changes in weight dur- ing the day in these experiments with the changes during the night. At night, in the darkness, absorption perceptible by the balance occurred; during the day, transpiration predominated although the leaves of the plant were kept wet with water and in a moist atmosphere. Is it not possible that some of the failures to find absorption by leaves may have come through nice quantitative experiments having been carried on in the daytime, as would be the more convenient ? In conclusion, the experiments so far as they have been carried, seem to show— (a) That leaves may absorb water. (6) That leaves of growing plants do absorb water during the night when they are wet with water and in a moist atmosphere —i.e., under dew conditions. INDIVIDUAL SKELETAL VARIATION. BY FREDERIC A. LUCAS, U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM, WASHINGTON, D. C. THE subject of individual skeletal variation is one of consider- able interest, to the morphologist from the hints it may give con- cerning lines of descent, to the systematic zodlogist from its bearing on the specific units of classification and to the vertebrate paleontologist since he must mainly rely upon more or less frag- mentary skeletons for the determination of species. External variations are readily perceived, often easily accounted for by known conditions of environment, but the question how much may the skeleton of a given species normally vary is by no means easy to answer. Unfortunately the problem is rendered all the more difficult from the fact that the large series of specimens necessary for its solution are seldom available, so that characters may be con- sidered of specific value, or, on the other hand, as mere abnor- (Vor. XXII. No. 547 malities, when they are really normal variations or, perhaps, due to changes brought about by age. The following notes are some- what desultory in their character, but they are based on the observation of considerable series of individuals of the various species referred to, and are brought forward as suggesting the existence of a large amount of individual skeletal variation. In the report of the U.S. National Museum for 1887-88, the writer gave at some length the results of the examination of a large series of bones of the Great Auk, a series that was particu- larly interesting from the fact that it represented adult individu- als from one locality and one epoch, so that any variations might be considered normal, and not due to differences of environment, or to modifications that might gradually come about in the course of time, even were there no change in surrounding conditiozis. It may be briefly said that the long bones were found to vary to the extent of one-fifth of their length, but that the most inter- esting variations in the skeleton were the tendency to develop a ninth, extra pair of ribs and the frequent presence of a small tubercle on the tarsus, just where a hind toe would be located. Very nearly one sacrum out of every seven possessed facets, showing the former presence of an abnormal number of ribs, while but one twelfth of the tarsi showed the little tubercle re- ferred to. Professor Newton found almost equally great variability in the bones of the Dodo and Solitaire, birds of unusually restricted habitat, but this he ascribes very largely to the fact that the remains examined probably represented individuals from very different epochs. Among mammals the Orang seems to exhibit an unusual ten- ~ dency to variation, and a series of crania of this animal shows many individual peculiarities. Doubtless these are shown by other portions of the skeleton as well, but, at the time a large series of Orangs was available, my attention was directed almost entirely to the skull, and it can only be said that this species has considerable range in point of size, adult males being from four feet to four feet eight inches in height. The Orang is a striking example of the cranial changes brought about by age, these being so great that four species have been founded on characters which a sufficient number of specimens shows to be due to age alone. Apart from these it may be said that the foramen magnum has hardly the same shape in any two skulls, while the nasals vary as much, being sometimes long and narrow, sometimes short and broad, and in one case quite absent. The shape and size of the orbits is very variable and they may be close together or some little distance apart. At the same time the supra-orbital ridges are often larger in rather young Orangs than in very old individuals. A rather curious feature in the Orang is the tendency to de- velop an extra molar, the normal number being three, as in man. Usually this additional tooth is in the lower jaw and unpaired, but one jaw possessed four perfect molars on either side. Our Mule Deer shows great cranial variability, both in size and proportions, and while typical skulls of the Mule Deer, the Co- lumbia Deer, and Virginia Deer may be recognized at a glance, in many instances, where the antlers have been shed it requires care- ful examination to distinguish the skulls of the species apart. The tendency to develop an extra pair of ribs is not very un- common among birds, and, as we know, is occassionally seen in mammals, where it may take the form of a short pair of ribson what would normally be the first lumbar, much more rarely a rib, or pair of ribs, on the seventh cervical, and sometimes that of an unpaired rib on the first lumbar. In cases of this last mentioned variant the odd rib is usually longer than when an extra pair of ribs is present. The true sacrals of birds are ordinarily devoid of parapophyses, in fact this is one of their distinguishing characteristics, yet among Cormorants these processes are not infrequently present and I have once observed them in a Goatsucker. Although it is not uncommon to meet with an additional pair of ribs among birds, any lessening of the normal number is very rare and only once has such a case come under my notice, this JuLyY 28, 1893.| being a common Cat Bird in which the haemapopbysis had dis- appeared from the first dorsal rib, the true ribs being thus reduced to five in number. It is quite possible that reduction in the dorsal region has been earried almost to its utmost extent among birds and existing facts seem to support this theory. Among the highly specialized Passeres, the normal number of ribs, counting as the first the most anterior that is connected with the sternum, is uniformly six. Close to the Passeres stands the heterogeneous group of birds termed Picariz, many of which are doubtless sur- vivals of the ancient forms from which the Passeres have been derived. If this be the case the line of descent of these Picarians is a long one and in many respects they may have undergone more modification than their more recent relatives. Certain it is that in this group we find, with very few excep- tions, those birds having tbe smallest number of ribs, some- times only five pairs, and at least once, in our Night Hawk, only four. In the Swifts, near relatives of the Goatsuckers, it is not as- serting too much to say that we can actually see the process of rib reduction going forward, for among these birds we find many Specimens with ‘six pairs of ribs, rarely one with seven, and in the majority of cases six complete pairs of ribs and the lower portion of a seventh, and this lower rudiment is present in vary- ing proportions. Lower in the scale, among the Amphibians, the number of vertebre is inconstant, even in such species as Necturus and Me- nopoma, whose pre-sarial vertebree are fewer in number than in any mammal. Necturus may have eighteen or nineteen pre-sacrals, Menopoma nineteen or twenty, Siren forty-one, forty-two or forty-three, and Amphiuma sixty-four or sixty-five. Variation in the number of caudals is, of course. to be ex- pected, but in the long-bodied Siren and Amphiwma it may amount to as many as five or six vertebre. A curious variant has been noted in the sacrum of Menopoma, which Huxley, in the last edition of the Encyclopedia Britan- nica, describes and figures as composed of two vertebre. Unfortunately the specimen on which the figure and descrip- tion are based was abnormal, for, like the Salamanders, Meno- poma has normally but one sacral, and an intermediate condi- tion, a true abnormality, may exist of ten vertebree connected with the ilium on one side and one on the other. It is evident from the instances just related that a considerable amount of individual variation in size, proportion of various bones, or even in the presence of certain bones, may exist in a given species. Differences of size, unless excessive, are of little value, pro- vided the parts retain their relative proportions and in judging of differences of proportion the question of age must be taken into account also. Broadly speaking, variations are of two kinds, due to modifi- cations of development or of structure, and the importance of any departure from a given type depends very largely on the an- swer to the question, to which of these two categories does the variation belong. Modifications of development produce individual variations of size and strength, length of limb and power of jaw, modifications of structure—when constant—give rise to specific, generic or or- dinal distinctions, as the case may be. Tn the occasional extra molar of the Orang the extra ribs of birds, the tarsal tubercle of the Great Auk, and the varying num- ber of vertibree in Amphibians we have variations of structure that, being inconstant, have no specific value, and yet have a morphologic meaning of their own. “ The extra molar of the Orang is probably a reversionary char- acter, the extra ribs of the Auk and the little nodule occupying the place of the missing metatarsal certainly indicate an ancestral form with a longer body and four toes. In the abnormal sacrum of the Menopomea and the five pairs of SCIENCE: 53 ribs of the Cat Bird we have progressive variations, and these are of much rarer occurrance than retrogressive characters. The parapophyses in the sacral vertebrze of Cormorants are teleological modifications, efforts to provide an additional brace for the pelvic walls of these strong swimmers. The differences in the axial skeleton of birds and Amphibians indicate that variation in this region is not greatest in animals now possessing the largest number of vertebral segments, but in those whose embryology hints at the existence of more vertebrae in their comparatively immediate ancestors than are possessed k y the descendants of these forms. This would account for the frequent appearance of extra ribs in birds, the inconstancy of the number of vertebral segments in Urodele Amphibians, and the constancy in the vertebral column of mammals. To conclude, many variations are reversionary in character, some progressive, and some due to physiological causes, most, if not all, have some definite meaning in their abnormality. NOTES ON JAPANESE METEOROLOGY. BY ALBERT $8. ASHMEAD, M.D., NEW YORK, N.Y. DesFitE the humid climate of Japan, rheumatism is very rare among the natives, which is probably due to the practice of daily hot bathing. The meteorology of Japan is exceedingly peculiar and of ex- ceptional interest. As particular influences in the process of ac- climatization may be mentioned, lessened, eliminatory activity of the lungs, increased activity of the skin, diminished cardial cir- culatory power. A prolonged residence in the Japanese climate is productive of general physical relaxation, with increased suscep- tibility to cold. After a two years’ residence in Japan, Europeans feel the necessity of wearing more substantial winter clothing, as the climate seems to have become harsher since the beginning of their sojourn. Any foreigner who permanently resides there and wishes to feel at ease must resort to the hot bathing of the natives; being in Japan, he must do as Japanese do. Europeans, on their first arrival, are very prone to rheumatism, and even perfected accli- matization does not do away with that propensity. The hot-bath habit is singularly favorable to perfect acclimatization; it, and also the customary and frequent hot tea, mitigates the depressive influence of the summer kakké months, the wet season of June, July, and August. Strange to say, in their national disease, beriberi, there is an entire absence of perspiration ; these patients perspire only in their last agony. One should think, after that, that the Japanese would consider baths as remedial in kakké. Strange to say, it is not so; they consider it only as an essential and, for them, very pleasant part of the toilet. In kakké the popular verdict is, and has always been, that it is detrimental. The altitudinal is their most efficient treatment. Such a treatment is always, at least in our European and Amer- ican experience, a dry one; dry air. It is not so in Japan; in their mountains, even as high as 3,000 feet above the sea level, you will find an increase of humidity, due to the precipitation from the volcanic peaks. Even in this heavy humidity, where they are endeavoring to cure a disease in which perspiration is suppressed, they do not give to the hot baths which are used there as much, but not more than in other not sanitary places, credit for any good accruing to the patients. And, in fact, if hot bathing contributed to the cure, such an influence would be observed at the sea-level as well as in high altitudes. Of course, I cannot treat the question expressed here. Let me only say that, in my opinion, humidity has nothing to do, di- rectly at least, with beriberi; it is not a climatic rheumatism, Tts cause is the action of a carbonic poison in the blood, and that poison cannot be eliminated through the influence of bot water. Hot bathing, as I said, has nothing to do with it, either directly or indirectly. Indirectly humidity has, because it keeps the car- bonie gases together and prevents their dispersion. The oxydiz- ing influence of the pure air of the mountain heights has every- thing to do with the cure. 54 : LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. «*« Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The writer's nume is in all cases required as proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number containing his communication will be furnished free to any correspondent. The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. Bibliographic Work in Vegetable Physiology. I am on the point of making a suggestion to students of botany, chemistry, and more specially of physiology. I would be glad to receive notes concerning the literature of any question in physi- ology, in order to use them in my bibliographical work con- cerning the physiology of plants. Under the head-title of ‘‘Con- tributions from the Missouri Botanical Garden” a series of bibliographical papers will be published, treating of every question within the range of vegetable physiology. Students of any college in the country could assist me a great deal, if they would inform me of their being willing to pick up occasional notes on this or that question. The bibliographies of Inuline, and of the Tannoids, both with special reference to the réle played by these constituents in vegetable physiology, have already been issued. The question taken up at present is that of the alcoholic fermentation. Anybody wishing to assist the writer in preparing his bibliography on this subject by sending lists of references — all of which will be welcome — or by looking through a journal or other periodical, thus saving a little time for the writer, without much loss of time for himself, will receive hearty thanks, and will be mentioned as a contributor. This note being submitted to the attention of all students of science as well as professional scientific men, I wish that students of colleges and universities would act upon it. Often students are at a lossas to how to doscientific work and contribute to general knowledge. Here is one of the departments where much work is needed. References might be taken in the following way : 1. Select some chemical, botanical, or physiological journal. SCIEN GE: (VoL; XCXIE Nowsar, Begin with Vol. I., and go over the whole series carefully, noticing every place where the alcoholic fermentation has in any way been mentioned. 2. Write carefully: (a) Title of the paper, (6) name of the journal (for journals, see Bolton’s Catalogue of Scientific and Technical Periodicals, 1665-1882, and his Catalogue of Chemical Periodicals, the first is found in any library, and was published by the Smithsonian Institution; the latter is foundin the annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. III., Nos. 6-7, pp. 161-216, 1885, with supplement, ibidem, Vol. IV., pp. 19-22, 1887), (¢) volume, page, and year. 3. Examine text-books and handbooks in which the question of the alcoholic fermentation is mentioned. 4. Examine also papers and works which do not bear directly upon this matter; sometimes interesting remarks may be found. J. CHRISTIAN Bay. Missouri Bot. Garden, St. Louis, Mo., July 18, 1893 A Plea for Botany in the Small Colleges. The many pleas made for a better presentation of botany in the larger institutions of the country, have induced me toadd a word for botany in the smaller colleges. The present status of the science in these institutions is indeed discouraging asit is presented in their catalogues. The traditional term of botany given by an instructor in physics or chemistry is the common allowance doled out to the students. The conditions are, however, changing gradually, and chairs of biology are being established in many of the smaller colleges, whose incumbents are occasionally botanists. Asa teacher of botany in one of these colleges, the writer wishes to add a plea for the introduction of botany in its proper proportion into the college curriculum. The character of the work of the college is somewhat different from that of the university in that its courses are necessarily briefer and less specialized. Their students more frequently Reading Matter Notices. Ripans Tabules cure hives. Ripans Tabules cure dyspepsia. Piso’s Remedy for Catarrh is the Best, Easiest to Use, and Cheapest. CATARRH Sold by Druggists or sent by mail. 50c. E. T. Hazeltine, Warren, Pa. 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In the first part of this work the author dwells on the errors in our mode of treating Neuras- thenia, consequent on the wide ignorance of the subject which still prevails; in the sec- ond part, attention is drawn to the principal causes of the malady. The allegory forming the Introduction to Part I. gives a brief his- tory of nervous exhaustion and the modes of treatment which have at various times been thought suitable to this most painful and try- ing disease. By CYRIL BENNETT. 12°, 184 pp., $1.50. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, New York. New Store. New Stock. Ml N ERALS. New Departments. Send for our ‘‘ Winter Bulletin,” recently issued. Minerals, Gems, Microscopical Sections, Fine Lap- idary Work. GEO. L. ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists, Removed to 64 East 12th Street, New York ; THE CHEAPEST AND BEST Sees | | to O7 PARK PLACE, NEW YORK s ¢ JULY 28, 1893. ] pursue a course which leads to the so-called general education, and the question naturally arises, what place has botany in such a scheme of equipment for life ? To the average college graduate few if any of the sciences can be said to be directly useful, they profit him largely in the breadth of view which they give, and the pleasure they are able to furnish in their contemplation or pursuit. In theselatter respects one can scarcely conceive of a science which would rank higher than botany. There are certainly no phenomena which are met with more frequently by the non-professional than those which apper- tain to plants and plant life. Without becoming sentimental one may say with truth that to one who has an intimate knowledge of this field of nature the world around us takes on a new aspect, and new truths can be discovered and added daily to the fund - already acquired. But it is on account of the peculiar adapt- ability of botany to teaching, that the science should appeal to the smaller institutions. That science is best adapted to teaching which is able to pre- sent its material at first hand for investigation, and whose truths are within the ability of the student to discover. The material for botanical study is abundant everywhere, and presents problems in a measure peculiar to each region. The early stages of investigation in the science are not difficult and do not require expensive apparatus. The live teacher who sends his students to the field and not to books, will find in botany a sci- ence in which enthusiasm can be aroused and progress made without an expensive outfit. In the planning of our college courses in botany one must needs bear in mind two classes of students, those who are to go on with the science and those who pursue it as one of the ele- ments of a general education. It is the former class who too fre- quently suffer in the average college. The courses should be given in such a manner as to give the student who wishes to pursue the science in a university a foun- dation which does not need repeating because it is antiquated or SCIENCE. 55 abbreviated. In this way I believe the small colleges can be made centres of enthusiasm for botanical science, which will ma- terially advance its teaching and its standing in this country. It is to be hoped that botany will one day take its place in the curriculum of the small college as one of its most important con- stituents for the training of men. X. AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. ‘‘Camp-FirEs of a Naturalist” is the title of a forthcoming book which sketches big-game hunting in the west from a fresh point of view. The author describes the actual adventures and experiences of a naturalist, Professor Dyche, of Kansas Univer- sity, who has hunted from Mexico to the northern confines of British Columbia, pursuing grizzly bears, mountain sheep, elk, moose and other rare game. Asan outdoor book of camping and hunting this possesses a timely interest, but it also has the merit of scientific exactness in the descriptions of the habits, pe- culiarities and haunts of wild animals. The author is Mr. Clar- ence E. Edwards, and the book is to be published immediately by D. Appleton & Co., with many illustrations. —Professor Charles S. Minot’s ‘‘ Human Embryology” is an- nounced to be translated into German. The translation is being made by Dr. 8. Keestner and will be published by Messrs. Veit of Leipzig. The author has revised the entire work for the German edition and has made a series of changes and additions, which will render the translation practically a new edition. Among the changes is the making of a new chapter in the Introduction, giving a complete account of the external development and growth of the human embryo through all stages. References have also been added to impcrtant papers published since the original American edition was issued. The honor of a German transla- tion has hitherto been accorded very rarely to American scienti- fic works. Delicious _ Drink. Horsford’s Acid Phosphate with water and sugar only, makes a delicious, healthful and invigorating drink. Allays the thirst, aids diges- tion, and relieves the lassitude sO common in midsummer. Dr, M. H. Henry, New York, says: ““When completely tired out by pro- longed wakefulness and overwork, it is of the greatest value to me. As a bey- erage it possesses charms beyond any- thing I know of in the form of medi- cine.” Descriptive pamphlet free. R. I. Rumford Chemical Works, Providence, Beware of Substitutes and Imitations. Exchanges. [Freeofcharge to all, if ofsatisfactory character. Address N. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New York.] A complete set of Bulletins of U. S. Geological Survey, various reports and bulletins of surveys of Missouri, Arkansas, Minnesota, Alabama, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio and Texas; iron ores of Minnesota; Wailes’ Agriculture and Geology of Mississippi (rare). To exchange for peri- odicals and books on Entomology or for Lepidoptera. Rey. John Davis, the Deanery, Little Rock, Ark. For sale or exchange.—A complete set of the re- port of the last Geological Survey of Wisconsin, T. C. Chamberlin, geologist. [t consists of four large volumes, finely illustrated, and upwards of forty large maps and charts, Willsell for cash or exchange for a microscope. Address Geo. Beck, Platteville, Wis. For sale or exchange for copper coins or rare postage stamps. Tryon’s American Marine Conch- ology, containing hand colored figures of all the shells of the Atlantic coast of the United States. Presentation copy, autograph, etc. One yol., half morocco, 8vo, usual price, $25, postpaid, $15. Botany of the Fortieth Parallel of the Hundredth Meridian of the Pacific R. R. Survey. Other Botanical works and works on Ethnology. F. A. Hassler, M.D., Santa Ana, Cal. I have a fire-proof safe, weight 1,150 pounds, which I will sell cheap or exchang a gasoline engine or some other things that y happen to suit. The safe is nearly new, used~a short time only. Make offers. A. Lagerstrom, Cannon Falls, Minn., Box 857. For exchange.—Hudson River fossils in good con- dition from the vicinity of Moore’s Hill, Ind., also land and fresh water shells. Desire fossils and shells from other groups and localities. Address Geo. C. Hubbard, Moore’s Hill, Ind. For sale at low price.—A fine old-fashioned photo- graphic camera, rosewood box, one foot square, Tenses, four inches diameter, made by C. C. Harri- son. Plateholders, troughs, baths, etc., all in large wooden case, formerly the property, of the late President Moore, of Columbia College. . This is a fine example of an instrument of the best make for the old wet-process methods, and valuable to any institution or amateur interested in the history of photography in the U.S. Address M. S. Daniel, 236 W. 4th St., New York. {f wish to exchange a collection of 7,000 shells, 1001 species and yarieties, American and foreign, land, fluviatile and marine, for a good microscope and accessories. Address, with particulars, Dr. Lorenzo G. Yates, Santa Barbara, California. Wants. W ANTED.—Assistant in Nautical Almanac office, Navy Department. The Civil Service Commis- sion will hold an examination on August 15 to fill a vacancy in the position of assistant (computer) in the Nautical Almanac office. The subjects will be letter-writing, penmanship, trigonometry, rudi- ments of analytical geometry and calculus, logarithms, theory and practice of computations, and astronomy. Each applicant must provide him- self with a five-place logarithmic table. The ex- amination will be held in Washington, and if appli- cations are filed in season, arrangements may be made for examinations in the large cities. Blanks will be furnished upon application to the Commis- sion at Washington. RAFTSMEN WANTED.—The Civil Service Com- mission will hold examinations on August 15 to fill two vacancies in the War Department; one in the position of architectural draftsman, salary $1,400, the other in the position of assistant drafts- man, Quartermaster General’s office, salary $1,200, The subjects of the architectural draftsman exami- nation are letter-writing, designing specifications and mensuration, and knowledge of materials; of the assistant draftsman examination they are letter-writing, tracing, topographic drawing and projections. The examination will be held in Washingten, and if applications are filed in season, arrangements may be made for examinations in the large cities. Blanks will be furnished upon appli- cation to the Commission at Washington. (Ae ses man who has been through the course in mathematics in Princeton University, wishes some tutoring this summer. Rates reason- able. Address P. H. Westcott, Cramer’s Hill, Cam- den Co., N. J. ee of an American Polytechnic insti- tution and of a German university (Géttingen), seeks a position to teach chemistry in a college or similar institution. Five years’ experience in teaching chemistry, Address Chemist, 757 Cary St., Brockton, Mass. NS experienced teacher in general biology wishes a position in a first-class college or university. Three years in post-graduate study. Extensive experience. Strongindorsements. Address E. W. Doran, Ph.D., 1827 G St., N. W., Washington, D. C. HREE teachers wanted for a male and female seminary in central New York. Typewriting. etc., languages, mathematics, sciences, et. al. Send stamp with and for particulars, Box 701, Hemp- stead, L. I. 56 SCIENCE. {VoLt. XXII. No. 547 TRE Anevican Dell Telephone COME ANNE {25 MILK ST., BOSTON, MASS. This Company owns the Letters - Patent No. 186,787, granted to Alexander Graham Bell, January 30th, 1877, the scope of which has been defined by the Supreme Court of the United States in the following terms: ‘“‘The patent itself is for the mechanical structure of an electric telephone to be used to produce the electrical action on which the first patent rests. The third claim is for the use in suck instruments of a diaphragm, made of a plate of iron or steel, or other ma- terial capable of inductive action; the fifth, of a permanent magnet constructed as de- scribed with a coil upon the end or ends nearest the plate; the sixth, of a sounding box as described; the seventh, of a speaking or hearing tube as described for conveying the sounds; and the eighth, of a permanent magnet and plate combined. The claim is not for these several things in and of them- selves, but for an electric telephone in the construction of which these things or any of them are used.’’ This Company also owns Letters-Patent No. 463,569, granted to Emile Berliner, No- vember 17, 1891, for a combined Telegraph and Telephone, and controls Letters-Patent No. 474,231, granted to Thomas A. Edison, May 3, 1892, for a Speaking Telegraph, which cover fundamental inventions and embrace all forms of microphone transmit- ters and of carbon telephones. BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY. There is an opening fora young man to open a New York office of the American Lightning Protection Co., operating under my patents. But little capital will be re- quired. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, NEW YORK JIN) 1D) Je Ox TO VOLUME XVIII OF © EIN Gis is in preparation, and will be issued at an early date. INfo ID, CG. IEC Oi OS F 1HfS\. 874 Broadway, New York, N. Y. LIGHTNING DESTROYS! Shall it be your house or a pound of copper? Entirely new departure in pro- tecting buildings from lightning. One hundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning (made under patents of N. D.C. Hodges, Editor of Sczence) will be sent, prepaid, to any ad- Dispeller dress, on receipt of five dollars. _ Correspondence solicited. | Agents wanted. AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION CO., 874 Broadway, New York City. Fact and Theory Papers I. THE SUPPRESSION OF CON- SUMPTION. By GODFREY W. HAMBLETON, M.D. 12°. 40c. II. THE SOCIETY AND THE “FAD,” By APPLETON MORGAN, Hsq. 12°. 20 cents. III. PROTOPLASM AND LIFE C. F. Cox. 12°. 75 cents. IV. THE CHEROKEES IN PRE-CO- LUMBIAN TIMES. By Cyrus THOMAS. 12°, $1. V. THE TORNADO. By H. A. Hazen. 12°. $1. VI. TIME-RELATIONS OF MENTAL By PHENOMENA. By JOSEPH JASTROW. 12°. 50c. VII. HOUSEHOLD HYGIENE. By MARY TAYLOR BISSELL. 12°. 75 cents. N. D. C. HODGES, Publisher, 874 Broadway, New York. QUERY: Can any reader of Sczence cite a case of lightning stroke in which the dissipation of a small _ conductor (one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter, say, ) has failed to protect between two horizon- tal planes passing through its upper and lower ends respective- ly? found which show that when the conductor is dissipated the build- Plenty of cases have been ing is not injured to the extent explained (for many of these see volumes of Philosophical Trans- actions at the time when light- ning was attracting the attention of the Royal Society), but not an exception is yet known, al though this query has been pub- lished far and wide among elec- tricians. First inserted June 19, 1891. No re- sponse to date. N. D.C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, X. Y. SCIENCE CLUBBING RATES. 10% DISCOUNT. We will allow the above discount to any subscriber to Science who will send us an order for periodicals exceeding $10, counting each at its full price. N. D.C, HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. A few minutes’ daily exercise “BUSY FOLKS’ GYMNASIUI1.” ‘ living rooms. ! on our fascinating apparatus , Clears the brain, tones up the body, develops weak parts. Our cabinet contains chest weights, rowing-weights, lifting-weights, clubs and dumb bells, adjust- able for old and young. | the only complete exercising outfit | ; can order on approval. ~ machine separate, $4.50 and up. ©. Educated agents wanted. Puysi Lt is in the world suitable for use in ] All prices. You = Chest 6 Shou!lers and Upper Bac, sd for Round Shoulders. CAL CuLTURE CHART, with illustrated directions for de- veloping every part of the body healthfully, 50 cts. naming this paper. Sent for half price to those WHITNEY HOME GYWMINASIUM CO., Box D., Rochester, N. Y. Me. ELEVENTH YEAR. Vou. XXII. No. 548. AUGUST 4, 1893. SrineLE Copies, Ten Cents. 0 Per YEar, In ADVANCE. CONTENTS. ‘THE FLoRIDA LAND TORTOISE-GOPHER, GOPHERUS PotypHEMus. Henry G. Hubbard.. coc New MernHops oF TREATING THE Sick. William (Ch GROUT, cooponboocase cay ~uBoab090G00000 58 NorEs oN ARSENIC. Jas. Lewis Howe.......... 59 A New Inga 1n Microscope ConsTRUCTION. C. We MWOOd worthy. 2 0 seciee elena er ee el 59 SumMMER WoRK IN Martne ZoéLtocy aT NEWPORT. WA COSTS -consolencaores aoesn /sauneOno 60 InDIAN PAINTINGS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. David P. Barrows 61 Notes anp NEws é 61 NOTES ON THE OCCURRENCE AND DISTRIBUTION oF Urepineaz. M. A. Carleton............ 62 In Memorntam.—THe Rey. W. C. Lugis, M.A., NEO-DARWINISM AND NEO-LAMARCKISM. By LESTER F. WARD. Annual address of the President of the Biological Society of Washington delivered Jan. 24, 1891. A historical and critical review of modern scientific thought relative to heredity, and especially to the problem of the transmission of acquired characters. The following are the several heads involved in the discussion Status of the Problem, Lamarckism. Darwinism, Acquired Characters, Theories of He- redity, Views of Mr. Galton, Teachings of Profes3or Weismann, A Critique of Weismann, Neo-Darwin- In so far as views The Ornamental Penmat ketbook of Alpha- bets, for sign-writers, engravers, stone-cutters and draftsmen, 20 cts. A System of Easy Lettering, by Howard Cromwell, 50 cts. Practical Electrics: A Universal Handybook on Every-day Electrical Mat- ters, 135 pp., fully illustrated, 12mo, cloth, 75 cts. Notes on Design of Small Dynamo, by G. Halliday, 79 pp., with a number of plates to scale, 12mo, cloth, $1. The Phonograph and How to Construct It, b W. Gillett, 87 PP. 12 folding plates, 12mo, cloth, $2. SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, Publishers, 12 Cortlandt St., New York. Illustrated and descriptive cata- logues, 10 cts. The Batrachians and Reptiles of Indiana. A Work of 204 pages, with 3 plates of 12 figures Contains full descriptions of nearly one hundred species of Batrachians and Reptiles, together with abundant notes on their habits. The identification of the species made easy by means of analytical tables. By O. P. Hay, Ph.D. Price, in paper cover, postpaid, $1.00. Bowen-Merrill Book Co , Indianapolis, Ind. INST iF UT ee USA, Vive (EmEO SOR: oscbansonoodens5006 . 63 Rppemeke ce er ee Pei ics vA ism, Neo-Lamarckism, the American ‘School,’ Ap- ACTERIA IN HEen’s Eaes. Melvin A. Brannon.. 64 eat A Matay Fire-Syrince. F. W. Rudler......... 65 PRCAHOD HO BHO ‘eka HAGE: Fetsse ‘ L’OrRIGINE DES ARYENS. G. DeLapouge........ 65 | are expressed they are in the main jn line with the Tue Screnriric ALLIANCE OF NEw YoRK. Jos. geueral current of American thought, and opposed AN F. MLE Noa8 SA CGR sila se gas elae alae 66 | to the extreme doctrine of the non-transmissibility Gearon ao LITERATURE. C. Michener 67 | of acquired characters. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR........... .....++- 67, 68, 69 FR OOKMRE VIELEN Saree eriacinctisisisiecinsicisisie cisincis lslclelcieis 69 m 2 rs AMONG THE PUBLISHERS.........0.0-s0eeeeseeeees 69 ETC pROStp aid) 2 5acents. Entered at the Post-Office of New York, N.Y., as Second-Class Mail Matter. N. D.C, HODGES, 874 Broadway, New York. GERMANIA A monthly magazine for the study 1 | of the German language and litera- ture, is highly recommended by college professors and the press as ‘‘the best effort yet made to assist the student of German, and to interest him in his pursuit.” Its BEGINNERS’ CoRNER furnishes every year a complete and interesting course in German grammar. $2ayear. Single copies 20 cents. P.O. Box 151, Manchester, N. H. NEW METHOD OF PROTECTING BUILDINGS FROM LIGHTNING. SPARE THE ROD AND SPOIL THE HOUSE! Lightning Destroys. Shall it be Your House or a Pound of Copper ? PROTECTION FROM LIGHTNING. What is the Problem? In seeking a means of protection from lightning-discharges, we have in view two objects,— the one the prevention of damage to buildings, and the other the prevention of injury to life. In order to destroy a building in whole or in part, it is necessary that work should be done; that is, as physicists express it, energy is required. Just before the lightning-discharge takes place, the energy capable of doing the damage which we seek to prevent exists in the column of air extending from the cloud to the earth in some form that makes it capable of appearing as what we call electricity. We will therefore call it electrical energy. What this electrical energy is, it is not necessary for us to consider in this place ; but thatit exists there can be no doubt, as it manifests itself in the destruction of buildings. The problem that we have to deal with, therefore, is the conversion of this energy into some other form, and the ac- complishment of this in such a way as shall result in the least injury to prop- erty and life. Why Have the Old Rods Failed? When lightning-rods were first proposed, the science of energetics was en- tirely undeveloped; that is to say, in the middle of the Jast century scientific men had not come to recognize the fact that the different forms of energy — heat, electricity, mechanical power, etc.— were convertible one into the other, and that each could produce just so much of each of the other forms, and no more. The doctrine of the conservation and correlation of energy was first clearly worked out in the early part of this century. There were, however, some facts known in regard to electricity a hundred and torty years ago; and among these were the attracting power of points for an electric spark, and the eonducting power of metals. Lightning-rods were therefore introduced with the idea that the electricity existing in the lightning-discharge could be con- yeyed around the building which it was proposed to protect, and that the pbuilding would thus be saved. The question as to dissipation of the energy involved was entirely ignored, naturally; and from that time to this, in spite of the best endeavors of those interested, lightning-rods constructed in accordance with Franklin’s principle have not furnished satisfactory protection. The reason for this is apparent when it is considered that the electrical energy existing in the atmosphere before the discharge, or, more exactly, in the column of dielectric from the cloud to the earth, above referred to, reaches its maximum value on the sur- face of the conductors that chance to be within the column of dielectric; so that the greatest display of energy will be on the surface of the very lightning- rods that were meant to protect, and damage results, as so often proves to be the case. It will be understood, of course, that this display of energy on the surface of the old lightning-rods is aided by their being more or less insulated from the earth, but in any event the very é6xistence of such a mass of metal as an old lightning-rod can only tend to produce a disastrous dissipation of electrical energy upon its surface,— ‘‘ to draw the lightning,” as it Is s0 commonly put. Is there a Better Means of Protection? Haying cleared our minds, therefore, of any idea of conducting electricity, and keeping clearly in view the fact that in providing protection against light- ning we must furnish some means by which the electrical energy may be harmlessly diss{pated, the question arises, ‘‘ Can an improved form be given to the rod so that it shall aid in this dissipation? ” As the electrical energy involved manifests itself on the surface of conduc- tors, the improved rod should be metallic; but, instead of making a large rod, suppose that we make it comparatively small in size, so that the total amount of metal running from the top of the house tosome point a little below the foundations shall not exceed one pound. Suppose, again, that we introduce numerous insulating joints in this rod. We shall then have a rod that experi- ence shows will be readily destroyed — will be readily dissipated — when a discharge takes place; and it will be evident, that, so far as the electrical en- ergy is consumed in doing this, there will be the less to do ether damage. The only point that remains to be proved as to the utility of such a rod is to show that the dissipation of such a conductor does not tend to injure other bodies in its immediate vicinity. On this point I can only say that I haye found no case where such a conductor (for instance, a bell wire) has been dis- sipated, even if resting against a plastered wall, where there has been any material damage done to surrounding objects. Of course, it is readily understood that such an explosion cannot take place in a confined space without the rupture of the walls (the wire cannot be boarded over); butin every case that I have found recorded this dissipation takes place just as gunpowder burns when spread onaboard. The objects against which the conductor rests may be stained, but they are not shattered, I would therefore make clear this distinction between the action of electri- cal energy when dissipated on the surface of a large conductor and when dis- sipated on the surface of a comparatively small or easily dissipated conductor, When dissipated on the surface of a large conductor, — a conductor so strong as to resist the explosive effect, —damage results to objects around. When dissipated on the surface of a small conductor, the conductor goes, but the other objects around are saved A Typical Case of the Action of a Small Conductor. Franklin, ina letter to Collinson read before the London Royal Society, Dec. 18, 1755, describing the partial destruction by lightuing of a church-tower at Newbury, Mass., wrote, ‘‘ Near the bell was fixed an iron hammer to strike the hours; and from the tail of the hammer a wire went down through a small gimlet-hole in the floor that the bell stood upon, and through a second floor in like manner; then horizontally under and near the plastered ceiling of that second floor, till it came near a plastered wall; then down by the side of that wall to aclock, which stood about twenty feet below the bell. The wire was not bigger thanacommon knitting needle. The spire was split all to pieces by the lightning, and the parts flung in all directions over the square in which the church stood, so that nothing remained above the bell. The lightning passed between the hammer and the clock in the above-mentioned wire, without hurting either of the floors, or having any effect upon them (except making the gimlet-holes, through which the wire passed, a little bigger), and without hurting the plastered wall, or atiy part of the building, so far as the aforesaid wire and the pendulum-wire of the clock extended; which latter wire was about the thickness of a goose-quill. From the end of the pendu- lum, down quite to the ground, the building was exceedingly rent and dam- aged. . . . No part of the aforementioned long, small wire, between the clock and the hammer, could be found, except about two inches that hung to the tail of the hammer, and about as much that was fastened to the clock; the rest being exploded, and its particles dissipated in smoke and alr, as gun- powder is by common fire, and had only left a black smutty track on the plas- tering, three or four inches broad, darkest in the middle, and fainter towards the edges, all along the ceiling, under which it passed, and down the wall.” One hundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made under patents of N. D. C. Hodges, Editor of Science) will be mailed, postpaid, to any address, on receipt of five dollars ($5). Correspondence solicited. Agents wanted. AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION CO., 874 Broadway, New York City. —e oe SCIENCE. (Vor. XXII. No. 548 Probably you take THE Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity do. If you do not, now is a good time to begin. It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty cents. Address: The Electrical Engineer, 208 Broadway, - - - New York, N.Y. Every reader of “Science” should sub- scribe for the AMERICAN ARCHITECT, THE OLDEST AND BEST Architectural publication in the country. Interesting articles on architecture, Sani- tation, Archeology, Decoration, etc., by the ablest writers. Richly illustrated. Issued weekly. Send stamp for specimen copy to the publishers, Ticknor & Co., 211 Tremont St., Boston. ‘Extremely useful to beginners and collectors for the region it covers.”"—Wm. H. Dall. MOLLUSKS OF THE ATLANTIC COAST OF THE UNITED STATES, South to Cape Hatteras. By Austin C. ApGar. This work contains a key to all the genera, a glossary of Molluscan terms, de- scriptions of all the species of shells, and over sixty illustrations. Price, Bound in Cloth, Post= paid, $1. For sale by AUSTIN C. APGAR, 511 East State St., Trenton, N. J. 1869. THE 1893. Manufacturer and Builder. Published Monthly. A handsomely illustrated me- chanical journal, edited by Dr. Win11Am H. Want. Every number consists of 48 large quarto pages and cover, filled with useful information on all subjects of a practical nature. Specimen copy free. For sale by all newsdealers. Agents wanted every- where. Address HENRI GERARD, P. 0. Box 1001. 83 Nassau St., N. Y. Newspaper Clippings. 25,000im Stock. What do you want? Letus know. We can supply you. The Clemens News Ageney, Box 2329, San Francisco, Cal. Littell’s Living A lttell Ss Living Age, THE ONLY WEEKLY ECLEG@TIC. 1844. 1893. “ The Oldest and the Best.” It selects from the whole wide field of EUROPEAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE the best articles by THE ABLEST LIVING WRITERS In every department of Literature, Science, Politics and Art. OPINIONS. “Only the best has ever filled its pages; the best thought rendered in the purest English. Nothing poor or unworthy has ever appeared in the columns of THE Livinc AGE.”—The Presby- terian, Phila. “Considering its size, it is the cheapest of literary periodicals, and no collection of maga- zine literature is complete without this fore- most of eclecties.”—Hducational Courant, Louis- ville, Ky. “Tt is one of the few periodicals which seem indispensable. . It contains nearly all the good literature of the time.”—The Churchman, New York. ‘““The fields of fiction, biography, travel, sci- ence, poetry, criticism, and social and religious discussion all come within its domain.”—Bos- ton Journal. “To read it is itself an education in the course of modern thought and literature.” — Buffalo Commercial Advertiser. Published WEEKLY at $8.00 a year, free of postage. Club Rates.— For $10.15 Tae Livine AGE and ScreNncE will be sent for a year, postpaid. Rates for clubbing THE Livine AGE with other periodicals will be sent on application. Sample copies of THE Livina Aas, 15 cents each. Address, Littell & Co., 31 Bedford St., Boston, Mass. BRENTANO’S, Publishers, Importers, Booksellers, We make a specialty of technical works in all branches of science, and in all languages. Subscriptions taken for all American and foreign scientific periodicals. Our Paris and London branches enable us to im- port at shortest notice and lowest prices. REPORTS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES, MONOGRAPHS, GOVERNMENT Reports, etc. Correspondence solicited. §(&" All books reviewed in SCIENCE can be ordered from us. SEND FoR A SAMPLE Copy oF Book Cuat. A Month- ly Index of the Periodical Literature of the World. $1.00 per year. BRENTANO’S, Union Square, New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris. LIGHT, HEAT AND POWER. THE INDEPENDENT GAS JOURNAL OF AMERICA. PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT PHILADELPHIA. Subscription, $3.00 per year. POPULAR MANUAL OF VISIBLE SPEECH AND VOCAL PHYSIOLOGY. For-use in Colleges and Normal Schools. Price 50 cents : Sent free by post by N.D C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N.Y. The Boston Surgical BOSTON, A FIRST-CLASS WEEKLY MEDICAL Medical and Journal. MASSACHUSETTS. NEWSPAPER. ESTABLISHED 1828. Terms of Subscriptiom: In the United States, and to Canada and Mexico, $5.00 a year in ad vance. To Foreign Countries embraced in the Universal Postal Union, $1.56 a year additional. ‘Len consecutive numbers free by mail on receipt of $1.00. numbers, 15c. Single This JouRNAL circulates chiefly through the New England States, and is seen by the great majority of the profession in that important district. As a means of reaching physicians it is unequalled. It is under the editorial management of Dr. George B. Shattuck, assisted by a large staff of compe- tent coadjutors. Subscriptions and advertisements received by the undersigned, to whom remittances by mail should be sent by money-order, draft or registered letter. DAMRELL & UPHAM, 283 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. RACES AND PEOPLES. By DANIEL G, BRINTON, M.D. “The book is good, thoroughly good, and will long remain the best accessible elementary ethnography in our language.”—The Christian Union. “We strongly recommend Dr. Brinton’s ‘ Races. and Peoples’ to both beginners and scholars. We are not aware of any other recent work on the science of which it treats in the English language.” —Asiatic Quarterly. “His book is an excellent one, and we can heartily recommend it as an introductory manual of ethnol- ogy.” —The Monist. “A useful and really interesting work, which de- serves to be widely read and studied both in Europe and America.”—Brighton (Eng.) Herald. “This yolume is most stimulating. It is written with great clearness, so that anybody can under- stand, and while in some ways, perforce, superficial, grasps very well the complete field of humanity.”— The New York Times. “Dr, Brinton invests his scientific illustrations and measurements with an indescribable charm of nar- ration, so that ‘Races and Peoples,’ avowedly a rec- ord of discovered facts, is in reality a strong stim- ulant to the imagination.”—Philadelphia Public Ledger. “The work is indispensable to the student who re- quires an intelligent guide to a course of ethno- graphic reading.’’—Philadelphia Times. Price, postpaid, $1.75. THE AMERICAN RACE, By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. “The book is one of unusual interest and value.”— Inter Ocean. “Dr. Daniel G. Brinton writes as the acknowledged authority of the subject.”—Philadelphia Press. “The work will be of genuine value to all who wish to know the substance of what has been found out about the indigenous Americans.’’—Nature. “A masterly discussion, and an example of the successful education of the powers of observation.”” —Philadelphia Ledger. Price, postpaid, $2. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, NEW’ YORK. LABORATORY MICROSCOPES. The Reichert III (ver- tical, No. 8) is a favor- ite pattern for labora- tory work, and is fitted with his best lenses. We are prepared to import the above instru- ments, duty free, for educational institutions, at extremely low prices. Correspondence Solicited. QUEEN & CO,, Sole Agents. Philadelphia. BUILDING BOOKS. DRAWING INSTRUMENTS. 1893 Catalogue of Books on Building, Painting, and Decorating, also Catalogue of Draw- ing Instruments and Ma- terials, sent free on appli- cation to Wm. T. Comstock, 23 Warren St., New York. oad ees NEW YORK, AUGUST 4, 1893. THE FLORIDA LAND TORTOISE-GOPHER, GOPHERUS POLYPHEMUS. BY HENRY G. HUBBARD, DETROIT, MICH. IT seems very strange that so little has been known, or at least has been published about the habits of this very common animal. Winter visitors to Florida and the Gulf States often observe their burrows on the sandy ridges, each with its yawning entrance and scattered mound of subsoil, and are not unlikely to mistake them for the woodchuck holes with which they are familiar at the north. It is the permanent resident, however, that is most likely to have some acquaintance with the animal itself; for only in the hottest weather and at noonday does the gopher leave its burrow to feed upon the surrounding grass and herbage. In summer, when the thermometer is in the nineties, the ani- mal comes forth daily, some time between the hours of eleven A.M. and two P.M., and takes a careful look around to assure itself that no danger threatens. Then, if no ominous sounds dis- turb the stillness of the sultry air, it raises itself high on its un- gainly legs and starts briskly off for the nearest patch of grass or cultivated field. : For about an hour the gopher wanders about with its long neck outstretched and plucks ravenously at every green vegeta- ble within its reach. Often, indeed, in its eagerness it cracks up and swallows dead twigs and dry leaves together with the more succulent food, until its ravenous appetite is appeased. It then retires to the bottom of its burrow in the moist, cool sand, there to remain until the morrow or, if the season be rainy, until the next dry, hot day. The gopher is a very timid and alert animal, and although it feeds with great gusto and apparent abandon, it is seldom so ab- sorbed in its work that it fails to hear the sound of approaching footsteps. The near approach of any large amimal sends it scur- rying back to its hole. It requires lively work to head off its re- treat, but if surprised and captured at a distance from its hole, like other turtles, it retires into its shell, and, drawing its plethoric and scaly fore paws like double doors over the front of its shell, it resigns itself supinely to its fate, and never under any circum- stances attempts to bite or otherwise defend itself. In winter the gopher very rarely quits its burrow, and comes forth to feed only on the very hottest daysat noon. In the warm Florida soil it is never torpid, but remains quiescent at the end of its gallery awaiting the return of dog-day weather. A well grown gopher measures 10 inches in length by 74 inches in width and 44 inches in thickness, and weighs about 6 pounds. Individuals are sometimes found measuring 12 x 94 x 5 inches, and weighing 9 or 10 pounds. They are sold in the markets of many towns at high prices, and are eaten by the negroes and lower classes everywhere in the south. The flesh is excellent in quality, very tender, of a rich red color and has the appearance, flavor and odor of beef. But the supply of meat obtainable even from individuals of the larg- est size is scanty, the greater part of the body cavity being occu- pied by the enormous gut crammed with grass and the long in- testines filled with wads of fibrous dung. The flesh is greatly relished by all carnivorous animals, but a gopher of average size has little to fear from their attacks. The largest dogs are unable to bring their canine teeth to bear upon any vulnerable part un- less the specimen is young and small enough to be taken into their mouths. In May or June the female deposits in the sand outside of her burrow from one dozen to twenty eggs. The eggs are perfectly spherical, pure white in color and have a diameter of 12 inches. More beautiful objects can hardly be found to grace an ological cabinet. The burrows of the gopher are excavated by the aid of a re- markable spade-shaped projection on tke front of the under shell, assisted by the powerful fossorial front legs, which are armed for this purpose with strong blunt claws. In the sandy uplands of Florida the galleries descend at an angle of about 385°, and reach a vertical depth of seven to nine feet from the surface of the ground. They follow a straight course unless deflected by a root or some other obstruction and usually terminate in a layer of indurated soil. The length of the gallery varies from twelve to eighteen feet. The temperature at the lower end does not vary greatly throughout the year, and will generally not fall below 74° in winter nor rise above 79° in summer. The conditions as to moisture are probably equally constant. At Crescent City, Fla., where these observations were made, the permanent water table lies at an average depth of eighteen feet. The burrow of a gopher once completed becomes its permanent residence, and it is with extreme difficulty that the animal can be compelled to vacate and excavate a new home. It is inhabited by the same individual for long periods of time, and if the popular belief in the great age attained by turtles in general and the land tortoise in particular is well founded, some of these reptilian domiciles nay have antedated the present cen- tury, and even rival in antiquity the dwellings of man. Certain burrows in this vicinity are pointed out as having been in exist- ence twenty-four years ago, when the oldest orange groves were planted. This necessarily implies a continuous occupancy by the same individual tortoise during that period, since if the galleries are abandoned they shortly become filled up and obliterated in our shifting sand. Every naturalist will appreciate under the above showing what unusually favorable conditions here exist for the preserva- tion of animal life, and will not be surprised to learn that these little sand caves, with their equable climate, permanent and abundant moisture, perpetually and hospitably open to the outer air, afford an asylum and a domicile to a most interesting assem- blage of animals. The list of these, when it shall have been com- pleted, bids fair to become a long one. Not only the Florida burrowing owl, the rattlesnake, the rab- bit, the raccoon and the opossum find in them a temporary shelter, but another vertebrate also, a frog, here takes up its per- manent abode and lives on terms of perfect friendship with the gopher. This frog is the sub-species Rana areolata wsopus, a beautiful form, with soft subterranean coloration and crepuscu- lar, toad-like habits.! It is not at all rare, nearly every gopher hole harbors one or several specimens. They may be seen at evening sitting just out- side the entrance of the burrow, and frequently in the morning or on cloudy days their softly radiant eyes may be detected gleaming out of the shadows a few feet back from the entrance. It is not easy to capture them, except with a baited hook and line, for at the slightest alarm they leap quickly down the yawn- ing throat of the gallery and disappear from view. Specimens of this frog have been seen which would weigh more than a pound, and individuals of colossal proportions are reported to exist. In January and during July of the present year more thana dozen species of articulates have been discovered living in the gopher holes. The majority are undescribed and new to science. 1 Mr. Fred’k C. Test, of the National Museum, who kindly determined the species, writes: ‘‘ Only one specimen, the type, is in the museum collection or presumably in any other.” The type specimen came from Micanopy, Fla,, probably without notes of habits, etc. 58 Two only are parasitic upon the gopher: (1) a large tick, which fastens itself upon the skin of the animal or to the sutures of the shell; (2) a gigantic acarus, a quarter of an inch in length, which does not remain upon the body of the gopher but attacks it within the nest, which, like the bed-bug, it never quits. Some of the burrows are infested with these blood-sucking mites and others appear to be entirely free from them. The dung of the gopher furnishes food to five beetles and one interesting caterpillar of a moth. All of these are new and pe- culiar forms, presenting characters that indicate subterranean habits of life. A large wingless cave cricket, apparently a Pha- langopsis, swarms in all the burrows. Three predatory beetles, one of which, a new species of Anthi- cus, may prove to be a prowler from without, have been found within the galleries. A very large specimen of the whip-tailscorpion (Telephonus) was found in one of the burrows. It was living in a short gallery of its own, which opened into the nest of the gopher at the lowest level. A minute Pseudo-scorpion is also found at the lower end of some of the burrows. A flea of undetermined species, of which a single specimen was found in one of the holes, may prove to be an intruder, left behind possibly by some mammalian visitor. The following is a review of the animal parasites and mess- mates of the gopher: Vertebrate. 1. The gopher frog, Rana areolata cesopus. Articulates. Feeding upon dung of gopher. . Onthophagus, sp. Feeding upon dung of gopher. . Saprinus, new sp. Feeding upon dung of gopher. Saprinus, sp. Feeding upon dung of gopher. . Aphodius, new sp. Feeding upon dung of gopher. . Staphylinide, probably a Philonthus. Predatory. . Trichopteryx, sp. A species found also outside. . Anthicus, new sp. One specimen only. Pyralid moth. Caterpillars feeding upon dung. . Cave cricket (undetermined), 11. Acaride parasite of the gopher (undetermined), 12. Gopher tick (undetermined), 18. Pseudo-scorpion (undetermined). 14. Whip-tail scorpion. Predatory intruder. 15. Flea, probably a mammalian parasite. Most of the insects have been submitted to Mr. E. A. Schwarz, of the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., and to him I am indebted for the determinations given above. . Copris, new sp. DBrAOwir wwe = o- NEW METHODS OF TREATING THE SICK. BY WILLIAM C. KRAUSS, M.D., BUFFALO, N.Y. On June 1, 1889, Professor Brown-Séquard presented a com- munication to the Société de Biologie of Paris on a new method of therapeutics. It seems that Brown-Séquard had been at work on this project for many years, for, in 1869, he expressed a belief that if it were possible to inject spermatic fluid into the veins of old men they would experience a rejuvenation, sexually, mentally, and physically. After repeated experiments upon rabbits, dogs, and guinea-pigs, he, in a true scientific spirit, injected some of the testicular fluid into his system, and his experiences and results form the most interesting part of his memorable communication to this learned society. ‘‘The author of this communication, now 72 years old, has for the past twelve years watched his physical powers slowly and continually decline. The laboratory work has become laborious and heavy, and after each meal I have been obliged to take a short nap. After the third injection a complete change took place. The work in the laboratory has become agreeable, not the least fatiguing, and after three and a half hours of such work I have been able to edit a memoir. The dynamo- meter showed an increase of 6.7 kilogrammes, the bowels re- gained their former activity, and, in short, I have regained all that I have lost.” SCIENGE [Vot. XXII. No. 548 These results, coming from one of the ablest physiologists in France, yea, of the world, were in an incredibly short space of time dispatched to all corners of the earth, and Brown-Séquard’s ‘¢ Blixir of Life,” erroneously called, was being tested by hundreds of doctors and would-be scientists. Enthusiastic reports are not easy to corroborate, and the Elixir of Life was doomed to bitter disappointment. At first encourag- ing results were reported by a class of observers least fitted to test the virtues of the new discovery, but in a short time the whole proceedings were looked upon with disdain and distrust. Not so in France, Brown-Séquard published several later reports with equally good results, and the experiments were further con- ducted by some of his co-workers and students. The hypodermic injections of testicular juice gave encouraging results in anemia, organic diseases of the brain and spinal cord, cachexia, tubercu- losis, and in many of the chronic diseases. It was also found that ovarian juice gave nearly thesame results as did the testicular juice. Thyroid juice. It has been definitely proven that removal of the thyroid glands from a dog will be followed by death. Gley, in his experiments, decided to inject the juice of thyroid glands in dogs thus deprived of these glands, and, instead of dying, they recovered without any serious difficulties. In the human family it has been found that after removal of the thyroid gland or the destruction of this gland through disease, that a certain train of symptoms will develop, which had received the name of myxce- dema, a disease characterized by swelling of the face, body, and extremities, loss of hair, sub-normal temperature, ete. Horsley attempted to transplant the thyroid gland of animals to these patients, and met with partial success. Dr. Murray of Newcastle, England, then injected hypodermically a glycerine extract of thyroid gland into patients suffering with myxcedema, and his efforts were rewarded with beneficial results. Brown-Séquard and D’Arsonval were conducting similar experiments about the same time with equally good success. It was found, however, that the injection of this substance was followed in many cases with pain, inflammation, and abscess formation. To overcome these hindrances, Fox of Plymouth and Mackenzie advised and practised the treatment of myxcedema by feeding with sheeps’ thyroid glands, and the results seemed to be in every way satis- factory. The writer has had a little experience in treating two cases of myxcedema, but he has been unable to attain anything like the results claimed by the English and French writers. In fact his experience has been negative, not even obtaining temporary im- provement, MacAlister of England has treated cases of pseudo-hypertrophic paralysis with injections of thymus gland extract; also a case of lymphadeuoma with a mixture of red and yellow marrow, with seemingly good results. Dieulafory of Paris has injected extracts of the cortical portion of the kidney into patients suffering with Bright’s disease. He proposes the name Nephrine for this particular fluid Comby and Dieulafory have also injected the extract of pancreas in cases of diabetes, with temporary good results. Spermine is the name of another fluid extract derived from Brown-Séquard’s testicular juice, its action seems to be similar to the testicular juice, acting upon the motor areas of the cerebro- spinal axis, increasing the strength of the arms and legs, regulating the sexual, urinary, and digestive functions, and in improvement of the general sensibility. American experimenters have not been idle during the rise of this fin de siécle therapeutics. There are now houses in New York manufacturing animal extracts known as cerebrine, medulline, testiculine, musculine, and other newly-coined-word remedies which have been recommended in the various diseases of the human body. Personally, the writer has had experience with cerebrine only, and, if he has noticed any results, they have been but temporary. Perhaps they do not even deserve the name “result,” only areaction had set in. Those of the writer’s friends who have had experience with these remedies have also obtained negative results. The injection of water and glycerine has suc- ceeded in accomplishing exactly what the animal extracts have done. Aucust 4, 1893. | What the outcome of this innovation will be, or where it will end, is at present impossible to say. The field is so broad and the inclination to experiment so great that, in all probability, some little time will elapse before the returns will all be in. Whether these extracts exert any specific action, or whether the results thus obtained have been through ‘‘ suggestion” and auto-sugges- tion, is likewise hard to explain, the writer is inclined to the latter view, that ‘“‘suggestion” has been the ‘‘ specific” agent. NOTES ON ARSENIC. BY JAS. LEWIS HOWE, POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY, LOUISVILLE, KY. NOTWITHSTANDING the well recognized danger of arsenical greens as coloring materials, their use is still far too common, especially in green enameled papers for covering boxes and for more repre- hensible purposes. I cite two cases in point. 1. Some time since my attention was called to some so-called “« Kiss Candies” for sale in a little variety shop, largely patronized by the children of a neighboring public school. These candies were squares of caramel, etc., each wrapped up with a verse of poetry (?) in a piece of colored paper, together with other candies not wrapped. Some of these papers were colored with anilin dyes, but a very considerable number were green enameled papers. An examination of several of these latter revealed the following : — Paper I. Bright-green surface, 50 square centimetres, arsenic found (estimated as arsenious oxid), 0.0285 of a gram. Paper II. Light-green surface, 50 square centimetres, arsenic found, 0.0062 of a gram. Paper III. Dark-green surface, 50 square centimetres, arsenic found, 0 0098 of a gram. Paper IV. Bluish-green surface, 47 square centimetres, arsenic found, 0.0209 of a gram. In the latter cases the enameled surfaces appeared much abraded, doubtless by contact with the other candies. It is needless to say that here was not only a grave danger of the surfaces of the candies containing considerable arsenic, but the well-known habit of young children of putting everything bright colored in the mouth, might have easily resulted in taking a toxic dose. 2, Very recently there has appeared in the market a natural leaf twist chewing tobacco, wrapped around with a strip of green enameled paper three-fourths of an inch wide and about six inches long, fastened to the tobacco by a tack. The surface of this paper is an arsenic green. An examination was made of the twist by cutting off the exterior and using Reinsche’s test. Distinct traces of arsenic were found. The quantity from a single twist was far too small to be dangerous, but it is needless to say that the prac- tice of using arsenic paper under such circumstances should be condemned, and the manufacturers of the twist were cautioned on the point. The arsenic found in the tobacco doubtless came, by abrasion, from the paper wrapped around it, but there is an- other possibility. It is more or less widely known that Paris- green is used by tobacco-growers against the tobacco worm. While in general, when properly used, probably no danger is to be apprehended, it has occurred in my knowledge that tobacco has been sprayed very shortly before gathering. This would seem to be dangerous, and investigations upon this point are being now carried out. As regards the detection of arsenic in medico-legal cases, atten- tion has been called by Dr. Bernard Dyer in the Proceedings of the Chemical Society! to the fact that in certain cases, at least, a large proportion of the arsenic is precipitated upon the zinc in Marsh’s test. The following is an observation in point. Arsenic was recovered in a certain case by Reinsche’s test on six pieces of copper foil, each 20 square centimetres surface. Three of the pieces were divided, and from each the arsenic was sublimed in well-defined crystals, which could be identified without difficulty. From the other three pieces all the arsenic was sublimed, dissolved, and submitted to Marsh’s test. Only the very slightest trace of a mirror was found, not enough to identify it as arsenic in a doubt- ful case. In this case, as in that of Dr. Dyer, cast zinc was used. 1 Proc. Chem. Soc., 1893, p. 120. SCIENCE. e Another recent case illustrates the necessity of the physicians who perform the autopsy preserving other organs than the stom- ach. G. had given her husband coffee from a pot in which she had emptied probably a whole box of Rough on Rats. He drank two cups, containing probably in the neighborhood of 7 grams, The coffee left, which I afterwards examined, was practically a saturated solution of arsenious oxid. Death ensued in four hours. The stomach was brought me, and was found to be empty, and much inflamed. Using the whole stomach, but a very small quantity of arsenic was found, evidently only what the walls of the stomach as a tissue could absorb, and far from enough to have produced death. The corroborative testimony was, however, sufficient to secure the woman’s conviction. Brodie’s statement that when arsenic is taken in solution no trace of it will be found in the stomach is too broad, but it is imperative that in such cases other organs, notably the liver (as well as spleen and kidneys), should be preserved for analysis. In my own experience, Reinsche’s test, when carefully carried out, is far more satisfactory and no less certain in testing for the presence of arsenic than Marsh’s, It can be readily learned by medical students and used practically by the physician, which ig not true of Marsh's test. In order to secure well-defined arsenic crystals in Reinsche’s test with a minimum of arsenic, I have found it desirable to use electrolytic foil, to roll the strip very closely, and to sublime in a tube of the smallest possible diameter. A NEW IDEA IN MICROSCOPE CONSTRUCTION. BY C. W. WOODWORTH, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, CAL. EVERYONE who has worked with the microscope, especially in studying rather large objects with medium and low powers, has felt the need of a better means of orientation than those at present _ available. Stage forceps admit of complete rotation in one direction and some degree of motion at right-angles to this by raising or lower- ing the object and readjusting the focus. Ordinarily, any change in the direction of the object requires this readjustment of the focus, and generally the part to be studied is out of the field and must be found as well. The ideal condition would be to rotate the object at the exact focal point of the microscope, and one can readily see that this could be attained if the object was supported by an apparatus re- volving upon two axes at right-angles to each other, which inter- sect at the focal point. provided neither of these remains fixidly coincident with the optical axis. There are many ways by which this condition might be attained, but perhaps as simple a modification of an existing stand as could be made with this object in view is a stand I have recently had the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company make for the Entomological Department of the University of California. The instrument is a ‘‘ Model” stand with an ordinary revolving mechanical stage. This is supported on a rotating bar, resembling the usual sub stage bar, and provided with a rack and pinion ad- justment. The stage is centred in the usual way, which brings the axis of revolution coincident with the optical axis. The stage bar swings upon a core which is adjustable laterally, so it becomes possible to make the axis of its rotation intersect the optical axis. These adjustments being made, the instrument fulfils the con- ditions specified above whenever the focal point is brought to the axis of rotation of the stage bar. Consequently, in using the in- strument the tube is brought to a certain position and the focusing of the object accomplished by means of the rack and pinion of the stage bar. The correct position of the tube is determined by trial for each objective, and marks made on the tube to indicate this position. Different objectives, as those who have used revolving stages must have noticed, have somewhat different optical axes, and there is enough variation with the medium powers to make a centreing nose-piece essential. While it is mechanically impossible to make all these adjust- ments perfectly correct, still I find that even with medium powers the object remains in the field during orientation, and that the 60 fine adjustment is generally sufficient to keep it constantly in focus, and I have no doubt that it might be adjusted well enough to use satisfactorily as high a power as a long-focussed quarter- inch objective. Indeed, the instrument has proven to be all that could have been expected of it as an orienting microscope, and, at the same time, its value for ordinary work is is no way decreased, unless - the slightly less rigidity of the stage is an objection. Plans have already been completed for a dissecting microscope for use in my laboratory embodying the same principal but in- volving greater changes from instruments now in use. The new stand will consist of a stage which remains horizontal, so that insects may be dissected on it under water. The arm is jointed and the lower section bent so that the axes of the two hinges are at right-angles to each other. There will be the necessary ar- rangements for so adjustIng these axes as to make them intersect, and the tube will be fitted with a nose-piece adjustment. The base will be clamped to the desk for sake of rigidity. The focussing will be all done at the stage, though the tube will move to accommodate the varying focal-lengths of the objectives. It is expected to use the objective under water, providing it with a hard-rubber shield having a cover-glass on the end. This kind of instrument should be also very useful for the study of aquatic forms. SUMMER WORK IN MARINE ZOOLOGY AT NEWPORT. BY W. E. CASTLE. OuT on the extreme southwestern point of the Island of Rhode Island, in Narragansett Bay, is Castle Hill, the comfortable resi- dence of Mr. Alexander Agassiz. Against this point the waves of the Atlantic break with full force as they sweep round the east end of Long Island past Point Judith. This is the one rough spot in the trip from New York to Boston by boat. As the tide comes in at Castle Hill and passes the narrow en- trance of the bay, it makes a bend and carries its rich pelagic life into a little cove on the north side of the point. On this cove is Mr. Agassiz’s laboratory. 2 It is a modest-looking little structure, modelled after a Swiss cottage, but within it is a very paradise for the marine zodlogist. Aquaria, tanks, and glassware it contains in abundance, while fresh and salt water are carried in pipes to all parts of the labora- tory. Fresh, salt water, and air to atrate the aquaria are pumped in by a wind-mill. Mr. Agassiz carries on his own investigations in the smaller room at the west end of the building. The larger room of the ground floor each summer he generously puts at the disposal of a certain number of students from the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy at Cambridge, Mass. Any day through the summer you may see half a dozen men here industriously bending over their microscopes, studying ani- mals in their living form or preserving material for future study. On account of the extreme moisture of the atmosphere, little balsam mounting or clearing can be done at the sea-shore, so that work of this kind is usually postponed to be done at Cambridge during the fall and winter months. Each morning at nine o’clock a hack from the boarding-house in town puts the men down at the laboratory door. It calls for them again at five, after their day’s work is ended. About ten o’clock each evening ‘‘ Thomas,” Mr. Agassiz’s faith- ful man-of-all-work, rows slowly up and down the cove skimming the surface of the water with a tow-net. From time to time he lifts the net of fine cheese-cloth carefully from the water, turns it inside out and dips it repeatedly in a bucket of water. The soup thus obtained is carried into the laboratory, diluted, and poured out into half a dozen glass dishes placed on black tiles. Around these dishes the men gather upon their arrival in the morning, each furnished with pipettes and watch-glasses of various sizes. Every nook and corner of the dish is carefully scanned with naked eye and with the aid of lens, and in different lights, that no egg or larva, however minute, may escape notice. After a man has acquired a general knowledge of the pelagic SCIEN GL: [VoL. XXII. No. 548 fauna, he usually confines his attentions to some particular group of animals, and the tow is sorted out and divided accordingly. One man studies the mollusks, another the echinoderms, an- other the jelly-fishes, and so forth, The tow is the chief source of material for study. It is supple- mented, however, by dredging from the steam-launch, and shore collections at low tide. The laboratory contains a good library of general works of refer- ence, while literature on special topics is supplied from Mr. Agassiz’s private library and from the museum library at Cam- bridge. Not least among the advantages afforded to the training inves- tigator are the helpful suggestions of Mr. Agassiz himself, whose long experience in marine work makes him an invaluable ad- viser, With such excellent opportunities for advanced work in zodlogy, it is not surprising that in this little laboratory material has been gathered for many scientific papers of a high order, and that here many of the best zodlogists Harvard College has produced have received an important part of their professional training. BACTERIOLOGY IN THE DAIRY. BY C. C, GEORGESON, MANHATTAN, KANSAS. THE bacteria which affect the quality of our dairy products may, for practical purposes, be classed under two heads, namely, those which are beneficial, and those which are injurious, and it is as essential to encourage the one as it is to wage a constant war upon the other. It has been established beyond a peradventure that the pleasant flavor and aroma of good butter are developed by certain species of bacteria present in the cream and instru- mental in producing the changes which take place during the process of fermentation usually termed ‘‘souring.” And it is equally well established that there are certain other species which, if permitted to get the mastery, will, as it were, overpower and neutralize the influences of the former class and give a disagreea- ble taste and smell to the butter. Both classes are present in all dairies, and the skill and success of the butter-maker depend in large degree on the recognition of this fact and his ability to foster the growth of the beneficial bacteria and to keep the injurious kinds in subjection. His chief weapon against the latter is clean- liness. Filth of every description is their best breeding-ground. But it also happens that the conditions are such, in surrroundings over which the butter-maker has no control, that, in spite of the strictest cleanliness on his part, the injurious organisms propagate too fast and deteriorate his products. Again, it may liein the health, feed, or other conditions affecting the cows from which the milk is drawn. Under such conditions, what is he to do? It is the solving of this problem which has brought bactériology into inti- mate connection with the dairy business; and the honor of solving it and thereby ensuring the production of ‘‘gilt-edge” butter under naturally adverse conditions belongs to the Danes. In practical dairying there are two forms of physical means by which the growth of bacteria may be controlled, namely, cold and heat, relatively speaking. At a temperature at or near the freez- ing-point the active growth of the bacteria ceases, and hence the reason for keeping the milk cool by the use of ice. The cold pro- duced by the ice does not kill the organisms or purify the milk, it simply retards their multiplication, and thus affords time for the dairy operations to take place before they work injurious changes. Heat, on the other hand, kills the bacteria. At the boiling-point nearly all those forms ordinarily found in milk are destroyed. But, as this high temperature affects the taste of the milk or cream by imparting the characteristic ‘‘ boiled taste,” in practice the temperature is raised to but 75° or 80° C., at which point the taste is not materially affected, and still the greater portion of the bacteria are killed. This much known, the Danes have gone a step farther. They have isolated and perpetuated ‘‘pure cultures” of those forms which they have found to be beneficial to the production of first- class butter, and by impregnating the cream, under proper condi- tions, with these artificially grown bacteria they give their butter the desired flavor and aroma. It is now between two and three AvucusT 4, 1893.] years since the more advanced creamery owners began to practise this method, and the results have been so uniformly satisfactory that it is adopted in all creameries, when the ordinary methods fail to bring out the desired quality. The creamery owners were not slow to take advantage of this new discovery when they found that it afforded the butter-maker genuine and valuable practical aid. The honor of introducing this important improve- ment in dairy processes does not belong to any oneman. Several scientists isolated and successfully prepared cultures for use inde- pendently of each other; though doubtless Professor V. Storch of the Experimental Laboratory, Copenhagen, deserves the lion’s share of the credit. He has investigated the subject for some years, and published several important papers on the results of his researches. There are now three or four laboratories from which the prepared cultures are offered for sale to the dairies. They keep their processes secret, each following its own methods, the result of which is that their cultures differ, both in kinds of bac- teria and method of treatment. This has brought out the fact that the beneficial species, as indeed also the injurious ones, are quite numerous, and that certain forms codperate in the produc- tion of aroma and flavor, but that it is by no means necessary that a large variety should be present. Thus Mr. EH. A. Quist of Skanderborg, Denmark, a young bacteriologist who has become deservedly famous for his successful work in this line, uses but two forms, which singly are ineffective, but together produce a very superior quality of butter. The ‘‘ secrets” in this work are, of course, far from impenetra- ble. They are confined chiefly to the composition of the nutritive fluid in which each laboratory has found it most expedient to propagate the bacteria employed, and this can, of course, be ascer- tained by experiment. The value of ‘‘ pure cultures” has been proven by practical ex- perience. It remains to acquaint our dairy workers with the facts, and for our bacteridlogists to take the work in hand. It offers a wide field for fruitful investigation. INDIAN PAINTINGS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. BY DAVID P. BARROWS, POMONA COLLEGE, CLAREMONT, CAL. The Indian tribes which sixty years ago filled every valley of California have now either entirely disappeared or are represented by mere handfulls of descendants. These tribes left quantities of implements of their daily life to attest their vast numbers and certain remains through which can be traced their beliefs and customs. An interesting study are their ‘‘picture rocks.” These are found in many places throughout the coast and some of them have been examined and described. In several localities in Southern California there are painted rocks to which, we believe, attention has not been called. In the Perris valley, among thestony hills west of the town, are tbree rocks from twelve to twenty feet high which -are covered, each on one side, with Indian paintings. There is evi- dence that this hillside at one time was the camping ground of a large number of Indians. About each spring the flat bowlders are filled with holes in which acorns and seeds were pounded, and pestles and metates are numerous. Bits of pottery, a portion of a grass basket and a few arrow points have also been found here. Twenty-five miles away on the opposite side of the San Jacinto plains there is now the small village Saboba, of the Ser- rano Indians. On the Radec Creek thirty miles east of Temecula is an inter- esting case of rock painting. A hundred feet above the stream on the hillside there isa small cave formed by huge bowlders piled together. It is evident that the front of this cave was once walled up with brush, stones and earth and that it was used for a temescal or sweat house. The cold stream is at hand into which the patients, dripping with perspiration could plunge. The in- side of this cave is painted with the same designs and colors as the Perris rocks. A flat rock inside is filled with holes in which it appears that the minerals for making the paints were ground. Digging down a few inches, into the loose soil of the floor, brought up broken pottery, charcoal and ashes, and bits of small bones. SCIEN GE 61 The interior of the cave is blackened with the smoke of the fires. This cave is a quarter of a mile from the site of an abandoned village, which the Indians say was called Sequala. Relics, in- cluding a number of arrow points more perfect than are usually obtained in Southern California are here found. In theStrawberry valley in the San Jacinto Mountains there are four more of these painted rocks. The Cahvilla Indians still visit this valley for acorns and pifiones. Doubtless search and inquiry will reveal much more similar work. The designs, which in all cases are much the same, consist mainly of wavy and angular lines, diamonds, and geometrical patterns and figures formed by dots. The print of the open hand is occasionally seen. There is little remarkable in these paintings unless it be the ab- sense of pictwres, and the fact that the same designs were adhered to not only by different tribes but by tribes of different stocks, showing that the established forms were wide spread and rigidly followed. The colors used are red, black and white. They are made from mineral earths found in the mountains around, which are ground, mixed to the consistency of paste, and applied. The most striking fact in regard to these paintings is this: Among the Cahvilla Indians whose home is in the San Jacinto Mountains, twenty miles from Radec Creek and eighteen from Strawberry valley in the opposite direction, there are two old men, and now only two, who at some feasts perform a remarkable war dance. The dancer is stripped to his breech clout and then girt with a kilt of beautiful brown eagle feathers, and his head is covered with a feathered war bonnet. His face and body are then painted with the same designs and colors which we have noticed. The same mud paints are used and sometimes the hand is daubed and its print struck upon the dancer’s broad shoulders, precisely as it appears upon the Perris Rocks. Thus dressed and painted the old warrior proceeds to execute a dance which we venture to say is one of the most wonderful among the strange dances of the North American Indians; a dance which makes the old women shout and cry in excited remembrance, and infirm old braves wave their arms and join in the wild song. There must be significance in these designs so carefully fol- lowed and preserved. The writer and others are arranging for fuller examination of the rock paintings of Southern California with a view to publica- tion. This note is intended simply to call attention to the double use of these designs upon the rocks and in the dance body- painting. NOTES AND NEWS. THE sixth annual meeting of the American Economic As- sociation willbe held in Chicago, September 11-15, 1893, in one of the assembly halls of the University of Chicago. Itis expected that the general headquarters of the association will be at the university, which has not only permitted the use of one of its halls for the assembly to meet in, but also offers rooms in its dormitories at a moderate rent by the day or week to persons at- tending such conventions. Two meetings of the council of the association will be held during the session, and the programme as announced includes, besides the annual address by the President, Professor Charles F. Dunbar, the following papers: The Value of Money, by Francis A, Walker; The Relation between Interest and Profits, by Arthur T, Hadley; The Scope of Political Economy, by Simon N. Patten; The Genesis of Capital, by J. B. Clark; The Wages Fund at the Hands of the German Economists, by F. W. Taussig, and Marshall's Theory of Quasi-Rent, by E. R. A. Selig- man. Several other societies dealing more or less with economic questions, including the International Statistical Institute, the American Statistical Society, the Social Science Congress and the Labor Congress, are to meet at Chicago at about thesame time as the American Economic Association, and, asarrangements have been made to have the scientific sessions of these various societies held at different times, a rare opportunity is presented for the students of economic and social subjects to meet their co-laborers of this and other lands. 62 SCIENCE. SCIENGI: PUBLISHED BY N. D. C. HODGES, 874 BroADWAyY, NEw YORK. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in advance, one aundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reasons we desire to circulate as many copies of Science as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprinted elsewhere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photo- engraving should be supplied by the contributor, Rejected manuscripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accom- panies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenti- cated by the name and address of the writer; not necessarily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold ourselves responsible for any view or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Attention is called to the ‘‘ Wants” column. It is invaluable to those who use 1t in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and address of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The ‘‘Exchange”’ column is likewise open. NOTES ON THE OCCURRENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF UREDINEA. BY M. A. CARLETON, KANSAS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, MANHATTAN, KANSAS. VeERY little attention has been given tothe distribution of para- sitic fungi, except so far as to note their occurrence on host-plants of more or less close relationship, and that they are usually some- what more abundant in wet seasons and places than in those that are dry. But close observation reveals more facts than these, and some that are peculiarly interesting. Strictly speaking, the parasitic fungi are affected by but two of the elements of environment concerned in the distribution of phanerogams. These are temperature and moisture, while flower- ing plants are also affected by differences in kind of soil and amount of light However, there is a kind of distribution of parasitic fungi, scarcely to be called geographical, although such distribution has probably been caused by changes in the anatomy and physiology of the host, which changes were themselves caused by variations in soil and climate. I refer to cases of certain hosts which sup- port certain fungi in one locality and not in another. Of course, it may be said that in one or more of these localities there has yet been no chance for infection, but in numerous cases this is, to say the least, rather improbable, and sometimes the hosts are dis- tributed so as to completely connect these localities, and yet without general distribution of the fungi. Moreover, some of these hosts are annuals, or occasionally biennials, so that it cannot be said that the fungi are prevented from spreading by the cir- cumstance of their being reproduced yearly from perennial mycelium and not by infection by germinating spores. Again, while a group of species (a genus, for instance) in one locality may all be attacked by a certain fungus, in another local ity, where these hosts are all represented, only a part of the group may be affected by the same fungus. Certain fungi have also peculiarities of occurrence in point of time. After being reproduced annually for several years, they may suddenly disappear for an indefinite period, or reappear after certain intervals of time. In illustration of these general statements, it may be of interest to give here some observations that I have made on the distribu- tion of Uredinez in Kansas, covering a period of about six years. In the first place, it seems to be true that Aecidia require more moisture than the other stages, and telentospores the least. In Kansas, east of the 96th meridian, the species of Aecidia number about fifty, and telentospores (of all genera) sixty-five; while west of the same meridian tne proportion is about twenty-three of the former to fifty of the latter. The telentospores of western Kansas, it is seen, are more than twice the Aecidia. The difference in rainfall of the two portions is well known. But all Uredinez are probably more abundant in wet seasons than in dry seasons, and (Vor. XXII. No. 548 also more abundant in warm seasons than in cool seasons. This season has been much earlier than the preceding one, and has been marked by a number of unusually hot days, alternating with heavy rains. Moreover, the rains have continued to date, and were quite frequent just at harvest time. The result has been a season unusually favorable for rusts. The following species have been collected in large quantities this season: Aecidium peckit., De Toni, on Oenothera biennis; Aecidiwm euphorbie, Gmel.; Aecidiwm viole; Schum., on Viola falmota, L., var. cucullata, Gr., and cultivated pansies; Aecidiwm zanthoxyli, Pk. ; Aecidium cepholanthi, Pk.; Puceina graminis, Pers. II.; Uro- pyxis petalostemonis (Farl.), De Toni; Roestelia pirata, Thaxt., on Pirus coronaria; Uredo ceoma-nitens, Schwein., on Rubus vilosus (cult.) and Rubus canadensis. Immense numbers of spermogonia were found with Aecidium peckii, De Toni, and with the Uropyxis, Roestelia, and Uredo cceoma-nitens, Schw., above mentioned. Puccinia graminis, Pers., has been quite destructive to grains, especially oats, over the greater part of the State, but particularly in the eastern portion. It is a very interesting fact that, while this species was quite rare last year, it is the predomi- nating rust of grains this year, and has caused extensive damage. Last year Puccinia coronota, Corela, was very abundant on oats, but this year, in repeated examinations, I have been unable to find a single specimen. Even P. rubigo-vera (D. C.), Wint., the ever- present grain-rust, is very scarce this season. The greatest damage from rust prior to this season that I recall was in 1877, when there was a severe rust scourge over northern Kansas. Many fields of wheat were entirely destroyed, and never harvested. Sulpbur-like clouds of spores filled the air and irri- tated the nostrils of the workmen. I had no knowledge of botany then, but a vivid remembrance of the general appearance of the rust, coupled with my present knowledge of the differences be- tween the species, inclines me to believe that it was Puccinia graminis, Pers., that did the damage. I have always doubted the usual statements that P. rubigo-vera is the rust that usually does the damage in this country, and this season the facts in Kansas strongly confirm my opinion. Of course, the last-named rust is the more common from year to year, but seldom attacks the stem to any great extent, and, in my own experience, any amount of it on the leaves usually does little damage, but when the stem becomes covered with red powder and finally weakens and falls, and the grain shrivels, and the straw becomes very light, then you may guess that Puccinia graminis is in the field. However, there may be facts from other portions of the country, even this season, that furnish contrary evidence, for aught I know. The above facts call up further instances of variations in the occurrence of species. The following species, originally known in Kansas, have not, to my knowledge, been reported for several years: Aecidiwm abunduns, Pk.; Aecidiwm cassie, E. and K.; Aecidium sambuci, Schw.; Puccinia similacis, Schw.;and Aecidium macrosporum, Pk. During the succession of recent dry seasons they have probably become so reduced in numbers that finally there were not enough healthy spores left to reproduce the species on the following year. In like manner Puccinia solida, Schw. ; P. seymeric, Burrill; P. saniculee, Grev.; and Aecidium puncta- tum, Pers., seem to have disappeared. In future wet seasons infection may take place from a distance, and the fungi reap- pear. As to migration, Aecidium tuberculatum, B. and K., has cer- tainly been coming rapidly eastward, until this season it was found at Manhattan for the first time. Uredo gaurina, Pk., seems also to be coming eastward. Puccinia heterospora, B. and C., with its host (Abutilon avicenice), Puccinia xanthii, Schw., var. Amobrosice, Burrill, several varieties of Aecidium compositarum, Mont., and Puccinia microsperma, B. and C., are, without much doubt, working westward. Others might be mentioned, but the possibility of their having been present for years already, and overlooked, forbids that we should place much dependence on such observations. But a more remarkable phase of distribution is found in the fact that a number of species known on certain host-plants in western Kansas for a number of years are entirely absent in the - Aucust 4, 1893. | eastern portion of the State from the same host plants, although the hosts themselves are very abundant in some cases. Grindelia squarrosa, Dund., ranges over the entire State in abundance, but Pucecinia grindelice, Pk., has never, to my knowledge, been found east of Russell and Rooks Counties. Another singular fact is that I never found it on the variety grandiflora, Gr., which grows so abundantly in western Kansas. Uredo gaurina, Pk., and its Aecidium, too, are found in the western counties only, although three species of Gawra are native in eastern Kansas. Lygodesmia juncea, though not widely diffused in the eastern portion of the State, is still rather abundant in spots about Manhattan, but ~ without any fungus; while over the western counties, not only is the plant itself very common, but it supports, in great abundance, a rust which has been named Puccinia variolans, Hark., var. caulicola, Ell. and Ey. I have noticed for several years that Puccinia phragmitis (Scbum.), Korn., is never found on Phrag- mites communis in eastern Kansas (although abundant on Spartina cynosuroides), but is common on this host wherever found in the western counties, so Uropyxis amorphe (Curt.), Schroet , abun- dant on both Amorpha canescens and A. fruticosa in the west, is found only on the former host in this region. What seems to be the Puccinia grindelie, Pk., above mentioned, is also found on Aplopappus rubiginosus in-abundance in the west but this host does not grow in this region. In these cases may there not be anatomical differences in the hosts (of the same species, even) which cause this peculiar distribution of their parasites. At least, the question is worthy of close investigation. It is another indication, to me, that plant pathology cannot be well understood without a knowledge of plant physiology. I have already shown in another article! how the host-plants themselves vary in passing from the more fertile to the more barren districts of the great plains. The distribution of their parasites may be greatly in- fluenced by these variations. . IN MEMORIAM. —THE REV. W. C. LUKIS, M.A., F.S.A. BY W. GREGSON, F.G.S., BALDERSBY, S.-O0., YORKSHIRE, ENG. The death of the Rev. William Collings Lukis removes a familiar figure from the ranks of British scientists, and one who will long be remembered with feelings of deepest respect and esteem, not only in Great Britain, where he lived and worked so long, but through- out the whole of the scientific world. His tall, erect, manly form, and genial countenance, were well known throughout Yorkshire, and he was certainly one whose friendship it was a pleasure and a delight to claim. Mr. Lukis was not only an archeologist of world-wide eminence but was also a considerable authority on geology, botany and other branches of natural science. He had long been an obser- vant traveller in various parts of Europe, Africa, America, etc. More especially in the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Italy, and Algeria; and his writings and researches show that accurate and intimate knowledge of those countries which he acquired from careful personal investigations. The deceased gentleman was also an artist of considerable power and merit, as many of his works, illustrated by his own hand, sufficiently testify. He was born on April 8th, 1817, in the Island of Guernsey (English Channel), and was the third son of Colonel Frederick Corben Lukis, by Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Mr. John Collings of Guernsey. From his father, who was also an archeologist of distinction, Mr. Lukis inherited a taste for natural science, which he pursued at the University of Cambridge, under Professors Henslow and Sedgwick, and the writer has frequently heard him dilate on the benefits he derived from his connection with such far-famed scientists. He received his early education in Guern- sey, afterwards in France, and at Blackheath, near London, under the mastership of the Rev. Sanderson Tennant, whilst in January, 1840, he graduated in honors at Trinity College, Cam- bridge. Twelve months later he was ordained at Salisbury, by Bishop Denison, and licensed to the curacy of Bradford-on-Avon (of which parish the late famous Harvey, formerly private tutor to Prince George, now Duke of Cambridge, was then vicar). In noe Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb.,”’ vol. XxXI,, No. 6, pp, 220-232. SGrPEINGE: 63 1845, he was appointed chaplain to the Marquis of Ailesbury, who successively presented to him the livings of Great Bedwyn, and Collingbowne Ducis in Wiltshire, and Wath, near Ripon, in York- shire; which latter he held for thirty-one years up till the time of his death. Whilst residing at Cambridge he was one of the earliest members of and contributors to the Camden Society, then newly formed, and when living at Bradford-on-Avon, he pub- lished a quarto volume on ‘‘ Ancient Church Plate,” also other works on ‘‘ Church Bells,” ‘‘ Church Towers,” etc. In 1847 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of North- ern Antiquaries, Copenhagen; in 1853, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, of London; and in 1867, a member of the Société Archéologique de Nantes, whilst in 1872, he was elected a corres- ponding member of the Société de Climatologie Algerienne. Mr. Lukis was the author of many works on barrows, and other pre- historic monuments, and was a practical barrow digger on an ex- tensive scale, in various parts of England, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, and elsewhere. The Society of Antiquaries, London, published his scale plans of Rude Stone Monuments, with descrip- tive text. He also edited, for the Surtees Society, Dr. William Stukeley’s Diaries and Letters, published in three volumes; and when the Ripon Millenary Festival was celebrated, in 1886, he was an active member of the committee, which was formed to carry out the arrangements, and wrote an interesting and valua- ble article entitled ‘“‘ Ancient Ripon,” since included in Mr. W. Harrison's ‘‘ Millenary Record” (a beautifully illustrated volume published at Ripon, in 1892). Mr. Lukis, who was a prominent Free Mason, and a J.P. for Wiltshire, married Lucy Adelaide, daughter of Admiral Sir Thomas Fellowes, who survives her husband, and by whom he leaves two sons and four daughters; the eldest daughter being the wife of a son of the late Canon Hawkins, J.P., of Topcliffe, Yorks (a relative of Mr. Justice Hawkins), and the second daughter being the wife of Mr. H. C. Bickersteth (son of the late Bishop of Ripon, nephew of the Bishop of Exeter, and cousin of the Bishop of Japan). A committee has recently been formed, under the chairmanship of Sir Reginald Graham, Bart., of Norton-Conyers, near Ripon (which is close to Wath, and where the talented authoress of “¢ Jane Eyre” at one time resided), for the purpose of placing in Wath Parish church a strained-glass window, as a lasting memorial of the late much esteemed rector, who was so ripe a scholar, so kind a friend, and of whom it may be truly re- corded : — He seemed the thing he was, and joined Each office of the social hour To noble manners, as the flower And native growth of noble mind. OBSERVATIONS ON DUCKLINGS. BY C, LLOYD MORGAN, BRISTOL, ENGLAND. OF seven eggs transferred from a hen to my incubator only two hatched out. Of the others four had not been fertilized and the fifth contained a dead bird in about its tenth day of incubation. Several hours before the ducklings chipped the shell they were piping to be free. One (A) was hatched four hours before the other (B). They were left in the drawer of the incubator for about 20 to 24 hours, and were then transferred to an experi- mental poultry yard in my study. Somewhat unsteady upon their legs. they kept tilting backwards on to their tails; but A was decidedly the stronger of the two and his motor codrdina- tion was better. They pecked with uncertain aim at anything which caught their eyes, such as marks on the basket in which they were to sleep, grain, sand. Chopped-up white of egg was placed before them and moved about with along pin to draw their attention to it. The codrdination for pecking was far from perfect. When a piece was seized after several shots if was mumbled rapidly and then shaken out of the bill unswallowed. A shallow tin of water was placed before them. They took no heed of it. As they tottered about they walked through it sev- eral times, but no notice was taken. I dipped A’s beak into the water. He drank with characteristic action; he then pecked at 64. the water repeatedly and drank. Presently B imitated him, and he too drank repeatedly. Both pecked at white of egg held in forceps, seizing at about the third shot, but shook it out of the bill. Perhaps some was swallowed. I then put them to bed in their basket. Two hours later they were taken out and waddled about with more accuracy of motor coérdination. When they came to the water they both at once drank. They pecked at white of egg placed on a black tray to make it more conspicuous, but shook it out of their bills. After another two hours A was dropped into a fairly deep bath. He floated and kicked vigorously, dropping excrement. In less than a minute he swam round and round the bath and pecked at marks on the side. A little later both made for the tin of water and sat in it. They pecked with more accuracy and without suggestion (i. e., moving it about with pin) at white of egg on the tray, still shak- ing the head vigorously, but swallowing freely. A scratched his head two or three times, but tumbled over in the process. Later in the evening of the same day they ate white of egg freely. The pecking codrdination was much more accurate, but not quite accurate. I placed B in the bath. He kicked excit- edly and dropped excrement; then swam about vigorously, peck- ing at the sides. Next morning when taken from their basket both A and B made for the water in their tin and drank and sat init. They ate keenly of white of egg, swallowing large morsels. Both scratched their heads occasionally, tumbling down. Both preened their down, rubbing their bills over their breasts. They applied their bills to the base of the tail and rubbed their heads along their backs in the most approved duck fashion. They stood up and clapped their downy winglets, toppling over backwards on to their tails from imperfect codrdination. In the middle of the day I placed a blue-bottle fly, from which the wings had been snipped off, near them. A followed, pecking at it, but failed to seize. It escaped under the newspaper which formed the floor of my yard. Irouted it out. A again followed pecking, but the fly escaped through the wire netting. I placed it again in the yard. A followed and caught it at the third peck, swallowing it apparently with satisfaction. Put A in the basket. B then caught another fly after numerous abortive attempts. Both A and B ate their own excrement and that of chicks, showing less signs of dislike than do chicks. Tried the ducks with all sorts of odd things, bits of paper, chopped-up matches, leaves, flowers, small stones, red currants, anything of suitable size I could lay hands on. Each was seized and mumbied, and then either rejected or swallowed. When three days old I threw to them the yellow and black- banded caterpillar of the cinnabar moth. Each seized it, but dropped it at once. Very soon no notice was taken of it. Next day on repeating the experiment A seized a caterpillar, but dropped it. B took no notice. They ate freely of green cater- pillars from gooseberry bushes, and distinguished between these nice morsels and the nasty yellow and black caterpillars. They ate tadpoles placed in their water, noticing them directly they began to swim about. I daily placed for them at about 9 A.M. in my experimental yard a large black tray with a shallow tinof water. To this they at once ran and drank, sitting in the water and washing. On the sixth day I put down the tray and tin as usual; but the tin was empty. They ran to it, went through all the action of mum- bling the water and drinking. They sat in the empty tin wag- ging their little tails and ducking down their heads as if they were enjoying a good bath. They continued this procedure for about ten minutes. I then gave them some water. The next morning I repeated the same experiment, but though the ducks searched for water with their bills they did so with less vigor and zest. A winged bee was thrown in. B seized it, but dropped it. A seized it, and after mumbling it fora moment, swallowedit. Pos- sibly he was stung. He kept on scratching the base of his beak first on one side then on the other and seemed uneasy. But he was allright again in halfanhour. There was no instinctive avoidance " SCIENGE: (VOL, XS Nor 548 of bees. Subsequently he would not toucha bee. There was an intelligent avoidance of bees. Nor would they touch the bee-like fly, Hristalis. Its mimetic form served as a protective character. Subsequently A seized a humblebee and after mumbling it in the water swallowed it and seemed none the worse. The above jottings are extracted from my note-book and are given without comment. I may add that as compared with chicks the ducklings show less intelligence and develop psychically more slowly. Their greediness and vulgarity are painful to ob- serve and to contemplate. : BACTERIA IN HEN’S EGGS. BY MELVIN A. BRANNON, FORT WAYNE, IND. THAT cider should turn to vinegar and milk become sour ex- cites little wonder among common people or even individuals of considerable education. The mere statement of fact in such or- dinary phenomena seems to satisfy the masses, but fortunately for scientific and sanitary interests, there is a class of individuals persistently questioning such phenomena till reasonable explana- tions are secured. Consequently the souring of cider and milk was found to be caused by the presence of organisms which pro- duced acetic and lactic acids, respectively, whenever the proper medium was exposed in an atmosphere of moderate temperature. Not only have these common but interesting phenomena, ‘souring”’ of cider and milk, been explained by the presence of bacteria, but many other phenomena, less common and more concealed, have been directly traced to the action of some form of bacteria associated with the matter in which the phenomena occurred. Of course, no intelligent student holds bacteria responsible for every chemical change in organic matter, but it is well under- stood and universally admitted that the greater number of chem- ical changes in living and decaying organic material are induced by some bacterial form. Recognizing the importance of recording every phenomenon relating to the presence and action of bacteria, it seemed proper to recite to readers of Seience some of the details in a very pecu- liar case recently noted. An acquaintance whose intelligence and acuteness of observa- tion make his testimony thoroughly reliable, stated that one of his Plymouth Rock hens was laying eggs, every one of which had an unpleasant odor, although broken a few hours after it was laid. He also said that the hen was laying regularly and ap- peared healthy in every respect save that she had the gaps. A few days succeeding this statement he reported the fowl butch- ered and closely examined. In her craw was found a bali of threads pulled from manilla matting which she had access to. The ball entirely filled the craw and was very hard and compact, except in the central region, through which ran a cylindrical opening, affording a passage-way for the food. This ball of manilla threads and the craw gave the same offensive odor as did the eggs when broken. The heart, liver and digestive apparatus —excepting the craw—were normal in size and appearance. A perfect egg was taken from the hen and personally exam- ined. It looked and smelled like a perfectly fresh egg, but when broken it gave forth the same disgusting odor that had character- ized her craw and previously laid eggs. This odor was exactly like that observed in decaying meat, and, had the broken egg been concealed, any person entering the laboratory would have suspected that decaying meat was exposed in that room. The egg contents gave a strong alkaline reaction when tested with litmus paper. The general appearance of yolk and white was normal, but a portion of albumen mounted and carefully ob- served under the microscope, magnification 250 diameters, re- vealed the presence of a great number of bodies varying in shape from almost round to distinctly oblong. These forms closely re- sembled bacteria, but lack of time for tests and cultures made the determination of them impossible. From these few observations and experiments it would be un- scientific to definitely conclude that these eggs were decaying from the action of bacteria, but in view of the fact that the odor so closely simulated that of decaying flesh and that the egg con- AvucustT 4, 1893. | tents were strongly alkaline, which would favor the development of bacteria, is it not exceedingly probable that this fowl had clogged her craw and set a great culture of bacteria developing there, till at length bacteria had gained admission to the oviduct through the blocd and thus developed infected eggs? This rather brief description in no wise pretends to explain this phenomenon. It has been given witha dual hope: First, that some bacteriologist whose experience has familiarized him with similar cases may give the desired explanation of how these bacteria, if they were bacteria, gained admission to these fresh eggs; second, that the attention of physicians and officers of boards of health may be attracted to this subject. There is evidently as much necessity for caution in feeding hens as in feeding milk cows or in fattening beeves and swine. Chickens should not be fed all Sorts of refuse matter and then be expected to return therefor good healthy eggs and meat. Yet we all know the universal practice insmall cities and villages, where many of the market fowls and eggs are obtained, is to give over - the office of scavenger to the feathered inbabitants. If the sub- ject were properly regarded by physicians and the people were rightly educated, we might look for better things; till then the occurrence of such peculiar phenomena as the one related and even more unique, should not surprise scientific students. A MALAY FIRE-SYRINGE. BY F. W. RUDLER, MUSEUM OF GEOLOGY, LONDON, ENGLAND. By the kindness of my friend Mr. Henry Louis, the well- known mining engineer, who has recently returned to England from Singapore, I have received a fire-syringe which he obtained towards the end of 1890 from a part of the Malay Peninsula never previously visited by a white man. So far as I can ascer- tain, the use of the fire-syringe has not been hitherto recorded from this locality. Mr. Walter Hough, in his admirable descrip- tion of the fire-producing appliances in the United States Na- tional Museum, published in the Smithsonian Reports for 1888 and 1890, refers to the syringes of Borneo and Burma, but makes no reference to those of the Malay Peninsula. No syringe from this locality is to be found in the very extensive ethno- graphical collections in the British Museum. Moreover, Mr. A. R. Wallace does not know of its use by the Malays, nor is it known to Professor Terrien de Lacouperie, who has lately written on the production of fire by the Chinese in his Babylonian and Oriental Record. Mr. Louis obtained the specimen in question from a Malay who stopped with a party of otheis at bis camp on a small stream known as Ayer Katiah, one of the tributaries of the River Telu- ban, on the southeast coast of the Malay Peninsula, and about 100 miles from the mouth of the river. The district is sparsely inhabited by Malays, and the party from whom the syringe was obtained had come from some of the neighboring Kampongs. They squatted down and began smoking, one of the men lighting his cigarette in the most matter-of-fact way by means of his fire- syringe. There is no reason to suppose that be was singular or had imported his apparatus from a distance. If the rest of the party elicited sparks by means of quartz and iron it was, they ad- mitted, simply because they preferred this method as being less troublesome and more trustworthy than that of compressing air. The Malay syringe consists of a tube of hard wood 24 inches long, closed at one end, towards which the tube slightly tapers. It is surrounded with neatly plaited strips of thin rattan which, while they ornament the object, serve also to strengthen it and prevent the wood from splitting longitudinally in the direction of the fibre. The piston is made of similar wood and is packed with string. The tinder was carried in the hollowed-out skin of a large bean, like the seed of Entada. In order to use the instrument a small piece of dry tinder is placed in the slightly hollow end of the piston and pressed down to keep it well in place; the piston is then inserted in the cylin- der, smitten sharply with the palm of the hand and very rapidly withdrawn, when the tinder becomes sufficiently heated to slightly smoulder, and by then gently blowing it a bright glow may be obtained. According to Mr. Louis, the native never SCIENCE. ae seemed to fail in his use of the syringe, but the knack is not easy to acquire, and those who have employed a similar apparatus for demonstration at physical lectures know that it is far from easy, even with a well-made instrument, to ensure success. Contrary to what might bave been expected, it was rather a young man who preferred this strange mode of producing fire to the more convenient flint-and-steel method. There can be no doubt that the use of the fire-syringe, never widely spread, is rapidly dying out, and hence every fact bearing on the geographical dis- tribution of so curious a custom deserves to be put on record. LORIGINE DES ARYENS. PAR LE PROF. G. DE LAPOUGE, UNIVERSITE DE MONTPELLIER, FRANCE. LES revues scientifiques et Science en particulier ont publié cette année une quantité d’articles qui avaient la prétention d’éclaircir la question aryenne, mais qui me paraissent avoir surtout produit le résultat inverse. Il me semble que l’obscurité vient surtout de ce qu’on nes’entend pas sur la valeur de mots qui, détournés de leur signification primitive, sont maintenant bien prés de n’en avoir aucune, tant elle devient vague. Partisan trés actif de Vorigine européenne et occidentale de la race blonde et de son identification avec les premiers auteurs de la culture aryenne, j’ai contribué sans le vouloir a créer cette €quivoque. Je voudrais arriver a la dissiper. Le titre d’Aryens est historiquement applicable aux Indo- Traniens seuls. Ceux-ci étaient loin de former la partie la plus pure, au double point de vue morphologique et sociologique, de la race que nous appelonsaryenne. C’est pourquoi je crois préféra- ble de laisser le terme d’Aryen a histoire et a l’ethnographie, et de lui conserver son sens strict, plutét que de continuer 4 l’étendre comme on I’a fait, d’abord en philologie d’un sous-groupe 4 un groupe entier de populations parlant des langues apparentées et pratiquant des coutumes analogues, et ensuite en anthropologie a la race qui parait avoir joué chez ces peuples le rdle de ferment. En regardant comme démontré ce qui est encore discuté, 4 savoir que les langues et les idées aryennes sont nées dans une tribu ou dominait la race blonde et sous Vinfluence de son génie propre, faire remonter d’une partie des peuples conquis au premier noyau des conquérants un nom ethnique plus récent d’un nombre con- sidérable de siécles, c’est & peu prés comme si I’on voulait dans dix mille ans appeler les Francais d’aujourdhui Dahoméens, par- ceque l’Afrique serait en grande partie devenue, c’est une pure hypothése, francaise de moeurs et d’ institutions. Il conviendrait de s’entendre pour adopter désormais dans le langage précis la terminologie suivante: Aryens, les Indo-Iraniens primitifs; langues aryennes, institutions aryennes, les langues et les institutions de ces peuples et de leurs descendants immédiats ; Indo-Européens, les peuples, d’origine quelconque, qui ont fait usage de ces langues, et de ces institutions, mais 4 partir seule- ment du moment ou cet usage a commencé chez eux. La ter- minologie ainsi rétablie, on arrive 4 s’apercevoir que le probléme aryen n’existe pas et qu’il y avait simplement logomachie. Onse trouve en face des questions suivantes, aux quelles il est plus facile de répondre dés que l'esprit n’est plus tiraillé par les acceptions multiples et discordantes des termes. Quel a été le berceau des langues et des institutions indo-euro- péennes? Question d’histoire et de pbilologie, 4 laquelle on est actuellement porté a répondre: l'Europe. Ces langues et ces institutions paraissent elles avoir été parti- culiérement propres a certains peuples caractérisés par la predom- inance d'une race, et laquelle? Autre question d’histoire et de philologie A laquelle on est oblige de répondre: oui, la race dolichocéphale blonde. En effet il n’y a pas de peuple ou cette race domine qui fasse usage de langues ou d’institutions non- aryennes, tandis que les peuples ou cette race ne domine pas font en partie usage de langues ou d’institutions d’un autre groupe, en ont fait usage A une époque historique rapprochée (partie de la Russie et de )’Allemagne), ou paraissent en avoir fait usage dans Vantiquitée (Gaule, Espagne). L’évolution qui a produit ces langues et ces institutions a t’elle eu pour point de départ un peuple ou la race blonde avait la 66 SCIENCE supériorité soit numérique, soit sociale? et parait elle le fruit du génie de la race? Question délicate, car il faut juger d’aprés des probabilités soulement, mais 4 laquelle il est permis de répon- dre oui. Quel a été le berceau de la race dolichocéphale blonde? Ques- tion d’archéologie préhistorique et de physiologie. Reponse: c’est la région oft le type ostéologique le plus voisin du type dolicho- céphale blond s’est trouvé soumis aux conditions météorologiques nécessaires pour le réduire A un état voisin de l’albinisme. OU doit etre localisé ce berceau? le type dolichocéphale blond se rattachant par le squelette aux raceS quaternaires et néolith- iques de l’Europe occidentale son berceau ne peut étre cherché qu’en Europe, les conditions nécessaires d’inactinisme et d’humi- dité permanente qui ont déterminé sa décoloration ne se sont trouvées réalisées que dans la région voisine de la Mer du Nord, a la fin du quaternaire, et mieux encore dans la partie de cette mer alors exondée, On arrive ainsi aux propositions suivantes :— Le type polichocéphale blond, H. ewropeeus, Linné, abusive- ment appelé aryen, s’est développé dans le N. O. de !’Europe, telle quelle était ala fin des temps quaternaires, par l’action des milieux sur les races dolichocéphales indigénes, ou sur une seule de ces races. Il! s’est fixé par un long séjour dans ces régions, II en est sorti par des émigrations successives a mesure que le sol s’engloutissait sous ses pieds. Les langues et les institutions indo-européennes se sont formées quelque part en Europe sous l’action du génie de la race blonde. Cette formation est de date relativement récente, et si les blonds ont apporté de leur primitive patrie une langue proto-aryenne, elle etait A un stade d’évolution qui ne permettrait probablement pas d’en reconnaitre la nature. On sait la rapidité avec laquelle varient les langues non écrites. L’état des langues indo-euro- péennes prouve d’autre part leur origine récente. Les langues et les institutions indo-européennes ont été ensuite implantées dans les deux tiers de "Europe et dans une petite partie de l’Asie, par les conquétes des peuples qui en faisaient usage. Un peuple passé probablement d’Europe en Bactriane par la mer Caspienne, ou Asiatique mais conquis par des Européens a porté les Jangues et les institutions indo-européennes dans l’Inde. A ce rameau seul appartient le nom d’Aryen. - Tovt s’éclaircit donc dés qu’on n’embrasse plus ensemble la question d’origine des langues aryennes et celle de la race blonde, dés qu’on ne confond plus les peuples indo-européens avec les blonds, conquérants d’abord, puis absorbés et devenus classe diri- geante chez des peuples de race différente. THE SCIENTIFIC ALLIANCE OF NEW YORK. BY JOSEPH F. JAMES, M. SC., WASHINGTON, D.C. THE “Scientific Alliance of New York” is composed of the following societies: New York Academy of Science, Torrey Bo- tanical Club, New York Microscopical Society, Linnzean Society of New York, New York Mineralogical Club, New York Mathe- matical Society, New York Section of American Chemical So- ciety. Two meetings have been held, of which the proceedings have been published, and as the scheme seems to mark an era in sci- entific matters, especially in New York City, and as it is one that is likely to result in permanent benefits to science, a notice of it does not seem out of place. The council of the Alliance is composed of the president and two members of each of the component societies. Its president is Charles F, Cox, and its secretary and treasurer N. L. Britton. The first meeting was held on November 15, 1892, and at it ad- dresses were made by various prominent men. Hon. Seth Low, President of Columbia College, spoke upon the advantages to the city of New York of the Alliance, and he was followed by Mr. C. F. Cox with an address on the advantages of the alliance to the scientific societies. Mr. Cox pointed out the necessity of co- Operation by the various organizations if the best results are to follow. He referred to the fact that the real materialists of the world are the so-called practical men, who measure scientific - knowledge by commercial standards and in whose eyes science [VoLt. XXII. No. 548 “is worth only what it will bring when offered in the form of dynamos, telephones, electric lights, dye stuffs, mining machin- ery and othe: merchantable wares.” The object of the Alliance he held to be to furnish a sort of common ground (may we call it a clearing house?) where knowledge of what is being done in one society is conveyed to all the rest, and in this way all are kept posted in regard to what is going on and duplication of work is thereby avoided. The third address was by Hon. Addison Brown on the need of endowment for research and publication. He referred to the ex- ample set by Professor Tyndall, who established three scholar- ships with $30,000 received by him from a series of lectures de- livered in this country. He has been followed by others with equally munificent gifts. He pointed out the necessity to the practical man of work in the region of pure science, but as the workmen in this region are generally those who have neither the time nor the means for original research, the necessity for an en- dowment to enable them to continue their work is evident. Ref- erence was made to the difference between the German universi- ties, where the professors are expected to do original work, leav- ing the teaching for instructors, and the American so-called universities and colleges where the professors, seldom have the time to devote to anything outside of mere routine work. He mentioned the humiliating fact that at the Zodlogical Station at Naples, where Germany and Italy each maintain eight tables, Russia, Spain, Austria, and England three each, and Switzerland, Belgium and Holland one each at a cost of $500 per annum, the United States had none, and has been dependent heretofore upon the generosity of foreign nations for the occasional use of a table. This loss is not compensated for by the fact that there are several small laboratories along the Atlantic coast of this country. The endowment of research through fellowships in colleges was also considered, and lastly a detailed reference to scientific societies in this country and England. The comparison is not flattering to our pride. In England the property, funds and equipment of the societies is nearly ten-fold greater than in America. The publi- cations are double. No laboratories and no professors are main- tained here for original research. ‘‘ The English societies,’ he said, ‘‘ distribute yearly from $25,000 to $35,000 for from sixty to seventy-five different scientific purposes, while ours make no such appropriations -imply because there are no funds.” Dr. H. Carrmgton Bolton, in his plea for a library of science in New York, gave many interesting facts relative to libraries of New York and its sister cities, arguing in favor of bringing to- gether under one roof all the libraries of the societies in the Alli- ance. These libraries aggregate 13,700 volumes and would form an excellent nucleus for a scientific library. Reports received from sixty libraries of New York and its vicinity show that there are 1,916,000 volumes in them, the scientific books varying from 5 to 100 per cent. Fifteen of the libraries have over 40.000 volumes each. To house the libraries Professor Bolton outlined aplan. He advised having a building 100 x 120 feet square, four stories high in front, with a lecture room, in the rear, large enough to seat 1,000 persons. The library room should have shelves to accom- modate 300,000 volumes. There should be an office for general business, several small rooms for ordinary meetings of the sepa- rate societies, photographic and microscopic laboratories and a general reception room. The plan is extensive, but let us hope that some wealthy New Yorker may make it feasible. The second joint meeting of the Alliance was held on March 27, 1893, in memory of Dr. J. S. Newberry. The important business transacted after the reading of a memoir by Professor H. L. Fair- child, was a report of a committee recommending the establish- ment of an endowment fund of $25,000 for the purpose of en- couraging original research. The fund is to be known as the John Strong Newberry Fund, and is to be administered under the direction of the Council of the Scientific Alliance. Blank forms for subscriptions of any amount will be cheerfully furnished by Dr. N. L. Britton, Columbia College, New York. The money will be used for furthering researches in geology, paleontology, botany and zodlogy, in all of which subjects Dr. Newberry was interested. About $600 in sums varying from $5 to $100, had _ been subscribed about a month ago, Aucust 4, 18093. | A NOTE ON THE APPLICATION OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD TO LITERATURE. BY C. MICHENER, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. PEOPLE have lately begun to study literary products induc- tively; but that study has been almost entirely systematic. Words, sentences, paragraphs, figures of speech, etc., are counted and classified, and from the results obtained some slight conclu- sions are drawn as to the development of style. This is un- doubtedly good work. But it is easy work and perhaps it is on that account that we so readily see that it is good. In the present paper I wish to propose something more diffi- cult. I wish to indicate the use of a science as a tool in the study of literary products scientifically. The history of any science is a story of development by stages, each successive stage of advance caused by the application of another department of science to the investigation of the one in question, for example, mathematics to electricity. Literature is a product of the mind, and its use and purpose are by and for the mind. Is it not then intimately connected with psychology, and should not an investigation and comparison of the facts of each be of benefit in determining the laws of each? Let us take, for example, that exceedingly important part of most literary products, Plot. Asan outline for the study of plot {not to be confounded, of course, with plot content), I would pro- pose the following : — (A.) The psycholgical bases of plot. Here the main part of the work is to be done. The exceedingly delicate mental phenomena included loosely under such terms as attention and interest are to be investigated by experiments as wide in range as possible ; and from all this should result facts enough for the construction of the ideal plot and the determination cf its structure. This we might call The typical plot, that is, plot stripped of all accidental factors and limitations. The next step would be to consider the various adaptive modifications which this typical plot would undergo when subjected to the restraints and environment of the various great classes of literary products; and our investigations under the first head, and I think I may say such investigation only, will enable us to understand the differentiation. We should thus be led to consider the plot of the lyric, the epic, the drama, the novel, etc. B. The temporal development of plot. Here we should com- mence from the other end as it were, and from the existing liter- ary products trace the growth of plot from its beginning to the present ; and from these records obtain the history of the devel- opment of those mental functions which plot presupposes. This second division is the natural and necessary complement and check of the first and should be as useful to psychology in this department and, in an analogous way, as paleontology is to zodl- ogy or botany. That the method here outlined is merely tentative I confess. It would, of course, be severely limited and the conclusions im- paired by any limitation in the range of experiments under the first head; and in the present state of scientific psychology to be at all possible, the method would have to be materially modified to produce any result at all. {f have, however, in this present note, only attempted to be suggestive, not conclusive. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. A Case of Protective Mimicry. THIS morning, as I was passing a small apricot tree standing in my yard, my attention was arrested by what appeared to bea short stub of a branch, about 14 inches long, projecting from the side of the tree about 20 inches from the ground. Having re- cently pruned the tree carefully, I wondered how I had happened to leave that stub, and at once applied my pocket-knife to remove it. Much to my surprise, I found that the supposed stub of a branch was a moth attached by its head to the side of the tree. The accompanying sketch represents its appearance. The grayish-brown mottled color of the closed wings of the moth matched the color of the bark completely, and the angle . SCIENCE. 67 made by the axis of its body with the tree was such as a branch would naturally make. It was attached with its ventral surface uppermost, and the extremity of the abdomen, which projected beyond the closed wings, was nearly white, as seen from above, thus imitating very perfectly the central woody portion of the broken branch. Having turned the moth over in my attempt to remove the supposed branch, it assumed the natural position of such insects on the side of the tree, but upon returning a half-hour later I found it again in the position shown in the figure. Several other persons who saw it were as completely deceived by its ap- pearance as I had been, and it is easy to believe that the keen eyes of a hungry insect-eating bird might see there only the stub, and thus be cheated out of a breakfast. Gro. H. Coton. Hiram, O., June 11. . A Maya Month Name. AS every additional find in reference to the Maya manuscripts is of interest to some of the readers of Science, I submit the fol- lowing item. In the bottom line, Pl. 46, Dresden Codex, is the glyph shown in Fig. 1, which, as all students of these Codices admit, is the symbol for the Maya month Kayab. Here it is without the ap- pendage which sometimes accompanies it. In Fig. 2, from the bottom line of the Dresden Codex, Plate 61, the form is more complete, and the appendage is present. The signification given by Perez to the name of this month is “singing,” from the Maya word Kay, ‘‘to sing, to warble,” but a study of the symbol leads to quite a different interpretation. According to the interpretation heretofore given by me (American Anthropologist, July, 1893, p. 246) the character in the upper right-hand corner of the glyph has 0 as its chief phonetic element, which is also one of the consonant sounds of the word Kayab, and the appendage is the month determinative. But I was unable at the time the article referred to was written to indicate the por- tion of the symbol denoting the k’ element. A more thorough examination, as given in Fig. 2, has called my attention to the fact that in the left portion and general form we have precisely the symbol for Aac (Ac, Ak), the ‘‘turtle,” as given in the upper division of Plate 17, Cortesian Codex. Following this interpreta- tion, the true name of the month is Acyab or Akyab, which, for the sake of euphony, has been changed to Kayab. The derivation, according to this interpretation, will be from Ac or Ak, ‘‘ turtle,” and Yab or Yaab, ‘‘ many, abundant, plentiful.” Adding the month determinative, we obtain as the full signification, ‘‘The month when turtles abound.” Whether or not turtles are most abundant on the coast of Yucatan during the month of June I am unable to say. The only evidence I have at hand relating to the subject is found in Mrs. LePlongeon’s charming little work, ‘‘ Here and There in Yucatan.” In this she describes a trip along the coast in June, at which time turtle catching was in progress and at- tended with great success, the fishermen’s pens being full. Dr. Schellhas (Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, 1892) notices the resemblance of this character to the turtle symbol. 68 This apparently furnishes, at least, a straw pointing in the direction I have been moving in my study of the Maya hiero- glyphs. Cyrus THOMAS. Washington, D.C., July 16. Historical Statements in Century Dictionary Contradicted by Other Authorities. Napier’s rods (or bones), a contrivance commonly attributed to John Napier (1550-1617), but in fact described in the Arithmetic of Oronce Finée (1532). Century Dictionary under rod. Die erste Beschreibung gab Nefer in semer Rabdologia (Edin- burg, 1617).—Vorlesungen wtéber Geschichte der Mathematik, von Moritz Cantor, zweiter Band, Seite 660. The earliest known writers on the subject (magic squares) were Arabians, among whom these squares were used as amulets.— Century Dictionary, under magic. The earliest known writer on the subject was Emanuel Mosco- pulus, a Greek, who lived in the fourth or fifth century, and whose manuscript is preserved in the National Library at Paris. —Encyclopedia Britannica, under magic squares. These seem to me to be contradictions. I should be glad to see the truth in regard to these historical facts plainly set forth by a reader of Science. Gero. A. MILLER. Eureka College, Eureka, Ill., July 24. The Cambojan Khmers. Ow1nG to some irregularity in the postal delivery I have only just received Science for June 9, else I should have sooner asked leave to put inaclaim of priority in connection with Dr. Mau- rel’s new views regarding the ‘‘ Aryan” origin of the Khmers, re- ferred to by Dr. Brinton in that issue. Personally I avoid the expression ‘‘ Aryan or Indo-European stock” as confusing and applicable far more to linguistic than to ethnical groups. But if “Caucasian,” used in Blumenbach’s sense, be substituted for SCIENCE : [Vor. XXII. No. 548 ‘¢ Aryan” Dr. Brinton will find, by consulting the Transactions of the British Association for 1879, that fourteen years ago I con- clusively showed that the Khmers should be grouped not with the surrounding Mongolic, but with the Caucasic division of mankind. In the ‘‘ Monograph on the Relations of the Indo-Cbhi- nese and Inter-Oceanic Races and Languages,” read before the association, and again before the Anthropological Institute and printed in the journal of that society for February, 1880, and is- sued separately by Triibner at same date, I argued generally that “both of the great Asiatic types conventionally known as Cau- casian and Mongolian, have from prehistoric times occupied the Indo-Chinese peninsula,” and particularly that here the Caucasic stock is represented by the widespread Khmer group, that is to say, the Cambojans proper, the Kuys or Khmerdom (‘‘ original Khmers”), as the Cambojans call them, the Stiengs, Charays, Chams and many others, some still in the tribal state, some long civilized or semi-civilized. It is the civilized that mainly engage Dr. Maurel’s attention, and that he rightly regards as Aryans (read Caucasians), but wrongly supposes to have migrated in comparatively recent times from India to Indo-China, “ bringing with them the Aryan culture of that country as proved by the stately ruins of Ang-Kok (read Ongkor-Vaht).” There was no such migration ‘‘ probably about the third or fourth century of the Christian era,” for the Khmers are not recent arrivals, but the true aborigines, as shown by the presence of the Khmer- dom and the kindred wild tribes, and also by their untoned poly- syllabic speech, radically distinct both from the Indo-Chinese toned monosyllabic group and from the Indic (Sanscritic) branch of the Aryan, but closely allied to the untoned polysyllabic Ma- layo-Polynesian linguistic family. This point, which I think I have established to the satisfaction of most ethnologists and philologists (Professor Sayce amongst others), is of far-reaching consequence. It affords the solution of the extremely difticult problem connected with the presence of Logan’s ‘‘ Indonesians,” my Caucasians, side by side or intermin- Reading Matter Notices. Ripans Tabules : for torpid liver. Ripans Tabules banish pain. Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Mineral Water = PISO:S: CURE=FOR eel CURES WHERE ALL ELSE FAILS. feat eal Best Cough Syrup. Tastes Good. Use Mey} Sin time. Sold by druggists. = GNSUMP ETO FOSSIL RESINS. This book is the result of an attempt to collect the scattered notices of fossil resins, exclusive of those on amber. The work is of For Liver, Kidney and B! dder Troubles. For Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright’s Disease, Diabetes. For Hemorrhoids, Ete It has been used medicinally and prescribed by physicians for nearly one hundred years, DIRECTIONS:—Take one or two glasses about a half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50. 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Boe NUMBERS and complete sets of leading Mag RESTORE YOUR EYESIGHT Cataracts, scars or films can be absorbed and paralyzed nerves restored, without the knife or risk. Diseased eyes or lids can be cured by our home treatment. ‘We proveit.” Hune dreds convinced. Our illustrated pamphlet, ‘Home Treatment for Eyes,” free. Don’t miss it. Everybody wants it. “THE E ““World-English deserves the careful consideration of all serious scholars,”— Modern Language Notes. Sent, postpaid, on receipt of price. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. YB,” Glens Falls, N.Y. - AUGUST 4, 1893. | gled with the true Mongoloid Malays throughout the Oceanic do- main (Indian and Pacific Oceans). But my object here is merely to establish my priority claim for the American readers of Science, who are referred to the above quoted monograph for the detailed treatment of these interesting questions. A. H, KEANE, 79 Broadhurst Gardens, South Hampstead, N. W., July 21. Sound and Color. WITHOUT in the least doubting the accuracy of Dr. Wallian’s curious observations respecting the appearance of color about the heads of public speakers, I would just suggest the possibility of another explanation. I have myself frequently observed, when listening to various preachers, a patch of rich blue color near to the head of the speaker. I have always attributed this, however, to the well- known effect upon the retina of fatigue from the continued im- pression of one color giving rise toa phantasm of the complemen- tary color. The face of a speaker is some tint of flesh color. The eye of the listener is fixed upon the face, and in a short time the complementary phantasm makes its appearance, always some tint of blue or purple, according to the complexion of the speaker. This will not, of course, explain all the phenomena mentioned by Professor Underwood and Dr. Wallian, but it is a factor which should not be forgotten in discussing the subject. F. T. Mort. Leicester, England. BOOK-REVIEWS. A Biographical Index of British and Irish Botanists. By JAMES BRITTEN and G SS. BouLGEeR. London, West, Newman & Co., 1893. 208 p. Messrs. Britten and Boulger have republished in book form their ‘‘Tndex of British and Irish Botanists.” The matter originally appeared in the Journal of Botany from 1888 until 1891, but in 203 pages of the reprint a large amount of additional material is SCIENCE. 69 given. This is shown by the fact that 1,825 names are given in the volume, against 1,619 given in the Journal of Botany. Ina succinct form and by means of a series of readily understood ab- breviations there are given the dates of birth and of death, place of birth and death, place of burial, indication of social position or occupation, university degrees or titles or offices held, and dates of election to the Linnzean and Royal societies. Mention is also made of the whereabouts of any correspondence or MSS, and the existence of any herbarium or plants collected. Various bi- ographical dictionaries, where further information may be ob- tained, are also referred to. Any portrait, original or engraved, and any genus, or, failing this, any species, dedicated to thé per- son, is mentioned. From this it will be seen that a large amount of information is gathered within a small compass, and the vol- ume will be of great assistance in looking up facts relative to any one of the 1,825 names included within its pages. z JOSEPH F, JAMES, Washington, D. C., July 22. AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. Hann & Apair, Columbus, O., announce ‘‘A History of the German Language from the Earliest Times to the Present Day,” by Chas. W. Super, president of the Ohio University at Athens. The purpose of the-author has been to write a book that may be read with interest and profit by persons whose knowledge of Ger- man does not extend beyond the rudiments. It has been his aim to make duly prominent the common origin of the English and German languages and to use many facts of the former to eluci- date those of the latter, so far as it can be done within the space at command. The book also discusses incidentally some pheno- mena common to all civilized tongues. By the same author is ‘*Weil’s Order of Words in the Ancient Languages Compared with that of the Modern Languages,” published by Ginn & Co., Boston, Mass. Exchanges. [Freeofcharge to all, if ofsatisfactory character, Address N. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New York.] Wants. NN feet Dieenonpi dae, Myrmeleoninae, and lit- erature on the same. Chas. C. Adams, Bloom- ington, Ill. Delicious e Drink. Horsford’s Acid Phosphate with water and sugar only, makes a delicious, healthful and invigorating drink. Allays the thirst, aids diges- tion, and relieves the lassitude sO common in midsummer. Dr, M. H. Henry, New York, says: “When completely tired out by pro- longed wakefulness and overwork, it is of the greatest value to me. Asa bey- erage it possesses charms beyond any- thing I know of in the form of medi- cine.” Descriptive pamphlet free. Rumford Chemical Works, Providence, R. I. Beware of Substitutes and Imitations, Wanted to exchange.—Medical books, Obstetri® cal Transactions, London, Works of Sir J. Y- Simpson, Beck’s Medical Jurisprudenee. Hand book for the Physiological Laboratory, by Burnton, Foster, Klein and Sanderson, Quain’s Anatomy, and about fifty others. Catalogues given. Want Geological, Botanical and Microscopical books in exchange. Dr. A. M. Edwards, 11 Washington St., Newark, N. J. A complete set of Bulletins of U. S. Geological Survey, various reports and bulletins of surveys of Missouri, Arkansas, Minnesota, Alabama, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio and Texas; iron ores of Minnesota ; Wailes’ Agriculture and Geology of Mississippi (rare). To exchange for peri- odicals and books on Entomology or for Lepidoptera. Rey. John Davis, the Deanery, Little Rock, Ark. For sale or exchange.—A complete set of the re- port of the last Geological Survey of Wisconsin, t. C. Chamberlin, geologist. [t consists of four large volumes, finely illustrated, and upwards of forty large maps and charts. Will sell for cash or exchange for a microscope. Address Geo. Beck, Platteville, Wis. For sale or exchange for copper coins or rare postage stamps. Tryon’s American Marine Conch- ology, containing hand colored figures of all the sheils of the Atlantic coast of the United States. Presentation copy, autograph, ete. One yol., half morocco, 8vo, usual price, $25, postpaid, $15. Botany of the Fortieth Parallel of the Hundredth Meridian of the Pacific R. R. Survey. Other Botanical works and works on Ethnology. F. A. Hassler, M.D., Santa Ana, Cal. I have a fire-proof safe, weight 1,150 pounds, which I will sell cheap or exchange for a gasoline engine or some other things that may happen to suit. The safe is nearly new, used a short time only. Make offers. A. Lagerstrom, Cannon Falls, Minn., Box 857. For exchange.—Hudson River fossils in good con- dition from the vicinity of Moore’s Hill, Ind., also land and fresh water shells. Desire fossils and shells from other groups and localities, Address Geo. C. Hubbard, Moore’s Hill, Ind. {f wish to exchange a collection of 7,000 shells, 1001 species and varieties, American and foreign, land, fluviatile and marine, for a good microscope and accessories. Address, with particulars, Dr. Lorenzo G. Yates, Santa Barbara, California. \W ANTED.—Assistant in Nautical Almanac office, Navy Department. The Civil Service Commis- sion will hold an examination on August 15 to fill a vacancy in the position of assistant (computer) in the Nautical Almanac office. The subjects will be letter-writing, penmanship, trigonometry, rudi- ments of analytical geometry and Galculus, logarithms, theory and practice of computations, and astronomy. Each applicant must provide him- self with a five-place logarithmic table. The ex- amination will be held in Washington, and if appli- cations are filed in season, arrangements may be made for examinations in the large cities. Blanks will be furnished upon application to the Commis- sion at Washington. RAFTSMEN WANTED.—The Civil Service Com- mission will hold examinations on August 15 to fill two vacancies in the War Department; one in the position of architectural draftsman, salary $1,400, the other in the position of assistant drafts- man, Quartermaster General’s office, salary $1,200. The subjects of the architectural draftsman exami- nation are letter-writing, designing specifications and mensuration, and knowledge of materials; of the assistant draftsman examination they are letter-writing, tracing, topographic drawing and projections. The examination will be held in Washington, and if applications are filed in season, arrangements may be made for examinations in the large cities. Blanks will be furnished upon appli- cation to the Commission at Washington. Ne OUNS man who has been through the course in mathematics in Princeton University, wishes some tutoring this summer. Rates reason- able. Address P. H. Westcott, Cramer’s Hill, Cam- den Co., N. J. Nerds of an American Polytechnic insti- tution and of a German university (Géttingen), seeks a position to teach chemistry in a college or similar institution. Five years’ experience in teaching chemistry, Address Chemist, 757 Cary St., Brockton, Mass. AN experienced teacher in general biology wishes a position in a first-class college or university. Three years in post-graduate study. Extensive experience. Sige indorsements. Address E. W. Doran, Ph.D., 13827 @ St., N. W., Washington, D. C. 7O SCIENGE: [Vor. XXII. No. 548° THE Anerean ell Telephon COMPANY. {25 MILK ST., BOSTON, MASS. This Company owns the Letters - Patent No. 186,787, granted to Alexander Graham Bell, January 30th, 1877, the scope of which has been defined by the Supreme Court of the United States in the following terms: ‘ All books reviewed in SCIENCE can be ordered from us. SEND FoR A SAMPLE Copy oF Book Cuat. A Month- ly Index of the Periodical Literature of the World. $1.00 per year. BRENTANO’S, Union Square, New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris. LIGHT, HEAT AND POWER. THE INDEPENDENT GAS JOURNAL OF AMERICA. PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT PHILADELPHIA. Subscription, $3.00 per year. RESTORE YOUR EYESIGHT Cataracts, scars or films can be absorbed and paralyzed nerves restored, without the knife or risk. Diseased eyes or lids can be cured by our home treatment. ‘We proveit.” Hune dreds convinced. Our illustrated pamphlet, ‘Home Treatment for Eyes,” free. Don’t miss it. « Ageney, Box 2329, Sam Francisco, Cal. Everybody wants it. “Tse Eyx,” Glens Falls, N.Y, ® The Boston Surgical BOSTON, A FIRST-CLASS WEEKLY MEDICAL Terms of Subscription: In the United States, and to Canada and Mexico, $5.00 a year in ad} vance. To Foreign Countries embraced in the Universal Postal Union, $1.56 a year additional. Single} Medical and — Journal. MASSACHUSETTS. NEWSPAPER. ESTABLISHED 1828, numbers, 15c. ‘len consecutive numbers free by mail on receipt of $1.00. This JourNAL circulates chiefly through the New England States, and is seen by the great majority of the profession in that important district, As ameans of reaching physicians it is unequalled. It is under the editorial management of Dr. George B. Shattuck, assisted by a large staff of compe- tent eoadjutors. Subscriptions and advertisements by mail should be sent by money-order, draft or reg. DAMRELL & UPHAM, received by the undersigned, to whom remittances istered letter. 283 Washington Street, Boston, Mass, RACES AND PEOPLES. By DANIEL G, BRINTON, M.D. “The book is good, thoroughly good, and will long remain the best accessible elementary ethnography in our language.”’—The Christian Union. “We strongly recommend Dr. Brinton’s ‘ Races and Peoples’ to both beginners and scholars. We are not aware of any other recent work on the science of which it treats in the English language.” —Asiatic Quarterly. “His book is an excellent one, and we can heartily recommend it as an introductory manual of ethnol- ogy.” —The Monist. “A useful and really interesting work, which de- serves to be widely read and studied both in Europe and America.”—Brighton (Eng.) Herald. “This volume is most stimulating. It is written with great clearness, so that anybody can under- stand, and while in some ways. perforce, superficial, grasps very well the complete field of humanity.”— The New York Times. “Dr. Brinton invests his scientific illustrations and measurements with an indescribable charm of nar- ration, so that ‘Races and Peoples,’ avowedly a rec- ord of discovered facts, is in reality a strong stim- ulant to the imagination.”—Philadelphia Public Ledger. “The work is indispensable to the student who re- quires an intelligent guide to a course of ethno- graphic reading.”—Philadelphia Times. Price, postpaid, $1.75. THE AMERICAN RACK, By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. “Tho book is one of unusual interest and value.”— Inter Ocean. “Dr. Daniel G. Brinton writes asthe acknowledged authority of the subject.”—Philadelphia Press. “The work will be of genuine value to all who wish to know the substance of what has been found out about the indigenous Americans.”’—Nature. “(A masterly discussion, and an example of the successful education of the powers of observation.” —Philadelphia Ledger. Price, postpaid, $2. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 BRCADWAY, NEW YORK. Pennsyivania Bedford Springs Mineral Water For Liver, Kidney and B_ dder Troubles. For Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright’s Disease, Diabetes. For Hemorrhoids, Ete. It has been used medicinally and prescribed by physicians for nearly one hundred years. DIRECTIONS:—Take one or two glasses about a half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50. Bedferd Minera! Springs Co., Bedford, Pa. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. BUILDING BOOKS. DRAWING INSTRUMENTS. ae eee & 1893 Catalogue of B ooks on Building, Painting, and Decorating, also Catalogue of Draw- ing Instruments and Ma, terials, sent free on appli- cation to Win. LT. Comstock, 23 Warren St. New Yorks ttl NEW YORK, AUGUST 11, 1898. BOTANY AT THE FATR. BY EH. L. BOLLNY, FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA, Aside from the extensive opportunities for notes and observations upon miscellaneous herbaria and growing plants, collected from all parts of the earth, which are open to visitors of the Fair, it may not be inappropriate to note some of the special attractions for such persons as are botanically inclined. While the name Horticulture has the place of honor upon the great plant house in the west portion of the Park, the place is none the less of botanical interest. In- deed, if adverse criticism is at all deserved in this depart- ment, it would be along the line that it is more a huge botanic garden than a horticultural show. The amateur botanist, who, at his place of training, has complained that he has not been afforded sufficient oppor- tunity for observation upon varied plant life, may in this building introduce himself to almost all known varieties of cultivated flowering and ornamental plants, which are representative of all lands. it is useless to attempt cita- tions. None shown, however, are of more interest than the specimens representative of dwarfing methods, as con- ducted by the Japanese gardeners. Grasses: Hach exhibitor, fully understanding the im- portance of grasses and forage plants in an agricultural exhibit, has made careful effort to have his State or region fully represented as to its capabilities of producing these lines of plants. The great agricultural hall and the dif- ferent State and national buildings thus present, in the ageregate, a list of native and cultivated grasses, more ex- tensive as to numbers and more properly prepared for educational effect as to their qualities, form, growth, char- acteristics, etc., than it has ever previously been possible for any one toexamine. Many of the States have full dis- plays in bunch form, showing all characters, roots, leaves and seeds; while, again, ordinary herbarium specimens are to be noted almost anywhere one may go in the agricul- tural exhibits. College and Experiment Station Exhibit: Wecated in the souilnench corner of the agricultural building is the col- lective exhibit of agricultural colleges and experiment soto, Here again in the botanical alcove the varied nature of the exhibits makes it probable that few may pass through without noticing something individually in- teresting. Necessarily, the above is arranged more for show purposes than as a working laboratory, yet very much of the best work that has been done at the different stations is here represented, either by work in actual operation, apparatus, or by results graphically displayed. Vhere are numerous photographs and drawings repre- senting results gained in accurate experimental tests, as, for example, graphic results in crossing, by L. H. Bailey; results obtained in spraying for potato rot, by L. R. Jones, and many others. Photographs are shown of Euro- pean and other foreign botanists, together with nearly a full list of our experimental botanists. All the more common plant diseases are represented by pathological specimens, drawings, microphotographs and maps of distribution. This exhibit is a most varied and interesting one, containing, aside from the numerous specimens representing rusts, smuts, mildews, bacterial diseases, etc., many illustrations of results gained in pre- vention of plant diseases, such, for example, as grape rot, apple scab, potato rot and potato scab. Different methods of seed-testing are in operation, dis- playing, among others, the following pieces: Nobbe’s ap- paratus, K iel-Zurich-Geneva germinator, the North Caro- lina seedpan, and HE. 5S. Goff S$ various improved appli- ances. There are also illustrations of water and sand cultures, and various appliances and specimens too nu- merous to be listed at this time, among which may be noted B. D. Halsted’s weeds and weed seeds, an exhibit of root tubercules upon native legumes, good microscopic exhibits, and T. L. Scribner’s complete micro-photographic outfit. Plant Physiology: A case full of apparatus for the study of special questions in plant physiology, prepared by Prof. J. C. Arthur, is worthy of special notice by any one who may, pass through the laboratory. With the exception of afew standard pieces, all the different appliances had their origin and construction in the Purdue laboratories, and in finish are elegant examples of student work. Only mention may be made of a few of the more interest- ing pieces. Suffice it to say that probably no laboratory in the country has at this time an equally interesting col- lection of original or modified pieces for this sort of work. Noticeable among these are the following: Respiration appliances, a modification of Sach’s method for determina- tion of amount of carbon dioxide exhaled by plants; an apparatus for the comparison of normal and intramolecular breathing of seedlings, and one to illustrate intramolecular breathing of yeast in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide gas; auxanometers of three types of construction; chuo- stats of common type and one of intermittent action. This last piece is new and original, of elegant construction, and is especially applicable to the study of the force of habit as evidenced in plant life. There are dynamometers of various types for measuring various plant forces; trans- pivation pieces, including a potetometer for the quantita- tive determination of the amount of water given off by a given leaf surface in a given length of time; a poroscope; root-pressure applances, and many smaller pieces, which are quantitative in their results. With all these contents, this case is worthy of the close consideration of any per- son interested in plant physiology. If all the pieces are not as suited to their work as might be wished, they are at least much to be preferred to those with which most of us have worked, and indicate future possibilities of more accurate results in this field of botany. Finally, there is a chance for most interesting study in two bacteriological laboratories, each fitted with all the latest and more essential appliances. 72 BIOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIANA. Av the last meeting of the Indiana Academy of Science, at Terre Haute, a Biological Survey was established for the State of Indiana, and Prof. Lucien M. Underwood, Greencastle, Ind., Division of Botany; Prof. Carl H. Higen- mann, Bloomington, Ind., Division of Zodlogy; Prof. Ver- non KF. Marsters, Bloomington, Ind., Division of Paleon- tology, were appointed Directors to organize the survey and outline the preliminary work ordered by the Academy. It is the purpose of the survey: (1) To ascertain what has already been accomplished in the direction of making known the character and extent of the life of the State, and to this end to prepare a complete bibliography of materials bearing on the botany, zodlogy and paleon- tology of Indiana, to be published by the Academy. (2) To associate the various workers throughout the State, and so correlate their labors that all will work together towards a definite end, and ultimately accomplish the main purpose of the survey, namely,—the making known of the entire fauna and flora of Indiana, its extent, its distribu- tion, its biological relations, and its economic importance. (3) To stimulate the teachers of biology throughout the State to encourage in their pupils the accumulation of material, which shall make known the local extent and dis- tribution of life-forms, and thus contribute facts that will be useful in the survey and at the same time develop acute observers for continuing the study of the natural resources of the State. Jt is thus intended that the colleges and secondary schools will form with the survey a mutually helpful relation. (4) Ultimately to secure for the Acade- my a collection that will illustrate the biology of the State. Until such collection can be otherwise provided for, the Academy will designate certain public or private collections where accumulated material may be deposited temporarily. Material sent to the directors will be thus held for the future disposition of the Academy. it is earnestly requested that all persons interested in any department of biological work will place themselves in relations with the Directors of the survey at once in order that their work may be made to contribute the most effectively to the public good, and in order that the Directors may know on whom they may depend for gaining information from various portions of the State. All contributions from persons in- terested will be properly credited in the reports of the survey. Correspondence is solicited with the director of the particular branch in which any one is interested, and such directions in regard to collecting and sending ma- terial will be given on application. By the assistance of the Smithsonian Institution, the directors are able to send printed directions for collecting to such as apply for them. In ordering these it will be necessary to specify in what particular branch information is desired. It is the purpose of the Division of Botany during the present year to make such additions and corrections to the published “Catalogue of the Plants of Indiana” as are possible, and to secure definite information regarding the distribution of such rare forms as are there published. Specimens illustrating the distribution or occurrence of any plant within the limits of the State must be deposited with the survey before any notice of their belonging to the state flora can be published. This will insure the ability to verify in future any fact published by the sur- vey. In sending such material it is desirable that notes on the station, habitat, range and abundance of the plant be noted, together with any other information that will be of value. In addition to the flowering plants and ferns covered in the aboye, it is the intention of the Division to commence the study of the distribution of the lower cryp- togams, concerning which almost nothing has been pub- lished from Indiana. While collections will be made of SCIENCE. Vol. XXII. No. 549 all forms, special attention will be given at present to the study of (1) Mosses, (2) Hepatice, and (8) Parasitic Fungi. Specimens are earnestly desired of all species, even those that are most common, from all portions of the State. It is desirable to state with each species the data indicated above, with particular reference to the habitat. In the case of parasitic fungi, it is necessary to indicate the host and to include sufficient quantity of the host plant, that doubtful determinations may be verified. The Director has been promised the assistance of specialists in the study of material accumulated. The leading aim of the Division of Zodlogy during the season will be the compilation of a complete bibliography of the vertebrates of Indiana and of as many invertebrates as can be provided for. At the same time any material showing the distribution of animals in the State is especial- _ ly desirable. To determine the distribution, complete: collections of the vertebrates of as many localities as pos- sible should be made. Collections should always accom- pany notes, so that the observations may be verified by some specialist. No opportunity should be neglected to observe the breeding habits and seasons, and the animal with young should, whenever possible, be preserved and forwarded to the Director, who will transmit it to the proper authority for record. Another subject which should receive attention is the migration, or seasonal appearance and disappearance of mammals, birds, reptiles and fishes. The next meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science will be held in Adelaide, South Australia, commencing on September 25. The Association has now been in existence since 1888. Four meetings have been held, viz.: In September, 1888, at Sydney—President, H. C. Russell, C. M. G., B. A., F. R. S., Government Astronomer, N. 8. W.; in January, 1890, at Melbourne—President, Baron F. von Mueller, K. C. M. G., Ph. D., F. R. S.; in January, 1891, at Christchurch— President, Sir James Hector, K. C. M.G., M. D., F. R.S.; in January, 1892, Hobart—President, His Excellency Sir Robert Hamilton, K. C. B. The meeting in Adelaide will be presided over by Ralph Tate, F. L.8., F. G.S., Pro- fessor of Natura] Science at the University of Adelaide Since its commencement the Association has grown stead- ily and now numbers about 900 members. The work is divided into sections as in the British Association, whose rules on most points have been closely followed. The Presi- dents of sections for the Adelaide session are: Section A. —Astronomy, Mathematics and Physics: H. C. Russell, C. M. G., B. A., F. R. S., Government Astronomer of New South Wales; Section B.—Chemistry: OC. N. Hake, Chief Inspector of Explosives, Victoria; Section C.—Geology and Mineralogy: Sir James Hector, K. C. M. G., M. D., F. R.S., Director of the Geological Survey of New Zea- land; Section D.—Biology: OC. W. De Vis, Curator of the Erisbane Museum; Section E.—Geography: A. C. Mac- donald, F. R. G. §., Hon. Secretary of the Victorian Branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia; Section 1.—Ethnology and Anthropology: Rey. 8. Ella, - New South Wales; Section G.—Hconomic Science and Agriculture: H.C. L. Anderson, M. A., Director of A gri- culture, New South Wales; Section H.—Engineering and Architecture: J. R. Scott, Lecturer-in-Charge of the School of Engineering, Canterbury College, Christchurch, New Zealand; Section I—Sanitary Science and Hygiene: A. Mault, Secretary to the Centra! Board of Health, Tas- mania; Section J.—Mental Science and Education: Henry Laurie, LL. D., Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. August 11, 1893. SCIENCE: PusBLisHED BY N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broapway, New York. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in advance, one hundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reasons we desire to circulate as many copies of SCIENCE as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprint- ed elsewere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photo-engraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manu- scripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accompanies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer; not necessa- tily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold our- selves responsible for any view or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Attention is called to the ‘‘Wants” column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and ad- dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The ‘Exchange’’ column is likewise open. PROGRESS IN SANITARY SCIENCE IN MASSACHU- SETTS. BY GEORGE W. FULLER, LAWRENCE, MASS. Tue State Board of Health of Massachusetts, in addition to the ordinary duties devolving upon such a Board, have made much progress during the past six years in the study of many important problems in sanitary science. In 1886 the Legislature made provisions (Chap. 274 of the Acts of 1886) that “the State Board of Health shall AE the general oversight and care of all inland waters. Said Board shall, from time to time, as it may dest expedient, cause examinations of the said waters to be made for the purpose of ascertaining whether the same are adapted for use as sources of domestic water supplies or are in a condition likely to impair the interests of the public or persons lawfully using the same, or imperil the public health. It shall recommend measures for preven- tion of the pollution of such waters, and for removal of substances and causes of every kind which may be lia- ble to cause pollution thereof, in order to protect and de- velop the rights and property of the Commonwealth there- in and to protect the public health. It shall have author- ity to conduct experiments to determine the best prac- ticable methods of purification of drainage or disposal of refuse arising from manufacturing and other industrial establishments. For the purposes aforesaid it may em- ploy such expert assistance as may be necessary. “Tt shall from time to time consult with and advise the authorities of cities and towns, or with corporations, firms or individuals either already having or intending to intro- duce systems of water supply or sewerage, as to the most appropriate source of supply, the best practicable method of assuring purity thereof or of disposing of their sewage, having regard to the present and prospective needs and interests of other cities, towns, corporations, firms or indi- viduals which may be affected thereby. All such author- ities, corporations, firms and individuals are hereby required to give notice to said Board of their intentions in the premises, and to submit for its advice outlines of their proposed plans or schemes in relation to water sup- ply and disposal of drainage or refuse.” The Legislature in 1888 made further provisions (Chap- ter 375 of the Acts of 1888) that “all petitions to the Lee- islature for authority to introduce a system of water sup- SCIENCE. | 73 ply, drainage or sewerage, shall be accompanied by a copy of the recommendation and advice of the said Board thereon.” In compliance with these provisions there was estab- lished by the Board an engineering department, whose main work may be divided into two classes: (1) The ex- amination of proposed plans or schemes of water supply or sewerage submitted by the various cities and towns; (2) the examination of existing water supplies and inland waters of the State with reference to their purity. With regard to the work of the first class it is to be noted that from July, 1886, when the act relating to water supply and sewerage first went into operation, up to Jan- uary 1, 1893, there have been received 228 applications for advice. In the course of the investigations, instituted to develop the facts required as a basis for sound advice to the cities and towns, many valuable data have been obtained. The capacity, when fully developed, of sources of water supply drawn from ponds, lakes and streams, has been studied individually and in relation to the future needs of the great centres of population. Probable and comparative costs of different systems have been made; drainage areas have been surveyed, records of rainfall, temperatures, rates of increase of population and of con- sumption of water per capita have been kept and studied. All of these data have not only been of aid in the past but are also of great value for future reference. Beginning in June, 1887, monthly analyses have been made of water from all the water supplies of the State, and of the more important rivers and other inland waters. At the outset every public water supply was visited by the engineers of the Board; a description and history of the different works were optained;-places for taking sam- ples of water were chosen, and methods to be followed were explained to local officials. Much information was also gathered with regard to the physical characteristics of the water supplies,—such as the density of population on drainage areas, amount of polluting matter entering the streams, volume of water flowing, and temperatures of water. In addition to the chemical analyses which are made in the laboratories of the Board in Boston, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, examinations are made of the grosser forms of microscopic life, with the view to establish the relation between the micro-organisms and odors present in certain drinking waters. Bacterial analyses are also made from time to time. Carefully prepared reports have been made of the re- sults of these investigations. An idea of the nature of the work done can perhaps be best learned by looking at the following list of subjects, which are among those dis- cussed in the annual and special reports :— A Summary of Water Supply Statistics. Classification of the Drinking Waters of the State. Examination of Spring Waters. Pollution and Self-Purification of Streams. Typhoid Fever in its Relation to Water Supplies. Suggestions as to the Selection of Sources of Water Supply. Dissolved Oxygen in Waters of Ponds and Reservoirs at Different Depths. Effect of Aeration of Natural Waters. The Relation of Organisms and Odors in Natural Waters. The Seasonal Distribution of Organisms. Tn 1887 the Board established an Experiment Station at Lawrence. The object of this was to learn how to purity sewage and water. The Station was designed and its work planned by Mr. Hiram I’. Mills, A. M., C. E., chair- man of the Committtee of the Board on Water Supply and Sewerage. Experimental filters were constructed of different mate- b4 . SCIENCE. rials, such as would be found in suitable filtration areas throughout the State. Each filter, however, consists of a single material. The experiments were so conducted as to throw as much light as possible upon the laws of filtra- tion. ‘The degree of purification of sewage and of water by the sands of different coarseness, the quantities which the different materials are able to purify, the best method of operation of filters of different construction, and the treatment necessary under varying conditions arising from different lengths of service of the filters and from the effects of weather have been investigated. Much at- tention has been given to the physical characteristics of materials which govern their action as filters. The open space between the sand grains, the capillarity and the frictional resistance to the passage of water, etc., have been determined for many materials. Knowing, from the results of these experimental filters, the deeree of purification of sewage and of water effected by each of a series of materials ranging from fine loam to coarse gravel, and having formulated the physical char- acteristics of these materials which govern their action as filters, it is now possible, by studying the physical char- acteristics of materials sent to Lawrence by cities and towns desiring to adopt filtration, to predict with reason- able accuracy what their efficiency will be as filters. From this it will be readily seen that these investigations do away, in a large measure, with the experimental nature which would otherwise be attached to the operation of large and expensive filter plants. The object of the Law- rence Experiment Station, in short, is to study the laws of filtration with a view to economy. In regard to the efficiency of filtration, it may be stated, in passing, that sewage can be applied to areas of coarse (mortar) sand 5 feet deep, at a rate of 120,000 gallons per acre daily, with a removal of 95 per cent of the organic matter and germs in the applied sewage. With finer sand the purification is still more complete, but the quantity which can be successfully treated is less. By means of chemical precipitation it is possible, under the most favor- able conditions, to remove only from one-half te two- thirds of the organic matter from sewage. Cne of the most important points in water purification is the removal of disease-producing germs, since it has become clearly established that high death-rates from dis- eases, caused by germs which can live in water, result largely from drinking polluted water. The results of the Lawrence experiments show that it is possible to con- struct filters which will purify at least 2,000,000 gallons of water per acre daily and remove more than 99 per cent of the bacteria in the unfiltered water. Phe theory of filtration and a large amount of informa- tion upon the actual operation of filters have been pre- sented in the annual reports of the Board and in the special report upon Purification of Sewage and Water, 1590—a volume of 881 pages. Large sewage filters are in successful operation at Framingham, Marlborough and Gardner, in this State, and others are in the process of construction. A large filter, also, to purify the water supply for the city of Lawrence, is nearly completed. i it is interesting to note the increasing confidence with which this work of the Board is regarded by saniterians and engineers, not only in this State but throughout the United States and in foreign lands. The advance in methods of analysis is worthy of note, and more especially in the interpretation of the results of analysis. Old methods have been improved and new ones devised, as well as some pieces of apparatus, which it is believed are not to be found outside the laboratories of the Board—except at their exhibit in the Anthropological Building at the Wozrld’s Fair. Vol. XXII. No. 549 ASEPSIS—PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE. BY ALBERT S. ASHMEAD, M. D., NEW YORK. THERE is a Singular agreement of precept between some of our new philosophical schools and the doctrine of the Orientals as to our duty te the race in case of disease. The doctrine of our philosophers, teaching the survival of the fittest, and our duty to the race, not to interfere with the eliminating operations of nature, is not put into prac- tice, and considering that Christianity is our religion and is not looking forward at present to any imminent de- cline, 1t is not likely to pass into practice for some time to come. The Orientals criticize Christianity because it seems unduly and undutifully occupied in counteracting the decrees of nature, by saving, with fostering care, indi- viduals of the race, preserving in hospitals all that ought to perish, and heaping up, so to speak, the sweepings of nature, to perpetuate moral and physical uncleanness. True, they also are anxious to build hospitals; but if they were let alone perhaps they might build them only for animals, whose races are not important enough to make it a pity that disease and vice should be allowed to be transmitted among them from generation to generation. Wherever the Oriental spirit has developed on its own lines, it has endeavored to eradicate the human weed, to sweep away all human influences detrimental to mankind, whether they be represented by disease or by crime, al- ways ready to sacrifice any man to the interest of men. The leper was cast out to die with his disease in unpitied misery and solitude; the beggar, unable to earn his bread or support his family, was excluded from help and intercourse of any kind; what could the race expect from his seed? What is the use of amputating a limb which tuberculosis or syphilis or leprosy is gnawing at? Why should his seed be preserved to perpetuate his rotten- ness? Why should we so tenderly humor the madman, use infinite care and infinite treasures of knowledge, and miracles of skill, to bring the diseased brain into a condi- tion which makes the man innocuous, tolerable, while yet he can never be normal, rational, useful; his brain fibre is degenerated and should not be transmitted to future gen- erations. When we Westerners discovered the bacterium we thought that here we had the cursed cause of ali disease, and forthwith began to give her chase or to lay siege to her citadel. The Oriental may have thought dimly: Wher- ever you are, O, Microbe, you are in the state where Providence has placed you and must do her behests. Yours is the empire of the abnormous, the morbid, the destructive. Whatever part of creation you establish yourself upon is by your very presence stamped as bad, unhealthy, undeserving of existence. Therefore stay in your domain, we do not envy it to you. Hat up what be- longs to you, it can do us only harm. These Hastern populations beheve in fate; they are the true Stoics. What is written, is written, Kismet. If we are doomed to be cut off by cholera we shall not escape it, and the fear of the inevitable shall not prevent us from plunging our limbs into the lethal waters of the Ganges, or quenching our thirst in the Mecca pools. And what does it mean, that our own people, not very long ago, considered the use of vaccine as being an interference with the will of Providence. They called Providence what in the Orient we call fate. It would seem that medicine in general is just the opposite of this magnificent supineness: the physician tries to save his individual, let what may be- come of the race; there is another kind of recklessness, not supine like the Oriental, but busy and officious. It would be a much higher task, if, instead of waging war against the bacillus, who has invaded an individual, med- icine should find means to obviate and suppress the bacil- August 11, 1893. lus, or its development, or its culture, before it invades the race by the individual, that is, should create in the organism such conditions, should produce such constitu- tions, as would not allow of the existence of these micro- scopical pestilences. That would be asepsis instead of antisepsis. Here is what asepsis has to do. It stands at the fountain head, its mission is to keep the spring of life free from impurity. Let a commission, or whatever body of scientific information and action, go to Russia, to the original habitat of the typhus germ, oppose the devel- opment of its colonies before they begin their trip around the world. The first thing to do will probably be to im- prove the condition of the Russian Jew. Prevent the Hindoos from poisoning themselves with their holy water, with which they drink the blessing of cholera. Hnact laws - to isolate the syphilitic and the tuberculous. Prohibit the marriage of such. Let the congenitally incurable die be- fore puberty: it is better that the offending limb should be lost than that tuberculosis, syphilis, leprosy, ete., should spread through the whole body. Let the healthy, the temperate, the moral, alone have the inheritance. A correct life is the most perfect asepsis, and insures an im- munity with which the burnt infant’s immunity, known as such, cannot compare. PAH “GOPHER FROG.” BY FREDERICK CLEVELAND TEST, U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM, WASHING- : TON, -D. C. TsrovucH the kindness of Mr. H. G. Hubbard, of Crescent City, Florida, I am enabled to make a note on the habits of the “gopher frog,” Rana areolata wsopus, Cope. This form seems to be so rare in collections that so far the only specimen reported as having been identified with this sub-species is the type in the National Museum, from Micanopy, Florida, and described by Professor Cope in - the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society for 1886. {have been unable to find any published men- tion of its habits, which are peculiar. it appears to be almost entirely subterranean in its habits, living in the holes and burrows of the “gopher” turtle, Gopherus polyphemus, in conjunction with it, and ‘apparently on the best of terms. Roughly described, it is grayish green, with thirty-five or forty ragged black spots arranged in four or five irregular longitudinal rows on the back, and grading off into smaller spots on the flanks, while the legs are barred with about fifteen half-rings of black, from the thighs to the toes. Beneath it is white, with the throat marbled with very dark brown. The body is rather flat, with wide head and sharp-pointed snout, and the two dorso-lateral ridges, together with indicated folds between them, are greenish brown. The size is about that of a small “leopard frog,” Rana pipilus, or the “swamp frog,” Rana palustris, to which last it is closely related, al- though individuals are said to have been seen weighing two or three pounds. But those must have been huge toads, noticed by persons unable to distinguish between them and the frogs, or too unobserving to make the dis- tinction. Its food has not been ascertained, from dissec- tion of the stomachs of freshly captured specimens, but as these frogs are rarely seen away from the burrows, it is probable that they feed on the insects living in the burrows, for the holes possess a flourishing insect fauna, to a great extent peculiar to them. On clowdy and rainy days the frogs sit at the mouths of the burrows—as many as three have been found in a sin- gle burrow—but on the approach of a human being dive down out of sight, and as the holes are from 12 to 20 feet in length, and 7 or 8 in vertical depth at the end, digging the frogs out is no easy matter, especially as the sandy soil has a tendency to cave in on the excavator. But the SCIENCE: 75 frogs may be successfully angled for with a fishing line and small hook baited with a grasshopper. In the fact that the burrows usually or always go down to water, may be found an explanation of the frogs mhab- iting them, and the facility of procuring insect food there- in may be an additional inducement, as well as their be- ing safe hiding places. Nothing seems to be known of the habits of the other varieties of the species, of which also but few specimens are known, Rana areolata areolata, from Texas and Georgia, Rana areolata capito, from Georgia, and Rana areolata circulosa, the “Hoosier frog,” found in Indiana and Illinois. It is to be hoped that fur- ther observations will be made upon this interesting species, and additional specimens collected. ALTITUDE AS THE CAUSE OF THE GLACIAL PERIOD. * BY WARREN UPHAM, SOMERVILLE, MASS. Among the numerous difficult questions which are now being investigated and discussed by glacialists, none seems more important or worthy of attention than the cause, or the causes and conditions, which produced the Glacial period, with its very exceptional accumulation of ice-sheets upon large continental areas in the north and south temperate zones. Climatic conditions lke those to-day prevailing in Greenland and on the Antarctic conti- nent, both now covered by ice-sheets whose central por- tions are several thousands of feet thick, then prevailed in North America as far south as to Long Island, New York, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Bismarck and Seattle, reach- ing to a more southern latitude in the moist eastern halt of the United States than in its mostly arid western half. Likewise Scandinavia, Great Britain south to London, Germany south to Berlin, and the northwestern halt of Russia, were enveloped by ice. ‘The glaciers of the Alps, too, of other Muropean and Asiatic mountain ranges, of the Rocky Mountains, and of the mountains of New Zea- land, were far more extensive than now; and in South America a broad ice-sheet covered Patagonia. Three chief theories have been proposed to account for the great climatic changes made known to us by the ex- tent of these areas of glacial drift. During the past twenty years all glacialists have been greatly interested in the astronomic theory of Dr. James Croll, so ably ad- yocated by him in his volume, “Climate and Time,” and by Prof. James Geikie in “The Great Ice Age,” attrib- uting the ice accumulation to climatic conditions attend- ant upon an epoch of maximum eccentricity of the earth’s orbit. American glacialists, like those of Great Britain and continental Europe, were several years ago very gen- erally inclined to think that this was a true and sufficient explanation. At the present time, however, a majority of the advanced students of this subject, at least in America, doubt that this theory is applicable to the observed facts of glaciation. For, m accordance with Dr. Croll’s view, glacial periods should be recognizable with geologic fre- quency through the earlier Tertiary and Mesozoic eras, where, on the contrary, evidence of glacial conditions is wholly absent or exceedingly scanty, beine wherever it is known probably referable to Alpine rather than continen- tal glaciers. Besides, it seems within the past ten years to be fully ascertained that the time since the disappear- ance of the ice-sheets of North America and Europe has been only 6,000 to 10,000 years, whereas if they had de- pended on the astronomic causes mentioned their depart- ure must have occurred some 80,000 years ago. A second theory, accounting for the Glacial period by changes in the position of the earth’s poles, and conse- quently in the latitude of the countries glaciated, which 76 was first proposed by Sir Jobn Evans in 1866, has there- fore lately attracted the favorable consideration of some American glacialists, and in Hurope has been championed by Nansen in his very interesting work, “The First Cross- ing of Greenland.” ‘his theory supposes that within so late a part of the earth’s history as the Ice age, the north pole may have moved to the region of southern Green- land and returned, giving in the period of its digression elacial conditions for all the lands adjoining the North Atlantic Ocean, and the same for the antipodal, then south polar, portion of the globe. A small observed variation of latitude, discovered several years ago by German and Russian astronomers, seemed to give a foundation for this view, but within the past two years the brilliant investi- eations of Dr. 8. C. Chandler, showing that these varia- tions are of very small.amount and in two short periods, one of fourteen and another of twelve months, while no appreciable secular change of latitude can be recognized, leave to us no basis for this theory of the cause of accu- mulation and disappearance of ice-sheets. The third theory, which the writer believes to be ap- plicable, sufficient and acceptable for all the observed facts of the Glacial period, attributing the ice-sheets to high altitude of the drift-bearing countries, has also been long under consideration, having been first suggested in 1855 by Dana, but failed until recently to receive ade- quate appreciation on account of the supposed geologic improbability of sufficiently high uplifts of so extensive portions of the earth’s surface. During the past few years, however, this neglected theory has received full at- testation by independent evidence, apart from the facts of glaciation, that these countries, and also other parts. of the terrestrial coast, have been, in the same late geologic era which includes the Ice age, raised thousands of feet above their present height, to altitudes doubtless having so cool climate as to bring snowfall during nearly the en- tire year, the most favorable condition for the formation of ice-sheets. This evidence consists chiefly in the very great depth found by soundings in fjords and the sub- marine continuations of river valleys, where streams flowed formerly and eroded their valleys, showing these lands to have then stood far higher than now. The Hudson River channel is traced somewhat more than a hundred miles out to sea, to a maximum depth of 2,844 feet. Similar depths are known by the United States Coast Survey and British Admiralty soundings, as Prof. J: W. Spencer has pointed out, for the former continuation of the Mississippi and St. Lawrence rivers and in the entrance of the Gulf of Maine, between Cape Cod and Nova Scotia. All about our northern and Arctic shores, from Maine around to Puget Sound, abundant fjords prove the land to have been formerly much ele- vated. On the coast of California, submarine valleys dis- covered by Professor George Davidson, of the U. S. Coast Survey, reach to depths of 2,000 to 3,120 feet; and Professor LeConte has shown that they are of late Ter- tiary and Quaternary age, probably contemporaneous with the submerged valleys of our Atlantic coast, and closely associated with the Glacial period. In the fluvial deposits of the Mississippi River, laid down while the ice- sheet was being formed, Professor E. W. Hilgard finds evidence that the interior of our continent northward, about the sources of the Mississippi, was then uplifted not less than 3,000 feet above its present height. Likewise the fjords of Scotland and its adjacent island groups, and especially the much deeper fjords of Scandinavia, prove for that glaciated region an altitude thousands of feet higher than now, the maximum depth of the Sogne fjord, the longest in Norway, being stated by Jamieson as 4,080 feet. In the same way, New Zealand and Patagonia, for- merly glaciated, are remarkable for their abundant, long SCIENCE. Vol. XXIL No. 549. and branching fjords. But the most surprising known submerged continuation of any river valley is that of the Congo, which, according to Mr. J. Y. Buchanan, is deter- mined, by soundings for a cable to connect commercial stations on the west African coast, to be about eighty miles long, descending to the profound depth of 6,000 feet below the sea level. The Congo valley, only about four hundred miles south of the equator, proves that the epeirogenic uplifts, caus- ing glaciation, were not limited to drift-bearing regions. Where the uplifted areas were in so high latitudes, both north and south, that their precipitation of moisture gave snowfall during all, or nearly all, the year, they began to be covered by snow, which became consolidated below into ice and grew in depth to hundreds and thousands of feet. Why the earth during the Glacial period was extraor- dinarily deformed for comparatively short periods by great epeirogenic movements of elevation and correlative depression of other tracts, is a more fundamental and not less difficult question, for which I have attempted an an- swer in an appendix of Wright's “Ice Age in North Amer- ica,” ascribing these movements to stress stored up previ- ous to its relief by the folding, overthrust and upheaval of mountain ranges. This explanation, although diverg- ing widely from formerly assumed conditions of conti- nental stability, seems yet well consistent with Dana's doctrine of the general permanence of the continents and oceanic basins. NOTES ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF SOME OF THE CONIFERS OF NORTH-WESTERN CANADA. BY J. B. TYRRELL, OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. Tur following observations on the limits of some forest trees were made while conducting geological surveys in the interior of northwestern Canada, in the country ex- tending from Lake Winnipeg northwestward to the Athabasca River. White Spruce (Picea alba) is the most timber tree of this whole region. It occurs through- out the heavily wooded districts from Riding and Duck Mountains, in northern Manitoba, northwestward ‘to the great forest region between the Saskatchewan and Churchill rivers, and thence westward beyond the Athabasca. North of the upper part of Churchill Riy- er it extends into the rocky granite country for a short distance and then disappears, so that its general northern limit is here reached at, or south of, the height of land; but while the writer was travelling across Little Hatchet Lake, in north latitude 58°40 and west longitude 103°45, a high sandy island was found on which was a small grove of tall white spruce, some trees with a diameter of fifteen inches. None others were seen anywherein the vicinity. This grove, therefore, forms a little outlier in the sur- rounding scattered forest of small black spruce and Banksian pine, the hill of warm dry sand furnishing it with asufficently congenial home. Extending in from the west the white spruce occurs on and around the shores of Lake Athabasca, but it does not appear to grow at any great distance back from the lake. Black Spruce (Picea nigra) is usually asmaller tree than the last, and is scat- tered on the low lands everywhere thoughout the forest regions of the Province of Manitoba, and the District of Saskatchewan, but north of the Churchill River, and south- east of Lake Athabasca it often ascends to the higher lands. Its northern limit for this region has not yet been traced. Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) grows to a large size among the white spruce on the top and sides of the Duck Mountain in Manitoba, and between the Saskatchewan and Churchill rivers in the District of Saskatchewan. It important August 11, 1893. extends for a short distance north of the Chuchill River, where it appears to reach its northern limit. Tamarac (Larix Americana) is found growing on the low wet land from the northern edge of the prairie region, northward as far as Lake Athabasca, but its northern limit has not yet been reached. Cedar (Thwya occidentalis) has its general northwestern limit east of Lake Winnipeg, but an isolated colony occurs on the high ridge between Winnipegosisand Cedar lakes, two hundred miles distant from the general limit. No trace of cedar could be found in the intermediate country. Red Pine (Pinus resinosa) also has its general north- western limit some distance east of Lake Winnipeg, but an outlying grove is said to occur on Black Island, a large sandy island in the lake. Cones collected from trees on this island,and undoubtedly belonging to this species, were sent to the writer by Mr. A. Neison, of Badthroat River. Scrub Pine (Pinus banksiana) grows on the high stony morainic hills on the northeastern portion of Duck Moun- . tain, and on the sandy ridges to the north. . From here it extends northward and northwestward, keeping north of the heavy white spruce forest. It is the principal tree in the rocky and sandy region from the Churchill River northward to Black River, where it grows to a height of from twenty to forty feet, and to a diameter of from eight to twelve inches. On the more level sandy plains it here forms typical pine barrens, the trees being thinly scattered over the surface, while the land beneath them is quite devoid of undergrowth and there is little or no fallen timber, so that the whole country has a park-like aspect. On the rocky slopes it has taken root in the nich- > es and crevices, and is usually stunted and very irregular. It extends north of Black River and Lake Athabasca, and its northern limit has not yet been traced. THE A®FEINITIES OF BASQUE AND BERGER. BY CANON ISAAC TAYLOR, M. A., LL. D., LITT. D., YORK, ENGLAND. ty the Transactions of the Berlin Academy for June, 1893, Professor Von der Gabelentz has published a paper in which he endeavors to establish a connection between Basque and the languages belonging to the Berber family of speech, such as Kabyle and Tuareg. He admits that the results of his comparison are small, the languages differing in structure of speech, in gender, and in most of the formatives. But he urges that they had certain anal- ogous laws of phonetic change, and that there is a re- semblance in a few culture words, mainly the names of animals and of articles of dress. The paper is one of the numerous examples of the way in which pure philologists may be led astray by want of an adequate acquaintance with anthropology. Theauthor bases his attempt on a re- cent paper in Ausland on the craniological resemblance -between the Berbers and the ancient Iberians. He then assumes that Basque represents the ancient Iberian speech, whereas Van Hys and Vinson, the two highest authorities, consider that it is impossible to explain such remains as we possess of the ancient Iberian by means of Basque. Broca, moreover, has proved that while the skulls of the Spanish Basques resemble, to some extent, those of the Tberians, the skulls of the French Basques belong to a different type. It is now believed that the race to which the French Basques belong imposed its language on the Spanish Basques, a feebler people of the Iberian type. if this is the case, the results obtained by Von der Gabel- entz would be easy of explanation. A conquered people acquiring the language of their conquerors would retain their own phonetic tendencies, and at the same time would incorporate into the acquired language certain classes of words such as those which agree in Basque and Iberian, “notably the names of articles of dress and of domesticated SCIENCE, 17) animals. In short, the ancient Iberian may have affected Basque much in the same way that Celtic has affected Eng- lishand French. It has introduced sundry phonetic ten- dencies, and some loan words belonging to certain classes. Hence we may still hold fast to the old conclusion that the nearest aftinities of Basque are with Accadian and the languages of the Ural-Altaic type. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. x*,Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. writer's name is in all cases required as a proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number con- taining his communication will be furnished free to any corres- pondent. The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. THE SO-CALLED SAND OF GREAT SALT LAKE. 3 Tur white deposit which covers Garfield Beach and the adjacent shore of Great Salt Lake, Utah, although common- ly called sand, does not consist of true sand. An exami- nation under a low magnifying power, such as that afforded by a common pocket lens, shows that all the particles. or grains composing this so-called sand are very smooth and shiny, many being globular, others ovoid, and others dumb-bell and club-like in form. None of them present angular or irregular surfaces, and none haye sharp edges or points. When treated with hydrochloric or nitric acid this odlitic “sand” rapidly dissolves with energetic effer- vescence, leaving but tiny little specks of silicious matter behind, which latter form nuclei in the centre of the odlitic grains. The solution thus obtained contains lme. A very careful scrutiny under high microscopic powers shows the most of each grain to consist of a white, fibrous or somewhat crystallized mineral, with a central enclosed bit of dark gray mineral, that which is left as silicious un- dissolved matter after, the acid treatment aforesaid. In fact I have found a few grains containing nuclei so large that they could be readily seen by the unaided eye. It appears, therefore, that each grain of this deposit is a nodule or concretion, consisting of white crystalline cal- cite, containing a minute bit of silica or silicious matter asa central nucleus around which the calcite has collected. Some months ago Professor Rompletz reported traces of what he regarded as an algain odlitic sand from the shores of Great Salt Lake. But Dr. George Jennings Hinde, F’. G. S., of London, who has made recent exami- nations of samples of this odlitic “sand,” writes me that he has not discovered any evidence of organic orgin in it. In all other respects Dr. Hinde’s observations seem to agree with those made by me during the past year. Henry Monreomery. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, July 3r. The NATURE’S ROTATION OF Crops. An open sandy field which the writer has passed sey- eral times a week, for the past ten years, has illustrated well this fact. No record has been kept, but for the past five years, my recollection is accurate, and for a longer period, I am sure that the “crops” have been of the character stated, though the order of succession may not be strictly correct. Seven or eight years ago there was a yield of Qnothera biennis which was phenomenal. ‘The following year there was scarcely a plant of this species to be noticed, but a fine crop of mullein succeeded. Daisies followed the mul- lein, the next year daisies and golden rod (S. nemoralis). The year after the solidago took full possession and was a most magnificent crop. The year following but little golden rod could be seen, and very few daisies. Last year was the most magnificent crop of Hypericum perfor- atum I have ever seen. When in blossom, the field was one mass of solid color; it seemed the petals must touch 78 each other over the whole surface of the entire field. It was a glory not to be forgotten. This year not a plant of the species is visible riding past. Scattered daisies, golden rod (not S. nemoralis), a few Mz. biennis, and an occasional lespedeza (L. capitata) are all that show. The ground is very sparsely covered, whereas last year it was completely occupied, as indeed also by the daisies, the cenothera, and the golden rod in their respective years. Lam satisfied the same thing takes place on other un- occupied sandy fields about here, but I have not watched them as closely nor as regularly as this one. M. W. V. Fort Edward, N. Y., July 29. WORMS ON THE BRAIN OF A BIRD. To judge from Professor French’s communication under this title in the current volume of Science, p. 20, he is un- acquainted with the description and figures of the thread- worm of the snake bird given by Prof. Jeffries Wyman, in 1868, in the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. 12, p. 100. Samuet H. Scupprr. A SPACE-RELATION OF NUMBERS. Tur recent notes and discussions as to certain curious relations observed by some persons between sensations of color and of sound,—vrelations hardly conceivable by others who, like myself, have never experienced them,— have led me to reflect upon a peculiar conception of my own, which may be called a space-relation of numbers. I have never heard it alluded to by any one; but it has been constant with me since childhood, and seems so peculiar and inexplicable that it may be worthy of mention and inquiry. It is presented, therefore, in the hope that the experience of others may throw some light upon it as a mental phenomenon, and help to show whether it be a mere 1diosyncrasy or an experience at all known, and, if the latter, how far familiar, and with what, if any, modifi- cations. My first distinct recollection of this idea goes back to the age of nine or ten years, in connection with learning the multiplication table. This I was taught, not at school, but by home instruction, and without any use of cards, tables, slates, abaci, or any visible signs or aids whatever. It was purely abstract and memoriter. Some- how, then, and ever since, the numbers from 1 to 100 have been conceived of by me as holding, relatively, defi- nite positions in space, from which they never vary,—the mention or use of the number being at once associated with its position relative to other numbers, in the same way that the mention of a well-known country or river brings up a mental picture of its geographical location. This numerical position has no relation with that of any other object or thing, nor with the position of the body or the points of the compass. In describing it, however, I must employ the latter, but simply as aids, in place of a diagram. The numbers, which are conceived of merely as points or stations in space, appear to be arranged in a peculiar line or lines in a horizontal plane. Beginning with unity, the series runs in a straight line to 20, where it turns ninety degrees to the right, and so goes to 30. Using the points of the compass merely for the present description, as above stated, and not from any connection with the number-scheme itself,—if the series 1-20 runs (say) northward, 20-30 runs always east, 20 being the apex of the right angle. From 30 to 40 the course is reversed and runs back westward; at 40 it again turns at a right angle and proceeds south, without interruption, to 90, where the line again turns east from 90 to 100. Above this point, the numbers have the same positions again, and so in each succeeding hundred; so that the same descrip- tion apples to all. SCIENCE. Vol. XXII. No. 549 It will be seen by any one who attempts to put this scheme on paper, that, according to the arrangement, the numbers 30 to 40 would coincide, in reverse order, with 20-30, 40 falling upon the same spot as 20; while 40-60 would coincide with 1-20, in reverse order. But in the mental conception this is not the case. The line 30-40 seems parallel to 20-30, but at some little distance; and a vague sense of space, gradually increasing until no distinct relation is consciously noted, prevents any ap- proach or interference between the numbers above 40 and those below 20. This fact confirms the impression that the idea is not due to any artificial aid in the way of dia- gram, table, or the like, in childhood. The only suggestion that occurs is found in the fact that about that period the family had lived for some time in a large hotel (the Delavan, at Albany), whose corri- dors and numbered rooms may have impressed themselves on the child-mind in some such way. But i distinctly re- call that certain of those rooms, occupied at different times by the family, did not at all have the positions that their numbers hold in this mental scheme. . Be this as it may, however, the clearness and the per- sistence of this association are remarkable, and I should be greatly interested to know if others can report any similar experience. If certain chords in music can sug- gest the sensation of purple, or the sound of a word a corresponding impression of blue, etc., as apparently is the case with some persons, why may not certain abstract numbers have similar associations of space-position ? D. S. Marri. New York, Aug. 3. PRELIMINARY NOTE ON THE COTTONY SCALE OF THE OSAGE ORANGE. ty June I found a Cottony Scale (Pulvinaria) in some abundance on an osage-orange tree (maclura) in Las Cruces, N. Mex. The young were hatching on and about June 14th. This scale would be referred by modern ento- mologists to Pulvinaria innumerabilis (Rathvon) Putnam, but finding that it did not agree very well with published accounts of that species, sent to Professor Bruner for specimens of the true insect, which abounds at Lincoln, Neb. Professor Bruner very kindly forwarded without delay a number of examples from box-elder, which were evidently not quite the same as my osage-orange scale. The box-elder scale, however, agrees with innumerabilis, while the maclura scale is what was formerly named maclure, and afterwards sunk as a synonym of innumera- bilis. The most conspicuous and constant difference is in the size. In order to show this, 1 boiled the adult females (which had formed ovisacs) in caustic soda, and spread their skins flat on a glass slide. Thus treated, the meas- urements were as follows: P. maclurae (Las Cruces) . . length 10, breadth 10 mm. P.innumerabilis(Lincoln).. “ 7%, “ 5 «© It is thus seen that maclurae is both larger and broader in proportion; and no intermediate specimens were found. Another difference is in the length of the fourth joint of the autenna: in the Las Cruces maclurae it is about as long as the third joint, whereas in the Lincoln innwmerabilis it is decidedly shorter than the third. I have not yet ex- amined enough specimens to make sure if this character is invariable. I do not wish to assert positively that JZ. maclurae is a valid species, but its characters are such as have been held to distinguish species of Pulvinaria in Europe. I hope to set the matter at rest hereafter by the examination of more extensive material, but it must be admitted at least that it is a very distinct race or vari- ety. In this we revert to the original opinion of Fitch, Walsh and Riley (1855, 1860, 1868), which has been set aside for so many years. August 11, 1893. In order to be sure that I had rightly identified the two forms, I sent specimens to Professor Riley. He at once replied: “You are perfectly correct. A. [this refers to the lettering of the specimens] is the form which 1 des- eribed as Pulvinaria maclurae, while bh. is identical with typical specimens of Pulvinaria innwmerabilis on maple.” it appears that Robert Kennicott was the first to sug- gest the name maclurae, and Fitch to publish it. This was in the Country Gentleman, Jan. 18, 1855. in 1868 Messrs. Walsh and Riley published another description of the osage orange scale, also using the name maclurae. Those who do not consider the Country Gentleman a proper medium for scientific description may cite Walsh and Riley as nomenclators. If this should be done, it would seem that innumerabilis Rathv., published in the Pennsylvania Farm Journal, 1854, has at least no better standing, in which case Fitch’s name acericorticis, given in the Trans. N. Y. Agric. Society, 1860, should be employed, or if it be insisted that the description must appear in a purely scientific publication, we must fall back on aceri- cola, Walsh and Riley, 1868! For my own part, I would use the earliest name in each case, but one must allow that this is a matter for legitimate differences of opinion. Thus we have— (1.) Pulvinaria innumerabilis, Rathy., 1854. The Cottony Seale of the Maple. = acericorticis, Fitch, 1860. = acericola, W. & R., 1868. (2.) Pulvinaria maclurae, Kenn. MS., Fitch, 1855. Cottony Scale of the Osage Grange. — maclurae, W. & R., 1868. Tt need hardly be pointed out that the separation of these races or species is a matter of some interest to economic entomologists. T. D. A. Cockrrext. Las Cruces, N. Mex., July 29, 1893. The EXPLOSIVE GAS IN HoT WATER APPARATUS. Ty the hot water apparatus, used in heating houses, it is well known that gas or “air” accumulates from time to time. This is let off from the radiators where it may col- lect by turning the “air” tap provided; otherwise the ac- cumulation under ordinary circumstances would interfere with the circulation of water through the pipes. Being curious as to the nature of this gas, on a certain occasion I smelled it when escaping from the tap, and detected a _ peculiar odor of what I took to be a hydrocarbon com- pound. Collecting some of the gas, I cautiously applied a light to it, which produced an explosion. The furnace was a small, upright one, with the water heated between its double walls, large enough to warm in winter time a house of seven or eight ordinary rooms. Anthracite coal was used. With a larger upright furnace, having tubes for the smoke and heated gases to pass through in its upper part, in addition to the water-filled sides of the first, the amount of gas collecting in the highest radiator in the house was more abundant, especially when anthracite was used instead of bitumenous coal, for which the furnace was also adapted. Asa matter of fact, several litres of gas were produced each week in two neighboring houses supplied with this latter style of furnace, during the period of observation,—a few weeks during last winter. A considerable quantity of the gas was collected for demonstration before a popular meeting of the Institute of Science. Jars of various sizes were filled with the gas, which was burned under various conditions. 1st—The peculiar odor of the gas was tested. 2nd—lIt burned in the jars when inverted, and otherwise very much like pure hydrogen, giving forth very little light, but much heat. 8rd—The products of combustion showed no trace SCIENCE, 79 of carbonic dioxide which could be detected by the lime water test, which was sensitive enough to detect its pres- ence in the room from the respiration of those present. From this it was inferred that neither carbon monoxide nor a hydrocarbon could be present in any considerable quantity. 4th—Pure nitrogen dioxide injected into the gas gave no ruddy discoloration. Hence, there was no oxygen in the gas. 5th—When mixed with air it would explode like air and hydrogen. 6th—It was not conven- ient at the time to apply any other tests, or any very ac- curate ones. ‘The impression was formed that the gas must be nearly pure hydrogen. If it was nearly pure hydrogen it must have come from the decomposition of the water, which would apparently imply a corresponding oxidation of the iron piping or of the heated iron in contact with the water within the fur- nace. The greater abundance of the gas when anthracite was used suggested that the origin of the gas was the rapid oxidation of the water tubing within the furnace when the heat was particularly intense. If so, every litre of hydrogen produced would mean the conversion of over one and a half grains of metallic iron into “rust.” Again, if a lighted match should be applied to the tap when this gas (pure) is being allowed to escape, the jet would catch fire and “roar” with a hot, bluish fiame, of dimensions as terrific as the bore of the tap would allow. As by the “boiling over” of the furnace the small tank and upper coils under some conditions of water pressure may be emptied and filled with air, what would the con- sequences be were the mixed gases allowed to escape at night with a lamp held in the hand carelessly near such a jet? The discussion of these demonstrations revealed the fact that no one present ever knew or heard that the gas escaping from radiators might be explosive—not even the builders, plumbers and founders. Query 1. Is the formation of explosive gas within the hot water apparatus of our houses rare, peculiar to cer- tain furnaces, or is it common ? Query 2. Has an accurate analysis of such gas been made; and if so, what are its constituents ? A. H. MacKay, Halifax, N. S. MINERAL WAX. ty Science of July 14th, page 25, I notice an article on “Mineral Wax,” from which the following is an extract: “in the United States it (mineral wax) is mined i situ at Soldiers’ Summit, Uintah County, and in Emery County, Utah.” Permit me to state that Soldiers’ Summit of this Ter- ritory is in Utah County ; that mineral wax or ozocerite is not mined at Soldiers’ Summit, nor in Uintah County, nor in Hmery County, Utah. I greatly regret to have thus to correct the writer of the aforesaid article, for it would be an especial pleasure to me to be able to report mines and mining of ozocerite from Utah. I think a small quantity of it occurs in Emery County. But it is not yet mined. Of course, it may occur in large quantity in Utah, but up to the present time no satisfactory evidence of such occur- rence has been presented. it is, however, possible at present to report ample and satisfactory evidence of the occurrence in Utah of large quantities of three related hydro-carbons, viz.: wurtzillite, wintahite and asphaltum. Of these, the first has not yet been mined; but the second and third are being mined with some degree of activity. Uintahite, often called Gilsonite, after a resident pros- pector and miner in this vicinity, yields black varnish. It is very light, being only a little heavier than water. Its color is black, and its streak is brown or reddish-brown. Tt possesses a brilliant, shiny lustre, and has a perfect conchoidal fracture, like that of glass, quartz and obsid- SCIENCE. ian. In fact, it is not infrequently mistaken for black ob- sidian or voleanic glass, which also occurs in great quantity in this Territory. Uintahite is also very brittle. When heated it melts readily, but will not burn. This sub- stance is hauled in wagons from the mines near Fort Duchesne, in Uintah County, to Pleasant Valley Junction, on the Rio Grand Western Railway, a distance of more than a hundred miles, to be shipped Hast for the manu- facture of varnish. Wurtzillite bears a remarkably close resemblance to uintahite. It has a similar color, lustre, fracture and specific gravity, and it is about equally brittle. But wurt- zillite readily burns, yielding a bright light from the com- bustion of illuminating gases. Again, its streak is black, and it is slightly sectile, being capable of being cut or pared by a knife much as rubber or horn may be pared. Wurtzillite has been reported from Wasatch County, as well as from Emery and Uintah Counties, in considerable amount. Asphaltum occurs in Emery and San Pete Coun- ties. It is somewhat mixed with sand and other impuri- ties, but it is already being mined in considerable quan- tity for paving the streets of various Western cities. In addition to wurtzillite, uintahite, asphaltum and ozocerite, other hydro-carbons are found in Utah; for ex- ample—albertite, petroleum and natural gas. But, as yet, none of the latter have been made productive. Henry Montcomery. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, July 209. ANIMAL VOCABULARIES. A coop deal has been said about the probable existence of definite vocabularies in the language of the lower ani- mals, and I believe one has gone to Africa to study Simian speech. This is all well enough, but there is no need of going beyond the barn yard to hear a definite animal vocabulary of a considerable number of words. Hear the rooster’s warning cry when he sees or hears indications of danger. it is a definite sound, and perfectly understood by every hen and chick. Drop food to the mother hen. She quickly inspects it, and if approved, tells the little ones to eat, by uttering her well known “Coot, coot, coot!” if she decides that it is not fit to eat, she as plainly tells them to let alone. The other day a green worm fell from a tree near a brood of chickens. Every chick ran to seize the morsel. The mother gave one quick glance at the in- sect and said, “Skr-r-r-p!” Hvery chick stopped instantly. But one wilful child, loth to believe his mother’s assur- ance that it wasn’t fit to eat, would make him sick, etce., started a second time to pick up the worm. “Skr-r-r-p !” commanded the hen sharply. Even the wilful child obeyed this time, and the whole brood walked off content- edly. Discuss as we will the particular reason for the hen’s cackle before and after laying, the fact remains that it is a definite utterance, as plainly understood by both gallinzee and homines as any expression in human speech. _ My horse has a low whinny which means “water,” and a higher-keyed, more emphatic neigh means food. When ! hear thesé sounds I know as definitely what she means as if she spoke in English. This morning, passing along the street, I heard that same low whinny and, looking up, saw a strange horse regarding me with a pleading look. I knew he was suffering from thirst, and no language could make it plainer. The language of the lower animals is not all articulate. It is largely a sign language. The horse does a deal of talking by motions of the head and by his wonderfully expressive looks. He also, upon occasion, talks with the other extremity. A peculiar switch of the tail and a ges- ture, as if threatening to kick, are equine forms of speech. The darkey was not far wrong who said of the kicking mule, “It’s just his way of talking |” Vol. XXII. No, 549 The dog can not only “look volumes,” but can express whole sentences by wags of the tail more readily than can the waving flags of the signal corps. All that is necessary is to learn his code. We expect our domestic animals to learn our language, and punish them cruelly if they fail to both understand and obey our commands; yet, notwith- standing our higher intelligence, we fail to learn their language, by means of which we might better understand _ their wants and dispositions, and thus control them by kindness and sympathy, instead of by harsh-and arbitrary treatment. I see horses passing along the street, which are saying by every look and motion that they are suffer- ing acute torture from a too short check rein. Their drivers are often people who would be shocked if they could comprehend their own cruelty. But they do not understand horse language, and some of them do not seem to have horse sense. The language of animals is a neglected subject. The facilities for its study are within the reach of all, and no previous preparation is required. The study can be pur- sued without interfering with other occupations, and even a little systematic observation will bring large returns in both pleasure and profit. Cuartes B. Paumnr. Columbus, Ohio. A MayA MONTH-NAME—KHMERS. In Science, Aug 4, Professor Thomas gives a new name to the 17th month of the Maya calendar on the basis of a phonetic rendering of its symbol. I do not intend to dispute the correctness of his ren- dering; I think it quite possible he is right; but I serious- ly question his inference, that, because the symbol reads ak-yab, that therefore was the month-name. The work kayab is from the verbal stem kay, to sing or warble. As this concept cannot be objectively represented, the Mayas had recourse to a method very familiar with them, that of the rebus, to convey or keep in memory its approximate sounds. They chose to indicate the guttur- al initial & by a turtle, called in their tongue ak; prefix- ing it to the syllable yab. This method of writing is what I have called “ikono- matic,” and J have shown abundant instances of it in Mexico and Central America. (See my “Hssays of an Americanist,” pp. 213-229). Through neglecting to regard its principles, both Prof. Thomas and Dr. Seler have made several obvious errors in translating the Mexican and Maya codices, as I expect to show in a work I am preparing on the calendar system of those nations. With regard to the origin of the Khmers and their ethnic affiliation, I do not think that Professor Keane’s claim is relevant to that put forward by Dr. Maurel. The latter maintains that the Khmers belong to the “Aryan,” in the sense of the “Sanscritic” peoples; and that they are in Cambodia an intrusive stock, arriving practically within historic times. I understand Professor Keane to differ with both these opinions. D. G. Brinton. Media, Aug. 7. THEORY OF COLOR SENSATION. An objection to my theory of color-sensation (an ab- stract of which has lately appeared in Science) has been more than once made to me, which needs to be met, but which can be met very easily. Itis that i suppose the three primary color-sensations to be conveyed to the brain by one and the same nerve, and hence that the theory is not consistent with the widely accepted doctrine of the specific energy of nerves,—the doctrine, namely, as ap- plied to the eye, that we recognize two reds to be like sensations, not by any specific quality in the sensation, but by the fact that they affect the same set of nerves, and that if a pure blue light could by any possibility be August 11, 1893. made to cause these nerves to “vibrate” (to use the orig- inal Helmholtzian term) the sensation communicated to consciousness would still be red. But this doctrine, which has strong reasons in its favor, as regards the sense of hearing, had never much support in the sense of smell and taste, and has now been totally disproved for the sense of sight. A few years ago Holmgren announced a remarkable discovery, and at the same time a remarkable confirmation of the original theory of Helmholtz. He caused a very minute image of a point of light to fall upon the retina, so minute as to be smaller in diameter than the diameter of the rods and cones. If this image was of white light, it felt to the observer sometimes red, sometimes green and sometimes blue, as it moved about the retina; if it was of yellow light, it looked sometimes red and sometimes green; and the primary colors were at times altogether invisible. If this observation had been confirmed by other investigators, it would have proved conclusively that each minutest fibre of the optic nerve responds only to a limited range of vibration-periods of light, and that, as Helmholtz at first was inclined to suppose (he says explic- itly in the first edition of his Physiological Optics that the three effects may all be capable of being transmitted by a single nerve), three adjacent fibres must participate in conveying a sensation of grey to the brain. But this ob- servation of Holmgren has not been confirmed. The ex- periments have been repeated by Hering with quite oppo- site results, and he has also detected the probable source of Holmegren’s error; and Hering’s results have been con- firmed in Helmholtz’s laboratory. Hering’s paper on the subject was published in Pfluger’s Archiv some four years ago; IT am unable to look up the exact date, as the admir- able free public library of Duluth as yet lacks scientific books of a non-popular character. In view of these ex- periments, no writer on physiological optics (not even Helmholtz) at present expresses himself in any other lan- guage than that which implies that all the physiological _ processes essential to the production of grey-sensations and of color sensations may go on in a single cone (if not in a single rod). C. L. Franznin. Duluth, Aug. 2, 1893. CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY.—NO. XXXII. | Edited by D. G. Brinton, M. D., LL. D., D. Sc.) RECENTLY PUBLISHED AMERICAN CODICES. So rare are the documents which escaped the fanatic iconoclasm of the early missionaries, that it is a most agreeable duty to chronicle the discovery and publication of hitherto unknown Codices, or native manuscripts, of the Mexican and Central American peoples. Last year, the American Philosophical Society pub- lished in admirable style the Codex Poinsett, the frag- ment of a pre-Columbian book relating to the collection of taxes in the ancient empire of Anahuac (a term entire- ly proper, in spite of Dr. Seler’s onslaught upon it). Its name was given to it after Mr. Poinsett, formerly minis- ter of the United States to Mexico, who brought it from that country and presented it to the Society, which has at considerable cost had it carefully chromo-lithographed and incorporated in its Transactions. With not less praiseworthy zeal the Royal Library of Berlin has within the present year issued fac-similes of sixteen fragments of native Mexican MSS., brought from that country by Alexander von Humboldt, accompanying them with a small volume (pp. 136) of explanatory text from the pen of Dr. Seler, whose knowledge of the sub- ject places him in the very front rank of Mexicanists. A few of these fragments, three or four of them, date ante- rior to the conquest; but the majority are subsequent to SCIENCE. | gr it, though none probably later than 1571. They are all of value in the study of the hieroglyphic script. A third Codex of remarkable interest, and unquestion-— ably ancient, has been published at Geneva by M. Henry de Saussure under the title of “ue Manuscrit du Cacique.” it contains sixteen pages or plates, in colors, and toler- ably well preserved. According to the statements about it, itis not of Nahuatl, but of Mistecan origin, which would increase its value, as this tribe is one of whom we have few monuments, though we know its culture ranked high, and dated from remote antiquity. It is said to con- tain the biography of a certain powerful Cacique, by name Sar Ho, whence the name given it. The great libraries of our country should not delay to secure copies of these three ancient documents, as they ‘are all published in limited editions, and they should be placed within reach of those in this country who deyote some of their time to the fascinating problem of American hieroglyphic writing. ETHNOLOGIC JURISPRUDENCE. The first volume of a work, which will certainly be an epoch-making one, has appeared in Germany. It is Dr. Albert Hermann Post's “Grundriss der Ethnologischen Jurisprudenz” (A. Schwartz, Leipzig). It will be followed by a second volume, which will not be long delayed. The author is already well known as a leading student in this department of ethnology, and also as a profound thinker on the fundamental problems of the social rela- tions of man. Jn his present work he sets out in the first volume to exhibit all the primitive forms of law, cus- tom and procedure, so that from them the fundamental and universal principles of the jurisprudence of all nations can be deduced. The second volume will indicate the development of these general principles in special fields of human law. In this first volume, Dr. Post defines the elementary forms of the social organization as all reducible to four, the consanguine, the territorial, the feudal, and the social; or, the tribal, the communal, the regal and the demo- cratic. Hach of these has its own peculiar theory of what relates to ethics, rights and laws; and though in minor details there are constant and wide variations, each is controlled in its development by obedience to certain un- derlying principles, which place its moral and legal codes on diverse paths of development. They are in a measure historically sequent, the consaneuine organization always being that of men in the lowest stages of culture, while the true social organization is as yet chiefly ideal, and may never be fully reached in practice. The style of the author is terse and clear, and his read- ing is most extensive and accurate. The field he has chosen is a comparatively new one, and the results he has reached are in the highest degree of immediate and practical importance. It has been well said by Dr. Krauss, of Vienna, in a recent publication, that it would be a fortunate chance to substitute some of Dr. Post's re- flections on the rights of humanity for the wholesale mur- der stories which stir the heart of youth in the school readers, under the name of patriotic wars. THE STUDY OF PREHISTORIC ARCHAOLOGY. Now that archeology is recognized to be the only guide where history is silent, and often the more trustworthy guide where history talks a good deal, its systematic study should interest all who occupy themselves with questions of the higher education. Dr. Hoernes, whose work on that branch has been al- ready mentioned in these columns, contributes to the last number of the Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie a scheme for the instructor, which is intended to present all the science in the most favorable manner for the student. It is as fol- lows: 82 Explanatory. Relations of prehistory to history and to anthropology, both physical and ethnological. Systematic. 1. Introductory. History of the science. Sources of information, literary and monumental, with critical esti- mates of their values. 2. Methodical presentation. Geographical and ethnic divisions. Factors of evolution, as discovery, borrowing, alteration, descent. ‘Special forms, as language, religion, law, family, government, clothing, food, ornament, com- merce, ete. 3. Typological presentation. Models of workshops, houses, fortresses, altars, sepulchres; also weapons, tools, utensils, etc.; their use and development. 4. Historical presentation. First, with reference to natural history, the origin, races, varieties and migrations of men; second, cultural history, as the stone, bronze and iron ages; the paleolithic and neolithic periods; proto-historic culture; dawn of civilization, ete. This scheme appears to offer a comprehensive plan for bringing the science before a class. MIGRATION OF THE AZTECS. The Society of Geography and Statistics of the Repub- lic of Mexico has just. issued a second edition of a work by its first secretary, the licentiate Hustaquio Buelna, en- titled “Peregrinacion de los Aztecas, y Nombres Geografi- cos Indigenas de Sinaloa.” The first edition was published in 1887, and received a certain measure of praise on account of the new material it offered concerning the tribes and languages of north- western Mexico. This has been added to in the present edition, and in this respect it is welcome; but that the author has seen fit to expand and illustrate his theories on the pre-historic migrations of the Aztecs, is to be re- gretted, as he does but disseminate under the name of the society various exploded errors. When, for instance, shall we hear the last of the “Atlantis?” Over and over again, its existence has been disproved, but it is ever rising in the minds of those who do not know what time o’ day it is in science. How often SCIENGE. Vol. XXII. No. 549 must it be shown that the name “Atlantic” has nothing to do with “Aztlan” or “Aztalan,” but is a Berber word meaning “mountain.” Yet Buelna repeats and adopts these eighteenth century etymologies. Our faith in his acquirements in the Nahuat! language wanes considerably when we find him (p. 323) deriving the word nahuatl from nahut, four, and atl, water, for it is elementary that the terminal # is dropped in composition. Of course, the “Toliecs” figure largely, although their existence as a na- tion has been disproved. Tt cannot be said that Senor Buelna has approached this part of his subject with the requisite knowledge of its hterature; and one cannot but regret that he seems unacquainted with the voluminous writings of Busch- mann on the proper names and languages of Sinaloa and Sonora. Note ON CROTALUS ADAMANTEUS. February 22, students while out collecting birds shot a diamond rattlesnake, Crotalus adamanteus, Beau., that measured five feet ten inches in length and nine inches around the thickest portion of the body. From the glossiness of the scales it is thought that it had recently moulted. There were only five rattles and a button pres- ent, which seems quite remarkable for such a long reptile. Hf i am not mistaken, such large animals of this species usually have more. These animals, though once quite abundant, are becom- ing quite uncommon. ‘The demand for their skins and rattles to make into Florida has done much to destroy this venomous animal. The skin is made into belts and neckties, while the rattles are used for sets on the ties and elsewhere. P. H. Rous. Fla. Agr. Coll., Lake City, Fla. BOOK-REVIEWS. Le Lait par P. Laneuor. Paris, Gauthier-Villars et Fils, Quai des Grands-Augustins, 55. 188p. 86. La Biere par Li. Linver. Paris, Gauthier-Villars et Fils, Quai des Grands-Auegustins, 55. 206p. 8°. Tue above treatise on Milk, by P. Langlois, Chief of the AMERICAN SCIENCE SERIES, BARKER’s PHysics. Advanced course. Piso’s Remedy for Catarrh is the Best, Easiest to Use, and Cheapest. Sold by Druggists or sent by mail. 50c. E. T. Hazeltine, Warren, Pa. ReMSEN’s CHEMISTRY. 3 courses. Packarp’s ZooLoey. 3 courses. Marrrn’s Human Bopy. 3 courses. | WaLKER’s Ponitican Economy. 3 courses. | Newcoms & HoupEen’s Astronomy. 2 courses. | Brssry’s Borany. 2 courses | JAMES’s PsycHOLoGy. 2 courses SEDGWICK & Witson’s BroLoey. HENRY HOLT & CO.,N.Y. a | | FOSSIL RESINS. | This book is the result of an attempt to ‘collect the scattered notices of fossil resins, ‘exclusive of those on amber. The work is of interest also on account of descriptions given lof the insects found embedded in these long- lpreserved exudations from early vegetation. By CLARENCE LOWN and HENRY BOOTH: 12°. $1. STERBROOK’S STEEL PENS. | OF SUPERIOR AND STANDARD QUALITY. Leading Nos.: 048, 14, 130, 135, 239, 333 | N. D. €, HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. | | THE ESTERBROOK STEEL PEN co. Works: Oamden, N.J. 26 John St., NewYork. | For Sale by all Stationers. | August IL 1es19)33. Physiological Laboratory of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, is divided inte two parts—the first treating the subject theoretically, the second from the technical stand- point. Beginning with a chapter on chemical composi- tion, the author proceeds with a discussion of the phe- nomena of coagulation, of mili secretion, and of the vary- ing composition of different milks. A chapter each is de- voted to woman’s milk and to cow's milk, while others treat of the digestibility of milk, infant alimentation, and milk micro-organisms. ‘the technical portion treats of milk analysis and adulteration. Under the first head is given in detail the admirable method used at the Munici- pal Laboratory cf Paris, as well as the methods of Grandeau, Guesnovillc, and Adams. The various rapid methods are discussed in detail, and excellent means for the preserva- tion of milk suggested. The book is new and a welcome addition to our literature on the subject. Dr. b. Lindet, in his work on Beer, has produced a manual valuable to all interested in Brewing, either as a scicntific study or from the purely technical view. ‘The last half of the book is devoted to the practical process of brewing, fcllowmeg in main the procedure adopted in France, the limitations of the bock preventing a more general discussion. ‘the first part, however, is of wide interest, treating in an attractive and scientific man- ner Larley, Malt, Yeast and Hops, of the processes of sac- charification, and of alcoholic fermentation. A shorter preliminary chapter touches upon the legislation and sta- tistics regarding beer. The book does not impress one as a mere compilation from more exhaustive authors, but is distinctly a treatise upon the state of the science at the present hour, and is a most convenient book for reference. ‘hese volumes form part ot the Hnceyclopédie Scientif- ique des Aide-Mémoive, published under the direction of M. H. béauté, Member of the institute of Wrance. This publi- cation, which is distinguished by its practical character, is SCIENCE: 83 names which appear upon the title pages. When com- plete (it has been published at the rate of thirty or forty volumes a year since iveb., 1892,) there will be about 300 volumes uniform in binding and embracing the entire domain cf applied science; Mechanics, Hlectricity, Hngi- neering, Physics, Chemistry, Agriculture, Biology, Medi- cine, Surgery and Hygiene. In each case the most com- petent men have been selected to treat of their respective specialties, and while within the limits of an octavo yol- ume of 200 pages it is necessary to leave out much of in- terest, still the authors of those works which it has been iny pleasure to read have accomplished much in their difficult condensation, treating of their subjects in a fluent manner and omitting nothing essential. Hach volume is terminated with a bibliography which enables the reader to pursue to its source any particular line of study. C. P. —The American Book Company have just issued a re- vised edition of William Swinton’s “School History of the United States,” the first edition of which appeared some twenty years ago. As the author is now dead, the re- vision of the work has been done by the editorial depart- ment of the Company, and the history has been continued to the present time. The book is well printed, and con- tains many maps and illustrations. Another book from the same house is a series of “Hxercises in Greek Prose Composition,” based on the first four books of the Anab- asis and prepared by William R. Harper, President of the University of Chicago, and Clarence F. Castle, assist- ant professor of Greek in the same institution. The Com- pany have also issued two volumes cf their “English Classics for Schools,” one of them containine three of Kmerson’s essays, and the other being an edition of Mat- thew Arnold’s “Sohrab and Rustum,”’ with an introduc- tion giving a sketch of his life and writings and some other matter useful to the student. moreover scientific in its accuracy and in the authorative Delicious Drink. Horsford’s Acid Phosphate with water and sugar only, makes a delicious, healthful and invigorating drink. Allays the thirst, aids diges- tion, and relieves the lassitude so common in midsummer. Dr, M. H. Henry, New York, says: “When completely tired out by pro- longed wakefulness and overwork, it is of the greatest valueto me. Asa bev- erage it possesses charms beyond any- thing I know of in the form of medi- cine.” Descriptive pamphlet free. Rumford Chemical Works, Providence, R. I. Beware of Substitutes and Imitations. EXCHANGES. [Free of charge to all, if of satisfactory character. Address N. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New York.) I wish to exchange a New Model Hall Type- writer, price $30, for a Daylight Kodak, 4x5 prefer- red. George A. Coleman, Dep’t. Agric., Div. of Ornithology, Washington, D. C. Exchange—The undersigned is desirous of ob- taining correspondents interested in macro-lipidop- tera, in Alaska, the far Western, Southwestern and Southern States. Will also exchange rare lepidoptera for entomological literature. Levi W. Mengel, Reading, Penn. Wanted to exchange—Medical books, Obstetri- cal Transactions, London, Works of Sir J. Y. Simpson, Beck’s Medical Jurisprudence. Hand- book for the Physiological Laboratory, by Burnton, Foster, Klein and Sanderson, Quain’s Anatomy, and about fifty others. Catalogues given. Want Geological, Botanical and Microscopical books in exchange. Dr. A. M. Edwards, 11 Washington St., Newark, N. J. A complete set of Bulletins of U. S. Geological Survey, various reports and bulletins of surveys of Missouri, Arkansas, Minnesota, Alabama, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio and Texas; iron ores of Minnesota; Wailes’ Agriculture and Geology of Mississippi (rare), To exchange for peri- odicals and books on Entomology or for Lepidop- tera: Rey. John Davis, the Deanery, Little Rock, rk. For sale or exchange.—A complete set of the re- port of the last Geological Survey of Wisconsin. T. C. Chamberlin, geologist. It consists of four large volumes, finely illustrated, and upwards of | forty large maps and charts. Willsell for cash or | exchange for a microscope. Address Geo.’ Beck, Platteville, Wis. I have a fire-proof safe, weight 1,r50 pounds | which I will sell cheap or exchange for a gasoline’ engine or some other things that may happen to suit. The safe is nearly new, used a short time only. Make offers. A, Lagerstrom, Cannon Falls, Minn., Box 857. - Wants. WANTED.—A position as teacher of Biology, by an experienced teacher, a college graduate with four university post-graduate courses in the Sciences. Good endorsements, and eighteen years’ experience. Address A. N. Somers, La Porte, Ind. ANTED.—Assistant in Nautical Almanac office, Navy Department. The Civil Service Com- mission will hold an examination on August 15 to fill a vacancy in the position of assistant (computer) in the Nautical Almanac office. The subjects will be letter-writing, penmanship, trigonometry, rudi- ments of analytical geometry and calculus, loga- rithms, theory and practice of computations, and astronomy. Each applicant must provide himself with a five-place logarithmic table. The examina- tion will be held in Washington, and if applications are filed in season, arrangements may be made for examinations in the large cities. Blanks will be furnished upon application to the Commission at Washington. D RAFTSMEN WANTED.—The Civil Service Commission will hold examinations on August 15 to fill two vacancies in the War Department; one in the position of architectual dratisman, salary $1,400, the other in the position of assistant drafts- man, Quartermaster General’s office, salary $1,200. The subjects of the architectural draftsman exami- nation are letter-writing, designing specifications and mensuration, and knowledge of materials; of the a ant draftsman examination they are letter-writing, tracing, topographic drawing and projections. The examination will be held*in Washington, and if applications are filedin season, arrangements may be made for examinations in the large cities. Blanks will be furnished upon appli- cation to the Commission at Washington. A YOUNG man who has been through the course in mathematics in Princeton University, wishes some tutoring thissummer. Rates reason- able. Address P. H. Westcott, Cramer’s Hill, Cam- den Co., N. J. GRADUATE ofan American Polytechnic insti- tution and of a German University (Gottingen), seeks a position to teach chemistry ina college or similar institution. Five years’ experience in teaching chemistry. Address Chemist, 757 Cary St. Brockton, Mass, 84 SCIENCE. Vol. XXII. No. 49 THE MODERN MALADY ; or, Suh ferers from ‘ Nerves,’ An introduction to public consideration, | from a non-medical point of view, of a con- | dition of ill-health which is increasingly prevalent in all ranks of society. In the first part of this work the author dwells on | the errors in our mode of treating Neuras-| thenia, consequent on the wide ignorance of the subject which still prevails; in the sec- ond part, attention is drawn to the principal | causes of the malady. The allegory forming | the Introduction to Part I. gives a brief his- tory of nervous exhaustion and the modes of treatment which have at various times been thought suitable to this most painful and try- ing disease, By CYRIL BENNETT. 12°, 184 pp., $1.50. N.D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, New York. Send 25 Cents For a 3-months’ trial subscription to THE MOTHER’S NURSERY GUIDE, 7he recognized authority on the care of infants and children. $2 per year. Health, Education, Dress, Pastimes. “Of incalculable value.”—W. V. Herald. BABYHOOD PUBLISHING CO., Box 3123, N. Y. You Ought to Read The Popular Sciemce News and Boston Journal of Chemistry. Only one dollar till July, 1894. A scientific newspaper for unscientific readers. Address POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS CO., 5 Somerset St., Boston, Mass. DELSARTE SYSTEM OF ORATORY. A Book of over 600 pages of great value to all Delsartians, teachers of elocution, public speakers, singers, actors, sculptors, painters, psychologists, theologians, scholars in any department of science, art and thought. Price, $2.50, postpaid. EDGAR S. WERNER, Publisher, 108 East 16th Street, = = = New York. SOFTLY STEALS THE LIGHT OF DAY wher filtered through windows covered with CRYSTOGRAPHS, a substitute for Stained Glass that is inexpensive, beautiful, and easily applied. 20c. per square foot. Samples and catalogue, 10c. CRYSTOGRAPH Co., 316 North Broad St., Philadelphia, QUERY. LIGHTNING DESTROYS! re | a case of lightning stroke in which the dissipation of a small Entirely new departure in pro- conductor (one-sixteenth of an tecting buildings from lightning. inch in diameter, say,) has failed One hundred feet of the Hodges to protect between two horizon- Patent Lightning Dispeller tal planes passing through its upper and lower ends respective- ly? Plenty of cases have been found which show that when the conductor is dissipated the build- ing is not injured to the extent explained (for many of these see volumes of Philosophical Trans- Can any reader of Sczence cite Shall it be your house or a pound of copper ? (made under patents of N. D.C. Hodges, Editor of Sczence) will be sent, prepaid, to any ad- dress, on receipt of five dollars. Correspondence solicited. ~ Agents wanted, actions at the time when light- ning was attracting the attention of the Royal Society), but not an exception is yet known, al AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION CO., 874 Broadway, New Work City. Fact and Theory Papers though this query has been pub- i lished far and wide among elec- THE SUPPRESSION OF CON. SUMPTION. By GopFREY W. HAMBLETON, M.D. 12°. 40c. II. THE SOCIETY AND THE “FAD.” By APPLETON MORGAN, Hsq. 12°. 20 cents. Il]. PROTOPLASM AND LIFE C. F. Cox. 12°. 75 cents. IV. THE CHEROKEES IN PRE-CO- LUMBIAN TIMES. By Cyrus THOMAS. 12°. $1. V. THE TORNADO. By H. A. Hazen. 12°. $1. VI. TIME-RELATIONS OF MENTAL PHENOMENA. By JOSEPH JASTROW. 12°. 50c. VII. HOUSEHOLD HYGIENE. By Mary TAYLOR BISSELL. 12°. 75 cents. N. D. C. HODGES, Publisher, 874 Broadway, New York. tricians. First inserted June 19, 1891. No re- sponse to date. N. D. ¢. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, . ¥. SCIENCE CLUBBING RATES. 10% DISCOUNT. We will allow the above discount to any subscriber to Science who will send us an order for periodicals exceeding $10, counting each at its full price. By 874 Bros wee N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N.Y. ‘BUSY FOLKS’ GYMNASIUI1.” A few minutes’ daily exercise on our fascinating apparatus clears the brain, tones up the body, develops weak parts. Our ’ cabinet contains chest weights, rowing-weights, lifting-weights, clubs and dumb bells, adjust- able for old and young. /¢ zs the only complete exerctsing outfit in the world suitable for use in living rooms. All prices. You can order on approval. Chest machine separate, $4.50 and up. * Educated agents wanted. Puyst CAL CULTURE CHAR?, with illustrated directions for de: veloping every part of the body healthfully, 50 cts. Sent for half price to those naming this paper. WHITNEY HOME GYMNASIUM CO., Box D., Rochester, N.Y. 6 Shoulders and Upper Back good for Round Shoulders ELEVENTH YEAR. SINGLE Coptrs, Ten CEnrs. Vou. XXIT. No. 550. 1893. $3.50 PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE. | USHFYUL HAND-BOUKS, ' The Ornamental Penman’s Pocketbook of Alpha- bets, for sign-writers, engravers, stone-cutters and TH F WI N N} PEG COU NTRY Y draftsmen, 20 cts. A System of Hasy Lettering, b H] Howard Cromwell, 50 cts. Practical Electrics : x Universal Hen dyboos on Every-day Electrical Mat- AUGUST 18, CONTENTS. Botany in Jamaica. J. E. Humphreys......... 85 OR, ters, 135 pp., fully illustrated, 12mo, cloth, 7 ets. Introduction of Weeds in Grass Seeds. 1 pices on eslen on Sal Ucn Gy by Gale D 8 (9 pp., with a number of plates to scale, 12mo, clo 88 ROUGHING IT WITH AN ECLIPSE PARTY. $1. The Phonograph and How to Construct It, b, ; 86! W. Gillett, 87 pp., 12 folding plates, 12mo, cloth, §$ BY SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, Publishers, 12 Cortlandt 87 St., New York. Illustrated and descriptive cata- A. ROCHESTER FELLOW. |logues, 10 cts. Alexander Meek, Technical Education. (S. H. SCUDDER.) fede zat | Palenque Hieroglyphics. Ph. J. J. Valen 3 0 | v Humboldt and Brazil... Ja a With thirty-two Illustrations and a Map. MINERALS NereESLOxe se Remarks on the Tern Oo 2 land, Maine. Arthur H. Norton or 12°. $1.50. ‘ < Nee ene me aie An Analcite Copper Bowlder from the Kewee- ae 5 F nei | a, 5end for our ‘« Winter Bulletin, recently issued. aw Range, Michigan. 1 93] _ Ehis is a sprightly narrative of personal inci Minerals, Gems, Microscopical Sections, Fine Lap- dent. The book will be a pleasant reminder to 93} many of rough experiences on a frontier which is rapidly receding.” —Boston Transcript. “he picture of our desolate North-western terri- tory twenty-five years ago, in contrast with its | civilized aspect to-day, and the pleasant features of the writer’s style, constitute the claims of his little idary Work. GHO, L. ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists, SOUS ie au Crpa ayia tinder cee Some Ohio Mounds. An Addition to the Myology of the Cat. J. HD. G, HODGES, book to present attention.”’—The Dial. pursuit.” Its BEGINNERS’ CORNER furnishes every year a complete and interesting course in German grammar. $2ayear. Single copies 20 cents. P. O. Box 151, Manchester, N. H. B14 Broxdway, NV NEW METHOD OF PROTECTING BUILDINGS FROM LIGHTNING. SPARE THE ROD AWD SPOIL THE HOUSE! Lightning Destroys. Shalt it be Your House or a Pound of Copper? PROTECTION FROM LIGHTNING. What is the Problem? In seeking a means of protection from lightuing-discharges, we have in view two objects,— the one the preventicnu of damage to buildings, and the other the prevention of injury to life. In order to destroy u building in whole or in part, it is necessary that work should bo done; that is, as physicists express it, energy is required. Just before the lightning-discharge takes plave, tha energy capable of doing the damage which we seek {o prevent exists in the column of air extending from the cloud to the garth in some form that makes it capable of appearing as what we cail electricity. Woe will therefore call it electrical energy. What this electrical energy is, it is not necessary for us to consider in this place ; but thatit exists there can be no doubt, as it manifests itself in the destruction of buildings. The problem that we have to deal with, therefore, is the conversion of this energy into some other form, and the ac- complishment of this in such a way as shall result in the least injury to prop- +t; d life. erty and life Why Have the Old Rods Failed? When lightning-rods were first proposed, the science of energetics was en- tirely undeveloped; that is to say, in the middle of the last century scientific men had not come to recognize the fact thai the different forms of energy — heat, electricity, mechanical power, etc.— were convertible one into the other, and that each could produce just so much of each of the other forms, and no more. The doctrine of the conservation and correlation of energy was first clearly worked out in the early part of this century. There were, however, some facts known in regard to electricity a hundred and forty years ago; and among these were the attracting power of points for an electric spark, and the conducting power of metals. Lightning-rods were therefore introduced with the idea that the electricity existing in the lightning-discharge could be con- veyed around the building which it was proposed to protect, and that the building would thus be saved. The question as to dissipation of the energy involved was entirely ignored, naturally; and from that time to this, in spite of the best endeavors of those interested, lightning-rods constructed in accordance with Franklin’s principle have not furnished satisfactory protection. The reason for this is apparent when it is considered that the elecirical energy existing in the atmosphere before the discharge, or, more exactly,in the column of dielectric from the cloud to the earth, above referred to, reaches its maximum value on the sur- face of the conductors that chance to be within the column of dielectric; so that the greatest display of energy will boon the surface of the very lightning- rods that were meant to protect, and damage results, as so often proves to be the case. - It will be understood, of course, that this display of energy on the surface of the old lightning-rods Is aided by their belng more or less insulated from the earth, but in any event the very existence of such a mass of metal as an old lightning-rod can only tend to produce a disastrous dissipation of electrical energy upon its surface,— ‘‘ to draw the lightning,” as it ls 50 commonly put. Is there a Better Means of Protection? Having cleared oux minds, therefore, of any idea of conducting olectricity, and keeping clearly in view the fact that in providisg protection against Ight- ning we must furnish some means hy which ths electrical energy may be harmlessly dissipated, the question arisus, ‘*Cai an Improved form be given to the rod so that it shall ald In this dissipation ?” ~ As the electrical energy involved manifests itself on the surface of condue- tors, the improved rod should be metallic; but, instead of makiug a large rod, Suppose that we make it comparatively small in size, so that the tolal amount of metal running from the top of the house to some pviut a little below the foundations shall not exceed one pound. Suppose, again, that we introduce numerous insulating Joints in thisrod. We shall then have a rod that experi- ence shows will be readily destroyed—will be readily dissipated — when a discharge takes place; an {it will be evident, that, so far as the electrical en- ergy is consumed in doing this, there will be the less to do other damage. The only point that remains to be proved as to the utility of such a rod is to show that the dissipation of such a conductor does not tend to injure other bodies in its immediate vicinity. On this point I can only say that I have found no case where such a conductor (for Instance, a bell wire) has been dis- sipated, even if resting against a plastered wall, where there has been any material damage done to surrounding objects. Of course, it is readily understood that such an explosion cannot take place in a confined space wi:hout the rupture of the walls (the wire cannot be boarded over); butin every case that Ihave found recorded this dissipation takes place just as gunpowder burns when spread onaboard. The objects against wich tho conductor rests may be stained, but they are not shattered, I would therefore make clear this distinctlon between the action of electri cal energy when dissipated cn the surface of a large conductor and when dis- sipated on the surface ot a comparatively small or easily di-sipated conductor. When dissipated on the surface of a large conductor, — a conductor so strong as to resist the explosive effect, — damage results to objecis around. When dissipated on the surface of a small conductor, the conductor goes, but the other objects around are saved A Typical Case of the Action of a Small Conductor. Franklin, in a letter to Collinson read before the London Royal Society, Dec. 18, 1755, describing the partial destruction by lightning of a church-tower at Newbury, Mass., wrote, ‘‘ Near the bell was fixed an iron hammer to strike the hours; and from the tail of the hammer a wire went down through a smail gimlet-hole in the floor that the bell stood upon, and through a second floor in like manner; then horizontally under and near ths plastered ceiling of that second floor, till it came near a plastered wall; then down by the side of that wall to aclock, which stood about twenty feet below the bell. The wire was not bigger thana common knitting needle. The spire was split all to pieces by the lightning, and the parts flung in all directions over the square in whick the church stood, so that nothing remained above the bell. The ligbtrine passed between the hammer and the clock in the above-mentioned wire. without hurting either of the floors, or having any effect upon them (except making the gimlet-holes, through which the wire passed, a little bigger), end without hurting the plastered wall, or any part of the building, so far as the aforesaid wire and the pendulum-wire of the clock extended ; which latter wire was about the thickness of a goose-quill. From the end of the pendu- lum, down quite to the ground, the builjing was exceedingly rent and dam- aged. .. . No part of the aforementioned 1g, small wire, between the clock and the hammer, could be found, except about two inches that hung to the tall of the hammer, and about as much that was fastened to the clock ; the rest being exploded, and its particles dissipated in smoke and alr, as gun- powder is by common fire, and had only left a black smutty track on the plas- toring, three or four inches broad, darkest in the middic, and fainter towards the edges, all along the ceiling, under which it passed, and down tho wall.’ One hundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made under patents of N. D. C. Hodges, Editor of Science) will be mailed, postpaid, to any address, on receipt of five dollars ($5). Correspondence solicited. Agents wanted. AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION CO.. 874 Broadway, New York City. SCIENCE Vol. XXII. No. 550 s | 2 5 Os : Heobably ious ald _ Littell’s Living Age, THE ONLY WEEKLY ECLECTIC. 1844. 1893. “ The Oldest and the Best.” It selects from the whole wide field of EUROPEAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE the best articles by THE ABLEST LIVING WRITERS THE Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity do. | In every department of | Literature, Science, Politics and Art. now is a good time to OPINIONS. If yon do not, ©) “Only the best has ever filled its pages; the begin. best thought rendered in the purest Knglish. Nothing poor or unworthy has ever appeared in the columns of Tur Living AcE.”—The Presby- terian, Phila. “Considering its size, it is the cheapest of literary periodicals, and no collection of maga- zine literature is complete without this fore- most of eclectices.—Hducational Courant, Louis- ville, Ky. “Tt is one of the few periodicals which seem indispensable. It contains nearly all the It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. 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The Ciemens News | Agency, Box 2329, San Francisco, C21, and Subscriptions taken for all American and foreign | SEND For A SAMPLE Copy oF Book Cuat. A Month- RACES AND. PEOPLES, By DANIEL G, BRINTON, M.D. “The book is good, thoroughly good, and will long remain the best accessible elementary ethnography in our language.” —The Christian Union. “We strongly recommend Dr. Brinton’s ‘ Races | and Peoples’ to both beginners and scholars. We | are not aware of any other recent work on the science of which it treats in the English language.” —Asiatic Quarterly. “Fis book is an excellent one, and we can heartily recommend it as an introductory manual of ethnol- ogy.”—The Monist. “A useful and really interesting work, which de-: serves to be widely read and studied both in Europe and America.”—Brighton (Eng.) Herald. “This volume is most stimulating. It is written with great clearness, so that anybody can under- stand, and while in some ways, perforce, superficial, grasps very well the complete field of humanity.”— The New York Times. “Dr. Brinton invests his scientific illustrations and measurements with an indescribable charm of nar- ration, so that ‘Races and Peoples,’ avowedly a rec- ord of discovered facts, is in reality a strong stim- ulant to the imagination.’—Philadelphia Public Ledger. “The work is indispensable to the student who re- quires an intelligent guide to a course of ethno- | graphic reading.”’—Philadelphia Times. Price, postpaid, $1.75. THE AMERICAN RACK, By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. “ Vol XXil. No. 550: the localities in the Hastern States, as well as those in Indiana and Hlinois, having been verified in past years; but the localities in Kentucky and Kansas require con- - firmation, and that in Colorado is extremely doubtiul. NOTES AND NEWS. ty this age of rapid advancement in all lines of knowledge, especially in science, people have learned that . combined organized labor accomplishes far more exact re- sults than individual effort. Hvery department of science has its -organization for the promotion of that science. Such an organization is the Wilson Ornithological chap- ter of the Agassiz Association, for the promotion ct Ameri- can ecrnithology. It is composed of active, associate and honorary members. it isin no respect a rival of the American Ornithologists’ Union, but has its work con- ducted on a codperative plan, and therefore necessarily largely systematic. While furnishing the more advanced with ample material for work, it also offers such opportunities to the younger and less experienced as are best suited to their needs. It seeks to educate those just beginning aud those pursuing a dilatory course into the highest usefulness as working ornithologists. Active members pay an initiation fee and a yearly as- sessment of $1.00, and are limited to 100 in number. This number is now nearly reached. Associate members pay a yearly assessment of 50 cents and are unlimited in- number. All working ornithologists are invited to join and aid in the work. Applications for membership should reach the President or Secretary before Sept. 20, to in- sure insertion in the list of candidates for the October election. Address either Willard N. Clute, Sec., Bing- hampton, N. Y., or Lynds Jones, Oberlin, Ohio. —William Beverley Harison published on the 15th “The Foreigner’s Manual of Hnelish.” ‘his is prepared for use in mixed classes of foreigners, and can be used without any knowledge of the several languages, as Eng- lish only is used throughout. It has been carefully cor- rected to embody all of the suggestions of Gouin, whose book appeared after completion of first MS., and during revision the MS. has been successiully used in teaching Chinese, Polish Jews and others absolutely ignorant of both written or spoken Hnglish. The lessons are ar- ranged to give in eacha concrete subject, and a useful vocabulary is given to enable the student to talk from the beginning. —The Chain Hardy & Company, Denver, Colo., have just ready the revised and enlarged edition of the “Geol- ogy of Colorado and Western Ore Deposits.” This work ot Professor Lakes, of the State School of Mines, has al- ready run through one edition as applied to Colorado. Now that the Western States have been included the sale is expected to be quite extended. ‘The plates illustrating the geological formations are very elaborate, and illus- trate the pecularities of veins and ore deposits. ‘The book is designed for a text-book, and is also adapted for general reading by those interested in mining. —Rand, McNally & Co. have in preparation the Pro- ceedings of the Bankers’ and Financiers’ Congress held in Chicago from June 19 to 24. —The Scientific Publishing Co. have just ready a work on “Universal Bimetallism and an international monetary clearing house, together with a record of the world’s money statistics of gold and silver,” ete., by Richard P. Rothwell, editor of the Hngineering and Mining Journal. —Macmillan & Co. have just ready “A Treatise on the Theory of Functions,” by Prof. James Harkness, of Bryn Mawr College. : August 18, 1893. | SCIENCE: PusBLisHED BY N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broapway, New York. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in advance, one hundred copies of the issue containing his articie will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advande. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reasons we desire to circulate as many copies of SCIENCE as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprint- edelsewere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photo-engraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manu- scripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount cf postage accompanies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer; not necessa- rily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold our- selves responsible for any view or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Attention is called to the “Wants” column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and ad- dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them, The “Exchange” column is likewise open. THE ATMOSPHERE OF STELLAR SPACE. BY G. D. LIVEING, CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND. Ip was an interesting speculation that Sir R. Ball opened up in this journal, a short time since, with regard to the lunar atmosphere. His argument might easily be car- ried further, and would take us, as I shall try to show, into the realms of stellar space. It has been objected to his theory that the velocity of the particles of air at ordi- nary temperatures, though on the average about five hun- dred yards per second, is not enough to carry a particle so quickly away from the moon that it would not be drawn back again by its gravitation. This objection van- ishes if we consider, not the average velocity, but the velocities of individual particles, and the changes those velocities rapidly undergo in consequence of frequent col- lisions among the particles. It is not easy to grasp the numbers involved in my argument, but I will state them on the authority of Lord Kelvin’s popular lecture on the size of atoms. He gives the number of particles in one cubic centimetre, or one-sixteenth of a cubic inch, of atmospheric air at ordinary barometric pressure and at ordinary tem- perature, as not less than a million million of millions, or 10°. Maxwell, in his article on “Atoms,” in the Encyclo- pedia Britannica, makes the number greater. These par- ticles cannot move far, not more on the average than about one hundredth of a thousandth of a centimetre, without encountering one another, so that each particle collides with one or another of its neighbors no less than five thousand million times in every second. If we sup- pose the density of the moon’s atmosphere to be only a millionth of that of our atmosphere at the earth’s surface, there will still be at least a million millions of particles in one cubic centimetre of it, and the frequency of their en- counters with each other will still be some thousands per second for each of them. These encounters will cause them to be perpetually changing their velocities, and while some will have, at any given instant, velocities many times greater than the average, others will move at cor- respondingly slower rates. The directions, also, of their movements will be constantly changing from the same cause. If we suppose two particles, moving with equal velocities in directions at right angles to one another, to come into direct collision, one of them will have its veloc- ity increased in the ratio of the square root of two to one, or rather more than seven to five, while the other will be reduced to momentary rest. If, now, the former come into a similar collision with a third particle, one of these two SCIENCE. 87 will acquire a still greater velocity. And considering the prodigious number of the particles and the short distance they can move without encountering others, it is evident that there must be an immense variety of rates of motion amongst them, and many of them must have velocities far exceeding that necessary to carry them clear away from the moon, or the earth, or even from the sun. In fact, amongst so many millions of millions the chance that some one will go on increasing its velocity at every one of a large number of successive encounters is very great in- deed, practically a certainty. If this be granted, some, if it be but a small fraction of the whole, will be always escaping from the outer surface of the lunar atmosphere into the planetary space; and the like must go on from the atmospheres of other planets, only the fraction of the whole which get clear away from the bigger planets will be so much less because of the greater attraction of the bigger masses. One interesting consequence of this escape of only the quicker moving particles, is that the temperature of inter- planetary space must be thereby raised above that of the outer regions of a planet’s atmosphere. Jor the temper- ature is directly proportional to the average square of the velocities of the particles, and as only the quickest fly off for good, the average velocity of the remainder must be less than that of those that break away. The process of dis- sipating an atmosphere into space might be stopped by its own cooling effect. But itis obvious that there is an- other cause which prevents anything like this. The planets are continually sweeping through the interplane- tary space where the escaped particles are moving about, and even if the density of this interplanetary atmosphere be only a millionth of a millionth of the density of that at the earth’s surface, still there will be at least a million particles in each cubic centimetre, and some of them will get swept up by the planets in their course and will not get away again. Hence the process of dissipation will cease when a planet picks up in its course through space just as many as it loses by diffusion in the same time. It follows from this that there must exist in planetary space an atmosphere, greatly reduced in density, it is true, but of the same chemical constitution as the earth’s atmos- phere. That is to say, the chemical constituents will be the same, though not quite in the same proportions. For the average velocity of the particles of nitrogen is a trifle greater than that of the particles of oxygen, and so the former will escape into space rather more frequently in proportion to their numbers than the latter. Besides, the effect of gravity is to increase very slightly the propor- tion of oxygen to nitrogen in the lower strata of the at- mosphere. Hence, for both reasons, the atmosphere of planetary space will be a trifle richer in nitrogen than the air we breathe. There is so very little free hydrogen in our atmosphere that we cannot detect it, but for all that, it is most probable that there is a very little. And as oxygen particles are sixteen times as heavy as those of hydrogen, the proportion of free hydrogen to the other gases will be proportionally greater in the upper regions of the air than in the lower; and since hydrogen particles move four times as quickly as oxygen particles, it follows that the former will escape from the earth’s attraction about four times as fast, and so the proportion of hydro- gen in planetary space may be sensibly greater than im air we are able to test. A similar argument will apply to particles of water vapor, which are little more than half as massive as particles of oxygen. If all the planets are thus losing continually some of their atmospheres and picking up an equal amount from the space they move in, it fol- lows that all the planets must have atmospheres of simi- lar constitution to our own. For each planet has for'ages been losing some of its own and acquiring some of the air 88 of other planets, and if there had ever been any differ- ence, which is unlikely, considering the general unity of the solar system, it must long ago have disappeared in con- sequence of this interchange. The argument is strengthened by what we know of the atmospheres of the planets, especially of our nearest neighbors, Mars and Venus. Not only do these planets give plain indications of their atmospheres, but it is cer- tain that they are very much like our own. Thatis found out in the following way: Amongst the many dark lines, Fraunhofer lines, as they are called,in the solar spectrum there are certain well marked groups which Sir D. Brew- ster long ago pointed out to be due to the absorption of rays by our atmosphere, because they are seen to be blacker and more intense when the sun is low than when he is high in the sky. That is because the rays have to pass through a greater thickness of air before they reach us when the sun is nearer the horizon. Now, by carefully observing the light reflected from Venus and Mars, which must have twice passed through so much of their atmos- pheres as lies above the reflecting surface, it has been found that precisely the same rays which are darker when the sun is low are also darker in the spectra of these planets. Moreover, in these planets there are no new dark lines indicating any absorbent of a different kind. The more distant planets show additional absorption bands, but their atmospheres must, on account of their greater masses, perhaps also from lower temperature, be denser, and besides they appear to be full of clouds which may not be merely water-dust, and may well produce their own absorptive effects. The argument, however, reaches a good deal farther. Not only are the planets moving through the so-called planetary space, but the sun and all its train are moving through the interstellar space. Astronomers are agreed that we are moving, but the direction of the movement is much better known than the pace. The rate is sometimes set down at about thirty miles a second: certainly not an extravagant estimate. But at any rate we are going, and leaving the interplanetary atmosphere, or some of it, behind. Even if the solar system had no such motion, the process of diffusion must gradually carry the interplanetary at- mosphere into regions beyond, and, unless this diffusion were compensated by accession of air from without, the planets must gradually lose their atmospheres until the loss was stopped by the cooling effect before mentioned. After countless ages we have manifestly not reached that stage, so we must conclude that interstellar space is per- vaded by an atmosphere, though it be of very great tenuity. If this atmosphere is not of similar chemical constitu- tion to our own, ours must be changing by slow degrees, and in course of ages the change must tell. There is, however, no reason to think that our atmosphere has for millions of years undergone any change sufficient to affect the constitution of animal life of the higher types, and if that be so the air of stellar space must be much the same as that of interplanetary space and our own. Sterry Hunt, from the preponderance of vegetable growth at certain periods of the earth’s history, inferred that at those peri- ods there must have been an excessive quantity of car- bonic acid in the atmosphere; and he fancied that this was acquired from the stellar space as the solar system made its way into regions where there was an unusual amount of carbonic acid. Spectrum analysis has not led us to think that the chemical elements of the stars of any region are different from those with which we are ac- quainted in the earth and in the sun. Stars in the same region are mostly of the same type, and the types are few, and all the common types of spectra of stars give indica- tions of elements which we know, and no certainty of any SCIENCE. Vol. XXII. No. 550 other elements. Distance makes no difference at all. The few stars with unusual spectra do not so much seem to have peculiar elements as to be in peculiar physical states. The universe seems, so far, of one make, and there are no facts which negative the supposition that the whole vast space through which we see stars is filled with air; air very rare indeed, perhaps not a millionth of a mil- lionth ag dense as ours, but still, on the whole, similarly constituted. FISH ACCLIMATIZATION ON THE PACIFIC COAST. BY HUGH M. SMITH, M. D., UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. Frw experiments in fish culture have been economically more important and successful than those which have been conducted by the United States Fish Commission. with reference to the Pacific Coast. Coincident with the propagation of native fishes the introduction of non-indig- enous species has been undertaken, with results that have been extremely gratifying to fish culturists, and per- haps more striking than any previously obtained in this or any other country. Among the fishes inhabiting the rivers and coast waters of the Atlantic slope, none is better known, more import- ant, and more highly esteemed than the shad (Clupea sapidissima) and the striped bass or rockfish (Roccus lineatus), the former being a food fish, pure and simple, the latter combining a gamey disposition with excellent food qualities. These fish are anadromous, entering the fresh water for the purpose of spawning and passing a large part of the year at sea or in the salt water. Attention will be called to the experimental introduction of these fishes to the west coast, although several other important food-fish, among them the black bass. (JMecropterus sal- moides) and catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus) might also be mentioned in this connection. The introduction of shad fry to the west coast was first undertaken as long ago as 1871, when 12,000 young fish were deposited in the Sacramento River, under the aus- pices of the California Fish Commission. After that the experiment was taken up by the U. S. Fish Commission and carried on until 1886, during which time 609,000 young shad were placed in the Sacramento River, 600,000 in the Willamette River, 300,000 in the Columbia River and 10,000 in the Snake River. Two or three years after the first fish were planted a few more or less mature examples were obtained in the Sacramento River; as additional deposits were made, the number of marketable fish began to increase, and the fish gradually distributed themselves along the entire coast of the United States north of Monterey Bay, until finally they have come to rank next to salmon in abundance among the river fishes of the west coast. The U. 8. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, in his annual report for 1887, speaking of the small plants of shad fry made in the Sacramento River at Tehama, says: “From these slender colonies, aggregating less than one per cent of the number now annually planted in our Atlantic slope rivers, the shad have multiplied and dis- tributed themselves along 2,000 miles of coast from the Golden Gate of California to Vancouver Island in British Columbia. They are abundant in some of the rivers, common in most of them, and occasional ones may be found everywhere in the estuaries and bays of this lone coast line. “Prior to our experiments on the west coast it was a dictum of fish culture that fish planted in a river would return to it when mature for the purpose. of spawning. The result of these experiments has been to demonstrate August 18, 1893. that this instinct of nativity, should it really exist, is in this case dominated by other influences, which have dis- persed the shad planted in the Sacramento widely beyond the limits which we had assigned to them, and in the most unexpected direction. «The cause is probably to be sought in the genial influ- ences of the Japan current, which brings the warmth of equatorial Asia to temper the extremes of Arctic climate on the southern shore of the Alaskan Peninsula, and thence sweeping to the south, carries tropical heats to the latitude of San Francisco. Repelled on the one hand by the low temperature of the great rivers and fringe of coast waters, and solicited on the other by the equable and higher temperature of the Japan current, the shad have become true nomads, and have broken the bounds of the hydrographic area to which we had supposed they would be restricted. Vollowing the track of the Asiatic cur- rent, and finding more congenial temperatures as they progress, it is not unreasonable to expect that some col- onies will eventually reach the coast of Asia and establish . themselves in its great rivers.” Shad are now found in greatest numbers in the Sacra- mento and Columbia Kivers, where they are of consider- able economic value. Owing to the fact that very little apparatus specially adapted to their capture is employed, no correct idea of their actual abundance in a given stream can be formed. Nearly all the shad thus far taken have been obtained in nets operated for salmon or other fish, shad being only an incidental element in the catch. The price received by the fishermen is a good criterion of the abundance of the fish. When first taken, shad brought as much as $1.20 a pound; in 1892 the value in many places was only two cents a pound, and in the Columbia River at one period the catch was so large and the price so low that the fishermen did not go to the trouble of marketing the fish caught. ‘he average price on the coast has declined in the past four years from ten cents per pound in 1889 to four cents in 1892. An inquiry conducted by the U. 8. Fish Commission in 1892 placed that bureau in possession of information showing the extent of the shad fishery in every river of the Pacific States. It was ascertained that in the year named 660,000 pounds of shad were marketed, the value of the same to the fishermen being about $27,000. Re- ports received during the present year indicate a catch of perhaps a million pounds, and it seems reasonable to an- ticipate a steady increase in the production with the im- proved facilities for shipment and the growing demand for fresh fish in the rising towns adjacent to the coast rivers. Journal. MASSACHUSETTS. : A FIRST-CLASS WEEKLY MEDICAL NEWSPAPER. ESTABLISHED 1828, Terms of Subscription: vance, numbers, 15c. This JOURNAL circulates chiefly through the New fs In the United States, and to Canada and Mexico, To Foreign Countries embraced in the Universal Postal Union, $1.56 a year additional. Jen consecutive numbers free by mail on receipt of $1.00. $5 00 a yearin ad Single England States, and is seen by the great majority of the profession in that important district, Asa means of reaching physicians it is unequalled. It is under the editorial management of Dr. George B. Shattuck, tent coadjutors. Subscriptions and advertisements assisted by a large staff of compe- received by the undersigned, to whom remittances| by mail should be sent by money-order, draft or registered letier. DAMRELL & UPHAM, 283 Washington Street, Boston, Mass, RACES AND PEOPLES. By DANIEL G, BRINTON, M.D. “The book is good, thoroughly good, and will long remain the best accessible elementary ethnography in our language.”—The Christian Union. “We strongly recommend Dr. Brinton’s ‘ Races and Peoples’ to both beginners and scholars. We are not aware of any other recent work on the science of which it treats in the English language.” —Asiatic Quarterly. “His book is an excellent one, and we can heartily recommend it as an introductory manual of ethnol- ogy.” —The Monist. “A useful and really interesting work, which de- serves to be widely read and studied both in Europe and America.”’—Brighton (Eng.) Herald. “This volume is most stimulating. It is written with great clearness, so that anybody can under- stand, and while in some ways, perforce, superficial, grasps very well the complete field of humanity.”— The New York Times. “Dr, Brinton invests his scientific illustrations and measurements with an indescribable charm of nar- ration, so that ‘Races and ‘Peoples,’ avowedly a rec- ord of discovered facts, is in reality a strong stim- ulant to the imagination.”—Philadelphia Public Ledger. “The work is indispensable to the student who re- quires an intelligent guide to a course of ethno- graphic reading.”—Philadelphia Times. Price, postpaid, $1.75. THE AMERICAN RACK. By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. “The book is one of unusual interest and value."— Inter Ocean. “Dr. Daniel G. Brinton writes as the acknowledged authority of the subject.”—Philadelphia Press. “The work will be of genuine value to all who wish to know the substance of what has been found out about the indigenous Americans.”’—Nature. “A masterly discussion, and an example of the successful education of the powers of observation.” —Philadelphia Ledger. Price, postpaid, $2. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Mineral Water For Liver, Kidney and B dder Troubles. For Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright’s Disease, Diabetes. For Hemorrhoids, Etc. It has been used medicinally and prescribed by physicians for nearly one hundred years, DIRECTIONS:—Take one or two glasses about a half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50. Bedford Mineral Springs Co., Bedfurd, Pa. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. BUILDING BOOKS. DRAWING 1893 Catalogue of B ooks on Building, Painting, and Decorating, also Catalogue of Draw. ing Instruments and Ma, terials, sent free on appli- cation to Wm, T. Comstock, INSTRUMENTS, 23 Warren St, New York. cia ie NEW YORK, AUGUST 25, 1893. AN EXHIBIT OF RELIGIONS. BY MERWIN-MARIE SNELL, 593 LA SALLE AVE., CHICAGO, ILL. Iy the month of September there is to take place in Chicago an event which promises to be epoch-making in the history of religions, and perhaps, by its ultimate con- sequences, in the general history of mankind. I refer to the World’s Parliament of Religions, at which the repre- sentatives of the Catholic, Oriental and Protestant forms of Christianity, with their various sub-divisions, will meet on equal terms with those of the different sects of Juda- ism, Mohammedanism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Parseeism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism, and - other non-christian systems. These religious bodies will present to the Parliament, through their accredited representatives, a statement of their teachings, practices and claims, and many of them will also have special congresses of their own, in which their doctrines, histories and practical methods will be still more fully exhibited. It is believed by many of the friends and participants of the parliament that it cannot fail to give rise to a mutual understanding and appreciation between the world’s religions, altogether unprecedented in the past, and that it will result in a vast increase in the spirit of human brotherhood, the lack of which has been the cause of many of the darkest chapters of history, and has con- stituted the greatest of all obstacles to the progress of the race. But it is to its scientific, rather than to its religious or social value, that I wish to call attention. Although many of the foremost Huropean and American specialists in comparative religion have prepared papers for the con- gress, or promised their personal attendance, the atten- tion of the scientific world at large has not yet been suffi- ciently drawn to the extraordinary opportunities which it will present to serious and disinterested students. It is true that it is in no sense a scientific congress, al- though several of its sessions will be devoted to the scien- tific view of religions, and these will be participated in by men of world-wide fame as the very foremost representa- tives of hierological science—men like Miiller, Tiele, dAlviella, Harding and the Réviiles. Itis true that the religious bodies participating have at heart, in most cases, . the interests of their own propaganda; they hope to make so favorable a representation of their own special systems as to break down any prejudices of which they may be the objects, and to attract at least the réspectful interest, if not the adhesion, of many of those who hear them. But these facts, so far from decreasing the scientific value of the parliament, are really its essential conditions. Tt is a truism to say that the collection of materials is the most important part of any inductive science, since the science can be genuine and its results definitive only so far as its basis of observed facts is broad and adequate. Now there is no existing science in which more still re- mains to be done in the collection of materials than in comparative religion. Many hurried inductions have been made on the basis of a few ill-observed and ill-assorted facts recorded by missionaries and travellers, whose opportunities, training, or habits of mind, have not fitted them for collecting thor- oughly authentic data. Only a small proportion of the sacred books of the world have thus far been translated by Kuropean scholars and placed within the reach of the student; and these books can have but a partial and pre- liminary value so long as the complicated systems which have produced them, or grown out of them, have not been studied in the details of their historical development, sub- division, reproduction, inter-action and fusion. What does European scholarship know, for example, about the religious development of India, in spite of the vast amount of good work which has been done in that field by Vedic scholars, general philologists, and other classes of students? There exists to this day but one professedly original résumé (and that very imperfect, and based to a large extent upon a native work) of the emist- ing sects of Hinduism, and from this all other descriptions have been, for the most part, copied or abstracted. Who is there, even among professional Indianists, who is thoroughly acquainted with the various ramifications of either Vaishnava, ’Saiva or Sakti Hinduism, the dates and circumstances of origin of the sects into which they are divided, the minutiz and sources of their doctrinal and practical differences, and their relative dependence upon ancient Vedic or non-Vedic Aryan religion, the pre-Aryan cults of Bactria and India, Mohammedan and Christian influences, the old and new philosophical schools, and in- ternal processes of corruption and decay or of constructive or agglutinative development? Again, every competent student of religions knows how difficult it is to catch the exact flavor or spirit of Oriental, or even of savage thought, and how, almost inevitably, it receives a certain foreign coloring whenever it is trans- mitted through a cultivated Occidental brain. Thus far very few descriptions of the non-christian religious sects of the Kast, written by native adherents of those religions, have been obtainable. It is to be further noted that those students of hierol- ogy who approach the subject from the philological standpoint, are apt to pay too much attention to the ter- minology of religions and to their archaic literary monu- ments (which sometimes represent ideal systems that have never been actually carried out to any great extent) rather than to the successive transformations of their popular and pragmatic forms, the study of which is really as much more important as it is more difficult. On the other hand, those whose primary interest is eth- nological, are equally prone to consider, even in the more advanced religions, the paraphernalia of the cult and the media of doctrine, to the detriment of the theories and Weltanschawungen themselves, which form, in every case, the soul of the system. The science of religions can never rise above the level of an empty empiricism, and no definitive results can be attained in it, until every class of religious facts shall be recorded with absolute impartiality, and religions studied as a whole—their doctrines, philosophies, spiritual and moral disciplines, biblical and liturgical constructions, sacramental and ceremonial systems, organization and functional specialization, methods of instruction and propaganda, and fortuitous non-religious ingredients, with due distinctions between the official and popular elements, and, whenever they have an ascertainable his- tory, in an exact chronological order. A dogma is as ac- ceptable a datum for the science of religions as a myth, 100 or an altar-stone, or a ceremonial mask, and the religions that are nearest us are no less in importance than those that are remotest. Every one who is cognizant of the universality of law must recognize that all the changes in the recent religious life of Christendom, for example, are subject to the same laws of religious evolution and disso- lution that have governed the whole religious history of the globe. If these allegations are correct, a collection in which all the principal religions of the Christian and non- Christian world are presented in the way in which they are understood and practised by their own followers, must be of incalculable value, bringing together an enor- mous body of materials, such as could not have been col- lected by individual enterprise, even at the cost of years of labor and observation. Were it an exclusively scientific assemblage, it would not be the vast repository of data which itis to be, and it could do nothing else than to further the breeding in and in, as it were, of scientific thought and speculation on a line where a vastly enlarged field for induction is the chief desideratum. The proceedings of the parliament will form an invalu- able addition to the materials for the study of religions, but as many as possible of those who take a scientific in- interest, in the subject, should attend the parliament in per- son, so that they may in face-to-face intercourse with the picked representatives of the Christian, Jewish, Moslem and pagan sects and sub-sects, if not by their action in the great congress itself, bring out and note for their own use, and the future uses of science, the many facts which will otherwise fail to be collected. NOTES AND NEWS. Tue following are the officers of the American Asso- ciation for the Advancement of Science elected for the ensuing year: President, Daniel G. Brinton, Media, Pa.; Vice-Presidents—Section of Mathematics and Astronomy, George C. Comstock, Madison; physics, Wm. A. Rogers, Waterville, Me.; chemistry, T. H. Norton, Cincinnati, O.; mechanical science and en- gineering, Mansfield Merriman, South Bethlehem, Pa. ; geology and geography, Samuel Calvin, Iowa City, la. ; zoology, Samuel H. Scudder, Cambridge, Mass. ;_bot- any, L. M. Underwood, Greencastle, Ind.; anthropol- ogy, Franz Boas, Worcester, Mass.; economic science and statistics, Harry Farquhar, Washington, D. C.; Permanent Secretary, F. W. Putnam, Cambridge, Mass. (re-elected); General Secretary, H. L. Fair- child, Rochester, N. Y.; Secretary of the Coun- cil, James L. Howe, Louisville, Ky. Secretaries of the Sections—Mathematics and astronomy, W. W. Beeman, Ann Arbor, Madison; chemistry, S. M. Babcock, Madison; me- chanical science and engineering, J. H. Kinealy, St. Louis, Mo.; geology and geography, Wm. H. Davis, Cambridge, Mass.; zodlogy, Wm. Libbey, Prince- ton, N. J.; botany, C. R. Barnes, Madison; anthro- pology, A. F. Chamberlin, Worcester, Mass.; eco- nomic science and statistics, Manly Miles, Lansing, Mich. Treasurer—Wm. Lily, Mauch Chunk, Pa. (re-elected.) Considerable discussion has taken place in relation to the place of meeting for 1894, but it is still undecided. Boston and Worcester, Mass., Providence, R. I., and Brooklyn, N. Y., have all been referred to, but the matter is left in the hands of the President and the Permanent Secretary for decision. San Francisco is spoken of as the place for meeting in 1895, and an in- vitation has been received from. Nashville, for 1896. —The U.S. Bureau of Education has issued a large paper-covered volume on ‘‘Benjamin Franklin and the SCIENCE. Mich.; physics, B. W. Snow, © [Vol. XXII. No. 551 University of Pennsylvania.” Itis edited by Francis N. Thorpe, professor of American constitutional history in the university, and the part directly relating to Frank- lin and his views upon education is written by Mr. Thorpe. He begins with an account of Franklin’s own self-education, the Autobiography being mainly drawn upon as authority, and Mr. Thorpe expresses the opin- ion that ‘‘the influence of Franklin on American educa- tion has been even greater through his Autobiography than through the institutions which he founded, or which were founded by his followers.” The move- ments that led to the establishment, in 1749, of the Public Academy of Philadelphia, the patent of the pres- ent university, are carefully recorded, and several im- portant documents relating to its history are presented, including the circular by Franklin, in which he pro- posed its establishment and also the constitution of the academy itself. A chapter is then given to setting forth Franklin’s ideas on education, followed by a com- parison of his views with those of his eminent contem- poraries, Adams and Jefferson. Franklin’s theory of education was utilitarian, though not in the narrow, materialistic sense, and the University of Pennsylvania still shows, in its organization and its general spirit, the influence of his ideas. Rather more than half the pres- ent volume is devoted to a sketch of the university itself, the different departments of the subject being treated by different writers, a mode of treatment which makes the sketch rather scrappy, but gives, neverthe- less, a fairly intelligible account of the institution. At the present time the number of students in the various medical and physiological departments outnumber all the rest, but there has been amovement at work for some years to broaden the scope of thé university, and this movement, which has already led to the establishment of several new departments, gives promise of still bet- ter results in the future. —The subjects to be brought before the Interna- tional Congress of Anthropology, to be held at Chicago during the week beginning August 28, will be taken in the following order: Monday, Presidential Address, Physical Anthropology; Tuesday, Archeology; Wed- nesday, Ethnology; Thursday, Folk-Lore; Friday, Re- ligions; Saturday, Linguistics. The morning pro- ceedings will take place at the Memorial Art Palace, Michigan avenue and Adams street, and will commence each day at 9 a. m. At noon the meeting will adjourn for an afternoon session to be held at Jackson Park, at 2 p.m. At the afternoon meetings the papers to be read will have special refer- ence to the anthropological exhibits at the Columbian Exposition, particularly those in the Anthropological Building, the U. S. Government Building, the foreign government buildings and the Midway Plaisance. It is proposed to visit the exhibits, after the reading of the papers, for inspection of the objects referred to. The following is the afternoon programme: Monday, Anthropological Laboratories; Tuesday, Folk-Lore; Wednesday, U. S. Government and Smithsonian Ex- hibits, Government Building; Thursday, American Archeology; Friday, Ethnology; Saturday, Ethnolog- ical Exhibits of Foreign Governments. The Midway Plaisance. The proceedings of the congress will be published in due course, and will consist of such papers, in full or in.abstract, as shall have been formally pre- sented to the congress, and be recommended for pub- lication by a committee appointed for that purpose. A subscription of five dollars ($5.00) will entitle the sub- ~ scriber to a copy of the volume to be published. Ad- dress all communications: Mr. C. Staniland Wake, Local Secretary, Department of Ethnology, World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago. August 25, 1893.] _ SCIEN GE: PuBLIsHED By N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broapway, New York. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in advance, one hundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reasens we desire to circulate as many copies of SCIENCE as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprint- edelsewere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photo-engraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manu- scripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accompanies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer; not necessa- rily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold our- selves responsible for any view or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Attention is called to the ‘‘Wants’’ column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and ad- dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The ‘‘Exchange’’ column is likewise open. A GEHOLOGICAL*/SKETCH, WITH NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE MANITOU ISLANDS OF LAKE NIPISSING, ONTARIO. BY J. M. GOODWILLIE, OTTAWA, CANADA. Gxotoey is that particular branch of scientific study which treats of the history of the earth; its organization and structure, the materials of which it is composed and the various processes by which it has attained its present constitution. The term Geology is derived from two Greek words: ge, the earth, and logos, a history or description. As history, we must consider it apart from the records of human action and human progress,—a history dis- closed to us by the record and study of the rock masses which lie around us and beneath us, and by comparing the results of the natural phenomena of the past with the numerous forces and agencies at present in operation, in modifying the surface of the globe. By the term rock, in geology, is not to be understood merely that hard material which we commonly call stone, but it is employed to include everything of which the earth’s crust is composed. The sand and gravel of our lake shores, the clays employed in the manufacture of brick and earthenware, the limestone and marble and sandstone of our provincial quarries, the pebbles and bowlders by the roadside, and the soil of which our gar- dens and farms are composed are all, geologically speak- ing, rock, equally with the granite of our hills and moun- tains. The determination of the materials of which rocks are composed belongs to the department of mineralogy and which, although not identical with geology, is closely allied to it. Geology endeavors to account for the rock masses and various materials of which the earth is constructed. It aims at answering the enquiry, how have these things been formed and what are the processes by which they exist? Mineralogy examines into the nature and charac- ter of the materials, and analyzes and resolves into its component parts the various ingredients of which a rock is composed. ; The study of geology reveals the fact almost every- where patent in our surroundings, that we live in the midst of a rocky area, which upon investigation, proves to belong to the oldest known rocks in existence, and forms what we might term the foundation stones of the super- structure of our world. Mineralogy shows us what the rocks contain, whether SCIENCE. IOI iron, or copper, or galena, or nickel, or silver, or gold, or platinum, and the modes of their occurrence; so that by a careful study of the conditions in which they are usually found, the investigator and prospector may be saved much unnecessary expenditure of time and labor in searching after the concealed wealth which lies hidden from the easy observation of man. Geology does not attempt to account for the origin of the world, but the careful study of it gives us the only intelligible solution that can be entertained of the causes which must have operated in producing its present ap- pearance, and the diversity everywhere apparent in its structure. To a higher than any human source must we look for an answer to the inquiry into the origin of the world. In the sublime and indisputable declaration with which the book of Divine Revelation opens, there is given us the only satisfactory answer that can anywhere be found and which must forever prove sufficient, not only as it relates to this terrestrial sphere, but also to the universe of un- enumerated worlds of which this earth is, comparatively speaking, only an insignificant part: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In that opening announcement of the book of God we are not only carried back to an indefinite, and it might be said an almost unlimited period, but we are also reminded that He who by his own almighty word “spake and it was done,” and “commanded and it stood fast,” did not then create the world as it at present exists. We are reminded that there was a time when the earth was without a human inhabitant, when no rain had yet fallen upon it, and when “there was not a man to till the ground.” There was a time, further back, when our forests were un- inhabited by wild beasts, and our marshes and lowlands untenanted by the almost numberless creeping things which make these resorts their abode. There was a time, still further back, when our streams and lakes and seas were without inhabitant, when there were no monarchs of the deep to engage in bloody encounters, and contest with each other the right of occupancy, and when there was no fowl of any kind to fly in the heavens, nor song- sters to awaken the morning with notes of rejoicing and triumph. There was a time, yet more distant, when the earth was destitute of vegetation of any kind, when no forests clothed our hills and mountains, when no grasses grew upon our plains, nor made verdant the valleys of our water courses, and when herbs, and fruits and flowers had not yet begun an existence preparatory to the intro- duction of animals and of man in particular. There was a time, still more remote, when no mountain chains existed, with here and there lofty peaks penetrat- ing the clouds and towering high towards heaven, and when there were no hills with accompanying valleys hol- lowed out among them. There was a time, more distant still, when the earth appeared as one vast expanse of boundless sea, when islands and continents had not appeared above the surface of the great and mighty ocean, when “darkness was upon the face of the deep,” and when, in all the illimitable dreary waste of waters, life and animation were entirely unknown. Step by step the Creator was gradually preparing the earth to be the residence of the human race. Slowly and deliberately He brought about the necessary changes, all of whose workings are particularly distinguished by the absence of that spirit of haste and restless impatience so commonly manifested in the undertakings of man. The time occupied in bringing about the present con- dition of things, as apparent throughout the world, must have been an indefinitely long period. Sacred science, 102 as held and interpreted by the early Fathers, taught that the world was of a comparatively recent origin, and did not date beyond four or five thousand years before the Christian era, and that the time occupied in the act of creation comprised six ordinary days. Geological investigation, however, constrains us to as- sign to the earth an antiquity much more remote than the six or seven thousand years which it is commonly supposed to have existed, and to give to the several stages which marked its gradual development a limit beyond the twenty-four hours included in each of the successive days of creation. It is impossible, however, for us to arrive at any defi- nite conclusion as to the age of the world. Scientists, anxious and zealous in the maintenance of truth, differ among themselves as to the exact time occupied in the various modifications which the world must necessarily have undergone previous to its being occupied as the temporary abode of man. Instead of a few thousand, the space included comprises tens of thousands of years; some estimating the time at fifty thousand, others at two hun- dred and fifty thousand, and half a million of years as being necessary to the production of the present condi- tion of things. But in one particular they all agree, and unite in giving to the earth a place in history many thou- sands of years anterior to the creation of man. The rocks of which the earth’s crust is composed are divided into 1st, igneous, or eruptive and unstratified rocks, and 2d, aqueous, or sedimentary and stratified rocks. A third division is sometimes made and designated as metamorphic rocks, or rocks of a stratified crystalline formation, which in reality are only sedimentary rocks which have been changed by the action of steam or heat without destroying their stratified appearance. By far the largest proportion of the earth’s crust with which the geologist has to do is composed of aqueous or sedimentary and stratified rocks, and to the study of these, principally, must we look for those facts and data which, without doubt, prove our world to have a history of very great and undetermined antiquity. By the crust of the earth is to be understood the mate- rials of these several great sub-divisions of which the earth’s surface is composed. It is by no means to be re- garded asa solid mass throughout. Different theories have been advanced by scientists in reference to the in- ternal condition of the earth. Some consider the centre of the earth to be composed of rock matter solidified by pressure with liquid fiery matter between this central area and the crust on the surface. Others regard the earth as more or less solid, with lakes and seas of fire internally alternating throughout, while many others, and the commonly received opinion, hold that beneath the surface, of which we are accustomed to speak as the crust of the earth, and which extends to only a very limited depth, the whole of the internal portion of the earth consists of a molten sea of liquid fire. The evidence in favor of this is confirmed by the fol- lowing observations: In various parts of the world and at certain depths below the surface, an even temperature is found to exist throughout the year. At greater depths the temperature invariably increases, and although in all places it is not uniform, owing to the different kinds of rock penetrated, the average rate of increase is one de- gree for every sixty feet. And, as we may reasonably suppose the ratio to increase the greater the depth at- tained, we might expect comparatively soon to reach a temperature sufticiently high to sustain most minerals in a vaporous or molten condition. Another evidence is found in the fact, that water brought at great depths from beneath the surface is SCIENCE [ Vol. XXII. No. 551 found to possess a higher temperature than the tempera- ture of the surrounding locality, and if the depth be ex- tended the temperature of the water is increased with it. Another and more convincing argument in proof of the molten condition of the interior of the earth is afforded us by the numerous volcanoes which occur throughout the world, some of which have been in active operation for hundreds, and even thousands, of years. They are generally regarded as constituting the principal channels of communication between the interior parts of the earth and the surface; and from unfathomable depths are more or less constantly pouring forth immense volumes of mol- ten rock and liquid streams of living fire. More than two hundred and fifty volcanoes are now known at differ- ent times to be in a state of eruption, and many others have long since ceased to exhibit any degree of activity. The thickness of the earth’s crust has been variously estimated at from ten to twenty miles and upwards, but there is no means by which the exact depth of rock matter upon the surface can be accurately determined. From the above considerations we are led to the conclu- sion that the interior of the earth consists of a mass of igneous incandescent matter, and which may have been, originally, the condition of the material now forming the crust of the earth, and that the gradual cooling of the surface by radiation, accompanied by the shrinkage and contraction attending the cooling process, together with the enormous pressure from within, produced immense crackings and bulgings of the earth’s crust, which result- ed in the many groups and chains of mountains, and asso- ciated valleys, to be seen upon the surface. The rocks surrounding Lake Nipissing belong to the oldest known rocks in existence. They are the lowest and first in the order of sequence, and with but one ex- ception, so far as is known, are almost entirely of an erup- tive or metamorphic origin. They belong to the great Laurentian formation which extends over all the northern portions of the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, and con- tinues west and northward to the Arctic Ocean. They are usually distinguished by their inclination at high angles, and by presenting in many places a variously folded and contorted appearance, and by the absence of organic remains. Here and there they are broken through by fragments and hugh masses of granite, which in some instances appear to have become the centres of eddies or whirlpools of molten rock. Some very interest- ing examples of these may be seen on the high, rocky portion crossed by McIntyre Street in the southeast part of the town of North Bay. During some period of the world’s history this whole region has undergone a most terrific convulsion of up- heaval and depression, during which streams and lakes of fire appeared upon the surtace, liquefying and chang- ing the condition of the rock masses with which they came in contact. To this same period, and to the operation of these same agencies, must we trace the origin of the extensive mineral deposits which occur throughout this northern region. The various metals being more fusible than the rock masses in general, found a ready exit in the cracks and fissures formed by the breaking of the earth’s crust, and filling these became subsequently cooled, forming veins of various depths and thicknesses, and sometimes extending for miles in length, imparting to this part of our dominion, in outward appearance so uninyiting, an attractiveness of wealth, in mineral resources, unrivalled, and perhaps it would not be an exaggeration to say, un- equalled by any country in the world. : The rocks forming the second great sub-division into which the crust of the earth is divided are called aqueous, or sedimentary rocks. They are essentially formed by the ac- August 25, 1893. | tion of water, the strata or layers of which they are com- posed varying in composition and thickness according to the mineral character of the water and sediments, and the length of time engaged in forming them. They are read- ily distinguished from igneous, or eruptive rocks, by their horizontally stratified appearance, and by the occurrence of organic remains, of which some strata are almost whol- ly composed. ‘These remains, which we commonly call fossils, comprise almost every variety of vegetable and animal life of the past, from the lowest fungus to the highest form of animate creation, including also many ex- tinct species of both plants and animals, and which have no living representatives in the types and genera of the present day. An examination into the nature and character of these fossil remains, both of vegetables and animals, which have inhabited the globe during the periods of its past history, constitutes the science of paleontology. The sedimentary rocks, which enter so largely into the formation of the earth’s surface, comprise a number of great divisions, distinguished by special and character- istic collections of plants and animals, and these again are further sub-divided, each sub-division haying fossils peculiar to itself, and which may easily be recognized by those skilled in paleontology. We shall have a clear understanding of the manner in which sedimentary rocks were formed by observing the various natural processes in operation at the present time in modifying the surface of the globe. Sediments of various kinds, such as sand and gravel, and clays in solution, are constantly being carried down by streams and rivers and deposited on the bottom of lakes and seas. Portions of banks and cliffs on the sea coast are contin- ually breaking away, and, by the action of the water, dis- integrated and spread over the bottom. The sediment deposited in this way is generally found to be disposed in horizontally arranged beds or layers, often enclosing shells and bones, weeds, leaves and branches from trees, and other organic bodies, drifted from the land or carried by the various streams into the sea. In process of time the sediments so deposited become solidified, partly by means of the caicareous and silicious matter contained in them, and that derived from the decomposition of the enclosed organic remains, and partly by the pressure of the superincumbent layers and strata of sedimentary matter. Tn this and similar ways, all the stratified rocks on the surface of the globe have at different periods been built up, enclosing within the various formations the almost innumerable forms of vegetable and animal life peculiar to each successive period. The time occupied in the deposition and solidifying of stratified rocks must necessarily haye been enormously great. It would not be an exaggeration to say that tens of thousands of years would be requisite to bring about the results which are so apparent in all our stratified rock formations. The coast line of the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, has been known for more than three hundred years; and notwithstanding the immense alluvial deposits annually conveyed to the sea by that river and its tributaries for more than three centuries, comparative- ly little change has been made by the encroachment of the land upon the sea, and yet there was doubtless a time when the delta of the Mississippi was at St. Louis, nearly eight hundred miles from its present position. Another and more forcible illustration may be seen in the various coal fields of the present day. They appear to have consisted, originally, of primeval forests, situated SCIENCE: 103 in low or marshy ground, which by a sinkine of the earth’s crust, or some similar natural phenomenon, grad- ually became submerged, and eventually covered with organic sediment of a vegetable kind, and in this condi- tion have been gradually consolidated. In process of time fresh forests appear to have grown up, covering the same area, and in turn have in a like manner disappeared beneath the surface. In the coal-bearing strata of Nova Scotia, which have attained a thickness of 14,570 feet, no less than seventeen successive forests have been counted in less than one-third of that depth. Trees four feet in diameter have been found standing erect and almost en- tire, as they originally grew upon the surface. In the coal field of Sydney fifty-nine fossil forests have been distinctly traced, one above another. When we take into consideration the time necessary to _mature the growth of a forest, the gradual subsidence of the area on which it grew, until the whole was complete- ly submerged, the filling up of the area with decomposed organic matter, the formation and growth of a second forest similar to its predecessor, and so on until fifty-nine such forests have matured and in turn disappeared, we can form some idea, though very vague at best, of the vast extent of time occupied in fitting up this world as an abode for man. Again, when we consider that many stratified rocks lie hundreds and thousands of feet above the level of the sea, that the various strata of which they are composed abound in the fossilized remains of marine shells and ani- mals, that there was a time when these same rocks must have formed the bed of the ocean, and the substratum of numerous other strata ages since abraded from their sur- face, not only will our conceptions of the length of time the earth has existed be greatly enlarged, but rightly considered, we shall also be led to adore the unsearchable wisdom and mighty power by which all these things were made. A study of the geology of the Manitou Islands lying in front of North Bay reveals the only exceptional break in all the Laurentian monotony of this district. There, side - by side with rocks of the Laurentian sea, we have pre- sented, in clearly defined outlines, substantial evidences of stratified rock formation belonging to what is common- ly known as the Trenton period, which is only one of the great sub-divisions of the Paleozic age of the earth’s his- tory. s At some time very remote, when this whole region was in the throes of convulsion, when livid streams of molten rock broke forth from beneath, and fire and heat and steam acting in concert aided the work of disintegration, when huge masses of metamorphosed and igneous rock matter were heterogeneously piled into the hills and mountains round about, and when by an unevenly formed subsidence of the earth’s crust an immense valley was constituted, now occupied by the waters of Lake Nipissing, amid the wreck of matter and the chaos and confusion that reigned on every hand, a portion of Little Manitou re- mained undisturbed, retaining in an unchanged condi- tion, in its argillaceous and bitumenous shales and cal- careous strata, abundant organic remains of both animal and vegetable life, the internal evidence of its own antiq- uity. On Great Manitou Island similar evidences exist, but under somewhat changed conditions. There are out- croppings of stratified rock on both the eastern and the western divisions of the island. That on the eastern part of the island apparently corresponds in strike with the exposure on Little Manitou, but appears to have a slight dip to the south or southwest. The whole area, however, is so obscured with drift and bowlders that neither dip nor strike can be determined with any degree of accuracy. 104 On the western part of the island, where the principal exposure occurs, the strata have a dip of twenty-two de- grees to the southwest, reminding us that during the period of upheaval through which this district passed, Great Manitou by no means fared so well as its sister island. On the third largest island of the group there are also indications of a stratified formation, but in this case, as in the other referred to, the whole is so covered with drift and rubbish and densely wooded as to render it at pres- ent practically indeterminable. The islands are not only conveniently and pleasantly situated, but are also one of the most delightful and healthful summer resorts in this whole northern region. The student of geology will always find a seasonable visit to these islands a delightful pastime, and will be amply rewarded in being afforded an opportunity of studying some features of geological science seldom experienced, and which assist us materially in correctly interpreting the past history of the earth. Some of the fossils found on the islands are in themselves interesting objects of study, and beautiful illustrations of that wisdom and skill everywhere to be seen in the Creator’s work. And while they are important as evidences of past history and assist in determining to some extent the very great age of our world, they are also no less significant in demonstrating the eternity of Him who “before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were formed,” from everlasting to everlasting is God. In contemplating the glory and grandeur of the Creative handiwork, and considering the great antiquity of the world on which we dwell, may we not well adopt the language of inspiration and say: “Great and mar- vellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty;” “Of old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth.” THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCE- MENT OF SCIENCE. Tue 42nd meeting of the American Association opened at Madison, Wisconsin, on August 17th. The following were the officers of the meeting, new secretaries having to be elected in the case of Sections EH and G, Messrs. Hill and Coville being absent on the opening of the meeting : President, William Harkness, Washington, D. C.; Vice Presidents.—A. Mathematics and Astronomy—C. L. Doo- little, South Bethlehem, Pa. B. Physics—H. L. Nichols, Ithaca, N. ¥. C. Chemistry—Edward Hart, Easton, Pa. D. Mechanical Science and Hngineering—S. W. Robinson, Columbus, O. KH. Geology and Geography—Chas. D. Walcott, Washington, D. C. EF. Zodlogy—Henry F. Os- born, New York, N. Y. G. Botany—Charles E. Bessey, Lincoln, Neb. H. Anthropology—J. Owen Dorsey, Ta- coma Park, Md. I. Economic Science and Statistics— William H. Brewer, New Haven, Conn. Permanent Sec- retary, Ff. W. Putnam, Cambridge (office Salem), Mass. General Secretary, T. H. Norton, Cincinnati, Ohio. Sec- retary of the Council, H. L. Fairchild, Rochester, N. Y. Secretaries of the Sections. A. Mathematics and Astron- omy—C. A. Waldo, Newcastle, Ind. B. Physics—W. Le- Conte Stevens, Troy, N. Y. C. Chemistry—H. N. Stokes, Chicago, Hl. D. Mechanical Science and Engineering — D.S. Jacobus, Hoboken, N. J. E. Geology and Geog- raphy—W. H. Hobbs, Madison, Wis. F. Zodlogy—t. O. Howard, Washington, D.C. G. Botany—B. T. Galloway, Washington, D.C. H. Anthropology—Warren K. Moore- head, Xenia, O. I. Economic Science and Statistics— Nellie S. Kedzie, Manhattan, Kan. Treasurer, William Lilly, Mauch Chunk, Pa. The addresses of the Vice Presidents were delivered before their respective sections in the afternoon, and they SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 551 were as follows: Vice President Nichols, before Section of Physics; subject, “Phenomena of the Time Infinitesi- mal.” Vice President Dorsey, before Section of Anthro- pology; subject, “The Biloxi Indians of Louisiana.” Vice President Walcott, before Section of Geology and Geog- raphy; subject, “Geologic Time as Indicated by the Sedimentary Rocks of North America.” Vice President Brewer, before Section of Economic Science and Statistics; subject, “The Mutual Relations of Science and Stock- Breeding.” Vice President Osborn, before Section of Zodlogy; subject, “The Rise of the Mammalia.” Vice President Doolittle, before Section of Mathematics and Astronomy; subject, “Variations of Latitude.” Vice Presi- dent Bessey, before section of Botany; subject, “Hyo- lution and Classification.” Vice President Hart, before Section of Chemistry; subject, “Twenty-five Years’ Pro- gress in Analytical Chemistry.” Vice President Robinson, before Section of Mechanical Science and Engineering; subject, “Training in Engineering Science.” Vice President Walcott in his address before Section E, Geology, referred to the various estimates that had been made as to the length of geological time, these vary- ing from a minimum of 3,000,000 to a maximum of 1,200,- 000,000 years. His own studies, based largely upon the Paleozoic sediments of the Cordilleran area, gave a mean between these. The following table gives the estimated time for each of the larger geological eras : Cexenozoic, - - - 2,900,000 Mesozoic, - - - - 17,240,000 Paleozoic, - - - 17,500,000 Algonkian, - - = = 17,500,000 Archean, - - - - - 2 Total, - - - $45,140,000 He stated his belief in the theory thatthe deep seas and the continental areas are permanent, and thought that the main outlines of the North American continent were laid down as far back as Archean time. Cambrian sedi- ments on either side of the continent are of such extent as to justify the belief, or rather necessitate the belief, that extensive continental masses were near at hand. Thirty thousand feet of sediment in the Rocky Mountain area, and nearly as much in the Appalachian, were indicative of long lapses of time. The sediments of the Rocky Moun- tains were deposited over an area of at least 400,000 square miles and probably of 800,000. This area extend- ed from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. Many statements were made as to the rate of denuda- tion and deposition of calcareous and mechanical sedi- ments. Estimated at the rate of deposit of calcareous sediments now being formed, it was calculated that about 600,000 years would be required to form a deposit of limestone twenty-two feet in thickness. It was estimated that about 47,000,000 years would be required, at this rate, to form the deposit of calcium carbonate in the Cordilleran area. But reducing.this fifty per cent for any possible change of conditions, and then taking off a fur- ther twenty-five per cent for special conditions afiecting deposition, 16,000,000 years would remain for the accumu- lation of the calcareous sediments. ‘To this must be add- ed time for mechanical deposits, and putting this at its lowest possible term of 1,500,000 years, we have the 17,500,000 years for the Paleozoic time given above. Professor Osborn, in addressing Section F upon the rise of the mammalia, dwelt especially upon the methods employed by paleontologists, and upon the broad gen- eralizations that had been made by students of fossil mammals. Among these was the generalization of Marsh, that all early types of mammalia had small brain cavities. Cope had shown by the growth of the feet that all early types had five toes upon both the fore and hind feet and ~ August 25, 1893. | that the foot rested upon the sole. He had also shown that while the primitive types possessed cone-shaped teeth, the more differentiated they became the more com- plex the teeth were. An interesting statement in regard to the dental formulas of various orders was given. With- out going into details, it may be said that the speaker argued for the three great groups of mammals,—mono- tremes, marsupials and placentals,—a common origin far back of Jurassic times, for the three were then plainly differentiated. These classes arose from a promammalhan type, which was, in its turn, an offshoot from a still sim- pler form, a second offshoot from which developed into the reptilian type of life. The horse he considered as originating on the North American continent, and he pointed out the interesting fact that the disappearance of many of the huge forms of mammals that once peopled our western plains seemed co-incident with the introduc- tion of grasses. Professor Bessey, before Section G (Botany), gave an excellent address upon classification. He pointed out the anomalous fact that while botanists have long recognized that the present scheme of classification was defective, they still adhered to it. Theoretically discarding it, prac- tically they used it. He showed that there may be degradation as well as advancement in evolution, and that what seemed the lowest forms of dicotyledons, from their floral structure, were not necessarily primitive types. He therefore interpolated the apetalous orders of the ordinary classifications among the polypetale, as de- eraded types of polypetalous flowers. He outlined what seemed. to him to be a natural classification, considering the Ranunculacee as the most primitive flowers. The greatest deviation, therefore, from this type was the highest in organization. He believed that with but little modification the sequence of orders in our modern text books could be used to express the natural relationships of plants. Of course such a scheme as a lineal arrangement was out of the question. He, in com- mon with many others, recognized the Composite as the most highly organized of the dicotyledons, and the Orchi- dex were placed at the head of the monocotyledons. Tm the general session of Thursday evening the retiring president, Professor LeConte, of California, delivered an address upon the “Origin of Mountains.” In opening, he defined a mountain as the result of a single earth effort, occupying a short or a very long time, while a mountain range was the result of a succession of earth throes. The thickness of the strata of mountains varies, but it is al- ways great. In the Appalachians the Paleozoic is 40,000 feet thick. The Mesozoic of the Alps is 50,000 feet, and the Cretaceous of California is 20,000 feet. The sediments of the Appalachians thin out to the west to only one or two thousand feet, so that mountains may be considered as lines of exceptionally thick sediments. They are, at the same time, lines of exceptionally coarse sediments. Foldings and faults are also characteristic of these features of the earth, the folds being single or many, and the faults being sometimes of enormous extent. faults of 20,000 feet occur in our western region. After this general discussion of features, the causes were considered. There are both formal and physical explanations. The first explain the cause from the geologists’ point of view, and the second from that of the physicist. The first may explain one or more of the phenomena, but the last must explain all of them. Various illustrations were given of these, and then the formal explanation of facts was taken up. Mountains are born of sea-margin deposits, the loaded sea bottoms inducing sinking of the denuded land _surface, and the mountains are formed by lateral crushing and upthrust. He did not believe in the theory of a liquid interior, with a solid crust, stating that a globe as SCIENCE. 105 solid as glass or steel would assume the oblate spheroid form, as the result of rotation. He argued at leneth in favor of the lateral thrust origin of mountains, and ex- amined objections urged against it. He also outlined other theories of mountain origin, and pointed out their defects, declaring, however, his entire willingness to give up his theory whenever any better one had been pre- sented. THE CORNELL MixTURE. BY M. V. SLINGERLAND, CORNELL EXPERIMENT STATION, ITHACA, N. Y. Lasr winter, while experimenting in the making of the different insecticides and fungicides, I succeeded in form- ing a combination which, at the time, seemed to be an almost perfect panacea for all the insect and fungoid ills that might affect the fruit grower. When it was shown to Professor Bailey he immediately dubbed it “The Cor- nell Compound or Mixture.” In making the mixture I combined the following well- known insecticides and fungicides: Paris green, kerosene emulsion and Bordeaux mixture. Simple enough, was it not? And what a field of possibilities and probabilities it seemed to cover when the theory of the combination is rightly understood. In the Paris green (which I prefer to London purple, on account of its containing less solu- ble arsenic, and is thus less liable to injure tender foliage, and still better, the copper of the Paris green gives it noticeable fungicidal properties) we have the best, cheap- est and most practicable insecticide for all biting or chew- ing insects like the codlin moth, the potato beetle, and all the leaf-eating caterpillars and beetles. The kerosene emulsion is also well known as the best, cheapest and most practicable insecticide for general use against all insects which obtain their food by sucking it through slender beaks with which they pierce the tissues of the plant. Familiar examples of this group of insects are the pear psylla, the plant-lice and the squash bug. And tinally, the Bordeau mixture, which now ranks first among the fungicides in effectiveness against the worst fungoid diseases, like the apple scab, the potato blight and rot, and the plum and peach fruit rot. One can thus under- stand what a destructive power there seemed to lurk be- hind the mask of the Cornell mixture. Many experimenters have shown that when the Bor- deaux and Paris green are combined, the destructive effect of neither is lessened, and we know that the lime of the Bordeaux mixture converts all of the soluble arsenic of the Paris green into an insoluble compound, thus al- lowing the use of the arsenite at nearly twice the strength usually used without danger to tender foliage. The two are easily combined and are to be recommended for gen- eral use. Attempts have been made to combine the insecticides Paris green for biting insects, and kerosene emulsion for sucking insects, but without success; the arsenite cannot be made to unite satisfactorily with the oily lighter emul- sion. Ihave seen no accounts of any trials to combine the Bordeaux mixture with kerosene emulsion. Such a combination strongly recommends itself to pear growers especially, who have the pear psylla to fight, and who wish to exterminate the scab at the same time. My ex- periments in this line were suggested by a large pear grower who had these foes to meet. My Bordeaux and emulsion were made according to the directions which are appended below.* When the direc- tions were carefully followed I found that I could quite readily combine the two in any proportions required, and the resulting mixture remained stable for weeks; and in fact the Bordeaux, as a mechanical mixture, was improved, for the emulsion held the lime in suspension, so that its tendency to settle to the bottom, and thus require con- 106 SCIENCE. stant stirring, was reduced to a minimum. The addition of the Paris green to the Bordeaux before the emulsion was put in did not visibly affect the mixture. Up to this point, therefore, the combination was a success. It now remained to be seen how it would stand a practical test by the ordinary fruit grower in the field. Theoretically, the chances were all in its favor. However, further experimentation at the Insectary showed that unless the Bordeaux was rightly made, the emulsion would not form a stable combination with it, and in fact sometimes would scarcely mix at all. It was found that the best combination was obtained when the acid copper sulphate solution of the Bordeaux was exactly _ neutralized by the alkaline lime; the potassium ferrocy- anide was the test to determine when this point was reached. Thus, when the Bordeaux was made in the usual way with- out testing, nine times out of ten the emulsion would not mix with it satisfactorily. Here, then, was the first obsta- cle to the Cornell mixture,—the difficulty of making it. In the spring I saw it made and applied on a large scale, with horse power sprayers. As faras the making and application were concerned, it was a success. It worked as easily through the sprayer and nozzle as the Bordeaux alone. But an examination of the trees after the sprayer had passed showed that the mixture had not spread so evenly over the tree as would either of the in- gredients alone. And right here, I believe, is the weakest point in the Cornell mixture. The spray was thrown fine enough, but when it struck the trees the minute particles seemed to be drawn together into larger oily drops, leay- ing considerable areas unwet. There is a tendency in the Bordeaux mixture alone to do this, but it was increased by the oil in the emulsion. One can easily imagine with what regret I am thus obliged to tear the mask from off my theoretically com- plete panacea. When first concocted it seemed equal to all that might be claimed for it, and it was thought best to publish it at once; but, realizing that it ought to be first fully tested in a practical manner, it was put into the hands of two or three large fruit growers with the re- sults which I have detailed above. On the whole, the Cornell mixture, theoretically, has great possibilities, and in the hands of careful men can be made, but for the ordinary fruit grower or farmer the difficulty of making it will render it impracticable. And when properly made and applied it will be quite effective, each ingredient for the purpose it is intended. But I believe the effective- ness of each ingredient will be greater if they are not applied in combination, but singly. Thus, theoretically, the Cornell mixture has great possibilities, but, besides the difficulty of making, the effectiveness of each ingre- dient is lessened, and in consequence the practicability of the mixture is as yet doubtful, and I cannot freely recom- mend it for general use. *To make the Bordeaux mixture, dissolve six pounds of sulphate of copper in four or five gallons of hot water. Slake four pounds of quick lime in suffi- cient water to form a thin whitewash and strain this through a gunny sack (burlap) into the copper sulphate solution. Dilute to forty gallons with water, and the mixture is ready for use. When using, it must be kept thor- oughly stirred to keep the lime in suspension. The preparation of the mix- ture in large quantities may be simplified by a test which obviates the neces- sity of weighing the lime. Keep the mixture thoroughly stirred when the thin whitewash of slaked lime is being poured through the burlap, and add from time to time a drop or two of the commercial potassium ferrocyanide to the mixture. If not enough lime has been added the drop of ferrocyanide willturn toa very dark color the moment it touches the mixture; when enough lime has been added, the ferrocyanide will not change color when it is dropped into the mixture. To make the emulsion, thoroughly dissolve one-half pound hard or soft soap in one gallon boiling water. While this solution is still very hot add two gallons of kerosene and quickly begin to agitate the whole mass through a syringe or force-pump, drawing the liquid into the pump and forcing it back into the dish. Continue this for five minutes, or until the whole mass assumes a creamy color and consistency which will adhere to the sides of the vessel, and not glide off like oil. Itmay now be readily diluted with cold * rain water, or the whole mass may be allowed to cool when it has a semi- solid form, not unlike loppered milk. This standard emulsion, if covered and placed in a cool dark place, will keep for along time. In making a dilu- tion from this cold emulsion, it is necessary to dissolve the amount required in three or four parts of boiling water, after which cold rain water may be dded in the required quantities, [ Vol. XXII. No. 551 CHEMISTRY IN CANE SUGAR MANUFACTURE. BY J. T. CRAWLEY, SUGARLAND, TEXAS. Durning recent years the part played by chemistry in the manufacture of sugar from thesugar cane has become an important one, cane sugar manufacture is older than beet sugar manufacture, but it remained for those inter- ested in the latter to work out the practical and scientific questions that make the industry of such vast importance at the present time. It is only in recent years that the same scientific principles have been applied in tropical countries in the field and in the factory. Important among the recent improvements has been the application of chemistry to the better understanding of the various changes that the raw material may undergo while being converted into refined products. When the cane is brought from the fields it is weighed, and then, in most cases, is passed between immense iron rollers where the juice is expressed. By recent improve- ments in mills the per cent of juice actually obtained, has increased from the neighborhood of 65 per cent to from 75 to 80 per cent. This great improvement has been made of course by the engineer, but it is safe to say that without the aid of the chemist in calling attention to the immense losses in the bagasse these improvements would have been delayed many years. After expression the juice is either weighed or measured and then the real work of chemistry begins. Because of the changes that the contained sucrose may undergo dur- ing subsequent processes the juice is analysed for sucrose, glucose, total solids, ratio of sucrose to glucose and ratio of sucrose to the total solid matter. This gives, by proper calculations, the total amount of the various in- gredients entering the factory with the various ratios one to the other. These ingredients with their ratios must be watched very closely to see that impurities are not formed at the expense of the cane sugar. Lime is added to the raw Juice for the purpose of neutralizing the acids con- tained therein, and in order to purge it of many of the impurities that would interfere with the subsequent crystallization of sugar. Here again a strict watch must be kept. An insufficient quantity of lime leaves free acids in the juice and these same acids will act upon the sucrose changing it into glucose, or inverted sugar, during the evaporation of the juice and syrup. Analyses are made of clarified juice, syrup, massecuite, etc., and from these analyses together with the weights of these various pro- ducts the chemist is enabled to detect any important loss that has been sustained, whether it be chemical or mechanical, and from a scientific examination of the data thus furnished the manufacturer is enabled to so modify the various processes as to get the best results, finally the sugar and molasses are analysed, and thus a complete record is had of the whole process from the entering of the cane to the final output of sugar and molasses. It will thus be seen that the chemist is the book-keeper, so to speak, of the sugar during the process of manufacture, and it is his business to point out losses, and, if possible, suggest remedies. It is a rare case, however, to find a factory in Louisiana where a strict chemical control, such as has here been outlined, is maintained. The great amount of labor necessary, together with the cost of weighing and measuring apparatus, has prevented the majority of factories from adopting such a complete system as will tell them the efticiency of their work. But in these days of sharp competition the factis gradu- ally impressing itself that science must not be overlooked, and that it is of vast assistance even where money-making is the only end. August 25, 1893. | NOTES ON MARINE AND FRESH WATER LARVA OF MIDGHES. BY GEO. SWAINSON, F. L. S., ST. ANNE’S-ON-THE-SEA, ENG. Durine the past two years Professor Miall, F. R. S., has been lecturing before the British Association and else- where on “Some difficulties in the life of aquatic insects,” and especially instancing the larva of the dipterous fly Chironomus. My interest in this lecture when heard at Cardiff was heightened by the fact that I had on three occasions captured a marine larva very closely resembling his chironomus. This was included by Dr. Johnston amongst the British Marine Annelids under the name of Campontia cruciformis. (London Mag. of Nat. Hist., Vol. 8, p. 179, Nov. 13, 1834, and “Johnston’s British Worms.”). That campontia was a dipterous larva was suspected by both Mcheay and Green, the latter because he captured a fresh-water chironomus larva, and noticed its resem- blance to campontia, and observed its metamorphose into the pupa stage, but the fly escaped him, and this fresh- water genus remained unspecified. This was in 1837, and since that time no one in England seems to have taken the trouble to find out campontia’s fresh-water relations. SCIENCE. 107 tute, Vol. 6, p. 42). I have carefully compared my speci- mens with the drawings given by Dr. Packard, and it is quite certain they are not the same species, the mandibles being slightly different, but more particularly the hook- ~ lets or retractible claws on both the fore and hind feet are very different, and the respiratory tubules possessed by campontia are not visible on the American species. The great difficulty I experienced in finding any one in England to assist in naming this and other species of chironomus larvee I have met with, in a large measure prompted me to write this paper. I have applied to many of the principal authorities on diptera, only to find that there are several families in which the life history of only a very few species has been worked out. Surely there are many excellent members of our microscopical societies throughout England who only need to have the fact brought home to them to induce them to make some attempt, however feeble, to fill up this gap, especially as. the subject is a very interesting one, and the material abundant. The difficulty of obtaining specialists to un- dertake the work of describing many groups of insects has been recently referred to by the editor of Natural Science, for he states that, though Mr. Whymper’s “Tray- CAMPONTIA CRUCIFORMIS (a supposED ANNELID WORM). a. Natural size. b. Magnified. c. The head slightly compressed between plates of glass. In October last, on our Golf links at St. Anne’s-on-the- Sea, I found several larvee of chironomus fully grown in its splendid blood-red color. These I kept during the winter, and watched their metamorphoses in small glass jars, with the tops covered with muslin. They ultimately proved to be C. dorsalis, and their resemblance to Cam- pontia crucifornis in all but color is most remarkable. The hemoglobin, which colors the blood plasma in the “Harlequin” larva so beautifully, is replaced in the marine form by a light sea-green pigment with which the fat cells are colored. The mandibles and two pairs of re- tractible hooked appendages, or pro-legs, are very similar to @. dorsalis, and especially the respiratory tubules at the posterior, and I had therefore no doubt as to Campon- tia cruciformis of Johnston being a dipterous larva of the chironomus genus. I found this larva several times on the obelia zodphytes growing at the end of St. Anne’s Pier, Lancashire, England. Next I found it on some coryne from the Mumbles, Swansea, and more recently I dredged it from fifteen fathoms depth off Spanish Head, Isle of Man, adhering to seaweed. Dr. Packard, of America, has re- corded the discovery of a marine dipterous larva in fif- teen fathoms off Salem Harbor, which he has named Chironomus oceanicus (see Transactions of Essex Insti- d. Under side of the anal segment. e. Hooked sucker foot from Mr. Swainson’s micropho- tograph. els amongst the Great Andes of the Equator” was com- pleted twelve years ago, the volume in which the ZOOlog- ical collection was described, has been only recently issued, and this with several large groups of insects omitted, as no one has been found able to describe them. Professor Miall, to whom I sent my specimens, thought it would ultimately turn out that Johnston’s campontia was Schiner’s Thalassomyia frauenfeldi. This may prove to be so, but, again, Schiner only records the capture of the female fly and gives no account of the larve in his “Fauna Austriaca” (p. 596, Vol. 2). This species is British, for Mr. H.N. Ridley, of the British Museum, captured both the male and the female flies in a cave in the Isle of Wight (Entomological Mag. for 1884), and I think it is the same fly I have seen more than once on our pier end at St. Anne’s-on-the-Sea, but did not succeed in capturing them. There is no drawing published yet, I believe, of Thalas- somyia frauenfeldi. I have twice tried to rear Campontia cruciformis in a small salt-water aquarium, but unsuccess- fully. It seems quite certain that the larve of these dip- tera do inhabit salt water, for Agassiz speaks of them in the “Cruises of the Blake” as being commonly met with off the North American shores. Leaving these species for future identification, I must 108 now record the discovery of three species of the larva of the fresh-water chironomus new to science, and drawings of which accompany these notes, to- gether with that of another new form found only last week by my friend Mr. A. R. Hammond, 1M}, Tbh Shs on the leaves of potamogeton, forming small tunnels therein. I have made a few mounts of all these species, which will very likely prove to be larvee of well-known species of flies described by Walker and listed by Verrall, there being over 250 different species of chirono- mid in Britain, while the larvee of only some dozen are known. Up to the present time the best work on these and similar “eucaphalous” larvee is that of Prof. F. Mein- ert, published by the Royal Society of Copenhagen in 1886, full of splendid plates of the larvee only of fresh- water species, but it is in Danish, and I do not know that it has been translated. None of these new specimens are infcluded therein, and Mr. Hammond, who is well up in the bibliography (he is now bringing out a paper in the transactions in the Linnean Society and shortly to be pub- lished on the structure and life history of Chironomus dorsalis, in collaboration with Professor Miall), informs me that he has not met with any drawings or description of these larve of mine. I may add that Dr. Johnston’s drawing of campontia does not show the two pairs of long respiratory tubules which the larva can protrude from the eleventh segment and retract again. These are, how- ever, shown very clearly in the micro-photographs of my mounts of campontia and Chironomus dorsalis. Mr. Slater describes these as being also seen in C. plumosis (Ent. XIL, p. 87). They are clearly shown in Meinert’s draw- ings as possessed by C. plumosis and also by C. venustus, but this latter is believed to be the same species as C. dorsalis. Tn conclusion, I must not omit to make a note of what T feel sure is an instance of the very interesting develop- ment known as parthenogenesis in connection with C. dor- salis. One of the larvee, fully grown, was putin a bottle late in October, 1891. It sickened and died, but before its death there came forth-from the body a large number of young (. dorsalis, which ultimately became fully devel- oped, though not so large as the other imagenes. The bottle containing them was in a cold room, and they all appeared in the winter before the end of February, and so could not possibly be hatched from eggs laid prior to October. T watched these most sedulously through the pupa state, for they spun their pupa cells on the under side of leaves, and not in the mud at the bottom of the glass, like the ordinary Chironomus dorsalis, waving their heads about in the curious way described by Meinert. They did not assume the strong,. deep, blood-red color either, being nearer the surface of the water. There is no question about the flies being C. dorsalis, as | have now one or two in spirits of wine. Finding that Mr. Oscar von Grimm had recorded the fact that the pupa of chironomus laid eggs prepared in the body of the larva, these ova being depos- ited in rows of long threads, just as the female C. dorsalis does, only that they are protruded through two small holes above the anus of the pupa. I therefore watched the older non-parthenogenetic blood worms most care- fully, when they emerged from the larval into the pupal state, and I must say, that never did the proceeding take place, as far as I could see, and during the following month there were no young larva of Chironomus dorsalis produced. It is quite evident that further investigation and the closer watching of the life history of these midges will fully repay entomologists, for it is hardly possible to think, after Mr. Grimm’s careful and detailed investiga- tions, that his young laryee were parthenogenetically pro- duced. SCIENCE: [Vol. XXII. No. 551 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. »*,Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The writer’s name is in all cases required as a proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies. of the number con- taining his communication will be furnished free to any corres- pondent. The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. A SPACE-RELATION OF NUMBERS. Mr. D. S. Marrin’s article under this head, in Science for August 11, is of peculiar interest to me in touching upon a mind experience which I had supposed an idiosyncrasy of my own, since I have been unable to find another per- son who had ‘any similar experience, except my own mother. Iam glad to find another person of a like mind, since it is an indication that it may not be an exceedingly rare experience. I date the origin of my idea at the time when I began to learn to count, which was at home, by the “purely ab- stract and memoriter” system. Not only are the numbers from 1 to 100, but from 1 to infinity, and all the fractions in a less degree, conceived of by me “as holding, relatively, definite positions in space, from which they never vary.” It is simply impossible for me to think of anumber except in its relation to the other numbers and in its position in the scheme. In my mind the numerical position bears no relation to that of any other object or thing, nor to the position of my body; but it does bear a definite relation to the points of the compass. Beginning at my feet the numbers 1 to 10 run due west in a slightly ascending line, 10 being a little beyond and above 9, with 5 above and beyond 4 so that it is given greater prominence. 10, 11 and 12 are arranged in an ascending spiral. 12 is above the plane of 1 say six inches. 12 to 15 are in a horizontal plane in a straight line running W.N. W. 15 to 19 changes to W. by S., slightly ascending, with 20 directly above 19, and about 8 inches above 1. 20 to 30 runs due S. 30 to 60 is a zizzag, 30 to 40 running due E., 40 to 50 8. E., 50 to 60 E. by S. The whole line ascends so that 60 is eighteen inches above 1; but from 20 to 55 the in- cline is uniform, while from 55 to 60 it is enough more abrupt so that the perpendicular distance from 20 to 55 is just equal to that from 55 to 60, 60 being directly above 59. 60 to 70 runs due §., 70 t0 100 8. S. E. 100 is twenty inches above 1. In the whole scheme from 20 onward the multiples of ten are elevated a little above the numbers immediately following and preceding, so that they are more prominent. From 1 to 100 the numbers get more and more distant and indistinct, and consequently appear smaller as they increase in value; but the twenties and fifties seem plainer, but not larger, than the others, as though they were in the direct sunlight, and the others partly shaded. From 100 I drop back to 1 and repeat the course for every succeeding hundred. The hundreds from 100 to 900 (but not with their units and tens) are arranged in a straight line tending W. by S., scarcely if at allascending. 1,000 is directly above 999. 1,000 to 1,000,000 is an indistinct line curving upwards towards 8. EK. by E. From 1,000,000 onward the tendency is upward and in a S. W. direction; but here a haze envelops the numbers so that they are ill defined and hard to follow. I conceive of the numbers as being of the same size, but appearing to vary in size as their value in reverse order on account of their distance from the starting point. There- fore in giving perpendicular distances I have given them as they would appear on a chart and not as actual dis- tances. The sense of the true perspective is perfect. In the application of this scheme to eyery day use it is August 25, 1893. | of inestimable value, since it enables me to add with great facility, and perform any simple mathematical oper- ation with ease and dispatch. Ihave only to conceive of the numbers before me to be arranged in any required way, as in my scheme in their positions, and they are there without further ado. As I hinted in the beginning, my mother was the only other person known to me to possess this experience. Hers was a conception of a circle of the numbers from 1 to 100, just the same as my conception of the months of the year. I have repeatedly attempted to make a chart of the scheme as it appears to my mind, but have found it impossible on account of the almost constant change of plane and direction, and the sense of gradually increasing space. I know of nothing that could have given a sug- gestion of the scheme. ‘lhe impression came too early to have been suggested by any experience, if there had been one to suggest it. I add this bit in the hope of further drawing out the discussion of the topic, and I shall look with great inter- est for further notes. Lynps Jones. Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. _ ENGLISH ORTHOGRAPHY. A new orthography by J. I. D. Hinds, in Science for July 21, is cleverly handled, although some slight inconsisten- cies have crept i, which, I think, the author has over- looked, in his ardor to reform the present method. English orthography is far in advance of English pro- nunciation, and itis a fallacy to make orthography con- form phonetically to erroneous pronunciation. The syllables “tion” and “sion” are pronounced “shun” or “zhun,” a mistake or rather a wilful corruption of which no other language deriving its roots from Greek and Latin, is guilty. Now if our “dictionary manufac- turers’ would prescribe “nati-on” and “provi-si-on” (all vowels but the first short) in their next editions, pho- netic orthography would not be compelled to use the abominable “shun” of Josh Billings. All agree that anew system of orthography (I must be consistent and spell this ortho-graphy, second o long) should not be an abrupt departure from the present form. But in the first place let us have re-vocable in pre-ference (first e long) to rev-ocable, baro-meters and thermo-meters, as weather-meters, etc., ete. Mr. Hinds suggests the letter “a” for an intermediate sound of “a” as in last, and also “a” for the short sound of “a” asin mat. I fail to note the difference, unless he pro- nounces “last” (to use his system) laast. For the present it would, in my opinion, be pre-ferable to retain the present mode of spelling “mate” and “note,” and not “maet” and “noet,” not because the latter spelling is less correct, but because the change is too radical. For a like reason th, sh and s should be retained as now in use. It is always necessary to consider the present generation to whom such changes would be burdensome, while the rising generation will naturally adopt any plan we offer them. he dipthong aias in air is unnecessary as “a” followed by ‘‘re” will produce that sound as in “mare,” “fare,” ete. The letter q may be pronounced kawe, and written without the “u” making “quick” go much “quicker.” Xis used so much for Latin prefixes that it must be retained for reasons mentioned. These few suggestions will give printed and written pages a more familiar look, than Mr. Hinds’s orthography, and easily read at sight. To show the difference between the plan proposed by Mr. Hinds with the amendments I offer, it is best to use the same stanza : ' SOUNDS OF IEVNING. Swiet waas the sound, hiven oft at ievning’s klose Up yondur hil the villa] murmur rose, SGIENCE: 109 Thare as I past with kareles steps and slo The mingling notes kame sofend from below The swane responsiv as the milk made sung, The sobur hurd that lode to miet thare yung The noisi gies that gabbeld o’r the pull The plaeful children just let luse from skuel, The wac-dog’s vois that bade the hwispring weind, Htc., ete. However it is idle to write and talk without taking ac- tion in this matter. Let Mr. Hinds, if he isa pedagogue, call a convention of teachers through the valuable med- ium of Science. Nothing but stubborn lethargy and in- difference hinder the progress of reformation in this branch of study. Huropean nations are continually im- proving their languages, but the English-speaking savant is so perfect that he alone uses a capital “I,” when writing of himself. Such a character will not change his position unless he receives a violent push. Frepertcx Krarrv. 258 Palisade Avenue, Jersey City Heights, N. J. AN IMPORTANT OMISSION AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. To any thoughtful student of affairs, with sufficient foresight to look fifty years into the future, and who realizes a few of the elementary facts regarding the ap- palling destruction of our forests, a visit to the beautiful Forestry Building at the World’s Fair brings a sense of keen disappointment. There is displayed, in admirable order and with scien- tific accuracy, nearly every fact regarding the location, size, form, color and commercial value of every kind of tree grown in the country, carefully painted or photo- graphed specimens of leaf and blossom, and sections of trees, showing girth, bark, polished and unpolished sur- faces, all carefully classified and labelled, giving evidence to the thousands of tourists who drift by with a casual glance that a great deal of painstaking work has been done, which doubtless, as a permanent museum, would be ot great value to the specialist, but which, with the lm- ited time of a tourist, can be of little value to nine hun- dred and ninety-nine out of every thousand who will see it. The only general impression to be gathered from all this elaborate multiplicity of detail, at the time of our visit, was that the United States produced a great variety of beautiful trees, some of them of enormous size, and that, for aught one could see, it would always continue to produce such trees in the same quantities that it had done in the past. Nowhere was there to be found the slightest hint of the fact that we are annually cutting off twice as much tim- ber as we are producing. Nota word to call the attention of the thoughtless passer-by to the importance of forests to preserve our water-courses from alternate floods and droughts, to the ruthless destruction of beautiful moun- tain scenery, to the urgent necessity of setting out trees on our dreary, treeless plains and barren city streets. “There ought to be something done about it, sure enough,” said a good-natured, heavy-bearded man from one of the Pacific States, with whom we earnestly dis- cussed the matter. “I never really thought much about it, and of course it isn’tin my line, for my business is destroying trees, as I’m here representing a lumber firm like most of the others who have exhibits, but Tl take you to Mr. , who is in charge, and you can talk tc him.” Mr. proved very courteous and somewhat interested in the matter, but didn’t know what could be done about it, as his superior had given no directions “But,” we protested, “it could not cost more than ten o: twenty dollars to put up alarge placard headed: “Arren” mron! Facrs rHarT EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN OUGHT TO KNov, | and underneath in large, clear type, without confusing figures or statistics, give a few of the most cogent fact 110 in such simple form that they could be readily remem- bered. Not one in fifty knows these elementary facts. If this exposition is to have the educative value that it is hoped, it must be largely by providing important infor- mation in simple form, for no one can remember the end- less data and statistics which are here provided, and if they could, the one most important fact of all, that we are fast approaching an utter destruction of our forests, is nowhere mentioned.” «The trouble is just here,” quoth the lumberman, “everybody has got to look out for himself, and what's everybody's business is nobody’s business, you know. And then some of those fellers that took up tree claims out west, well, I've known ‘em many a time to plant their trees and get their land, and then let ‘em all die, or sometimes even root ‘em up.” he added with an amused smile, as if he found the whole matter rather a good joke. “You see, most folks don’t look at it as you do; twenty- five years ahead is a long time; we shan’t feel the pinch much before that, and then—well”’—then, we mentally continued, when, like Samson, our strength has been shorn from us, when our hills are as barren as those of Palestine, and our rivers can no longer turn the factory wheels, when our population has doubled, and the price of wood sextupied, then our children, waiting for a hun- dred years, and toiling with infinite cost and pains to re- place what we have destroyed, may well say, “Thus are the sins of the fathers visited upon the children even unto the third and fourth generations.” And Mr. smiled courteously, and said he should think it would be a good plan if something could be done about it. Lucra Tron Ams. Boston, Mass. THE USES OF THE LITTER BY SPARROWS. [Editor Science: The following incident observed by my step-son, twelve years old, may be of interest in connection with the mooted question regarding the use of tools, utensils and weapons by the lower animals. Merwiy-Manir SNELL. | A few days ago, as I was walking along the street near SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 551 a little park, I saw a sparrow lying upon the ground. It fluttered its wings, but was unable to rise. As I was looking, a pair of old birds came along carry- ing between them a little bare twig about three inches long. One had hold of one end of it, and its com- panion had hold of the other. They brought it down to the bird on the ground, and it caught hold of the stick with its beak. Then they flew up again into a tree, carrying the third bird hanging to the stick, and by this means brought it to a place of safety. I am not sure that the bird on the ground was a young one; it looked quite large and may have been wounded or ‘sick. It was not able to fly, anyway, for I saw it try to do so without success. All the birds were common En- glish sparrows. FE. Srantey Spraeue. Chicago, IL, Aug. 7, 1893. SPACE RELATION OF NUMBERS. Mr. Marrry’s association of the natural series of num- bers with a diagram in space is by no means unusual. As I have a similar association myself I have been inter- ested in the accounts published from time to time by people, most of whom imagine their experiences to be unique. There must by this time be quite a literature of the subject, though I do not know whether any one has kept track of it. I should say, however, that most per- sons having a strong sense of locality would be apt to as- sociate, not only the series of numbers but also any other series, such as the months of the year or the days of the week, with a space diagram. In my own case the natural numbers begin at my left hand quite close to me and run in a straight line diagonally in perspective into the dis- tance towards the right. Eeyond one hundred I can scarcely see them, however. The months of the year are similarly arranged save that the current month is always close to me. Most other series have some sort of space arrangement, the kings of England, for instance, beginning at a distance, and running ina very eccentric curved and zizzag line, finishing near me. I localize almost every- thing I memorize or think of deeply. | a Piso’s Remedy for Catarrh is the AMERICAN SCIENCE SERIES. | BarkEr’s Puysics. Advanced course. REMSEN’s CHEMISTRY. 3 courses. PacKARD’s ZooLoey. 3 courses. Martin’s Human Bopy. 8 courses. 7 Waker’s PoniticaL Economy. 8 courses. Newcoms & HoLpEn’s ASTRONOMY. 2 courses. 2 courses. 2 courses. Brssry’s Botany. JamMEs’s PsycHoLoey. Sepewick & Wiison’s BroLoey. HENRY HOLT & CO.,N.Y. | FOSSIL RESINS. Send 25 Cents | For a 3-months’ trial subscription to THE MOTHER’S NURSERY GUIDE, The recognized authority on the care of infants and children. $2 per year. Health, Education, Dress, Pastimes. “Of incalculable value.”—M. Y. Herald. BABYHOOD PUBLISHING CO., Box 3123, N. Y. pie2st SEN GRAV! JS GLADV: [ESTERBROOK’S~ | STEEL PENS. OF SUPERIOR AND STANDARD QUALITY. Leading Nos.: 048, 14, 130, 135, 239, 333 For Sale by all Stationers. | | 1 THE ESTERBROOK STEEL PEN GO. | Works: Gamden, N,J. 26 John St., NewYork, This book is the result of an attempt to collect the scattered notices of fossil resins, exclusive of those on amber. The work is of interest also on account of descriptions given of the insects found embedded in these long- preserved exudations from early vegetation. By CLARENCE LOWN and HENRY BOOTH: 12°. $1. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. DELSARTE SYSTEM OF ORATORY. A Book of over 600 pages of great value to all Delsartians, teachers of elocution, public speakers, singers, actors, sculptors, painters, psychologists, theologians, scholars in any department of science, art and thought. Price, $2.50, postpaid. EDGAR S. WERNER, Publisher, 108 East 16th Street, = = = New York, August 25, 1893. | Two localities in particular are associated respectively with the freedom of the will and generalized space, and whenever I think of one of these subjects the correspond- ing place, with surrounding buildings and scenery, is always vividly present. Of course this is mere association of ideas, but the localization of a numerical series is doubtless nothing more, and I can see no analogy between itand the phenomena of color-hearing, etc., which seem to have for a basis an actual stimulation of two senses by the causes that usually affect only one—probably a purely physiological phenomenon. It is not necessary to suppose any material basis for the diagram. I used to think that mine arose from my learn- ing my numbers from a set of blocks, which I placed in a row. It seems just as likely, however, that the diagram was wholly imagined, it being easier to remember the numbers when associated with a position in space. It seems likely that many people have these diagrams who do not realize it; I was not always aware of mine till they had been firmly fixed in my mind for many years. Arruur E. Bosrwicx. Office of The Standard Dictionary, 2 Clinton Hall, Astor Place, N. Y. City. ROUND WORMS IN THE BRAINS OF BIRDS. In reference to the note by Professor G. H. French, in Science for June 2, it may be said that many years ago the late Professor Nyman published an article in the Pro- ceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History on a nematoid parasite which lives coiled up in the brain of the anhinga or snake-bird in Florida. The species is Hustrongylus papillosus of Diesing. Afterwards, in the Bulletin or Report of Hayden’s Geological Survey of the Territories, the volume and year not in my mind at this writing, I described and figured a similar species (Lustrongylus buteonis) which was found by a student of mine living under the eyes of Buteo swainsoni, while an- other species (Hustrongylus chordeilis, Pack.) was removed SCIENCE Iil from the brain of the night-hawk. These are all referred to in my text book of Zodlogy, p. 169. A. S. Pacxarp. SHARKS IN FRESH WATER. I wave twice noticed extended and circumstantial ac- counts of the existence, and in great abundance, of genu- ine sharks in the fresh-water lake of Nicaragua. Though the first account, according to my recollection, appeared in a very reputable publication, I was inclined to think, from the novelty of the idea, that it was merely an inven- tion of some writer who was amusing himself, and filling out an article, but seeing another account by another writer, and even more circumstantial than the first ac- count, I cannot doubt that there is some basis for the statement. If any readers of Science know of the occur- rence of genuine sharks in fresh water, and especially in the case of the lake above mentioned, I should be glad to have a report to Science. In conversation the other day with one who is a good deal of an authority in such matters, I found that he had no knowledge of any occurrence of sharks in fresh water, but saw nothing unreasonable in the idea. -C. H. Ames. 5 Somerset Street, Boston, Mass. Tue many friends of Henry de Varigny, Sc. D., of Paris, France, will be glad to know that he is on the way to this country, having sailed on Aug. 23, being sent by the French government to investigate certain questions connected with the fisheries and applied entomology. —Corrections: In the letter by Joseph C. Thomson, not Joseph W. Thompson, on page 97, for ‘‘innovated” read ‘‘innervated.”’ —Charles Scribner’s Sons have just ready a little vol- ume of “Stories of the Sea” to match the “Stories of the South,” “Stories of New York” and “Stories of the Rail- * way,” already published. York.! EXCHANGES. [Free of charge to all, if of satisfactory character. Address N. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New I Wants. WOULD be grateful to receive replies to any of * the following questions.—Is copper found native in Mexico? Is it found native in Cuba? If so, in either or both cases can I purchase authentic speci- mens? Canany one furnish me with results of anal- AedicesHion Horsford’s Acid Phosphate Is the most effective and agreeable remedy in existence for preventing indigestion, and relieving those dis- disordered eases arising from a stomach. Dr. W. W. Gardner, Spring- field, Mass., says, ‘‘I value it as an excel- lent preventative of indigestion, and a proper- ly diluted with water, and sweetened.” pleasant acidulated drink when Descriptive pamphlet free on application to RUMFORD CHEMICAL WoRKS, PROVIDENCE, R. I. Beware of Substitutes and Imitations. For saie by all Druggists. For exchange—Complete set of serial slides of em- bryo chick, 12 to 72 hours old; of rabbit lom long, and various stages of development of tadpole, mouse and rat. Willsell or exchange for botani- cal slides, or books or photographic apparatus. D. T. MacDougal, University of Minnesota, Minneapo- iis, Minn. For sale or exchange.—A fine collection of Lep idoptera, native and exotic. For particulars ad- dress Addison Ellsworth, Binghamton, N. Y., care Republican. For sale or exchange for works on entomostraca, Wolle’s “‘Desmids of the U.S.,”’ Hentz ‘Spiders of the U.5S.,” The Amer. Entomologist & Botanist, Vol. 2, The Amer. Entomologist, Vol. 1, Harris’s “Insects Injurious to Vegetation,” colored plates, copy formerly owned by Townend Glover. C. Dwight Marsh, Ripon, Wis. “The Conchologist: a Journal of Malacology,”’ Vols. 1 and 2, with wood cuts and plates, value 12 | — will exchange for any works or pamphlets on Amer- ican Slugs or Anatonry of American Fishes. W. E. Collinge, Mason College, Birmingham, England. I wish to exchange a New Model Hall Type- writer, price $30, for a Daylight Kodak, 4x5 prefer- red. George A. Coleman, Dep’t. Agric., Div. of Ornithology, Washington, D. C. Exchange—The undersigned is desirous of ob- taining correspondents interested in macro-lipidop- tera, in Alaska, the far Western, Southwestern and Southern States. Will also exchange rare lepidoptera for entomological literature. Levi W. Mengel, Reading, Penn. Wanted to exchange—Medical books, Obstetri- cal Transactions, London, Works of Sir J. Y. Simpson, Beck’s Medical Jurisprudence. Hand- book for the Physiological Laboratory, by Burnton, Foster, Klein and Sanderson, Quain’s Anatomy, and about fifty others. Catalogues given. Want Geological, Botanical and Microscopical books in exchange. Dr. A. M. Edwards, 11 Washington St., Neawarl NT yses of native Mexican or Cuban copper, also anal- yses of unalloyed copper reduced trom the ore from Cuba or Mexico? Isit possible to procure aboriginal implements of copper from Cuba or Mexico? Answers to these questions will greatl aid the preparation of a report tor a scientific insti- aici C. B. Moore, 1321 Locust St., Philadelphia, a. YOUNG woman who has been an assistant for a literary and scientific man desiresa similar position. Isan experienced and accurate stenog- rapher and typewriter, thoroughly educated, and sufficiently familiar with literary work to write, in- dependent of dictation. Has some knowledge of the Spanish language. Will go to any part of the United ‘States. Address, Box 147, Ravenna, Ohio. A GRADUATE ofan American Polytechnic insti- tution and of a German University (Gottingen), seeks a position to teach chemistry ina college or similar institution. Five years’ experience in teaching chemistry. Address Chemist, 757 Cary St. Brockton, Mass. WANTED.” position as teacher of Biology, by an experienced teacher, a college graduate with four university post-graduate courses in the Sciences. Good endorsements, and eighteen years’ experience. Address A. N. Somers, La Porte, Ind. WANTED.—Assistant in Nautical Almanac office, Navy Department. The Civil Service Com- mission will hold an examination on August 15 to fill a vacancy in the position of assistant (computer) in the Nautical Almanac office. The subjects will be letter-writing, penmanship, trigonometry, rudi- ments of analytical geometry and calculus, loga- rithms, theory and practice of computations, and astronomy. Each applicant must provide himself with a five-place logarithmic table. The examina- tion will be held in Washington, and if applications are filed in season, arrangements may be made for examinations in the large cities. Blanks will be furnished upon application to the Commission at TXT wat, eee 112 THE Anverican Bell Telehone COMPANY. | 195 MILK ST., BOSTON, MASS. This Company owns the Letters - Patent) No. 186,787, granted to Alexander Graham | Bell, January 30th, 1877, the scope of which | has been defined by the Supreme. Court of the United States in the following terms: ‘(The patent itself is for the mechanical structure of an electric telephone to be used to produce the electrical action on which the first patent rests. The third claim is for the use in such instruments of a diaphragm, made of a plate of iron or steel, or other ma- terial capable of inductive action; the fifth, of a permanent magnet constructed as de- scribed with a coil upon the end or ends nearest the plate; the sixth, of a sounding box as described; the seventh, of a speaking or hearing tube as described for conveying the sounds; and the eighth, of a permanent magnet and plate combined. The claim is not for these several things in and of them- selves, but for an electric telephone in the construction of which these things or any of them are used.”’ This Company also owns Letters-Patent No. 463,569, granted to Emile Berliner, No- vember 17, 1891, for a combined Telegraph and Telephone, and controls Letters-Patent No. 474,281, granted to Thomas A. Edison, May 38, 1892, for a Speaking Telegraph, which cover fundamental inventions and embrace all forms of microphone transmit- ters and of carbon telephones. a THE MODERN MALADY ; or, Suf- ferers from ‘ Nerves,’ An introduction to public consideration, from a non-medical point of view, of a con- dition of ill-health which is increasingly prevalent in all ranks of society. In the first part of this work the author dwells on the errors in our mode of treating Neuras- thenia, consequent on the wide ignorance of the subject which still prevails; in the sec- ond part, attention is drawn to the principal causes of the malady. The allegory forming the Introduction to Part I. gives a brief his- tory of nervous exhaustion and the modes of treatment which have at various times been thought suitable to this most painful and try- ing disease. By CYRIL BENNETT. 12°, 184 pp., $1.50. N. D.C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, New York. SOFTLY STEALS THE LIGHT OF DAY wher filtered through windows covered with CRYSTOGRAPHS, a substitute for Stained Glass that is inexpensive, beautiful, and easily applied. 20c. per square foot. Samples and catalogue, 10c. CRYSTOGRAPH CO., LIGH 316 North Broad St., Philadelphia, SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 551 TNING DESTROYS! Shall it be your house or a pound of copper? Entirely new departure in pro- tecting buildings from lightning. One hundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made under patents of N. D.C. Hodges, Editor of Scezence) will be sent, prepaid, to any ad- dress, on receipt of five dollars. Correspondence solicited. | Agents wanted. AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION €0., 874 Broadway, New York City. Fact and Theory Papers I. THE SUPPRESSION OF CON- SUMPTION. By GODFREY W. HAMBLETON, M.D. 12°. 40c. Il. THE SOCIETY AND THE “FAD.” By APPLETON MorGAN, Hsq. 12°. 20 cents. III. PROTOPLASM AND LIFE C. F. Cox. 12°. 75 cents. IV. THE CHEROKEES IN PRE-CO- LUMBIAN TIMES. By Cyrus THOMAS. 12°. $1. MeebHE TORNADO. By H. A. Hazen. VI. TIME-RELATIONS OF MENTAL PHENOMENA. By JOSEPH JASTROW. 12°. 50c. VII. HOUSEHOLD HYGIENE. By Mary TAYLOR BISSELL. 12°. 75 cents. N. D. C. HODGES, Publisher, 874 Broadway, New York. By QUERY. Can any reader of Sczence cite a case of lightning stroke in which the dissipation of a small conductor (one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter, say,) has failed to protect between two horizon- tal planes passing through its upper and lower ends respective- ly? Plenty of cases have been found which show that when the conductor is dissipated the build- ing is not injured to the extent explained (for many of these see volumes of Philosophical Trans- actions at the time when light- ning was attracting the attention of the Royal Society), “but not an exception is yet known, al though this query has been pub- lished far and wide among elec- tricians. First inserted June 19, 1891. No re- sponse to date. ND. C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, ¥. Y. SCIENCE CLUBBING RATES. 10% DISCOUNT. We will allow the above discount to any subscriber to Science who will send us an order for periodicals exceeding $10, counting each at its full price. — N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. Kee living rooms. > can order on See : CAL CULTURE veloping every part of th naming this paper. WHITNEY HOME GYMNASIUNi machine separate, $4.50 and up. Educated agents wanted. Puyst e body healthfully, 50 cts. “BUSY FOLKS’ GYMNASIUI1.” A few minutes’ daily exercise »! on our fascinating apparatus —1, clears the brain, tones up the body, develops weak parts. Our cabinet contains chest: weights, rowing-weights, lifting-weights, clubs and dumb bells, adjust- able for old and young. the only complete exercising outfit in the world suitable for use in Lt is You Chest All prices. approval. ce Shoulders and Upper Back good for Round Shoulders CHART, with illustrated directions for de: Sent for half price to those CO., Box D., Rochester, N. Y. ELEVENTH YEAR. Vor. XXII. No. 552. SINGLE Copirs, TEN CENTS. $3.50 PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE. SEPTEMBER 1, 1893. CONTENTS. Indian Relics in South Jersey. John Gifford Notes on Some Minnesota Mounds. Albert SOMMENCIS? 55 50aG0090000000000000000000000000 Current Notes on Chemistry. Charles Platt, IBYlHHOFP ou cg oaovoncopaGaDDOGOODOOKObOdONODOONA The World’s Congress Auxiliary of the Co- lumbian Exposition. George H. John- A New Factor in Fruit Growing. Gall owiaivartreeiseeietirtsetettetteletsistisieterletcterere Railroad Signalling. Reginald Gordon........ Altitude in Spite of Humidity as a Cure of Beri-beri. Albert S. Ashmead............ The Origin of Gold. Philip Lake............... On the Extremes of Heat and Cold Under Which the Life of Species Is Possible. Henry de Varigny..........-.0ceceeeeeene Toke INGAIEN So o ono vuobondoo bagododUOOBDoHBUGGORR Letters to the Editor. Animal Vocabularies. Mrs. W. A. Kel- The Circulation in Fresh-Water Mus- sels. Goodwin D. Swezey............... Protective Mimicry of a Moth E. § ANEGIRERP oo ogaoo0cs00aga00n00deRHRdaDoNsDDOGHDS Coyote or Bear. Agnes Crane. . THE WINNIPEG COUNTRY; 114 Notes on Design of Small Dynamo, by G. UI) W. Gillett, 87 pp., 12 foldin, tae With thirty-two Illustrations and a te MINERALS 123| book to present attention.’—The Dial. “| N. D, C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. on | ox 151, Manchester, N. H. | USEFUL HAND-KBOOKS, The Ornamental Penman’s Pocketbook of Alpha- bets, for sign-writers, engravers, stone-cutters and draftsmen, 20 cts. A System of Easy Lettering, b Howard Cromwell, 50 cts. Practical Electrics: x Universai Handybook on Every-day Electrical Mat- OR, ters, 135 pp., fully illustrated, 12mo, cloth, 75 cts. Halliday, 79 pp., with a number of plates to scale, 12mo, cloth, $1. The Phonograph and How to Construct It, b plates, 12mo, cloth, $ BY SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, Publishers, 12 Cortlandt iSt., New York. Illustrated and descriptive cata- A. 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A Short History of the Coal Trade and the By R. Boyp NE tson. affecting it. I2mo, $1.00. By F. C. Autsop. With 224 Illustrations. 12mo, $1.50. PIONEERS OF SCIENCE. By O.utver Lopcr, F. R.§,., Professor of Physics in Victoria University College, Liverpool. With Portraits and Illustrations. 12mo, cloth, $2.50. Legislation MACMILLAN & COr 112 Fourth Avenue, New York. SCIENCE. [ Vol. XXII. No. 552 Cod Liver Oilas*t appears in Scott’s Emulsion is easily taken up by the system. In no other form can sc much fat-food be assimilated with- out injury to the 4 organs of digestion. Scotts Emulsion of Cod Liver Oil with Hypophos- phites has come to be an article of every-day use, a prompt and infallible cu -e for Colds, Coughs, Throat troubles, and a positive builder of flesh. Prepared by Scott & Bowne, N. Y. All druggists. ee ee “AMERICAN SCIENCE SERIES. BAREER’s PHysIcs. Advanced course. REMSEN’s CHEMISTRY. 3 courses. Packarp’s ZooLoey. 3 courses. Martin’s Human Bopy. 8 courses. 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It has been used medicinally and prescribed by physicians for nearly one hundred years. | DIRECTIONS:—Take one or two glasses about a half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50, Bedford Mineral Springs Co., Bedfura, Pa. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. Newspaper Clippings. 25,000 in Stock. What do you want? Let us know. We can supply you. The Clemens News Agency, Box 2329, San Francisco, Cal. whole difficulty. aia a na rananta tartan atte Matahakak oh SMeNata Nanana tata ne If you SUFFER FROM HEADACHE, DYS- PEPSIA oR INDIGESTION, M os If you are BILIOUS, CONSTIPATED, or have A DISORDERED LIVER, If your COMPLEXION ISSALLOW, or you SUFFER DISTRESS AFTER EATING, For OFFENSIVE BREATH and ALL DIS- ORDERS OF THE STOMACH, Ripans Tabules are prepared the stomach. SHaNaMat aM akan anata atatataN ana tentang MS Ke 5 Wy jurious. Cait ata tan arta EASY TO TAKE, QUICK TO ACT. mM ime x aka tartax anata taxaka s 3} Heaite INSEE RHNHNN ARERR NS Ripans Tabules act gently but promptly upon the liver, stomach and intestines; cleanse the system effectually; cure dyspepsia, habitual constipa- tion, offensive breath and headache. first indication of indigestion, biliousness, dizziness, distress after eating or depression of spirits, will surely and quickly remove the Disease commonly comes on with slight symptoms, which when neglected increase in extent and gradually grow dangerous. by the best physicians, and are presented in a form acceptable to An infallible cure if given a fair trial. ONE GIVES RELIEF. SOLD BY Hegeman, 196 Broadway; Crittenton, 115 Fulton; McKesson & Robbins, 91 Fulton; Patterson & Purdy, 158 William; Schieffelin, 170 William St., New York, AND BY DRUGGISTS GENERALLY. ETS TERT ES a BS TE TSS Te 2 One TasutLe taken at the take RIPANS TABULES vake RIPANS TABULES take RIPANS TABULES take RIPANS TABULES from a prescription widely used Contain nothing in- SAVE MANY A DOCTOR'S BILL. Baye atc e uaa HUNT NCE CER acaNeE UN SIE EG Ha aia NGI a aa Ea ana aM aX aa aX ana GGG aX gig Ma MeN a Map R ARR a Na Rae Leet Dene ees as Every reader of “Science” should sub- scribe for the AMERICAN ARCHITECT, THE OLDEST AND BEST Architectural publication in the country. Interesting articles on architecture, Sani- tation, Archeology, Decoration, etc., by the ablest writers. Richly illustrated. Issued weekly. Send stamp for specimen copy to the publishers, Ticknor & Co., 211 Tremont St., Boston. The Boston Surgical BOSTON, numbers, 15c. This JouRNAL circulates chiefly through the 1869. THE IS9S. Manufacturer and Builder. Published Monthly. A handsomely illustrated me- chanical journal, edited by Dr. Wini1am H. WAxBL. 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Subscriptions and advertisements received by the undersigned, to whom remittances by mail should be sent by money-order, draft or registergd letter. DAMRELL & UPHAM, 283 Washington Street, Boston, Mass, SCIENCE NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 1, 1893. INDIAN RELICS IN SOUTH JERSEY. BY JOHN GIFFORD, SWATHMORE COLLEGE, PA. Ir was the custom of the Indians to visit the seashore at certain times of the year. ‘The trails they followed have been traced across the State of New Jersey. “Beach-day” and “clam-bakes” are customs learned from the Indians. The enormous quantities of shells in heaps along the shore are indications of these migrations and of their fondness for the oyster, clams and other mollusks. A certain kind of clam is still known by its Indian name, quahog. Many tons of these shells still remain in spite of the fact that large quantities have been used for roads, for farms and, long ago, for a flux in the manufacture of iron from bog-ore. The size and number of these heaps indicate that the bays and thoroughfares were then liter- ally full of clams and oysters of considerably larger size than those of to-day. ‘There is little else of interest in these heaps besides a few scattered potsherds. Owing, perhaps, to the lack of fresh water, the inclem- ency of the weather and the noxious insects which infest these marshes, the seashore was but a transient resting place for the Indian. Tradition says that in spite of their endurance they were unwilling to bear, for any length of time, the bites of those pestiferous flies and mosquitoes. From the physical geography of the region one may quickly judge where they would locate their permanent settlements. The sands of the interior offered few attrac- tions. Water was their highway and the source of much of their food, so the majority of their villages were situ- ated on prominent points of the rivers, not far from the bays and ocean, not far from fresh water, near fairly good soil, since he cultivated maize and perhaps pumpkins, beans and tobacco, near fresh-water “flats” where the “eolden orontium” grows, the rootstalks of which were an important food, where he could find “snappers” or “logger-heads,” as well as near a region of berries and game. In many places in South Jersey the charcoal and grease of his kitchen-middens still blacken the ground. Here, too, are the bones of deer, turtle and other animals, bits of shells, pieces of Indian pipes, charred stones and other relics. The largest rivers of that region are the Great and Little Kgg Harbor or Mullica. On each of these there is the site of what must have been a very large permanent village. Vestiges are found in many other places in the neighborhood, but they are of little consequence in com- parison with the region of Catawba on the Great Eee Harbor and of Chestnut Neck on the Mullica River. Two of the tributaries of the latter river are known as the Nescochaque and Mechesactauxin Branches. Another branch, called Edgepeling Creek, was the last resting place of the Indian in South Jersey and before their re- moval westward. With gratitude and frankness unlooked for in such barbarians, they credited the authorities with honest dealings toward their fathers and themselves. The word Catawha, although an Indian name, is no way connected with the Indians who once lived there. It was named from the Catawba River, between the Caro- linas, which received its name from the Catawbas who once lived along its banks. Near Catawba, at South River, there are vestiges of an Indian village. Up the main river a short distance there. is another at Goose Point. Throughout the whole region, in fact, there are signs of Indian habitations. Catawba is a deserted sandbluff. Opposite are the fastnesses of a swamp forest. The river winds southward through many miles of marsh. So wild and deserted is the region that it requires but a little stretch of the im- agination to see squaws picking berries along the banks or digging the rootstalks of the “Indian club;”’ others bringing clay from the beds near by, kneading and mix- ing it with bits of pounded quartz and sherds; others weaving moulds of grass and twigs; others ornamenting the finer grades with dots and lines; others working im- plements of jasper, and, perhaps, wampum, from shells. A group of wattled huts, thatched, perhaps, with the leaves of corn and calamus, surrounding a fire, on which there is a very large pot in which the rootstalks of the golden orontium are boiling, belongs to the picture. Orontium aquaticum, so often spoken of by old writers as an important food plant, covers the flats of these riv- ers. It is believed by some to have been introduced by the Indians. It might be profitable to cultivate this plant, since it is not bad food, although it needs to be cooked full half a day to be palatable. In the light and durable wood of the white cedar they found excellent and abundant material for their canoes. At Chestnut Neck, so called because of the chestnuts which once grew there, a canoe of chestnut wood was dug out of the marsh. Chestnut Neck is much nearer the sea and is not so desolate as Catawba. The soil is richer, and the inhab- itants well-to-do bay-men. Few Indian bones have been found in South Jersey in spite of careful searching. It may be that they carried the bones of their ancestors away, as did the Nanticokes. Of all that they left behind them sherds are the most abundant, and fortunately, most valuable. Pottery is an unmistakable evidence of man. Natural formations simi- late his handiwork, but pottery, no matter how coarse, is a sure sign of human habitation. Itmarks best the prog- ress of culture, since that was one of the first, the most lasting and the easiest method of expressing his artistic fancies. The mud-pie was the germ of art. The cultus of apeople is often too quickly judged by the coarse sherds which cover almost every campsite. They made common vessels for common purposes. With the distinc- tion of vessels began the separation of artist and artisan. We must measure ability, therefore, by the finest speci- mens found. Thousands of these bits must be collected, and from these the finest must be selected. No whole pots have been found, to my knowledge, in South Jersey, but from the curvature of the bits some of them were of very large size. Some of these sherds are not decorated at all, others show signs of more artistic ability than is usually accredited to the Indian. The ma- jority are soft, coarse and mixed with bits of quartz and sherds. Some are hard and fine. Some contain holes 114 near the rim for a bail, indicating that they carried their vessels in their hands and not on their heads. They vary in color, owing to the nature of the clay. Some have peculiarly ruftied surfaces, due to the kinds of moulds in which they were formed. ‘ihe majority were moulded in baskets of grass. Some are ornamented with straight lines and dots, others with curved lines, and dots in curves. The sim- plest decoration is where the edge is dented, as does a baker his pies. Lines often cross each other to form square and diamond figures. The top is often fringed with highly decorative bands. Many of the markings similate the tracks of animals, and on a potsherd found by me at Goose Point there is a picture of a human hand beside another hand, as though in the act of gesturing. Some of these are covered with what a potter would no doubt call a “slip;” that is, a very fine clay mixed to the consistency of cream and smeared over the surface of the vessel. The pots varied much in size but littlein shape. They were mostly almost round, although the writer has found a few angular sherds. Clay pipes are often picked up in their kitchen-middens. These are rude and unorna- mented. This is worthy of special mention since this peaceful, diplomatic and friendly emblem was usually much ornamented. Almost as common as sherds are the little slivers and pieces of flint. .The jasper which they used was supposed to have been quarried by the Indians in Pennsylvania and was broken by pouring water on the heated stone, as ob- sidian is quarried to-day. It is interesting to note that the Indian of South Jersey found his jasper elsewhere in another form. Thisis indicated by the fact that the writer has found many pebbles of this stone partly chipped. On one of these there was the imprint of a fossil shell, which may be aclue to its origin. Arrow-heads, spear-points and awls of jasper have been also found. ‘The slivers of this stone which are so common in spots were probably not chipped but pressed off by some sort of a revolving apparatus. This is indicated by the little round pits which may often be seen in unfinished flints. Indian axes are very scarce. They were made of a stone which is not found in South Jersey, and owing to their weight sink quickly and are lost in the sand. Pot- sherds, fortunately, come to the surface. Such are the faint vestiges of a people who by disease, gunpowder and deceit have been practically extermin- ated. Some day archeologists will study the pieces of crockery, glass and brickbats, wonder over the old tin cans and brass heads of gun-shells which we leave behind us, and perhaps pronounce our cultus high in the arts and sciences; but in selfishness, the commonest human quality, we are, perhaps, but little, if at all, the Indian’s superior. NOTES ON SOME MINNESOTA MOUNDS. BY ALBERT SCHNEIDER, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, CHAMPAIGN, ILL, Ty the summer of 1892, while engaged on the zodlog- ical survey field work of Minnesota, I happened across a considerable number of “Indian Mounds.” They were especially common in the Mille Lacs Lake region. All those observed were situated within a few rods of the old shores of Mille Lacs Lake, or of some of the numerous smaller lakes near it. They were all of about the same size and appearance, 40 to 50 feet in diameter at the base and 4% or 5 feet high. As to the age of these mounds nothing definite can be stated; they are evidently of comparatively recent origin. Some had trees growing on them 2% feet in diameter. It is reasonable to suppose that they are from 250 to 500 years old. At Lake Warren, a small lake near the outlet of Mille Lacs, I dug into one of these mounds. Acting under the SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 552 impression that they were burial mounds, I located a cen- tral point and dug perpendicularly downward. At a depth of about 5 feet 1 reached the level of the surround- ing soil. Nothing was noticed but some ashes and frag- ments of charcoal, indicating that a fire had been kindled on the grave before the mound was built. Continuing the excavations I found the opening of the grave, which was about 4% feet long by 3 feet wide, and gradually tapering downward to a rounded bottom at a depth of 4 feet. The hole was evidently dug with some crude in- strument, as the roughness of the sides would indicate. Tn this one grave were found the bones of four human bodies and the scales of some fish. The bodies were ar- ranged side by side in a sitting posture, with the legs and arms strongly flexed upon the body and the back toward the side of the grave. From the examination of the bones I made out the following points: One was a. child of about six years, another that of a young person of sixteen or seventeen years, the third that of a middle- aged, medium-sized woman, the fourth that of a short, heavy-set, muscular man about fifty years of age. This man’s teeth were very much worn, though none were decayed. In fact, all the teeth found were in good con- dition. Some of the vertebra, the leg, arm and hip bones were well preserved. Only a few bones of the child were found and it was difficult to determine its position in the grave. It was apparently placed in a sitting position in the woman’s lap. No utensils or implements of any kind were found. The sandy soil which made up the mound and filling of the grave was taken from a spot some ten rods distant, leaving a shallow depression. Numerous pieces of pottery have been found in this region, mostly plain, some with crude ornamental mark- ings near the rim. All pots or vases were rounded. Stone implements were also found. Copper implements were reported to have been found, though I was unable to see them. The most interesting feature of the grave described is that it contained four bodies, apparently an entire family. How came they to be in one grave and evidently placed there at the same time? The probable supposition is that some epidemic carried away large numbers. In that case would it be likely that the survivors would build mounds over all graves? Or were only those of distine- tion honored with burial mounds? It is necessary that more mounds be studied before these questions can be answered. No scientific examinations have as yet been made of the Minnesota mounds. It is probable that there is a close connection as to the time of formation of the “Indian Mounds” of Illinois and Minnesota and the noted “Animal Mounds” of Wisconsin and other states. In closing, I wish to call attention to the necessity of thoroughly and systematically studying these mounds within the next few years, else the farmer and amateur archeologist will make useless and destroy all. A university course of thirty lectures on “Celestial Mechanics” by G. W. Hill, member of the National Acad- emy of Sciences, Honorary Doctor of Sciences of the Uni- versity of Cambridge, England, will be given in the astro- nomical lecture room, Hamilton Hall, Room No. 28, Col- umbia College, on Saturdays at 10.30 a.m. The course will begin on Oct. 14, and continue every Saturday until finished, omitting Saturdays, Dec. 23 and 30. The lec- tures are open to the public without fee. The course will be confined to the motions of the heavenly bodies consid- ered as material points. Dr. Hill will give a somewhat full presentation of the subject rather than a rapid reswme. Short numerical illustrations will enable the hearer to comprehend the bearing of the principles enunciated on practical work, September 1, 1893. | SCIENCE PuBLIsHED By N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broapway, New York. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in advance, one hundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reasons we desire to circulate as many copies of SCIENCE as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprint- edelsewere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photo-engraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manu- scripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accompanies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer; not necessa- rily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold our- ~ selves responsible for any view or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Attention is called to the ‘‘Wants” column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and ad- dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The “Exchange” column is likewise open. CURRENT NOTES ON CHEMISTRY.—II. [Edited by Charles Platt, Ph. D., F. C. 8.) FLASH POINT OF MINERAL OILS. Wuttez not strictly chemical in its nature there are but few scientific tests so intimately connected with our safety as the determination of the flash and burning points of mineral oils. This has long been a matter of concern to oil merchants alone, but the scientific public is now tak- ing an interest in the matter, which it is hoped will de- crease, if not do away with altogether, the vast number of preventable lamp explosions and fatalities. The safety of an oil is determined by its flash point, that temperature at which an explosion occurs when a flame is applied to the mixture of air and vapor immediately above the surface of the oil. A flash occurs, but the oil does not take fire and burn continuously, in the ordinary test cup, until a higher temperature is reached, its burning or firing point. Originally the test was applied to the oil in an open cup, but, this method introducing many chances of error, a closed cup was finally adopted, the flame being inserted through a hole inthe cover. 100°F., formerly considered as the minimum safety point for oil, in the open cup corresponds to 73° F. in the closed test, and with the adoption of the latter, the British Government, advised by Sir Frederick Abel, lowered the minimum safety point required by law to this temperature! The reports and papers by Sir Frederick Abel and by Mr. Redwood, who was associated with him, contain many out- rageous assertions, among others that an oil flashing at a low temperature is more safe than one flashing at a high temperature. They argued that by using the low-test oils a greater volume of vapor is given off and the air is thus driven from the lamp. A metal lamp was also recommended as the safest on this same principle, that by the heating of the oil in the lamp reservoir vapors are evolved from the oil, and the air being driven out as _be- fore, an inflammable, but not an explosive, mixture is ob- tained. When we consider that 73° F., adopted by the British Government, is a temperature frequently exceeded in our houses, the danger of such a ruling is apparent. Mr. D. R. Steuart presented an admirable paper to the Glasgow and Scottish Section of the Society of Chemical Industry, early last winter, in which the fallacies of Abel’s position were forcibly shown. His paper was thor- eughly discussed by the members at that meeting and subsequently, with the final result of an appointment of a committee of experts to pass upon the question. Their SCIENCE: 115 report fully sustained Mr. Steuart and recommended a higher flash point of minimum safety than that now es- tablished by law. Mr. Steuart’s paper, presented at that time, and others of more recent date, contain many inter- esting facts relative to the burning of oils, as, for in- stance, the relation between flash point and heat devel- oped in burning, the effect of the presence of heavy oils, of chemicals, ete., and of the size of the container. A lamp burning badly develops more heat than usual, the light is red and the combustion imperfect, producing a disagreeable odor. This may arise from the air not be- ing properly reverberated against the flame; or from the shape of the chimney allowing of back currents; or from the lamp being dirty, the air holes clogged, the wick damp or dirty; the presence of a trace of vegetable or animal oil in the vessels used for filling; or from the oil itself, the presence of heavy oils or refining chemicals. When the oils are not homogeneous, a light and heavy oil being mixed, the heat developed is greater than with either oil separately, this result being more pronounced when a poor wick is used. A well fractionated oil is practically independent of the wick. The treatment of the oil after the last distillation with acid and alkali, re- sults in injury to it, no matter how thorough the final washing. Sulpho compounds of soda are often retained, and these decompose in the burner, forming sulphuric acid, which chars the wick. Carefully fractionated oils are low or high, in flash, in proportion to the specific gravity and boiling point. A low-flashing oil gives the highest temperature in burning. (Contrary to Abel and Redwood). Another feature has been brought to our attention © lately, that of the influence of the size of the containing vessel upon the danger point in oils. The Abel test, it will be remembered, is prescribed as a two-inch cup. A particular sample flashed in Abel test at 78° F.; in the old government open test at 105° F., and jired in the old government open test at 122° F. Although a small cup of this oil cannot supply vapor sufficient for a constant flame below 122° F., a larger surface can. The oil above mentioned, tested in am apparatus like the old government open, with a screen around and partly on top, but nine inches in diameter, applying the flame every two degrees, ignited explosively at 88° F. and contin- ued to burn furiously. Applying the flame every degree the same result was attained at 87° F. Transforming the apparatus into a closed test, the oil ignited and burned at 76° Ff. Except, then, for small surfaces, the flash and burning points are the same, and the Abel flash, becomes a point of danger for oil in store, barrel or tin, while for oil in large vessels, tanks, etc., the danger point is stilllower. A case is cited where a large tank of very high flashing oil was being pumped into, the temperature being far below the flash point in Abel cup, vapors were evolved, overflowing through an imperfectly closed manhole at the top, and were ignited at alamp some distance below. The fire ran back; an explosion resulted, blowing off the top of the tank, and the oil was burned. It is curious to note that while the British Government fixes the flash test at 73° i. for the public, it places the same at 105° F. for its own governmental departments, and at 145° F. for the lighthouses. EXTRACTION OF FAT FROM FEEDING CAKES. The extraction of fat from fodder by means of anhy- drous ether, after a preliminary drying, or even with low- boiling petroleum, is known to be unsatisfactory. To avoid the simultaneous extraction of coloring matters, resins, waxy impurities, etc., Dr. L. Gebek has conducted experiments, using burnt gypsum mixed with the sub- stance to be extracted, also filtermeg the ethereal solution through a gypsum filter. Finely powdered gypsum be- 116 coming impervious during use, a granular material was obtained by powdering plaster figures, igniting and pass- ing through a 2 mm. sieve. The substance was air-dried and ordinary ether used. Anhydrous ether apparently did not affect the results, though these were lowered by a previous drying of the food stuff. The extracts, though pure, were not constant in weight. Spanish earth was found to yield satisfactory results after the following pro- cedure. ‘The fine powder was mixed with water, sufficient sulphuric acid added to remove the carbonates, and the whole evaporated to dryness and ignited. The mineral was then powdered and passed through a 2 mm. sieve. A cotton plug is inserted in the end of the extraction tube, and upon this a layer of 3-4 em. of Spanish earth, after which a mixture of the earth and fodder and then another plug. 12-15 grammes of the earth were used for 5 grammes of the fodder. With ordinary fodders the re- sults were the same whether hydrous or anhydrous ether was employed, but with foods rich in fat lower results by a few tenths were obtained with the anhydrous. A pre- vious drying of the substance, when Spanish earth is used, gives low results, probably due to the retention of that portion of the fat which may have been changed by the action of the heat. SYNTHESIS OF PURPUREO-AND LUTEO-CHROMIUM CHLORIDES. Professor Christensen, of Copenhagen, has produced by direct synthesis the so-called purpureo-and luteo-chro- mium chlorides, Cr Cl, 5 NH, and Cr Cl, 6 NH,. Asmall quantity of violet chromium chloride, dried at 100°, *is placed in a beaker and immersed in a freezing mixture of solid carbon dioxide and ether. Liquid ammonia (NH) is slowly added. At this temperature no reaction takes place, but upon removing from the freezing mixture and warming to —38.5°, the boiling point of ammonia, a sud- den reaction sets in, converting the chloride into a red mass, consisting largely of the purpureo-chloride. The excess of NH, is eliminated as gas. The product is washed with cold water and hydrochloric acid, finally dis- solved in water and the solution dropped into concen- trated hydrochloric, in which the purpureo-chloride is insoluble, when the red crystals of the pure salt are thrown down. ‘The first aqueous washings are yellow and yield a yellow crystalline precipitate of luteo-nitrate upon the addition of concentrated nitric acid. The reaction takes place between very narrow lmits—immediately above and below the boiling pomt of ammonia —38.5°. DETERMINATION OF GERMANIUM. Quantitative estimations of the rare metals being un- known to text-books on chemistry, the methods adopted by experienced analysts have a decided instructive value. The following is the procedure in an analysis of the new mineral canfieldite as given by Mr. 8. L. Penfield in the Am. Jour. of Science. A preliminary qualitative examina- tion was made showing the mineral to be essentially a sulpho salt of germanium and silver. The silver and sul- phur were determined as usual. For the germanium, 2 grammes are oxidized with nitric acid, a little sulphuric being added and the excess of nitric removed by evapora- tion to dryness. The residue is dissolved in water, which has been rendered slightly acid, if necessary, and the sil- ver precipitated with ammonium thiocyanate, filtered and the filtrate containing the germanium collected. The solution is evaporated to dryness in a platinum dish with- out danger, no acid being present to form with the ger- manium a volatile compound. The excess of sulphuric acid is driven off by heat, and the ammonium thiocyanate is destroyed by the nitric acid present. The residue is covered with a little strong ammonia (NH,OH) into which sulphuretted hydrogen is conducted, thus dissolv- *Throughout these articles temperatures will be given in Centigrade un- less otherwise stated. SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 552 ing the germanium oxide and leaving all heavy metals, except those which form sulpho salts soluble in am- monium sulphide, undissolved. The filtrate from this solution is collected in a platinum crucible and eyap- orated on a water bath, the residue oxidized by concen- trated nitric, and the excess of the latter removed by a second evaporation. The mass in the crucible is now gently ignited and weighed, the germanium being de- termined as the oxide, GeO,. ‘There is no loss of weight on subsequent heating to a red heat. Another scheme by which all of the determinations are made in one sample is briefly as follows: Solution in nitric; precipitation of the silver by means of hydrochloric; precipitation of the sulphur with barium nitrate; removal of the excess of chlorine and barium, in one operation, with silver nitrate and sulphuric acid; removal of the sil- ver by means of ammonium thiocyanate; and the final de- termination of the germanium as above. THE WORLD’S CONGRESS AUXILIARY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. BY GEO. H. JOHNSON, SC. D., ST. LOUIS, MO. One of the greatest attractions of the Columbian Expo- sition is outside of the exposition. In the World's Con- gresses we have an exhipit of the world’s intellectual progress and present condition such as has never been attempted before. For the first systematic attempt to make such a comprehensive exhibit of the world’s thought by spoken language only the congresses have been very successiul. During the whole of the six months that the fair is open the Memorial Art Palace, foot of Adams Street, Chicago, is the place of assembly for those who are prominent in any branch of theoretical and practical learning. At the fair we see the magnificent work of great masters. At the Art Palace we see the great mas- ters themselves. As the creator is greater than his work, as thought is greater than action, so are the world’s con- gresses greater than the fair. Tt has been said that President Bonney, since the first day of May, has done nothing but open congresses; and indeed, that is quite sufficient to keep him busy, since several congresses meet each week, and each one is opened by Mr. Bonney with felicitous remarks appropri- ate to the subject. Little effort, apparently, has been made here to show the intimate relations which exist between different de- partments of science and art. To attend one congress and then another exhibits as complete a change as to pass from Machinery Hall to the ine Arts Building. Since the congresses are designedly meetings for specialists, it is to be expected that very few can take a prominent part in more than one congress. But the wisdom of such a complete separation between dependent and cognate sub- jects as some of the programs show, is open to question. For example, the Congress on Higher Kducation did not consider University Hixtension because the latter subject was considered exclusively in its own congress. The en- gineering educators could not attend any of the meetings of the civil, mechanical, naval, mining, metallurgical, or military engineers without leaving their own meeting, since all these and others were in session simultaneously. Perhaps the greatest need of codperation between closely related specialists was shown in the congresses on experimental and rational psychology. These meetings were held simultaneously in opposite halls of the insti- tute, and each succeeded remarkably well in ignoring the work of their opposite brethren. Indeed, it might have been inferred from some of the remarks that what is ex- perimental is not rational, and what is rational will not bear the test of experiment. A professor in one famous September 1, 1893. | university, in summing up his criticism on experimental psychology, said that the new results of that science, for example, Weber’s law, were not strictly true; and their true and yaluable results had been set forth centuries be- fore in rational psychology. In the other congress, shortly after, I heard the representative of another great university say that a single study in experimental psy- chology, carefully worked out, was of more value than all the works on rational psychology which had ever been written. A friendly rivalry between the advocates of different methods is probably stimulating and favorable to the development of science; but the depreciating of all methods except one’s own, and the rejection or neglect of results obtained by other methods, is certainly detvi- mental to the specialist himself, and it lessens the relia- bility of his work. A conference between all those inter- ested in psychology would have been very desirable. Yhere were some surprises at these congresses for which the programs could not prepare us. At the Congress on Rational Psychology, over which the vener- able ex-President McCosh presided, some irrational speak- ers persisted in making themselves prominent when the subjects were open for discussion. On the other hand, at the Conference on Aerial Navigation, where some peo- ple went expecting to see the “cranks,” there was nothing but plain statements of observations made, experiments tried, results achieved and theorems proved. At no other congress, perhaps, was there such a pressure of really valuable and original matter. The three days set apart for the conference, with doubt as to whether so much time would be needed for the discussion of such an em- bryonic art, proved to be quite insufficient; and eyen a fourth day did not give time for the reading of several valuable memoirs offered by practical and scientific men who are devoting much of their time to arts aerial without hope of any immediate financial return. The Congress on Woman Suffrage was notable for the large number of men present who seemed to enthusi- astically support the claims of their sisters. The Con- gress on Jurisprudence and Law Reform, where the most serious debates might have been expected, was character- ized by the amusing stories and reminiscences of vener- able judges. The Congress on Social Settlements was a very earnest conference between ardent young college graduates, who constitute most of these settlements, and philanthropists and socialists. The number of eminent visitors from abroad who have participated in most of these congresses has been suffi- cient to make the term “international” no misnomer. So many valuable papers have been read at these meetings, and the average excellence has been so high, that it is very desirable that the proceedings of all the congresses, including the discussion of papers, should be published in uniform style, fully indexed, and offered for sale at a price to secure a large circulation. An effort is to be made to have such an edition published and widely dis- tributed by our government. The whole work would be a kind of thesaurus of practical knowledge. The theorists and visionaries have contributed their part to each sub- ject, but generally it has been only a subordinate part; and the proceedings as a whole have been characterized by great practical wisdom. The World’s Congresses have been a kind of university for which the fair has served as museums, laboratories and recreation grounds. The congresses, although they have the mottoes, “Not things, but men,” “Not matter, but mind,” are officially designated as “auxiliary” to the exposition; I am inclined, however, to consider the expo- sition as auxiliary to the congresses. SCIENCE. 117 A NEW FACTOR IN FRUIT GROWING. BY B. T. GALLOWAY, WASHINGTON, D. C. Durine the past three years the Division of Vegetable Pathology in the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been engaged in the study of twig or fire blight of the pear and apple. In the course of these investigations, which were for the most part carried on by Mr. M. B. Waite, an assistant in the Division, an attempt was made to obtain some definite information in regard to the rela- tion of insects to the disease in question. Asa result of this work it was shown that the organism causing blight was disseminated by insects during their visits to the blossoms. The blossoms, it was found, were readily in- fected by the pear blight germs brought to them by in- sects, the result being the death of the flower and fre- quently the twig or branch supporting the latter. This discovery raised the question of the necessity of insect visits to the flowers of pears and other fruits affected by blight. It was thought that if by some practical means insects could be excluded from the flowers without inter- fering with the fruitfulness of the trees, one form of blight at least might be prevented. In order to obtain some information in regard to the effect on fruitfulness of excluding insects a series of ex- periments were made at Brockport, New York, in the spring of 1891. The results of these trials were some- what startling, as it seemed to indicate a fact hitherto overlooked by scientific and practical men, viz., that many of our well-known varieties of pears will not set fruit unless their flowers receive pollen from other vari- eties. In other woods, the visits of insects, by means of which cross-fertilization is effected, is necessary to insure proper setting of the fruit. To obtain further information on this subject more ex- tended experiments were made on this subject in 1892 and 1893. . This work was carried on in Virginia, New York, and New Jersey, the results in every case confirming those obtained in 1891. The facts obtained by these in- vestigations seemed sufficient to warrant the important conclusion that most of our common varieties of pears and apples are unable to fertilize themselves. This law can hardly be called new, for Knight, Darwin and others have touched the same point in a broader and more gen- eral way. Strange to say, however, no one, up to the present time, seems to have applied the conceptions of Darwin and others on this subject to some of our common fruits, although it has long been recognized that orchards of pears, apples, plums, ete., fail to bear fruit regularly, even under the most favorable conditions. In the light of our present knowledge it is known that unfruitfulness, in many cases, is due to the fact that large blocks of single varieties have been planted. In such cases there is not sufficient foreign pollen to effect fer- tilization, consequently the trees bloom profusely but no fruit sets. The new factor, therefore, which confronts the grower of pears and apples is to select his varieties and plant them in such a way as to insure cross-fertiliza- tion. Of course, in doing this it will be necessary to ob- serve a number of important points, the details of which need not be given here. Suftice it to say that the time of . flowering of the various varieties must be kept in mind in selecting those designed for pollinating. Then again, the question of the potency of the pollen with respect to the variety it is intended to grow must of necessity be con- sidered, and, finally, it will be important to know what proportion of pollinating trees to trees it is desired to fruit should be planted. i18 RAILROAD SIGNALING. BY REGINALD GORDON, COLUMBIA COLLEGE, NFW YORK. Tue chief object of signaling on railroads is to inform enginemen positively, at given points, whether they must stop or proceed, and the universal method of conveying this information is by a visible signal. Audible signals have been tried, but their use is rather limited. At the high speeds now usual on our railroads, an engineer ought to be able to interpret the meaning of a signal at some distance before he reaches it, so that if obliged to stop, he can bring his train under control and stop it, before reaching the point where actual danger exists, whether it be a train, an open switch, or some ob- struction. The necessity of an easily distinguishable sig- nal is thus obvious. In the early days of railroading, when trains were comparatively few and speeds were low, it was sufficient to have flagmen or watchmen, waving a flag by day, and a lantern at night. These men were of course governed by orders of the local superintendent or roadmaster. Ifa train stopped unexpectedly, or longer than usual, a brakeman was sent back with a flag or lan- tern to protect his train against a following one. Two great improvements were made in railroad operation when fixed signals, on poles or posts alongside the track, were FIG. I. adopted, and when the method of keeping trains apart, and protecting them, one against another, known as the “block signal’ system was introduced. ‘hese fixed signals were moved by a combination of rods, wires and levers, worked by an operator situated at some distance and controlling, at the same time, several other signals in a similar man- ner. Of all the different forms for signals that have been tried, the disc and the semaphore are the only ones in use now. The dise signal may give its indications for safety, either by turning through 90°, so as to show only its edge, or by moving bodily out of that part of the signal case which, when occupied, means “danger.” Fig. 1 shows an electrically operated dise signal at “danger,” and the dotted lines show the “safety” position. The semaphore signal, fig. 2, is more positive in its indication, because it is more easily discernible thana disc. The safety posi- tion of the semaphore is shown by the dotted lines in fig. 2. The blade or arm carries a frame, /, in which a red glass is fixed, so that at night, when the blade is raised to indicate danger, the lamp, /, fastened on the bracket, 6, will show ared light. Wken lowered for safety, the lamp is uncovered, and, of course, shows white. The introduc- SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 552 tion and recent rapid extension of block-signal systems of various kinds has led to the almost universal employment of semaphores, and even where an absolute block system is not maintained, train movements, either on the open road, or within yard limits, are controlled mainly by this form of signal. The necessity of keeping two trains apart by a space interval, rather than by a time-interval, has been demonstrated in a most forcible manner by the long list of rear-collisions on railroads relying solely on the rear brakemen to keep trains apart. In the former method the road is divided up into spaces or blocks, and no train is allowed to enter any block unless the last pre- ceding train shall have passed beyond its limits. The limits of éach space or block are marked by signals, usual- ly semaphores, operated directly by a signalman, or else controlled by him through the intervention of compressed air and electricity. The safety of trains, then, rests maim- ly upon the faithfulness of the signalmen, as well as the vigilance of the locomotive engineers. Under the time-interval system, trains are not allowed to follow one another closer than after an interval of five, seven or ten minutes, according to the class of trains and their relative speed. With this system everything de- pends upon the faithful and active performance of duty by the rear brakeman of a train. Some railroads, unable FIG. 2. to incur the expense of installing and maintaining a first- class block-signal system, have provided signals at every regular station, where the station agents, being in tele- graphic communication with one another, can, if neces- sary, carry out a very fair “absolute” block system. Hach station, then, marks the end of one section and the begin- ning of another. In times of heavy traffic, however, these blocks between stations are too long; that is, trains are kept too far apart, and compelled to wait so long at sta- tions that the road could not be kept clear, and the ser- vice would become demoralized if this method were strict- ly adhered to. For these reasons, and under the circum-' stances cited, it is quite usual to allow trains to follow one another after an interval of time, determined in each case to suit the circumstances, and the practice thereby becomes “permissive,” as opposed to “absolute” blocking. This method of operating is in use at present on many roads, and, though it no doubt prevents many collisions, is vastly inferior to an absolute, interlocking system of block signals. Railroads with very heavy traffic, and traversing thick- ly settled regions, have lately found it necessary and ex- pedient to equip their lines with this latter system, and it September 1, 1893. | is a question of only a few years before all our great trunk lines, or, in fact, all lines running trains at high speed will be thus protected. The earlier forms of block systems comprised a semaphore for each track, controlled from a cabin or tower at the entrance to each block or section. Telegraphic communication was established be- tween these towers, and the movement of trains thus pretty well controlled, of course always assuming proper vigilance and devotion to duty on the part of the tower men and engineers. Nevertheless, accidents have hap- pened by reason of a signalman forgetting that a train has lately passed his tower, and allowing another to fol- “ wp Mm © Ta ru Tn ae wi alan a fe I us FIG. 3: low it, without any information from the tower ahead. In the latest systems brought into use, the danger of such carelessness is largely, if not entirely, overcome, by inter- locking the signal levers in two successive towers. By a combination of mechanical and electrical devices, each lever that moves a signal is locked in position by the man in the tower at the farther end of the block section, and can be unlocked only with the latter’s consent and co- 6peration. For example, in fig. 3, a signalman at H can- not lower his signal to “safety,” in order to admit a train to the block ahead, without asking the operator at the next tower, J, to unlock his (H’s) lever. The man at £ will not do this unless he knows that the block or section H-J is clear. A train having passed J, going towards K, and protected by a danger signal at J, the signalman there, on request of H, will unlock the Jatter’s signal FIG. 4. lever, so that he can lower his semaphore to safety, and admit a train to block H-/. It is usual, also, to have each signal in duplicate; thatis, a semaphore placed from 1,200 to 1,660 feet in advance of the one at which an engineer must stop, if it stand at danger. The latter is called the “home” signal; the former, the “distant” signal. Home signals are almost invariably painted red, and of the form shown in fig. 1. Atnight they display a red light when the blade is raised to danger position. Distant sig- nals are made of the “fish-tail” form, as shown in fig. 4, and painted green or, rarely, yellow, displaying a green light at night when raised to indicate “caution.” A dis- tant signal is for the purpose of informing an engineer SCIENCE. tig whether he will find the home signal at danger or not. In moving the blades to indicate danger, the distant is first raised, then the home signal. In lowering them, however, the reverse order is used. If an engineer finds the distant signal lowered for him, he can go on confi- dently without slackening speed, knowing that he has a clear block ahead. If, however, it is against him, he then has time to bring the train under control and come to a dead stop on reaching the home signal, which, if at dan- ger still, he must under no circumstances pass. In the Fourth Avenue tunnel, New York City, the signals are ar- ranged so that the act of moving a signal to danger, places a torpedo on the rail over which the train must pass, and in addition to this, a gong is set loudly ringing if an engineer, neglecting the ordinary signal, runs be- yond a certain point. Setting the signal to safety again removes the torpedo and throws off the gong mechan- ism. These extra safeguards have been found to be absolutely necessary in this place, where the traffic is so dense and the conditions of working are so trying. ALTITUDE IN SPITE OF .HUMIDITY AS OF BHRI-BERL* BY ALEERT S. ASHMEAD, M. D., NEW YORK. A CURE Tur Hakoné Mountain resorts, 886 metres above sea- level, Karuizawa, the new foreign resort, the religious sta- tions (ten) disposed on each of the four roads up the sacred Fuji Mountain, and the [kao Mountain and hot springs resort at Nikko, are the main beri-beri resorts of Japan. All these are in the neighborhood of volcanic centres. Karuizawa, at the head of the Usui Pass, is 3,000 feet above sea-level. Its mean temperature is 8° lower than that of Tokio, in the principal Kakké month, August; and there is a mean oscillation of 20° F. in the temperature of the day, as compared with the night. While at Tokio the variation is only 14°. It is this coolness of the nights, in all the mountain resorts of Japan, which makes the heat of the day tolerable. The August humidity, in all the mountains of Japan, although they have three times the rainfall of Tokio, is practically the same as in the latter city. Yamanaka, another resort in the Hakoné Mountains, is higher even than Karuizawa, the same conditions as above. ; Fuji, the peerless mountain of Japan, is 12,238 feet high. Its slopes are cultivated to an elevation of 2,000 feet. It can only be visited in the Kakké season, July and August. At other seasons, itis too cold. ‘The highest temperature that has ever been recorded in August, on the summit of Fuji, was 70.5°, and the lowest 31.1°. The mean daily range of temperature is a little higher, 20.9»,. than at Karuizawa; that is the variation between day and night. There are at the top of the mountain thirty-six inches of rainfall, and three-fourths of the whole quan- tity belong to the three or four days of the first storm of the month. The influence of Fuji in encouraging precipi- tation, is shown also at Karuizawa, the latest beri-beri resort, and in the other resorts.* The comparison between the three, top of Fuji, Yaman- aka on the Hakoné Mountains, and Karuizawa, gives the following figures: Rain- Rain Bar. Range. Temp. Range. Vap. Hum. fall. aes Adio) GE HMEGIS Go ode odo 490.7 13-1 Tar TsO Ses ule 2ee COCO Yamanaka (Hakone). 677.5 11.8 20.6 9.6 16.0 88.7 580.4 18 Kartizawa......... 679-13 10. 21-3 1.1 16.0 86. 212.0 17 *Communicated to the Sei-I-Kwai, or Society for the Advancement of Med- ical Science in Japan. rAshino-yu is at Ubago, near the base of Fuji. Hakone Lake is separated from Fuji by aridge. Yamanaka Lake is seen from the top of Fuji. The same influence operates at Ikao; this is near Asama-yama, the second highest volcanic peak in Japan (Shinano.) 120 The meteorological station which is nearest these re- sorts is called Numadzu; it is at sea-level, about twenty miles west of the Hakoné Mountains, on Sugura Bay, Pacific side of Japan. The notations for August are: Bar. Range. peak Range. Vap. Hum. Rainfall. Rainy days 757-6 20.5 83, 187.2 23. The average “humidity at Tokio, sea-level, for the three Kakke months, June, July and August, as given in the meteorological summary, is 81.6. This figure is inferior to that shown by mountain resorts.’ it will be seen that recovery from beri-beri takes place in these noted places, in spite of their excess of humidity and rainfall, which makes it evident that the humidity and rainfall of the Kakké months, June, July and August, at sea-level, in the beri-beri centres, cannot be a direct cause of the outbreak. Another cause must be looked for. The history of the following case shows that a high altitude is absolutely necessary for a real cure of Kakké. A patient of mine, M. H., 23 years old, a ship builder and a powerful man, by no means anemic, a native of Kochi (a city of 50, 000 inhabitants, not a beri-beri centre, on the sea-level, island of Shikoku), contracted beri-beri in Tokio, June, 1885. He was a patient at that time of Dr. Ikeda, the emperor’s physician. He was ordered to the mountain, but his father insisted on his returning home. He recovered and came back to Tokio in October. In June, 1886, the disease reappears; this attack is stronger than the last; for ten days he is unable to walk at all. He has this time the attendance of Dr. Sasaki. That eminent physician tells him that he must stay in the mountains near Tokio, and not return home, if he wants to be cured for good and all; should he go back, thinks the doctor, the cure would only be temporary. ‘The patient disregards this advice, and goes again to Kochi, and recovers in September, as before. He arrives again in Tokio in November, spends there the winter and the following spring. In May, 1887, there comes upon him a third attack, nota strong one this time. As usual, he retreats to his native place, and recovers in August. He betakes himself to Yokohama, and in November sails for San Francisco, where he spends the winter. May, 1888, finds him again in Tokio, and this year he escapes beri- beri. He stays all summer in Tokio, and all winter, and in June, 1889, he has afourth attack of beri-beri. This time again he flies to Kochi, and recovers only in Octo- ber. After recovery he reappears in Tokio in November, and spends there the winter and the spring. In May, 1890, he goes back to his native place before the beri. beri season begins, and escapes. He spends the follow- ing winter in Kobe. In 1891 he returns to Kochi, and spends the summer. He again is spared. (It must be observed here that in Kochi, his native place, there is but little charcoal used as compared with Tokio, and that the city, situated at the head of a seven-miles bay, is not sur- rounded by hills or fells, which might coop up the dele- terious products of combustion: it was really from this carbonic poisoning that he was escaping during his so- journ at Kochi). The winter he spends in Tokio. In April, 1892, he goes to Osaka, having heard of the im- proved climatic conditions for beri-beri patients of that place, for the purpose of getting out of the range of the _ disease, but does not succeed. He is visited by it there -and recovers in September, having been only one month sick this time. He spends the winter in Tokio, and in May comes to the United States. He has neglected the only remedy which can have any real and lasting effect on his case; that is, in his own 12.7 5.8 7-2 2For most of these facts, 1am indebted to Trans, of the Asiatic Soc, of Japan. SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 552 country, the mountain air. He is not cured, though his diet has been irreproachable, at least for years. Dr. Toyama, who has charge of the beri-beri hospital at Usigomi, Tokio, has in his hospital, in the beri-beri season, from 100 to 200 patients. This establishment is situated on the highest eround of Tokio. A vegetable diet is imposed upon the patients; they get no mill, no meat, no fat fish. If they decline to remain in the hospital or do not improve, he orders them to the Hakoné Mountains, about eighty miles southwest of Tokio, or to the hot springs Mountain of [kao at Nikko, eighty miles north of the capital. An albuminous diet is not considered by this eminent physician as of signal importance for the cure of beri- beri: it is the altitude, even the moderate one of his own establishment, that does it. Hf one high place has no effect, he sends his patients to a still higher one. Does this suggest, in any human mind, the idea of rice and ancemia as the causes of a disease which disappears, al- most at once, when the air is pure, rich in oxygen, com- paratively free from carbonic emanations? If the cure takes place (and even in the Kakké season) where the degree of humidity is the same as, or greater than, in the beri-beri centres; and where the vegetable diet is com- pulsory, neither humidity nor anemia resulting from a non-albuminous diet can be chief etiological factors of beri-beri, or, to express my opinion with complete frank- ness, can be factors at all. One can hardly suppose that any merit in the cure of beri-beri patients can be attributed to the springs them- selves around which the stricken herd gather. Wor why do not the same mild chalybeate and sulphur compounds (see Dr. Geert’s analyses) operate in the same manner at sea-level. Hot bathing is also out of the question, it be- ing in Japan a universal, almost passionate, habit. Con- sider also this fact: There are in Japan some excellent arsenic springs. It is well known that arsenic 1s the prin- cipal remedy for chloro-aneemia. Yet beri-beri patients find no benefit in them. There is, at any rate, no rush there, as would certainly be the case if beri-beri was an anoemia. I have obtained, recently, some facts about the beri- beri situation in the island of Java, and I think I will append afew to this sketch: The Batavia beri-beri hos- pitals are situated at Buitenzorg, the old capital of Java. They are built on very high grounds; it takes a two hours ascending drive from the seaport to reach them. The patients are brought thither from the sea-level. The doctors in charge of these patients feed them rice and curry and eggs in different forms. The patients them- selves, strange to say, take exception to a meat diet. The chief source of success, the doctors avow, is the climate. In the whole of Java, the beri-beri outbreaks are at sea- level. One thing is made evident by these facts: the beri-beri specialists, not only of Japan, but of Java, the cradle of the disease, have been taught by the most persuasive of all masters, long experience, that the cure of beri-beri has little or nothing to do with the diet, as they feed their patients even with vegetables. They seem to know by instinct that the disease must disappear as the red corpuscles are recreated by the ozone of the mountain air. it is not, as I view the matter, the condition of the red corpuscles, in itself, that causes the disease, nor does their rehabilitation in itself constitute the cure. But, as these red corpuscles reacquire the faculty of carrying oxygen, the carbonic toxine is eliminated, and with it the very root and soul of the disease, Dr. Takaki’s rice and ancemia theory to the contrary notwithstanding. It is the elimination of the paralyzing element, carried by the blood, which, when thus recreated, the red corpuscles are ‘September 1, 1893. | able to bring about; itis this elimination, and nothing else, that constitutes the curative action. I will now beg the reader to ponder over the two fol- lowing facts, and see if he can reconcile them with Dr. Takaki’s theory: 1st. The mountaineers of Japan, who have the reputation of being rice -gluttons, eating, in fact, nothing else, are never aiilicted with beri-beri. 2nd. There is, in the mountains of Japan, one beri-beri centre, and only one. What is more, this exceptional place is 800 metres above sea-level, itis called Shinano.s But see how strikingly, here, the exception confirms the rule. Shinano is again surrounded by higher hills, so that it is really a cup from which the carbonic gases cannot escape. ‘The outbreaks of beri-beriin Shinano are explained by the latter circumstance, not by any extra rice-gluttony of the Shin- anoans, or the excessive humidity of their climate. THE ORIGIN OF GOLD. BY PHILIP LAKE, CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND. Tuer subject of the origin of gold, or of the manner in which that metal has reached its present positions, is one ~ which has at all times excited considerable attention, and the number of theories put forward has been almost as great as the number of writers on the question. Ht is easy to understand the presence of gold in al- luvial deposits, for this has clearly been derived from pre- existing rocks; but the difficulty lies in determining how the auriferous quartz-reefs and other rocks which we look upon as the home of the gold, became impregnated. Sir Roderick Murchison, from his observations in the Ural Mountains, originally held that non-alluvial gold was only found in Paleozoic rocks, and principally in his Lower Silurian; but he believed that it was not introduced into these rocks until shortly before the Drift period. Subsequently he was led to modify these views to a cer- tain extent, and to admit that Secondary and Tertiary strata when penetrated by igneous rocks or impregnated by mineral veins, might also contain gold. More recent observations show that gold may be found in rocks of any age in metamorphic strata; but all the evi- dence seems to support Murchison’s next contention, viz., that gold is of igneous origin. There is probably no more instructive area to illustrate this than Southern India, where the distribution of gold has been carefully worked out by Mr. R. B. Foote, of the Geological Survey of India. Almost the whole of this part of India is made of crystalline and metamorphic rocks; and in it there area large number of gold fields, more or less rich. A closer examination of the country shows that we have here a large mass of gneissic and granitoid rock which is crossed by @ number of bands of schist, lava flows, hematite beds and conglomerates. Mr. Foote has shown that these bands belong to a system which is distinct from, and newer than, the gneiss, and to this system he has given the name of Dharwar. He has shown also that all the gold fields of Southern India, with the possible exception of the Wynaad, lie within these Dharwar bands. As usual, the goldis found principally in quartz-reefs; and it is aremarkable fact that though quartz-reefs are by no means uncommon in the gneiss, as well as in the 3,Bven the rule that the disease does not overstep certain quite low levels is shaken now; for the province of Shinano, walled in by mighty mountain chains, forms a plateau which, in many Kakke-ridden places, is raised 800 metres above the level of the sea. But, aithough these regions are not near the sea-level, they have yet a comparative depression; that is,’ they are low-lying plains, by the side of the circumjacent mountains, a circurn- stance of vast significance.”’ é BAELZ. “Within the cities, also, the deep-lying parts show more cases of the dis- ease than those of an elevated situation.” BAELZ. SCIENCE. I2I Dharwar beds, yet those in the gneiss are never aurifer- ous. It is clear therefore that the gold cannot have been introduced into the reefs from below, for in that case there would be no difference in that respect between the reefs in the gneiss and the reefs in the Dharwar. Only one other possible conclusion remains, viz., that the gold originally lay in the Dharwar rocks themselves, and that it has since, by some process of segregation, been gathered together in the quartz-reefs. It has already been stated that Java-flows occur among the Dharwar rocks; and my own observations have led me to believe that many of the schists also are lava-flows. In fact a very large part, if not the greater part, of the system appears to be of volcanic origin. Itmay be concluded therefore that the gold which we now find in the auriferous reefs of Southern India was derived from the rocks of the Dharwar system; and that it was originally brought up from the depths of the earth by the lava-tlows which form so large a part of that system. ON THE EXTREMES OF HEAT AND COLD UNDER WHICH THE LIFE OF SPECIES iS POSSIBLE. BY HENRY DE VARIGNY, SC. D., MUSUEM OF NATURAL HISTORY, PARIS, FRANCE. Marquis pe Naparmuc contributed some months ago (January 27, 1593, page 49) to this paper an interesting note concerning the extremes of heat and cold endured by man, on the extremes of external temperature which man has been able to resist. The topic I wish to call attention to is entirely different. We all know that man, for in- stance, when resisting the extremes of heat and cold, hardly alters at all his internal temperature, and that when for some reason or other the latter decreases or increases, life is in great peril. To show the extremes of heat and cold man can endure is merely to illustrate the means he has at his disposal to fight heat and cold and to maintain his own internal temperature, and as these means are numerous and powerful, we may well feel assured that man may resist very extreme conditions by intelligent use of the offensive or defensive weapons he is provided with. The matter [ wish to call attention to is the very re- verse, in one sense, of the facts quoted by Marquis de Nadaillac. I wish toshow which are the extremes of heat. or cold which individuals may really undergo permanently, without damage to themselves and posterity. To answer the question, we need to consider organisms which have no proper heat to speak of, but assume the temperature of their environment; we want what generaily goes by the name of cold-blooded, or heterothermal organisms, and we must have them aquatic, not terrestrial, because we very well know that terrestrial cold-blooded animals do not necessarily have the same temperature as the air which surrounds them; nor do plants. Air is a bad conductor of heat, and in air evaporation and transpiration prevent the temperature from going very high. So we want or- ganisms living in water, because in this case, as they hardly produce any heat, they must necessarily have the temperature of the water they live in, moreover we _want our organisms to be able to withstand heat or cold, not only individually, but specifically: they must re- sist as individuals and as members of a species, they must be able to proceed to reproduction. In fact, what we want is the permanent extreme degree of water (in heat and cold) under which organisms are able to live, and to give off posterity. As far as I can judge at present, these extreme degrees are, in Centigrade scale, minus 2° and plus 74°. Arctic explorations have shown that even within the 122 coldest of northern regions life is never totally absent, and may be found when carefully searched for. But, it must be conceded, life becomes “living,” so to say, only during a very short period, a rapid summer, during which the temperature rises above zero. ‘The study of marine cold- blooded organisms, in the northern climes, furnishes, I think, the extreme limit of cold under which organisms can live and reproduce themselves. Fr. Kjellmann, dur- ing his wintering in Mosseibay (Spitzbergen) some twenty years ago, observed a number of alge at the coldest period of the year, and was satisfied, by direct observa- tion, that they did most decidedly give issue to the sex- ual elements, and that the process of reproduction was in full activity while the temperature of the water was per- manently below zero, between —1° and —8° (salt water having a lower freezing point than fresh, about 3°). I do not know of instances of organisms thriving individ- ually and specifically at lower temperatures, of organisms doing the same, while their internal temperature cannot be above that of the environment. Lichens must certainly be considered as living at much lower temperatures, since they perform the breathing function at —10°, —20° and at much lower aerial temperatures, but do they reproduce themselves under such conditions? Haperiments are wanting, and till they have been performed, we may con- sider that the lowest internal temparatures at which organ- isms may thrive and reproduce, is —2° or —3°, and that some ale do live under these conditions in the north- ern seas amidst the blocks of ice (Kjellmann: Vege- tation hivernale du Algues a Mosselbay, Spitzberg, apres les observations faites pendant Vexpedition polaire suedoise en 1872-1873: Comptes Rendus de l Academie des Sciences, 1875). As to extreme heat, I find no instance more satisfactory than that of Van Tieghem. Ina paper, Sur des bacteri- anes vivant ala temperature de 74° Centigrades (published in the Bulletin de la Societe Gotanique de France, 1881, Vol. 28), he has given the results of his experiments on certain bacteria, and has found that one species is able to thrive and to reproduce itself at 74°, while at 77° it dies. Many other micro-organisms can bear for some time 60° or 70° C., but T know of no other able to live permanently at 74° and to give posterity under such conditions. No doubt a large number of observers, of whom 1! have given some names, with the results they have obtained, in apaper: Les temperatures extremes compatibles avec la vie, (Revue Scientifique, 27 May, 1893), have given instances of plants and animals living in hot springs, and, if some were to be believed, animals and plants would have been found in boiling water. I do not say the thing is impossible, but great care must be taken when ascertaining the tem- perature of thermal waters. Hoffe Seyler has shown that under the uppermost layer of water, which may be very warm, colder layers are to be found, and animals may seem to live in heated water, when in fact they live in normal conditions. Unless special care is taken to ob- serve the temperature at the very level where living or- ganisms are found, we can take no serious account of the numerous and startling observations made by a number of travellers, and abstracted by Goeffert, formerly, and recently by H. Weed (9th Ann. Rep. of U. S. Geol. Survey by Powell, p. 619). There is no reagon to suppose that no organisms can live and reproduce themselves at an in- ternal temperature of more than 74°. Such organisms do doubtless exist, but we cannot feel assured of the fact yet. Persons who investigate thermal springs should be very careful in their measurements; correct observations can be of great use for the present question, although, in point of fact, | much prefer a good experiment, such as that of Van Tieghem’s. But nothing prevents the com- pletion of the observation by experiment. SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 552 BOOK-REVIEWS. Being Essays on Education and Crime By Arruur MacDonatp. Wash- Abnormal Man : and Related Subjects. ington: Government. Tuts is a goodly pamphlet of more than four hundred pages issued by the Bureau of Hducation, of which the author is an officer. It is of a somewhat desultory char- acter, consisting mainly, as the author says in his preface, “of essays and of digests of foreign literature which have already appeared in different periodicals.” These various articles, however, have been changed, more or less, and much new matter has been added. The object of the book is to inquire into the causes of crime with a view to their removal, and especially to consider the influence of education in repressing crime. It opens with a brief notice of the various classes of abnormal men, whom — the author divides into four classes: the dependent class, including the inmates of almshouses, hospitals, orphan asylums, ete.; the delinquent class, or criminals; the de- fective class, such as the insane, imbecile, deaf and dumb and others; and finally, men of genius or great talent. The ranking of men of genius with the other classes men- tioned is itself a rather abnormal proceeding, and the chapter in which the author endeavors to show that gen- ius is nearly allied to insanity is likely to meet with little favor. His remarks on that subject, however, are aside from the main purpose of the book, which is to treat of the criminal class and the methods of eliminating or re- pressing it. At the outset Mr. MacDonald raises the question whether and in what way the elementary education that has now become so general throughout the civilized world affects the increase or decrease of crime; and after pre- senting many tables of statistics on the subject, comes to the conclusion, which the reader is likely to share, that “the exact relation between education and crime is un- known.” He remarks, however, that “it would be difficult to find a criminal who in a single instance could attribute the cause of his crime to education;” and adds that “per- haps as good a test as any is for one to ask himself if the teaching of ordinary branches in his school days gave rise to immoral or criminal desires.” But if school education does not increase crime, there is not much evidence that it tends to diminish crime; and thus we are brought to the subject of moral education as distinguished from the intellectual sort, which is the chief product of the schools. Mr. MacDonald justly remarks that ‘while the moral and intellectual sides of education necessarily exist together, yet society is most solicitous about the former; for an in- dividual may be a good citizen with little instruction if he has scund morality, but the reverse is not true.” This, however, immediately raises the perplexing question, which is as old as Socrates, and which moralists of all ages have tried to answer, whether virtue can be taught, _and, if so, by what means; but though our author realizes the importance of the problem, we cannot see that he con- tributes anything new to the solution of it. The relation of education to crime, however, is only one of the topics discussed in this book, which deals with the whole subject of criminology with special attention to the question of preventing crime. In pursuing this theme the author says little directly about remedies, but con- fines himself mainly to the study of causes, on the ground that “all the conditions, occasions and causes of crime must be investigated first, if the treatment is to be a rational one.” “After pointing out the special topics for inquiry in criminology, he proceeds to set forth the views that have been advanced by leading writers on the subject in recent years, with special reference to the theories of the Htalian school, which inclines te regayd crime as a mental September 1, 1803. | disease. Mr. MacDonald’s own views are expressed with caution, and in many cases he confines himself to ex- pounding the ideas of the author he is dealing with, with- out offering any opinion of his own. The question of alcoholism in its relation to crime is treated at consider- able length, and the views of many different writers pre- sented; but, as is usually the case in discussions of that subject, the variety of opinions prevailing and the lack of sufficient information about the actual physical effects of alcohol result in leaving the question unsettled. Mr. MacDonald’s book contains much that will be use- ful both to those who are beginning the study of crim- inology and to the original investigator. To the former it will suggest the most important topics for investiga- tion and the proper methods of work, while to the latter it will serve as a guide to the literature of the subject in all its departments. In this last-named respect the book is especially strong, since it gives not only a great many digests of recent works, but also an extended bibliog- raphy of the whole subject, fillmg more than two hun- dred pages. On the whole, though we do not agree with all the author’s views, we have found his book on many points both interesting and suggestive. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. "Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The writer’: name is in all cases required as a proof of good faith. On zequest in advance, one hundred copies of the number con- taining his communication will be furnished free to any corres- pondent. The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. ANIMAL VOCABULARIES. CERTAINLY one who believes in evolution cannot deny the existence of a language, of some sort, which enables the lower animals to communicate in a more or less in- telligent degree. Even my five-year-old little girl feels assured of the fact that animals can talk, “but not in our words.” Only yesterday | sent her to the barn with an armful of fresh corn husks for our pony. She came running back with beaming countenance, exclaiming : “Daisy was so glad, she wanted to kiss me.” Several years ago I took great interest in some fine Brahma chickens we had raised from fluffy little chicks. There was one fine old grandmother hen which we bought to start with. She came recommended as a “good mother.” And a good mother she proved to be, but she had her way of training a family. She went at it in earnest. She clucked and scratched and pointed out the best things to eat. She was fully impressed with the fact that she had a duty to perform, and she had the courage to devote herself entirely to this duty. But she always insisted upon early independence. She did not approve of chicks clinging to her and depending upon her when they were able to “scratch” for themselves, and hence she made it a rule to “wean” them early. She always gave them a parting lecture. She looked very wise and sol- emn, and “ca-cawed” in a peculiar tone, while the chicks stood about her in a sort of dazed, sorrowful way, won- dering, no doubt, what would become of them. Cne “talk” ended the matter. She went off to roost alone, and the deserted chicks huddled together, “vaguely thinking” what a cold world. Another interesting characteristic about this old grand- mother hen was her solicitude for young hens who were just beginning to experience the first inclinations to sit. She would stand before their nests, and “talk” in the most earnest, subdued tones; her vocabulary must have been quite extensive, for she could continue without any hesitation for such along time. It always seemed to me SCIENCE: 123 that she was relating her own experience and giving ad- vice to the young and inexperienced of her kind. Cer- tainly the young hens appeared to listen with all the re- spect possible—they no doubt “thought” that she magni- fied the cares and responsibilities; at least she never dis- suaded a young hen from her resolution to si/.. I agree with the writer in the last issue of Science (No. 549), who says “there is no need of going beyond the barn yard to hear a definite animal vocabulary of a considerable num- ber of words.” If our language is the result of evolution, it has come up through lower forms, and it is only legitimate to credit animals with a varying degree of power of com- municability. Mrs. W. A. Ketierman. THE CIRCULATION IN FRESH-WATER MUSSELS. In order to demonstrate the course of the circulation in a fresh-water mussel the student is commonly directed to make six injections: from the ventricle forward into the systemic arteries; backward through the auricles into the efferent branchial vessels; from the vena cava for- ward into the organ of Bojanus, and backward into the system; and into one of the branchial sinuses forward into the gills and backward into the organ of Bojanus. I have, however, sometimes succeeded in demonstrating several of these connections by a single injection as fol- lows: Cut away a small portion only of the outer lamina of the outer gill, make a little opening into the branchial sinus and with a very slow, steady pressure inject into it. The course of the injection may then be easily watched as it proceeds down the inner lamina of the gill, and after a little time begins to ascend in the outer lamina. Pres- ently it will begin to escape at the cut ends of the efferent branchial vessels; enough of these are, however, left in- tact, so that most of the fluid passes on up to the auricle, thence into the ventvicie, and it may be followed as it sets out from the heart towards the front and rear of the body on its systemic journey. At the same time, of course, the injection will flow from the starting point back into the efferent vessels of the organ of Bojanus. I have not succeeded in continuing the pressure long enough or steadily enough to make the fluid pass on into the vena cava; the small systematic vessels seem to offer so much resistance that the injection is pretty sure to make a break somewhere before it finally succeeds in making its way through them; and in the same way the renal vessels fail to transmit it backwards into the vena cava. It is very likely that a steadier hand than mine might succeed better; or that an injection controlled by the force of gravity might be made to demonstrate the complete and orderly circuit of the blood around to the starting point; but even the injection of two-thirds of the entire circuit and the gradual progress of the fluid from point to point is instructive. Goopwiy D. Swezey. Doane College, Crete, Nebr. PROTECTIVE MIMICRY OF A MOTH. A corrEsponpent of “Science,” August 4, notes a case of pro- tective mimicry of a moth. From the brief description given, the insect may be the Red Humped Apple-tree Caterpillar Moth, Oedeniasia concinna which has just been reared from larvee, at the University of Kansas, where work is being done in an economic and biologie collection of insects. About a dozen caterpillars were received from Delphos, Kansas, July 19, and after preserving two or three in alcohol, the remainder were put in breeding cages with apple leaves for food. By July 13, all had pupated, some going into ground at surface, while the majority made thin cocoons among the twigs and leaves in such manner as to be completely envelopedandhidden. Adults emerged by August 14, and then it was noticed how easily September 1, 1893. | they could be mistaken, while clinging to the limbs of trees, for short stubs of broken branches, and thus cheat their enemies out of a meal. Taking this as the same species as described and figured in the article,it may be noticed that the distribution is wide, Ohio to Kansas, though it may be expected wherever ap- ples are grown. From the adults, several lots of eggs were found on underside of leaves, and their development will be watched. E. S. Tucker. Lawrence, Kansas, Aug. 16. EXPLOSIVE Gas IN LOCOMOTIVE EN GINES. Ix the article on p. 79 of Science, Aug. 11, 1893, con- cerning “Explosive Gas in Hot Water Apparatus,” are some very pertinent questions to which I would like to add several in regard to high-pressure engines. Assuming the facts stated as true, as they probably are, in the case of heating furnaces in houses, may they not be true also in, for instance, a locomotive engine under cer- tain circumstances ? May not the hydrogen in a locomotive become mixed with common air ? May not this mixture be exploded under certain cir- cumstances likely to occur in locomotives ? May not this be the real explanation of those sudden and terrific explosions that occasionally occur, where no apparent cause can be assigned ? M. W. V. Ft. Edward, N. Y., Aug. 16. _ COYOTE OR BEAR? Coyorr or bear?. “that is the question” which has ap- parently agitated Dr. Franz Heger, Curator of the Kthno- graphical Museum atVienna, ever since Mrs. Zelia Nuttall, Special Assistant in Mexican Archeology of the Peabody Museum, Cambridge,Mass., described and figured.an ancient Mexican shield inlaid with feather-work and gold and bear- ing an animal device of a blue “monster” on a red field. (Internationales Archiv fiir Hthnographie, Vol. V., Part 1, 1892). This shield Mrs. Zelia Nuttall found preserved at Castle Ambras, in Tyrol, and, recognizing its unique character, obtained permission from the Imperial Oberhofmeis- SCIENCE. 124 teramt at Vienna to have it sketched and photographed. It proved to be an ancient Mexican feather-work shield, with an authentic history, like the head-dress of the time of Montezuma, still exhibited at Vienna, “unfortunately always upside down.” ‘Tbis was restored by Dr. Ferdi- nand von Hochstetter and described by him as astandard or banner.? Both head-dress? and shield were sent by Cortez to Charles V., and subsequently formed part of the historical collection of armor formed by his nephew, the Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol, and were duly recorded in the Inventories of that famous collec- tion. Strangely enough, the shield was supposed to be lost, and Professor Hochstetter lamented “its total disap- pearance.” All the while it was lying perdu, in a case labelled “Transatlantic and Oriental Curiosities,” at Castle Ambras in Tyrol, until its importance was recognized by Mrs. Nuttall on a chance visit to the Museum Ambras. Soon after Mrs. Nuttall announced the continued preser- vation and whereabouts of this valuable Ancient Mexican relic to the Anthropological Society of Berlin, and the shield was consequently removed to Vienna. Some other Ancient Mexican objects were also transferred there at the same time, and these Dr. Franz Heger has described in a memoir published in the Annals of the Imperial Natural History Museum of Vienna, 1892.3 It is not altogether surprising that the Austrian cura- tors should have felt a little sore that the real history of so valuable a relic should have been forgotten, although the specimen was duly taken care of, and that its where- abouts and unique value should have been made known by a foreign visitor and Mexicaniste scholar. But that is no reason why Mrs. Zelia Nuttall’s critical and searching investigations on “ancient Mexican shields” in general, and the Ambras shield in particular, should be misrepre- sented and misquoted. Any one reading Mrs. Nuttall’s original memoir, and Dr. Heger’s more recent article, can- not help seeing such to be the case. For instance, Dr. Heger curtly states, “According to Z. Nuttall the mon- x. See “Ancient Mexican Heraldry,” by Agnes Crane. Science, Vol. XX,, No. 503, Sept., 1892. 2. Standard or Head-dress,”’ by Zelia Nuttall, Peabody Museum Papers. Vol. I., No. 1, 1888. 3. Altmexikanische Reliquien aus dem Schlosse Ambras in Tivol. RESTORE YOUR EYESIGHT Cataracts, scars or films can be absorbed and paralyzed nerves restored, without the knife or risk. Diseased eyes or lids can be cured by our home treatment. ‘We proveit.” Hune dreds convinced. Our illustrated pamphlet, ‘Home Treatment for Eyes,” free. Don’t miss it. Everybody wants it. ‘‘ THE Eye,” Glens Falls, N.Y. Send 25 Cents BUILDING 1893 Catalog ue BOOKS. [oe o2ks on Bullaing: Painting, and Decorating, Si: also Catalogue of Draw- DRAWING INSTRUMENTS. terials, sent free on appli- cation to Wm. T. Comstock, 23 Warren St, New Yorks ing Instruments and Ma: For a 3-months’ trial subscription to THE MOTHER’S NURSERY GUIDE, The recognized authority on the care of infants and children. $2 per year. Health, Education, Dress, Pastimes. “Of incalculable value.”—W. V. Herald. Holo ENGF PLACE. NEW YORK >. 7. PARK ’ a] ENGRAVING FOR ALL ILLUSTRATIVE AND. “ADVERTISING PURPOSES - 7 STERBROOK’S STEEL PENS. OF SUPERIOR AND S1ANDARD QUALITY. Leading Nos.: 048, 14, 130, 135, 239, 333 For Sale by all Stationers. THE ESTERBROOK STEEL PEN GO. Works: Oamden, N.J, 26 John St., New York, FOSSIL RESINS, This book is the result of an attempt to | collect the scattered notices of fossil resins, exclusive of those on amber. The work is of interest also on account of descriptions given of the insects found embedded in these long- preserved exudations from early vegetation. By CLARENCE LOWN and HENRY BOOTH: 12. Sale | N. D. ¢. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N.Y. BABYHOOD PUBLISHING CO., Box 3123, N. Y. DELSARTE SYSTEM OF ORATORY. A Book of over 600 pages of great yalue to all Delsartians, teachers of elocution, public speakers, | Singers, actors, sculptors, painters, psychologists, theologians, scholars in any department of sci art and thought. y dep science, Price, $2.50, postpaid. EDGAR S. WERNER, Publisher, 108 East 16th Street, = = = New Yo-k, September 1, 1893. | ster on the shield represents the fabulous Ahuizoltl, or water animal,” whereas, while duly considering the possi- bilities of such identification, Mrs. Zelia Nuttall stated, in conclusion, “that she was prevented from upholding it,’ and drew attention to the resemblance between the outlines of the Ambras “monster” and those of the coyote or prairie wolf, as depicted in the Codex Mendoza to ex- press ikonomatically the name of the Pueblo Coyohwacan— place of wolves. Dr. Edward Seler subsequently endorsed Mrs. Nuttall’s identification of the Ambras monster as a coyote or prairie wolf. Dr. Heger, however, declines to recognize the device as representing a wolf, and declares it to be a bear from “its fangs, claws and shaggy coat,’—characteristics, by the way, also common to the wolf. He admits that “the tail is rather long for a bear,” but adduces, in support of his hypothesis, the fact that bushy tails are possessed by the smaller species of bears, and proceeds to evolve from his inner consciousness a Mexican species of small, long-tailed bear, unknown alike to ancient Mexican pictographers and more prosaic but exact modern zodlogists. Such author- ities as Wallaces and W. H. Flowers state that only one species of bear, Ursus ornatus, is known to occur in the Neotropical region, which includes the American con- tinent from the northern limits of Mexico to Patagonia, and that species is the spectacled bear, restricted to the Chilian sub-region. Is it possible that Dr. Heger confused the true bears 4. “Geographical Distribution of Animals,’”’ Vol. II., p. 2or. 5. ‘Mammals Living and Extinct,” p. 565. SCIENCE. 125 (Ursidee) with the raccoons (Procyonidz) familiarly known in Germany as “Waschbdren,” from their singular habit of washing their food. These, however, are not bears but small bear-like animals with long tails, com- monly annulated. These raccoons do occur in Mexico, but they are characterized by “turn up” noses, which give them a mild and inquisitive appearance, differing widely from the wolverine aspect of the Ambras “monster,” which looks as much like a wolf rampant with protruded claws as heraldic designs with that intent in general. The feet of the coyote or prairie wolf are more correctly indi- cated in the pictograph of the coyote from the Mendoza codex. The bears are flat-footed and cannot retract their claws, which form the only ursine feature of the Ambras monster. Dr. Heger’s fallacies, misquotations and self-contradic- tions are amusingly exposed by Mrs. Zelia Nuttall, in the current number of the Internationales Archiv fur Ethno- graphie, Part 6, 1893. To use a familiar metaphor, it will be seen that the lady has left neither Dr. Heger nor his hypothetical, long, bushy-tailed, small Mexican bear a leg to stand upon. ac-similes of both the Ambras shield and the feather head-dress of the time of Montezuma are exhibited in the Ethnological Department of the Chicago Exposition. We believe Mrs. Nuttall is about to enter on the official duties connected with her appointment as “Judge of ethnological exhibits in the Women’s Depart- ment,” to which she has been recently nominated. Agnes CRANE. Brighton, Eng. EXCHANGES. [Free of charge to all, if of satisfactory character. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New Address N. D. C. York.] Wants. | WOULD be grateful to receive replies to any of * the following questions.—Is copper found native in Mexico? Is it found native in Cuba? If so, in either or both cases can I purchase authentic speci- mens? Canany one furnish me with results of anal- Aidives¥on Horsford’s Acid Phosphate Is the most effective and agreeable remedy in existence for preventing indigestion, and relieving those dis- eases arising from a disordered stomach. Dr. W. W. Gardner, Spring- field, Mass., says, ‘‘I value it as an excel- lent preventative of indigestion, and a pleasant acidulated drink when proper- ly diluted with water, and sweetened.” Descriptive pamphlet free on application to RUMFORD CHEMICAL WonRKS, PROVIDENCE, R. I. Beware of Substitutes and Imitations. For sale by ail Druggists. For exchange—Complete set of serial slides of em- bryo chick, 12 to 72 hours old; of rabbit lom long, and various stages of development of tadpole, mouse and rat. Willsell or exchange for botani- cal slides, or books or photographic apparatus. D. T. MacDougal, University of Minnesota, Minneapo- tis, Minn. For sale or exchange.—A fine collection of Lep idoptera, native and exotic. For particulars ad- dress Addison Ellsworth, Binghamton, N. Y., care Republican. For sale or exchange for works on entomostraca, Wolle’s ‘‘Desmids of the U.S.,’? Hentz ‘“‘Spiders of the U.S.,”’ The Amer. Entomologist & Botanist, Vol. 2, The Amer. Entomologist, Vol. 1, Harris’s “Insects Injurious to Vegetation,” colored plates, copy formerly owned by Townend Glover. C. Dwight Marsh, Ripon, Wis. “The Conchologist: a Journal of Malacology,” Vols. 1 and 2, with wood cuts and plates, value 12 | - will exchange for any works or pamphlets on Amer- ican Slugs or Anatonry of American Fishes. W. E. Collinge, Mason College, Birmingham, England. I wish to exchange a New Model Hall Type- writer, price $30, for a Daylight Kodak, 4x5 prefer- red. George A. Coleman, Dep’t. Agric., Div. of Ornithology, Washington, D. C. Exchange—The undersigned is desirous of ob- taining correspondents interested in macro-lipidop- tera, in Alaska, the far Western, Southwestern and Southern States. Will also exchange rare lepidoptera for entomological literature. Levi W. Mengel, Reading, Penn. Wanted to exchange—Medical books, Obstetri- cal Transactions, London, Works of Sir Zu: We Simpson, Beck’s Medical Jurisprudence. and- book for the Physiological Laboratory, by Burnton, Foster, Klein and Sanderson, Quain’s Anatomy, and about fifty others. Catalogues given. Want Geological, Botanical and Microscopical books in exchange. Dr. A. M, Edwards, 11 Washington St., Newark, N. J. yses of native Mexican or Cuban copper, also anal- yses of unalloyed copper reduced from the ore from Cuba or Mexico? Isit possible to procure aboriginal implements of copper from Cuba or Mexico? Answers to these questions will greatly aid the preparation of areport tor a scientific insti- Use C. B. Moore, 1321 Locust St., Philadelphia, a. YOUNG woman who has been an assistant for _a literary and scientific man desiresa similar position. Is an experienced and accurate stenog- tapher and typewriter, thoroughly educated, and sufficiently familiar with literary work to write, in- dependent of dictation. Has some knowledge of the Spanish language. Will goto any part ofthe United States. Address, Box 147, Ravenna, Ohio, A GRADUATE ofan American Polytechnic insti- tution and of a German University (Gottingen), seeks a position to teach chemistry ina college or similar institution. Five years’ experience in teaching chemistry. Address Chemist, 757 Cary St. Brockton, Mass. WANTED.—A position as teacher of Biology, by an experienced teacher, a college graduate with four university post-graduate courses in the Sciences. Good endorsements, and eighteen years’ experience, Address A. N. Somers, La Porte, Ind. ANTED.—Assistant in Nautical Almanac office, Navy Department. The Civil Service Com- mission will hold an examination On August 15 to fill a vacancy in the position of assistant (computer) in the Nautical Almanac office. The subjects will be letter-writing, penmanship, trigonometry, rudi- ments of analytical geometry and calculus, loga- rithms, theory and practice of computations, and astronomy. ach applicant must provide himself with a five-place logarithmic table. The examina- tion will be held in Washington, and if applications are filed in season, arrangements may be made for examinations in the large cities. Blanks will be furnished upon application to the Commission at Washington. 126 SCIENCE. [ Vol. XXIT. No. 552 BRENTANO’S, Publishers, Importers, Booksellers. We make a specialty of technical works in all branches of science, and in all languages. _ ¢ Subscriptions taken for all American and foreign scientific periodicals. ‘ : Our Paris and London branches enable us to im- port at shortest notice and lowest prices. KrportTs oF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES, MONOGRAPHS, GOVERNMENT Reports, ete. Correspondence solicited. (> All books reviewed in ScrENCE can be ordered from us. | SEND FOR A SAMPLE Copy or Book Cxat. A Month-| ly Index of the Periodical Literature of the World. | $1.00 per year. BRENTANO’S, Union Square, New York, | Chicago, Washington, London, Paris. Probably you take THE Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity do. If you do not, now is a good time to begin. It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty cents. Address: +The Electrical Engineer, 203 Broadway, - - - New York, N.Y. ber day, at 0) $15 home, selling LIGHTNING PLATER and plating jewelry, watches tableware, &c. Plates the finest of jewelry gocd as || Rew, on all kinds of metal || Wilh gold, silver or nickel. No experience. No capital. i | i i Every house has goods need- |__ ing plating. Wholesale to E agents $5. Write for circu- lars. H. E. DELNO & Co., Columbus, ©. THE MODERN MALADY ; or, Suf- ferers from ‘ Nerves,’ An introduction to public consideration, from a non-medical point of view, of a con- dition of ill-health which is increasingly prevalent in all ranks of society. In the first part of this work the author dwells on the errors in cur mode of treating Neuras- thenia, consequent on the wide ignorance of the subject which still prevails; in the sec- ond part, attention is drawn to the principal causes of the malady. The allegory forming the Introduction to Part I. gives a brief his- tory of nervous exhaustion and the modes of treatment which have at various times been thought suitable to this most painful and try- ing disease. By CYRIL BENNETT. 12°, 184 pp., $1.50. N. D.C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, New York. LIGHTNING DESTROYS! Shall it be your house or a pound of copper? | Entirely new departure in pro- tecting buildings from lightning. One hundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeiler| (made under patents of N. D.C. Hodges, Editor of Sczence) will be sent, prepaid, to any ad-| dress, on receipt of five dollars. Correspondence solicited. | Agents wanted, AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION Cé., 874 Broadway, New York City. Fact and Theory Papers I. THE SUPPRESSION OF CON. SUMPTION. By GODFREY W. HAMBLETON, M.D. 12°. 40c. Il. THE SOCIETY AND THE “FAD.” By APPLETON MORGAN, Hsq. 12°. 20 cents. III. PROTOPLASM AND LIFE C.F. Cox. 12°. 75 cents, {V. THE CHEROKEES IN PRE-CO- LUMBIAN TIMES. By Crkus THOMAS, 12°. $1. Vv. SpE TORNADO. By H. A. Hazen. | 12°, $1. VI. TIME-RELATIONS OF MENTAL PHENOMENA. By JOSEPH JASTROW. 12°. 50c. VII. HOUSEHOLD HYGIENE. By MaRY TaYLOR BISSELL. 12°. 75 cents. N. D. C. HODGES, Publisher, 874 Broadway, New York. By QUERY. Can any reader of Sczence cite a case of lightning stroke in which the dissipation of a small conductor (one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter, say,) has failed to protect between two horizon- tal planes passing through its upper and lower ends respective- ly? Plenty of cases have been found which show that when the conductor is dissipated the build- ing is not injured to the extent explained (for many of these see volumes of Philosophical Trans- actions at the time when light- ning was attracting the attention of the Royal Society), but not an exception is yet known, al though this query has been pub- lished far and wide among elec- tricians. First inserted June 19, 1891. No re- s} onse to date. H. D.C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, ¥. ¥. SOFTLY STEALS THE LIGHT OF DAY wher filtered through windows covered with CRYSTOGRAPHS, a substitute for Stained Glass that is inexpensive, beautiful, and easily applied. 20c. per square foot. Samples and catalogue, 10c. CRYSTOGRAPH CO., 316 North Broad St., Philadelphia, “BUSY FOLKS’ body, develops ! living rooms. > can order on naming this paper. A few minutes’ daily exercise »! on our fascinating apparatus ci, clears the brain, tones up the ' cabinet contains chest weights, | rewing-weights, lifting-weights, - clubs and dumb bells, adjust- A able for old and young. the only complete exercising outfit ' in the world suitable for use in machine separate, $4.50 and up. * Educated agents wanted. Puysi CAL CULTURE CHART, with illustrated directions for de- veloping every part of the body healthfully, 50 cts, GYMNASIU/\.” weak parts. Our Lt ts You Chest All prices. approval, Shoulders and Upper Back good for Round Shoulders Sent for half price to thos WHITNEY HOWie GYMAASIUE: CO., Box D., Rochester, N. ¥. ELEVENTH YEAR. Vou. XXII. No. 553. SEPTEMBER 8, 1893. SrinGLe Corirs, Ten CEnrTs. $3.50 PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE. CONTENTS. The Marine Biological Laboratory. Dallas L. SHAG etme see ctencaticweiow ciel: How Chemistry Is Best Taught. Charles F. WEN TEY/oon opacasbobaons0 ed sua GUO ODRa SoHE Notes on the Wood or Fallow Ant of Southeast- ern Massachusetts. J. B. Woodworth.... Problems of Zoology. Dr. C. V. Riley.......... Letters to the Editor. Red Birds and a Grosbeak. J. McNair ARISEANE ono daodapadontosnnesce eas capaeeBaEee Space Relation of Numbers. Talcott Wil Lind Sector reps ogee isis ecb aia ieee Columbian Congresses on Science and Phi- lopoeyihie >: Copdaasdaoncagdadd sone coduadcdRen Palenque Hieroglyphics. Cyrus Thomas.. Color Vision. Christine Ladd Franklin.... Myology of the Cat; or the M. Flexor Acces- sorius of the Human and Feline Foot. i owardivAy ress. sccm seen eee neereecc ios: Acme No. 4 Microscope. SUPPLIES FOR MIGROSCOPICAL LABORATORIES, (Slides, Cover-glasses, Knives, Forceps, Scissors, etc.,) at low special rates in quantities. Correspondence Solicited. Send 10c. in stamps for new cata- logue B (microscopes and-supplies); handsomely printed, with many new descriptions, new illustra- tions, etc. Lew duty-free rates on the various Reichert No. II] microscopes. Write for information, and for special limited offer. QUEEN & CO., (Makers of Microscopes and other Scientific Apparatus.) Philadelphia. Damage to Cotton by Lightning. Frank E. Tie en eae ve MINERALS. | On Some Nesting Habits of the American New Store. A monthly magazine for the study of the German language and litera- oa “New Departments. GEAMANIA Gaildimein, Dail Wer Risers, <) ssasas. 336, . Send for our ‘‘ Winter Bulletin,” recently issued. |ture, is highly recommended by college professors Physical Chemistry at the Columbian Con Robertibs Wand etrensecncccs. cc. - Wil- | idary Work. gress. Great Horned Owls in Confinement. lard E. Treat . Book Reviews. 137 | Minerals, Gems, Microscopical Sections, Fine Lap- GHO. L. ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists, 138] -emoved to 64 East 12th Street, Kew York and the press as “the best effort yet made to assist the student of German, and to interest him i» his pursuit.” Its BEGINNERS’ CoRNER furnishes every year a complete and interesting course in German rammar. $2ayear. Single copies 20 cents. Tf. O. | ox 151, Manchester, N. H. NEW METHOD OF PROTECTING BUILDINGS FROM LIGHTNING. SPARE THE ROD ANB SPOIL THE HOUSE! ‘Lightning Destroys. Shalt it be Your House or a Pound of Copper? PROTECTION FROM LIGHTNING. What is the ProblemP In seeking a means of protection from lighiniug-discharges, we have in view two objects,— the one the prevention of damage to buildings, and ths other the prevention of injury to life. In order to destroy a building in whole or in part, It is necessary that work should be done; that is, as physicists ex; ress it, energy is required. Just before the lightning-discharge takes picce, the energy capable of doing the damage which we seek to prevent exists in the column of air extending from the cloud to the earth in some form that makes it capable of appearing as what we call electricity. We will theretore call it electrical energy. Wuat this electrical energy is, it is not necessary for us to consider in this place ; but thatit exists there can be no doubt, as it manifests itself in the destruction of buildings. The problem that we have to dsal with, therefore, is the conversion of this energy into some other form, and the ac- complishment of this in such a way as shall result in the least injury to prop- erty and life. Why Have the Old Rods Failed? When lightning-rods were first proposed, the science of energetics was en- tirely undeveloped; that is to say, in the midale of the last century scientific men had not come to recognize the fact that the different forms of energy — heat, electricity, mechanical power, etc.— were convertible one into the other, and that each could produce just so much of each of the other forms, and no more. The doctrine of the conservation aud correlation of energy was first clearly worked out in the early part of this century. There were, however, some facts known in regard to eleciricity a hundred and forty years ago; and among these were the attractirg power of points for an electric spark, and the conducting power of metals. Lightning-rods were therefore introduced with the idea that the electricity existing in the lightning-discharge could be con- veyed around the building which it was proposed to protect, and that the building would thus be saved. The question as to dissipation of the energy involved was entirely ignored. naturally; and from that time to this, in spite of the best endeavors of th +e interested, lightning-rods constructed in accordance with Franklin’s principle have not furnished satisfactory protection. The reason for this is appar nt when it is considered that the electrical energy existirg !n the atmosphere before the discharge, or, more exactly, in the column of dielectric from the cloud to the earth, above referred to, reaches its maxlmum value on the sur- face of the conductors that chance to be within the column of dielectric; so that the greatest display of energy will be on the surface of tae very lightning- rods that were meant to protect, and damage results, as so often proves to be the case. It will be understood, of course, that this display of evergy on the surface of the old lightning-rods is aided by their being more orl ss insulated from the earth, but in any event the very existence of such a mass of metal ay an old lightning-rod can only tend to produce a disastrous dissipation of electrical energy upon its surface,— ‘‘ to draw the lightning,” as it is so commonly put. Is there a Better Means of Protection? Having cleared our minds, therefore, of any idea of conducting electricity, and keeping clearly in view the fact that in providing protection against light- ning we must furnish some means by which the electrical energy may be harmlessly dissipated, the question arises, ‘‘ Cau an improved form be given tothe rod so that it shall aid in this d'ssipatior 7” “ As the electrical energy involved manifests itself on the surface of conduc- tors, the improved rod should be metallic; but, instead of making a large rod, suppose that we make it comparatively small in size, so that the tolal amount of metal running from the top of the house to some point a little below the foundations shall not exceed one pound. Suppose, again, that we introduce numerous insulating joints in thisrod. We shall then have a rod that experi- ence shows will be readily destroyed— will be readily dissipated —whena discharge takes place; an 1 it will be evident, that, so far as the electrical en- ergy is consumed in doing this, there will be the less to do other damage. The only point that remains to be proved as to the utility of such a rod is to show that the dissipation of such a conductor dosa3 not tend to injure other bodies in its immediate vicinity. On this poin; I caa only say that I have found no case where such a conductor (for in=tance, a bell wire) has been dis- sipated, even If resting against a plastered wall, where there has been any material damage done to surrounding objects. Of cour-e, it is 1 adily uuderstood that such an explosion cannot take place in a confined spacs without the rupture of the walls (the wire cannot be boarded over); butin every case that I have found recorded this dissipation takes 1 lace just as gunpowder burns when spread onaboard. The objects agalust w ich the conductor rests may be stained, but they are not shattered, I wo ‘jd theretore make clear this distinetlon between the action of electri- “cal energy when dissipated on the surface of alarge conductor and when dis- sipated on the surface of a comparatively small or easily di-sipated conductor. When dissipated ou the surface of a large conductor, — a conductor so strong as to resist the explosive effect, damage results to objects around. When dissipated on the surface of a small conductor, the conductor goes, but the other objects around are saved A Typical Case of the Action of a Sma!l Conductor. Franklin, ina letter to Collinson read before the London Royal Society, Dec. 18, 1755, describing the partial destruct!on by lightning of a church-tower at Newbury, Mass., wrote, ‘* Near the bell was fixed an iron hammer to strike the hours; and from the tail of the hammer a wire went down through a small gimlet-hole in the floor that the bell stood upon, and through a second floor in like manner; then horizontally under and near the plastered ceiling of that second floor, till it came near a plastered wall; then down by the side ot that wall to aclock, which stood about twenty feet below the bell. The wire was not bigger thana common knitting needle. The spire was split all to pieces by the lightning, and the parts flung in all directions over the square in which the church stood, so that nothing remained above the bell. The lightring passed between the hammer and the clock in the above-mentioned wire. without hurting either cf the floors, or having any effect upon them (except making the gimiet-holes, through which the wire passed, alittle bigger), and without hurting the plastered wall, or any part of the building, so far as the aforesaid wire and the pendulum-wire cf the clock extended ; which latter wire was about the thickness of a goose-quill. From the end of the pendu- lum, down quite to the ground, the builiing was exceedingly rent and dam- aged. .. . No part of the aforementioned long, small wire, between the clock aud the hammer, could be found, except about two inches that hung to the tail ofthe hammer, and about as much that was fastened to the clock; the rest being exploded, and its particles dissipated in smoke and alr, as gun- powder is by common fire, and had only left a black smutty track on the plas- tering, three or four inches broad, darkest in the middle, and fainter towards the edges, all along the ceiling, under which it passed, and down the wall.” One hundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made under patents of N. D. C. Hodges, Editor of Science) will be mailed, postpaid, to any address, on receipt of five dollars ($5). Correspondence solicited, Agents wanted. AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION CO.. 874 Broadway. New York Citv. SGIENGE: [ Vol. XXII. No. 553 Probably you take THE Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity do. If you do not, now is a good time to begin. It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty cents. Address: »The Electrical Engineer, 208 Broadway, - - - New York, N.Y. HANDY BOOKS. PRACTICAL ELECTRICS, a universal handy book on every day Electrical matters, fourth edition. 135 pages, 12v0, cloth, price 75 cents. ELECTRICAL TABLES AND MEMORANDA for Engineers, by Silvanus P. Thompson, 128 pages, Illustrated, 64 mo, roan, socents. A SYSTEM OF EASY LETTERING by Howard Cromwell, 32 different styles, 50 cents. THE ORNAMENTAL Penman’s pocketbook of alphabets, 37 different styles, 20 cents. Books mailed post paid to any address on re- ceipt of published price. X _ SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, Mention this paper. 12 Cortlandt St., N. Y. Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Mineral Water For Liver, Kidney and B_dder Troubles. For Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright’s Disease, Diabetes. For Hemorrhoids, Ete. 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Ail druggists. - THE AMERICAN RAGE, By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. “The book is one of unusual interest and value."= Inter Ocean. “Dr. Daniel G. Brinton writes as the acknowledged authority of the subject.”—Philadelphia Press. “The work will be of genuine value to all who wish to know the substance of what has been found out about the indigenous Americans.’’—Nature. “A masterly discussion, and an example of the successful education of the powers of observation.” —Philadelphia Ledger. Price, postpaid, $2. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. «Every reader of “Science” should sub- scribe for the : AMERICAN ARCHITECT, THE OLDEST AND BEST Architectural publication in the country. Interesting articles on architecture, Sani- tation, Archeology, Decoration, etc., by the ablest writers. Richly illustrated. Issued weekly. Send stamp for specimen copy to the publishers, i Ticknor & Co., 211 Tremont St., Boston. BRENTANO’S, Publishers, Importers, Booksellers, We make a specialty of technical works in all branches of science, and in all languages. fe Subscriptions taken for all American and foreign scientific periodicals. Our Paris and London branches enable us to im- port at shortest notice and lowest prices. REPORTS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES, MoNOGRAPHS, GOVERNMENT Reports, ete. Correspondence solicited. (&" All books reviewed in ScrENCE can be ordered from us. SEND For A SAMPLE Copy oF Book Cuat. A Month- ly Index of the Periodical Literature of the World. $1.00 per year. BRENTANO’S, Union Square, New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris. Ww TENCE NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 8, 1893. THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY. BY DALLAS L. SHARP, BRIDGETON, N. J. Tuer sixth summer session of the Marine Biological Laboratory, at Wood’s Holl, Mass., ended with August ’93, and a short review of the station, of its work and growth, will be of interest to Science readers, throughout the country, who are at all interested in our advancement in biological thought and investigation. The phenomenal growth and spendid proportions of the Marine Biological Laboratory, as it now stands, justly deserve the interest and admiration of every educated American. Starting six years ago, in 1888, the Laboratory was but a single building of two large rooms, poorly equipped for work, with only one boat for collecting material, and a total of seventeen students. The session of 93 opened with three connected buildings more than twice as large as the original, containing thirty-four private rooms, a lecture room, a library, a supply department, five general labor- atories, and a total of one hundred and twelve students. Instead of a single row-boat, there are now several at the Laboratory’s wharf and beside these a splendid Burgess- built steam launch perfectly equipped for collecting and always at the students’ command. The secret of this extraordinary growthis mainly due to the Laboratory’s ideal foundation, its location, its officers and the high grade of its work. In 1881, at Annisquam, a quaint little fishing village on Cape Ann, the Woman’s Educational Society of Boston started a small laboratory for the study of marine zoology For six years investigation was carried on here, with constantly increasing demands for better and more ac- comodations, until the necessity of a permanent and better equipped laboratory brought together a number of Boston scientists, who were organized into a corporation under the name of the Marine Biological Laboratory. Thus it came into existence, and though started in Boston it is by no means a local institution. It can hard- ly be called national, for students from Maine to California work side by side with those from England, Germany and Japan. Its board of trustees includes a large proportion of America’s most prominent scientists, and their aim is to make the Laboratory an institution second to none of its kind in the world. The location of the Laboratory at Wood’s Holl is most happy. It was not the result of luck or chance. Over twenty years ago the late Professor Spencer F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, recognized the advantages of Wood’s Holl for the study of marine life, and for many years he and his assistants came here and worked through the summer months. Asaresult of his work, the United States has established here her most important fishing station, whose buildings are the finest of their kindin the world. Nowhere along the Atlantic coast do the Amer- ican waters offer more varied or richer fields for the naturalist, Looking off to the southward from a Laboratory window, Martha’s Vineyard is seen stretching away in the distance till its point is lost behind Nonameset, which in turn is followed by Naushon, by Nashuena, by Cuttyhunk and others. Behind to the west lies Buzzard’s Bay with its distant shore and the little Weepecket Islands like dots upon its surface. In front again is Vineyard Sound, the Harbor, Wood’s Hole, Quick’s Hole, and other holes innumerable, all teeming with life and all within easy reach of the student. What a happy hunting ground! What variety of forms! ~ What wealth of numbers! What a paradise for the naturalist! The sandy shores, the rocky points, the muddy bays, the tide-pools, holes and bottoms from the depths in Vineyard Sound to the shallows of Buzzard’s Bay, are all astir with life which the student may study at first hand. After a year’s study at the Laboratory the average student wakes up to the fact that he never knew before what the study of zoology or botany meant. He is no longer looking at “stuffed things” wired fast to sticks, or withered, shrunken, faded stuff in glass bottles. The specimens are not stuffed with tow nor wired to the rocks, which he gathers from the shores at Wood's Holl, nor do thy float around in alcohol. He learns many new names, but does not spend the summer committing to memory the check-list of species on the coast. He returns to his teaching or college with a larger idea of life; to his reading and work asking how and why and when. He returns to every thing with renewed vigor and enthusiasm, except to the college museum. The work done at the Laboratory is divided into two very distinct divisions. The institution is at once a centre for the advancement and for the diffusion of knowl- edge; it is a school for teaching and astation for research: and acordingly the students who annually attend are divided by a distinct line into pupils and investigators. In the first category come those who have had but an elementary course in zoology, who are practically un- acquainted with the methods of work, who must needs have a broad and general knowledge of the structure of the various groups of avimals, must become acquainted with the great principles of biology, and the use of the naturalist’s instruments, before they can engage in orig- inal research. For the needs of this class of students the Marine Biological Laboratory is eminently fitted. In no other institution of its kind has this department been so care- fully and thoroughly developed. The Marine Biological Laboratory is unique in this. It stands alone. It is an entirely new departure, and the student who intends to teach or work in any line of biological investigation has an advantage here that is entirely without equal. Fach student has his regular table, his locker for instruments, his own reagents and complete outfit for work. In the centre of the room are the aquaria where his living material is kept. Here he may work, as long as he likes, with abundant material, free to ask questions, and with some eniment biologist always at hand in case of difficulty. 128 Theinstruction islargely personal. From 9 till 10 a. a. there is a general lecture, bearing on the form that is to be studied that day. This lecture is always given by some specialist in that particular group. To-day, for instance, the form under study will be a sponge; the morning lecture then will be by some investigator who is making sponges his special study. After this lecture the day is given up to study, and the instructors are always near, with criticism and suggestion, clearing away the difficulties as they arise, until the student, working form after form, gradually masters the technique and learns in part to interpret facts for himself. After this course, if he chooses to return another year and persue the work further, he takes a table in the upper laboratory, where he is given some problem to solve, which is not too difficult, and here again he is helped over the hard places, until, having had sufficient preliminary train- ing, he is capable of choosing and solving his own problems. For those who carry on special investigations private rooms are provided, where they may work undisturbed and in perfect quiet. This year there are thirty-four of these rooms, each oc- cupied by some investigator, working at some problem whose solution will have an important bearing on the scien- tific thought of the day. This summer gathering of our biologists and scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory, apart from the natural advantages of the place, is of the greatest help and importance. ‘There is an enthusiasm and stimulus in the numbers and personal contact which nothing else gives. Men of different schools, working in widely separa- ted fields, here meet and compare ideas and methods. Their lines of work continually cross and the help of a specialist's suggestions at these points cannot be overesti- mated. Hardly a paper goes to press, but that it has first received the honest judgment and criticism of those whom the author most wishes to reach. Every point of interest and doubt is carefully weighed and discussed, and very seldom does error escape detec- tion. As often happened this year, papers which have been long in preparation, and discoveries that are entire- ly new, are delivered as lectures before the whole student body, and are afterward discussed, allowing every one the privilege of expressing his criticism and opinion. This is not only of immense value to the author, but all present are thus kept in the very van of scientific thought. The student who wishes to come to Wood’s Holl does not necessarily need to be working some problem of marine life, to enjoy the advantages of the Laboratory. His work may be such that requires the fresh-water ponds. or the woods and fields, it may be; if so, they are all at hand. The character of the surrounding land is almost as varied as that of the water. The green and rolling hills, the winding road-ways, the quiet, shady ponds,—all combine to make the country round about Wood’s Holl a land of delight to the summer visitor, whether he be student or pleasure seeker. One of the newest features of the Marine Biological Laboratory is the Department of Physiology. This was first opened last year under Dr. Jacques Loeb, of the Uni- versity of Chicago. This year professors from Harvard Medical School, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, from Johns Hopkins and other such schools have occupied the rooms and have placed the department on a sure and successful footing. The Botanical Department gave a course in Crypto- gamic Botany in reference to marine alge and a parallel course in comparative forms of Fungi. The department was crowded, several specialists investigating problems connected with marine plant-life. SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 553 The “Supply Department” of the Laboratory, while it is a side issue and of no special concern to the summer student, is nevertheless an institution of great interest and importance to every zoological teacher in the coun- try. The collecting is under the care of Mr. F. W. Wamsley, who has had much experience in the work, and he has reduced the business of collecting, killing and preserving, to a science. Full data accompany every specimen. The date, even the hour in some cases, the location, depth of water, character of bottom, and many other minor details, are carefully noted. ‘Then the killing fluid is tested and pro- portioned, and so on through every step in the process of fixing the tissues, which is often very complicated, until the specimen is finally preserved in the proper alcohol. As the value of a zoological specimen preserved for class use, or for histological purposes, depends entirely upon the methods used in its preservation, it should be, and is,” a source of great satisfaction to know that the Marine Biological Laboratory has established a department where such material can be supplied, which formerly could not well be had short of Naples. The excellent library of the Laboratory is at all times open to the student. The Laboratory is a regular sub- seriber to about thirty of the leading biological and other scientific papers of our own and foreign countries. Be- sides this, the Boston Society of Natural History has gen- erously placed the use of their library at the disposal of the Laboratory, and the library at the Laboratory has been in this way effectively supplemented. The evening lecture course for the session of 93 was like that of former years, dealing mainly with subjects of general interest. Night after night the little lecture room was crowded with the students and their friends and the people from the village. Such, in brief outline, is the Marine Biological Labor- atory at the close of its sixth year. We are justly proud of what it has been and now is. its short history is one of severest struggle. What it now is, is owing to the generosity and earnest labor of a few; what it is to be, depends, in part, on your generos- ity and mine. What it may be, is summed up in these few words from the last report of its director, Dr. C. O. Whitman, “We have now seen about the limit of what can be accomplished without_funds. The two functions of instruction and investigation have worked admirably together, each growing stronger in the success of the other. We have endeavored to keep the two properly balanced, but I think we have nearly reached the limit of our capacity for instruction with our present space and means. We already see that to tax our teaching forces much more, would not tend to improve the side of in- vestigation. For further development, then, two things have to be provided, namely, room dnd funds. As we can- not well enlarge our building, and as the conditions for both branches of our work could be immensely improved by providing a separate building for the investigators, our next step is clearly defined: It is a suitable observatory for the exclusive use of those engaged in original research. Preparatory to this, a site is to be selected and secured. This done, the plan of the building worked out, the equipment estimated, the income necessary to the main- tenance of the observatory, with its officers and scientific staff ascertained, we shall be prepared to lay the whole matter before any one who may be disposed to contribute to the foundation of a biological observatory—an obsery- atory which shall be an honor to America, and worthy of that promising science of the future to which the world looks for grander discoveries than have yet enriched human knowledge or contributed to the welfare and ad- vancement of the race.” September 8, 1893. | Sill NGse PusiisHEeD By N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broapway, New Yorx. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in advance, one hundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reasons we desire to circulate as many copies of SCLENCE as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprint- edelsewere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photo-engraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manu- scripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accompanies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer; not necessa- rily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold our- selves responsible for any view or ovinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Attention is called to the ‘Wants’ column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and ad- dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The “Exchange’’ column is likewise open. HOW CHEMISTRY IS BEST TAUGHT.* BY CHARLES F. MABERY, CASE SCHOOL OF SCIENCE, CLEVELAND, OHIO. Tue subject “How chemistry is best taught,’ which has been proposed to us for discussion, has a serious interest for all persons who are engaged in teaching chemistry, and it is of especial importance to those of us who have in charge the preparation of young men for professional employment. In view of the prominence of scientific sub- iects and methods in the present systems of education, it is incumbent upon the adherents of these methods to demonstrate by their results that they are not in error in assuming that science should have an equivalent place with other departments of knowledge. In the higher in- stitutions this question has received a definite answer; in the secondary schools evidently much has yet to be ac- complished in the direction of general education as well as in the preparation for higher study. That the importance of a knowledge of elementary chemistry is apparent to all who are capable of appreciat- ing its usefulness, is evident in the recent extension of instruction in the secondary schools. In the larger por- tion of our high schools, however, physical science still occupies a subordinate place, or it is taught merely from text-books with little, if any, laboratory training. Proba- bly the chief hindrance to any radical change is a lack of appreciation on the part of the public. If parents could be brought to see that their sons and daughters would receive a better education if physical science properly taught formed an essential feature of the high school course, the change would not be long delayed. That the training of many teachers is scarcely more comprehensive than they are called upon to impart is of less importance, since at present those who are educated in the higher in- stitutions have better opportunities, and those who are deficient can improve their knowledge in special courses for teachers. Doubtless the many popular movements of the present day will exert a beneficial influence in extend- ing an acquaintance with the application of scientific principles. Such unique and instructive object lessons as that which has been designed, under the direction of Prof. Ellen H. Richards, for the Rumford kitchen, in the Columbian Exposition, cannot fail to attract public atten- tion. It requires no particular training in observa- tion to recognize the difference in nutrition of foods which have a widely different nutritive value; but *A paper read before the section of Didactic Chemistry in the World’s ConetesS Auxiliary of the World’s Columbian Expositionat Chicago, August 1993- SCIENCE. 129 when an appetite whetted to the sharpest edge in an endeavor to sce all the exhibits in the Liberal Arts building in one visit, and the unavailing efforts to extract a crumb of comfort from the places so improperly named, is brought in contact with the wholesome dishes prepared in the Rumford kitchen, and their satisfying influence, the numbers representing the food values will be in a favorable connection to awaken a desire for further infor- mation. The same principle is applied in a different manner in the exhibits from the agricultural stations which explain the composition of dairy products, of ani- mal foods and the methods of chemical investigations. These exhibits have a particular interest for persons en- gaged in agricultural pursuits since they are a part of the well-directed efforts of the stations in disseminating knowledge. Probably in no department of education has there been a more substantial growth during the last twenty years than on the part of intelligent farmers in applying the practical information coming to them from the results of investigations carried on at the experiment stations. These illustrations may seem somewhat re- moved from the main question before us, but I am con- vinced that the efficiency of higher instruction in chem- istry will be greatly improved when students coming to us from the secondary schools shall have had the advan- tage of practical training in elementary physical science, and I believe this will be the sooner accomplished through a recognition of its benefits in the affairs of every-day life. JT think we shall all agree that the best argument to be urged in favor of a prominent place for chemistry in any grade of instruction is the value of experimental methods for the development of mental power. This feature should naturally appear with especial prominence in courses leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts; and if the schools of science are to be maintained on a higher plane than the trade schools or shops, the courses of study must be conducted with reference to the attain- ment of mental discipline and scholarship. In the courses in chemistry I am unable to see why this should interfere with the acquisition of practical knowledge. The guiding star to successful teaching in chemistry is the personality and enthusiasm of the instructor. With the great increase in attendance in many institutions the earlier relations between student and instructor, which were frequently mingled with deep personal feeling, some- what akin to veneration on the part of the student, are well-nigh impossible. Nevertheless, an enthusiastic teacher with tact and good judgment has little difficulty in maintaining a profound interest even in large classes. In successful teaching we all know how much depends upon the attitude of the instructor toward his students. Courteous relations, with a clear understanding that teacher and students are mutually interested in the ac- quisition of knowledge, readily secure the confidence and esteem of a body of students, and the instruction need seldom be interrupted by questions of conduct. A faithful teacher does not limit his attention to the brighter minds; students slow in comprehension but earn- est in application secure a store of information which will be used later to the best advantage. It was a wise teacher who said: “I am faithful in my duty to dull stu- dents; in my old age I may need favors of the men of wealth.” In assimilating their methods from European labora- tories, the chemists of the United States, untrammelled by traditions and unrestrained by the influence of any par- ticular school, have been in favorable conditions to ap- preciate the labors of the great masters of other coun- tries. Unfortunately, it may be, in the wonderful devel- opment of our natural resources, the temptation to enjoy material benefits may have retarded the growth of orig- 130 inal investigation; yet looking toward the future the erec- tion of so many large laboratories cannot fail, under judicious control, to contribute to the advancement of knowledge. A marked individuality in our methods is apparent even in a casual inspection of American labora- tories. Variation in details is a natural consequence of differences in the temperament of different peoples; and teachers educated abroad have perceived the necessity of adapting the methods in which they were trained to the peculiar conditions. With some hesitation I approach that aspect of our sub- ject which relates to the details of methods, since the best success in teaching is so dependent on the personality of the instructor that it would seem presumptuous to sug- gest a rigid scheme for all. There are certain principles at the foundation of successful teaching, however, which may properly be presented for consideration, especially since this paper is intended as an introduction to general discussion. I have already alluded to an unsatisfactory condition in the methods employed in the secondary schools. In some of the high schools, as we all know, there are teachers who are thoroughly imbued with the spirit of scientific study, yet competent teachers are often limited in their efforts by a heavy burden of other work, or by a need of the necessary appliances. There can be no question that the high school courses would be bene- fitted if every pupil received systematic training in ele- mentary physical science, and I believe it is consistent with due attention to other subjects, and that it can be accomplished without any unreasonable pecuniary bur- den. As an expeditious and effective method for teach- ing chemistry in the high school, I would have the teacher meet the class before the lecture table and dem- onstrate, experiment and explain, simply as a convenient mode of teaching classes as one pupil should be taught. The experiments should be repeated by the student in the laboratory, under the immediate oversight of the teacher, with the note book close at hand. A text- book is necessary, to give information which the teacher. has not time to include; but no text-book can supply the need of personal teaching. Occasionally teachers with limited knowledge are led to adopt methods of question- able utility by the arrangement of certain text-books. Some years since a teacher in one of the high schools in the Kast, in which little attention was given to laboratory work for students, remarked that his pupils must have a thorough knowledge of valence and structure symbols. The topical arrangement of the subject may be left to the discretion of the teacher, and the quantity to the length of time available; but it should never be forgotten that the educational value of such instruction depends upon the development of skill in manipulation, of correct hab- its of observation and in recording notes, and of the true spirit of scientific thought. Whatever of practical infor- mation may be included will enhance the utility of the instruction. In the higher institutions the first course is general and descriptive chemistry, of which every person who expects to engage in any scientific pursuit should have a thorough knowledge; and, as has been suggested, this subject should have a suitable place in college courses. Concerning de- tails of the most efficient methods in teaching general chemistry, no doubt an extended course of experimental lectures, closely connected with laboratory practice, affords the best training. The ground can be fairly coy- ered in seventy or eighty lectures, with four to six hours a week of laboratory work, so arranged that the lectures of each week shall include the experiments for the labor- atory. Weekly recitations on the subjects of the lectures and laboratory work enable the instructor to control the progress of his students. When students first enter the SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 553 laboratory it is essential that they are impressed with the necessity of accuracy in the details of experimental work. This important lesson may easily be taught by means of experiments capable of affording quantitative results; by some instructors such experiments are occasionally intro- duced throughout the course, with the same object in view. There should be sufficient instruction in the labor- atory for careful oversight of the experimental work and the note book of each student. Moreover, I am convinced that it is unwise, in any grade of undergraduate study in chemistry, to allow students in laboratories without con- stant supervision; when left to themselves they are apt to loiter, to contract careless habits and to waste material. Then a laboratory is held responsible for accidents, even though they occur through inexcusable carelessness of students. Every instructor in charge of a laboratory will, no doubt, recall heedless moments on the part of students. Some years ago, just as ] entered my qualita- tive laboratory one day when the assistant was out of the room, I observed a student inflate his lungs twice from a bottle containing a freshly charged solution of hydric sulphide; he immediately fell into the arms of a compan- ion, and it was some time before he recovered. Probably another inflation would have proved fatal. This fellow was a sophomore, having taken one year in general and descriptive chemistry; he was fairly bright and had been using this reagent during several months. But some question arose as to the odor of the unadulter- ated gas, and, forgetting the precepts of his freshman year, he attempted by a direct experiment to ascertain the truth. What has been said concerning the personal- ity of the instructor applies, perhaps, in a more restricted sense to the student. While methodical habits are to be™ strenuously insisted upon,the methods may be sufficient- ly flexible to allow the student to reach his conclusions in his own peculiar way; the particular form of the lecture and laboratory notes, for example, can be left to the pref- erence of the student, provided they are well written and complete. For other students than those who desire special train- ing in chemistry or in allied subjects, an extended course in general and descriptive chemistry provides ample knowledge of this subject. Analytical chemistry is next in the sequence of studies, and for evident reasons quali- tative analysis is first undertaken. On account of its great-disciplinary value I regard this subject as one of the most important in the whole course of chemical train- ing. It enables the instructor constantly to test the faithfulness and proficiency of the student, and beside the mental discipline, the student acquires a compre- hensive knowledge of methods of separation and identifi- cation, which is the foundation of quantitative analysis. Elementary theoretical chemistry, or chemical philosophy, may be conveniently and profitably taught at the same time with qualitative analysis, especially since a familiar- ity with.stochiometry and chemical reactions is essential in a good understanding of quantitative methods. Thus far, in teaching chemistry, probably the methods are not materially different in the college and the tech- - nical school. Indeed, in the more advanced subjects, the principal difference is in the attention which should be given to the acquisition of practical knowledge in the technical courses. The methods of quantitative analysis are well adapted for the development of skill and dexter- ity in accurate manipulation, and to the chemist they are indispensable. As a preparation for professional employ- ment the training in methods should be sufficiently com- prehensive and thorough to enable the student to appre- ciate the conditions of any analytical problem; and, fur- ther, I deem it of much importance that students have practice, under guidance, in all typical standard methods. September 8, 1893. | It is not sufficient that men are carefully trained in meth- ods which impart skill and accuracy; it seems more desir- able, for example, that men who enter the iron and steel industry are thoroughly familiar with the standard meth- ods of iron analysis than to rely upon skill and general knowledge to acquire the special features in actual prac- tice. The first lessons to be learned in the quantitative laboratory are accuracy and confidence; the importance of a close economy of time and effort must be appreci- ated, and an intelligent student will soon perceive the numerous ways for conducting analytical operations rap- idly without haste. When a chemist assumes the duties of a position every motion has a pecuniary value, and _ re- sults are demanded in the smallest limit of time. This requirement is sometimes urged in favor of undergrad- uate training in rapid methods. While some practice in this direction would, without doubt, be serviceable; in three terms, at most, which can be devoted to quantitative analysis, the time is fully occupied in gaining a familiar- ity with methods, and in passing from one analysis to an- other the conditions are not favorable for commercial rapidity. As in actual practice it is only possible to at- tain to the highest degree of accuracy and celerity when the attention of the analyst is limited to a moderate number of determinations which are continually repeated. Experience shows that well-trained students are not long in acquiring commercial dexterity, even to reporting the percentage of carbon within five minutes after a ladle of steel is poured into the mould, or a complete analysis of blast furnace slag within thirty minutes. If attempts were made to give such practice to students, there would still be much to learn in the different conditions in the laboratory of the manufacturing plant. A branch of our subject, which has doubtless occasioned some of us much perplexity in our endeavors to give it a suitable place in an undergraduate course, is organic chemistry. Our difficulty is partly due to the feeling on the part of certain students when they have gained a good acquaintance with quantitative analysis, with the consciousness that they can secure some pecuniary re- turn from their attainments, that they have learned all of chemistry that can be of service to them. Usually such students may be made sensible of their error, although, unfortunately, the importance of a broader view is not al- ways appreciated until a knowledge of this subject is needed in professional occupation. That organic chem- istry is a difficult subject students are not long in per- ceiving. It is not sufficient in a course of lectures that the principles and methods are understood, they must be learned. The importance of a broad and thorough training in theoretical and descriptive organic chemistry as a part of a chemical education is beyond question. As a part of the preparation for technological and applied chemistry, organic chemistry can most conveniently be placed in the third year; yet without some introduction I have found this subject too difficult for third-year students. The plan which I have adopted with satisfactory results in- cludes recitations in the first term of the third year from an elementary text-book, with the following lectures ex- tending throughout the second term and the first term of the fourth year. So far as possible laboratory work shou]d accompany the lectures, although from the pres- sure of other work the greater portion of the experi- mental work may be pushed forward into the fourth year. In connection with the lectures, students should be re- quired to extend their knowledge by reading, and recita- tions are necessary to ensure faithful application. With this arrangement the principal laboratory work of the fourth year includes organic chemistry and chemical tech- nology, assaying, gas analysis;and such other special sub- jects as may seem expedient can be provided for here. A SCIENCE. 131 course of lectures in metallurgy are of advantage to stu- dents in chemistry, and they may be attended during this year; some additional instruction in theoretical chemistry can be given with profit. For the utilization of chemical skill the field of manu- facturing or applied chemistry is full of promise, although in this country it has largely to be developed. Suitable preparation for industrial occupation demands thorough training in the directions already suggested, and beside, a good knowledge of technical processes with the aid of laboratory work, so far as it is feasible to experiment with these processes on a laboratory scale. Concerning the best methods for teaching this subject, no doubt courses of lectures, supplemented by reading, are to be preferred, especially if part of the lectures can be given by persons engaged in professional pursuits. Several recent com- pilations, in a convenient form for the use of students, are a valuable aid. The range in laboratory work is of necessity somewhat limited; it must consist principally in the preparation of chemical products from crude materials, in the study of mordants and dyes and in testing the efficiency of certain features of industrial processes on a laboratory scale. The preparation of theses or written accounts of various processes should also form a prominent feature of a course in technological chemistry. Institutions fortu- nately situated near manufacturing establishments, afford valuable opportunities to students, who are enabled to study industrial methods in actual operation. Such in- struction, supplemented by laboratory practice, consti- tutes the best possible education in applied chemistry that an institution can provide. Any discussion of the details of a chemical education must be incomplete without some reference to related subjects, either such as are closely allied to chemistry, or those which are essential in the proper mental develop- ment of every well-educated person. Evidently this portion of our subject may be considered from more than one point of view. In a course of four years in the school of science, there should be thorough training in mathe- matics, so far as calculus, and it can be no disadvantage to make a certain portion of this subject required or optional. Every chemist who aspires to a position be- yond that of an analyst will be called upon to plan and oversee the construction of appliances and buildings; in fact, ingenuity and mechanical skill may occasionally be as serviceable as chemical knowledge. There are, therefore, good reasons for the acquirement, by every student, of a good understanding of mechanical drawing and of ele- mentary mechanics, and this may have led to the founda- tion, in several institutions, of a course in chemical en- gineering. No doubt this course is in demand by per- sons who desire proficiency in the engineering features, but students who expect to engage in applied chemistry can hardly afford to omit any portion of the undergrad- uate training in chemistry. Nothing need be said as to the importance to all chemists of a thorough discipline in descriptive physics with laboratory practice. A famil- iarity with the principles of heat and _ electricity and with the manipulation of electrical currents are among the more important requisites. The rapid growth of electro-metallurgy indicates large possibilities for the application of electrical energy in this form, and it can evidently best be undertaken by the chemist who pos- sesses a good knowledge of electricity. The literary training in scientific courses is usually limited to the English branches and the modern languages; without a certain acquaintance with the latter the chemist would be seriously restricted in the sources of his information; and, moreover, to scientific students, it would seem that the French and German languages should be taught as 132 much, at least, for mental discipline and culture as for their practical usefulness. Of the importance of thorough discipline in the English language and literature, history, logic and political economy it is not necessary to speak. Determinative mineralogy may be provided for in the second or third year. Courses in agricultural or pharma- ceutical chemistry, or in other special fields, should differ in the details of the third and fourth years from the course outlined above. In college and university courses, theoretical chemistry and chemical literature receive more attention, and in general less attention is given to practical applications. I do not accept the idea sometimes expressed, that original investigation should not be attempted outside of the uni- versity. Weare all too well aware of the difficulties in the way of carrying on special study in connection with the responsibility of undergraduate courses; and yet I am sure we appreciate the influence of such work in the at- mosphere of the laboratory, as well as upon the instructor himself. Then there are always in the laboratory bright students who are able to undertake with profit the study of special problems. As a part of the preparation for teaching I look upon a certain acquaintance with the methods of original research as an essential attainment; T do not intend to assert that without it there can be no good teachers, but it certainly strengthens the equipment of a teacher who aspires to a high position. - Earlier in this paper I endeavored to give an outline of what seem to be the principal objects to be kept in view in teaching chemistry as an educational subject. Stu- dents continue in chemistry with the intention of secur- ing professional employment either in teaching or in ap- plied chemistry. How often are we met with the ques- tion as to what is the prospect of employment after grad- uation; whether the inducements are more promising in teaching or in practical fields. Concerning teaching as a profession, the reply is easy: a person with an aptitude for teaching and with broad training has little difficulty in securing a position commensurate with his attain- ments, especially at present, with the wonderful extension of our educational institutions. But the number of posi- tions is limited and there are few vacancies; if they were abundant not all persons, even with the best possible preparation, would succeed in teaching chemistry. In applied chemistry the conditions are not the same. With our enormous stores of natural products yet undeveloped, vigorous enterprise in business operations and great in- dustrial wealth, there cannot fail to be rapid develop- ments in the fields of manufacturing chemistry. Within the ten years just elapsed we have witnessed great changes; manufacturers who, ten years ago, conducted their operations almost without the aid of chemical skill, now employ several chemists. Hight years ago I visited a large plant for the manufacture of sulphuric acid, which contained neither a Glover nor a Gay Lussac tower. Fur- ther improvements, which are necessary for the produc- tion at home of the chemical products that are now im- ported in large quantities, require broad qualifications with extended experience; if our graduates are not suffi- ciently well trained chemists will be secured elsewhere. If there are portions of the educational field in chemis- try which appeal to us with greater force than others, perhaps the elementary teaching in the secondary schools and the advanced study in preparation for teaching or for positions requiring independent skill and originality in methods are worthy of attention. The recent growth of knowledge within special fields has introduced new features into methods of instruction. In addition to courses which are adapted for all students, those who in- tend to undertake investigations in any particular direc- tion should have training under the guidance of a special- SCIENCE. x [Vol. XXII. No. 553 ist in that field. There are many economic problems of the utmost importance awaiting solution, which require ° not only the application of all accumulated knowledge, but the discovery of new methods. The maintenance of a healthful water supply and the economic disposal of sewage are serious problems for the present generation, and the engineer must be aided by the best skill of the chemist and of the bacteriologist. Every laborer is directly interested in the promotion of investigations on an economic and healthful food supply. To the great army of workmen who are struggling to support families on incomes of three or four hundred dollars a year it is a matter of serious importance to se- cure the best nutrition at the smallest cost. Yet it is rarely, if ever, that a judicious selection of food materials receives attention; it is usually a question of individual taste, so far as the means at hand will permit, with a com- plete ignorance of any principles of economy or health. — In these directions and others of no less importance there are great opportunities in the domain of sanitary chem- istry to render inestimable benefits to humanity. What has been said of sanitary chemistry applies with equal force to medical chemistry, to agricultural chemis- try and to other special fields. ButIfeel sure that the details of methods of instruction, as well as a considera- tion of methods based on other recent discoveries, such as the use of models in teaching structural chemistry, can best form a part of the general discussion by teachers who are especially occupied in those particular fields. Perhaps, also, the great border land between chemistry and physics, or chemical physics, should receive attention from those whose investigations are extending our con- ceptions of the fundamental principles of chemistry. If I have presented this subject more especially from the standpoint of the preparation for professional occu- pation, it is because this seems to be the principal de- mand for instruction in chemistry beyond the elementary branches. But if the value of training in chemistry as a factor in liberal education has not been set forth with due prominence, it should receive just consideration in the discussion which follows. I have not attempted in this paper to include methods or conditions outside of our own institutions; yet we cannot fail to derive great benefit in extending our knowledge of the methods in other institutions through the eminent professors with whom itis our good fortune to meet. NOTES ON THE WCOD OR FALLOW ANT OF SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS. BY J. B. WOODWORTH, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. Anecvores of the ant form, apparently, a large part of the minor contributions to journals of natural history. The fact that so many stories have been published, and the hope that the following will interest some student of the psychological habits of ants, encourage me to relate two observations of my own upon the behavior of the large Wood or Fallow ant (Formica rufa, Linné) of south- eastern Massachusetts.* While examining the sands of Horse Neck Beach, oppo- site Westport Poimt, Mass., on July 25th, 1893, I had my attention called to a large winged ant, with a reddish brown head and prothorax and black abdomen, which started to run away from a shell on which I had trodden. I stepped back a pace, when the ant, perceiving me, be- gan to approach. Upon this movement I continued to retreat in order to get out of her way, but finding that the creature still pursued me, | was led to see how far *J am indebted to Mr. Samuel Henshaw, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, for reference to McCook’s account of this ant inthe Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc., Vol. VI., p. 253, and for naming the form here referred to. September 8, 1893. | >the ant would continue the pursuit. Between the water’s edge and the dry sand of the upper beach was a strip of wet sand some fifty feet wide and gently sloping. Over this area the ant followed me with strange persistence, both with and against the strong southwest wind then blowing. Not only would she follow me up on succes- sively drier and firmer sand to the edge of dry sand, but back again to the water’s edge, so that once she was over- taken by the swash of a small surf. The ant followed readily at a distance of three feet without regard to the direction of the wind, but, at a distance of six or more feet, entirely lost the trail. This cifcumstance, with the additional one that when I walked in a circle she would leave my footsteps and take a direct path towards me, shows that she was guided by sight rather than by the sense of smell. When allowed to come up to me, the ant crawled under the shadow of my shoe and rested on the sand, and once crawled over the uppers, but returned to the space for- ward of the heel. When led to the dry sand she would cease to follow, and would begin to care for her chitin. In the course of the few minutes I gave to watching her, the ant followed me upwards of two hundred feet on the wet sand of the beach. The difference in the behavior of this ant on the wet and dry sand seems to afford a clue to its mental proc- esses. It seems to me probable that the ant had a sense of peril in its position on the wet sand, which was lable to be overrun by the sea, and that she turned toward me as she would have to a tree, or other high object, as a means of escape. A more striking instance of intelligence in the same species of ants fell under my observation upon the island of Martha’s Vineyard. These ants here, as elsewhere, build hills from one to three or more feet in height. The singular activity of the creatures, when disturbed, often led me to offer slight provocations to the occupants of one of these hills. On the occasion which I am about to describe, a number of workers were running back and forth over the summit of a hill, when I spat on it. At once the ants nearest the objectionable meteorite rushed towards it, and with their antenne made an examination. These workers then ran a little distance away, picked up each a large grain of sand coated with a yellowish clayey film, and carrying it to the edge of the liquid, threw the pellet hastily in. This process, engaged in by at least a dozen ants, soon resulted in filling up the little pool. As these clayey pellets were thrown into the liquid they changed color through the absorption of the water by the clay. ‘The absorption of the spittle by the pellets was evidently not yet complete, when all but one of the ants went about their customary walks. This solitary sentinel placed a pellet on the little heap and watched it soak up water, the pellet changing, as it did so, its yellow- ish color for a slaty hue. Another pellet was brought up and piled on as the others had been, but the process of absorption was now complete, and this last grain did not change color. The ant stood off at a distance of about half an inch from the grain he had deposited, intently watching the effect of his labors. When after a few sec- onds it was to be observed that the last grain was not affected by moisture, this ant turned abruptly away and joined his fellows, and no more attention was given to the object which had caused them so much concern. The obvious effect of this application of clayey pellets was to prevent the moisture from penetrating through the roof of the ant hill into the cavities beneath. This was a clear case of stopping a leak, and that these ants know the value of sandy clay as an absorbent seems fur- ther illustrated by the frequency with which these clay- coated grains of sand are distributed about their hills. SCIENCE. 133 After rains, the ants may be seen bringing these objects up out of the peripheral holes of a hill and placing them on the dome to dry. It would be interesting to note whether or not dry pellets are taken below to serve as sponges in drying their underground rooms. PROBLEMS OF ZOOLOGY.* Lapres_ And GrntLemen :—Let me assure you that I am not unmindful of the favor shown in electing me to open this International Congress of Zodlogists. Thirty years have nearly passed since I had the pleas- ure—as a then resident of this bustling city of Chicago— of listening to a series of lectures on zodlogy by Louis Agassiz, and as I recall the popular interest and enthu- siasm which the great master inspired, and the singular activity and devotion of Kennicott, Stimpson and others of Chicago’s earlier zodlogists, Iam led to hope for a renewal of that early spirit and enthusiasm asa result of your meeting here. Zoology, but afew years back, dealt chiefly with the habits, structure and classification of animals, and was weighted with two prevalent fallacies which theology had so generally impressed on the human mind. These were: the Biblical idea of the creation of organisms as they now exist and their consequent fixity and the homoistic notion that man was, in physical as well as psychical endowment, apart from, and not a part of, the rest of the animal world. Released from the oppressive incubus of these long-cher- ished fetiches, zoology has, during the past quarter of a century, bounded into the front rank of the sciences, with so many of which she is so intimately bound. Inspired and guided by the search-light of Evolution, which reveals and makes intelligent so much that was hid- den or unmeaning before, zoclogy must lead her sister sciences in all study of the genesis of life upon our planet, whether in past or present time. With the induction of the unity of all psychic phenomena and the conviction that these are inseparable from animal organization, itis her mission to give rational explanation of the subtlest of such phenomena and to check the vagaries which exist as to their abnormal manifestations; for even among lower animals there are senses and sense-organs not yet under- stood by us, while some species have developed a tele- pathy which, in its power and ease of demonstration, may well astonish those who have hitherto confined their investigations to man. Deeper study of electricity, as exemplified in the animal world, may help the electrician to a better understanding of the nature of that force, the practical application of which to the affairs of civilized man has made such gi- gantic strides of late; while animal phosphorescence may yet illumine, when better understood, the path of the phy- sicist in his investigations of the phenomena of light. Animal mechanics, as exhibited in flight, may hold the solution of practical aeronautics, which promises to cap the marvelous and momentous discoveries of the century; while to the inventor they are pregnant with yet untold and unthought-of suggestions. That branch of zodlogy which concerns the interrela- tions and interactions of animals is not only fascinating to the philosophic student, but has a most important economic bearing, especially to those engaged in agricul- tural and horticultural pursuits. But the subject which just now seems to be receiving most attention from zodlogists, is heredity,and the cog- nate question which has divided us into two opposing camps, as to whether or not characters and functions ac- quired during the lifetime of the individual are trans- *Remarks made at the opening of the International Zoological Congress, Chicago, August 19, 1893, by Dr. C. V, Riley of Washington, D, C., as Honor- ary Chairman, 134 mitted to the offspring. The solid fabric which Darwin. did so much to erect, and which is essentially based on the affirmative proposition, has been most persistently stormed, especially by a certain class of embryologists, and the question is too complicated and far-reaching to be lightly considered. It may be well to bear in mind, however, that the solution of the problem involves the psychical as well as the physical facts, and that the former cannot be revealed by scalpel or microscope. The naturalist who studies the development, and the ac- tions of living organisms, in their relations to each other and to their environment, and who seeks to confirm his views by experimentation is, in my judgment, better qualified to draw reliable conclusions than either the histologist or the embryologist. Modern lab- oratory methods of zoological work, encouraged by the importance of bacteriology, have been so generally influenced by the microscope that they have pushed beyond the short-line of safe induction, and we already hear the murmurings of the reactionary wave which will carry us back toward the more comprehensive methods of the older school of naturalists whose names adorn the an- nals of our science. The microscope, however important in revealing the processes of growth, will yield us the secret of heredity no sooner than it will yield us the se- cret of life itself. The latent potentiality contained in the germ, and the psychological directing force which modifies its later development, must always escape such methods. What we now most need to establish any sound theory of here- dity is experimentation, intelligently planned and carried on through a series of years, not alone during embryonic, but during the whole development of the individual, and to include all the elements in the problem. Such experi- mentation on a sufficiently broad scale can hardly be undertaken by individuals, and the institutions which liberally endow and equip a chair of experimental zodlogy to this end will deserve well of mankind. The zodlogist, while skeptical of the ordinary theological and metaphy- sical interpretations of mind phenomena, is not disposed to dogmatize. His attitude is one of agnosticism on all questions as to the origin, nature and end of life, whether in its simpler or more complex manifestations; and he simply insists with Wordsworth that, “to the solid ground of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye!” The subdivisions of our science in which just now in- vestigation is most active are those which shed light on the general subject of animal evolution, and our program shows that paleontology, embryology, kinetogenesis, bio- plastology, heredity and kindred subjects will not lack for eminent exponents. It would be unwise to delay proceed- ing with such an interesting program by further remarks of my own, and I will at once call for the reading and dis- cussion of the formal papers. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. «Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. writer’s name is in all cases required as a proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number con- taining his communication will be furnished free to any corres- pondent. The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. The RED BIRDS AND A GROSBEAK. A rrienp of mine bought a pair of young red-birds, from a lad who had taken them from the nest. At the same time he gave her a rose-breasted grosbeak, which he said he had found sitting on a bush, and “looking sick like.” The grosbeak had no wounds, and no broken bones, and my friend placed it on a perch in the cage with the red-birds. It remained there twenty-four hours, SCIENCE: [Vol. XXII. No. 553 refusing food and drink, drawing itself into a heap, and looking very miserable. Meantime the red-birds were vociferously hungry, but unable to take food for them- selves, and my friend was obliged to feed them by taking them in her hand, and putting the food into their mouths with a little stick. The grosbeak surveyed this proceed- ing very intently, with an expression of scorn for human awkwardness ! 2 As, during twenty-four hours, the grosbeak had seemed to make no improvement, my friend, taking him in her hands, gave him a minute examination, and found on the back of the neck the skin raised in a clear, tense bubble, as large as a bean, and of a yeilow hue. She clipped a little hole in this bubble, using a pair of small sharp scissors. Only air exuded, no pus nor moisture; in a moment or two the rising was gone, and the skin resumed its place. She rubbed the incision with a drop of oil, restored the bird to the cage, and within ten minutes he was eating, drinking and hopping about in fine style. He at once installed himself as foster-father to the red-birds. He hung over them with soft “feeding cells,’ holding the prepared food, and drop- ping it into their open throats. The little birds throve under his administration, and in a week were taking care of themselves. A few months later, my friend being away from home over night, the servant who had charge of the birds, neg- lected to put any hard-boiled egg in the cage, putting in only bread and seeds. When the lady returned the gros- beak seemed to be alarmed and suffering, and, examining -him, she found a wound on his back, some skin and alittle flesh being gone. Thinking that a mouse, or rat, or cat near the cage might be the author of the trouble, she dressed the injury with carbolic salve, and hung the cage higher. All went well until she was again absent for two days, and there was the same neglect of diet. On her return she found the grosbeak in a very low condition, and this time with a large hole in the fleshy part of the breast. The servant said that “twice the red-birds had been fight- ing the grosbeak.” The fact was evident, craving stronger food, they had helped themselves from the living body of their poor little foster-father. The care and skill lavished on him, and a cage for himself, were not sufficient to save him, and he died the next day from the effects of his injury. J. McNair Watcur. SPACE RELATION OF NUMBERS. Wiru reference to the graphic presentation of numbers in the imagination, narrated by Mr. Martin in a recent is- sue of Science, | may add the following personal record. I daresay it will be found, as in most such eases, that what Mr. Martin imagined as peculiar to himself, exists in some form or other in nearly all minds, though 1 do not recollect having seen any reference to it, a fact due doubt- less to the lmited character of my reading on the sub- ject. From an early age I remember noting the fact, at least as early as my sixteenth year and I think a year or two before, the period being one in which I passed from arith- metic to algebra and geometry, that it became apparent — to me that in the first hundred numbers the first ten ap- peared to lie on a horizontal ‘line, the next ten arose at right angles and that the remaining numbers, from twen- ty up to a hundred, lay with more or less distinctness, not so much as visualized numbers as concepts of numbers independent of symbol, in an inclined line at an angle of about thirty or forty degrees with the horizon. Beyond one hundred I have no imagination on the subject. I may add that I was taught in the ordinary mental and high school arithmetic before Grube’s system had made September 8, 1893. | its appearance in American teaching. Precisely why these numbers should lie as they do, I was never able to see, although for many years I have been conscious of this arrangement and have wondered whatits origin might be. The letters of the alphabet arrange themselves for me in a visual way which is easily explainable. This is in three rows of eight each with Y, Z and Ampersand together be- low. The reason for this, I think, is that I learned to read without the preliminary of learning my letters, and after having been reading for several years, in my eighth year, my teacher made the agonizing discovery that while I was reading pretty much anything [ pleased I did not know the order of my letters. I was, accordingly, set to work mastering an order which I will admit I have found most useful for every purpose except reading and writing. T learned the alphabet in this summary fashion out of a primer which had the alphabet disposed on its second page at the top of the page in the order which I have mentioned, and in all the manifold use of the alphabet for purposes of classification with which we are all familiar, but which we are apt toforget as a comparatively modern invention, the alphabet always seems to me to be in the three lines I have mentioned. Tatcorr WILLrAMs. COLUMBIAN CONGRESSES ON SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. Ax least eight congresses were held during the week of August 21-26, and six are announced for Aug. 28-Sept. 2. The International Electrical Congress awakened much general interest, Professor Helmholz being a prominent fig- ure. An illustrated lecture was given on the evening of Aug. 25, by Mr. Nikola Tesla, on Mechanical and Elec- trical Oscillators. This took splace within the Exposition grounds, where about 70 per cent of the total horse- power of steam engines is used for electrical purposes. The Chamber of Delegates made their report on the special work entrusted to them. The Congress on Psychical Science, with suggestions of spiritualism and hypnotism, also awaked some popular interest. The Congress of Chemistry has been carefully worked up by Dr. H. W. Wiley, and 77 papers were announced. These were arranged in sections, as Analytical, Agricul- tural, Technological, ete. Among the foreign chemists present, were Prof. Otto N. Witt, of Berlin; Prof. George Thoms, of Riga; Prof. H. R. Proctor, of Leeds; Prof. E. Engler, of Carlsruhe; and Prof. George Lange, of Zurich. X. PALENQUE HIEROGLYPHICS. Iv is gratifying to learn that Dr. Valentini, after a long absence from the field of paleographic investigation, is about to return to it. There is one statement, however, in his communication to Science, Aug. 18, which needs correction. - He says “Mr. Forstemann’s theory of reading double columns is untenable.” Now if he will refer to my “Study of the Manuscript Troano,” printed in 1882, pp- 199-203, he will find this theory there set forth, as I think, for the first time, and, also, evidence of its correct- ness, which has apparently satisfied most students who are devoting attention to the Central American inscriptions and codices. His statement that no month symbol appears on the tablets is made in face of evidence to the contrary, which seems to be conclusive. I may add here that Dr. Brinton’s acceptance (Science, Aug. 11) of the rendering given by me of the month name Kayab, necessarily forbids its derivation from Kay “to sing or warble.” A compound of ak and yab cannot be a de- rivative of Kuy. The ak may be obtained from the sym- bol on the rebus method of Aubin, which Dr. Brinton has SCIENCE. 135 rechristened by the name “Ikonomatic,” but it is difficult to explain the symbol representing the last syllable yab by this method. If the name was formed asI suggested, and as admitted, (Ak-yab) the signification, with the month de- terminative added, is “the month when turtles abound.” Cyrus THomas. Frederick, Md., Aug. 31. COLOR VISION. Tam very much surprised to see that Professor Kbbing- haus, in the last number of the Zeitschrift fur Psychologie, announces as new a discovery which has a critical bearing upon Hering’s theory of color-vision,—the fact, nawely, that two greys composed the one of blue and yellow and the other of red and green and made equally bright at one illumination do not continue to be equally bright at a different illumination. If two complementary colors were purely antagonistic, that is, if the color proc- esses simply destroyed each other, as processes of assim- ilation and dissimilation must do, and if the resulting white was solely due to the residual white which accom- panies every color and gives it its brightness, then the relative brightness of two greys composed out of dif- ferent parts of the spectrum could not change with change of illumination. The fact that they do change is there- fore completely subversive of the theory of Hering, or of any other theory in which the complementary color-proc- esses are of a nature to annihilate each other. This consequence of the fact, as well as the fact itself, I stated at the Congress of Psychologists at London in August, 1892, and it was printed in the abstract of my paper which was distributed at the time and also in the Pro- ceedings of the Coneress. Professor Kbbinghaus’s discovery is apparently inde- pendent of mine, for he supposes that the phenomenon can- not be exhibited upon the color-wheel. This is not the case; with fittingly chosen papers (that is, with a red and green which need no addition of blue or yellow to make a pure grey, and with a corresponding blue and yellow) it is~ perfectly evident upon the color-wheel. The same paper circles which I used to demonstrate it in Professor K6nig’s laboratory, in Berlin, are, at the request of Pro- fessor Jastrow now on exhibition at the World’s Fair at Chicago. While Professor Ebbinghaus’s discovery of the fact is therefore doubtless independent of mine, I allow my- self to point out that mine is prior to his in point of time. Curistine Lapp Franxuin. MyoLoey OF THE CAT; OR THE M. FLEXOR ACCESSORIUS OF THE HUMAN AND FELINE Foot. Tue supposed new muscle in the cat’s foot (Science, Aug. 18, 1893, p. 97,) is, so far as Mr. Thompson’s des- cription allows of identification, probably no other than the Accessoire du grand flechisseur (Bich.) of the Cat, Accessoire du perodactylus (Str.-Dur.) of the Cat, Caput plantare flexoris digitorum (Caro quadrata Sylvii) of Man, or the M. flexor accessorius of human and feline anatomy The flexor accessorius muscle in man originates by means of a muscular (internal and larger) head from the inner border of the caleaneum, which may be entirely absent, and by a tendinous slip which comes from the outer face of the Os calcis, just in front of the external tubercle, and from the long plantar ligament. As it has two quite con- — stant sources of origin, so it has two insertions, one of which, however, is not constant. The usual insertion is that into the external border and upper surface of the M. flexor longus digitorum pedis, just where it divides into the four branches for the toes. (Most of the fibres of this 136 tendon pass to the third and fourth toes, some of the fibres go to the second toe, while few, if any, are sent to the fifth.) But occasionally this muscle inserts entirely into the tendon of the M. flexor longus hallucis. The significance of this condition will be apparent when we examine the arrangement of the parts in the cat. But first let us take a glance at anthropoid anatomy. Among the apes the flexor accessoriusis wanting. The flexor longus hallu- cis, instead of the flexor longus digitorum pedis, supplies the perforating tendons for the third and fourth toes, and in Hylobates, for even the second phalanx as well. In this way it helps out the latter muscle, which supplies, in these cases, only the second and the fifth phalanges, or only the fifth phalanx, while the hallux receives usually only aslender tendon, which, according to Bischoff, is en- tirely absent in the orang. This muscle (fl. accessorius) seems to be a portion of the primitive M. flexor fibularis, which has given rise to the two muscles, flexor long. hal- lucis and flexor long. digit. pedis. The accessory portion is not split off in the apes,—it is, in the case of man as well as in the cat, and here its point of origin has grown distad until all connection with the leg has been lost, ex- cept in those infrequent cases where it still passes up over the median face of the calcaneum into the region of the leg. In both man and the cat it strengthens the ac- tion of the two combined flexors of the digits, and by its lateral pull gives a different direction to their action. Innervation through N. plantaris lateralis (external plan- tar). a Felis the accessorius is both less strongly developed and more transverse to the foot axis, in its course. than in man, and it is frequently entirely fibrous without any muscular tissue, 7. e., reduced to a mere ligament. When well developed it forms a small flattened plate which arises from the inferior portion of the external faces of the calcaneum and cuboid, from whence it passes inwards and downwards, posterior to the fused tendons of the Mm. flexor longus digitorum pedis and flexor longus hallucis to near where they fuse, at which place it inserts into the internal border of the tendon of the flexor long. hallucis. Usually the insertion is not confined to the internal bor- der of this tenden but involves a greater portion of the broad tendinous plate formed by the fusion of the ten- dons of the two digital flexors above named. ‘The fusion of their tendons practically makes a single muscle out of these two toe flexors. This is equally true of man. This fact helps to explain the varying insertion in man from a mechanical standpoint. Briefly summarized.—The accessorius in man usually presents a muscular body, which, however, may be absent, while in the cat it is often absent and normally of much feebler development than in man. In the human subject the insertion is usually into the external border of the flexor longus digitorum pedis, though it may be entirely into that of the flexor longus hallucis, while in the cat the usual and best developed insertion is into the tendon of the latter muscle. In conclusion, the muscle is an old friend, both in cat and man. Howarp Ayrzs. The Lake Laboratory, Milwaukee, Aug. 24, 1893. DAMAGE TO COTTON BY LIGHTNING. On July 26, 1893, during a thunder storm there was one heavy report noticed in the direction of some cotton plats. The bolt seemed to have “struck” near the plats. The next day a spot in the midst of the plats was found where the most succulent parts of the plants were wilt- ing. Hxamination showed no visible injury as the cause. SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 553 There had previously been no sign of blight or dis- ease, whatever, which could have caused the cotton to droop. The rows run north and south, and five were affected; three for nearly a rod, the one on the east half that distance, and the fifth on the west very little, only two or three of the tallest plants being affected. By common consent of those who saw the cotton it was agreed to be the work of the thunderbolt, and was so noted. No place where violence was done could be found in the soil. Frequent observation during the first month has failed to see any increase in the blasted circle. In the whole space twenty-five or thirty plants have died, while others have low branches thriving and bearing fruit and flowers. If a fungus has done it some plants have resisted im part and succumbed in part, or the fungus has but partially done its work. My notion of a discharge from an electrified cloud is that the interchange between it and the earth charged with the opposite pole is carried on by every leaf and point not repellant to the fluid; that if any plant from a tender annual up get more of the electric fluid than it can safely carry it will be injured according to the strength of the overcharge, even to total destruction, in- volving appearance of great physical violence, if the charge is heavy; and that the discharges take the line of least resistance, according to the common explanation of the zigzag course of lightning. if this notion of lightning discharges is correct, is not the supposition that this particular occurrence is due to lightning based on tenable ground? Might not a bolt of lightning descend obliquely from one side or other, and when near the earth be deflected upward, but yet come near enough to the ground to destroy the life in the tall- est of those plants while not destroying the low laterals of the shorter plants? Or may not this discharge be considered as having entered the earth through those plants with the observed effect to destroy so many of the first conductors—the tallest ones—and nearly all of the others nearest at hand; while of those furthest out only the highest points were harmed ? Frank H. Emery. Raleigh, N. C., Aug. 26. On Some NESTING HABITS OF THE AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. Ir is probably a truth that every ornithologist has some bird which is his particular care to study;and being myself no exception to the rule, I thought perhaps a few notes on the nesting habits of the American Goldfinch, observed while collecting a large series of their nests and eggs, might be acceptable to the readers of Science. Although found in southern Michigan throughout the winter in scattered flocks, it delays nesting until the latter part of July or the first of August. Onstudying the nests of the Goldfinch all will be found to be at least slightly different, yet there seem to be two distinct patterns in their architecture. ‘The first and most common form is massively built and forms a thick cushioned receptacle for the eggs. An example of this class, which I have be- fore me, has walls about an inch thick, while the distance to the bottom of the crotch in which it is situatedis about three inches. The whole mass is composed of very fine fibres and thistle-down; and asthis pattern of nest is usual- ly situated where the twigs are thickest, it may easily be seen what a useful purpose it serves in deadening the force of a sudden blow or jar, which might otherwise result disastrously to the eges. A two-storied nest of this kind I found in a blackberry bush on August 3, The lower September 8, 1893. | nest containing a Cow-bunting’s egg, over which was built another nest containing six eggs of the Goldfinch. Tn the nest of the second form the walls are much thinner, andthe general form and structure much resemble a Vireo’s nest. These beautiful frail structures, however, are much better adapted to their position on the ends of branches than the thick nests would be if placed in that position. The eggs are from three to six in mumber, most com- monly five, blue, unspotted, save in the instance of two sets evidently belonging to the same pair of birds, which I found, one set in 1890, the other in 91, in the same tree. The eges were finely spotted with reddish brown forming a wreath around the larger end. JI have never heretofore seen an instance of spotted eges of the Goldfinch noted in ornithological publications, and I believe their occurrence is somewhat uncommon. Pau Van River. PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY AT THE COLUMBIAN CONGRESS. Tue recent doctrines of chemical energy are pushing towards the front. The opening paper on physical chemistry was presented to the Congress by the writer of this report, who called attention to the valuable results arising from “the cross-fertilization of the sciences.” The physical properties of substances have long been studied, under the name of chemical physics; such data are indis- pensable in chemical analysis, technology, etc. But, with transposition of the terms, we find more attention given to the properties of energy itself, and to the conditions of equilibrium, and of rapid or slow change. These general- izations promise to be most fruitful of results, and deserving of general recognition in our universities. The second paper, “on chemical energy,” was contribut- ed by Professor Ostwald, of Leipsic, who is indefatigable, both in research and in expounding the progress of science. The two factors, capacity and intensity, are discussed and illustrated in this paper, with great perspi- cuity. Capacity is proportional to the mass; for two tons of coal, by combustion, will yield twice as much heat as one ton. ‘To estimate the intensity, on the other hand, we may remember that heat conduction always implies some difference in heat intensity; so, a chemical transformation implies greater intensity of chemical energy in the react- ing bodies than in the reaction products, under compar- able conditions. A “chemometer” anologous to thermome- ter, though not yet complete, is not wholly unknown. Emphasis is given to the theorem, “two potentials which individually are equal to a third are equal to each other,” with important deductions therefrom; and catalytic bodies are discussed in relation to the acceleration of chemical change. A third paper, by Prof. J. E. Trevor, of Ithaca, states the fundamental equations of equilibrium, for three lead- ing cases, and presents some extended mathematical deductions. A Three other communications, assigned to this section, are of more varied character. Prof. EK. W. Morley stated by request some of his results in determining the atomic weight of oxygen, with remarkably close agreement, at about 15.88; but the work is still in progress. Professor Lunge, of Zurich (whose genial presence added much to the interest of the Congress) described apparatus for promoting the interaction of liquids and gases. Perforated earthenware plates, of special form, are so placed as to promote contact of the reacting substances, —as in sulphuric acid manufacture. Prof. T. H. Norton communicated a paper from Professor ° Orndorff, illustrating by models the stereochemistry of paraldehyde and metaldehyde (C.H,), The three methyl groups are assumed in one case to be all on one SCIENCE. 137 side of the plane of the carbon-oxygen ring; and in the other case to be distributed on both sides. Roserr B. Warver. HOWARD UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON D. C. GREAT HORNED OWLS IN CONFINEMENT. Wui_e collecting in some dense pine woods early in April, 1886, I saw a great horned owl about every day which flew from a nest in a pine tree. This tree was the tallest of its kind in the vicinity, and the nest was at least seventy-five feet from the ground. Thinking I might secure its eggs or young, I climbed the tree and _ found, much to my disgust, that the bird used the nest only as a roosting place. By patient watching and hunting I discovered its nest April 19, ina large chestnut tree. It was com- posed of coarse sticks and was lined with feathers and down from the parent bird, and had the appearance of having been a deserted hawk’s nest. Here I found two young birds which were covered with down and were about half grown. ‘Their tail and wing feathers were just starting out. They tried to defend themselves like an adult bird by keeping up a continual hissing and blowing sound, and at the same time snapping their bills and opening and closing their eyes. I noticed that they occasionally made-a low, murmuring sound, and also a louder and harsher note, which they make now when hungry. In the nest with them were two half-eaten fish, Catos- tomus communis, and the hinder portion of two brown rats. When in confinement, a week or two later, they ate voraciously, and one day I offered one a dead mourning dove. It seized it head first, and in a very few minutes succeeded in swallowing it entire, except the tips of its tail feathers, which protruded from its mouth. I expected then it would fall a victim to its gluttony, but within a very short time the tail feathers had disappeared, and it remained very quiet for two or three hours, after that it showed no discomfort what- ever from its meal. April 27 they could walk quite well, and about June 15 the feathers started out on the head of the smaller bird, which I believe to be a male, although it was by far the larger when taken from the nest. The feathers on the larger, or female bird, did not appear until July 4, and at this date the wing and the tail feathers on both were full grown. After this time ‘they consumed but a small portion of the food they for- merly did, although they occasionally ate voraciously. They seem to prefer rats, mice, birds and are quite partial to beef. About the middle of October the larger, and what I believe to be the female bird, began to hoot, but not very loud. This is performed by the bird standing at its full height, with its ear-tufts (which were fully de- veloped October 1) erect, but slightly slanting back- ward, and swelling out its throat it gives utterance to the notes, ‘‘waugh ho ho ho ho.” They recognize all strangers, and appear afraid of dogs, horses and cows, but always show fight and act on the defensive. Their way of showing fight is te lower their head and tail, and spread their wings to nearly their full extent, but arching them so as to protect their body, and at the same time utter a peculiar blow- ing or hissing sound, accompanied with a snapping of their bills. They have been confined in a large cage for over seven years, and during this time have showed no in- clination to breed, and when not disturbed have made no attempts to escape, but sit quietly on their perches through the day. Just after dark they move about considerably, 138 Their ‘‘hootings” seem to be confined to no especial season of the year, but can be heard almost any night, and are quite noisy moonlight nights. As they grow older they consume less food, and are not fed oftener than every other day. They arestrong and vigorous, and, as a proof of their muscular powers, I once saw the female lift a dead turkey, which weighed no less than eight pounds, bodily, from the ground. Their sense of hearing is especially good; the least noise always attracts theirattention. As for their eye- sight, in broad daylight no birds could be better, as I have frequently noticed them looking at birds, which were flying over, at very great heights, on very clear and bright days. They have never made any attempts to breed what- ever, nor has either one shown any affection for the other, although they seem to be on the best of terms, except when eating they occasionally have ascrimmage over a piece of meat. Witiarp E. TREAT. East Hartford, Conn. BOOK-REVIEWS. An Introduction to the Study of the Dependent, Defective and Delinquent Classes. By Cuartes Ricnhmonp HeEnpErson. Boston: D.C. Health & Co. 12°, 272 p. $1.50. Tue author of this book has been for more than twenty years a student of the classes of which it treats, and has been connected with many agencies for their improve- ment and reformation. He has not only been a close ob- server of those classes and of the methods that society has adopted for dealing with them, but is also widely read in the literature of the subject; and his book shows that he has read with discriminating judgment and to good purpose. Mr. Henderson is assistant professor of social science in the University of Chicago, and evidently had his pupils in mind in preparing this book; for it is not designed for those professionally engaged with the de- pendent and criminal classes, but rather for the educated citizen, who only wants a general knowledge of the sub- ject. The book is divided into three parts, corresponding SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 553 to the three classes of which it treats; and these parts are again divided and sub-divided into chapters and sections; the work of division and systematization being carried, as it seems to us, to excess, since it gives the treatise too formal a character without adding to its scientific value. The auther expresses himself plainly and with judicial temper, and has no hobbies, scientific or practical, to cloud his judgment. The part of the book relating to the defective classes, such as the insane, the blind and others, is quite short, the author evidently feeling that the treatment of those classes is rather out of the range of social science. The chapters concerning pauperism, its causes and remedies are good; and though they contain nothing new or strik- ing, they present the best views now prevalent and also the methods now employed by the leading nations in their treatment of the poor. But by much the larger portion of the volume is devoted to the criminal classes, with special chap- ters on the criminal type ‘and on the causes of crime and the best methods of dealing with it. Mr. Henderson, though evidently familar with the Italian writers and others who regard crime as similar to disease and as large- ly due to biological causes, does not share their views; but maintains that the source of crime isin the moral nature, and consequently that remedies and preventives must be such as will have a moral effect. At the same time he by no means overlooks the fact that criminals are of dif- ferent kinds, and that in the case of some of them poverty and other unfavorable circumstances have been con- tributive causes of their crime. We commend the book -as a convenient introduction to the subject with which it deals. Alternating Currents of Electricity: By Gisbert Kapp, C. E., M. 1. C. K., M. 1. E. E., With an introduction by Wil- liam Stanley, Jr. New York: W. J. Johnston Co. AntrrNaTinG current work has been developed so recently that there are a large number of electrical engineers in the profession who finished their technical education before the subject had attracted much attention. Of these a good- ly number have since worked up the subject, among them being some of the best-known specialists in that branch. JUST PUBLISHED: Imp. 8vo., Cloth, 430 pp. By Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., London. Price, 31s. 6d. (less discount.) Comparative Philology of the Old and New Worlds in its Relation to Archaic Speech. By R. P. Grue., Hisq., F. S. A., F. GS. With an introduction on Race and Language, giving a resume of the opinions of many of the principal writers on those subjects, accompanied by copious vocabularies and numerous tables of comparison for similar words and their cognate forms as for most of the chief families of languages, both ancient and modern, conveniently arranged Piso’s Remedy for Catarrh is the Best, Easiest to Use, and Cheapest. Sold by Druggists or sent by mail. Eg 50c. E. T. Hazeltine, Warren, Pa. THE WINNIPEG COUNTRY; OR, ROUGHING IT WITH AN ECLIPSE PARTY. BY A. ROCHESTER FELLOW. (S. H. SCUDDER.) With thirty-two Illustrations and a Map. 12°. $1.50. “This is a sprightly narrative of personal inci dent. The book will be a pleasant reminder to many of rough experiences on a frontier which is rapidly receding.”—Boston Transcript. for purposes of comparison. An immense number of words are given, and panecially. os Turanian (including Chinese, Acca jan an yptian), as well f fri and American oe p Se B O O K Ss a The general results tend to show that there still exists in most languages, whether dead or living, a certain element of what may be called an Archaic YOu Gugnl iso Keau INSTRURERTS. BUILDIAG ““The picture of our desolate North-western terri- tory twenty-flve years ago, in contrast with its of Books on Buiiai civilized aspect to-day, and the pleasant features of Painting, and Decoratii;: | the writer’s style, constitute the claims of his little also Catalogue of Dray | book to present attention.”—The Dial. ing Instruments and Ma 3 terials, sent free on appli N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. 1693 Cataive e cation to Wm. ET. Comstock, 23 Warren St. New \ork. The Popular Science News and Boston Journal ef Chemistry. Only one dollar tili July, 1894. A scientific newspaper for unscientific readers. Address POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS CO., 6 Somerset St., Boston, Mass. RESTORE YOUR EYESIGHT Cataracts, scars or films can be absorbed and paralyzed nerves restored, without the knife or risk. Diseased eyes or lids can be cured by our home treatment. ‘We proveit.” Huns dreds convinced. Our illustrated pamphlet, ‘Home Treatment for Eyes,” free. Don’t miss it, Everybody wantsit, “Tar E FOR ALL-ILEDSTRATIVE GRAVING- : Es ADVERTISING PURPOSES - ANDE YE,” Glens Falls, N.Y, af September 8, 1893. | Others, however, have not been so fortunate. Thrown into out of the way places in the exercise of their profes- sion, they have not had the opportunity or time’to follow up the subject. To such this little book may be recommended as an introduction to the more mathematical treatises of Flem- ing, Blakesley, and Crehore and Bedell. It deals with the subject in the most elementary way, so simply that it is practically impossible for any one with the most superficial knowledge of electricity not to arise from its perusal without a knowledge of the main characteristics ofan alternating current, howit differs from a continuous current, the principles of the working of alter- nating current apparatus, and the ability to read the more “mathematical treatises comprehendingly and understand- ingly. The introduction is somewhat of a disappointment, as it contains, with the exception of a pertinent warning against the fallacy of supposing that the field produced by a two-phased current is more irregular than that of a three- phased current, practically nothing but a review of the book. One feels that more might have been looked for from one who has been so long in alternating current work and has done so much for its development. There are few things that can be criticised in the book it- self. The mathematical proof of the expression for the mean current, given on page 45 might be altered for the better, as it is not usual to change the variable in an integral without changing the limits between which the integral is taken, nor to integrate an angular expression between time limits. The explanation of magnetic leakage on page 95 may ‘also be objected to. Lines of magnetic induction are caused by a magneto-motive force, and magneto-motive SCIENCE. 139 force is a vector quantity. Consequently, when two magneto-motive forces are superimposed, there is not a formation of lines of magnetic induction corresponding to each of the magneto-motive forces, but one set of lines corresponding to the resultant Mm. m. F. In conclusion it may be said that, to those who are in want of a very elementary book on alterning currents, this treatise will supply what is desired. R. A. F. Tue last number of Vol. V. of the American Journal of Psychology, which has just been issued, contains prac- tical suggestions on the equipment of a psychological laboratory by Dr. E. C. Sanford. A study of Pseudo- chromesthesia, mostly among the students of Wellesley College, by Professor Mary W. Calkins, illustrated by many new diagrams and tables. A brief system of Ejective Philosophy, in seven pages, by T. P. Bailey. An attempt to explain the Hegelian Philosophy psycho- logically, by A. Fraser. The longest and most popu- lar article is an account of the Neo-Christian Movement in France, by J. H. Leuba, a Frenchman by birth and education and Fellow at Clark University. The artistic sensualists, Huysmans, Beaudelaire, the school of de- cadents, illustrated by Kahn Réné Ghil and Mallarmé; ‘‘the literary critics and chronicles,” ‘‘the tormented,” like G. Duruy, Jounet, Lasserre, Bouchor, Bourget, etc., are characterized with just discrimination and knowledge. The Neo-Christian movement proper, represented by Lavisse, De Vogué and Desjardins, concludes a sketch which constitutes by far the best presentation of these remarkable literary movements that have yet appeared in English. The usual reviews follow. Address N. York. ] EXCHANGES. [Free of charge to all, if of satisfactory character. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New Wants. OR SALE.—Volumes V. and VI. of the “Explor- ations fora Railroad Route from the Missis- sippi River to the Pacific,” 1857, half calf, in good lersville, Bucks Co., Pa. hidicestion Horsford’s Acid Phosphate Is the most effective and agreeable Republican. For a rare chance to get a first-class _microscopic- | al outfit write for full particulars to box 125, Sel * For sale or exchange.—A fine collection of Lep- idoptera, native and exotic. dress Addison Ellsworth, Binghamton, N. Y., care condition; a large number of colored and uncolored plates of Mammals, Birds, Fish, ete., ete. On receipt of $7.00 will send to any ordinary point in the U. S., express paid. These volumes are now rare. Address Dr: Shufeldt, Takoma Park, Dist. of Columbia. For particulars ad- YOUNG woman who has been an assistant for a literary and scientific man desires a similar position. Isan experienced and accurate stenog- rapher and typewriter, thoroughly educated, and remedy in existence for preventing indigestion, and relieving those dis- eases arising from a disordered stomach. Dr. W. W. Gardner, Spring- field, Mass., says, ‘‘I value it as an excel- lent preventative of indigestion, and a pleasant acidulated drink when proper- ly diluted with water, and sweetened.” Descriptive pamphlet free on application to RUMFORD CHEMICAL WoRKS, PROVIDENCE, R. I. Beware of Substitutes and Imitations. For sale by all Druggists. For sale or exchange for works on entomostraca, Wolle’s ‘‘Desmids of the U.S.,’”’ Hentz ‘‘Spiders of the U.S.,”’) The Amer. Entomologist & Botanist, Vol. 2, The Amer. Entomologist, Vol. 1, Harris’s “Insects Injurious to Vegetation,” colored plates , copy formerly owned by Townend. Glover. C. Dwight Marsh, Ripon, Wis. “The Conchologist: a Journal of Malacology,”’ Vols. x and 2, with wood cuts and plates, value 12 | — will exchange for any works or pamphlets on Amer- ican Slugs or Anatonry of American Fishes. W. E. Collinge, Mason College, Birmingham, England. I wish to exchange a New Model Hall Type- writer, price $30, for a Daylight Kodak, 4xs prefer- red. George A. Coleman, Dep’t. Agric., Div. of Ornithology, Washington, D. C. Exchange—The undersigned is desirous of ob- taining correspondentsinterested in macro-lipidop- tera, in Alaska, the far Western, Southwestern and Southern States. Will also exchange rare lepidoptera for entomological literature. Levi W. Mengel, Reading, Penn. Wanted to exchange—Medical books, Obstetri- cal Transactions, London, Works of Sir J. Y. Simpson, Beck’s Medical Jurisprudence. Hand- book for the Physiological Laboratory, by Burnton, Foster, Klein and Sanderson, Quain’s Anatomy, and about fifty others. Catalogues given. Want Geological, Botanical and Microscopical books in exchange. Dr. A. M. Edwards, 11 Washington St., Newark, N. J. sufficiently familiar with literary work to write, in- dependent of dictation. Has some knowledge of the Spanish language. Will gotoany part of the United States. Address, Box 147, Ravenna, Ohio GRADUATE ofan American Polytechnic insti- tution and of a German University (Gottingen), seeks a position to teach chemistry in a college or similar institution. Five years’ experience in teaching chemistry. Address Chemist, 757 Cary St. Brockton, Mass. WANTED.—A position as teacher of Biology, by an experienced teacher, a college graduate with four university post-graduate courses in the Sciences. Good endorsements, and eighteen years’ experience. Address A. N. Somers, La Porte, Ind. ANTED.—Assistant in Nautical Almanac office, Navy Department. The Civil Service Com- mission will hold an examination on August 15 to fill a vacancy in the position of assistant (computer) in the Nautical Almanac office. The subjects will be letter-writing, penmanship, trigonometry, rudi- ments of analytical geometry and calculus, loga- rithms, theory and practice of computations, and astronomy. Each applicant must provide himself with a five-place logarithmic table. The examina- tion will be held in Washington, and if applications are filed in season, arrangements may be made for examinations in the large cities. Blanks will be furnished upon application to the Commission at Washington, 140 SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 553 THE American Bell Teleyhan COMPANY. | 195 MILK ST., BOSTON, MASS, This Company owns the Letters - Patent No. 186,787, granted to Alexander Graham Bell, January 30th, 1877, the scope of which has been defined by the Supreme Court of the United States in the following terms: ‘“The patent itself is for the mechanical structure of an electric telephone to be used to produce the electrical action on which the first patent rests. The third claim is for the use in such instruments of a diaphragm, made of a plate of iron or steel, or other ma- terial capable of inductive action; the fifth, of a permanent magnet constructed as de- scribed with a coil upon the end or ends nearest the plate; the sixth, of a sounding box as described; the seventh, of a speaking or hearing tube as described for conveying the sounds; and the eighth, of a permanent magnet and plate combined. The claim is ‘not for these several things in and of them- selves, but for an electric telephone in the construction of which these things or any of them are used.’’ This Company also owns Letters-Patent No. 463,569, granted to Emile Berliner, No-, vember 17, 1891, for a combined Telegraph and Telephone, and controls Letters-Patent No. 474,231, granted to Thomas A. Edison, May 3, 1892, for a Speaking Telegraph, which cover fundamental inventions and embrace all forms of microphone transmit- ters and of carbon telephones. a $56 to $100 —4— ——————— WEEK. sjpAGENTS li Ladies or Gents. Best seller known. Need- || }ed atevery house, place of business or farm my the yearround. “Home” Electric Moter runsallkindsoflightmachinery. Cheap- vs est poweron earth. Connected instantly to A wash or sewing machine, corn sheller, [SS eFrwtdeduwa A pumps, fans, lathes, jewelers’ or dentists’ machinery, &c. Clean, noiseless, lasts q® life-time. No experience needed. To show in operation means a sale. Guar- anteed. Profitsimmense. Circulars free. W. P. HARRISON & OW., X-7, Columbus, 0. by THE MODERN MALADY : or, Sut: ~ ferers from ‘ Nerves,’ An introduction to public consideration, from a non-medical point of view, of a con- dition of ill-health which is increasingly prevalent in all ranks of society. In the first part of this work the author dwells on the errors in our mode of treating Neuras- thenia, consequent on the wide ignorance of the subject which still prevails; in the sec- ond part, attention is drawn to the principal causes of the malady. The allegory forming the Introduction to Part I. gives a brief his- tory of nervous exhaustion and the modes of treatment which have at various times been thought suitable to this most painful and try- ing disease. By CYRIL BENNETT. 12°, 184 pp., $1.50. N. D.C. HODGES, The Boston Surgical BOSTON, vance. numbers, 15c. tent coadjutors. DAMRELL & UPHAM. Medical and Journal. MASSACHUSETTS. A FIRST-CLASS WEEKLY MEDICAL NEWSPAPER. 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CRYSTOGRAPH CO., 316 North Broad St., Philadelphia. Fact and Theory Papers I. THE SUPPRESSION OF CON. SUMPTION. By GopFREY W. HAMBLETON, M.D. 12°. 40c. Il. THE SOCIETY AND THE “FAD.” By APPLETON MORGAN, Hsq. 12°. 20 cents. III. PROTOPLASM AND LIFE C. F. Cox. 12°. 75 cents. IV. THE CHEROKEES IN PRE-CO- LUMBIANTIMES. By Cyrus THomas. 12°, $1. V. THE TORNADO. By H. A. Hazen. 12°. $1. VI. TIME-RELATIONS OF MENTAL PHENOMENA. By JOSEPHJASTROW. 12°. 50c. VII. HOUSEHOLD HYGIENE. By MARY TAYLOR BISSELL. 12°. 75 cents. N. D. C. HODGES, Publisher, 874 Broadway, New York. By TEN BOOKS FOR PRICE OF ONE. SEND FOR A CATALOGUE OF THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY OF SCIENCE. Containing the works of the foremost scientific vriters of the age.—The Great Classics of Modern Chought.—Strong meat for them that are of fullage. single numbers r5 cents. Double numbers 30 cents. Address :—THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING Co., 1g Astor Place, New York. LIGHTNING DESTROYS! Shall it be your house or a pound of copper? Entirely new departure in pro- tecting buildings from lightning. One hundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made under patents of N. D.C. Hodges, Editor of Sczence) will be sent, prepaid, to any ad- dress, on receipt of five dollars. Correspondence solicited. | Agents wanted. AMERICAN LIGHTNIN: PROTECTION CO., 874 Broadway, New York City. | living rooms. naming this paper. 874 Broadway, New York. WHITNEY HOME GYMNASIUM ; can order on approval. machine separate, $4.50 and up. Educated agents wanted. Puyst CAL CULTURE CHART, with illustrated directions for de- veloping every part of the body healthfully, 50 cts, “BUSY FOLKS’ GYMNASIUI1.” - A few minutes’ daily exercise yon our fascinating apparatus ce, clears the brain, tones up the body, develops weak parts. Our | cabinet contains chest: weights, | rowing-weights, lifting-weights, - clubs and dumb bells, adjust- able for old and young. _the only complete exercising outfit tn the world suitable for use in It ts You Chest All prices. Shoulders and Upper Back good for Round Shoulders Sent for half price to those CO., Box D., Rochester, N.Y. ELEVENTH YEAR. ? Correspondence Solicited. Send 10c. in stamps for new cata- logue B (microscopes and supplies); handsomely printed, with many new descriptions, new illustra- tions, ete. Low duty-free rates on the various Reichert No. IIE micrescopes. Write for information, and for special limited offer. QUEEN & CO., (Makers of Microscopes and other Scientific Apparatus.) Vou. XXII. No. 554. CONTENTS. “Carborundum”’; a Silicide of Carbon. Wil- iamuRieBlaketna-chtceiseroccs I4t Latter-Day Taxidermy. Vernon L. Kellogg... r4r INotestandeNewsrnceasncentcneitssecctentilice vee 142 Worn! Canes Ey Wa stewantrscceescsecneeceses cs 143 The Astronomical Exhibits at the World’s ES eae smteterenaysterste he isle stelo = ccioce sched siaaevoieremaicietis 145 Science Teaching in Secondary and Primary Schools. George G. Groff. 145 Electricalooking. R.A. F.... 146 Mouse Trapping. Frank Bolles............ co G) Submarine Photography. John Humphrey... 148 The Scientific Basis of Composition. Charles Isls do. JOSIE Eisiaeee conopeacnbeoccansnAAcnaen 149 The International Congress of Anthropology.. 150 Letters to the Editor. Acime No. 4 Microscope. Insect Swarms. C. D. McLouth............ 151 Prosopophora; a Genus of Scale-Insects ~ H New to the North American Fauna. T. ii NERBALS 5 AKC OGKErellG smi vainecmaisk eeldieleinioremenaes 151 A Small Tragedy. Mrs. W. A. Kellerman. 152 The Cackle of Hens. Mrs. W. A.K........ 152] jdary Work. Throwing Sticks. O.T. Mason............. 152 Water Analyses. William P.Mason........ 153 New Store, Send for our ‘‘ Winter Bulletin,” recently issued. Minerals, Gems, Microscopical Sections, Fine Lap- GEO. L, ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists,, Removed to 64 East i2th Street, New York New Stock. New Departments, Philadelphia. A monthly magazine for the study GERMANIA of the German languago and litera- ture. is highly recommended by college professors and the press as “the best effort yet made to assist the student of German, and to interest him in his pursuit.” Its BeGinNERS’ CorNER furnishes every year a complete and interesting course in German rammar. $2a year. Singie copies 20 cents. P. O. ox 151, Manchester, N. H. NEW METHOD OF PROTECTING BUILDINGS FROM LIGHTNING. SPARE THE ROD AND SPOIL THE HOUSE! Lightning Destroys. Shalt it be Your House or e Pound of Copper? PROTECTION FROM LIGHTNING. What is the Problem? In seeking a means of protection from lightning-discharges, we havein view two objects,— the one the prevention of damage to buildings, and the other the prevention of injury to life. In order to destroy a building in whole cr in part, \t is necessary that work should be done; that is, as physicists express it, energy is required. Just before tho lightning-discharge takes place, the energy capable of doing the damage which we seek to prevent exists in the column of air extending from the cloud to the earth in some form that makes it capable of appearing as what we call electricity. We will therefore call it electrical cnergy. What this electrical energy is, it is not necessary for us to consider in this place ; but thatit exists there can be no doubt, as it manifests itself in the destruction of buildings. The problem that we have to dsal with, therefore, is the conversion of this energy into some other form, and the ac- complishment of this in such a way as shall result in the least injury to prop- t d life. erty and life. Why Have the Old Rods Failed? When lightning-rods were first proposed, the sclence of energetics was en- tirely undeveloped; that is to say, in the middle of the last contury scientific men had not come to recognize the fact that the different forms of energy — heat, electricity, mechanical power, etc.— were convertible one into the other, and that each could produce just so much of each of the other forms, and no more. The doctrine of the conservation and correlation of energy was first clearly worked out in the early part of this century. There were, however, some facts known in regard to electricity a hundred and forty years ago; and among these were the attracting power of points for an electric spark, and the conducting power of metals. Lightning-rods were therefore introduced with the idea that the electricity existing in the lightning-discharge could be con- veyed around the building which if was proposed to protect, and that the building would thus be saved. The question as to dissipation of the energy involved was entirely ignored, naturally; and from that time to this, in spite of the best endeavors of those interested, lightning-rods constructed in accordance with Franklin’s principle haye not furnished satisfactory protection. Tho reason for this is apparent when it is considered that the electrical onergy existing in the atmosphere before the discharge, or, more exactly, in the column of dielectric from the cloud to the earth, above referred to, reaches its maximum value on the sur- face of the conductors that chance to he within the column of dielectric; so that the greatest display of energy will be on the surface of the very lightning- rods that were meant to protect, and damage results, as so often proves to be the case. It will be understood, of course, that this display of energy on the surface of the old lightning-rods is aided by their being more or fess insulated from the earth, but in any event the very existence of sue’ a mass of metal as an old lightning-rod can only tend to produce a disastrous dissipation of olecirical energy upon its surface,— ‘‘ to draw the lightning,” as 1t is so commonly put. Is there a Better Meang of Protection? Having cleared our minds, therefore, of any idea of conducting electricity, and keeping clearly in view the fact that in providing protection against light- ning we must furnish some means by which the electrical energy may he harmlessly dissipated, the question arises, ‘Can an improved form be given tothe rod sothatitshalla: ‘n this dissipation?” © As the electrical energy involved manifests itself on the surface of conduc- tors, the improved rod should be metallic; but, instead of makirg a large rod, suppose that we make it comparatively small in size, so that the total amount of metal running from the top of the house togome point a little below the foundations shall not exceed one pound. Suppose, again, that we introduce numerous insulating joints in this rod. We shall then have a rod that experl- ence shows will be readily destroyed— will be readily dissipated — when a discharge takes place; an iit will be evident, that, so far as the electrical en- ergy is consumed in doing this, there will be the less to do other damage. The only point that remains to be proved as to the utility of such a rod Is to show that the dissipation of such a conductor does not tend to injure other bodies in its immediate vicinity. On this point I can only say that I have found no case where such a conductor (for instance, a bell wire) has been dis- sipated, even if resting against a plastered wall, where there has been any material damage done to surrounding objects. Of course, it is readily understood that such an explosion cannot take place in a confined space without the rupture of the walls (the wire cannot be boarded over); butin every case that I have found recorded this dissipation takes place just as gunpowder burns when spread onaboard. The objects against which the conductor rests may be stained, but they are not shattered, I would therefore make clear this distinction between the action of electri- cal energy when dissipated on the surface of a large conductor and when dis- sipated on the surface of a comparatively small or easily dissipated conductor. When dissipated on the surface of a large conductor, — a conductor so strong as to resist the explosive effect, — damage results to objects around. When dissipated on the surface of a small conductor, the conductor goes, but the other objects around are saved A Typical Case of the Action of a Small Conductor. Franklin, ina letter to Collinson read before the London Royal Society, Dec. 18, 1755, describing the partial destruction by lightning of a church-tower at Newbury, Mass., wrote, ‘‘ Near the bell was fixed an iron hammer to strikc the hours; and from the tail of the hammer a wire went down through a smali gimlet-hole in the floor that the bell stood upon, and through a second floor in like manner; then horizontally under and near the plastered ceiling of that second floor, till it came near a plastered wall; then down by the side of that wall to aclock, which stood about twenty feet below the bell. The wire was not bigger thana common knitting needle. The spire was split all to pieces by the lightning, and the parts flung in all directions over the square in whick the church stood, so that nothing remained above the bell. The lightning passed between the hammer and the clock in the above-mentioned wire, without hurting either of the floors, or having any effect upon them (except making the gimlet-holes, through which tbe wire passed, alittle bigger), and without hurting the plastered wall, or any part of the building, so far as the aforesaid wire and the pendulum-wire of the clock extended ; which latter wire was about the thickness of a goose-quill. From the end of the pendu- lum, down quite to the ground, the building was exceedingly rent and dam- aged. ... No part of the aforementioned long, small wire, between the clock and the hammer, zould be 7ound, except about two inches that hung to the tail of tie hammer, and about as much that was fastened to the clock; the rest being exploded, and its particles dissipated in smoke and air, as gun- powder is by common fire, and had only left a black smutty track on the plas- tering, three or four inches broad, darkest in the middle, and fainter towards the edges, all along the ceiling, under which it pas3ed, and down the wall.” Dne uundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made under patents of N. D. C. Hodges, Editor of Science) will bs mailed, postpaid, to any address, on receipt of five dollars ($5). Correspondence solicited, Agents wanted. AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION CO.. 4 874. Broadway, New York City. | SGIENGE [ Vol. XXIT. No. 554 Probably you take THE Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity do. If you do not, now is a good time to begin. It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty, cents. Address: ? The Electrical Engineer, 203 Broadway, - - - New York, N.Y. HANDY BOOKS. PRACTICAL ELECTRICS, a universal handy book on every day Electrical matters, fourth edition. 135 pages, r2vo, cloth, price 75 cents. ELECTRICAL TABLES AND Illustrated, 64 mo, roan, so cents. ts A SYSTEM OF EASY LETTERING by Howard Cromwell, 32 different styles, 50 cents. THE ORNAMENTAL Penman’s pocketbook of alphabets, 37 different styles, 20 cents. Books mailed ceipt of published price. SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, Mention this paper. t: y MEMORANDA for Engineers, by Silvanus P. Thompson, 128 pages, ost paid to any address on re- rz Cortlandt St., N. Y. ‘Valued Indorsement of Scott’s Emulsion is contain- ed in let- ters from the medi- Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Mineral Water For Liver, Kidney and B_dder Troubles. For Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright’s Disease, Diabetes. For Hemorrhoids, Etc. It has been used medicinally and prescribed by physicians for nearly one hundred years. IRECTIONS:—Take one or two glasses about a half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50. Bedford Mineral Springs Co., Bedfurd, Pa. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. cal profes- : sion speaking of its gratify. ing results in their practice. Scotts Emulsion of cod-liver oil with Hypo- phosphites can be adminis- tered when plain oilis out of Newspaper Clippings. 25,000im Stock. We The Clemens News What do you want? can supply you. Agency, Box 2329. San Francisco, Cal. Let us know. the question. It is almost as palatable as milk—easier to digest than milk. Prepared by Scott & Bowne, N. Y. All druggists. a a SS TE x6 [eens whole difficulty. 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Ripans Tabules are prepared from a prescription widely used xx by the best physicians, and are presented in a form acceptable to An infallible cure if given a fair trial. ONE GIVES RELIEF. SOLD BY Hegeman, 196 Broadway; Crittenton, 115 Fulton; McKesson & Robbins, 91 Fulton; Patterson & Purdy, 158 William; Schieffelin,170 William St., New York, AND BY DRUGGISTS GENERALLY. PiatoNaHaN Rah GhiN aa ta Nana Nata Ag Haake Mp Na NoMa a Xa Xanax aie tat en ana Xa Xa nana ax aX axanan ana kata Nenana xananen ag Ripans-Tabules D4 s pa One Tasute taken at the Take RIPANS TABULES Take RIPANS TABULES Take RIPANS TABULES TAKE RIPANS TABULES Maga rept pte Ihde SE IA SEPA SA AE Be SR et ee Dee aM, SALE Contain nothing in- SITS MMMMM IM, SAVE MANY A DOCTOR'S BILL. IUBRURUNNRURNH EERE Ee beats epee east sae aS ae THE AMERICAN RACK. By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. «The book is one of unusual interest and value.” Inter Ocean. «Dr, Daniel G. 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Subscriptions taken for all American and foreign scientific periodicals. : Our Paris and London branches enable us to im- port at shortest notice and lowest prices. REPORTS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES, MoNOGRAPHS, GOVERNMENT Reports, ete. Correspondence solicited. (= All books reviewed in SCIENCE can be ordered from us. SEND FOR A SAMPLE Copy oF Book Cuat. A Month- ly Index of the Periodical Literature of the World. $1.00 per year. BRENTANO’S, Union Square, New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris. Ae ied Ole NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 15, 1893. «QARBORUNDUM”; A SILICIDE OF CARBON. BY WILLIAM R. BLAKE, NEW HAVEN, CONN., AND SHULLS- BURG, WIS. Unprer the name “carborundum,” a new compound of carbon and silicon has been commercially introduced as an abrasive ; a substitute for emery and corundum. It is a very hard crystalline solid, of a deep green color, and was obtained about the year 1890 by Mr. E. G. Acheson, of Chicago, while experimenting with the electric furnace with the intent of producing artificial diamonds. Under the supposition that he had obtained a compound of car- bon and alumina he gave it the name “carborundum.” Analysis,* however, shows the following composition : Si Seg cs - - 69.10 C. - - - - - 30.20 Al1,O, and Fe, O, - 0.49 CaO - - - - 0.15 Which may be expressed by the formula SiC; the other substances being regarded as impurities, and as impart- ing the color, which is found to be variable, from nearly white to a deep green and blue. At a session of the Academy of Sciences of France, May 16, 1892, M. P. Schiitzenberger described the production of a new compound with the same formula.t It appears, however, that some carborundum had previously been molded into buttons and mounted in bulbs for electric lighting and exhibited by Mr. Nikola Tesla before the In- stitution of Electrical Engineers in London in the month of February, 1892, but its composition was not then known. The value of this substance as an abrasive has led to its manufacture upon a large scale, and its introduction in the form of powders of different degrees of fineness, and of wheels and whetstones and polishing cloths. The processes of manufacture are described in the memoir cited and also in another by the inventor,{ which gives illustrations of the furnace, which consists merely of a rectangular box, about six feet long, eighteen inches wide and a foot deep, built up of fire brick, in which a mixture of sand and carbon is exposed to the electric current for eight hours. The result is a mass of crystals of small size, which is crushed, and the powder is digested with dilute sulphuric acid to remove impurities. The crystallization has been carefully studied by Prof. B. W. Frazier, of Lehigh Univ., who finds it to be rhombo- hedral, and in some cases hexagonal. Both direct and inverse rhombohedra were observed and determined, viz.: I-5, 4-5, 10-11, 1, 5-4, 4-3, 10-7, 2, 5-2, 4, 19-4, 5, 10.|| In some crystals the direct and inverse rhombohedra of the same parameters were found on the same crystal, so as *By Dr. Mulhaeuser, chemist of the Carborundum Company, in Memoir, by E. G. Acheson: ‘‘Carborundum, Its History, Manufacture and Uses.” Jour. Frank. Inst., Philadelphia, Pa., Sept., 1893. + Contribution to the History of Carbo-silicious Compounds. +Carborundum, etc., The Electrical Engineer, XV., p. 227, March, 1893. | From a Report to the Carborundum Co., Memoir cited. Appendix, p. 19. to impart to it an appearance.of holohedral hexagonal symmetry. The value for the length of the vertical axis is given as, C — 1.2264. In the crystals which I have examined the tabular habit prevails, and as seen under the microscope they consist of hexagonal plates with the rhombohedral planes too small to permit of theirinclination being measured.{ The specific gravity of a bluish-green colored mass as determined by myself at 60 F. was found to be 2.546. Prof. J. W. Richards found it to be for the green crystals 3.123, and for the blue somewhat less. The hardness, which is the most important character industrially, lies between the sapphire and the diamond, and may thus be expressed by 9%. Itis claimed by the inventor that the powder on a rapidly revolving lap will cut and polish the diamond, and he believes that it may be advantageously substituted for diamond dust in dia- mond cutting. It is a good conductor of heat, and is not fusible before the blow-pipe. It also resists all acids, even the fluoric, and does not burn when heated in a current of oxygen ; this being one of the methods adopted to obtain it free of any graphitic carbon. The color and lustre are remarkably brilliant, and if by any modification of the process large and solid crystals can be made, we shall have a valuable addition to our list of gems. Considering the abundance of these two elements in nature, both silicon and carbon, and the comparatively in- destructible nature of the compound formed by their union, it is surprising that we do not find this compound in nature. Its absence indicates the prevalence of condi- tions during the formation of the crust of the earth un- like those of the electric furnace. LATTER-DAY TAXIDERMY. BY VERNON L. KELLOGG, ITHACA, N. Y. Taxrpermy is hardly recognized as one of the fine arts, yet. Perhaps it may never be. But the truthfulness of representation, and the artistic effects of posing and grouping which “mounted” animals may exhibit, can often invest such work with an interest for those who may not be much inclined toward taxidermy for the sake of the skin-preserving. The displays of mounted birds and mammals at the World’s Fair present several stages of pro- egress in the art of taxidermy, and lead one to speculate on the outcome of it all. For scientific purposes, sensu stricta, the making of birdskins is probably preferable to attempting the mounting of the specimens ; and so per- haps with many of the mammals. Evidently, however, if the specimen in hand can be truthfully represented so far as form and characteristic position and externals go, it may serve as a teaching object to many to whom the “made ” skin, with accompanying written measurements, may be without a lesson. But it seems as if it were possible to go even farthe; : g Vide Article in Eng. Min. Jour., Sept., 1893. 142 not only shall the restored animal act as a lesson in zodlogy, areference object which may impress on the stu- dent-naturalist the peculiar characteristics of the animal species represented, but the restoration may possess the power of displaying the emotions and passions ; it may be beautiful ; it may, in a word, appeal to the human sense just as afigure in marble or bronze or staff may. The analogies, too, between sculpture and latter-day taxidermy, in matters of technique, are striking. The sculptor makes his model in clay, and often enough, now-a-days, 18 done with it. Ttalian artisans are clever enough to carry on the work of reproduction even to the final touches on the marble. The man mounting an elk makesa model so complete in de- tail that the putting on of the skin does hardly more than add color and the effect of hair to his statue. A wooden frame, a rough wrapping of tow and twine, and over all the plastic clay giving truthful detail of form, and life, compose the model. The shapeliness of the limbs, with loose or swelling muscles, the rigid tendons, the sunken flanks, the projecting angles of the pelvic and shoulder girdles, the expressive lines of the eyes and nose and mouth, all exist in the model. Over this is drawn the skin, which fits because it does fit, and which is only a bit of realism added by the sculptor-taxidermist to his model. The traditional “stuffing” is truly a matter of tradition. The taxidermist who is a naturalist and has thorough- ly studied his subjects; who is an anatomist and is true, in his work, to structural detail; who has seen his animals walk and crouch and leap, not in cages alone, but in the forest and canon; and who perceives the look of fear or defiance, the attitude of cunning or of ferocity or of pain, and carries these expressions and poses ever in his eye, to be faithfully reproduced in his restoration, is equipped as the sculptor of animals must be equipped. And taxi- dermy by such a taxidermist comes near to being fine art. Among the World’s Fair displays of taxidermic work a notable one is that made by the University of Kansas, in the Kansas State Building. This building was planned with special reference to the displaying of this collection, and the arrangement adopted is an effective one. The collection comprises 109 mounted specimens of North American mammals, and contains several groups, as those of the Rocky Mountain Goats and the American Bison, of special value, from the zodlogist’s point of view. But the rare excellence of the taxidermic work in this collection should attract a more general interest than that of the zodlogist alone. ‘The work was done by Lewis L. Dyche, professor of zodlogy in the University of Kansas, and a majority of the specimens were personally obtained by him in a number of collecting expeditions. Some striking groups will repay critical study. In the fighting of two moose, the faithful adherence to anatomical detail, as shown in the contracted muscles, the carefully disposed limbs, and the skilful arrangement of the heads, is no more in evidence—in fact, at first glance is far less strik- ing—than the artistic effect of the whole. The fury and extremity of exertion of the struggling animals is impres- sive. Inasingle magnificently-antlered elk the poise, the fine contour of the body, the speaking expression of the head and face are that of unconscious superiority. A snarling wolf has a head whose modelling is a work of genuine fine art. And the fine art of truth of detail is not neglected for the whole’s effect. In the Art Galleries at the World’s Fair there are many excellent pieces of animal sculpture, but a critical analysis will betray in some of them a woful ignorance of mammalian anatomy on the part of the sculptor, or a wilful distortion of it by him. For example, a reclining panther, with young, on SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 554 the whole a fine piece, and singularly expressive, has the lower portions of the hind legs absurdly lengthened. Again, and often, the sculptor, to show that he really has anatomical detail in mind, has practically “skinned” his animals. 145 will not be finished for a year or more. The Clarks, by the way, make no exhibit at Chicago. J. A. Brashear, of Allegheny, Pa., exhibits the stellar spectroscope for the Yerkes telescope. He also shows an eighteen-inch and a fifteen-inch objective, gratings, specula, etc. G. N. Saeg- muller, of Washington, exhibits a variety of instruments of precision, among which are a nine-inch equatorial tele- scope and a four-inch steel meridian circle. The exhibit of the Gundlach Optical Company also deserves mention. The American instrument-makers, as a whole, make a most creditable showing. The displays of the foreign instrument-makers are, many of them, located in the Elec- tricity Building. Schott und Genossen, of Jena, show a large number of specimens of optical glass, and among them are two twenty-three-inch discs of the celebrated Jena glass. Merz, of Munich, shows two equatorial tele- scopes and several telescopic objectives, the largest of which is ten inches in diameter. The Repsolds, of Ham- burg, seem not to be represented—a fact much to be re- gretted. Dr. Gill’s interesting stellar photographs are in the Cape Colony Exhibit in the Agricultural Building, and the Lick Observatory display is in the educational depart- ment of the California State Building, and is strangely enough mixed up with the kindergarten exhibit there. The U. 8. Naval Observatory Exhibit is a small obsery- atory located northeast of the Government Plaza, and is in charge of Lieut. A. G. Winterhalter, U.S. N. There are a small equatorial telescope, photoheliograph and many smaller instruments. The Weather Bureau Exhibit, a short distance to the west, is well worth a visit. The exhibit of Coast Survey apparatus, in the U.S. Govern- ment Building, is full of interest, from the geodetic stand- point. SCIENCE TEACHING IN SECONDARY AND PRI- MARY SCHOOLS. DR. GEO. G. GROFF, LEWISBURG, PA. Ir has long been a dream of scientists that the time would come when. the elements of natural history and of the physical sciences would be taught in secondary and primary schools. To thinking people it does not seem necessary to argue that every boy should be instructed in the elements of chemistry, natural philosophy, botany, geology, zoology and physiology. To persons not teach- ers, it would seem no difficult matter to find a place in the school curriculum for the elements of the above sciences. But it remains true that they are not taught, or taught to such an extent, and in such a manner, as to produce results entirely worthless. Why is this condition of things prevalent? Why, after all that has been said and written, is there is no change for the better? The answer seems to be this: The ele- ments of the sciences are not taught in elementary and primary schools for the reason that the teachers them- selves have never been taught, and without instruction they feel that to attempt to teach these branches they would be blind leaders of the blind. More than this, the schools whose special duty it is to train teachers for primary and secondary schools, have not begun to do any real work in the line of science instruction. The sciences in these schools are so placed in the background that practically no training at all is given in them. It is then no wonder that the graduate of such a school does not feel capable of giving any instruction in even the elements of the sciences. To demonstrate the above statements the catalogues of the Pennsylvania State normal schools will be examined, and certain results tabulated. It will be seen that the teachers of arithmetic and grammar far 146 outnumber those of science. But let the official an- nouncements of the schools speak for themselves. n — os fos] 2 i a & ce 0. ae rc) 2. 2 me s x Be a Remarks. ie a. a ae fe) d i) i) : A Bi) Ele 1st District, - - 800 6 9 1 ond “cc AR 979 2 5 24 Se eee ae ca by a 3rd s oo GO ie 2 4th ss - - 1 1 1 { Not yet opened. 5th s Se SO0 1 2iemele The science teachers 7th s BS 360 1 2| devote but part of their time to their own dept. Science teacher is also 8th Gs 576 RY) 2, 2. | instructor in gymna- sium. 9th Cte Net 66602) 2a «“c istant t hes hist 10th mew 1 ee jan 2001089. a Ine e500, tl 1 aiso teacher of ancien anguages. thea 5805. eee ish <8 ee ee 12 schools, 6,673 20 381 16 By above table it will be seen that for 6,678 students some sixteen science teachers are provided, but in six in- stances these teachers give instruction in other branches, leaving but ten teachers devoting all their time to scien- tific instruction. The extreme illustration is seen in the first district, where fifteen teachers instruct in mathemat- ics and grammar to one solitary teacher in science. If, however, we further examine the catalogues, we find that in the elementary course (which is the only course the great bulk of the students take) the sciences required are physiology and hygiene, elementary natural philoso- phy and botany. To teach physiology and hygiene to teachers, it might readily be supposed that a person trained in medicine would be demanded, but only one such trained teacher is found in the twelve schools. A fair knowledge of elementary natural philosophy is im- parted, but the work in botany is abridged to so short a time that it is questionable whether the graduates are able to do much with it when they become teachers them- selves. In the scientific course, which extends over two years, chemistry, zoology and geology are taught for one term each, natural philosophy for two terms. The same criti- cism is applicable to the scientific work in this course as is made above for the work in botany. If, from the strictly professional schools we now turn to the academies and colleges, which prepare a large pro- portion of the teachers of the state, we will find much the same condition of affairs. Asa rule, the academies and seminaries can afford but a single science teacher. With the colleges it is but little better, except that largely these institutions have been able to secure two professors for the scientific branches, chemistry and physics being assigned to one, while geology and the organic sciences are given to the other. Pennsylvania has twenty-six col- leges for men (part of these co-educational) and eleven for women (Last report of U. S. Commissioner of Educa- tion). Of these thirty-seven institutions, the University of Pennsylvania, Lehigh University, the University of Western Pennsylvania, Lafayette College and _ SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 554 Bryn Mawr College are the only ones in any wise fully equipped for scientific work. In some cases there are more than two science professors in one institution, but in other cases there is but a single instructor. ‘The writer has not, in his possession, cata- logues of all the colleges, and hence cannot make a tabu- lated statement, as has been done for the professional schools. The answer then is reached. Scientific instruction in the public schools is a failure because teachers are not trained to impart it. At present, mathematics and gram- mar are considered of far more importance than science in the training of teachers. How long this state is to con- tinue no one can affirm. The only solution of the problem is better all-round preparation for teachers. ELECTRICAL COOKING. Some years ago (in December, 1890) the writer made - some experiments with a view to determining the effi- ciency of electrical cooking, as the general opinion at that time was that any such employment of electricity would be too inefficient to be commercially practicable, and the writer had reason for believing otherwise. ‘These experi- ments showed conclusively that the use of electricity for cooking was more economical and efficient than the use of coal in an ordinary cooking stove, but, as it was the in- tention of the writer to take out patents on several points, these results were not published at the time. Since 1890, the fact of the efficiency and low cost of electrical cooking has been generally recognized, not only theoretically, but also in practice. But although there are now at least adozen companies engaged in producing electrical cooking apparatus, and their productions are finding their way into hotels, dining cars, steamers, and private houses, so far as the writer knows, there have not as yet been published any tests of the relative efficiency of the new apparatus and the ordinary cooking stove. For this reason the following results may be of interest, the more especially as the results show the truly awful waste of fuel at present taking place, and the direction in which improvement both in heating and cooking must be looked for. Details of apparatus used in making test. The cooking stove was of the ordinary type, the enclosed grate which holds the fuel being twelve inches long by six inches wide by six inches deep. Area of top of stove, seven square feet. Size of oven, 2x1.6x1.6 feet. Number of orifices on top of stove,six. Orifices eight inches in diameter. A damper is so arranged that the heat passes directly up the chim- ney, after passing the six orifices for culinary utensils, or may be directed around the oven, after passing two orifices only. The total radiating surface is 37,200 square centi- metres, approximately, and the average all day temperature, so near as could be ascertained, nearly 100 degrees C. The box for electrical heating was a cube whose sides were one foot in length. It was of polished tin, but no attempt was made to render it more bright than it was when bought. The box was heated inside by passing a current of electricity through a coil of iron wire wound inside the box. The watts used in heating could be found by multiplying the current passing through the coil by the difference of potential between its ends, a thermome- ter inserted in the box giving the corresponding tempera- ture. The total quantity of coal used in the stove, obtained by taking the average of several weeks, was thirty pounds per day. Taking the average value for the thermal equi- valent of good coal, this would represent the production of 100,000,000 calories, and therefore the efficiency will be given by dividing the total number of calories of use- ful work obtained from the stove by 100,000,000. September 15, 1893. | We can divide the useful calories into three classes, which we will call the c, r, and p calories, the ¢ calories be- ing those actually used in cooking, the r calories being those used in raising the water in which the substance is cooked to a cooking temperature, and the p calories being those calories used in cleaning the cooking utensils, etc. In the case taken, the ¢ calories amounted to approx- imately 30,000*. The cooking efficiency, or the ratio of the calories used in cooking to the total watts in the coal, is therefore only .03 (three one-hundredths of one per cent). . Ther calories amounted to 435,000. Adding them to the ¢ calories, we get the total cooking efficiency to be .46 (46 one-hundredths of one per cent). The p calories amounted to 2,256,000 approximately. Adding them to the ¢ and r calories, we get the total all day ratio of the useful watts to the total calories in the coal to be 2.7 per cent. The addition of the calories used in heating a hot-water apparatus for baths, etc., adds about 1.5 per cent to the efficiency, making the total all day efficiency of the stove above 4.2 per cent. The writer has been informed that Professor Tyndall, in a test of the efficiency of a stove, obtained the figure of six per cent. This, however, must have been the max- imum’ efficiency, as, without the hot-water coils (which were probably not in the stove tested by Professor Tyn- dali) the all day efficiency can hardly reach three per cent. There remain, out of the original 100,000,000 calories in the coal, about 96,000,000 to be accounted for. These evidently are lost up the chimney or are radiated out into the room. Wemay make a rough calculation of their relative and absolute amounts. The total radiating surface is, as given above, 37,200 square centimetres. Taking the average difference of temperature between the stove and the room as eighty ” degress C., and taking the coefficient of emissivity of the blackened surface of the stove as .0004, we find for the total loss in radiation, for the day of ten hours, 64,800,000 calories. The remaining 30,000,000 calories must go up the chimney, or be left in the unconsumed coal. We may tabulate the results thus: 1. Total amount of heat in coal, - 2. Amount used in actual cooking, - 3. Amount two plus amount used in raising water in which food is cooked to cook- 100,000,000 k. 30,000 k. ing temperature, - 2 - 465,000 k. 4. Amount used in cleansing cooking uten- sils, etc. (2,256,000) plus amounts 2 and 3, - - - - 2,750,000 k. 5. Amount used in heating bath, approxi- mately, - - - 1,500,000 k. 6. Amount used in warming room, - 64,800,000 k. 7. Amount lost up chimney, and through incomplete combustion, - 31,000,000 k. From these figures we see that the name cooking stove is really a misnomer, for of the total amount of useful work which is got out of the stove, i. e., 69,000,000 cal- ories, only 30,000, or about .04 per cent are utilized in cooking, the rest being spent in warming the room, and in heating water. It will be noticed that cooking stoves seem to be designed to present as much surface for radi- ation as possible, and that the efficiency of the stove as a water heater is only four per cent, while, with proper design, a water heater should have at least fifty to sixty per cent efficiency. The efficiency of the electric heater is very simply cal- culated. *The c calories were obtained by weighing the food before and after, and taking the loss in weight as due to evaporated water. ‘This, of course, is not strictly accurate, but it must be a fairly close approximation, SCIENCE. 147 A box, whose interior volume is eight cubic feet will cook the same amount as the stove experimented upon. The surface radiating heat will be, in this case, about 24,000 square centimetres, and, taking the emissivity at .00025, we get for the total loss, since the current will be only used six hours, as against the ten of the stove (as no ap- preciable time is required to warm the electrical oven, and the current may be cut off when not in use) a total of 7,000,000 calories lost by radiation per day, when there isnot a heat-retaining covering, such as asbestos, and the bare tin is exposed to the air. It would be only 55,000,000 in actual practice, as one side would rest on a table. By the use of proper insulation, the loss can be reduced to one-tenth of this, or 700,000 calories. We thus obtain the following table. 1. Amount used in actual cooking, - - 30,000 k. 2. Amount lost in radiation, - - - 700,000 k. Total cost at 1 cent per 100,000 calor- ies (which is the actual selling price of the electric companies at present, or slightly above it, in some cities) 7.3 cents. If we include the amount of heat used in heating the food up to cooking temperature, we get, 1. Amount used in actual cooking plus amount used in heating up to cooking tempera- ture, - = = - 465,000 k. 2. Amount lost in radiation, - - 700,000 k. Cost at 1 cent per 100,000 calories, - 11.65 cents. If we include the amount of heat used in heating | water for cleaning kitchen utensils, water for bath, etc., we get the following: 1. Amount used for cooking plus amount used for heating to cooking temperature plus amount used for heating water for clean- ing kitchen utensils, water for bath, etc., 4,250,000 k. 2. Amount lost in radiation, - - 700,000 k. Cost at 1 cent per 100,000 calories, - 42.5 cents. The cost of the thirty pounds of coal, at $6.00 per ton, is - - - 8 cents. We see, therefore, from these figures, that, so far as actual cooking is concerned, electrical cooking is about ten per cent cheaper than cooking with an ordinary stove. When we use the electric stove to heat the water in which the food is cooked to boiling point, we see that electric cooking is thirty-five per cent more expensive, if we take the ordinary pricesruling at present. As, how- ever, a load due to cooking comes at a time of the day when a load is much desired by station managers, and would give areturn at a time when the dynamos are practically doing nothing else, it is certain that there would be a deduction from the ordinary lighting rates, and the electric oven would compare favorably with the cooking stove under those conditions. When, however, we come to use electricity as a means of heating water, for any purpose, we see that the electric cannot hope to compete with the ordinary method, un- economical as the latter is. We are led, therefore, to the following, as the most economical method. A boiler for heating water can readily be designed that shall have an efficiency of fifty per cent. This should be used for heating water, and also for heating the house, by means of the ordinary method of tubes. Means of effect- ing this combination will readily suggest themselves. The electric oven should be used for cooking. With this system we get the following table: 148 1. Cost of electricity for cooking as above, - 1.3 cents 2. Cost of heating water, for purposes as given above, and the same amount, in boiler of fifty per cent efficiency, with coal at same price as mentioned above, allow- ing for loss through radiation for day of twelve hours, - - - 1.2 cents Total cost, - - - - 8.5 cents It will thus be seen that there is practically no differ- ence between electricity and the ordinary cooking stove, so far as cost is concerned, and it is almost needless to point out the advantages of the electric oven over the cooking stove. In the first place, we have absolutely no dirt, the elec- trical oven being lined with porcelain enamel, which can be cleaned with the greatest ease. In the second, we have practically no heat outside the oven to heat the room in summer. Then we have absolute regulation of the temperature. If the oven is cold, and we require a temperature of, say, 100 degrees C. to cook something, the automatic regulator is set to 100, and in less than a minute the temperature has risen, and remains exactly at that temperature. Again, if it is desired to only cook for a certain time, say two hours, the cut-out is set for two hours, and at the end of that time the current is either stopped entirely, or is lowered so as to give any reduced temperature that may be desired. In conclusion, we may say that the electric oven is bound to come, if only on the score of convenience and accuracy. If cheapness were the only consideration, we should still be burning tallow candles or gas, but people, and especially the American people, will always decide in favor of what is most convenient, so long as the differ- ence in expense is not so great as to form a serious bur- den, and the above data will, it is thought, show that, used in a proper manner, the expense of electrical cook- ing need not be seriously taken into account. It will be seen that of every 100 tons of coal used in a cooking stove, ninety-six tons are wasted. It is difficult of course, to get exact figures, but it is probable that the waste in the city of New York alone is not far from 1,000,000 tons per annum. With the electric stove, though the cost does not greatly differ, yet by far the larger proportion of the ex- pense is due to the labor, interest on plant, and canal- ization, so that (taking the efficiency of the boiler, engine and dynamo as ten per cent) the electrical oven, for the same amount of useful calories, uses only one-fourth as much coal as the cooking stove, and from a social-econ- omical point of view, is much to be preferred, for the more we can live on the world’s interest, which is labor, and the less we draw from the world’s capital of fuel, the better. RR. ALE. MOUSE TRAPPING. BY FRANK BOLLES, CHOCORUA, N. H. Lave in August the mice of our White Mountain woods, fields, and meadows, begin to show an increasing interest in corn, sweet apples, and other kinds of bait usually used in effecting their capture. In the early summer trapping them is slow work, but the chill of autumn seems to stir them to fresh activity in the gathering of food, and then pursuit of them becomes really interesting. This year lam taking them alive in order to learn more about their hab- its during the winter. Where, in previous years, I have set the deadly little “cyclone” traps, 1 am now setting the common woven-wire trap with a revolving wheel at- tached. For the ordinary white-footed, or deer mouse (Sttomys americanus), I have only to bait the trap with SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 554 kernels of corn or a bit of sweet apple, and place it at sunset near my wood pile or under the lumber heap back of my barn, and the sound of the whirling wheel is soon heard. For the long-tailed, gray, white-footed mouse (Sitomys americanus canadensis), I go to pine stumps in the woods, or to the old logs on the shore of a pond far from houses, and feel confident of taking him wherever I have previously found traces of his presence. It is also easy to capture the short-tailed, brown meadow mouse_(Arvicola pennsylvanicus), who always seems to me as much lke a diminutive bear as the white-footed mouse is like a tiny deer. His place of abode is readily detected, for he makes long runways in the grass leading to the holes in the ground through which he reaches his burrow. Sometimes I find him under a plank bridge which crosses a moist spot on the edge of the mowing land, but oftener I trap him in the long matted meadow grass where his paths lead here and there in search of food or water. Asa rule I catch him in broad daylight when he is most active. Hvotmys rutilus has a keen eye for protective colors. I find him most frequently in dark, damp woods, remote from houses, domiciled in hemlock stumps. His chestnut fur matches the color of a decaying- stump so closely that he seems like an animated portion of the red wood. He does not, however, confine himself to the forest, for I have caught at least one of his family, close to my barn. Neither does he limit his range to low land, for I have secured specimens a thou- sand feet above his favorite swamps. By far the most beautiful of the New England wild mice is the jumping mouse of the woods (Zapus insignis). For him I walk back a mile from my house through lonely pastures and birch woods to a mountain stream which comes splashing over a rocky bed in a dark ravine. It is not on the first, or even the second day, that he conde- scends, or dares, to enter the trap, although that danger- ous engine is carefully covered and disguised with leaves, ferns and bits of growing moss, until it looks like a piece of the wild wood itself. At first he eats the kernels of corn or the pieces of apple which are placed farthest from the trap. Then, night by night, he comes nearer, until at last, having eaten all the corn and apple outside of dan- ger limits, he ventures too far and is caught. Probably Zapus hudsonius, the common jumping mouse, is to be found in this vicinity, but thus far I have not secured him, although his cousin with the white-tipped tail might almost be called abundant. A seventh species, too well known in his customary resorts, is Mus musculus, the old world pest of the pantry. Trapping mice in “cyclones” often results in supply- ing moles and shrews with food which they seem greatly to enjoy. In fact, Sitomys himself is only too willing to devour the tender portions of his own kindred. By using the wheel trap and taking my mice alive, lam not an- noyed by the flesh-eaters. SUBMARINE PHOTOGRAPHY. BY JOHN HUMPHREY, LONDON, ENGLAND. Srverat of the difficulties experienced in endeavors to ascertain the natural relations of objects existing at con- siderable depths under water have been overcome by M. Louis Boutan, in a remarkably ingenious manner, and the contrivances he adopted are described in a recent com- munication to the Paris Academy of Sciences. He prefers to use a small camera in which several plates can be exposed consecutively, and encloses this in a rectangular, water-tight metal box, into the sides of which plates of glass are inserted to serve as windows. The camera can be so disposed that the lens may face all the windows in turn, if desired, and exposures are regu- September 15, 1893. | lated from outside the metal case. To avoid any ill effects that might be caused by differences in the internal and external pressure when the apparatus is sunk in deep water, a kind of balloon filled with air is connected with it. As the pressure increases, in descending, the balloon is compressed, extra air is thus forced into the box, and the pressure on its walls equalized. A stout foot to support the apparatus and weights to sink it complete it for practical purposes. In water near the shore, not greatly exceeding one metre in depth, the apparatus can be conveniently fixed, without the operator needing to enter the water, and, by direct sunlight, good negatives can be obtained in ten minutes. When the water is deeper the operator must descend in diving costume to fix the case securely on its stand before commencing the actual work of photography. In calm, bright weather photographs can then be ob- tained by direct sunlight in from thirty to fifty minutes. Colored glasses, preferably blue, must be interposed be- tween the objective and the water, in order to obtain sharp images. By the use of artificial light to illuminate the sur- roundings, however, matters are still more simplified. To this end, M. Boutan has contrived a special magnesium lamp. A cask of two hundred litres capacity is filled with oxygen gas, and on its upper end is fixed a spirit lamp, which is covered by a bell glass. A vessel contain- ing magnesium, in powder, is connected with this lamp in such a manner that the metal can be projected across the flame by the action of a rubber ball which serves as bellows. combustion, and the lamp, having been lighted and coy- ered by its protecting globe, the cask simply requires weighting to sink it. Good instantaneous negatives have thus been obtained by M. Boutan during a violent storm, when no daylight could penetrate the depths. They are lacking, as regards background, but this he attributes to imperfections in the apparatus, particularly the objective. He also found it necessary to place before the lens a diaphragm of very small aperture to secure a sufficient degree of sharpness. If a formula were calculated for an objective, the front of which might be exposed to sea water, he thinks these drawbacks might be remedied. As it is, he has proved that photographs can be taken in a brief time under water, in calm weather, by direct sunlight, at depths up to six or seven metres; whilst, by the use of his special lamp, they can be taken, instanta- neously, at any depth that can be conveniently reached by a diver, and the state of the weather is of no importance. THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF COMPOSITION. BY DR. CHARLES H. J. DOUGLAS, BOYS’ HIGH SCHOOL, BROOKLYN. Tuer end of literary composition is effective communi- cation. To this end there are necessary, first, something to communicate and, second, some means of communica- tion. The only thing to be communicated is thought. The medium of communication is language. One cannot, then, expect to understand the philosophy of literary composition without investigating both the nature and the process of handling both thought and language. Psychologists recognize three distinct kinds of thought, viz., the concept, the judgment and the argument. The concept, the simplest form of thought, may be defined as the act of mind by which we merely become aware of something. “Objectively considered, the concept is indi- visible and unrelated—a kind of intellectual atom. The simple judgment, a more complex form of thought than the concept, may be defined as the act of mind by which we apprehend an agreement or disagreement between two SCIENCE. The oxygen gas, of course, is intended to assist ~ 149 concepts. Objectively considered, the judgment is a complex unit, resolvable into its constituent parts—a kind of intellectual molecule. The argument, the most complex form of thought, is commonly regarded as differing essentially from both the concept and the judgement. It is, however, in the last analysis, nothing else than a complex judgment. It may be defined as the act of mind by which we apprehend an agreement or a disagreement between two concepts, by apprehending an agreement or a disagreement between each of them and a third concept. The relation of logic to composition is peculiar and quite likely to be misapprehended. The formation of judgments upon a subject must, of course, precede the communication of thought upon that subject. But the formation of judgments upon a subject is nothing else than the study of that subject; it is not composition. That process begins with the selection of judgments al- ready formed; and it ends, so far as the handling of thought is concerned, with the arrangement of them ac- cording to a certain recognized principle. At this point, then, the mind begins a new process. Ceasing, for the moment, to form judgments about the subject of the communication, it begins to form judg- ments about those judgments in order to the process of discourse. This may be defined as the selection and the arrangement of judgments with a view to the greatest mental effect in apprehending them. Thus, while the formation of a set of judgments about the subject of the communication, and of another set of judgments about the first set, are both processes implied by the process of composition, neither of them is included in that process. Again, the mind, in the formation of judgments about its own judgments, in order to dis- course, is subject to the laws of logic no less than it is in the formation of judgments about the subject of the communication. The relation of logic to composition is, therefore, seen to be both vital and complex. : But, while the mind in the formation of judgments about its own judgments, in order to discourse, is subject to the laws of logic, yet the principles according to which the selection and the arrangement of the judgments are made, are not principles of logic, but of dialectic. This may be defined as the science of effective thought, as logic is the science of correct thought. So important are the selection and the arrangement of judgments in the effective handling of thought, that it has sometimes been said that what the judgment is to the concept, and what the argument is to the judgment, such is method to the argument; and that, consequently, a fourth division is necessary to complete the doctrine of logic. Both the premise and the conclusion of this state- ment are, however, untenable. It is evident that method does not sustain the same re- lation to the argument that the argument does to the judgment and that the judgment does to the concept, first, because the argument does not sustain the same re- lation to the judgment that the judgment does to the concept; and, second, because method is of precisely as much importance in simple discourse, where there are no arguments at all, asit is i reasoning, where there is nothing except arguments. The importance of method, instead of arising from some relation which it is supposed to sustain to the argu- ment, depends entirely upon the principle of the economy of the recipient's attention. By selection, the waste of his energy in the formation of irrelevant or unimportant judgments is ayoided. By arrangement, the greater sus- ceptibility of his mind at certain points in the time-series of cognitions which he makes, and to certain sequences of judgments, is taken advantage of. 150 The process of expression, like that of thought, is conditioned by the physical and psychical nature of man. It is not necessary here to describe the different steps of direct imitation by gesture and cry, of designation from analogy, and finally of imitative and arbitrary graphic representation, by which it is agreed that language was brought to its present high state of efficiency as an in- strument for the spoken and written expression of thought. Those principles of expression that are common to all languages, such as the principles of general grammar and those of rhetoric, have their basis in the nature of the intellectual processes. The principles of general gram- mar are necessarily the complement of the principles of logic; as the principles of rhetoric are necessarily the complement of the principles of dialectic. The special grammars of particular languages are more arbitrary in their origins, and occupy a position intermediate between general grammar and such purely conventional devices of expression as spelling, punctuation and variation of letter- forms. The nature of the outline as a process-instrument ante- cedent to the full thought and its complete expression is not sufficiently understood, even by those who avail them- selves of its aid in composition. The utility of the out- line is due to the fact that by it we are able to express and contemplate major thought-relations without giving attention to minor ones. The use of a certain number of visible symbols must _ be helpful in the process of connected thought; for by thus enlisting the service of the sense of sight, the mind is enabled the more easily to occupy itself with the judg- ments it has already formed, and accurately to determine their mutual relations. On the other hand, for the same reason, that is, because the mind through the sense of sight is fixed upon them, a great number of words organ- ized into propositions, become a hindrance to that subtle activity of the mind by which, from a chaotic mass of un- assimilated elements, organism of hving thought is devel- oped. In order, then, to the most effective thinking about thought, as a process necessarily involved in that of com- position, there is requisite a system of symbols which, enabling the mind through the eye to take firm hold of the growing thought, are yet not so numerous or compli- cated as to hinder their own frequent readjustment, as the subject takes form in the mind. These requirements the ordinary form of the outline, with its brackets and catch- words, effectively supplies. The ery that composition as it is taught in the schools is a failure is heard on every side. Why are our teachers not more successful in this really fascinating subject? Is it not because they are ignorant of, or indifferent to, the scientific basis of composition, as it has been set forth in this article? Certainly a great reform is called for in the way of far less attention, relatively, given to the trick of juggling with words, and more to the nature and hand- ling of thought. Frightful as the names “logic” and “dialectic” undoubtedly are to the common run of teachers, the subjects they represent not only are harmless in themselves, but lie at the very foundation of effective communication. THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF ANTHRO- POLOGY. Tue International Congress of Anthropology convened at Chicago, Monday, August 28th, and held daily morning and evening sessions during the entire week, closing Sat- urday, September 2d. All the meetings were well at- tended, and there was more than a full supply of excellent SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 554 papers on various branches of anthropologic science, which frequently elicited animated discussion. The session on Monday was opened by the address of the President of the Congress, Dr. Daniel G. Brinton, whose subject was “The Nation as an Element in Anthro- pology.” It was intended to show the physical, mental, and social changes which take place when man passes from a consanguine or tribal condition of government to that which is national. This transition exerts a profound in- fluence on the physical man through new laws of mar- riage and relationship, and on religion, ethics, Jurispru- dence and art through the extension of the intellectual horizon. The goal of such changes, the speaker predicted, will not be reached in nationalism, but in international- ism, and in the supremacy of the individual, as the only proper aim of government. The remainder of the day was taken up with the exhibition of trepanned skulls from ancient Peru, by Senor M. A. Muniz, and explanations of the anthropological laboratories of the Department of Ethnology at the Columbian Exposition, by Drs. Franz Boas, Joseph Jastrow, H. H. Donaldson and G. M. West. The latter offered a paper of great merit on the anthro- pometry of North American school children, and Dr. Boas one on the physical anthropology of North America, the result of very extended measurements. Tuesday was devoted to Archeology, principally Ameri- can. Mr. H. C. Mercer, however, exhibited an artificially flaked stone from the San Isidro gravels, near Madrid, Spain, exhumed by himself, and explained its probable paleolithic character. Professor G. H. Perkins read a resumé of archeological investigations in the Champlain Valley, and Professor Otis T. Mason described in a most interesting manner the mechanical resources invented and developed by the aboriginal toilers of the American continent. The anthropological work at the University of Michigan was sketched by Mr. Harlan J. Smith; Senor Emilio Montes entered a plea for the great antiquity of the civilization of Peru; and Dr. Carl Lumholtz, just back from his explorations among the cave-dwellers in the Sierra Madre of Chihuahua, described their condition and exhibited specimens of their industries. The paper which attracted most attention, however, was that of Mrs. Zelia Nuttall on the Mexican calendar system, in which she presented a highly ingenious theory for the solution of this obscure and famous problem, supporting it with lengthy computations and the opinion of competent astron- omers. The afternoon was spent in discussing the collec- tion of games in the anthropological building by Dr. Stewart Culin, Captain J. G. Bourke and Mr. Frank Cush- ing. The session on Wednesday was devoted to ethnology. It was opened by a paper by the President, Dr. Daniel G. Brinton, on the alleged evidences of ancient contact between America and other continents, in which he cate- gorically denied that any language, art, religion, myth, institution, symbol, or physical peculiarity of the Ameri- can aborigines could be traced to a foreign source. Miss Alice C. Fletcher and Prof. J. C. Fillmore presented a joint study of native songs and music of great interest. Mr. Walter Hough exhibited and described bark cloth from various primitive tribes; Mr. G. A. Dorsey related a peculiar observance among the Quichua Indians of Peru; Mrs. French-Sheldon spoke of some curious customs no- ticed by her among the natives of Hast Africa; and the Rey. S. D. Peet presented a memoir on secret societies among the wild tribes. The afternoon was spent in dis- cussing the anthropological collections in the U. 8S. Goy- ernment Building, Professor O. T. Mason referring to an industrial exhibit based on linguistic stocks; Mr. W. H. Holmes offering a critical study of the development of flaked-stone implements; Mr. Frank Cushing giving the September 15, 1893. | particulars of a curious Zuni dramatic ceremonial; and Dr. Cyrus Alder reviewing museum collections made to illustrate religious history and ceremonies. Thursday morning was assigned to folk-lore, and papers were presented by Mr. W. W. Newell on ritual regarded as a dramatization of myth; by Dr. Franz Boas on the ritual of the Kwakiutl Indians; by Mr. J. Walter Fewkes on Tusayan ceremonial dramatization; and by Mr. George Kunz on the folk-lore of precious stones. The afternoon was devoted to the collections of American archeology in the anthropological building under the care of Professor F. W. Putnam, Chief of the Department, who delivered the opening address on the subject. He was followed by Mr. Frank Cushing on the “clifi-dwellers”; by Mrs. Zelia Nuttall on Mexican archeology; by Mr. G. A. Dorsey on South American archeology; and by Mr. EH. Volk on cache-finds from ancient village sites in New Jersey. “Religions” was the subject taken up on Friday morn- ing. Dr. Morris Jastrow, Jr., began with an explanation of the method and scope of their historical study; Mrs. Sarah Y. Stevenson gave an interesting sketch of an ancient Heyptian rite illustrating a phase of primitive thought; Mrs. Matilda C. Stevenson contributed a chapter in Zuni mythology obtained by personal study on the spot; and Mr. F. Parry read a theory relating to certain elements of religious symbolism. The afternoon was given to discus- sion of various points in North American ethnology by Professor O. T. Mason and to the ethnology of Paraguay by Dr. Emil Hassler, The last day, Saturday, was set apart for “Linguistics,” and for reading papers which had been crowded out on previous days. Dr. Daniel G. Brinton gave a brief review of the present status of our knowledge of American lan- guages with especial reference to the parts of the con- tinent in which it is deficient. These he especially found in Mexico and central South America. Dr. Boas stated his classification of the languages of the north Pacific coast; Dr. C. Abel illustrated his theory of the afiinities of the Egyptian and Kuropean languages; My. Richard- son read on the Cameroons of South Africa; Mr. Wild- man on the ethnology of the Malay peninsula; and Dr. _ Jahn on the ethnological collection in the German village at the Fair. The session and the week closed witha social dinner in the Midway Plaisance given by the Amer- ican to the foreign delegates, presided over by Professor F. W. Putnam and Dr. D. G. Brinton, which closed the scientific proceedings in the most agreeable manner. All of the papers mentioned above were read before the congress and discussed as far as time permitted. Besides these, a number were read by title from writers who could not be present. Among them were Mr. Horatio Hale, A. L. Lewis, Dr. A. F. Chamberlain, Dr. F. S. Krauss, M. Raoul de la Grasserie, Dr. F. Jacobsen, Senor C. De la Torre, and others. The number of foreign delegates embraced a fair pro- portion of those present, and in this respect the Congress merited its title as an “international” one. Among them may be mentioned Dr. Carl Peters, the Imperial German Commissioner for East Africa, Senor Manuel M. de Per- alta, Minister from Costa Rica, Dr. Carl Abel, the well- known Egyptologist, Mr. C. Staniland Wake, of London, Dr. A. Ernst, of Venezuela, ete. It was decided to print at an early date the transactions of the Congress by subscription. They will form a vol- ume of 500 pages, price $5.00, subscriptions for which may be sent to Dr. Franz Boas, Secretary, Department of Eth- nology, Columbian Exposition, Chicago. Freverick Warne & Oo. will issue immediately a “Dic- tionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern English and French Sources.” SCIENCE: I51 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. x.Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. writer's name is in all cases required as a proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number con- taining his communication will be furnished free to any corres- * pondent. The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. The INSECT SWARMS. On the evening of June 26th, last, the fire department was called to two of the highest buildings in this city, the alarms being caused by an appearance as of smoke issuing from the pinnacles of the towers. In both cases the ap- pearance was found to be caused by clouds of insects. On the following evening I witnessed the same interesting phenomenon about the court-house tower. I knew that I was looking at a swarm of insects, yet it was difficult to realize that it was not smoke, issuing from the summit, and driven by a brisk breeze. Near the tower the swarm was narrow and dense, gradually widening and thinning to a distance of about fifty feet, where it seemed to vanish by attenuation. The extent of the swarm varied but lit- tle during my observation, but the constant changes within it exactly simulated puffs of smoke driven away by the breeze. The deception was still more complete from — the fact that the insects swarmed on the leeward side. On other dates up to July 18th I saw the same display, in each instance agreeing in every detail with the above description. The insects appeared to gather just before sunset and probably remained till attracted by the lights of the city. On a store front near-by I captured some insects which Ihave good reason to believe were identical with the swarmers. These are Neuropters, about one-half of an inch in length, exclusive of the antenne, genus and species unknown. C. D. McLours. Muskegon, Mich., Sept. 2. PROSOPOPHORA; A GENUS OF SCALE-INSECTS NEW TO THE NorTH AMERICAN FAUNA. Some time ago, I found at Las Cruces, -N. Mex., a chenopodiaceous plant suffering severely from the attacks of scale insects (Coccide). On examination, it turned out that there were three species of these insects present, all new to the fauna of the United States. One is a form of Mytilaspis albus, Ckll., known hitherto only from Jamaica; the second is Ceroplastes irregularis, Ckll., the description of which, from Mexican specimens, is about to be published; and the third, to my surprise, proves to be a new species of Mr. Douglas’s genus Prosopophora. The genus Prosopophora was established in 1892 (Ent. Mo. Mag., August) for a species found on orchids in Demerara, which superficially resembled a Lecaniwm, but was distinguished by a number of peculiar characters. This year (Trans. N. Z. Inst.) Mr. Maskell has described two more species of the genus, found in Australia on Acacia and Hucalyptus respectively. Now we havea fourth from the United States,—so that within a little more than a year four species have been discovered of a remarkable genus, which had been altogether overlooked until 1892! Mr. Maskell has kindly sent me both his Australian species, and I have the Demerara one from Mr. Newstead. Our insect is most like P. acacice, Mask., in appearance and color, but it is amply distinct in its structural charac- ters. I propose to call it P. rufescens, and the following short description includes its more important characters: Prosopophora rufescens, n. sp. Scale waxy, about 4 to 4%4 mm. long, shape and outline of Lecanium hesperidum, with a slight but distinct median keel, and a subdorsal row of raised points on each side. Posterior end with a small oval orifice, as in P. acacie. Surface obscurely granular 152 hardly shining; color pale red-brown, varying to whitish. Female with very numerous waxy filaments projecting from the surface; gland-orifices minute, circular. An- tennz 8-jointed, the last joint very short, and bearing a few straight hairs, as in P. dendrobii. Third joint varia- ble, sometimes rather longer than the second, sometimes decidedly shorter. Legs absent. Anal ring apparently without hairs, but with a strong chitinous projection on each side. Mouth-parts well developed. On boiling the insects in soda, the scale was entirely dissolved, and the insects became colorless and transpar- ent. T. D. A. CockERELL. Agricultural Experiment Station, Las Cruces, New Mexico, Aug. 209, 1893. A SMALL TRAGEDY. Tw contrast to the “snake story,” given in Science (Jan. 20, 793), the following incident may be of interest: Several months ago a small spotted snake was captured and placed in the “snake box; it is thought to be a com- mon “milk snake,” and is, perhaps, twelve or fourteen inchesinlength. It was somewhat injured when captured ; the boys say its back was broken. It is quite evident that it was hurt, from the depression or deformity at one point, and, from this portion to the extremity of the body, it had great difficulty in shedding its skin. For days and days it was, as it were, half dressed, or undressed, as we may choose to consider this condition. A few days ago another snake was placed in the same box—what kind it was I am unable to say—but it was a small (not more than eight or ten inches, in length), agile, quite slender little thing, of a plain slate or dove color. What was our surprise when it was discovered that the spotted snake was in process of swallowing the smaller one. It was horrible, and yet we could not refrain from observing it. In a very short time the little snake en- tirely disappeared, even to the tip of the tiny tail, and the spotted snake appeared to have enjoyed the meal. The boys claim that it has eaten several small toads; itis now in company with a snake considerably larger than itself. They seem disposed to be “friendly,” thus far, and no doubt enjoy each other's society. Mrs. W. A. Kenierman. Columbus Ohio. SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 554 THE CACKLE OF HENS. Ir 1s claimed that the cackling of hens “is very liable to attract the attention of any ovivorous bird or beast to the probable presence of an egg.” It is quite probable that ovivorous birds or beasts may understand that the hen’s cackle is the announcement of the presence of an egg, but the hen is wise even in her apparent imprudence. She lets it be known that an egg is somewhere, but she does not tell where. How many, many times she sends the farmer’s wife or children on a hunt for eggs they fail to find. Of course, when hens are well cared for, and ample and sufficient nests are pro- vided, they lose their cautiousness, but when they are left to take care of themselves they will “steal” their nests, as the people say; that is, they will go off in the weeds, or seek some sheltered spot, and there make a nest. When an egg is laid, in a “stolen,” nest, the hen makes a quick run, quite a distance from her nest, before she makes a sound, so that her cackle would not discover her eggs to any enemy, for one gropes, as in the dark, in search of stolen nests, no matter how loud may be the cackle. ° Mrs. W. A. K. Columbus, Ohio. THROWING STICKS. I HAVE just made a discovery that has given me great pleasure. In the Anthropological Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition is a Cliff Dweller’s Ex- hibit, exposed by the State of Colorado. Other loan exhibits are in the building from that region, and out- side is an attractive realistic representation of the in- dustrial products of the same people. In looking care- fully through the Colorado State alcove I discovered two examples of the Mexican atlatl or throwing stick. The shaft is a segment of a sapling of hazel wood. At the distal end is ashallow gutter and a hook to receive the end of a spear shaft. At the proximal end or grip, in the more perfect specimen, about four inches from the extremity isia'loop*on either side of the stick, one for the thumb, the other for thefore-finger. The re- maining three fingers would be free to manipulate the spear shaft. These loops were made by splitting a bit of raw hide, sliding it down the proper distance on the JUST PUBLISHED. Imp. 8vo., Cloth, 430 pp. By Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., London. Price, 31s. 6d. (less discount.) c sae NES i in THE WINNIPEG COUNTRY: ‘ROUGHING IT WITH AN ECLIPSE PARTY. Comparative Philology of the Old and New Worlds in its Relation to Archaic Speech. By R. P. Gree, Esq., F. S. A, F. G.S. With an introduction on Race and Language, giving a resume of the opinions of many of ths principal writers on those subjects, accompanied by copious vocabularies and numerous tables (o} comparison for similar words and their cognate forms as for most of the chief families of languages, both ancient and modern, conveniently arranged A. ROCHESTER FELLOW. (Ss. H. SCUDDER.) With thirty-two Illustrations and a Map. 12°. $1.50. “This is a sprightly narrative of personal inci dent. The book will be a pleasant reminder to many of rough experiences on a frontier which is rapidly receding.”—Boston Transcript. for purposes of comparison An immense number of words are given, and : especially for Turanian (CECA, Cee Acca, BUILDING dian and Egyptian), as well as for rican an American ones. ; B O O K S x The general results tend to show that there still exists in most languages, whether dead or living, a certain element of what may be called an Archaic Residuum, more or less common to all. You Ought to Read DRAWING INSTRUMENTS. “The picture of our desolate North-western terri- tory twenty-five years ago, in contrast with its civilized aspect to-day, and the pleasant features of the writer's style, constitute the claims of his little book to present attention."’—The Dial. 1893 Catalogue of Books on Building: Painting, and Decorating, also Catalogue of Draw- ing Instruments and Ma: @ peraeyscue free on appli- 3 j B hl N Wm. T. Comstock, ND. 6. HODGES, I WO Le 1, 23 Warren St. New York. The Popular Science News and Boston Journal of Chemistry. Only one dollar till July, 1894. A scientific newspaper for unscientific readers. Address POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS CO., 5 Somerset St., Boston, Mass. dreds ‘Home Tr RESTORE YOUR EYESIGHT Cataracts, scars or films can be absorbed and paralyzed nerves restored, without the knife or risk. Diseased eyes or lids can be cured by our home preatment: convinced. Our illustrated pamphlet, eatment for Eyes,” free. Dowt miss it. Everybody wants it. “THE Eyez,” Glens Falls, N.Y. “We prove it.” Hune XQ sit’fast to the shaft. September 15, 1893. | stick, forming loops less than an inch in diameter by bringing the projecting ends of the rawhide and seizing Just below these finger loops or stirrups were a long chalcedony knife or arrow blade, the tooth of a lion and a concretion of hematite seized by a plentiful wrapping of yucca cord. If the readers of Science will recall the Bourke example from Lake Patzcuaro, with its long, barbed spear with shaft of cane, he may follow me further and believe that a bit of cane and a spear head of chalcedony attached to a tang or foreshaft of wood lying in the same case, and pointed out to me by Mr. C. C. Willoughby, belonged to the same outfit. This is the first instance of finding the ancient atlatl, figured in the codices and described by Mrs. Nuttall. It also connects the Cliff dwellers with the Mexican peoples. : O. T. Mason. Sept. 3, 1893. WATER ANALYSES. Fran of cholera has caused waters to pour in floods into some of the analytical laboratories of Hurope, and it is more interesting than reassuring to observe the methods followed in dealing with this accumulated work. In the laboratory of one public analyst, the writer saw a large collection of water samples, as yet unopened, from various localities. These samples, some of which were weeks old, had been collected in a variety of vessels, principally claret and whiskey bottles, and the corks employed were often old ones. SCIENCE: 153 water sampling, the thought that the above lot were doubtless taken by inexperienced hands, with the aid of vessels certainly old and probably unclean, does not in- crease one’s faith in the value of the analytical results. Much to my surprise, I also saw in one laboratory the old writing-paper packing for connecting the retort with the. condenser, a method of union long since discarded for something more reliable. It is so easy a matter to ruin a water analysis by indifferent attention to the proper set- ting up of the apparatus for the “albuminoid ammonia ” process that modern practice discards, as inefficient, sev- eral recommendations made by Wanklyn, the originator of the method, and among them the paper packing men- tioned. In short, without wishing to be over-patriotic, my ob- servations here lead me to the belief that Americans do not have to go abroad in order to gather information ag to the most suitable methods for making an examination of potable water. Witxram P. Mason. Stuttgart, Germany, Aug. 9. Toe New York Shakespeare Society has begun to re- print, in its Bankside edition, the archaic texts of the seventeen plays first printed in the Heminges and Condell Folio of 1623. The first of these plays, The Tempest, will leave the press inafewdays. Of these new volumes but 500 copies are printed, as before, hand numbered to correspond with the 500 sets of the prior twenty vol- umes, with which they are of course uniform in style, size, When one considers the excessive care required for price, ete. hedigestion Horsford’s Acid Phosphate Is the most effective and agreeable remedy in existence for preventing indigestion, and relieving those dis- eases arising from a disordered stomach. Dr. W. W. Gardner, Spring- field, Mass., says, ‘I value it as an excel- lent preventative of indigestion, and a pleasant acidulated drink when proper- ly diluted with water, and sweetened.” Descriptive pamphlet free on application to RUMFORD CHEMICAL WoRKS, PROVIDENCE, R. I. Beware of Substitutes and Imitations. For sale by all Druggists. EXCHANGES. [Free of charge to all, if of satisfactory character. voy N. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New York. For a rare chance to get a first-class microscopic- al outfit write for full particulars to box 125, Sel- lersville, Bucks Co., Pa. For sale or exchange.—A fine collection of Lep- idoptera, native and exotic. For particulars ad- dress Addison Ellsworth, Binghamton, N. Y., care Republican. For sale or exchange for works on entomostraca, Wolle’s ‘‘Desmids of the U.S.,’’ Hentz ‘‘Spiders o: the U.S.,” The Amer. Entomologist & Botanist, Vol. 2, The Amer. Entomologist, Vol. 1, Harris’s “Insects Injurious to Vegetation,’’ colored plates, copy formerly owned by Townend Glover. C. Dwight Marsh, Ripon, Wis. “The Conchologist: a Journal of Malacology,”’ Vols. 1 and 2, with wood cuts and plates, value re | - will exchange for any works or pamphlets on Amer- ican Slugs or Anatonry of American Fishes. W. E. Collinge, Mason College, Birmingham, England. Exchange—The undersigned is desirous of ob- taining correspondents interested in macro-lipidop- tera, in Alaska, the far Western, Southwestern and Southern States. Will also exchange rare lepidoptera for entomological literature. Levi W. Mengel, Reading, Penn. Wanted to exchange—Medical books, Obstetri- eal Transactions, London, Works of Sir WE Simpson, Beck’s Medical Jurisprudence. and- book for the Physiological Laboratory, by Burnton, Foster, Klein and Sanderson, Quain’s Anatomy, | and about fifty others. Catalogues given. Want Geological, Botanical and Microscopical books in exchange. Dr. A. M. Edwards, 11 Washington St. Newark, N. J. Wants. FoR SALE.—Volumes VY. and VI. of the “Explor- ations for a Railroad Route from the Missis- sippi River to the Pacific,” 1857, half calf, in good condition; a large number of colored and uncolored plates of Mammals, Birds, Fish, etc., etc. On recepy of $7.00 willsend to any ordinary point in the U. S., express paid These volumes are now rare. Address Dr. Shufeldt, Takoma Park, Dist. of Columbia. A YOUNG woman who has been an assistant for a literary and scientific man desiresa similar position, Is an experienced and accurate stenog- tapher and typewriter, thoroughly educated, and sufficiently familiar with literary work to write, in- dependent of dictation. Has some knowledge | of the Spanish language. Will go to any part of the United States. Address, Box 147, Ravenna, Ohio = A GRADUATE ofan American Polytechnic insti- tution and of a German University (Gottingen), seeks a position to teach chemistry in a college or similar institution. Five years’ experience in teaching chemistry. Address Chemist, 757 Cary St. Brockton, Mass. WA4ANTED.—A position as teacher of Biology, by an experienced teacher, a college graduate with four university post-graduate courses in the Sciences. Good endorsements, and eighteen years’ experience. Address A. N. Somers, La Porte, Ind. ANTED.—Assistant in Nautical Almanac office Navy Department. The Civil Service Com- mission will hold an examination on August 15 to fill a vacancy in the position of assistant (computer) in the Nautical Almanac office. The subjects will be letter-writing, penmanship, trigonometry, rudi- ments of analytical geometry and calculus, loga- rithms, theory and practice of computations, and astronomy. Each applicant must provide himself with a five-place logarithmic table. The examina- tion will be held in Washington, and if applications are filed in season, arrangements may be made for examinations in the large cities. Blanks will be furnished upon application to the Commission at Washington. 154 SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 554 Send 25 Cents For a 3-months’ trial subscription to THE MOTHER’S NURSERY GUIDE, The recognized authority on the care of infants | and children, $2 per year. Health, Education, Dress, Pastimes. | “©Of incalculable value.”—M. V. Herald. BABYHOOD PUBLISHING CO., Box 3123, N. Y. STERBROOK’S STEEL PENS. OF SUPERIOR AND SIANDARD QUALITY. Leading Nos.: 048, 14, 130, 135, 239, 333 For Sale by all Stationers. THE ESTERBROOK STEEL PEN GC. Works: Oamden, N.J. 26 John St., New York, AMERICAN SCIENCE SERIES. BaRKER’s PuHysics. - Advanced course. REMSEN’S CHEMISTRY. 3 courses. PacKARD’s ZooLoay. 3 courses. Martin’s Human Bopy. 3 courses. WALKER’s Ponrrican Economy. 3 courses. Newcoms & HoLpEN’s ASTRONOMY. 2 courses. Brssry’s Botany. 2 courses. 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The allegory forming the Introduction to Part I. gives a brief his- tory of nervous exhaustion and the modes of | treatment which have at various times been thought suitable to this most painful and try- ing disease. By CYRIL BENNETT. 12°, 184 pp., $1.50. N. D. C. HODGES, HE MODERN MALADY : or, Suf- : Surgical! = — BOSTON, numbers, 15c. tent coadjutors. This JouRNAL circulates chiefly through the New England States, and is s by of the profession in that important district. As amears of reaching physicians it is unequalled. Tt is under the editorial management of Dr. George B. Shattuck, assisted by a large staff of compe- Subscriptions and advertisements received by the undersigned, to whom remittances by mail should be sent by money-order, draft or registered letter. DAMRELL & UPHAM, 283 Washinston Street, Boston. Mass. The Boston Medical and Journal. MASSACHUSETTS. A FIRST-CLASS WEEKLY MEDICAL NEWSPAPER. ESTABLISHED 1828. 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HOUSEHOLD HYGIENE. - By Mary TAYLOR BissELL., 12°. 75 cents. N. D. C. HOBGES, Publisher, & e 874 Broadway, New York. By Cte TEN BOOKS FOR PRICE OF ONE ‘SEND FOR A CATALOGUE OF THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY OF SCIENCE. Containing the works of the foremost scientific vriters of the age.—The Great Classics of Modern Thought.—Strong meat for them that are of fullage. Single numbers rs cents. Double numbers 30 cents. Address :—THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING CO., 1g Astor Place, New York. LIGHTNING DESTROYS! Shall it be your house or a pound of copper ? Entirely new departure in pro- tecting buildings from lightning. One hundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made under patents of N. D.C. Hodges, Editor of Sczence) will be sent, prepaid, to any ad- dress, on receipt of five dollars. Correspondence solicited. | Agents wanted. AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION CO., living rooms. - can order on naming this paper. 874 Broadway, New York. WHITNEY HOME GYMNASIUM “BUSY FOLKS’ = > A few minutes’ daily exercise »! on our fascinating apparatus ; clears the brain, tones up the bedy, develops weak parts. Our ' cabinet contains chest- weights, Al rowing-weights, lifting-weights, = clubs and dumb bells, adjust- able for old and young. the only complete exercising outfit én the world suitable for use in machine separate, $4.50 and up. Educated agents wanted. Puyst CAL CULTURE CuHaRrT, with illustrated directions for de- veloping every part of the body healthfully, 50 cts. Lt ts You Chest All prices. approval. Shoulders and Upper Back good for Round Shoulders Sent for half price to those CO., Box B., Rochester, fi. ¥. ELEVENTH YEAR. SEPTEMBER 22, 1893. SINGLE Corirs, TEN CENTS. $3.50 Per YEAR, IN ADVANCE. TO THE SCIENTIFIC PUBLIC. College Professors and others will confer a favor by correspond- ing with us in regard to apparatus for the equipment of Physical, Chemical, Biological, Electrical and Engineering Laboratories. We are the largest makers of general scientific apparatus in the United States, and devote attention exclusively to high grade in- struments, such as meet the most exact requirements. Special bids will be submitted upon request, and interested parties should write for abridged catalogue No. 219, which will be “tad.” is mentioned. QUEEN & CO., Incorporated. Philadelphia, U. S. A. World’s Fair Exhibits—Electricity and Manufactures Buildings. Among the Publishers Voit. XXII. No. 555. CONTENTS. The August Storms. Walter C. Kerr. 155 Petrographs at Lake Pend D?’Oreille, Idaho. John B. Leiberg....... 156 Gorn Cane. F. L, Stewart........... 157 Nature and Distribution of New York Indian Relics. W. M. Beau- GIMAIND), 5 baospsoaccnonecsnooeds 159 Sarcology: a New Medical Science. Wy elleve@y WOO! oo soccacosuudose 161 ‘ ' 1 i History of Science in America. John maailledl ihseo 1 ens JRYSENGIES are Ss ot eihlo crotons GRE eB 162 British Stone Circles—1V. Somer- setshire and Dorsetshire Circles. ING emlbewilSeeieec gen ae 164 Scientific Research Work in America. Albert Schneider.............. 165 Letters to the Editor. pace ite ra sae Temperature in Storms and High | | New Store. WWireacs bin Au blazenhe eee 165, MINERALS. New Stock. sce . SRY WT ao ie bison aie 2 Theo: 6c Send for our “‘ Winter Bulletin,” recently issued. Sharia tim LARS Nicaragua. Hugh peer Femme: Microscopical Sections, Fine Lap- Nik Saat ihe cian “(65 fn aaa 167 GEO, L, ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists,, Removed to 64 East i2th Street. New York New Departments. fi | A A monthly magazine for the study of the German language and litera- ture, is highly recommended by college professors and the press as “the best effort yet made to assist Ethe student of German, and to interest him in his pursuit.” Its BEGINNERS’ Corner furnishes every year a complete and interesting course in German rammar. $2a year. Singie copies 20 cents. P. O. ox 151, Manchester, N. H. NEW METHOD OF PROTECTING BUILDINGS FROM LIGHTING. SPARE THE ROD AND SPOIL THE HOUSE ! Lightning Destroys. Shalt it be Your House or a Pound of Copper? PROTECTION FROM LIGHTNING. What is the Problem? IN seeking a means of protection from lighining-discharges, we have in view two objects,— the one the prevention of damage to buildings, and the other the prevention of injury to life. In ordar to destroy a building in whole or in part, it is necessary that work should be done; that is, as physicists express it, energy is required. Just before the lightning-discharge takes plave, the energy capable of doing the damege which we seek to prevent exists in the column of air extending from the cloud to the earth in some form that makes it capable of appearing as what wo call electricity. Woe will therefore cail it electrical energy. Wiaat this electrical energy is, it is not necessary for us to consider in this place; but thatit exists there can be no doubt, as it manifests itself In the destruction of buildings. The problem that we have to deal with, therefore, is the conversion of this energy into some other form, and the ac- complishment of this in such a way as shall result in the least injury to prop- erty and life. 2 Why Have the Old Rods Failed? When lightning-rods were first proposed, the science of energetics was en- tirely undeveloped; that is to say, in the middle of the last century scientific men had not come to recognize the tact that the different forms of energy — heat, electricity, mechanical power, etc.— were convertible one into the other, and that each could produce just so much of each of the other forms, and no more. The doctrine of the conservation and correlation of energy was first clearly worked out in the early part of this century. There were, however, some facts known in regard to electricity » hundred and forty years ago; and among these were tne attractivg power of points for an electric spark, and the conducting power of metals. Lightning-rods were therefore introduced with the idea that the electricity existing in the lightning-discharge could be con- veyed around the pbuilding which it was proposed to protect, and that ths pullding would thus be saved. P The question as to dissipation of the energy involved was entirely ignored. naturally; and from that time to this. in spite of the best endeavors of thi+e Interested, Hghtning-rods constructed in accordance with Frankiin’s principle have not furnished satisfactory protection. The reason for this is appar nt when itis considered that the electrical energy existing in the atmosphere before the discharge, or, more exactly, in the column of dielectric from the cloud to the earth, above referred to, reaches its maximum valu on the sur- face of the conductors that chance to be within the column cf dielectric; so that the greatest display of energy will boon the surface of te very lightning- rods that were meant to protect, and da:nago results, a3 so often proves to be the case. Tt will be understood, of course, that this display of euergy on the surface of the old lightning-rods is aided by their bsiig more ori s3 insulated from the earth, but in any event the very existence of such a mass ot metal a4 at) old lightning-rod can only tend to produce a disastrous “issipation of olectrical energy upon its surface,—#‘ to draw ths lightning,” as it ls so commonly put. Is there a Better Means of Protection? Haying cleared our minds, therefore, of any idea of conducting electricity, and keeping clearly in view the fact that in providing protection egainst light- ning we must furnish some mezns by which the electrical energy may be harmlessly dissipated, the question arises, ** Can an improved form be given tothe rod so'thatitshalla. ‘n this dissipation?” H © 4s the electrical energy involved manifests itself on the surface of conduc- tors, the improved rod should be metallic; but, instead of making a large rod, suppose that we make it comparatively small in siza, so that tae toral amount of metal running from the top of the house tesumo peiut a litle below the foundations shall not exceed one pound. Suppose, again, that we inireduce numerous insulating joints in this rod. Woe shall then have a rod that experi- ence shows will be readily destroyed—will be readily dissipated — when a discharge takes place; an | it will be evident, that, so far as the electrical en- ergy is consumed in doing this, there will be the less to do other damaga. The only point that remains to be proved as to the utility of such a rod is to show that the dissipation of such a conductor does not tend to injure other bodies in its immediate vicinity. On this poini I caa only say that I have found no Gas where such a conductor (for Inctance, a bell wire) has been dis- sipated, even if resting against a plastered wall, where there has been any material damage done to surrounding objects. Of course, it is readily understood that such an explosion cannot take place in 2 confined space without the rupture of the walls (the wire cannot be boarded over); butin every case that I have found re corded this dissipation takes place just as gunpowder burns when spread on @ board. The objects against wich the conductor rests may be stained, but they are not shattered, T would therefore make clear this distinction between the action of electri- cal energy when dissipated on the surface of a large conductor and when dis- sipated on the surface of a comparatively small or easily dissipated conductor. When dissipated on the surface of a large conductor, —a conductor so strong as to resist the explosive effect, —damage results to objects around. When dissipated on thesurface of a small conductor, the conductor goes, but the other objects around are sayed A Typical Case of the Action of a Small Conductor. Franklin, inaletter to Collinson read before the London Royal Society, Dee. 18, 1755, describing the partial destruction by lightuing of a church-tower at Newbury, Mass., wrote, ‘‘ Near the bell was fixed an iron hammer to strike the hours; and from the tail of the hammer a wire went down through a small gimlet-hole in the floor that the bell stood upon, and through a second floor in like manner; then horizontally under and near the plastered ceiling of that second floor, till it came near a plastered wall; then down by the side o; that wall to aclock, which stood about twenty feet below the bell. The wire was not bigger thanacommon knitting needle. The spire was split all to piecer by ths lightning, and the parts flung in all directions over the square in whick the church stood, so that nothing remained above the bell. The lighfring passed between the hammer and the clock in the above-mentioned wire, without hurting either of the floors, or baving ary effect upon them (except making the gimlet-holes, through which the wire passed, a little bigger), and without hurting the plastered wall, or any part of the pbuilding, so far as the aforesaid wire and the pendulum-wire of the clock extended ; which latter wire was about the thickness of a gosse-quill. From the end of the perdu- lum, down quite to the ground, the buil /ing was exceedingly rent and dam- aged. ... No part of the aforementioned long, small wire, between the clcck and the hammer, zould he found, except about two inches that hung to the tail oftue hammer, and about as much that was fastened to the clock; the rest being exploded, aud its particles dissipated in smoke aud air, as gun-~ powder is by common fire, and had only left a black smutty track on the plas- tering, three or four inches broad, darkest ia the middl=, and fainter towaids ths edges, ell along the ceiling, under which it passed, aud down the wall.’ ns hundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made under pateuts of N. D. C. Hodges, Editor of Science) will bs mailed, postpaid, to any address, on receipt of five dollars ($5). Correspondence solicited, AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION CO. S374. Broadway. New York City. Agents wanted. 158 SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 555 Probably you take THE Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity do. If you do not, now is a good time to begin. 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SAVE MANY A DOCTOR'S BILL. eithrhr re cee a) S45 £ enton, 115 Fulton; McKesson & i Se A Powerful Flesh Maker. | | A process that kills the j i taste of cod-liver oil has} done good service—but | : the process that both kills | ithe taste and effects par- | tial digestion has done | } much more. ' Seoti’s Emulsion | [stands alone in the field | | of fat-foods. It is easy of j assimilation because part- | | ly digested before taken. Scott s Emulsion checks Con- | | sumption and all other | wasting diseases. Prepared by Scott & Bowne, Chemists, d H New York. Sold aby druggists SOTA. Lie A | (an ecb (2 Kk (3 Dress Fabrics FOR Autumn Wear Armures, Serges, Pointelle, Boucle, AND Jacqnard Kifects tn Fall Colorings, seul Colored Diagonals, Jae- quards, Armmres, Sackings, Scotch Plaids For School Dresses, Crepes and Crepons, FOR Evening and House Wear. BROIDERED ROBES. Golo AS 3 Oth st. NEW YORK. Se IENCE NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 22, 1893. THE AUGUST STORMS.* BY WALTER C. KERR, NEW BRIGHTON, STATEN ISLAND. Tur havoc wrought upon vegetation in the vicinity of New York city by the recent storms perhaps deserves no- tice, especially considering the opportunity afforded to compare the effects of two destructive gales, only four days apart. These storms though quite similarin general character differed widely in one feature, whose destruc- tive power might escape general notice or at least be much underrated. This feature is the amount of water in the air, which largely augments the weight of the moving col- umn and at high velocities transforms the usually harm- less wind into a formidable battering ram. Some time since Mr. William T. Davis, of New Brighton, Staten Island, mentioned that the comparative scarcity of large trees in that vicinity was probably due to high gales, and when the results of recent storms are viewed, there can be little doubt regarding this cause. The gale of August 241s generally credited with hay- ing uprooted or broken more trees in this locality than any onrecord. This destruction of vegetation was wide- spread. In the cities and towns the streets were blocked with fallen trees and branches while the country roads were in many places impassable. Numerous white oak and chestnut trees were uprooted that to all appearances should have offered great resistance. This storm had a comparatively low wind-velocity, and a great rainfall. The gale of August 29th caused some damage to vegeta- tion, though not nearly so muchas that of the 24th. At sea it was one of the worst storms experienced in this lati- tude for years. It was characterized by a very high wind with little rain. It may be said that the first storm destroyed the weak trees, leaving little for the second and greater one to wreck. On the other hand it may be presumed that the first storm would cause much weakening and facilitate the efforts of the greater wind that followed. The first storm had a maximum velocity of forty-eight miles, reached by our winds about once each month with- out sensible damage, while the maximum velocity of the second, sixty miles, is attained less frequently than once a year and only rarely is this high rate destructive to veg- etation. The following official records from the United States Weather Bureau, N. Y., furnish accurate comparisons : August 24, rainfall 3.81 inches from 7.52 P. M. August 23d to 8.15 A.M. August 24. Time, Ole 2) Sa Sn id 8 Wind velocity, 29 33 27 28 29 30 23 20 Maximum velocity for one hour, thirty-seven miles at 2 A. M. * Paper read at a recent meeting of the Natural Science! Association of Staten Island. Maximum rate for one mile, forty-eight miles between 1 and 2 A. M. Between 2 and 3 P. M. August 24, the wind averaged thirty-five miles, with 2 maximum rate for one hour of forty- two miles. At this time no rain fell and no damage re- sulted. August 29, rainfall .28 inches from 4 A. M. to 8 A. M. Time, D2) 2 Le Sin) lee Gi ets Wind velocity, 24 31 33 38 388 44 40 32 Maximum velocity for five minutes, fifty-four miles at 5 A. M. Maximum rate for one mile, sixty miles at 5 A. M. At this station of the United States Weather Bureau a wind velocity of forty to fifty miles is attained oncea month, a wind velocity of sixty miles is attained scarcely once a year, a wind velocity of seventy-two miles is the highest on record. These figures show conclusively that, as ordinarily measured, the second storm was by far the greater; in fact, as the wind pressure is proportional to the square of the velocity, it may be seen that the effect due to wind pres- sure alone on August 29, should have been nearly double that of August 24. When we, however, give value to the relative rainfalls, 3.81 inches as against .28 inches, the destructiveness of the wet gale of August 24 becomes apparent. In a storm a tree must resist a column of air moving at a high velocity and to a large degree consume its energy. This energy is proportional to the mass and the square of the velocity. Dry air has small mass per cubic foot, yet at forty miles per hour yieldsa pressure of eight pounds per square foot; at fifty miles twelve pounds; at sixty miles eighteen pounds; at eighty miles thirty-two pounds; and at 100 miles fifty pounds. If we add to each cubic foot of air one-tenth of one per cent, by volume, of moisture, as, for instance, by partly filling it with rain drops, its weight will be nearly doubled(.0753 plus .0625), and in consequence the energy of the moving mass will be likewise doubled. One-half of one per cent of water added to the air increases the energy five-fold, and thus the wind at its maximum velocity of forty-eight miles on August 24, if burdened with this amount of moisture, would have an effect greater than adry hurricane of 100 miles. When rain falls in calm but little water is contained per cubic foot of air, but with high winds the rainfall of a large area may be carried along nearly horizontally and massed where intercepted by vertical obstacles. It is therefore reasonable to pre- sume that trees in exposed situations receive vastly more water per square foot of surface than is measured by rain gauges in the usual way. When wet the resistance of foliage to passing wind and rain is doubtless increased, especially when there is a ten- dency for the leaves and branches to mat together on the windward side, while the weight of water carried by the tree may be a considerable additional burden. It thus becomes easy to appreciate the enormous part which water plays in the destructive force of high winds on exposed trees, as well as on the more commonly noticed windfallen grain and corn. 156 LAKE PEND D’OREILLE, IDAHO. PETROGRAPHS AT BY JOHN B. LEIBERG, HOPE, IDAHO. AvortainaL rock carvings or inscriptions are quite rare throughout northern Idaho. The dense forests and gen- erally inaccessible character of the country together with a constant scarcity of natural food products furnished un- suitable conditions to sustain any considerable number of inhabitants, and those that made the country their abode appear to have been either too indolent to endure the labor required to leave any records on the rocks, or their lives did not furnish any events worth noting, in their judgment. The records we find consist mainly of carvings on trees, or of rocks of small dimensions, raised to perpendicular positions, on the summits of high bare peaks or, in rare in- stances, in similar situations, of small flat stones arranged in certain geometrical designs, as circles, triangles or cir- cles within circles, or circles and triangles variously inter- mixed. The carvings on trees all belong to recent years, as very many of them are simply Latin crosses, showing the influence of the missionaries. SCIENCE. These crosses — [Vol. XXIT. No. 555 schists are rather thinly bedded, have a dip of about 85° , and the wear of the lake in former ages, when its waters stood at a much higher level, has broken the strata apart and left numerous large slabs standing in an upright po- sition. On the face of one of these tablets of rock occur the carvings as delineated in the accompanying illustra- tion. They occupy a space eighteen feet in length, and from two feet to seven feet in height. There are twenty-eight figures evidently representing the footprints of the bear, three of the tracks with double sets of toes, three with but four toes, and one with but three toes. Three figures which may represent tracks of the cougar. One arrow head. Three points within cir- cles. One mountain goat. Two sets of circles composed of five and six respectively, and three large figures of unknown meaning. Besides these figures there are evi- dences of many light scratches, but the lines are too dim gp 8ee Scale one-twenty-fourth natural size. are quite common around fayorite hunting or camping spots in the mountains, and appear to be made with the object in view of warding off malign influences from the camping grounds. ‘hese crosses are not to be con- founded with the sign plus,so commonly made by hunters and trappers throughout the deep forests, and which merely serve to attract attention to trails, locations of traps, ete. The raised stones, so common on high peaks, merely de- note the passing of some individual, and may be quite recent or date back a long time. Sometimes white men raise these rocks. The symmetrical arrangements of rocks appear to be quite ancient. The stones composing them lie quite flat and are completely covered with slow- growing saxicoline lichens on all exposed portions. The import of these figures is unknown. There is but one locality known to me in northern Idaho with true rock-carvings. It is located opposite the outlet of the Clark’s Fork of the Columbia into Lake Pend dOreille, about one-quarter mile north from the shore. A rocky point of land rises abruptly to a height of 250- 300 feet above the extensive marshes bordering the river at this point. The rock is a highly silicious magnesian schist, extremely hard and difficult to chisel with even the most carefully tempered modern steel tools. The to be traced with certainty. Nearly all the figures are thickly overgrown with close-clinging rock-lichens, ren- dering the whole quite inconspicuous. Close and dili- gent search has failed to bring any further inscriptions to light in the neighborhood. One of the most interesting features in connection with this petrograph lies in the manner of its execution. The lines of the figures are not mere scratches, but are deep, wide grooves cut smoothly into this excessively hard rock, many of the grooves forming the representations of the bear tracks. Figs. 2 are 3.2 cm. in width and 1.2 cm. in depth, while the cutting forming fig. 3 is, in its broad- est portion, 5.5 em. wide and 2.5 cm. deep. The appear- ance of the grooves, the smoothness of the sides and free- dom irom signs of chipping give cause for the belief that they were cut into the rock by friction and net by chisel- ing. ) simultaneous Greenwich noon observations daily at all stations on land and sea, in addition to observations at other times, (¢) investigation of the earth’s magnetic polar current and the exact determination of the solar rotation. As the Congress had no legislative authority, it was agreed to hold a special session for the consideration of these questions after adjournment, on the following day. Preparations have been begun for the printing of the papers and an effort will be made to complete the work at an early date. Oliver L. Fassig, U. S. Weather Bureau, Washington, D. C., is the Secretary. SALT TIDE MARSHES OF SOUTH JERSEY. BY JOHN GIFFORD, SWARTHMORE COLLEGE, PA. Tar mainland of the peninsula of South Jersey is fringed by many miles of marsh meadow. At times this level plain is completely covered by water. It con- sists of a mass of soft blue-black, bad-smelling mud, cov- ered with a thick sod of grasses, rushes and sedges, and intersected by many winding, reed-fringed creeks, shallow bays, salt ponds and thoroughfares. These marshes are separated from the ocean by a long line of low, sandy sea-islands, between which there are inlets through which the tides flow swiftly. This stretch of marshland is of very recent origin. During Indian times it was probably a shallow sea. This accounts, perhaps, for the enormous quantities of clams and oysters which then existed. The majority of the bays in the marshes are very shallow and may, also, in the course of time, become unfit for oysters. The rivers of South Jersey holding fine sand in suspen- sion flowed into an ocean where there was practically no current. This material was then, in consequence, depos- ited, and there was thus formed a long sub-marine bank. This tripped the waves into breakers, which lifted the sand into a long line of low sea-islands. The combined estuaries of these rivers formed a long, shallow inland sea, in which, owing to the slackening and meeting of currents, enormous quantities of silt were deposited. Wild water-fowl and winds disseminated the seeds of grasses and sedges on the mud bars, which were soon formed. The decay of each year’s vegetation and the scum of mud left by every tide caused a gradual thickening of the sod. Three hundred thousand acres of marsh region have thus been recently formed. Being an estuary, the scouring force of the tides pre- vents the formation of extensive beaches on the bay-side of Jersey. The sand is held in suspension until the cur- September 29, 1893. | rent is slackened by striking the ocean where a shoal is forming. Since the formation of these marshes the beaches, by the action of wind and wave, have been moving inland. Inlets are becoming shallower, and the beaches, in places, have been completely blown from their original bed over on to the marshes, so that the marsh mud is often ex- posed on the ocean side. This accounts for the size which the trees attain in these places. Many beaches support only a shrubby vegetation, others are covered with beautiful forests of trees of surprising size. Red cedar, holly, sassafras, oak, liquid amber, sour gum, magnolia, sweetgale and grape vines grow to be unusually large. Some of the finest specimens of holly in existence may be found on several of these beaches, and the red cedar which grows there is more durable than that of the mainland. The size of these trees is due to the fact that their roots have pene- trated through the sand of the beach into, the rich, black mud of the marsh beneath. These forests are doomed. The wind picks up the fine white sand of the beach and piles it in dunes. These are often as high as the tree tops and are moving gradually - inland, leaving only a mass of dark gray trunks behind. Unfortunately the trees themselves prevent the west and and north winds from blowing back the sand. The fact that Jersey is slowly sinking complicates these. changes. The marshes, in consequence, are intruding upon the mainland. Even white cedars, which only grow in pure fresh water, have been found buried in the marsh. Little islands and Indian shell heaps are slowly disappearing. In the formation of these marshes organic agencies play an important part. An examination of the mud in shallow bays and salt ponds shows enormous quantities of beautiful diatoms. There, too, are many kinds of shells. Other animals, especially those of the crab tribe, com- pletely honeycomb the marsh in places. These meadows are very rich and valuable for farming. When banked and sluiced, although they shrink, they freshen and, after being worked for a time, yield enor- mous crops. In several places in South Jersey they have been converted into flourishing farms. In other places up the rivers they have been abandoned because of the muskrats which undermine the banks. These vast stretches of marsh are richly colored, and at times, in places, are covered with white, pink and yellow flowers. They are alive, in season, with wild migratory water-fowl, infested with flies and mosquitoesand flecked with the sails of boats moving in the creeks and bays. In winter they are deserted and dreary, the monotony of which is only broken by a hay or fish house here and there or the remnants of a stranded schooner. The collecting of the hay which grows on the marshes is one of the leading industries of that part of the state. Tt is still, in many places, cut with the scythe and carried on hand poles to large clumsy scows, which are rowed with two long oars to the landings. There are 300,000 acres of marsh region in South Jer- sey. At least one-twentieth of thisis cut for hay. An acre yields, without sowing or care, other than a little ditching, at times, and burning once a year, at least one and a half tons. The many creeks which bend in every direction render it easy of access. It is worth at least six dollars a ton. The’annual crop is worth then not a cent less than $135,000. The marshes are often too soft for horses; in places they are proyided with wooden shoes, and many meadows are hard enough for the use of machines. This hay is often baled and shipped away. Lhe greater - partis consumed at home. Poor qualities are used by glass factories for packing purposes. SCIENCE. 175 _ The two plants of greatest value yielding hay on these marshes are Spartina juncea or “salt-hay” and Juncus gerard. or “black-grass.” The one is a true grass, the other arush. The salt hay is light in color, contains few seeds, is cut late in summer and is fed to horses. The black grass grows in brackish regions, is full of seeds, is dark in color, is cut in mid-summer and is fed to cattle. If reclaimed on a very large scale, as in Louisiana, the writer believes that these marshes may and will soon be converted into flourishing farms. METHODS OF PRESENTING GEOLOGY IN OUR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES.* BY MISS MARY E, HOLMES, PH.D., ROCKFORD, ILL. Brrorr offering any suggestions as to “methods” of presenting this study, let us state a few axioms: First. For the successful study of any subject there must be some foundation. Second. Comparatively few of our high school pupils enter college. Third. The large majority of school age will not ad- vance beyond the grammar grade. _ Fourth. The impressions earliest made are most endur- ing. i itth. if we would make geology a life force, a life in- spivation to the masses generally and to those in our high schools and colleges, we must begin with the little children. How early a child’s attention may be profitably called to the elements of geology may be questioned, but I think as soon as he can talk, and understand what is said to him. Of course the first lessons will be very, very sim- ple—mostly in form and color, He will gladly gather for you the “pitty stones,’ and you will notice that these, gathered by himself, and when alone, are generally either definitely colored, or smooth rounded ones, or smooth flattened ones, few being angular. With your aid let him separate the rounded from flattened, calling his attention to the difference in shape. Mix them and separate again. Repeat the process many times, at first always letting the child hand you the stones, you frequently asking : “Where shall we place this one?” Later, let him place them him- self. In a few days he will have so mastered the distinc- tion between flat and round, that he can separate quite correctly a large pile. Never continue the lessons till he is weary. Whensuch signs appear suggest that he run out - doors and play. In all probability he will return with an- other pocketful of stones. Appear pleased with his ac- quisitions and be pleased. He will detect any insincerity. Give him a box, or a low shelf of his very own for his treas- ures. With encouraging words, the child will thus spend many hours; they are not play, nor work, but happy, in- structive seasons. Having learned to separate round from flattened stones, call his attention to rough, angular forms. He will quickly note the difference. Show him that these are angular because broken from a larger stone. Illustrate by some broken toy of his own. Also show him how to make more angular ones by cracking these with a hammer. If he pounds his fingers, a little experience will remedy that as a frequent future result. He cannot appreciate the smoothing effect of water, so pass it by. Many lessons upon surfaces may be received unconsciously in this way, the child learning how to use his eyes, and to compare one object with another. Next, take the colors of the stones. Separate them into piles, dark and light. Separate again the blackish, the red- * A paper read before the Woman’s Department in Geology in the World’s Congress Auxiliary of the World’s Columbian Expo- sition at Chicago, August 21, 1892. 146 dish, the gray and the white. Do it with him many times, but each time be will do it more and more himself, till he accomplishes it alone. Should any pebble have a hole in it, or any special feature, his eye and finger will be sure to find it,and an exclamation will burst forth: “See!” He has discovered something. He now looks for more, like, or similar to it. Next, teach him to select them according to lustre, if in a vicinity where micaceous or other specially lustrous rocks are frequent. Jf not, as a special privilege, let him wet some in a bowl of water while the others are dry. The difference he quickly sees, and next time, if no water is at hand, he will be more than apt to wet them with his tongue, and exclaim again “See!” his tone and look indi- cating that he recognizes an effect upon the stone like that produced before by the water. Here he has really learned that one general agent, under two forms, from two differ- ent sources may produce a similar effect. As to kinds of lustre, he may be readily trained to recognize pearly, like the inside of the shell on the mantel, and glassy; also that the absence of lustre is dull. Of degrees, he can compre- hend shining and glistening, and learn the words as well. A child does not need such short words as we often think. He delights in mastering a “big word,” if only for the protracted sound, but if it conveys a pleasant thought, his interest is greatly intensified. Next, teach hardness by rubbing two stones together, and by letting him try to scratch them; first with a nail, and second with a sharp-edged piece of quartz or flint. He can make perhaps three piles—those soft, easily scratched with anything; those harder, only scratched with the nail and quartz, and those hardest, not scratched by the nail, but by the quartz. These distinctions are crude, but real, to the child that recognizes them. What has been thus pursued from day to day in the realm of stones, if the mother or kindergartner is wise, should have been carried on also with plants, insects, and birds, even some lessons on the “twinkling stars.” Of these, botany, zodlogy, and astronomy, we do not now speak, but, be it remembered, that no single science at once bears as strong a relation to, and is so dependent upon, a knowledge of botany, biology, chemistry, mineral- ogy, physics and astronomy, as is geology. It emphati- cally furnishes a foundation for them, and in turn must look to them for the interpretation of its data. By the time a child is of ordinary school age, under such a course of observation, comparison and generaliza- tion as the foregoing would suggest, he has formed a habit of being interested in everything about him. If he is a city child, he can have learned all here outlined, or its equivalent; and if a country child, even more, for he is constantly in direct communication with Nature’s open album of new and beautiful objects for observation and subjects for reflection. Continuing our study of stones, we will try the action of water as a solvent. The teacher should place in the pupil’s way some varieties, as rock salt, or a hard lump of common salt, which are quickly soluble, alum, not as quickly; a rusty nail that will color the water in a few hours, and the child’s own quartz pebbles, insoluble. Call attention to the different actions. With the salt a lesson on satu- rated solutions may be given. Having shown the effect of water, try acids—strong vinegar or hydrochloric acid— upon yarious stones. Some are unaffected, some hiss a little, some boil violently. Can you see anything passing off? No. Can you hear anything? Yes; there is a bub- bling. What do you see? The bursting of the bubbles. Why do they burst? An invisible gas is passing off. Have you ever seen anything else boil like that in a bottle or a glass? Some pupil will suggest “beer” or “soda- water.” Yes, and the same cause produces both; this SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 556 unseen gas we call carbonic acid gas. Suet the pupils taste a little cooled, boiled water, and some fresh, hard, well water. One tastes flat, the other good. ‘The same thing that escaped from the stone, beer and soda water, gives, in the main, the difference of taste between these two waters, viz.: carbonic acid gas. Try more stones with the acid. Some hiss, some do not. AIl that do, have this gas in them, and are cailed carbonates. Try the acid again on a carbonate. it boils; continue pouring it slowly till boil- ing ceases. Note the effect; the stone has turned to sand- like particles. Take another carbonate, pour on acid ; it boils. After a moment pour on some agua ammonia, the boiling ceases ; pour on more, the stone does nof crum- ble. Take a third carbonate; pour on ammonia only. There is no apparent effect. In the first case the stone crumbled ; in the second, the crumbling was checked, and in the third, there was no change. Evidently some- thing holds the grains together. ‘What? Some child will say “that gas that blew away.” What is itcalled? What are all such stones called? Drill on this thoroughly. Il- lustrate solubility and carbonates also by baking soda and cream of tartar. Dissolve a little of each in tumblers of water. Let the pupils taste both in the dry powder. One, soda, is a brackish sweet; the other, tartar, is a defi- nite sour. Pour part of the soda solution into the tartar tumbler ; boiling or effervescence is instantaneous. Taste the tartar water now. Almost sweet? What has been given off to produce this change? Pour the rest of the soda into some sour milk. It, too, effervesces. Taste it. It is sweetened. The sour substances are acids. This ele- ment that sweetens them is an alkali. Ammonia is another alkali. Most alkalies are odorless, and all, if strong, will burn the skin severely. So children should never taste nor play with things in bottles without permission. Give some tiny experiments with heal. Throw several stones into a hot fire. Perhaps some swell up, some grow porous quite rapidly, others more slowly, and some are unchanged. Some change color, and some discolor the flame nearest them—making it yellower. Tell the pupils the explana- tion of this will come later, but because heat does this sometimes, it is used as a fest. As far as pos- sible, always use the children’s own stones, and let them, in sections, do the work after you. There will be a little rivalry as to which can doit best and quickest. They will not weary though they see the same thing performed many times. If certain ones are peculiarly apt, let them, at your order, perform the experiment for the first time. Among the children’s fragments there will be a large amount of rubbish. From time to time the teacher can propose “ to assort the collections,” and casually remark: “So many of these are so nearly alike, which are the most perfect of their kind? Let us lay such aside, and put the rest in a reference pile for a time of need.” The plan is readily accepted, the “collections” greatly reduced, and the ref- use piled in a corner out of doors, to gradually scatter. No lessons will be more-acceptable to the pupils than those of erosion and sedimentation, taught by calling atten- tion to the water in the streets and gutters after a genitle rain, and after a heavy one, a short one and a protracted one. They will readily see its assorting effect. They will notice the little terraces made, and that the form of these —their comparative width and height—depends upon the velocity as well as amount of water flowing along. Note how they narrow and deepen when passing under cross- walks, and that the current is swifter. Having noted these things, call attention to any ravines, or creeks, or the river and its bank. Show that when a creek widens, the edges, on either side, are apt to be marshy. Why ? Notice the different appearances of the bottom. If gray- elly, is it clean or dirty? Why? Some pupil goes too near the edge, and the bank caves off. Why? A shrub September 29, 1893.] is nearly undermined. Why? Hxplain how the earth, carried from these parts, is dropped, gradually, farther on. Thus far our work has been adapted, in the main, to the city pupil with only a limited field for his sand and gravel explorations, the street gutter and an occasional excursion to some picnic ground, a grove and acreek. If a bank of Drift should be at hand, he will have a bonanza for these happy lessons. Pupils will then find some stones with strange markings, suggesting a shell, or one of the corals on the mantel. They have learned to observe and compare, and now draw their own inferences with a cer- tainty that these are shells and corals, in the stones. Is the marking the inside, or outside, of the shell? Is ita com- plete shell, or only one valve? Did it probably have two valves, like a clam, or wasit like asnail, coiled or straight? Teach them to note not only degrees, but kinds of resem- blance and difference ; really to distinguish between anal- ogies and homologies. A child often really knows more of a thing than he has the power to fell, unless drawn out by questions. How did these shells and corals come here so high above the water? Mother’s shells came from the dis- tant ocean. Once, long, long ago, did the ocean ever come here? and were these alive then? Yes, but they are “ fos- sils,” now, petrified thoughts of God, kept all this time for us to study. They are masks without the actors, poems of life written unconsciously. ell the class something of the habits of similar animals now, enough to stimulate them tc further research. Never, by chart, picture or word, tell them directly what they can find owt themselves from their own specimens, or walks, or speculations. Al- ways manifest an interest in every new thing they discover and bring you, however trivial it seems to you. To lead them on, if possible, ask some question the answer to which is not obtained from a casual examination. With a little plan on the part of the teacher, a very fair working cabinet of the locality may be built up for the school-room. Most children will gladly give their best specimens “for the school,” especially if their names may appear as the donors upon the labels. Here they get an idea of permanent labels and how to prepare them. Before advancing farther, we may note some of the in- cidental, but not less valuable, benefits to accrue from these studies—not only the habit of interest in common things —habits of observation, investigation, comparison, and classification, but those of industry, honesty, a supreme love for truth, a seeking for it earnestly, and a careful ex- amination as to evidence, also to recognize the fact that one may often, by a single omission, reach a wrong conclu- sion and have to acknowledge and correct his error. These effects are not immediate, not strikingly apparent, but sure and enduring. If venture to assert that no single study in the usual curriculum of high school and col- lege, aside from the Bible, will more fully fortify against evil influences in youth, adolescence and middle lite, and cheer in declining years, than an early, continued and devoutly reverent scientific study, pre-eminently of geol- ogy, for it gives constant occupation to the senses and tends inevitably toward the highest and grandest induc- tions and deductions. The pleasures of observation any and everywhere, of the imagination and of reflection, con- nected with this science, involving as it does, and must, more or less, all the others, are themselves almost a guar- antee against vice. If “the undevout astronomer is mad,” much more the undevout geologist, who touches the very handiwork of the great Creator of this and all worlds. Thus far we have considered Primary and Grammar grade work. In any grade, teacher and student should work together, and with the same great end in view. A stream rises no higher than its source. No extended lab- oratory is essential and but few instruments, though the more complete the reference library the better. President SCIENCE. 177 Garfield said casually that “a saw-log and the society of Dr. Mark Hopkins was a university of itself,’ so largely is the student the result of his environment. If he feels in every breath, sees in every act of his professor or teacher, a consecration of energy, a spirit of investigation, a love and zeal for the work, born of intelligent enthusiasm, every latent power in that student's being is, perforce, awakened, and his whole life is aglow with scientific re- search. Books have their place, and a very large one, yet any geological study founded on book knowledge alone is of little worth. The student must verify for him- self, and learn by many mistakes to recognize and inter- pret the ordinary geologic phenomena of the field and laboratory.. The teacher and pupils, with hammer, cold chisel, compass, basket and note-book, and pencil, should go together to the field, the quarry, the ravine, the gravel bank, all these being lacking, to the gutter of the street after a heavy rain, or even to the open prairie. Just the direction of the geologic study, whether structural and physical, or paleontological, must necessarily depend upon the locality of the school. The prime object to be secured is to train pupils to see for themselves, to collect their own data, then study and arrange them, drawing their own deductions. Hvery teacher should require of the pupils carefully drawn sections or diagrams of this or that special locality, the course of a creek for half a mile, a ravine, a sandpit or a particular quarry. So far as may be, let them be onan approximate scale, giving altitude, thickness, dip and strike of strata, etc. They should also collect any fossils characteristic of the layers, labelling each as from its layer, to avoid confusion in farther study. Having made a number of these investigations, each pupil should compare his or her own papers and specimens one with another, noting down their resemblances and differences, how the strata alter from one layer to another; what fossils are common to all, which abundant, which frequent, which rare; which, whether abundant or rare, are confined to a limited district, ete. In all science study and teaching our first object should be to be natural. In geology this requires a familiarity with rocks, their form, structure, position and chemical composition. If the course, as previously indicated for primary and grammar grades, has been followed, the stu- dent is now ready, with great zeal and profit, to take up more extended field observations, and the regular lecture with atext book. All field study should be followed by a lecture or quizz by the teacher, developing the knowl- edge of the pupil, and adding to it materially by refer- ences, with page and paragraph, to the best authorities, the presentation of charts, pictures, photos, specially illus- trative specimens, chemical experiments, etc. Far better results are obtained if, under each head, some single illus- tration is taken and traced as far as possible. For in- stance, under igneous agencies take Veswvius, giving every thing that can be gathered, its cone, materials erupted, and their amount, the buried cities,—include, it may be, even some poetic references. Then will natural- ly follow the kinds of volcanoes, their location, age, the theories of their origin, and earthquakes and their phenom- ena. Under aqueous agencies nothing can be more stim- ulating and convincing than a study of our own Missis- sippi River, as fully described by Abbott and Humphrey. Let the pupil identify all he can. For erosive action of water on a large scale take Niagara. For both erosion and sedimentation, on a very small but quite as true a seale, take a city gutter, near its source and at its outlet. Present one typical illustration under each head so fully that it will be a standard for the pupil in all similar pro- cesses, whether in field, laboratory or class room. In our own section, about Rockford, Il., we have the Galena Division of the Trenton, outcropping in various 178 places along Rock River, and exposed in many railroad cuts. While the general exposure is only of the yellow or buff stone, in several localities it has been quarried down to the blue. With a piece of each color in hand, and the quarry itself under close inspection, a valuable series of facts may be discovered by the pupils—the strata joints, seams, etc., whether they are equally distinct in all parts of the exposure, whether adjoining strata are decided contrasts; if so, in what respects, color, texture, homogeneity, hardness, etc. Hnquire which strata are the oldest, and why so decided? Which strata are best adapted to the purpose of quarrying? As a building stone, will it be greatly affected by water? Weigh a fragment in its natural condition; dry it as fully as pos- sible and weigh again,—a druggist’s scales will give the change. Judging from various exposures, does the stone “weather” smooth or in depressions? Can you tell the original upper surface of a flagging stone from the lower? How? In building, is it better to “lay” the stone with any reference to this original surface? Why? With a hand magnifier of ordinary power, examine the texture of the rock, coarse or fine? Are there occasional little “pockets” in it? Is the sand in these the same as in the rock itself? Those white, irregular stones, imbed- ded here and there, what are they, and how do they differ from the others? They are flint or quartz,—strike them sharply with a piece of steel,—fire flies. What are those little brick-red masses here and there? How do they differ in texture and shape of grains? Is the rock firmer or less firm in their vicinity? They are iron nodules. Are they beneficial? Why? Note the reddish powder around any nodule, if kept damp, and how the stone streaks. What other forms have you found? An incrus- tation? Yes. Touvertine, a deposit of carbonate of lime from the water trickling among the strata. How do you know it is a carbonate? This time try nitric acid instead of hydrochloric on these peculiar forms, carbonate, quartz and iron,—note the difference of action. In this way a thousand things familiar to every geologist will be learned by the student, and bring to him the inspiration of a discovery. The pupils have gathered all the fossils they could, whether many or few. Some are manifestly corals and a form allied, fossil sponges; others are shells. Separate them. What do they suggest as to the origin of the rocks? Where were they formed? Are they more closely allied to salt or fresh water species? Hxamine carefully the valves, hinge line, ribs or strize, beak and umbo, sinus and folds. Find specimens giving both internal and ex- ternal structures or characteristics, if you can. Distin- euish between a cast and the fossil itself. Are the casts of any value? What? Classify, as well as may be, all the fossils collected, according to form and according to internal structure, so far as it can be traced. Not all shells that look similar on the outside belong to the same genus, nor do all belonging to the same genus look alike, necessarily. After the student hag made a goodly collec- tion of fossils and facts about them, the teacher may lead him on, with State Reports and other authorities, till the final identification is reached, but the pupil should take every step himself for himself, when able.. In all these lectures and quizzes, the blackboard is an invaluable help, making diagrams as you progress, rather than present a more perfect one, completed before the class enters. At Rockford, also, we have a fair exposure of the Drift. After studying the stratified rocks as such, the class is ready to study stratification as presented here, and to make further maps or diagrams. Note the sizes of the gravel stones and their arrangement. Is there a regular- ity in distribution as to size of pebbles? Few better fields in a prairie section can be found for the varied SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 556 forms of quartz. Occasionally bits of mineral are found, —galena and copper,—the former suggesting the mining districts of Northern IUlimois and Southern Wisconsin; the latter, from its form, the Lake Superior region. Fos- sils of various kinds are not infrequent, but of genera and species quite different, usually, from those found in the quarries and railroad cuts. The drift has brought them from several formations and from long distances. Often the internal and external structures of these speci- mens are better preserved than in thoseimbedded in the rock. Indeed, most of the best and most exact descrip- tions of paleozoic corals haye been based upon drift specimens. The pupils having made collections of the different varieties of rock from the drift, the teacher may here give some ready tests‘of identification for common forms, or some simple mineralogical table. We have few bowlders, but those few, with the drift rocks, submit them- selves to the same kind of study as rocks in situ, whether macroscopic, microscopic, or chemical, so are well adapted to all petrographic study, save geographical limits. At Rockford we have the deep, heavy prairie deposit, black as are all rich soils due to the decay of vegetable substances. it this soil is burned, there is little change, save in color,—the mass is argillaceous matter, with a little fine sand. ‘The stratification noticed in the walls of wells, and in artesian well borings suggests the same agency as the quarry and the drift, viz.: water; but the occasional shell fragments found bear little resemblance to those in the quarry, rather to our fresh-water Unio, Anadonta and Paludina, genera still living in the rivers and marshes. The inference, then, is that at some remote time, but later than the quarry and the drift with their salt-water fauna, there was a fresh-water lake, perhaps an arm of Lake Michigan, reaching out toward the Missis- sippi River, or the Mississippi extended this way. As the conservation of energy has given us a new physics, so the microscopic study of rocks and fossils has given us anew geology. Though microscopic rock-sec- tions were first made in 1854, it was not until they were introduced into Germany a few years ago, that they be- came an active agent in geologic research. Only by this careful method can these petrified thoughts of the Cre- ator be fully understood. Paleontology is essentiallybio- logical, dealing with the plants and animals on the globe rather than with the life of the globe, but it has rendered an inestimable service in determining the question of evolution, so the microscopic section will be of inestimable service to the petrographer with his crystalline rocks, whether volcanic, plutonic or metamorphic. For making these sections let the pupils use their own ingenuity in preparing the simple apparatus really essential. If asec- tion cutter is at hand of approved pattern, or an electric or foot-power lathe, very well; but if not, it is jwst as well, for with cold chisel, hammer and file, the student can easily reduce his specimen to a proper size for grinding. The superficial surface may be as large as preferred, but the thickness not more than one-fourth inch, if the intention isto make a translucent slide. If only one surface is to be ground, the only care will be to get the angle desired for the examination. . For early work only calcareous speci- mens should be used. Tet the student furnish himself with a plate 12x16 inches of floor glass, smooth on one or both sides; a half-dozen pieces of double or treble thick glass 2x2 inches, a half-dozen spring clothes pins, emery of 4-7 grades, the finest being emery “slime;” a piece of chamois skin, stretched tightly over a smooth board to polish upon; some Canada balsam, hard and soft; some alcohol, alamp and some matches, and a little water. With a few needles in wooden handles, and a firm table to work upon, he is independent of surroundings. His patience, time and skill will be taxed, but these are the September 29, 1893.] wrapping paper and cord to secure this trophy of the past, and draw from it its inmost secrets. The grinding is simply friction with emery and water till the first face “1s prepared, and polished on the chamois skin with dry emery slime. This should be as perfectly done as possi- ble. The specimen may be considered as finished at this stage, if no complete examination of structures is intended, no tracing of homologies in various genera and species. If this exact study is to be prosecuted, on one of the small glass pieces, polished surface down, imbed the specimen in balsam, just hard enough and deep enough to securely hold it, but not so hard as to crack off, as the grinding of the second surface advances. Care must be taken to hold the glass horizontally, lest the specimen be of unequal thickness at the close. When nearly translu- cent, great care must be taken by grinding lightly and more and more lightly, till the work is complete and the polishing done. Warm the balsam which still holds it to the glass, and delicately slide the well-earned treasure to a new microscopic slide, 1x3 inches, on which isa drop of hot balsam. This successfully done, remove any air bubbles and lay on the cover glass, removing bubbles again. Clamp it with a clothes pin till dry and cold, then remove all surplus balsam with turpentine, taking care that it does not also run under the cover glass. It is now ready for study. When several speci- mens of different species or genera of Lugosa, for in- stance, have been made, fine lessons may be drawn in homologies, especially of mural, septal and tabular sys- tems. As the large majority of students will not carry their scientific studies, as such, farther than the requirements of the college curriculum, it is eminently important that their attention be called all along to certain prominent things as prominent, as the great questions to be sought out. In giving these special points of the field in general, the teacher or professor will naturally present in a more extended way that special field which has most attracted his or her own attention or investigation. For reference and for present benefit the pupils should each, under the eye of the teacher, make a geological map of the United States; one of his own state on a larger scale, and of his own section on a still larger one. He should also number carefully and permanently his specimens, using a tiny circle of paper and glue unaffected by ordinary moisture, these numbers corresponding to those on labels bearing name of formation, group, genera and species, with the date and locality. In preparing this paper I have been painfully conscious of its inadequacy and its great imperfections, yet from experience and observation I hope to have measured an arc in the circle of scientific and geologic education in our schools whose circumference may be eventually com- pleted. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. “,Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. writer’ s name is in all cases required as a proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number con- taining his communication will be furnished free to any corres- pondent. The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. AN INSTRUCTIVE ILLUSION. The On Thursday evening, May 18th, occurred at York one of those smart thunder-showers which followed the break- up over the greater part of England of the sunniest, warmest and driest spring within the memory of most, Hail had fallen, and five minutes later, at 6.50, clear sky appeared among the storm-clouds. Not quite clear, however, forit was flecked with those very delicate, filmy, white clouds which one usually assigns to a very lofty altitude. The sun SCIENCE. 179 being within an hour of setting, its slanting rays illu- minated these strongly. It was therefore with surprise that I saw shoot athwart these sharply-defined, intensely dark bars of shadow. These evidently came from a por- tion of cumulus-like thunder-cloud, which topped the main mass just below and to the right of the new moon. Some of the rays sprang direct from its edge, but others at a distance of 2° to 10°. In the shadow the filmy clouds were absolutely invisible, the sky seemingly being of a clear blue, although the shifting of the bars of shadow indicated their actual presence everywhere. TYSHADOWINECONTACT WITH CLOUD. Pera mene I Seace BETWEEN CLOUD & SHADOW. gle eis 1] Se Ir ZTHE STRAIGHT LINE PARTS SUNSHINE USHADOW, But the strange question arises, what was the real height of the film-clouds? Must they not, obviously, have been at a lower level than this portion of the thun- der-cloud, though higher than the main mass? And yet portions must have been piled higher against the thun- der-cloud. Hlse there could not have been the illuminated space dividing the shadow from the cloud. In some cases the dark bars merged into sheets of shadow, which stretched away 20° or more from the cloud. Apparently, if seen in section, the effect must have been as in the ap- pended sketches. It is difficult to conceive any other explanation than the above. Hence, either such film-clouds form at lower levels than is generally supposed, or the summits of thunder-clouds penetrate higher than has been supposed. J. Epmunp Crark. Wuy Not THE COLLECTIONS OF SEEDS? Ix these days of stamp, coin, shell, mineral, plant and insect collectors, the writer has often wondered why it is that so few have turned their attention to making collections of seeds. The field, as it appears to me, is one of exceptional interest; exceptional not merely because of the work of real merit that may be done therein, but because it is practically inexhaustible; be- cause the materials are very largely of such a nature as to be cared for with a minimum amount of labor, and re- quire but little space; and because in many instances seeds are themselves objects of great beauty. There are few pursuits in which greater latitude may be allowed, or greater opportunity is given for display of individual energy and mental scope. The amateur, whether man or woman, boy or girl, business man or teacher, cripple or invalid, may each and all collect and find ample room for so much or so little study as he or she may choose to de- yote to it. One may collect only such seeds as have in 180 themselves some points of beauty, or are of curious shapes; may know them only by their common or local names, or may take up the subject in a purely scientific spirit, iden- tifying a plant during its flowering stage and finally col- lecting its seeds when mature, labelling them with both common and scientific names, date of flowering and seed- ing, and laying away to form a part of what in time may grow to be a collection of real value. One great objection that may be raised is undoubtedly the difficulty in correctly identifying seeds. ‘There are indeed comparatively few botanists who claim to be able to identify more than a small proportion of the plants they may know, by the seed alone. But this fact only em- phasizes the desirability of undertaking just this line of work, and but serves to illustrate the well-known fact that work of real merit may not infrequently be done by the amateur who merely seeks recreation. Gerorce P. Murer. Washington, Sept. 13, 1893. SCIENCE IN THE SCHOOLS. In arecent article, that well-known scientist, Dr. Groff of Pennsylvania, stated that “it has long been the dream of scientists that the time would come when the elements of natural history and of the physical sciences would be taught in secondary and primary schools.” The college professor would, indeed, welcome a greater familiarity on the part of students entering their departments, with the elements of the sciences; but just where this training should begin is not so clear. There isan organized effort being made in some of our leading educational cities to establish this work in not only the secondary schools, but in grammar and primary grades as well. While science should receive a large share of attention in the high schools, and presumably in the grammar grades, is it not going just a little too far to force such work into the primary grades?- It would certainly appear that, with all the modern innovations already introduced into the primary rooms, sufficient diversion is secured, and cer- tainly, for pure “busy work” the ideal seems to have been reached. ‘Then why crowd these little minds with this additional load, unless it is really superior as a means of SCIENCE [Vol. XXII. No. 556 education to those studies that are generally acknowledgde So essential as a foundation for subsequent work? Again, I submit that in this early formative period, teaching and encouraging children to capture beautiful butterflies, moths, crickets, or, in fact, any other insects, with the purpose of killing them and picking them to pieces, is not inspiring a regard for God’s creatures about them, which sentiment should be instilled into these little people rather than crushed out of existence. But I think that most agree that somewhere in the grammar grades the elements of natural history should be imparted. Such, however, is the present crowded con- dition of the curriculum of our grammar schools that but litile, very little, time can be found for it. Nor, indeed, would it be desirable to take much of the pupil’s time for such work, in view of the fact that so many studies of more practical importance in life are taught, and rightly, too, in these grades. im our public grammar schools many boys and girls are kept along from year to year at great sacrifices on the part of parents, and they should be allowed to devote their time to such studies as they will most need. It would, therefore, be manifestly unfair to attempt more than the most rudimentary science work in those grades below the high school. Henry Eperrron Cuarr. Ohio University, Athens, O. THE IKONOMATIC METHOD. Tr is strange how difficult it seems for some writers to understand this early, simple and widespread method of recording sounds. Dr. Thomas in Science, Sept. 8, presents a singular in- stance of this, when commenting on my explanation of the use of the turtle-sign in the glyph for the Maya month- name Kayab. He says: “A compound of ak and yab cannot be a derivative of kay.” Of course not! The nature of the ikonomatic theory forbids it; for this has reference not at all to derivation, but to other word or words with solely homophoniec, and not etymologie, affini- ties. When there are so many examples of ikonomatic hiero- FOSSIL RESINS, This book is the result of an attempt to collect the scattered notices of fossil resins, exclusive of those on amber. The work is of est Cougn ‘Syrup. 2. 5 -Every reader of “Science” should sub- scribe for the : eece "AMERICAN ARCHITECT, THE OLDEST AND BEST Architectural publication in the country. interest also on account of descriptions given of the insects found embedded in these long- preserved exudations from early vegetation. By CLARENCE LOWN and HENRY BOOTH: 12°. $1: N. D. €. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N.Y |Interesting articles on architecture, Sani- tatiou, Archeology, Decoration, etc., by the ablest writers. Richly illustrated. Issued weekly. Send stamp for specimen copy to the publishers, > |Ticknor & Co., 211 Tremont St., Boston. THE AMERICAN RACK. By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. SOFTLY STEALS THE LIGHT OF DAY wher filtered through windows covered with CRYSTOGRAPHS, a substitute for Stained Glass that is inexpensive, beautiful, and easily applied. BUILDING BOOKS. DRAWING INSTRUMENTS. 20c. per square foot. Samples and catalogue, 10c. CRYSTOGRAPH C@., 316 North Broad Sit., Philadelphia. of Books on Building Painting, and Decorating. also Catalogue of Draw- ing Instruments and Ma terials, sent free on appli cation to Wm, F. «The book is one of unusual interest and value."= | Inter Ocean. “Dr. Daniel G. Brinton writes as the acknowledged authority of the subject.”"—Philadelphia Press. “The work will be of genuine value to all who wish to know the substance of what has been found out about the indigenous Americans.”’—Nature. “A masterly discussion, and an example of the | successful education of the powers of observation.” —Philadelphia Ledger. 1893 Catalogue Comstock, 23 Warren St, New York, dreds convinced. RESTORE YOUR EVESIGRT Cataracts, scars or films can be absorbed and paralyzed nerves restored, without the knife or visk. Diseased eyes or lids can be cured by our home treatment. Our illustrated pamphiet, ‘Home Treatment for Eyes,” free. Don’t miss it, Everybody wants it, “THE Sy,” Glens Falls, N.¥. Price, postpaid, $2. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. “We proveit.” Huns September 29, 1893.] glyphs presented in a work so accessible and recent as Dr. Antonio Penafiel’s “ Nombres Geograficos de Mexico ; Hstudio Jeroglifico,” it is scarcely excusable for those who study American archeology either to overlook or to mis- understand this system of writing. D. G. Brinton. Media, Pa., Sept. x9. A Curious EAR OF INDIAN CORN. A curious freak of nature was recently discovered in a garden in this city. A stalk of maize or Indian corn tailed to develop any ears at the regular places in the axils of the leaves, but instead a single spike of pistillate flowers (an ear) appeared at the end of the central pedicel of the tassel. This ear was about three inches in length, and apparently well formed, except that it lacked glumes. So being exposed to the sun its color was light green. The styles were perfectly developed, and six inches to a foot in length. The places of a few of the grains were occupied by staminate flowers. Unfortunately this ear was not allowed to grow, and I am unable to say whether it would have developed any perfect grains or not. Is it a reversion to some ancient form; or only an acci- dental variation ? O. H. Hersuery. Freeport, Ill. A Mouse DEsTROYING ITS YOUNG. I oncz had an opportunity of studying a mouse in a cage with a revolving wheel which it was fond of turning, as squirrels are larger but similar wheels. This cage had an apartment over the wheel in which it built a nest from SCIENCE: 181 cotton furnished to it. It gave birth to three young mice in the lower apartment, and after a little while removed them to the nest above. One of these young fell out of the nest to the space below. The mother carefully car- ried it back again. It fell out a second time and was once more replaced. It fell out a third time. The mother then seized it as if angry and unwilling to waste her energies on so troublesome an offspring, and de- voured it with no more feeling than if it had been a bit of cheese. M. L. Hoxsroox. GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF PLANTS. Covrp you or any of the readers of Science inform me through your columns where I can find a printed list or table showing the supposed relationships of the common- est genera of plants under the theory of evolution? In other words, I should wish to find a genealogical table of plants from the earliest times to the present day. Has any such work been attempted ? Tuomas Marwicr. New York, Sept. 21, 1893. NUMBER-FORMS. Noumser-rorms, such as described by Mr. Martin and Mr. Talcott Williams in recent issues of Science, were first brought to notice by Mr. Francis Galton in Nature, Jan. 15, 1880. In his “Inquiries into Human Faculty ” (Mac- millan, 1883) there are illustrations of more than fifty varieties of number-forms. A still larger number is given in a recent book by Flournoy (Des Phénoménes de Syn- opsie, Alcan., 1893). J. McKeen Carrera Columbia College, N. Y., Sept. 19. York.] EXCHANGES. [Free of charge to all, if of satisfactory character. Address N. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New Wants. ANTED.—A recent college graduate to assist in editorial work on Science. Those seeking large emoluments need not apply. N. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New York. Horsford’s Acid Phosphate Is the most effective and agreeable remedy in existence for preventing indigestion, and relieving those dis- eases arising from a disordered stomach, Dr. W. W. Garder, Spring- field, Mass., says, ‘‘I value it as an excel- lent preventative of indigestion, and a pleasant acidulated drink when proper- ly diluted with water, and sweetened.” Descriptive pamphlet free on application to RUMFORD CHEMICAL WorkKS, PROVIDENCE, R. I. Beware of Substitutes and Imitations. For sale by ali Druggists. For Sale.—A collection of fossil_Rhinocerus bones (Aphelops fossiger Cope.) from the Loup Fork Ter- tiary, including all the bones of one fore and one hind leg, the pelvis, representative vertebrae and ribs, and a nearly complete skull, with complete lower jaws. All the bones of the limbs are perfect. Price $250. Address Dept. of Paleontology, Uni- versity of Kansas, Lawrence. For Exchange.—Books and pamphlets on geology, ornithology, conchology, and entomology. State what line and I will send list. I want Odonotafrom any locality, and literature on this group. M. J. Elrod, Ill. Wes. Univ., Bloomington, Ill. For a rare chance to get a first-class microscopic- al outfit write for full particulars to box 125, Sel- lersville, Bucks Co., Pa. For sale or exchange.—A fine collection of Lep- idoptera, native and exotic. For particulars ad- dress Addison Ellsworth, Binghamton, N. Y., care Republican. For sale or exchange for works on entomostraca, Wolle’s “Desmids of the U.S.,”’ Hentz ‘‘Spiders of the U.S.,”) The Amer. Entomologist & Botanist, Vol. 2, The Amer. Entomologist, Vol. 1, Harris’s “Insects Injurious to Vegetation,’’ colored plates, copy formerly owned by Townend Glover. C. Dwight Marsh, Ripon, Wis. “The Conchologist: a Journal of Malacology,” Vols. 1 and 2, with wood cuts and plates, value 12 | - will exchange for any works or pamphlets on Amer- ican Slugs or Anatonry of American Fishes. W. E. Collinge, Mason College, Birmingham, England. A GRADUATE in medicine, experienced, will | prepare or revise scientific and medical manu- script tor publication, read proof, compile bibliog- taphies, &c. Will also consult New York libraries | for persons out of town wishing references to rare |works. Address M. D., 10g Cambridge Place, Brooklyn, N. Y. OR SALE.—Volumes V. and VI. of the “Explor- ations fora Railroad Route from the Missis- sippi River to the Pacific,” 1857, half calf, in good condition; a large number of colored and uncolored plates of Mammals, Birds, Fish, etc.,~ etc. On receipt of $7.00 will send to any ordinary point in the U.S., express paid. These volumes are now rare. Address Dr. Shufeldt, Takoma Park, Dist. of Columbia. A YOUNG woman who has been an assistant for a literary and scientific man desiresa similar position. Is an experienced and accurate stenog- tapher and typewriter, thoroughly educated, and sufficiently familiar with literary work to write, in- dependent of dictation. Has some knowledge of the Spanish language. Will go toany part of the United States. Address, Box 147, Ravenna, Ohio A GRADUATE ofan American Polytechnic insti- tution and of a German University (Gottingen), seeks a position to teach chemistry in a college or similar institution. Five years’ experience in teaching chemistry. Address Chemist, 757 Car y St. Brockton, Mass. = WANTED.—A position as teacher of Biology, by an experienced teacher, a college graduate with four university post-graduate courses in the | Sciences. Good endorsements, and eighteen years’ |experience, Address A. N. Somers, La Porte, Ind, 182 SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 556 enol, Casta’ (c As Ce FALL UNDERWEAR. Cartwright and Warner's Laces’ tad taren's Underwear Men's Underwear. Natural Wool, Merino and Sik and Wool UNDERWEAR. _ HOSIERY. Ladies’ and Children’s Fall and Winter Weights, Merino, Cashmere, Silk and Balbriggan HOSE. Gentlemen's Half Hose, Gentlemen's Bicycle Hose, PLAIN COLORS AND HEATHER MIXED. Deoadevacy AS 19th ot. NEW YORK. er day, at Na Wena ne Baath : TER == and plating jewelry, watches tableware, &c. Plates the finest of jewelry good as new, on all kinds of metal with gold, silver or nickel. No experience. No capital. Every house has goods need- ing plating. Wholesale to ¥ agents £5. Write for circu- s. H. E. DELNO & = Co., Columbus, 0. SCIENCE CLUBBING RATES. 10% DISCOUNT. We will allow the above discount to any subscriber to Science who will send us an order for periodicals exceeding $10, counting each at its full price. N. D. ¢. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. A FIRST-CLASS WEEKLY MEDICAL NEWSPAPER. ESTABLISHED 1828. Terms of Subscription: In the United States, and to Canada and Mexico, $5 00 a year in ad vance. To Foreign Countries embraced in the Universal Postal Union, $1.56 a year additional. Single numbers, 15c. ‘Jen consecutive numbers free by mail on receipt of $1.00. This JourNnat circulates chiefly through the New England States, and is seen by the great majority of the profession in that important district. As ameans of reaching physicians it is unequalled. It is under the editorial management of Dr. George B. Shattuck, assisted by a large staff of compe- tent coadjutors. Subscriptions and advertisements received by the undersigned, to whom remittances by mail should be sent by money-order, draft or registered letter. DAMRELL & UPHAM, 283 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. hEN BOOKS TEOR PRICED OF ONE — = _ = BRENTANO’S, Publishers, Importers, Booksellers. We make a specialty of technical works in all branches of science, and in all languages. 4 Subscriptions taken for all American and foreign scientific periodicals. : Our Paris and London branches enable us to im- SEND FOR A CATALOGUE OF THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY OF SCIENCE. Containing the works of the foremost scientific writers of the age.—The Great Classics of Modern Thought.—Strong meat for them that are of fullage. Single numbers 15 cents. Double numbers 30 cents. Address :—THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING Co., LIGHTNING DESTROYS! Shall it be your house or a port at shortest notice and lowest prices. REPORTS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES, MONOGRAPHS, GOVERNMENT Reports, ete. Correspondence solicited. {=> Ail books reviewed in SCIENCE can be ordered from us. SEND FoR A SAMPLE Copy oF Book CHat. A Month- ly Index of the Periodical Literature of the World. $1.00 per year. BRENTANO’S, Union Square, New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris. T d of ? Fact and Theory Papers pound of copper Entirely new departure in pro- tecting buildings from lightning. One hundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made under patents of N. D.C. Hodges, Editor of Sccence) will be sent, prepaid, to any ad- — THE SUPPRESSION OF CON- SUMPTION. By GoprrEy W. HAMBLETON, M.D. 12°. 40c. Il. THE SOCIETY AND THE “FAD.” By APPLETON MORGAN, Hsq. 12°. 20 cents. III. PROTOPLASM AND LIFE C. F. Cox. 12°. 75 cents. IV. THE CHEROKEES IN PRE-CO- LUMBIAN TIMES. By Cyrus THOMAS. 12°, $1. V. THE TORNADO. By H. A. Hazen. 12°. $1. VI. TIME-RELATIONS OF MENTAL PHENOMENA. By JOSEPH JASTROW. 12°. 50c. VII. HOUSEHOLD HYGIENE. By M4ry TAYLOR BISSELL. 12°. 75 cents. By dress, on receipt of five dollars. Correspondence solicited. | Agents wanted. AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION C0., 874 Broadway, New York City. N. D. C. HODGES, Publisher, 874 Broadway, New York. “BUSY FOLKS’ GYMNASIUI1.” A few minutes’ daily exercise ' on our fascinating apparatus clears the brain, tones up the body, develops weak parts. Our ' eabinet contains chest- weights, A|| rowing-weights, lifting-weights, > clubs and dumb bells, adjust- able for old and young. /¢ zs the only complete exerctsing outfit in the world suitable for use in ‘ living rooms. All prices. You - can order on approval. Chest = machine separate, $4.50 and up. =, Educated agents wanted. Puvyst CAL CULTURE CuHarrt, with illustrated directions for de- veloping every part of the body healthfully, 50 cts. Sent for haif price to those naming this paper. WHITNEY HOME GYMNASIUM CO., Box D., Sochesier, N.Y. Shoulders and Upper Back good for Round Shoulders ELEVENTH YEAR. Vou. XXII. No. 557. OCTOBER 6, 1893. SINGLE Copiers, TEN CENTS. $3.50 PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE. PHYSICAL APPARATUS. CONTENTS. respondence Current Notes on Chemistry,—III. Platt, Ph. D., F.C. S IN@ iOS BGC! INGLE cososoagaa coc bacedheaoosbeccoes Collection of Mexican Maguey Paintings. V.. ieanowe heasantaeACn Gamserili mien Hee een The Bendigo Goldfield. T.S. Hall,M. A....... The Marine Tertiaries of Australia. T.S. Hall. The Scientific Man on the Farm. Charles B. Charles 186 187 (COG) sabedcmadnbdadicucsolon chen CESARE nE ane 187 The Eccentricities of a Pair of Robins. Olive pibornesMallen ee ceeeeeer ee eecttcecceciceene 188 Biological Notes from New Zealand.--II. Geo. Mie RROMSONS sont see c eae cee as «= ciswee eee bie 189 The American Folk—Lore Society. R. V........ 199 Some Remarks on the Kinetic Theory of Gases. Sp ANGI YET TREO ooonenoodbaseanaognancasos 191 Discovery of Another Ancient Argillite Quarry As makers of only high grade instruments we solicit cor- with intending purchasers of Physical and other Scientific apparatus of standard quality. Laboratories completely equipped, and detailed bids sub- mitted, upon request. Illustrated catalogue I containing 250 pp. mailed upon re- ceipt of roc in stamps, if this ad. is mentioned, QUEEN & CO., Incorporated, Scientifie Instrument Makers, Philadetphia, U.S. A. General abridged catalogue No. 2r9 mailed free. in the Delaware Valley. H.C. Mercer... IRORLE INGO Sooonsnooobooonpoadt a oadocenaopoabnes Letters to the Editor. 192 WIINERALS. A Recapture froma River Pirate. Collier COED codemneengndeebocroccd ls ocadesueeEeaan 195] 54 Work The Tin Ores of New South Wales and Roane WOES: South Dakota. Wm. P. Blake............ GEO. 1. ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists,. Removed io 64 East 12th Street, New York © eee New Store. New Stock. A monthly magazine for the study of the German language and litera- GERRIANIA New Departments. Send for our ‘‘ Winter Bulletin,” recently issued. ture, is highly recommended by college professors .|Minerals, Gems, Microscopical Sections, Fine Lap- sand the press as “‘the best effort yet made to assist athe student of German, and to interest him in his pursuit.” Its BEGINNERS’ CorNer furnishes every year a complete and interesting course in German Fgrammar. $2ayear. Single copies 20 cents. P. O. i Box 151, Manchester. N. H. NEW METHOD OF PROTECTING BUILDINGS FROM LIGHTNING. SPARE THE ROD AND SPOIL THE HOUSE! Lightning Destroys. Shalt it be Your House or a Pound of Copper? PROTECTION FROM LIGHTNING. What is the Problem? In seeking a means of protection from lightning-discharges, we havein view two objects,— the one the prevention of damage to buildings, and the other the prevention of injury to life. In order to destroy a building in whole or in part, it is necessary that work should be done; that is, as physicists express it, energy is required. Just before the lightning-discharge takes place, the energy capable of doing the damage which we seek to prevent exists in the column of air extending from the cloud to the earth in some form that makes it capable of appearing as what we call electricity. We will therefore call it electrical energy. Waat this electrical energy is, it is not necessary for us to consider in this place ; but thatit exists there can be no doubt, as it manifests itself In the destruction of buildings. The problem that we have to deal witb, therefore, is the conversion of this energy into some other form, and the ac- complishment of this in such a way as shall result in the least injury to prop- erty and life. i Why Have the Old Rods Failed? When lightning-rods were first proposed, the science of energetics was en- tirely undeveloped; that is to say, in the middle of the last century scientific men had not come to recognize the fact that the different forms of snergy — heat, electricity, mechanical power, etc.— were convertible one into the other, and that each could produce just so much of each of the other forms, and no more. ‘he doctrine of the conservation and correlation of energy was first clearly worked outin the early part of this century. There were, however, some facts known in regard to electricity a hundred and forty years ago; and among these were the attracting power of points for an electric spark, and the conducting power of metals. Lightning-rods were therefore introduced with the idea that the electricity existing in the lightning-discharge could be con- veyed around the building which it was proposed to protect, and that the building would thus be saved. The question as to dissipation of the energy involyed was entirely ignored. naturally; and from that time to this, in spite of the best endeavors of those interosted, lightning-rods constructed in accordance with Franklin’s principlo have not furnished satisfactory protection. The reason for this is appar nt when it is considered that the Olectrical energy existing in the atmosphere before the discharge, or, more exactly, in the column of dielectric from the cloud to the earth, above referred to, reaches its maximum yalus on the sur- face cf the conductors that chance to be within the column of dielectric; so that the greatest display of energy wiil be on the surface of tae very ligatning- rods that were meant to protect, and damage results, as so often proves to be the case, It will be understood, of course, that this display of energy on the surface of the old lightning-rods is aided by their being more ori s4finsulated from the earth, but in any event the very existence of such a mass ot metal as an old lightning-rod can only tend to produce a disastrous dissipation of electrical energy upon its surface,— “‘ to draw the lightning,” as it {4 so commonly put. Is there a Better Meatis of Protection? Haying cleared our minds, therefore, of any idea of conducting electricity, and keeping clearly in view the fact that in providing protection against light- ning we must furnish some means by which the electrical energy may be harmlessly dissipated, the question arises, ‘‘ Can an improved form be given tothe rod sothatitshalla: ‘n this dissipation?” ~ As the electrical energy involved manifests itself on the surface of conduc- tors, the improved rod should be metallic; but, instead of makicg alarge rod, suppose that we make it comparatively small in sizs, so that tne tu:al amount of metal running from the top of the house tosomes pvint a little below the foundations shali not exceed one pound. Suppose, again, that we introduce numerous insulating joints in thisrod. We shall then haye a rod that experi- ence shows will be readily destroyed—will be readily dissipated — when a discharge takes place; aniit wiil be evident, that, so far as the electrical en- ergy is consumed in doing this, there will be the Jess to do other damaga, The only point that remains to be proved as to the utility of such a rod is to show that the dissipaiion of such a conductor doves not tend to injure other bodies in its immediate vicinity. On this point I can only sey that I have found no case where such a conductor (for instance, a bell wire) has heen dis- sipated, even if resting against a plastered wall, where there has been any material damage done to surrounding objects. Of course, it is readily understood that such an explosion cannot take place in a confined space without the rupture of the walls (the wire cannot be boarded over); butin every case that I have found recorded this dissipation takes place just as gunpowder burns when spread onaboard. The objects against which the conductor rests may be stained, but they are not shattered, I would therefore make clear this distinction between the action of electri- cal onergy when dissipated on the surface of a large conductor and when dis- sipated on the surface of a comparatively smail or easily di-sipated conductor. When dissipated on the surface of a large conductor, — a conductor so strong as to resist the explosive effect, damage results to objects around. When dissipated on the surface of a small conductor, the conductor goes, but the other objects around are saved A Typical Case of the Action of a Small Conductor. Franklin, ina letter to Coilinson read before the London Royal Society, Dee. 18, 1755, describing the partial destruction by lightning of a church-tower at Newbury, Mass., wrote, ‘‘ Near the bell was fixed an iron hammer to strike the hours; and from the tail of the hammer a wire went down through a small gimlet-hole in the floor that the bell stood upon, and through a second fioor in like manner; then horizontally under and near the plastered ceiling of that sscond floor, till it came near a plastered wall; then down by the side of that wall to aclock, which stood about twenty feet below the bell. The wire was not bigger thanacommon knitting needle. The spire was split all to piecee by the lightning, and the parts flung in all directions over the square in whl the church stood, so that nothing remained above the bell. The lgbtrirg passed between the hammer and the clock in the above-mentioned wire, without hurting either of the floors, or having any effect upon them (except making the gimlet-holes, through which the wire passed, alittle bigger), and without hurting the plastered wall, or any part of the building, so far as the aforesaid wire and the pondulum-wire of the clock extended ; which latter wire was about ths thickness of a goose-quill. From the end of the pendu- lum, down quite to the ground, tha bulliing was exceedingly rent and dam- aged. ... No part of the aforementioned long, small wire, between the clock aud the hammer, 2ouid bé 7ound, except about two Inches that hung to the tafloftue hammer, snd abou! 4s much that was fastened to the clock; the rest being expicded, and its particles dissipated in smoke and air, as gun- powder is by common fire, anc had only left a black smutty track cn the pias- tering, three or four inchss broad, darkest iu the middl>, and falnter towa: ds the edges, sll along tne coiling, under which it passed, and down the wail. ” Dne aundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lighting Dispeller (made under patents of N. D. C. Modges, Editor of Science) will be mailed, postpaid, to auy address, on receipt of five dollars (35). Correspondence solicited, Agents wanted. AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION CO... S74 Broadway, New York Citv. SGIENCE? [Vol. XXII. No. 557 Probably you take THE Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity do. If you do not, now is a good time to begin. It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty cents. Address: 9 The Electrical Engineer, 203 Broadway, - - - New York,N.Y. HANDY BOOKS. PRACTICAL ELECTRICS, a universal handy book on every day Electrical matters, fourth edition. 135 pages, 12vo, cloth, price 75 cents. ELECTRICAL TABLES AND MEMORANDA for Engineers, by Silvanus P. Thompson, 128 pages, Illustrated, 64 mo, roan, 50 cents. A SYSTEM OF EASY LETTERING by Howard Cromwell, 32 different styles, 50 cents. THE’ ORNAMENTAL Penman’s pocketbook of alphabets, 37 different styles, 20 cents. Books mailed post paid to any address on re- ceipt of published price. SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, Mention this paper. x12 Cortlandt St., N. Y. Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Mineral Water For Liver, Kidney and B_dder Troubles. For Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright’s Disease, Diabetes. For Hemorrhoids, Etc. It has been used medicinally and prescribed by physicians for nearly one hundred years. DIRECTIONS:—Take one or two glasses about a half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50. Bedford Mineral Springs Co., Bedfurd, Pa. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. Newspaper Clippings. 25,000imn Stock. What do you want? Let us know. We can supply you. The Clemens News Ageney, Box 2329. Sam Francisco, Cal. THE Anerean Bell Telephon COMPANY. 125 MILK ST., BOSTON, MASS. This Company owns the Letters - Patent No. 186,787, granted to Alexander Graham Bell, January 30th, 1877, the scope of which has been defined by the Supreme Court of the United States in the following terms: ‘‘The patent itself is for the mechanical structure of an electric telephone. te be used to produce the electrical action on which the first patent rests. The third claim is for the use in such instruments of a diaphragm, made of a plate of iron or steel, or other ma- terial capable of inductive action; the fifth, of a permanent magnet constructed as de- scribed with a coil upon the end or ends nearest. the plate; the sixth, of a sounding box as described; the seventh, of a speaking or hearing tube as described for conveying the sounds; and the eighth, of a permanent magnet and plate combined. The claim is not for these several things in and of them- selves, but for an electric telephone in the construction of which these things or any of them are used.”’ This Company also owns Letters-Patent No. 463,569, granted to Emile Berliner, No- vember 17, 1891, for a combined Telegraph and Telephone, and controls Letters-Patent No. 474,231, granted to Thomas A. Hdison, May 3, 1892, for a Speaking Telegraph, which cover fundamental inventions and embrace all forms of microphone transmit- ters and of carbon telephones. A DELSARTE SYSTEM OF ORATORY. A Book of over 600 pages of great value to all Delsartians, teachers of elocution, public speakers, singers, actors, sculptors, paincers, psychologists, theologians, scholars in any department of science, art and thought. Price, $2.50, postpaid. EDGAR S. WERNER, Publisher, 168 East 16th Street, New York. , 1869. THE 1893. Manufacturer and Builder. Published Monthly. A handsomely illustrated me- chanical journal, edited by Dr. WILLIAM H. WaxuL Every number consists of 48 large quarto pages and cover, filled with useful information on all subjects of a practical nature. Specimen copy free. For sale by all newsdealers. Agents wanted every- where. Address HENRI CERARD, P. 0. Box 1001. 83 Nassau St., N. WY. THE WORLD'S FAIR A SUCCESS, BUI IT WILL SOON CLOSE ITS GATES FOREVER. The grandest exhibition of our time anc possibly for many generations to come wil! soon be brought to an end. There remains but one month in which to visit this marvelous gathering of all the World’s Productions, and everybody should strain a pointto go to Chicago. The railroad fare heretofore has been con- sidered a hindrance to all classes, but this has all been changed, and on the following days in October the West Shore Railroad will run high-class excursions on its fast ex- press trains in through cars at one-half its lowest fare, i.e,, $17.00, from New York to Chicago and return, and proportionately lower rates from points alongits line. These excursion trains will be in charge of ar agent whose duty it is to care for the inter- ests of the company’s patrons, en route, tc furnish detailed information as to accommo- dations obtainable in Chicago, and to poini out the historic points along the grand olc Hudson and through the picturesque Mohawk Valley. These trains will leave Franklin street, New York, at 10.00 A. M., and West 42d street at ro.10 as follows: Wednesday, Oc- tober ath; Tuesday, October roth; Saturday, October 14th; Thursday, October rgth, and the last, Monday, October 23d. Two Stepping Stones io consumption are ailments we often deem trivial—a cold and acough. Consumption thus ac- quired is rightly termed “ Con- sumption from neglect.” Seott’s Emulsion not only stops a cold but it is re- markably successful where the cough has become deep seated. Scott's Emulsion is the richest of fat-foods yet the easiest fat-food to take. It arrests waste and builds up healthy esh. Prepared by Scout & Bowne, N. Y- All arageists.| You Ought to Read The Popular Science News and Boston Journal of Chemistry. Only one dollar till July, 1894. A scientific newspaper for unscientific readers. Address POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS CO., 5 Somerset St.. Boston. Mass: LIGHT, HEAT AND POWER. THE INDEPENDENT GAS JOURNAL OF AMERICA. PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT PHILADELPHIA, Subscription, $3.00 per year. Littell’s Living A ittell’s Living Age, THE ONLY WEEKLY ECLEGTIC. 1844. 1893. “ The Oldest and the Best.” It selects from the whole wide field of EUROPEAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE the best articles by THE ABLEST LIVING WRITERS * In every department of Literature, Science, Politics and Art. OPINIONS. “Only the best has ever filled its pages; the best thought rendered in the purest English. Nothing poor or unworthy has ever appeared in the columns of THE Livine AGE.”—The Presby- terian, Phila. “Considering its size, it is the cheapest of literary periodicals, and no collection of maga- zine literature is complete without this fore- most of eclectics.”—Educational Courant, Louis- ville, Ky. “Tt is one of the few periodicals which seem indispensable. . It contains nearly all the ood literature of the time.”—The Churchman, ‘ew York. “The fields of fiction, biography, travel, sci- ence, poetry, criticism, and social and religious discussion all come within its domain.”—Bos- ton Journal. “To read it is itself an education in the course of modern thought and literature.”’— Buffalo Commercial Advertiser. Published WEEKLY at $8.00 a year, free of postage. Club Rates. —For $10.15 Tae Livine AcE and Scrence will be sent for a year, postpaid. Rates for clubbing THE Liyine AGE with other periodicals will be sent on application. Sample copies of THE Livine Acz, 15 cents each. Address, | Littell & Co.,31! Bedford St., Boston, Mass, ENCE “NEW YORK, OCTOBER 6, 1893. CURRENT NOTES ON CHEMISTRY.—IT. [ Hdited by Charles Platt, Ph. D., FP. C. S.| BRITISH ASSOCIATION, NOTTINGHAM MEETING. Tuer International Scientific Congresses recently held in Chicago have attracted world-wide attention and have rightly been accepted as the feature of our great “Fair.” But other meetings have also been held this summer, sey- eral of rather more than usual interest. At the meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute many valuable papers were presented, and more recently the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science was opened at Nottingham, September 13. For some years past and for no well-founded reason, the meetings of the British Association have been but lightly attended by the pure scientists, but this present year, largely through the labors of Prof. Emerson Reynolds, M. D., Se. D., F. BR. S., President of the Chemical Section, Section B., a larger at- tendance was secured and a superior programme ob- tained. An attractive feature was the lecture by M. Moissan, on the preparation and properties of the element fluorine, together with exhibitions and demonstrations of his progress in chemistry and high temperatures. Professor Reynolds’s opening address before Sec. B. is an epitomized review of the work done during the past year, with special attention to certain features of advance made in our knowledge of chemical theory. Reference is made to the methods of inquiry and study in medicine, and while vast progress is shown during the past twenty- five years, the present state of the chemical branch of this instruction is deplored as leading to a knowledge of sub- stances rather than of principles, of products, instead of the broad characters of the chemical changes in which they are formed. Without this higher class of instruc- tion it is unreasonable to expect an intelligent perception of complex physiological and pathological processes which are chemical in character, or much real appreciation of modern pharmacological research. A side light is being thrown on the nature of the ele- ments by the chemico-physical discussion between Arm- strong and Hartly as to the connection existing in the constitution of certain organic compounds and the colors they exhibit. We may take it as an established fact that a relation exists; and, if so, then why may not elements of distinct and characteristic color be considered as com- plexes analogous to definitely decomposable substances? The two elements, nickel and cobalt, of decided color in their salts and in their metallic plates, add stren gth to this idea in that they may be considered as exhibiting a sort of isomerism. Their atomic weights are the same within limits of experimental error; and, by analogy with compounds, identity of atomic weight implies dissimilar- ity in constitution and therefore definite structure. The genesis of chemical elements is now being studied with the application of the principles of gravitation. Men- deleef, in 1889, first proposed to apply Newton’s Third Law, and now Rey. Dr. Houghton in recently published papers applies the three Newtonian laws to explain the -inum that it most readily combines. interactions of chemical molecules, with this difference only, that atoms have a specific coefficient of attraction varying with the nature of the atom concerned, whereas the specific coefficient of gravity is the same for all bodies independent of their composition or matter. The remainder of Dr. Emerson’s paper is devoted to a sketch of comparative chemistry, of great interest but rather difficult of condensation. Silicon is considered as an analogue of carbon. Nitrogen compounds of silicon are prepared and described, but it is shown that the com- bination is not a natural one and that, as silicon dissolves freely in molten aluminum, so in nature it is with alum- Aluminum may then be considered, in this respect at least, as analogous. to nitrogen. The natural alumino-silicates are, according to this standpoint, products of the final oxidation of some- time active silico-aluminum, analogues of carbo-nitrogen compounds rather than ordinary double salts. The alumino-silicates of the primary rocks are thus oxidized representatives of substances which foreshadowed in terms of silicon, aluminum and oxygen, the compounds of carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen required at a later date of the earth’s history for living organisms. PRODUCTION OF PURE OXYGEN FROM AIR AND FURNACE GASES. A numper of processes for the manufacture of pure oxygen from air have appeared recently, all following in a general way the suggestions of the well-known “Brin” process. Herr G. Kassner in the Chemiker Zeitung, claims a superiority for a salt of calcium, the calcium plumbate, Ca3PhO,, his process being briefly as follows: The plumbate in spongy porous pieces is exposed to the action of moist furnace gases which have previously been well washed. Carbonic acid is absorbed by the calcium salt with decomposition, forming calcium carbonate and free peroxide of lead. This decomposition is unaccom- panied by a change of form. The resulting mass is trans- ferred to a strong retort heated to redness. Oxygen is disengaged and the evolution facilitated by a stream of superheated steam. Finally carbonic acid is given off and in the last stages this is pure. In the intermediate stage the gases are passed over calcium plumbate and the car- bonic acid there absorbed leaving the oxygen pure. Another similar process has been patented by Peitz, cal- ling for the use of pure carbonie acid. Le Chatelier proposes a direct method of heating to drive off the oxygen and a reabsorption of the oxygen from the air, but Kassner, who has already experimented with the direct method, considers the higher temperature, the larger expenditure for fuel necessary, and the conse- quent greater wear upon the retorts, serious obstacles suc- cessfully overcome only by his later indirect method. Mr. L. Chapman, London, has patented a process de- pending upon the alternate oxidation and reduction of a mixture of manganese dioxide (“or a similar substance”) with caustic soda by means of air and steam respectively. Finely divided manganese dioxide and caustic soda in the proportions necessary to the formation of the manganate are mixed with a weight of sodium sulphate equalto the weight of caustic soda taken. Air is passed through small pipes leading nearly to the bottom of the vessel, 184 thus assuring mixture and oxidation by the uprising current. When the oxidation is complete the air is shut off and the air in the upper parts and in the supply and exit pipes removed by means of steam. Dry steam is then passed. Nitrogen is obtained with a slight modifi- cation, by collecting the gas which escapes during the oxidation and again passing it through the mixture. ELECTRO DEPOSITION OF IRIDIUM. Ar the Madison meeting of the American Association, Dr. Wm. L Dudley described his method for maintaining a constant metallic strength and purity in an electro- lytic bath for the deposition of iridium. The electrolytic solution of the metal from an anode was of course desir- able, but was found to be a tedious and expensive pro- cess. Success was finally attained by the use of (1) an oxide, or (2) a hydroxide, these to be insoluble in the electrolyte but freely soluble in the acid radicle set free at the anode. Iridium hydrate, Ir(OH), was employed suspended in loose-fitting linen bags between the carbon anodes. Sodium iridichloride and ammonium iridichlo- ride gave satisfaction as did also a solution of the hydrate in sulphuric acid with the addition of ammonium sul- phate. Dr. Wm. H. Wahl had evolved the same process for the platinum group after much independent study parallel with that of Dr. Dudley. COMMERCIAL ORGANIC COMPOUNDS BY ELECTROLYSIS. Tur production of commercial organic compounds by electrolysis is a significant step in the advancement of electrolytic methods. IF. Bayer & Co., of Elberfeld, are now producing the periodides of the phenols and the phenol- carboxylic acids by subjecting mixtures of solutions of the alkaline salts of phenols and of alkaline iodides to the action of the electrical current. A solution of the alka- line iodide is prepared and in this are immersed the elec- trodes separated by a diaphragm. ‘The current is passed and at the same time an alkaline solution of phenol is gradually added. Two amperes per square decimetre of electrode surface is sufficient. In a few hours the phenol becomes entirely converted to the periodide, which sepa- rates out in solid form. - The electrolysis of a solution of ferrous sulphate to which a weak solution of proto-chloride of iron, sodium, potassium, calcium, vanadium or magnesium has been added produces a basic sulphate of the peroxide. Add- ing the equivalent of sulphuric acid before or after elec- trolysis forms the tri-sulphate of the peroxide of iron which is used in the preparation of dried blood manure. MM. Hermite and Dubosc cause ferrous sulphate to circulate in an electrolytic apparatus, arranged to main- tain a maximum amount of the salt in solution, and so ob- tain a saturated solution of the sulphate of the peroxide. By varying the current in density and duration more or less of this salt may be formed, constituting the various mordants known as “rust,” “sulpho-nitrate” and “ per- sulphate of iron.” The apparatus consists of an enameled iron tank with an outlet for draining at the bottom, a per- forated pipe in the lower part for supplying the solution, and an overflow atthe top. The electrodes are plates of iron and thin sheets of platinum. DETERMINATION OF IRON AND SILICON IN COMMERCIAL ALUMINUM. Dr. A. Rossen gives the following process for the ds- termination of iron and silicon in commercial aluminum. Three to four grammes of the metal are gradually intro- duced into 35 ce. of hot potash lye (80-40 per cent). The metal dissolves leaving a black floculent residue. The solu- tion is now supersaturated with pure hydrochloric acid in a platinum crucible without previous filtration, and is then evaporated to dryness. The mass is moistened with hy- SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 557 drochlorie and the silica is determined in the ordinary way. For the determination of the iron, Roessel dis- solves 3-5 grammes of aluminum as before and mixes with an excess of dilute sulphuric acid. The solution is heated until clear and is then titrated with potassium permanganate. The potash-lye used must, of course, be tested for silica. NOTES AND NEWS. Ture Amentcan Book Company have issued several books for the study of classics, some of them new, and some merely new editions. Of the latter class are “Arnold’s First and Second Latin Book” in one volume and “Arnold's Latin Prose Composition.” These works, which have been in use for many years, have been revised by James: EK. Mulhoiland; the revision being confined to the correc- tion of errors and a few minor additions, without chang- ing the essential character of the original works. The two other classical books that lie before us belong to the series of which President Harper, of the University of Chicago, is one of the editors. In editing “The Aeneid (six books) and Bucolies of Vergil” Mr. Harper has been assisted by Frank J. Miller, instructor in Latin in the same university; and the edition they have prepared dif- fers in some respects from most of those now in use. An important feature of the work is the series of “Inductive Studies,” mostly grammatical, which precede the poem itself, and in connection with the notes and the vocabu- lary, are designed to give the student his grammar, notes and lexicon allin one volume. The book also contains twelve full-page illustrations, being reproductions of noted works of art. The other volume in the same series is an edition of the whole of “Xenophon’s Anabasis,” pre- pared by President Harper and James Wallace of Macal- ister College. This also contains inductive exercises and other grammatical helps, together with notes and a vocab- ulary. ‘There is also an introduction showing the histor- ical setting of the Anabasis, with a description of the Greek and the Persian modes of warfare and many pic- torial iliustrations of warlike material and other appurte- nances of ancient life. These books are well printed and substantially bound. —The Minnesota Academy of Natural Sciences, in con- junction with the St. Paul Academy of Sciences, made an excursion on Sept. 16 to Taylor's Falls, on the St. Croix River. The party numbered eighty persons. The sand- stones overlying the Cambrian igneous rocks through which the St. Croix River passes, forming a beautiful ero- sion gorge and the bowlder conglomerate formed of the broken down igneous rock were inspected. The early age of the conglomerate is demonstrated by the presence in it and in the cementing sand of fossils of certain date. Pot-holes of great size are seen there, one into which ac- cess is possible holds more than twenty persons at one time. —Messrs. Macmillan & Co. announce a second edition of Professor Goldwin Smith’s brilliant sketch of the United States, the first edition of which was exhausted in two weeks. Written by an Englishman who regards the American commonwealth as “the greatest achievement of his race,” this book must possess a peculiar interest for American readers. —M. L. Holbrook, New York, will publish early in the Autumn another book by Bertha Meyer, author of “From the Cradle to the School,” entitled, “The Child, Physically and Mentally; Advice of a Mother according to the Teaching and Experience of Hygienic Science ; a Guide for Mothers and Educators.” It has been translated by Friederike Salomon, revised by A. R. Aldrich. October 6, 1893. | SCIENGE: PusiisHED By N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broapway, New York. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. _ To any contributor, on request in advance, one hundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reasons we desire to circulate as many copies of SCIENCE as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprint- ed elsewere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photo-engraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manu- scripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accompanies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer; not necessa- rily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold our- selves responsible for any view.or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Attention is called to the “Wants” column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and ad- dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The ‘‘Exchange”’ columa is likewise open. COLLECTION OF MEXICAN MAGUEY PAINTINGS. ' ALEXANDER yon Humporpr—America’s scientific discov- erer, as he was calied after his return to Europe from this continent—when sojourning in the City of Mexico (1803) took care to acquire a certain amount of ancient hiero- glyphic paintings, which, among other relics of Aztec civ- ilization, had once been collected by the Cavalier Boturi- ni Benaducci, yet were confiscated by the government of New Spain, and later on handed over for study to Leon de Gama, a professor of astronomy in whom the learned traveller had found a coadiutor for his manifold scientific pursuits. In 1806, Humboldt made this precious purchase a pres- ent to the Berlin Royal Library, in the shelves of which the large portfolio had been resting, “not disregarded, but unopened,” until the year 1858, when it was brought to jizht for the inspection of the Members of the Con- grow of Americanists assembled in the same year in the city of Berlin. The collection consists of sixteen sheets of maguey paintings in more or less fragmentary condi- tion, the photographic facsimiles of which were published a few months ago at the cost of the Royal-Library, to be its special commemorative gift to the Columbus Centen- nial Celebration. Only three copies of it have reached the United States. The sheets are about one foot ten inches wide, and two feet six inches long, with the excep- tion of No. L., which shows the considerable length of fif- teen feet by one foot ten inches. The task of interpreting the paintings devolved on Dr. Eduard Seler, Curator of the American Department in the Ethnological Museum of Berlin. The text he wrote forms a book of 137 pages, octavo, with a carefully arranged in- dex. The headings of the sheets are inscribed as follows: No. I: A list of tribute extending over nineteen years and paid by trimester to a certain temple. II.: A list of the lots of the Royal Domain Camaca and of their former usufructuaries. III. and IV.: Fragments of historico- geographical contents, originating from Huamautla (Tlax- calla). V.: Fragment of a household ledger, village Tecontepec. Vi.: A court proceeding in the city of Tezcuco. VIL: Account of certain victuals furnished by the mayor- domo of Mizquiyauallan. YVIII.: Fragment of a cataster- roll, with name of proprietor, area and quality of soil. IX-XI1.: Fragments of court-trials (complaints). XIIL: Account given by the mayordomo of Mizquiyauallan of work done weekly by women of the pueblo. XIV.: Ac- count of wood, forage and victuals furnished. XY.: An SCIENCE. 185 account of turkeys furnished. XVI.: The Articles of Faith and the Ten Commandments, both in hieroglyphics. Here, then, at last, some fresh material for study has made its appearance, which the students of Mexicology were a long time yearning for, in view of the scanty and ~. somewhat superannuated stock of Mexican Calendar Cod- ices. If nothing else, the diversity of contents alone must have gladdened the heart of the enthusiastic inter- preter, and have paid him richly for the labor bestowed on the work. “Ihave learned something,” he exclaims somewhere. One portion of the sheets (Nos."L, I'L, IV.), turned out to contain records written in the epoch before the Spanish Conquest ; other records reach as far as the year 1571. This fact is of some importance. For in the former the names of persons and places still appear in their primitive ideographic simplicity, whereas in the others the influence of modern syllabic spelling makes itself noticeable—a subject often ventilated with regard to the absolute reliability of certain Codices. On the other hand, some of the sheets afford a graphic insight into the economic comfort of the curas and encomenderos, by exhibiting the quantity and good quality of all those things that were to be supplied by the parishioners and tributaries for the sustenance of the ample households of their taskmasters. Sheet No. II. is of specific historical interest. Itshows us Moctezuma I1., the Severe, arrayed in file with his successors, generals and other dignitaries, inasmuch as they were authorized by the Spanish Crown to remain keepers and heirs to certain portions of land, up to the demise of the last blood-relative of the unfortu- nate dynasty. In No. VI. we recognizea painting already published and described by Humboldt himself in his great work: “Vues des Cordilleres et Monuments des Peuples indigenes de lAmérique.” He took it for repre- senting “un proces entre des naturels et des Hspagnols,” the object of litigation being a farm. We learn from Dr. Seler that the object of the process was not a farm, but a claim about the extent and boundaries of the Royal city of Tezcoco, whose prominent edifices and hieroglyphic name are delineated on the plan, together with her last King Teuuwilotzin and certain known members of the Royal Audiencia. The last sheet, No. XVL, is a veritable curi- osity. It is one of those pictorial illustrations of the Ro- man Catholic Catechism, which the missionaries used to hang on the walls of the parochial schools for the purpose of helping the natives to learn by heart the principal ten- ets of the Christian religion. These wall pictures are mentioned by Bemesel and Las Casas. This Humboldt specimen, however, is the first that has cropped out from scores of them that must have existed. We cannot help expressing our highest admiration for the skill with which the learned interpreter has solved the riddles laid before him. The sense of each of these six- teen problems is as ingeniously grasped by him in its whole, as it is methodically proved and explained in all its details. In this Dr. Seler has shown that he has mas- tered the true methods of inductive argumentation. But he is also possessed of the great gift, so to speak, of pic- torial intuition and vision. Without the aid of this felici- tous talent there is not much chance for the interpreter of ideographic writing either to seize the correct mean- ine of each individual symbol and hieroglyph, or, when he has done so, also to combine the various elements into that text which the native hierophant would have written had he been acquainted with the resources afforded by our alphabet. Vv. —Dr. William Patten has been appointed Professor of Biology at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N. H. The de- partment is a new one and will be well equipped. 186 RING PHEASANT. BY A. G. PRILL, M. D. Puastanus Torquatus, (Grml). nese or Mongolian Pheasant. Habitat: Western United States, Willamette Valley and southward into California. Description—Male, total length 384 to 40 inches. Length of tail, 15 inches to 24 inches. Bill dark, 13% inches long. Iris yellow. Crown, greyish green, with a white stripe extending over each eye. Around the eyes is found a large red patch of hair feathers. Neck: Changeable green and purple, following which is a circular band of pure white, extending around the neck, and from this it receives its name. The breast and points of the shoulders area changeable, fire red and purplish blue, the border of the feathers being tipped with blue. Following in the median lineis a narrow strip of blue feathers, which gradually emerge into black, as we approach the under tail coverts, which are greyish brown. The tail consists of 16 feathers, the outer ones being shortest and gradually becoming longer, up to 15 or 24 inches, the two centre feathers being longest. The under coloring is greyish black; the upper, brown, with light gray and black, and brown bars. Upper tail coverts, Irish green, bordered with old gold and tinged with bright green. Under wing, grayish white. end of feathers tipped with blue. The female has none of the bright markings of the male, and is about two-thirds the size of the male, of a uniform mottled pale yellow, with slight shades of brown, black and gray variously intermixed. The above description, although deficient in many re- spects, will, I hope, convey some idea of the beauty of this species. The description is taken from an adult male and female in my collection. This bird was imported from China by O. N. Denny some eight years ago. Six pair were let loose on Petter- son Butte, about four miles from this place (Sodaville, Ore.), and the climatical conditions and country being favorable and being protected by a strict law for six years, they have multiplied rapidly, and now are one of our most common game birds. In fact they multiplied so rapidly that long before the six years’ protection had ceased, the farmers complained bitterly that the birds were a serious damage to their grain and gardens, and many birds were killed, but in this I think they were mistaken, for in my examination of many stomachs, at all seasons of the year, I found but very little grain as_ their food, but many wild seeds, bugs, grasshoppers, etc. I think that the farmers have realized this, also, to some extent, as nearly all have now posted trespass notices for their protection. The birds are not as abundant as two years ago, as many were slaughtered by pot hunters for the Portland and San Francisco markets. The bird is an easy wing shot, but has many devices to deceive the sportsman. I have known them to lie so close that in passing within four feet I did not discover the bird, and the bird will not fly until seen by you, and then itis off like a flash, making a great noise and cackling. They are very swift of foot; it requires a good dog to catch one that has been winged. The breeding habits are somewhat peculiar. The female deposits her first complement of eggs about April 10 to 15. As soon as the young leave the nest they are taken in charge by the male, and the hen proceeds to lay a sec- ond complement of eggs, which in each case is generally ten to fifteen eggs. As soon as hatched the male also Chi- Common name: Body light yellow, and SCIENCE; ‘[Vol. XXII. No. 557 takes these in charge, and the female deposits a third sit- ting, which is generally about eight eggs. When these are out of the shell, one can see the entire band of three broods and male and female together. Two broods are always raised, and in many cases three. Only a few days ago I saw a brood not over ten days old. They nest upon the ground, which is generally a mere hollow, lined with leaves, under some small bush- or in a clump of grass and in an open field. Oat stubble field is a favorite resort, also fern ridges. In captivity the birds do well and even breed, but are never domesticated, for as soon as let out they at once fly away and do not return. The bird seems to be fearless, coming into the barn- yard and feeding with the fowls. During the spring the males crow similar to our fowls. This is during the mating season. Their love antics are queer and grotesque. The males strut around the females, with wings drooped and tail expanded and elevated, all the while ut- tering a low gutteral sound. This performance is keptup for hours at a time. During snow storms and frosty weather, many birds are caught here, as in roosting over night the long tails of the males freeze fast in the snow, and they are unable to get up, and one can walk up and pick them up. I hope that the bird will, in time, be introduced into other parts of the United States and flourish, and thus give to our country one of the most beautiful game birds known. : THE BENDIGO GOLDFIELD. BY T. S. HALL, M. A., CASTLEMAINE, AUSTRALIA. Tue first portion of a report by Mr. E. J. Dunn, on the Bendigo Goldfield, has just been issued by the Victorian Department of Mines and is full of interesting matter, put both clearly and concisely. The rocks of the field were long ago referred by Prof. Sir F. M’Coy to the same horizon as the Lower Landeilo rocks of Britain. The auriferous quartz reefs show a very peculiar structure. In most cases they occur as lenticular masses, arching over the anticlinal axes. North and south, in the direc- tion of strike, they extend in some cases for miles, while in the direction of the dip they thin out rapidly, rarely extending for 300 feet. Mining operations show a series of the “saddle-reefs,” as they are termed, one below the other. In the Lazarus mine, for instance, in sinking 2,200 feet, no less than twenty-four of these “reefs” were en- countered. It is evident, that during the process of rock- folding, which has produced an average dip of 65°, cavi- ties were produced between the beds into which the quartz segregated. It is, of course, 4 well-known fact that the axis of an anticline is rarely a horizontal line, but undulates more or less vertically in the direction of its bearing, but till Mr. Dunn’s report, based on careful survey, appeared, the full bearing of this fact on our aurif- erous rocks was overlooked. This “pitch” of the anticline in Bendigo rarely exceeds 30°, but a case is quoted where it was as high as 60°. As the “saddle-reefs” lie between the bedding planes the “pitch” had, of course, been rec- ognized by the miners, who appropriated for it, most unfor- tunately, the geological term “dip.” As a consequence of this pitch, the deepest rocks are brought to the surface in the central portion of the area, and are the most high- ly auriferous. Surrounding this area is a larger one, in which the reefs do not yield gold so freely. Surrounding this second area is a third area, consisting of the highest rocks of the district and in which gold has not been found in payable quantities. The extent of the central area is about ten square miles. October 6, 1893. | No attempt has as yet been made to work out the grap- tolite zones in these rocks, but it seems probable, consid- ering the enormous thickness of the rocks, that such zones will be found. The most plentiful graptolite of the central area is Zetragraptus fruticosus. Besides this form there are two other species of Dedymograptus, Tetragrap- tus quadribrachiatus, T. bryonoides, Dichograptus octo- brachiatus, Loganograptus Logani, Goniograptus Thureaut, Phyllograptus typus, Thamnograptus typus, and some forms apparently referable to Dendrograptus. All these species, it will be remembered, occur in the Quebec group of rocks. A crustacean of common occurrence is Lingulo- caris M’Coyi (R. Etheridge jun.). This is the same as the oft-quoted Hymenocaris Salteri, a manuscript name of Professor M’Coy’s. Two species of Protospongia occur, but are rare. The extension of the Bendigo rocks to the southward along the line of strike is cut off by a newer granite, which is about ten miles across. To the south of this again comes the Castlemaine goldfield. The river grav- els of this area, both recent and tertiary, were very rich in gold, but although a few rich “reefs” were found they did not prove of a permanent character, and mining 1s now at a very low ebb in the district. The structure of the country is similar to that of Bendigo. The anticlines succeed one another very rapidly, being only about three hundred yards apart, as a rule, and the strike is very con- stant. The main axis of elevation passes through the township of Chewton, about two miles east of Castle- maine, and the lowest beds contain a graptolitic fauna, apparently identical with that of Bendigo. Two or three other zones may be recognized overlying this one. Tetra- graptus fruticosus does not range above the lowest zone. Didymograptus bifidus is the commonest fossil in the next zone, and the problematical Didymograptus caduceus of Salter marks the next. The other recognized species agree very closely with those of the Quebec group, species of Tetragraptus, Dubograptus, Logarograptus, Goneograptus, Temnograptus, Thyllograptus, Dendrograptus and Thamno- graptus occur. THE MARINH TERTIARIES OF AUSTRALIA. BY T. S. HALL, MA., CASTLEMAINE, AUSTRALIA. Tertiary beds of marine origin are extensively developed in the southern portion of Australia, forming a more or less broken fringe along the coastline from the head of the Great Australian Bight to the Snowy River in the east of Victoria. With the exception of a prolongation up the basin of the Murray River they do not extend far from the coastline and attain no great height above the sea. They are absent from the eastern coast of Australia, being ap- parently faulted below sea-level. Till of late years very little has been done towards the elucidation of the fauna, only a few species having been described. Recently, however, Professor Ralph Tate, of Adelaide, has done a great amount of work among the Mollusca and Echino- derms of the series and has enabled several workers to enter the field. The fauna is remarkably rich, especially in the older rocks, and not far short of 2,000 species have been recorded. The limit is far from reached, as fresh forms are coming to light at every new locality visited. Several papers descriptive of the beds as seen in different luealites, with more or less imperfect lists of fossils, have appeared in the publications of the Royal Societies of South Australia and of Victoria. The most exhaustive one is by Mr. J. Dennant, on the beds of Muddy Creek, Victoria.* More recently Professor Tate and Mr. Dennant have, in *Trans, Roy. Soc. S. Australia, SCIENCE. 187 the same publication, begun the work of correlating the whole series of beds as shown in the two colonies. By Professor Sir F. M’Coy the lowest and most widely occurring beds are referred to Oligocene age, and he refers others, which differ lithologically, to the Miocene. Messrs. Tate and Dennant class both as Eocene, and it has ° been shown that in one locality at any rate the so-called Miocene really underlies the so-called Oligocene. The lists from Muddy Creek, above alluded to, show 511 re- corded species, of which only one and a half per cent are living at the present day. The fauna of the older tertiaries presents a more tropi- cal aspect than that found on our coasts at the present day. Murex, Vobeta and Cyprza are extensively de- veloped and often of gigantic size; the Cypraa gigas of M Coy, for instance, is a very globose form and reaches the length of eight inches. The strata consist of sands, clays and limestones, the latter being usually composed in the main of polyzoal remains. In some places an Orbitoides limestone occurs, the chief species being O. Mantelli. The clays yield the greatest numbers of forms, which in some places are beautifully preserved in a stiff blue clay that cuts like new cheese. The Miocene beds of Tate and Dennant are not so ex- tensively developed as the Eocene, while Pliocene beds with marine fossils are still rarer. In many places marine gravels occur, which have been ascribed to this age, but apparently on very slight grounds. Where they will be placed now is quite uncertain. Below the lowest marine beds, and frequently separated from them by a denuded basalt-flow, is, in some places, a series of terrestrial and fresh-water deposits with plant remains with beds of lignite. These have, for many years past, been spoken of as Miocene. it is now proposed to remove them to the Cretaceous. It will be a strange thing if we have to wage war in a case so closely compar- able with the Laramie one. THE SCIENTIFIC MAN ON THE FARM. BY CHARLES B. COOK, OWASSO, MICH. For many years the average farmer has been a man of few resources. His city brother has outwitted him in every department of his business. He has availed himself of no opportunity to secure a scientific education, and still worse, his county paper is the only periodical that ever enters his dwelling. As a result he is ignorant of the most vital laws that underlie farm husbandry in all of its branches and “farms it” in a general “go-as-you-please” style. ‘These facts alone are sufficient to account for the farmer’s general reputation as a man totally unfit for any other business. ‘Tio make a bad matter worse, the illiterate farmer is continually belittling his profession to an extent that is limited only by his vocabulary. In direct contrast to the above style of farmer the scientific agriculturalist is growing more and more to take hold of the farm, not only as a field for experiment and study, but as a vocation that will generously respond, financially, in direct proportion to the amount of mental force applied; for it isa fact Just beginning to dawn on the minds of the public that the farmer’s bank account compares most favorably with that of his professional brother, and where genuine ability prevails, coupled with a love for the vocation wherein one is called, the farmer’s account is likely to run ahead. The educated farmer of to-day is placed almost beyond competition, while the lawyer, the mechanic and the doctor find talented competition on every corner. The scientific man’s education enables him to make the most 188 of the occult laws of nature governing farm life. By a knowledge of economic botany he is able to make the most of his soil and crops by a judicious selection of plants best adapted to his farm; both as regards soil and climate. Insect enemies are becoming more numerous as the country grows older. arising, and those that for long years have been branded as “thieves and robbers” in the Old World are being con- tinually introduced. While these insect pests are a con- stant thorn in the fiesh to the illiterate farmer, the scien- tist is able to ward off their attack, and thus be greatly benefited, personally, by their general depredations. The same is also true of germ diseases, such as pear blight, peach yellows and the like, as such diseases make large crops and correspondingly large prices possible only in the hands of the skilled horticulturalist. A knowledge of physiology is also of great use to the man who would make the most of the farm. Plant physiology and veterinary science are branches of farm economy the importance of which is just beginning to be realized. And last but not least the educated farmer is a man able to devote much time to the literature of the day. In the farm journals he finds the latest and best ideas of the most progressive men which aid himin thinking and plan- ning for himself, and in turn contributing his mite to the agricultural press. There is an old saying that education drives men from ‘the farm, but we are just coming to recognize the fact that the average college graduate with a scientific educa- tion, finds on the farm an opportunity for original inves- tigation and financial success fully equal or exceeding that in any other vocation. This assertion finds abundant proof in the lives of many practically scientific farmers, and also in the fact that numerous college men are going onto farms every year, who become enthusiastic and de- voted agriculturalists that hold their farms in the highest esteem. We are rapidly approaching the time when a “survival ofthe fittest” basis must characterize the life of the American farmer. In times past our vast areas of tillable land have formed a basis for almost exhaustless agricul- tural operations. ‘This state of affairs, coupled with the fact that a man failing in all other vocations can make a living on a farm—provided he possesses only the power of mimicry born of ignorance—is sufficient to expiain the low intellectual standard on the farm, and also accounts for the manner in which the cheap farmer is universally held in derision. | Severe competition on the farm is already being felt and the poorest managers are continually going to the wall. We forget that it is the man that hampers the agri- cultural profession and not the farm that grinds its occupant. The educated agriculturalist is slowly but surely driving the uneducated and unthinking man from the field. With the retirement of every quack and the corresponding advent of the thinking man on the farm arena, is elevated the whole agricultural profession, which is thus brought one step nearer its true position that it justly held in Roman times—the foremost rank of all the world. The uneducated man goes onto the farm as a last resort. His other resources have either failed or never material- ized, and he is compelled to eke out an existence in what he considers a belittling business. On the contrary, the educated man goes onto his farm out of love for his chosen vocation, respect for his farm and faith in his ability to make the farm an unqualified success. He makes his home a model of comfort and convenience that may well excite the envy and admiration of his most well- to-do city brother. For besides the comforts and luxuries SCIENCE. New insect pests are continually [Vol. XXII. No. 557 within his reach he enjoys absolute peace and seclusion unknown to city life. Let us have more men with active brains and more cul- ture and refinement in rural life, and we will hear less of unproductive and abandomed farms and less of farmers’ boys going to the city for a more congenial business. THE ECCENTRICITIES OF A PAIR OF ROBINS. BY OLIVE THORNE MILLER, BROOKLYN, N. Y. One never looks for eccentricities in the robin family, and great was my surprise at the curious conduct of a pair who came under my observation last Summer. I fear their heads were turned by a disappointment to be- gin with, for they successfully raised a brood of three in a nest under the edge of the veranda roof, and never displayed any vagaries. When the young birds had flown, the deserted nest was removed, because the veranda was to be painted. On beginning to think of a second brood, they seemed greatly disturbed at the loss of their nest. They had fixed their hearts on that veranda, and for days they could not give it up, and judging from subsequent events Tam inclined to think it seriously unsettled them. They | inspected every corner, the top of the columns where the nest had been, the support that held a string of corn for the squirrels, a peg driven in under the roof, the- niche over the door, the chinks in the lattice,—none of them were satisfactory, and at last they turned their attention elsewhere. They did not seem to please themselves, although sev- eral times we thought they were settled, and one day it became plain that trouble was brewing between them. Like some bigger folk, they had let their mutual calamity sour them toward each other. Madam had plainly selected for the new homestead a delicate crotch on a frail branch, close beside the veranda where her heart was. This was the first sign of aberra- tion of mind, for it was an absurd choice, ludicrously in- adequate to the demands of a robin’s nest, and her sensi- ble little spouse refused to consent, but kept himself out of sight and hearing of such folly. But she had made her decision; she began to build. The first I saw of her, she came with a beakful of dried grass from the lawn, flew up to the selected branch near the tree, and then ran out on it as on a path, till she reached the crotch. I was delighted. I had long wished to watch the whole process of building a nest, and here I saw my chance. It was in plain sight, and the robins had learned not to fear us. I placed myself, and the show began. The bird came with her mouthful of grass, as I said, and when she arrived at the spot, she simply opened her beak and let her load fall. Some of it lodged in the crotch, but most of it fell to the ground. Downshe went at once and gathered it up, returned by her pretty path,— and repeated the performance ! Then a kind bird-lover from the house scattered some short pieces of string on the walk for her use. She saw them at once, came down, gathered up an enormous beak- ful, returned to her branch, and dropped them as she had the grass. Hardly a particle lodged, and she went down and brought it up again; even a third time she re- peated the operation. By this time it was plain to lookers-on that her heart was not in her work, that she was merely “pretending ” to build, that, in fact, she was in a “tiff,” undoubtedly with her mate. But she went through ail the motions so charming to see when done in earnest. She settled her- self in the crotch as though it were a nest. She tried it this side and that, and she made great pretence of having October 6, 1893. | definitely settled the matter. Meanwhile her mate, who had stilla good deal of care of three dapper young rob- ins in the evergreens (their first family), had apparently selected a heavier crotch in a better place, and he busied himself about that spot, not making any attempt to build, but merely showing his preference. Madam would not look at him. Finally while she was absent, he came down to a vase on the lawn.-a favorite perch of his, where he had sung away many a twilight hour, and began a very low, sweet song. It was alluring; hard indeed must be the heart that could resist it. She did come, but she did not join him on the vase. She had another load of material, and flew at once to her chosen tree. He stopped singing and looked ather. She alighted and ran out on the branch as she had done be- fore, and, as before, the material she had collected fell to the ground. Then she flirted herself over the crotch in a petulant way that tumbled off every scrap that had lodged there. Plainly she was “mad” and did not seri- ously intend to build there at all. After this display she flew away, and her observer on the vase went to the ground where he could look through the passage she had taken. Presently the captious little dame returned with an empty beak, and alighted near him on the lawn. ‘To our amazement he instantly ran away several feet, then paused. She advanced toward him, and he ran farther, keeping always a few feet from her. Jt actually appeared as if he were on the defensive. This sort of performance went on for some time. Oc- casionally both were out of sight behind the low-growing evergreens, then both would return and go on as before, he never letting her get nearer to him than five or six feet. It was painful to see this bad state of things in our heretofore amiable couple, and we sorely regretted having torn down the nest. - Itis one of the maddening things to the bird-student that he cannot keep his game always in sight. No mat- ter how great the crisis in their lives, nor how absorbing his interest, a flit of the wings carries them out of sight in a moment. Then again they are such distressingly early risers. If the student tear himself away from his pillow before the sun shows his face, he will find bird-life in full blast. Before it is light enough to see well, their day of work and play is begun. We shall never thor- oughly know the feathered folk till we rise at their un- canny hour and learn to fly! . Before we got the robin fairly in view again—probably in those tantalizing morning hours—their difficulties had straightened out, and building was going on seriously in a maple tree a little down the road, quite near the other, but out of sight from the veranda. Two or three weeks passed in peace, and we hoped the robin troubles were over. Every day we saw the hard- working sire, followed around by his three young folk, as big as he was, calling and teasing for food. - Then one evening the robin treated us to a strange per- formance. He stood on the ground in the middle of the carriage way, crouched, so that he almost rested on the gravel, his head sunk between his shoulders, and looking as if he were at his last gasp. But he was uttering low notes, and we listened. It was a constant repetition of the queer unmusical sort of “ que-e-e” with which many robins end their song. ‘This is neither a trill nor a dis- tinct note, but a sound as if the bird had tried to reach a high note and the voice had broken. The bird repeated it again and again, and with varied inflections and movement. Plainly he was practising it. What could be his object? and why that unnatural atti- tude? Had he been crazed by his troubles, and was he a candidate for the lunatic asylum? or was he perchance a genius, evolving a new song for the robin tribe? LEyi- SCIENCE. 189 dently he was bound to evolve something, for he prac- tised without ceasing. After awhile he moved a little so that his tail—still rest- ing on the ground—was deflected to one side, in a very unnatural position, and there he stood motionless for half an hour or more, still constantly making the strange noises. All this time we had not been positive of his identity, but now he turned his head up as though ad- dressing some divinity in the tree with his grotesque strains. He was not ten feet from us, and it was eight o'clock and perfectly light, so that we saw him distinctly. Just as we were concluding that some accident must have befallen him and we ought to go down to see, he suddenly straightened himself up on his legs, shook himself out, and sang out loud and clear hisregularsong. That made it certain that it was our friend of the maple tree, and we were fearful that his mate being at last settled and in her right mind, he had himself broken down. Our host, how- ever, refused to take this desponding view. He insisted that the bird felt within him the stirrings of genius, and that he was founding a race of robins with a new song. Certain it is that he kept up the strange practisings evening after evening, though never again on the ground. Madam, his spouse, sometimes came down and looked at him, as if to make up her mind whether he was simply unfortunate and to be pitied, or whether he were vicious in deliberately violating all robin traditions, and she ought to discipline him. Apparently she was unable to decide, for she returned to her undoubted duty, and he kept up his droll entertainment till the next instalment of his fam- ily came on to demand all his time and strength, and robin music ceased altogether. At the end of July I left the scene of this robin eccen- tricity, but my comrade, who remained, heard go late as the middle of October, the same sort of performance going on among thick berry-bushes, at some distance from the house, and on starting up the bird she found it to be a robin. Could it be the same bird? And shall we have a new sort of robin music next spring ? BIOLOGICAL NOTES FROM NEW ZEALAND.—II. BY GEO. M. THOMSON, DUNEDIN, N. Z. Ix a previous paper (Science, Vol. XX., p. 323), atten- tion was draw to the fact that the plants of New Zealand are nearly destitute of all such structures as are correlated with the presence of mammalia. A priori this is what might have been expected in a country in which there were no indigenous mammals. Those plants which have defensive structures, such as spines, prickles, etc., and those whose seeds or fruits are fitted for adhering to the coats of passing animals belong in almost every case to species haying a wide range outside of New Zealand, the inference being that the characters referred to have been developed outside the New Zealand region, and that such species have been introduced into these islands at a comparatively recent period. Another interesting feature in the flora is the relation existing between the flowering plants and the various agencies which are necessary for fertilizing the blossoms. Visitors to these islands are usually struck with the pre- vailing dark hue of the evergreen vegetation and the ap- parent absence of flowers. Associated with this is a cor- responding absence of conspicuous insects,—especially large Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera,—which are such active agents in this work in most other parts of the world. While it is true that there are a few species of flowering plants of exceptional beauty, such as Clianthus puniceus and the splendid white Clematis (C. indivisa,) yet the general verdict is correct that the flowers of the 190 lowlands are chiefly inconspicuous. There is a beautiful flora on the mountains above the bush-line, i, e., from 3-5,000 feet, but with the exception of a very few striking species like Ranunculus “yallii,i—the so-called Mt. Cook Lily,—most of the flowers are only conspicuous by their aggregation; and nearly all such are white, with, in afew cases, a tinge of blue or lilac. The individual flowers of Pygmca, Helophyllum, Donatia, etc., are small, but when one comes on hummocks of from one to three feet in diameter, with the flowering branches so densely crowded that the blossoms are in contact with one another, then such species may well be considered to be conspicuous. Some of the most singular of such aggre- gated flowers occur in the composite genus Raoulia. The individual plants are small, and are only a few inches in height, while their branches grow in dense masses, each ending in a small head of florets surrounded by pure white bracts, giving them a daisy-like appearance. When in flower on the mountain side, such masses are, when viewed at a distance, readily taken for sheep, and shepherds, unless provided with a good field-glass, may be, and often are, easily deceived; hence the popular name of Vegetable Sheep has been given to some of the species, especially to &. mammillaris. Though conspicuous insects are rare, and the two orders already referred to are somewhat poorly represented, yet the number of flowering plants which depend on insects for fertilization is very considerable. Fully one-fourth of the total number are entomophilous, to Judge by the fact that they are more or less conspicuous, and (or) are fra- grant, and (or) possess. nectar-glands; and of the hermaphrodite species which may or may not be insect- fertilised, about 37 per cent exhibit decided protandry, their stamens maturing before the pistils. This fact is almost always associated with insect-fertilization, while protogynous plants on the other hand are nearly always anemophilous or wind-fertilized. The chief agents in fertilizing our indigenous flowers are flies and flower-haunting beetles. It is somewhat un- fortunate from a biologist’s point of view that the natural conditions have been very much obscured during the last twenty or thirty years by the introduction and very rapid increase of insectivorous birds. Many of the large hairy flies which used to be most abundant formerly are now comparatively rare, while the clearing and burning of the surface growth over great part of the country has thinned out the beetles and other insects to an amazing extent, not only by actually burning the individuals themselves and their eggs and larvae, but also by destroying their breeding ground. A few of the largest of the native flowers are fertilized by birds; the agents in this work being the Tui or Parson Bird, the Korimako or Beil Bird (Honey bird), the Kaka or large bush parrot, and the two or three species of par- roquets. Fuchsias, Ratas (Metrosideros), Flax (Phormium), etc., seem to be quite dependent on the birds. In recent times the imported bees, both hive and humble (Lombus) have taken to visiting several of the native flowers. A feature of interest, regarding which I have no adequate explanation to offer, is the occurrence of a very large proportion of unisexual flowers in the flora. About forty five per cent of the known flowering plants are unisexual, and of these a great number are dicecious. Several of these dicecious species are inconspicuous, such as the large liliaceous Asfelias, and the Mistletoe (Tupeia antarctica), yet their flowers are most distinctly entomo- philous, being fragrant and nectariferous. It is a still more remarkable fact that in the outlying islands of the Lord Auckland and Campbell groups, which are distinctly oceanic, in the sense that they are isolated from all larger masses of land by a deep ocean,there are several re- SCIENCE. [ Vol. XXII. No. 557 markably fine flowering plants, such as the Composites Pleurophylkum speciosum and criniferum, and Celmisia verni- cosa; Gentiana cerina and the liliaceous Anthericum Rossii. The last-named is dicecious, and the others are most prob- ably protandrous (judging only by the analogy of allied forms), butall have very beautiful and conspicuous flowers, and all are confined to theseislands. Againinthe Chatham - Islands occurs the very fine for-get-me-not,—miscalled the Chatham Island Lily,—(Iyosotidium nobile), retaining its beautiful pale-blue colors, as if evidently to attract insects. This plant, however, is self-fertile, but this characteristic must be an acquired one of comparatively late date. The flying insects of all these islands have never been in- vestigated, yet it must be borne in mind thatall the islands are of small size and are subject to strong winds; in- deed the antarctic groups are swept by south west gales during considerable portions of the year. The question naturally arises, How are the flowers fertilized,—especially when dicecious as in Anthericum ? These are a few of the interesting points which botan- ists in New Zealand have met with during the few years since the insular flora began to be closely studied. The questions which arise are perhaps not so remarkable as those which the zodlogist meets with, but they bear on the same ground, and must be studied as closely in order that true views of the past biological history of these islands and of the geographical distribution of its organisms may be arrived at. THE AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY. Tuer fifth annual meeting of the American Folk-Lore Society was held in Montreal on Sept. 13th and 14th. In the absence of Mr. H. Hale, of Clinton, Ontario, the president, and of Prof. Aleée Fortier, of New Orleans, the first vice-president, the task of presiding devolved upon Prof. J. P. Penhallow, of McGill University, Montreal. The forenoon of the first day was devoted ta the meet- ing of council, the report of which showed steady growth in membership and fair results in study, collection and contributions to the literature of the subject. The Jour- nal of American Folk-Lore is now approaching the conclu- sion of its sixth volume, has proved both a stimulus to inquiry and a thesaurus of gathered data, curious and valuable. It is hoped that the scheme for the publica- tion of special memoirs will shortly yield the first fruits of what may one day become a rich harvest. The mem- , bers number more than six hundred, and there are flour- ishing local branches at New Orleans, Boston, Montreal and New York. In the afternoon Professor Penhallow, as president of the Montreal Branch, delivered an address of welcome to the visiting members of the society. After touching on what had already been achieved in the working of the ereat northern field, he indicated several paths of folk- lore research that could be prosecuted best among the . populations of Canada and called attention to many points of interest in the district of which Montreal was the centre. Mr. W. W. Newell, general secretary of the society and editor of the Journal, expressed the pleasure that it afforded him to be again in Montreal. Hardly eighteen months ago he had shared in the organization of the local branch, and was naturally pleased to see it prospering. Coming direct from Chicago and the wondrous White City, which was “all mankind’s epitome,” it was a relief to sur- vey a scene of repose and order and cleanliness, while still acknowledging the fascinations of the Fair, with its unique opportunities for seeing the world’s diversities of speech, belief, costume and usage. Professor Penhallow, having asked Mr. K, Boissevain to October 6, 1893. | act as secretary, vacated the chair in favor of Prof. A. H. Chamberiain, of Clark University, Worcester, Mass. Papers were then read on “Canadian Folk-Songs,” by Mr. J. Reade of Montreal; on “Some Popular Oaths,” by Mr. J. M. LeMoine, of Quebec, and by Prof. Heli Chat- lain, of Loanda, Africa, on “Some Causes of the Retarda- tion of Civilization in Africa.” Mr. Chatlain’s paper was the first-hand testimony of one who knew them intimate- ly by years of residence and close association, to the superiority of the African race (the Bantu) physically and intellectually. He confessed that he had been educated to regard the negroes as the lowest in the scale of human creation, an unsuccessful attempt at man-making and a clog on the wheels of progress, and that the sooner it was made to give place to the Huropean race the better it would be for the world. But his prejudice had gradually yielded to the logic of facts. He found natives of Africa, he said, not only on a par with Portuguese, German and Hinglish, when they were given the same advantages of education, but even in advance of them. He gave in- stances of such superiority in business, in the professions, in literature and science, from the German and Portu- guese settlements in which he had resided. How then, their intellectual powers being thus unsurpassed, has it happened that the natives of Africa have been left so far behind not only by the white, but the yellow and, some say, even the red races? To this natural question M. Chatiain rephes that, after nine years of personal experi- ence and a much larger period of study, he had come to the conclusion that the causes for the stagnation of the African race were: (1) Seclusion; (2) The lack of a sys- tem of writing; (3) Polygamy and Matriarchy; (4) Slav- ery, and (5) The Fear of Witchcraft. Hach ofthese points the essayist treated clearly from his own experience of the working of the system or defect which he condemned. Professor Chamberlain having thanked Mr. Chatlain for his valuable paper and invited discussion on it, some of the members questioned the correctness of Mr. Chatlain’s estimate of the negro’s intellect, and declined to accept a few examples of proficiency as the basis of so sweeping a theory. Prof. Chatlain replied to these criticisms, giv- ing the reason for his belief, which was an actual ac- quaintance with the negroes of several of the Portuguese, German and British colonies. In the evening a conversazione, which showed some novel features, was held in the Recital Hall, St. Catherine street, and was well attended. It consisted of illustra- tions of the music of Canadian folk-songs; of examples of Montreal street cries, repeated by phonograph, with lan- tern views of the criers exercising their callings. The musical part of the programme was in charge of Mr. H. C. St. Pierre, Q. C., and Mr. St. Pierre, and the cries, the success of which was largely due to Dr. W. G. Nichol, were in the care of Mr. Prowse. Hx-Mayor H. Beau- grand gaye a lecture on pictographs, with lantern illus- trations from La Hontan, etc. Altogether a pleasaut and not uninstructive evening was spent. On Thursday, the 14th, Professor Penhallow presiding, the reading of papers was continued. Mr. Newell treated of “The Study of Folk-Lore, Its Material and Objects.” Haying defined folk-lore, in its most comprehensive sense, which transcended the bounds set by the literal meaning of “folk” as virtually equivalent to the Latin “vulgus,” with which it is allied, he went on to show the vast range of the science. Contemplating its mental and spiritual bearings, he suggested, as possibly acceptable generations hence, the term “paleo-noology” (analogous in formation to palzeontology) to indicate the scientific history of mind through the long course of its development. Then, after surveying the field in the old world and the new he directed attention to the great mass of practically un- SCIENCE: Igl known folk-lore existing in Canada. the importance of a systematic quest. Professor Chamberlain read (in part) a paper on “The Mythology of the Columbian Discovery,” pointing out the far-reaching revival of Hellenized Celtic and other myths due to the disclosure of cis-Atlantic land four centuries ago. He referred to the Terrianoge (or land of perpet- ual youth), Valhalla, Avelion, St. Brendan’s Voyage, Chicora, Cebola, Norumbega, Eldorado, as well as to the old Atlantic myth, the Garden of the Hesperides, the Insulze Fortunatz and other divagations of Greek and Roman mythology, and from passages in Shakespeare, his contemporaries and the writers that followed them down to a comparatively recent date, he showed how the renas- cence of these old-world stories influenced the minds of succeeding generations. He mentioned the Quetzalcoatl- St. Thomas hypothesis and other theories of white culture heroes visiting the western world; Madoc, the Amazons, the notion of Albino and negro Indians and other imag- inary or monstrous beings. Mr. Newell read an interesting paper by Mr. F. D. Berjeur on “Dextral and Sinistral Ceremonial Circuits,” which treated of popular ideas as to the direction in which certain processes, culinary, industrial, medicinal and religious, should be conducted. A paper was also read on “Devil-Worshippers of India,” by Dr. Thomas 5. Bulmer, of Salt Lake City. Papers on the folk-lore of the Azorian Portuguese of New England, by Prof. W. R. Lang: acomparative study based on one of the Brer Rabbit cycle of folk-tales, by Professor Gerber; a paper on Irish folk-lore, by Mrs. EH. Fowell Thompson, etc., were pre- sented by the Secretary. The Committee on Nominations made the following re- port: President, Prof. Aleée Fortier, New Orleans; First Vice President, Capt. W. Matthews, U. S. A., Fort Wingate, N. M.; Second Vice President, Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, Bureau of Hthnology, Washington, D. C.; New Councillors, Pro- fessor Penhallow, Montreal; Prof, M. M. Curtis, Hudson, O.; Dr. A. H. Chamberlain, Worcester, Mass.; Curator, Stewart Culin, Philadelphia. The other officers are, W. W. Newell, Cambridge, Mass., Permanent Secretary; Prof. J. Walter Fewkes, boston, Mass., Corresponding Secretary ; Dr. John H. Houton, New York City, Treasurer. The committee proposed as honorary members the following: J. Lawrence Gomme, President of the English Folk-Lore Society; Prof. EK. B. Tylor, LL.D., Superintendent Pitts- River’s Museum, Oxford; H. Gaidoz, editor of Jelusine, Paris; Paul Sebillot, Secretary of the Societe de Tradi- tions Populaires, Paris; Dr. F. S. Krauss, Vienna; Jean Karlowitz, Warsaw; Dr. Kaarle Krohn, Helsingfors, Fin- land; Dr. Giuseppe Pitre, Palermo, Sicily; Prof. J. C. Coelho, University of Lisbon; John Batchelder, Hako- date, Japan; Horatio Hale, M. A., Clinton, Ont.; Major J. W. Powell, Director of the Geographical and Geological Survey and of the Bureau of Ethnology, Washington; Dr. D. G. Brinton, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. The foregoing nominations being submitted to the meeting, were approved. New Orleans was proposed as the next place of meeting, but no decision was arrived at. R. V. THE KINETIC THEORY OF GASES.* BY S. TOLVYER PRESTON, HAMBURG, GERMANY. Of this he urged SOME REMARKS ON Tue theorem that the velocities of the molecules of a gas vary “between zero and infinity” (between zero and a *Reprinted, by request of the author, from the Philosophical Magazine for May, 1891. 192 velocity indefinitely great) would seem to give the idea that the velocities are enormously great sometimes. But it would appear that there are distinct physical conditions tending to limit the velocities of the molecules of a gas (i. e., the velocities capable of being acquired in the accidents of collision). First, there is the friction of the molecules in their passage through the ether. This must be considerable at high velocities, since meteoric dust is measureably retarded from this cause; and the relative friction or resistance to passage increases as the size of the body diminishes. So that probably by the known small size of molecules, the friction must be very great. Second, the resistance to passage is augmented from the fact that the molecule is in vibration (or some analogous motion about its centre of gravity) in the zther. The molecule is like a rough body then, stirring up the ether during itstranslatory motion, which must greatly augment the resistance to passage. That there is friction in the wether by the passage of molecules is also confirmed, as it seems, by the fact that waves of heat and light contain energy. For how should a vibrating molecule impart energy to the ether without friction or resistance? The resistance is, in fact, a measure of the energy imparted. It appears a question whether, if the amplitude of the vibration (or motion which stirs up the ether) of molecules were known, the friction or resistance could not be calculated therefrom. For we know the number of vibrations accurately by the spectroscope, and the energy imparted to the ether (or contained in the waves), by the thermopile. To deduce the resist- ance to passage represented by the act of vibrating or swinging, we only appear to require the amplitude of vibration then. Perhaps a limiting value for this could be approximately arrived at. Another cause tending to reduce the velocity of trans- latory motion possible to the molecules of gases in the accidents of collision, consists obviously in the fact that the internal motion of the molecule (vibration, rotation, &c.) is proportional to the translatory velocity. So if a molecule attained an excessive translatory velocity, it would acquire an excessive vibration. This vibration would soon dissipate the energy in the ether in the form of waves of heat; and at the next succeeding collisions, the molecule would acquire a relatively slower translatory motion, as it could not retain the necessary vibratory mo- tion (internal motion) which is the essential accompani- ment of a very high translatory velocity. So, therefore, from all these causes, the speeds capable of being ac- quired by the molecules of gases in the accidents of their encounters, are probably moderate; and far less, perhaps, than might be inferred from the theorem that the veloc- ities vary between zero and a velocity indefinitely great. Referring to a letter received from the late Prof. Clerk Maxwell, I find that—“The number of molecules whose velocity is more than five times the mean velocity is an exceedingly small fraction of the whole number, less than one millionth. But if there were 10% molecules, many millions of these would have velocities greater than five times the mean, and yet this would pre oduce no appreci- able effect on the whole mass.’ It seems, then, from the above that the number of molecules attaining high speeds is relatively rare. But it appears none the less worth noting distinctly that an indefinitely great velocity would mean a velocity indefi- nitely greater than the speed of light even. Suppose a few molecules to attain extreme stellar velocities of say 200 miles per second; it is evident that the friction in the ether (appreciable in the case of meteoric dust) would commence to tell in reducing the velocity. Andas for a molecule supposed to acquire the speed of light itself, the molecule would (in traversing the ether) resemble much a cannon ball moving through the air at the normal SCIENCE: [Vol. XXII. No. 557 speed of the air-molecules themselves—about 1600 feet per second—where the resistance to passage is very con- siderable, so it seems that there are in practice physical conditions limiting the velocities attainable by the mole- cules of gases; the resistance to passage augmenting more than in proportion to the velocity. Itis not at all as if those molecules were moving in empty space. A molecule, if assumed to acquire an infinite velocity, would certainly have to be assumed to possess an infinite energy. It may be questioned whether even the total energy of translatory motion of the stars in the collective universe is infinite in sum; if not, then a single molecule with a supposed infinite velocity would require to have a greater total energy than this. The expression “infinite velocity” apparently only comes into the mathematical cal- culations applicable to a gas, supposed infinite in extent. But in these calculations it seems tacitly to be supposed that the molecules are moving in empty space, which is, however, not a fact. On the contrary}, the molecules move in a resisting substance whose obstruction to motion increases in a high ratio with the velocity of the bodies which traverse the resisting substance. DISCOVERY OF ANOTHER ANCIENT ARGILLITE QUARRY IN THE DELAWARE VALLEY. BY H. C. MERCER, DOYLESTOWN, PA. On June 23, 1893, with the help of my assistant, Ed- ‘ward Frankenfield, I discovered another ancient argillite quarry, on the left bank of Neshaminy Creek, on the War- ner farm, about three-quarters of a mile above the mouth of Mill or Labaska Creek (Bucks County, Pennsylvania). No artificial hollows as at Gaddis Run have yet been found in the surrounding woods, but the rock here rising in alow cliff above the stream i is argillite, and the water eating away the bank below it has revealed layers of chips, charcoal, large worked masses, pitted as if to split with the grain, pebble hammer stones and “turtle backs.” A broken yellow jasper spear blade was found by Franken- field 100 yards higher up the stream. While the Gaddis Run quarry (noticed in Science of +The late Prof. Clerk Maxwell arrived at some data as to the size, etc., of molecules. If we assume a hydrogen molecule to vibrate through an amplitude (say) two-thirds of its diameter at a certain temperature, we can obviously get the total distance traversed through the ether in one second by the molecule through its vibrations, i. e., the total distance equal to the sum of the amplitudes of all the vibrations of the molecule in one second. That is, add together all the amplitudes, and find what distance that would make in a straight line. The size of the molecule is taken from Maxwell. I find this distance to be about ninety miles, i. e., the molecule vibrates at the rate of ninety miles per second, by the above assumed amplitude of vibration in terms of ‘dimensions of molecule (which seems quite possible), According to Maxwell, two million hydrogen molecules placed in a row would occupy a millimetre. Hence itappears practicable that molecules can vibrate at a greater rate than a planetary velocity, which may seem surprising to some, considering how small the dimen- sions of molecules are (and therefore their amplitudes of move- ment). The velocity of the earth in its orbit, for instance, is eighteen miles per second, as is known. The above comparative- ly high estimate for vibratory velocity of molecules (ninety miles per second, only a rough estimate, of course) may account ration- ally for the energy contained in the heat-waves of gases and other bodies, which (energy) is a measure of the friction or re- sistance opposed by the ether to the vibration or movement of a body init. Calculations of this kind, although, of course, only approximate, may give us conceptions or ideas of the cether struc- ture. If I had by me data as to the energy of the waves emitted by a gas (radiating power), it would obviously not be difficult to compute the static resistance opposed by the zether to the vibra- tory movement or swing of the molecule in it, in terms of the weight of the molecule, i. e., in terms of gravity. Whether we have here a swing of the molecule, a movement of rotation oscil- latory in its nature, or any movement of a repeated kind, the same considerations evidently in principle apply. In the above computation, the wave length of a hydrogen molecule is taken to average one thirty-nine thousandth ef an inch. October 6, 1893. | June 9, 1898,) is twenty-five miles by the river above Trenton, these much smaller and less noticeable workings lie only fourteen miles inland east northeast from the site of the celebrated gravel discoveries. Neshaminy Creek flows into the Delaware (right bank) about three miles below Bristol, (Bucks Co., Pa.,) and a walk to the quarries by following up the winding stream from the river would cover a distance of about twenty miles. BOOK-REVIEWS. Towa Geological Survey, Volume I: First Annual Report, for 1892. By Samurn Carvin, State Geologist, Des Moines, 1893. 472 p., 8vo. 10 plates and 26 figures. In addition to the administrative reports, the first re- port of the new survey contains seven papers, one of which is by the state geologist, three by the assistant state geologist °C. R. Keyes, and the others by various members of the survey staff. The introductory paper, by Mr. Keyes, on the Geological Formations of Towa is a summary of present knowledge of Jowa rocks. The author has here taken occasion to revise the classifi- cation of these formations to correspond with the progress made in their study in recent years with a very satisfac- tory result. The Sioux quartzite is referred to asa doubtful element still in the geological section. The discovery of un- doubted eruptive rock within these beds in southeastern Dakota by Culver and Hobbs, and in presumably the same beds in northwestern Iowa by the present survey, as set-forth in fuller detail in Mr. 8. W. Beyer’s paper, is a matter of much interest and tends to add probability to the view entertained by Hayden that these rocks are much younger than commonly supposed. The changes in nomenclature are much for the better, as for example, Oneata for Lower Magnesian; St. Croix for Potsdam; while in the Devonian the attempt to correlate the Towa rocks with the New York section is abandoned. Prof. Calvin’s work upon these formations has resulted in a four-fold division with names from places where the best sections are shown. In the Lower Carboniferous, or Mississippian, the term Augusta is advocated for the terrane which Williams called the Osage, a name here shown to be inapplicable. We would differ with the author as to the advisability of dropping the term Warsaw as a sub-division of the Augusta in so far as concerns the rocks of Iowa, for though probably of limited development they present constant and easily recognized characters through- out the southeastern part of the state. An error occurs in the definition of the St. Louis limestone on page 72. The brecciated limestone is not the basal member, as asserted by the author, but in many sections along the Des Moines River there is shown to be from five to fifteen feet, or more, of a brown, quite regularly bedded magnesian limestome underneath the brec- ciated member and resting upon the arenaceous division of the Warsaw beds below. In his discussion of the structure of the Coal Measures the author presents a valuable contribution to the litera- ture of this subject, and advances conclusions acceptable alike for their simplicity and adherence to generally ac- cepted principles of deposition. The description of the Cretaceous formation is pro- fessedly taken from Professor Calyin’s notes. Evidence is accumulating to show that these rocks have a much greater development in Iowa than heretofore considered. Three divisions are recognized and correlated with Hayden’s Dakota, Fort Benton and Niobrara groups. The position of the Fort Dodge gypsum beds and the Nishuabotua sandstone are left undetermined. In Mr. Beyer’s paper there is given an account of the SCIEN@E 193 discovery in a deep well at Hull, Sioux County, Iowa, of quartz-porphyry—an eruptive rock, interstratified with sandstone. It occurred all the way from seven hundred and fifty-five feet down to twelve hundred and twenty feet, aggregating about one hundred and eighty-seven feet in thickness. To account for the presence of these rocks, the author advances two theories: (1) that they were due to secular outflow of lava upon the ocean bottom in Paleozoic times, (2) that they represent intrusive subterranean sheets from a Post-Car- boniferous volcano. The latter view is considered the most probable. In the absence of evidence as to the age of the sandstones, however, we see no reason why a third view may not be entertained, viz., that they were secular overflows from a Post-Carboniferous volcano. In Mr. H. I’. Bain’s paper we have an interesting and instructive discussion of the St. Louis limestone as found in Mahaska County, Iowa, while Mr. G. L. Housen’s paper deals with the economic phases of some Niagara lime- stones. An Annotated Catalogue of Minerals and a Biblio- graphy of Iowa Geology by Mr. Keyes, complete the volume. The latter paper occupies more than half of the report and shows evidence of much care and painstaking labor, though a paper by the writer on the Keokuk lime- stone, published in the American Journal of Science for October, 1890, has evidently escaped the attention of the author. The report has been printed from new and excellent type, the illustrations are exceptionally good, and alto- gether the volume in its make-up presents a pleasing con- trast to many similar publications. Typographical errors are not uumerous, though some occur in prominent places, as, for examaple, in the word Survey on the title page, and in the words Tennessee and Territory on plate VI, though these can hardly be con- sidered typographical. Errors appear also in the words Sandstone, p. 149, and Glacial, p. 139. A further criticism might be made on the lettering on the back of the volume, which scarcely seems in keeping with the pleasing effects of the text. But these are minor matters, and the survey and the state are to be congratulated up- on the general excellence of their first report. The Microscope: Its construction and management. In- cluding Technique, Photo-micrography, and the Past and Future of the Microscope. By Dr. Henri Van Hevrcx, Professor of Botany and Director at the Ant- werp Botanical Gardens; late President of the Belgian Microscopical Society; Hon. ¥’. R. M.S. and New York M. 5. English edition re-edited and augmented by the author from the fourth French edition, and translated by Wynne Ef. Baxter, F.R. M.S8., F.G. 5. With three plates and upwards of 250 illustrations. London, Crosby, Lock- wood & Son, New York, D. Van Nostrand Co., 1893. 382 p., Roy. 8vo. Ir is due mainly to Professor Abbe, of Jena, that, dur- ing the past twenty years, a real science of “microscopy” has come into existence, the aim of which is to develop the theory of the objective and to enlarge its hitherto limited powers. In fact the practical application which he has made of the laws of diffraction is the basis of by far the greater part of all the advance which has recently been made in the use of the microscope for scientific pur- poses. His investigations have not only resulted in the production of lenses of unequalled delicacy and perfec- tion but have imparted a new interest to the study of purely theoretical optics and have given rise to a large and growing literature of the subject. The increased importance thus conferred on this phase of the matter, together with the rapid broadening of the field of re- search, has led to a desirable separation between the study of the microscope as an instrument, and the study of the results of its employment, 194 Dr. Van Heurck’s book is in the line of this change of relation. Its purpose is asurvey of microscopical science from its technical, or, perhaps we should say, manipula- ‘tive side. Although the language into which the work is translated is seldom wholly easy and natural, and occa- sionally becomes even awkward and obscure, the author may feel that, on the whole, his subject is presented to English readers in an interesting and attractive form. Dr. Van Heurck has long been known as a patient student of certain difficult problems in interpretation and a diligent cultivator of lines of microscopical work calling for expert skillin the handling of accessories, and it is in these directions that his book is strongest and most com- plete. We should hardly be justified, however, in char- acterizing his work as a symmetrical and systematic résumé of even the mechanical side of what is commonly known as microscopy. In truth it seems to us to be somewhat lack- ing in order and in equality of treatment of its various topics. Itis in a measure a record of the author’s own contributions to the progress of his favorite department of learning and therefore of necessity bears an evident personal stamp. The pride which he feels in his long ex- perience and creditable achievements doubtless affects to some extent his sense of proportion, so that points to which he has himself happened to give particular atten- tion are at times accorded what we may regard as a little undue prominence. Thus, for example, we are inclined to think too much space is given, and too much import- ance attached, to the subject of electrical illumination ‘(pp.109-117), and that the praise bestowed upon the stand devised by Dr. Van Heurck (pp.224-232) is rather more unqualified than is appropriate to the circumstances under which it appears. One may reasonably question his as- sertion that “electrical incandescent illumination is su- perior to any other kind of illumination” for the micro- scope, and may well doubt whether he is fully justified in pronouncing his own stand “a perfect instrument.” But these criticisms need not be taken as any disparagement of Dr. Van Heurck’s authority on questions of construc- tion and manipulation. In these matters, as we have al- ready said, his knowledge and ability are generally con- ceded, and the novice will not go far astray in following SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 557 his advice. If there is any fault to be found with his guidance it is likely to be that in places it is too profuse and painstaking. Thus,in common with most other writers of microscopical text-books, he appears to us un- necessarily lavish in the space devoted to the mere cat- aloguing of the instruments of many makers, which differ from one another mainly in pattern ; and we feel disposed to ask whether a general description of the essential parts and qualities of a good stand, in each class, would not an- swer every purpose and enable the author to dispense with some pretty bad borrowed woodcuts. While on this subject, we venture to suggest, also, that much of the de- tails under the heading “The Photographic Processes” might be omitted with profit, since they rehearse particu- lars which one may obtain in any manual of photography and which are not peculiar to photo-micrography. In-. deed, some of the directions seem to be merely extracts from a general hand-book, as, for instance, where we are told (p. 272) that in development we shall get “first the sky and the high lights.” Beyond those portions which deal with the handling of the instrument and the preparation of specimens, this work undertakes to cover the theory, the history and the literature of the microscope. The chapter devotéd to “ Experiments on the Application of Dr. Abbe’s Theory of Microscopic Vision” is a reproduction of Mr. J. W. Ste- phenson’s very valuable paper presented to the Royal Microscopical Society in 1877, which Dr. Van Heurck has edited with a view to making it conform to the modifica- tions which Prof. Abbe’s views have since undergone. The chapter on “The Microscope in the Past and in the Future” is an abridgment of the Cantor Lectures of Mr. John Mayall, Jun., delivered in 1885. The chapter headed “The Microsecopist’s Library” is an incomplete list of periodicals and books not always up to date. Notwithstanding the fact that the work before us is rather too sumptuous and bulky for everyday use by the student, it will doubtless prove a welcome addition to the library of the scientific amateur, and will perform a use- ful part in the promotion of interest in the instrument of which it treats. FOSSIL RESINS. This book is the result of an attempt to collect the scattered notices of fossil resins, exclusive of those on amber. The work is of Piso’s Remedy for Catarrh is the «Every reader of “Science” should sub- scribe for the . AMERICAN ARCHITECT, THE OLDEST AND BEST interest also on account of descriptions given of the insects found embedded in these long- preserved exudations from early vegetation. By CLARENCE LOWN and HENRY BOOTH: 12°.) $1. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y -| Architectural publication in the country. Interesting articles on architecture, Sani- tation, Archeology, Decoration, etc., by the ablest writers. Richly illustrated. Issued weekly. Send stamp for specimen copy to the publishers, = Ticknor & Co,, 211 Tremont St., Boston. THE AMERICAN RACK. By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. SOFTLY STEALS THE LIGHT OF DAY wher filtered through windows covered with CRYSTOGRAPHS, a substitute for Stained Glass that is inexpensive, beautiful, and easily applied. BUILDING BOOKS. DRAWING INSTRUMENTS. 20c. per square foot. Samples and catalogue, 10c. CRYSTOGRAPH CoO., $16 North Broad St., Philadelphia. «The book is one of unusual interest and value."= Inter Ocean. “Dr. Daniel G, Brinton writes as the acknowledged authority of the subject.”—Philadelphia Press. “The work will be of genuine value to all who wish to know the substance of what has been found out about the indigenous Americans.”’—Nature. “©A masterly discussion, and an example of the successful education of the powers of observation.” 1893 Catalogue of Books on Building, Painting, and Decorating, also Catalogue of Draw- ing Instruments and Ma, terials, sent free on appli- cation to Wm. T. Comstock, 23 Warren St New York. or risk. dreds convinced. JENGRAVING FOR ALC ALEUSTRi SL) ADVERTISING PURPOSES: RESTORE YOUR EYESIGHT 2Cataracts, scars or films can be absorbed and paralyzed nerves restored, without the knife Diseased eyes or lids can be cured by our home treatment. Our illustrated pamphlet, ‘Home Treatment for Eyes,” free. Don’t miss it. Everybody wants it, “Tax Eve,” Glens Falls, N.Y. —Philadelphia Ledger. Price, postpaid, $2. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. “We prove it.” Huns October 6, 1893.] | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The writer's name is in all cases required as a proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number con- taining his communication will be furnished free to any corres- pondent. : The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. A RECAPTURE FROM A RIVER PIRATE. Tuer Jackson River of Bath and Alleghany counties, Virginia, affords an interesting example of recapture of a References. 1 Cambrian uM Silurian M Devonian ly Lower Carboniferous v Middle . x Warm Uprings portion of a stream from “a river pirate.” Last winter I directed the attention of Messrs. Charles Baskerville and R. H. Mitchell, students of the University of North Caro- lina, to the interesting problem of adjustment presented by this stream. A result of their investigation is given in the accompanying sketch maps. Fig. 2 presents a map of the stream in its present rela- tions, and a geological section of the country. In fig. 1 we have the streams at the beginning of their existence, just after the great permian deformation, occupying syn- clines upon the carboniferous rocks. The permian topog- SCIENCE. 195 raphy is represented by the dotted lines, the existing topography by the line C D. It is evident that in per- mian time Back Creek and Meadow Fork made a con- tinuous stream, occupying a synclinal valley. The first capture was that of the headwaters of Jackson River by A ESEN GEE NOREEN EENSEENGENER NG Va A a Ae A A \ tributary A of Back Creek, as the folds of permian time were higher to the east and died away westwardly. Ata later date, probably at the time of the cretaceous tilting, when the hills sloping east became steeper, tributary. B, of Jackson River, beheaded the pirate and recaptured her Own waters. Coxuirr Coss. Chapel Hill, N.C. THE TIN ORES OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND SOUTH DAKOTA. Tux similarity of occurrence and of mineral aggrega- tion of the tin ores of New South Wales and those of the Black Hills, South Dakota, is worthy of mention. The ores of both regions are extensively shown in the Mines and Mining Building, Chicago Exposition, and it would be difficult, if not impossible, for an ordinary observer to separate them according to locality if they should become mingled. The ores of both places occur in veins of the granitic type. Wm. P. Brake. Shullsburg, Wis., Sept. x1, 1893. > EXCHANGES. [Free of charge to all, if of satisfactory character. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New Address N. D. C. York.] Wants. ANTED.—A copy of Mascart & Joubert’s Les- sons in Electricity and Magnetism, Vol. I. 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For Exchange.—Books and pamphlets on geology, ornithology, conchology, and entomology. State what line and I will send list. I want Odonota from any locality, a~d literature on this group. M. J. Elrod, Ill. Wes. Univ., Bloomington, Ill. For a rare chance to get a first-class microscopic- al outfit write for full particulars to box 125, Sel- lersville, Bucks Co., Pa. For sale or exchange.—A fine collection of Lep idoptera, native and exotic. For particulars ad- dress Addison Ellsworth, Binghamton, N. Y., care Republican. For sale or exchange for works on entomostraca, Wolle’s ‘‘Desmids of the U.S.,” Hentz “Spiders of the U.S.,’’ The Amer. Entomologist & Botanist, Vol. 2, The Amer. Entomologist, Vol. 1, Harris's ‘Insects Injurious to Vegetation,” colored plates, copy formerly owned by Townend Glover. C. 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Our Paris and London branches enable us to im- port at shortest notice and lowest prices. REPORTS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES, MoNOGRAPHS, GOVERNMENT Reports, ete. Correspondence solicited. (= All books reviewed in SCIENCE can be ordered from us. SEND FOR A SAMPLE Copy or Book Cuat. A Month- ly Index of the Periodical Literature of the World. $1.00 per year. BRENTANO’S, Union Square, New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris. TEN BOOKS FOR PRICE OF ONE SEND FOR: A CATALOGUE OF THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY OF SCIENCE. Containing the’ works of the foremost scientific writers of the age.—The Great Classics of Modern Thought.—Strong meat for them that are of fullage. Single numbers 15 cents. Double numbers 30 cents. Address :—THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING CoO., 1g Astor Place, New York. LIGHTNING DESTROYS! Shall it be your house or a pound of copper? Entirely new departure in pro- tecting buildings from lightning. One hundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made under patents of N. D.C. 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Removed to 64 East 12th Street, New York NEW METHOD OF PROTECTING BUILDINGS FROM LIGHTNING. SPARE THE ROD AND SPOIL THE HOUSE! Lightning Destroys. Shalt it be Your House or a Pound of Copper? PROTECTION FROM LIGHTNING. What is the Problem? In seeking & means of protection from lightning-discharges, we have in view two objects,— the one the prevention of damage to buildings, and the other the prevention of injury to life. In order to destroy 4 building in whole or in part, it is necessary that work should be done; that is, as physicists exnress it, energy is required. Just before the lightning-discnarge takes piaco, the energy capable of doing the Gamage whick we seek to prevent exists in the column of air extending from the cloud to the earth in some form that makes it capable of appearing as what we cail electricity. We will therefore call it electrical energy. What this electrical energy is, it is not necessary for us to consider in this place ; but thatit exists there can be no doubt, as it manifests itself in the destruction of buildings, The problem that we have to deal with, therefore, is the conversion of this energy into some other form, and the ac- complishment of this in such a way as shall result in the least injury to prop- ty and life. erty and life. Why Have the Old Rods Failed? When lightning-rods were first proposed, the sclence of energetics was en- tirely undeveloped; that is to say, in the middle of the last century scientific men had not come to recognize the fact that the different forms of energy — heat, electricity, mechanical power, etc.— were convertible one into the other, and that each could produce just so much of each of the other forms, and no more. The doctrine of the conservation and correlation of energy was first clearly worked outin the early part of this century. There were, however, some facts known in regard to electricity a hundred and forty years ago; and among these were the attracting power of points for an electric spark, and the conducting power of metals. Lightning-rods were therefore introduced with the idea that the electricity existing in the lightning-discharge could be coa- veyed around the building which it was proposed to protect, and that the building would thus be saved. The question as to dissipation of the energy inyolved was entirely ignored, naturally; and from that time to this, in spite of the best endeavors of those interested, lightning-rods constructed in accordance with Franktin’s principle haye not furnished satisfactory protection. The reason for this i: apparent when it is considered that the Oiectrical energy existing in the atm sphere before the discharge, or, mors exactly, in the column of dielectric f.oin the cloud to the earth, above referred to, reaches its maximum valus ona ths su face of the conductors that chance to he within the column of dielectric; so that the greatest display of energy wiil boon thesurface of the very lightuing- rods that were meant to protect, and damage results, as so often prores to be the case, It will be understood, of course, that this display of energy on the surface of the old lightning-rods is aided by thelr being more or fess insulated from the earth, but in any event the very existence of suc & mass of metal as an old lightning-rod can only tend to produce a disastrous dissipation of olectrical energy upon its surface,— ‘‘ to draw the lightning,” as it is so commonly put. Is there a Better Meai:s of Protection? Having cleared our minds, therefore, of any idea of conducting electricity, and keeping clearly in view the fact that in providing protection against light- ning we must furnish some means by which the elecirical energy may be harmlessly dissipated, the question arises, *‘ Can an improved form be given tothe rod sothatitshalls. ‘n this dissipation?” 4 ~ As the electrical energy involved manifests itself on the surface of conduc- tors, the improved rod should be metallic; but, instead of making a large rod, suppose that we make it comparatively small in size, so that the total amount of metal running from the top of the house togome point a litile below the foundations shall not exceed one pound. Suppose, again, that we introduce numerous insulating joints in this rod. We shall then haye a rod that experi- ence shows will be readily destroyed —will be readily dissipated —whena discharge takes place; aniit will be evident, that, so far as the electrical en- ergy is consumed in doing this, there will be the less to do other damage. The only point that remains to be proved as to the utility of such a rod is to show that the dissipation of such a conductor does not tend to-injure other bodies in its immediate vicinity. On this point I can only say that I have found no case where such 2 conductor (for instance, a bell wire) has been dis- sipated, even if resting against a plastered wall, where there has been any Iaterial damage done to surrounding objects. Of course, it is readily understood that such an explosion cannot take place in a confined space without the rupture of the walls (the wire cannot be boarded over); butin every case that I have found recorded this dissipation takes place just as gunpowder burns when spread onaboard. The objects against which the conductor rests may be stained, but they are not shattered, IT would therefore make clear this distinction between the action of electri- cal energy when dissipated on the surface of alarge conductor and when dis- sipated on the surface of a comparatively small or easily dissipated conductor. When dissipated on the surface of a large conductor, — a conductor so strong as to resist the explosive effect, —damage results to objects around. When dissipated on thesurface of a small conductor, the conductor goes, but the other objects around are saved A Typical Case of the Action of a Small Conductor. Franklin, ina letter to Collinson read before the London Royal Society, Dee. 18, 1755, describing the partial destruction by lightning of a church-tower at Newbury, Mass., wrote, ‘‘ Near the bell was fixed an iron hammer ‘to strik the hours; and from the tail of the hammer a wire went down through a smal. gimlet-hole in the floor that the bell stood upon, and through a second floor in like manner; then horizontally under and near the plastered celling of that second floor, till it came near a plastered wall; then down by the aide ot that wall to aclock, which stood about twenty feet below the bell. The wire was not bigger thana common knitting needle. Thespire was split all to._ pieces by the lightning, and the parts flung in all directions over the square in which the church stood, so that nothing remained above the bell. The lightring passed between the hammer and the clock in the above-mentioned wire, without hurting either of the floors, or haying any effect upon them (except making the gimlet-holes, through which the wire passed, a little bigger), and without hurting the plastered wall, or any part of the building, so far as the aforesaid wire and the pendulum-wire of the clock extended; which latter wire was about the thickness of a goose-quill. From the end of the pendu- lum, down quite to the ground, the building was exceedingly rent and dam- aged. .. . No part of the aforementioned long, small wire, between the clock and the hammer, zouid be found, except about two inches that hung to ‘the tatloftue hammer, and about as much that was fastened to the clock; the rest being exploded, and its particles dissipated in smoke and alr, as gun- powder is by common fire, and had only left a black smutty track on the plas- tering, three or four inches broad, darkest in the middle, and fainter towards the edges, all along the ceiling, under which it passed, and down the wall.” Dne aundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made under patents of N. D. C. Hodges, Editor of Science) will be mailed, postpaid, to any address, on receipt of five dollars ($5). Correspondence solicited, Agents wanted. AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION CO., 874 Broadway. New York Citv. SCIENCE: [Vol. XXII. No. 558 Probably you take THE Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity do. If you do not, now is a good time to begin. It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty, cents. Address: ®The Electrical Engineer, 203 Broadway, - - - New York, N.Y, HANDY BOOKS. 133 Pages, 12v0, cloth, pace 75 cents. ELECTRICAL TABLE: Engineers, by Silvanus P. Thompson, 128 pages, Illustrated, 64 mo, roan, so cents. A SYSTEM OF EASY LETTERING by Howard Cromwell, 32 different styles, 50 cents. alphabets, 37 different styles, 20 cents. ceipt of published price. SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, Mention this paper. x2 Cortlandt St., N. Y Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Mineral Water For Liver, Kidney and B_dder Troubles. For Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright’s Disease, Diabetes. For Hemorrhoids, Etc. It has been used medicinally and prescribed by Dee for nearly one hundred years. IRECTIONS:—Take one or two glasses about a half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. Newspaper Clippings. 25,000in Stock. What do you want? Let usknow. We can supply you. The Clemens News Agency, Box 2329. San Francisco, Cal* PRACTICAL ELECTRICS, a universal handy book noevery day Blectrical matters, fourth edition. AND MEMORANDA for THE ORNAMENTAL Penman’s pocketbook of Books mailed post paid to any address on re- Bedford Mineral Springs Co., Bedfwrd, Pa. sian A Pure Norw Oil is the kind used in the production of Scott's Emul- sion — Hypophos- phitesof Limeand Soda are added for their vital ef- fect upon nerve and brain. No : mystery surrounds this formula— the only mystery is how quickly it builds up flesh and brings back strength to the weak of all ages. Scott's Emulsion will check Consumption and is indispensable in a@// wasting dis- eases. Prepared by Scott & Bowne, N. Y. All druggists. THE Anenian Bell Telephone COMPANY. {25 MILK ST., BOSTON, MASS. 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Double numbers 30 cents. Address :—THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING Co., 1g Astor Place, New York. LIGHTNING DESTROYS! Shall it be your house or a pound of copper? Entirely new departure in pro- tecting buildings from lightning. One hundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made under patents of N. D.C. Hodges, Editor of Sczence) will be sent, prepaid, to any ad- dress, on receipt of five dollars. Correspondence solicited. | Agents wanted. AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION CO., 871i Wreeadway, Yew York City. “BUSY FOLKS’ GYMNASIUI1.” A few minutes’ daily exercise veloping every part of the body healthfully, 50 cts. naming this paper. ; can order on approval. ‘on our fascinating apparatus , clears the brain, tones up the body, develops weak parts. Our ' cabinet contains chest weights, rowing-weights, lifting-weights, = clubs and dumb bells, adjust- " able for old and young. It ts the only complete exercising outfit in the world suitable for use in living rooms. All prices. You Chest machine separate, $4.50 and up. Educated agents wanted. Puyst 6 Shoulders and Upper Back good for Round Shoulders CAL CULTURE CHART, with illustrated directions for de- Sent for half price to those - WHITNEY HOME GYMNASIUM CO., Box D., Rochester, N. Y. SINGLE Copies, TEN CENTS. ELEVENTH YEAR. $3.50 Per YEAR, IN ADVANCE. Vou. XXII. No. 560. OCTOBER 27, 1893. DOLNAHE DeTaTet Retro e ee eerene nen eneeer ened a = SCIENTIFIC INSTRUM 4 Having the largest stock of general Scientific Apparatus to be found in the United States, we are prepared to quote bot- tom prices for laboratory instruments and supplies. Our eight distinct departments comprise:—r1. Ophthalma- logical instruments; 2. Mathematical and Surveying instru- ments; 3. Microscopes and Accessories; 4. Physicial and Projection Lanterns and supplies; MMM” WA ama MMMMMM™ Daas tate at ait a . We Cet CONTENTS. HT Et %A x : fa ye KS rs He The Visitors to One Oak Tree. MorrisGibbs.. 225 Electrical apparatus; 5s. The Use of Tuberculin and Mallein for the 6. Meteorological instruments; 7. Photographic Cameras and Diagnosis of Tuberculosis and Glanders in Lenses; 8. Chemical apparatus and Chemicals. Avatimeits, BAS” soscoodusnsncasseoscnonpn zag Ask for a list of sixteen catalogues which we publish, and INOWEES GMGl INEWSoncosceconca doaobovdvndencoutae ants correspond with us regarding your wants. Mental Images. E. A. Kirkpatrick............. 227 Immunity and Cure in the Infectious Diseases. XK QUEE N c& CoO. Incorpated, WACHOR Wi, WEIMER G5 050000000 00000000bodoun 231 BS Philadelphia, U. Sho A. Consciousness Under the Influence of Cannabis a8 Seven Awards granted us at the World’s Fair. Be Indica. E. W. Scripture.................. 233] Lebrnrieatrsrerentearne peepee DAP Ae DE Prete ee Deere epee eee DEDEDE SE Dee NES Letters to the Editor: New Store. Toe i Science in the Schools._A Reply. W.H. MINERALS. New Stock. GERMANIA A monthly magazine for the study New Departments. of the German language and litera- Sherzer see eee eeeee *34) Send for our ‘‘ Winter Bulletin,” recently issued. jture, is highly recommended by College Rrotesscrs TEOOIEIRG ACHE on od sop pndeAabod sDBGSSOUO SAME 235| Minerals, Gems, Microscopical Sections, Fine Lap- pnd the preae eee or ieceae HT eLAOHIB idary Work. GEO. L. ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists, Removed to 64 East 12th Street, New York pursuit.” Its BegmynNERS’ CorNeER furnishes every year a complete and interesting course in German grammar. $2a year. Single copies 20 cents. P, O. Box 151, Manchester, N. H. NEW METHOD OF PROTECTING BUILDINGS FROM LIGHTNING. SPARE THE ROD AND SPOIL THE HOUSE! Lightning Destroys. Shalt it be Your House or a Pound of Copper? PROTECTION FROM LIGHTNING. What is the Problem? In seeking a means of protection from lightning- discharges, we havein view two objects,— the one the prevention of damage to buildings, aud the other the prevention of injury to life. In order to destroy a building in whole or in part, It is necessary that work should be done; that is, as physicists express it, energy is required. Just before the lightning-discharge takes place, the energy capable of doing the damage which we seek to prevent exists in the column of air extending from the cloud to the earth in some form that makes it capable of appearing as what we call electricity. We will therefore call it electrical energy. What this electrical energy is, it is not necessary for us to consider in this place; but thatit exists there can be no doubt, as it manifests itself In the destruction of buildings. The problem that we have to deal with, therefore, is the conversion of this energy into some other form, and the ac- complishment of this in such a way as shall result in the least injury to prop- erty and life. i Why Have the Old Rods Failed? When lightning-rods were first proposed, the science of energetics was en- tirely undeveloped; that is to say, in the middle of the last century scientific men had not come to recognize the tact that the different forms of energy — heat, electricity, mechanical power, etc.— were convertible one into the other, and that each could produce just so much of each of the other forms, and no more. The doctrine of the conservation and correlation of energy was first clearly worked out in the early part of this century. There were, however, some facts known in regard to electricity a hundred and forty years ago; and among these were the attracting power of points for an electric spark, and the conducting power of metals. Lightning-rods were therefore introduced with the idea that the electricity existing in the lightning-discharge could be con- veyed around the building which it was proposed to protect, and that the building would thus be saved. The question as to dissipation of the energy involved was entirely ignored, naturally; and from that time to this, in spite of the best endeavors of those interested, lightning-rods constructed in accordance with Franklin’s principle have not furnished satisfactory protection. The reason for this is appar- nt when it is considered that the Olectrical energy existing in the atmosphere before the discharge, or, more exactly, in the column of dielectric from the cloud to the earth, above referred to, reaches its maximum yalu= on the sur- face of the conductors that chance to he within the column of dielectric; so that the greatest display of energy_will b9 on the surface of the very lightning- rods that were meant to protect, and damage results, as so ofien proves to be the case. It will be understood, of course, that this display of energy on the surface of the cld lightning-rods is aided by their baing more ori s4 insulated from the earth, but in any event the very existence of suca a mass of metal a3 an old lightning-rod can only tend to produce a disastrous dissipation of clectrical energy upon its surface,—‘*‘ to draw the lightning,” as 1t 1s so commonly put. Is there a Better Means of Protection? Having cleared our minds, therefore, of any idea of conducting electricity, and keeping clearly in view the fact that in providing protection against light- ning we must furnish some means by which the electrical energy may be harmlessly dissipated, the question arises, ‘‘Can an improved form be given te the rod sothatitshalls. ‘n this dissipation?” * As the electrical energy Involved manifests itself on the surface of conduc- tors, the improved rod should be metallic; but, instead of making a large rod, suppose that we make it comparatively small in size, so that the tolal amount of metal running from the top of the house tosome point a little below the foundations shall not exceed one pound. Suppose, again, that we introduce numerous insulating joints in this rod. We shall then have a rod that experi- ence shows will be readily destroyed—~will be readily dissipated —whena discharge takes place; anit will be evident, that, so far as the electrical en- ergy is consumed in doing this, there will be the less to do other damags. The only point that remains to be proved as to the utility of such a rod ts to show that the dissipation of such a conductor dces not tend to injure other bodies in its immediate vicinity. On this poins I caa only Say that I have found no case where such a conductor (for instance, a bell wire) has been dis- sipated, even if resting against a plastered wall, where there has been any material damage done to surrounding objects. Of course, it is readily understood that such an explosion cannot take place in a confined space without the rupture of the walls (the wire cannot be boarded over); butin every case that I have found recorded this dissipation takes place just as gunpowder burns when spread onaboard. The objects agalpst which the conductor rests may be stained, but they are not shattered, I would therefore make clear this distinctlon between the action of electri- cal energy when dissipated on the surface of a large conductor and when dis- sipated on the surface of a comparatively small or easily dissipated conductor. When dissipated on the surface of a large conductor, — a conductor so strong as to resist the explosive effect, —damage results to objects around. When dissipated on the surface of a small conductor, the conductor goes, but the other objects around are saved A Typical Case of the Action of a Small Conductor. Franklin, ina letter to Collinson read before the London Royal Society, Dee. 18, 1755, describing the partial destruction by lightuing of a church-tower at Newbury, Mass., wrote, ‘* Near the bell was fixed an iron hammer to strike the hours; and from the tail of the hammer a wire went down through a small gimlet-hole in the floor that the bell stood upon, and through a second floor in like manner; then horizontally under and near the plastered ceiling of that second floor, till it came near a plastered wall; then down by the side of that wall to aclock, which stood about twenty feet below the bell. The wire was not bigger than a common knitting needle. The spire was split all to pieces by the lightning, and the parts flung in all directions over the square in which the church stood, so that nothing remained above the bell. he lightring passed between the hammer and the clock in the above-mentioned wire, without hurting either of the floors, or having any effect upon them (except making the gimlet-holes, through which the wire passed, alittle bigger), and without hurting the plastered wall, or any part of the building, so far as the aforesaid wire and the pendulum-wire of the clock extended ; which latter wire was about the thickness of a goose-quill. From the end of the pendu- lum, down q'1lte to the ground, the builiiug was exceedingly rent and dam- agel. ... No part of the aforementioued long, small wire, between the clock andthe hammer, 2ouid be found, except about two inches that hung to the tatl -ftue hammer, aud about as much that was fastened to the clock; the rest being exploded, and its particles dissipated in smoke and alr, as gun- powder is by common fire, and had only left a black smutty track on the plas- tering, three or four inches broad, darkest in the middle, and fainter towards the edges, all along the ceiling, under which it pasjed, aud down the wall. ’ Dne aundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made uuder patents of N. D, C. Hodges, Editor of Science) will be mailed, postpaid, to any address, on receipt of five dollars ($5). Correspondence solicited. Agents wanted. AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION CO.. 874 Broadway, New York Citv. : =f. aoe bate SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 560 Probably you take THE Electrical Engineer. | Most people interested in Electricity do. | If you do not, now is a good time to) begin. It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty, cents. Address: @The Electrical Engineer, | 203 Broadway, - - - New York, N.Y. | SSE THE Ameread Bell Teleyhine COMPANY. 125 MILK $T., BOSTON, MASS, This Company owns the Letters - Patent No. 186,787, granted to Alexander Graham Bell, January 30th, 1877, the scope of which has been defined by the Supreme Court of the United States in the following terms: ‘““The patent itself is for the mechanical structure of an electric telephone to be used to produce the electrical action on which the first patent rests. The third claim is for the use in such instruments of a diaphragm, made of a plate of iron or steel, or other ma- terial capable of inductive action : the fifth, of a permanent magnet constructed as de- scribed with a coil upon the end or ends nearest the plate; the sixth, of a sounding box as described; the seventh, of a speaking or hearing tube as described for conveying the sounds; and the eighth, of a permanent magnet and plate combined. The claim is not for these several things in and of them- selves, but for an electric telephone in the construction of which these things or any of them are used.’’ ‘This Company also owns Letters-Patent No. 463,569, granted to Emile Berliner, No- vember 17, 1891, for a combined Telegraph and Telephone, ‘and controls Letters-Patent No. 474,231, granted to Thomas A. Edison, May 3, 1892, for a Speaking Telegraph, which cover fundamental inventions and embrace all forms of microphone transmit- ters and of carbon telephones. THE WINNIPEG COUNTRY; oR, ROUGHING IT WITH AN ECLIPSE PARTY. BY A. ROCHESTER FELLOW. (S. H. SCUDDER.) With thirty-two Illustrations and a Map. 12°. $1.50. “This is a sprightly narrative of personal inci dent. The book will be a pleasant reminder to many of rough experiences on a frontier which is rapidly receding.” —Boston Transcript. “The picture of our desolate North-western terri- tory twenty-five years ago, in contrast with its civilized aspect to-day, and the pleasant features of the writer’s style, constitute the claims of his little book to present attention.”—The Dial. & N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Oe N. Y. QUERY. Can any reader of Sczence cite a case of lightning stroke in which the dissipation of a small conductor (one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter, say, ) has failed to protect between two horizon- tal planes passing through its upper and lower ends respective- ly? Plenty of cases have been found which show that when the conductor is dissipated the build- ing is not injured to the extent explained (for many of these see volumes of Philosophical Trans- actions at the time when light- ning was attracting the attention of the Royal Society), but not an exception is yet known, al though this query has been pub- lished far and wide among elec- tricians. First inserted June 19, 1891. No re- sj onse to date. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, N. Y. You Ought to Read The Popular Science News and Boston Journal of Chemistry. Only one dollar till July, 1894. A scientific newspaper for unscientific readers. Address POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS CO., 5 Somerset St., Boston, Mass. Getting Thin lis often equivalent tof] I cetting ill. If loss of flesh Hcan be arrested and dis- fease baffled the ‘“ weak J spots” t eradicated. Seats Emulsion | an absolute corrective lof “weak spots.” It is af | builder of worn out failing | | tissue—wature's food that } istops waste and creates | healthy flesh. f Prepzred by Scott & Bawne, Chemists, 4 New 3 Yor ie Sold by druggists every Ww. here: in the system are f 1S HANDY BOOKS. PRACTICAL ELECTRICS, a universal handy book 2 eye day Electrical matters, fourth edition. ages, r2vo, cloth, price 75 cents. ELE TRICAL "PABLES AND MEMORANDA for Engineers, by Silvanus P. coer 128 pages, Illustrated, 64 mo, roan, so cent: A SYSTEM OF EASY LETTERING by Howard Cromwell, 32 different styles, so cents. THE ORNAMENTAL Penman’s pocketbook of alphabets,37 different styles, 20 cents. Books mailed’ post paid to any address on re- ceipt of publishes price. SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, Mention this see 12 Cortlandt St., N. ¥ Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Mineral Water For Liver, Kidney and B_dder Troublez. For Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright’s Disease, Diabetes. For Hemorrhoids, Etc. It has been used medicinally and prescribed by physicians for nearly one hundred years. DIRECT TIONS:—Take one or two glasses about & half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50 Bedfurd, Pa. Bedford Mineral Springs Co.. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. Nowupaper Clippings. 25,000 in Stock. What do you want? Let us know. We can supply you. The Clemens News Agemey, Box 2329. San Francisco, Cal. AMERICAN SCIENCE SERIES. € BARKER’sS PHYSICS. Advanced course. REMSEN’s CHEMISTRY. 3 courses. PacKarp’s ZooLoay. 3 courses. MartTin’s Human Bopy. 3 courses. WALEER’s Po.iticaL Economy. 3 courses. Newcoms & HoLpEN’s ASTRONOMY. 2 courses. BEssEY’s BoTany. 2 courses. JaMES’s PsycHOLoGY. 2 courses, SEDGwicK & Wiuson’s BIoLoey. HENRY HOLT & CO., N.Y. SCIENCE CLUBBING RATES. 10% DISCOUNT. We will allow the above discount to any subscriber to Science who will send us an order for periodicals exceeding $10, counting each at its full price. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. Pe CE NEW YORK, OCTOBER 27, 1893. THE VISITORS TO ONE OAK TREE. BY MORRIS GIBBS, KALAMAZOO, MICH. Onz of the pleasures in the study of nature is in keep- ing a correct record of one’s observations for a series of years. Twenty five years ago the writer ‘began a record or list of the birds, mammals and insects seen in a village yard. The lot is five by twelve rods in size, and within this area and over it there have been seen one hundred and thirty-four species of birds, the large majority of which were recorded during the migrations. Of this number nineteen species have been found breeding in the lot. In this yard are a variety of trees and shrubs, a bound- ary evergreen hedge, and just outside of it are many sur- rounding trees. ‘These trees afford resting places for many birds, and during migrations most of those birds which pass through our city of 20,000 inhabitants, usually visit our yard. There is one tree in particular in the lot, a thickly foliaged, low-spreading Burr Oak, Quercus macrocarpa well covered with a netting of the common creeper of this section Ampelopsis quinquefolia, to which the birds are especially attracted. : During the last decade many changes have taken place in our city lot and the attractions for migrants are not as many as formerly, and furthermore, the former quiet vil- lage, now a thriving city, is not invaded by as many of the feathered tribe, as the active migrants prefer the suburbs in their seasonal journeyings. Nevertheless, as the following observations show, many kinds of birds wander into the city, while a few of our commoner species make their home in our midst; some as summer sojour- ners and others as regular residents or winter visitors. The oak tree to which I refer stands in our front yard and is readily inspected from the house veranda. At ° times the tree is alive with birds, and I have often seen three to five species in the branches at once, and on one occasion seven species, including bluejay, robin, yellow- rump, and Tennessee warblers, bronzed grackle, chipping and the ubiquetous European sparrow. ‘The following sixty-four species have been identified while in the branches of the burr oak: A score of years or more ago the wild or passenger pi- geon was known toalight in this tree. The sharp-shinned hawk once accidentally selected the oak in the autumn for a place of observation in his admirable warfare on the pertinacious imported sparrow. ‘Those peculiar and mys- terious birds commonly known as rain crows, or more in- telligently as cuckoos, are occasional summer visitors, the black-billed quite commonly, while the rarer species, the yellow-billed has been seen but once, but it is becoming more common hereabouts. Of the wood peckers, five have been seen, the yellow- bellied appears in April and stays a month ; red-head and golden-wing straggle into the city and to our tree irregu- larly from March to November. The hairy and downy wood peckers are not rarely observed spring and fall, the latter often in winter. Others who visit the oak along with the wood peckers and who feed on much the same kind of food taken from the crevices of the rough bark, are the nuthatches, the white-breast being a resident while the red-belly isa straggler from the north. That mite of flesh and blood, the brown creeper, searches the trunk from base to main fork, and is seen off and on from November to April, of- ten in company with the titmouse or common chickadee. Two other diminutive birds, but not quite so hardy, are the golden and ruby-crowned kinglets which are regular spring and fall visitors. A not rare winter visitor is the common red crossbill of the north, which occasionally alights in flocks in our oak, and flocks of red polls often come to town. Still another not always recognized northern bird is the little pine siskin, while I have seen the even less known pine and evening grosbeaks. I have also observed the great northern shrike or butcher-bird. The bluejay is a resident and is seen every month in the tree without an exception. The goldfinch is also a resident but is noticed more often in the oak during summer. Snow birds of the slate-col- ored species and tree sparrows are seen in fall, winter and spring, the former commonly, the latter rarely about our oak. The cedar bird, a resident, yet so erratic in its ap- pearance, may be seen in summer or winter, but never singly, and never to be relied upon. In the early spring, often in late February the robin and blue bird lend their presence, the former caroling from the topmost branches of the still bare-limbed tree. The next thrush to show itself is the hermit, which, though usually a ground species, sometimes flies into the lower branches on its way north. Sometimes a cat bird has visited the oak. JI once heard a veery’s song in the tree, and a dead specimen of the olive-backed thrush lying beneath the branches proved that an unfortunate exam- ple of this retiring species had taken the city route and probably been sacrificed to the skill of a boy with an air- gun or sling shot. Among the spring sparrows [have seen the purple finch, which with the song sparrow often appear before the snow is gone, after which the little hair bird or chippy shows itself. Then follows the white-throated sparrow with its beautiful song which has been likened to the syl- lables pea body, peu body, pea body. Lastly appear the rose-breasted grosbeak and indigo bird of the family, both of which sometimes sing from our oak. Of the blackbirds the bronzed grackle arrives first, gen- erally in early March, the cowbird appearing the latter part of the month. A meadow lark once paused in its flight accross the city and uttered its stridulous zeet from our oak. Nextin this family appears that brilliant oriole, Lord Baltimore, and later the plainer relative but sweeter songster the orchard oriole. In late April the chimmey swifts arrive but do not ap- proach our oak until late May, when inexperienced birds may sometimes be seen to attempt to break off the strong twigs for their stick nests. Humming birds with ruby throats are often seen to alight on the oak which is next to a large trumpet creeper. The fly-catchers are represented by three species. King- birds, common and wood pewees are all visitors, the latter almost daily during summer. That beautiful singer, as well as bird of handsome plumage, the scarlet tanager sometimes wanders into town, and on one occasion I ob- served one in our oak. The house wren which nests in the neighborhood is often seen. In the grand rush of migrants which occurs from April twentieth to May fifteenth, and during which time over 226 one-half innumbers of all migrating birds, reach or pass us, we are visited by a large series of birds, mostly small ones, which go further north to breed. The following have been observed in our oak: Nashville, parula, yellow- rumped, black-throated green, Tennessee and Wilson's warbler and the water thrush, while the black and white creeper and Blackburnian warblers remain to nest to some extent in the county. Among the vireos, three, the warbling, red-eye and yel- low-throated, occasionally visit our tree, and all nest in the county. The blue-gray gnatcatcher, although a wood- land species, occasionally wanders to our oak. Three species, the bluejay, robin and chipping spar- row, have rested in this tree during my observations. It will occupy too much of your space to enumerate the many species of insects which have been found feeding on the foliage or resting on the trunk or limbs of this one tree, but enough observations have been presented to sug- gest the value of continued notes, even on the visitors to one Oak Tree. There are many common species of birds which have not as yet been recorded, and many of them are to be looked for and may still be added to the list. A number of birds have been seen which could not be identified, and these instances have always been ignored, the above list being exact. THE USE OF TUBERCULIN AND MALLEIN .FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF TUBERCULOSIS AND GLANDERS IN ANIMALS. Snorriy after the announcement made by Koch of the effect of tuberculin, the product of the growth of the bacillus tuberculosis, upon man, the idea was suggested that tuberculin would be a very useful agent for diagnos- ing tuberculosis in cattle. This is often a very dificult matter, aud the advantage of a sure method of diagnosis was at once apparent. While it is probably true that unless the udder of a milch cow is diseased there is but little danger of the milk being contaminated with the consumption germ, the diseased animals even with incipient cases are fruitful sources for the infection of other animals as well as man. Just to what extent man contracts tuberculosis from cattle and other animals, and vice versa, to what extent animals contract this disease from man is not known and would be very difficult to determine. The probabilities, however, point in favor of the fact that cattle are often the intermediate agent in the production of consumption in man. A small quantity of tuberculin injected into cattle suf- fering from tuberculosis will cause, in diseased animals, a rise of temperature of two and a half to five degrees Fah., within eight to ten hours after the injection, while healthy animals for the most part do not respond to this test. A large number of experiments with tuberculin have been conducted, especially in Germany and France, and in general with satisfactory results. Some few cases have been noted where the animals did not respond to the test of tuberculin, but upon section proved to be diseased, while a few others that were not diseased showed a slight reaction with the tuberculin. In the first cases, however, the activity of the tuberculous lesions was not demon- strated by inoculations. It is well known that old, inact- ive lesions may be found in animals that have been slightly diseased and recovered. In the second cases the autopsies have not always been sufficiently close to prove the entire absence of disease, as there has not been an examination of the bones and spinal column. It is further possible, that the cause of infection might be present in SCIENCE: [Vol. XXII. No. 560 the animal without having reached a sufficiently advanced stage for lesions to be apparent. With a view of making tuberculin of practical value and eventually stamping out consumption among cattle, the Department of Agriculture has begun a series of ex- periments, and the report of the Secretary of Agriculture for 1892, recently issued, contains a statement from the Biochemic Laboratory of the Bureau of Animal Industry, of some of the results obtained. In this laboratory a number of tests have been made as to methods of manu- facturing tuberculin, and the Bureau has been prepared, for some time, to furnish tuberculin of its own manu- facture to Boards of Health, Experiment Stations and State Veterinarians, for practical use. In addition to these experiments this laboratory also manufactures Mallein, obtained from the growth of the bacillus malleus. The mailein is used for diagnosing glanders in horses and has proved exceedingly valuable. Through the efforts of the Bureau of Animal Industry, this product has been widely distributed in the States, - and its use in different hands has proven very satisfactory. In many instances, by its means, the disease in apparently healthy horses has been detected and by the destruction of the animal the source of infection for valuable stock removed and considerable property saved. As the tuberculin and mallein are made thus under government control and in one laboratory, the product is uniform in character,and can be prepared at a very much less cost than the imported tuberculin can be purchased. By the use of these two diagnostic agents the Depart- ment hopes to be able to do a great deal in the way of exterminating two dangerous diseases. Whether or not it would be practical to stamp out tuberculosis among cattle by killing all diseased or suspicious animals, is a question, but it would be possible by the use of tuber- culin and proper sanitary regulations to check the ad- vance of the disease and confine it within prescribed areas. Tt is along this line of investigation that advance in the future, in human and veterinary medicine, will be made, and the Department of Agriculture in looking to a control of tuberculosis and glanders is keeping in view, not only the best interests of the agricultural classes, but of the people in general. « Bros.” NOTES AND NEWS. Ir nas been said that “the little red schoolhouse” was the corner stone of American civilization, and from the very force of sentiment and historical memories the coun- try school of New England retains its hold upon thou- sands who may have never entered its doors In “The Country School in New England,” written and illustrated by Clifton Johnson, the author describes the winter and summer terms, the scholars in their classes and at the blackboard, their punishments, their fishing and coasting, their duties and amusements on the farm—ain short, the every-day life of the boys and girls of rural New Eng- land in the days of our fathers and our own. Every phase of his subject is aptly illustrated with pictures from life. There are over sixty illustrations in this book, which is to be published immediately by D. Appleton & Co. —A scientific session of the National Academy of Sciences will be held in Albany, in the Capitol, Nov. 7, be- ginning at 11 4.m. Members who have. papers for this meeting may send the titles to Prof. Lewis Boss, Dudley Observatory, Albany, New York. A special stated session of the Academy is called for Weduesday, Nov. 8, in Al- bany, to consider the President’s Annual Report to Con- gress, and other business that may come before the Acad- emy. October 27, 1893.] . SCIENCE. 227 . ey be) tS) SCIEN GE: 2 Ie 2 ¥ ict Se ° 2 By a B ee PusuisHeD By N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broapway, New York. eo cieeamnce ac) 2 4 A o 6B SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. ay ~~ ; ® a } To any contributor, on request in advance, one hundred copies of the issue rs to a (S ies] “1 containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- ss os x bo a2 plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as nS) S = 2 | for obvious reasons we desire to circulate as many copies of SCIENCE as pos- S © oS IS a a sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprint- Ot ar D = edelsewere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for iS) a5 eS 5 photo-engraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manu- S Ss z= aed (os) 5 scripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of 4 a par oO = 3 postage accompanies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion xs ws “a & = Q i must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer; not necessa- ia oo 44 on) iol DQ tily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold our- Ss =) bo = selves responsible for any view or opinions expressed in the communications = of our correspondents. Fu GO} vn COMER by a a Attention is called to the ‘‘Wants’’ column. It is invaluable to those who nS Ss = o . oO use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and ad- 2 S dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to ~ so a 8 Es 03 them. The “Exchange” column is likewise open. BS a oS j o ———————— eS ee bo io) f ! s RS | Ss Te oO MENTAL IMAGES. eS Sec © = BY E. A. KIRKPATRICK, WINONA, MINN. Se eS mes : : : o S Spencer, in his “Philosophy of Style,” decides in favor of the English custom of placing the adjective before the eats COV ey = ” : ce Re es ey 6S noun because when the word “horse,” for example, is a © ow & pronounced, there tends to arise in the mind a mental S Pas Sf & © image of a horse, probably of a brown color, since that is Gi 2 7 ie z most common, and when the adjective “black” follows, as ar in French, this image must be changed, producing ie = eS i) FR Oy hindrance. While listening to a recitation upon this oS 6S 8 7) ea a Sane well-known passage, in a high school, the question came Dm of eo @ SS to me: “Do people form distinct mental images when Cee > a ; = x wordsare spoken?” Iimmediately obtained permission to 2 test the matter there and later in the grammar school ag Mis | 4 and in a college in the same town. aS. fs = The following ten words were selected and pronounced, Cems 8 one at a time, the pupils being requested to write down co Se ~ just what came into their minds when the words were spoken: “church,” “book,” “drum,” “tree,” “horse,” “dog,” i oo 1 ee > c SD GG > ¢¢ 2» ¢¢ » 5 ho e ler) So ies] kn The answers were various, and of all grades of distinct- ness and vagueness, so that the task of classifying them rp x = i was very difficult. This standard was finally adopted. If See to a the writer mentioned the size and color of the object, or Boho) (com z, named an individual or species of the general class indi- > See 5 cated by the word, his mental image was counted as a distinct mental image, otherwise it was not. Three Co oie verae i= = classes of visual images were found: (1) distinct, includ- Fahey. |) B Q : : Ee ing all that conformed to the standard given above; (2) mw OD = ¢ 2 particular, including those of the above that were of par- Corelle amet ~ & ticular or individual things; (3) indistinct images, or none. nD The auditory and tactile images, which were very few in 9 OP ie we Q = number, were classified separately. Sel a 9 ee 3. = : : Ee The general results for the different grades of pupils 6 OM KS eS EE 2 R : = : nD and classes of students, and the sexes are shown in Cee Ss 5 a table I. It will be seen from the general average that for those © MW Pox i ee Gone 5 . So a persons and those words distinct visual images were S Sos “ «& found in about three-fourths of the cases. The conditions S Sea = | were much more favorable, however, for forming mental Ceo ae Oren J images than are present in ordinary reading or listening. 2 More time was allowed between the words. A tendency SS i eg = a . . © (o'o bo ~ r to form mental images was excited by the preliminary Raomese co aimcs "ks, and the fact that th re to writ : a Zi remarks, an e fac a ey were to write some eo p A ew we 4 thing tended to make them form more distinct men- Ca oy ~~ I — v 228 tal images. In a subsequent experiment upon about two hundred normal students, when more care was taken not to make the preliminary explanations sug- gestive, the number of distinct mental images was about ten per cent less, and in the case of four hun- dred school children considerably less than that, but in this latter case many did not understand what was wanted. When particular things are thought of the descriptions may have been given from memory, in some cases, with- out any distinct mental image being present, but the general term was, at any rate, translated into a particular thing which represented the class. These results do not - prove that in reading three-fourths of the names call up distinct mental images, but they indicate that in a large proportion of cases there is a strong tendency to form such images, which is probably often effective in slow, careful reading. It will be seen that the females show a stronger ten- dency to form mental images than the males. This is especially evident when the particular images, which are less surely distinct, are not counted. The numbers in each grade or class are so few and the ages of the mem- bers in each so different that not much importance can be attached to the differences shown in the table. It is significant, however, that among the college students, where, all being adults, age is a less important factor, and where each year they take up more abstract subjects, the tendency to form distinct mental images decreases from the lower to the higher classes. Galton, in his study of mental imagery, found that some eminent men who had spent many years in abstract studies, were utterly unable to form distinct mental images. On the other hand those who deal much with objects sometimes form mental images as distinct and vivid as the original, as, for ex- ample, the painter mentioned by Taine, who looked at his subjects when sketching the general outline, then filled in the details from the mental image he had formed. The results classified according to the age of the sub- _ jects are given in table II: SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 560 lipy ee a5} 1G UY 387-12 3 410-29 39-29 23-11 and for girls: 48-33 3 31-2 3 7-23 3 I arranged in marking the papers so that I should not know the age of the subject whose answers I was classifying, hence my judgment could not have been in- fluenced by my theory. The large number of distinct images formed by boys of fifteen compared with those of other ages, especially fourteen and seventeen, is again very marked. There is considerable probability that the law of change in the tendency to form mental images is somewhat like this. The tendency to form mental images decreases just before the period of adoles- cence, increases very rapidly early in that period, de- creases at its close, then increases or decreases according as the occupations and studies fayor or oppose the ten- dency. More extensive experiments and more exact methods will be required to demonstrate the law. The words used were not all equally effective in calling up mental images, but the difference is not very marked. Table III shows the per cents for the different words with the high school pupils: “Church,” being the least general term in the list, pro- duces the most distinct images, hut a large proportion of them are particular, usually of the one the writer attends. The following are typical answers: School Children— “Methodist church front door,” “Congregational church with a large crowd singing,” ‘A country church with a steeple,’ “A large white church with people going in and out,” ‘Word ‘church’ printed,’ “A little white church on a hill in Ovid.” College Students—“, ae ve so G&G G& 5 moe A Sea 2 Saas x ES S&S (o) CU ue) S 2 = = a gq BO —~ DS tA SI S cg 8 t| © aK @ ie - & £. © @o €& i] @& GQ °° noo S ® Wel wa S oC © ao 3 so 4 SB SP s & Co Gy Ven > e ~~ o SS Sa eS SH = eo Qa & B S teeoas ° SS 4 Ee Se DP eS) |S: eS 5 Sos = printed matter,” “Indefinite, stiff cover, open,’ “A 12mo. bound in eloth, black in color,” ‘Indistinct form of a book,” “Hawthorne’s House of Seven Gables,’ “A small black book.” SCIENCE. 229 The word drum called forth remarkably few auditory images. The Salvation Army drum which had been car- ried through the streets every evening for some time was most commonly thought of, the image usually being vis- ual. Drums in certain bands were next most common. School Children.—“Circus parade,” “Large base drum with sticks on it,” “Small, with a very pretty girl playing,” “Small drum with silver bands,” “An army,” “Har drum,” “A little drummer boy in a crowd and fifers.” College Stu- dents.—“A large noisy instrument with a man or boy at- tachment,” “My little brother using his drum,” “Picture in mind of a drum, size medium, red trimmings, stretched skin across the top, cord on the sides’ (evidently this image became distinct as the writer wrote the descrip- tion), “My little cousin and his drum, auditory as well as visual,” “A big base drum with a man pounding on it,’ “A band walking the street,” “Drum of my native city with name of town in black letters,’ “An old drum I had in my childhood,” “Noise and Fourth of July proces- sion,” “Form [?] and their sound,” “Image of a child’s drum with red ornaments.” The word tree called forth images of nearly every kind of tree growing in that region and some that do not. The maple was most frequently mentioned by the school chil- dren, probably because they were specially interested in it at that time of year. The particular trees were usually of the school grounds, the college campus, or the yard at home. Although the trees were bare at that time, many of the images were of trees in full leaf. School Children.—‘Maple tree tapped, with a sap can,” “The cherry tree that George Washington cut down,” “Tree of life,” “A maple tree tall and straight, but leaves withered,” “I fancy I am sitting under it in summer time eating apples,” “A tall tree with spreading branches,” “An apple tree in blossom,” “A tree without leaves, maple, I think,” “Big trees in California.” College Stu- dents—“A representation of vegetable life, something growing,” “Green leaves and shade,” “That of a dream I had last night,’ “A particular tree which, when I began drawing lessons, J pictured,” “Hear the rustle of the leaves moved by the wind,” “Mass of foliage,” “A sym- metrical body,” ‘“Leafless trees, bare branches,” “A large stately oak.” The word horse called up images of horses of all sizes, ages and colors, the particular horse thought of usually being that belonging to the family. School Children.—“‘Axtell” (the noted Iowa trotter), “A bay horse attached to a red-wheeled buggy,” “A horse with wings,” “Geo. H. trying to hold a runaway horse,” “Maud 8,” “Black horse in a red barn,” “A black horse going at full speed,” “The horse I draw pictures of,” . “Team I saw this morning.” College Students.—“ Ticknor & Co., 21 1 Tremont St, Boston. THE AMERICAN RACK. By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. wher filtered through windows covered with CRYSTOGRAPHS, a substitute for Stained Glass that is inexpensive, beautiful, and easily applied. BUILDING BOOKS. DRAWING _ INSTRUMENTS. 20c. per square foot. Sampies and catalogue, i0c. CRYSTOGRAPH C@., 316 North Broad St., Philadelphia, “ machine separate, $4.50 and up. * Educated agents wanted. Puysi CAL CULTURE Cuarrt, with illustrated directions for de- veloping every part of the body healthfully, 50 cts. Sent for half price to those naming this paper. WHITNEY HOME GYMNASIUM CO., Box D., Rochester, N. Y. 6 Shoulders and Upper Back good for Round Shoulders A ELEVENTH YEAR. Vor. XXII. No. 561. NOVEMBLRE. 3, 1898. SINGLE Copies, TEN CENTS. $3.50 Per YEAR, IN ADVANCE. CONTENTS. Costa Rica atthe Exposition. Frederick Starr. 239 Wotestan dN wiser rk tectieciniseye eileen cree - eee 240 Engineering Laboratories. R.C. Carpenter... 241 Animal Biology in High Schools and Colleges. W. Xavier Sudduth, A. M., M..D............ 242 The Silver Question and Bimetalism. J. James COUSINS iodo nanonsnsotsooounon snosoneaBananods > 243 Faith in the Integrity of the Interstellar Medi- Wid, IWS Wolkera Wels one dbacooaqe0b00n00000 243 City Birds of Denver, Colorado. Horace G. OLED pete rcenctayarstotenn niente cio a alonpesel (ae age stale 244 Overhead Sounds inthe Vic:nity of Yellow- stone Lake. Edwin Linton................. 244 The Place of Museums in Education. Thomas CrROGinOOs) goss baoncodaacquogsendeEoDRAbe 50 246 Letters to the Editor: Feigned Death in Snakes. Dallas L. 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With twenty colored plates, two-thirds natural size, and six diagrams. Paper. 4to. $2.50. “The scheme is admirably carried out, and the plates most reliable.... We can confidently recommend the work.’’—Guy’s Hospital Gazette. The Amphioxus and its Developement. By Dr. B. Harscuer, Professor of Zoology in the Uni- versity of Prague. Translated and Edited by James Tuckey, M. A., Lecturer in the University of Durham. With nine full page Illustrations. r2mo. $1.50 net. Electrical Papers. By Oriver Heavisipe. Two vols., 8vo, $10.00. The new complete Catalogue of Macmillan & Co.’s Publications, with classified index, sent free to any address, on application. *, Messrs Macmillan & Co. have removed to their new premises at 66 Fifth Avenue. MACMILLAN & CO, 66 Fifth Avenue, New York. Q il SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 561 : THE WINNIPEG COUNTRY; | —<—————___— Probably you take oR, Looki ng Better THE ROUGHING 17 WITH AN ECLIPSE PARTY. vices in every. BY There's Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity do. If you do not, now is a good time to begin. It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty cents. Address: @ The Electrical Engineer, 203 Broadway, - - - New York, N.Y THE Anertean Dell Telephon COMPANY. 125 MILK $T., BOSTON, MASS, This Company owns the Letters - Patent No. 186,787, granted to Alexander Graham Bell, January 80th, 1877, the scope of which has been defined by the Supreme Court of the United States in the following terms: ‘The patent itself is for the mechanical structure of an electric telephone to be used to produce the electrical action on which the first patent rests. The third claim is for the use in such instruments of a diaphragm, made of a plate of iron or steel, or other ma- terial capable of inductive action; the fifth, of a permanent magnet constructed as de- scribed with a coil upon the end or ends nearest the plate; the sixth, of a sounding box as described; the seventh, of a speaking or hearing tube as described for conveying the sounds; and the eighth, of a permanent magnet and plate combined. The claim is not for these several things in and of them- selves, but for an electric telephone in the construction of which these things or any of them are used.’’ »This Company also owns Letters-Patent No. 463,569, granted to Emile Berliner, No- vember 17, 1891, for a combined Telegraph and Telephone, and controls Letters-Patent No. 474,231, granted to Thomas A. Edison, May 38, 1892, for a Speaking Telegraph, which cover fundamental inventions and embrace all forms of microphone transmit- ters and of carbon telephones. Ce “A. ROCHESTER FELLOW. (S. H. SCUDDER.) With thirty-two Illustrations and a Map. 12°. $i00! “This is a sprightly narrative of personal inci dent. The book will be a pleasant reminder to many of rough experiences on a frontier which is rapidly receding.” —Boston Transcript. “The picture of our desolate North-western terri- tory twenty-five years ago, in contrast with its civilized aspect to-day, and the pleasant features of the writer’s style, constitute the claims of his little book to present attention.”—The Dial. aQ NG N. D. C. BODGES, 874 Broadway, ¥. QUERY. Can any reader of Sczence cite a case of lightning stroke in which the dissipation of a small conductor (one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter, say,) has failed to protect between two horizon- tal planes passing through its upper and lower ends respective- ly? Plenty of cases have been found which show that when the conductor is dissipated the build- ing is not injured to the extent explained (for many of these see volumes of Philosophical Trans- actions at the time when light- ning was attracting the attention of the Royal Society), but not an exception is yet known, al though this query has been pub- lished far and wide among elec- tricians. First inserted June 19, 1891. No re- sponse to date. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, ¥. Y. You Ought to Read The Popular Science News and Boston Journal of Chemistry. Only one dollar till July, 1894. A scientific newspaper for unscientific readers. Address POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS CO., 5 Somerset St., Boston, Mass. way. more consolation in that than well people stop to / ponder. To get in back flesh and spirits is every- thing. scoti’s Emulsion of pure Cod Liver Oil with Hypo- phosphites is prescribed by lead- ing physicians everywhere for ail- ments that are causing rapid loss of flesh and vital strength. Scott’s Emulsion will do more than to stop a lingering Cough— it fortifies the system AGAINST coughs and coids. Prepared by Scott & Bowne, N. Y. All druggists. HANDY BOOKS. PRACTICAL ELECTRICS, a universal handy book no every day Electrical matters, fourth edition. 135pages, r2avo, cloth, price 75 cents. ELECTRICAL "PABLES AND MEMORANDA for Engineers, by Silvanus P. Thompson, 128 pages, Illustrated, 64 mo, roan, so cents. A SYSTEM OF EASY LETTERING by Howard Cromwell, 32 different styles, 50 cents. THE ORNAMENTAL Penman’s pocketbook of alphabets,37 djfferent styles, 20cents. Books mailed post paid to any address on re- céipt of published price. SPO N & CHAMBERLAIN, Mention this paper. x2 Cortlandt St., N. Y Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Mineral Water For Liver, Kidney and B_ dder Troubles. For Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright’s Disease, Diabetes. For Hemorrhoids, Etc. It has been used medicinally and prescribed by physicians for nearly one hundred years. DIRECTIONS:—Take one or two glasses about a half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50. Bedford Mineral Springs Co., Bedford, Pa. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. Newspaper Clippings. 25,000 in Stock. What do you want? Let us know. We can supply you. The Clemens News Agency, Box 2329. Sam Francisco, Cal~ STERBROOK’S STEEL PENS. OF SUPERIOR AND STANDARD QUALITY. Leading Nos.: 048, 14, 130, 135, 239, 333 For Sale by all Stationers. THE ESTERBROOK STEEL PEN CO. Works: Oamden, N.J. 26 John St.. New York. SCIENCE CLUBBING RATES. 10% DISCOUNT. We will allow the above discount to any subscriber to Science who will send us an order for periodicals exceeding $10, counting each at its full price. N. D. €. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. Ei NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 3, 1893. COSTA RICA AT THE EXPOSITION. BY FREDERICK STARR, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, CHICAGO, ILL. Tue visitor in the Anthropological Building experi- enced a real delight and relief in coming upon the ex- hibit from Costa Rica. The displays in its neighborhood (from Mexico, Brazil and Paraguay) contained much of interest, but were inartistic and lacking in unity. The Costa Rica exhibit was in some ways a model. The pavilion itself is quaint and attractive. A space of perhaps fifty feet by thirty is enclosed by arather high board wall. Two doorways, facing each other, are in the middle of the longer sides. These doorways reproduce ancient flat-topped stone arches, decorated at their top corners with coarsely carved heads and squat figures. Large oil paintings hang on the external walls, one on each side of each doorway. They are set in wide gilded frames which are decorated with fret patterns copied from the stone ruins of Central America at «ne sides, while the upper border consists of enlargements copied from the grotesque bird and other figurines of gold which are found in the ancient graves. The pictures rep- resent: (a) an Indian hut from Talamanca, (b) a view on the Uren River, (c) a chief’s summer hut, in the Suerre Valley, dating back to 1544, (d) an Indian hut in San Bernardo, Sipurio, Uren Valley. Entering the pavilion the visitor finds at the middle of the narrower sides gilded medalions, one of Vasquez de Coronado, the other of Isabel la Catolica. Kach is the cen- tre of a trophy composed of spears, bows, drums, nettings and fabrics of the modern Indians of Costa Rica. Up- right frames, copper bronzed, with ornamentation de- rived from the old figurines contain full length and about life-size paintings of (a) a Talamanca Indian, with necklace of teeth, red ribbon hair-band, staff and breech- clout; (b) a Talamanca Indian woman with a little boy standing by her: the child is naked, while the woman wears a narrow red ribbon in her hair, a necklace of narrow strands, and a skirt cloth about her waist; (c) In- dian of Guatuso, seated on a stone with hands on knees and wearing a breech-clout; (d) an Indian woman of Guatuso with waist cloth and cap. On the broader walls are also pictures, in horizontal frames, green bronzed and with ornamental patterns of frets and figurines. These pictures are in pairs, are on each side of each doorway and represent old Guetar graves, walled up with either rough rounded stones or narrow slabs. The details of construction are shown and the methods of archzolog- ical exploration. All of these oil paintings are by one artist—S. Llorente. The pavilion containing four hand- some upright cases of oak, with plate glass doors, con- structed for display on all four sides, and with a crimson or maroon background. In these and in flat cases about the sides of the pavilion is a choice series of archeological specimens. Objects too large for the cases are arranged on individual supports in various parts of the room. The ancient art of Costa Rica is very near, if not iden- tical, to that of Chiriqui, so well described by Mr. Holmes. In the series here shown there are many metates or stones on which corn is ground. Some of these appear to be quite recent and are no doubt used by the present Indians. They are made from a grayish, por- ous, volcanic rock, and usually present a rounded cor- nered, slightly basined, squarish upper surface, on which the grinding is done, supported by queer animal cary- ings. Stools of similar material arenumerous. These pre- sent fairly flat wind tops, supported by a carved openwork base, in geometrical patterns or representing animals; sometimes a band about the upper edge is carved with a line of faces or grotesque heads. Very common are human heads, carved in the volcanic material, displaying considerable variety in feature, and some with tattooed patterns on the cheeks, or with headdresses. Less com- mon, apparently, are the heads of mammalia, some of them admirably done. Full length human figures, about a foot in length, representing both sexes, the sexual or- gans being, at times, strongly marked, are not uncom- mon. ‘These are commonly in the same position, the hands stiffly clasped upon the waist, the arms to the elbows closely against the sides. Yet more numerous are the quaint little figures, some six to ten inches high, squatting, with knees drawn up in front and the elbows resting on these. In some cases both hands are held to the chin or mouth; in others one hand is at the mouth and the other is on the knee. In almost, if not quite, all of these the head is exaggeratedly long and fre- quently bears a headdress or curious hair arrangement. Many hold a somewhat long cylindrical or barrel-shaped object to the mouth, with one or both hands. This ob- ject resembles somewhat an ear of corn, but the Costa Rica archeologists, I believe, consider it a cigar. In the flat cases is a large series of celts, or polished stone blades, mostly of the usual Antillean or Central Amer- ican type. Many more special forms of stone objects might be mentioned, but we must pass to the fine series of pottery. Here there are vases and jars of many forms in colors, commonly red or brown. Some are painted, others deco- rated with grotesque animal or human devices in relief; others quite plain. Many of the jars are tripod supported, and the legs are frequently hollow and with a little rat- tling ball of clay inside. Terra cotta whistles are plenti- ful—some simple, some in bird forms, some human figur- ines. Among these last are a few elaborate female figures, several inches high, with a considerable number of apertures to give a range of notes. Some plain ones are distinctly ocarinas. Rare, apparently, are the terra cotta rattles, copied after gourd rattles, and body and handle made in one piece. Very numerous are the little, flat, round, spoon-shaped censers, with handles wonder- fully varied in ornamentation. Scores of pottery rings, like napkin rings, contracted usually about a middle zone, are plain, incised, or decorated with reliefs. In all the pottery, and of course we have not mentioned all the vari- ety, there is similarity or identity with the Chiriqui work described by Mr. Holmes. We find the same identity in the gold figurines, a fair series of which are displayed in two little wall frames. There are quaint and grotesque figures of birds, beasts, frogs and nondescripts. With these are a few of the lit- tle bronze bells (something like sleigh bells) and some thin, rather broad disks of gold, three of them with de- signs worked out upon them. It must be plain to the readers that the little republic has done herself credit. The exhibit was at Madrid last year, and there an excellent catalog in Spanish was print- ed. The collection is displayed by the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica. Space does not permit tracing the history of this young institution, but we must say that the credit of the present exposition on its behalf is in large part due to three gentlemen: J. Arellano, M. M. de Peralta and A. Alfaro. 240 NOTES AND NEWS. Tur Contemporary Publishing Co. have a book of value to young mothers in “Nursery Problems,” edited by Dr. Leroy M. Yale, medical editor of Labyhood. —Kstes & Lauriat have just ready for the holiday sea- son a new volume of the Zigzag Series, “Zigzag Journeys on the Mediterranean,’ in which the author takes his readers to the classic cities along the shores of the his- toric sea, where they listen to many a folk-story and Ori- ental legend. —Considerable interest is felt in the announcement that the first number of the Psychological Review will be published early in 1894. It will contribute to the ad- vancement of psychology by printing original research, constructive and critical articles, and reviews. The growth of scientific psychology in America during the past few years has been rapid, and it is felt that a Review is needed which will represent this forward movement with equal regard to all branches and to all universities and contributors. The Review will be edited by Pro- fessor J. Mark Baldwin (Princeton) and Professor J. Mc- Keen Cattell (Columbia), with the co-operation of Pro- fessor A. Binet (Paris), Professor John Dewey (Michigan), Professor H. H. Donaldson (Chicago), Professor G. S. Fullerton (Pennsylvania), Professor William James (Har- vard), Professor G. I’. Ladd (Yale), and Professor Hugo Muensterberg (Harvard). The Psychological Review will be published by Messrs. Macmillan & Co., of New York and London, and all matter pertaining to its business management should be sent to the publishers; communi- cations regarding contributions to the editors direct. Subscriptions should be sent to the publishers. Price of single number, 75 cents. Subscription, $4.00 a year (the yolume contains about 600 pages). —Swan Sonnenschein & Co. announce a new book for im- mediate publication, under the title of “Modern Mystics and Modern Magic,” by Arthur Lillie, containing a full biography of tha Rev. W. Stainton Moses, together with sketches of Swedenborg, Boehme, Mme. Guyon, the Illu- minati, the Kabbalists, the Theosophists, the French Spir- itists, the socieiy of Psychical Research, etc. —Tne translation of the Slavonic versions of the Book of Enoch by Mr. Morfill, announced for early publication by the Clarendon Press, will be delayed in its appearance, owing to the discovery of fresh Slavonic mss. embodying a purer text and containing additional material. These mss. have been found by Prof. Sokolov, of Moscow, who has generously placed them at the service of Mr. Morfill. —Megsses D. Appleton & Co. announce the Anthropol- ogical Series edited by Prof. Frederick Starr, of the Uni- versity of Chicago. The books in this series will treat of ethnology, prehistoric archeology, ethnography, etc., and the purpose is to make the newest of all the sciences— anthropology—better known to intelligent readers who are not specialists and have no desire to be, although the series will be one which no special student can afford to ignore. While these books will be of general interest, they will in every case be written by authorities, and sci- entific accuracy will not be sacrificed to’ popularity. The first book in this series will be Woman’s place in Primitive Culture, by Prof. O. T. Mason, of the Smithsonian Insti- tution, wherein the author traces the division of labor be- tween man and woman, which began with the invention of fire making—a most suggestive subject, and one of im- mediate interest. Other volumes will follow shortly. —King’s Handbook of New York City,” which was first pubJished by Moses King, of Boston, about a year ago, has now appeared in a second edition and forms a handsome volume of a thousand pages. It opens with a brief sketch of the history of the city; and then goes on to speak of the harbor and the streets, the railways and the SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 561 hotels, the modes of living among the various classes of the people, the charitable institutions and all other phases of New York life that a visitor would wish to know about. Severa! chapters ear given to the government ofthecity, in- cluding the police and fire departments, and also to clubs, theatres and other centres of social life and amusement. Nor are the intellectual and moral interests of the people by any means neglected; but due notice is taken of the churches, schools, colleges and literary and scientific so- cieties, and of the libraries. But, as New York is the commercial metropolis of the continent, a large space is necessarily devoted to the vast business interests that centre there; the banks, insurance business, manufac- tures, wholesale and retail trade and all other branches of industry being described as fully as most readers will desire. This second edition of the book has been care- fully revised under the direction of Mr. King himself with the help of many assistants, and considerable new matter has been added. The illustrations, as stated in the preface, are over a thousand in number, of which three hundred first appear in this edition. The book is well printed on excellent paper, and contains an elaborate presentation of New York life and the varied interests of its people. —The Appletons have issued a pamphlet entitled “The Philosophy of History,” by Rev. HE. P. Powell, the contents of which were originally a lecture before the Brooklyn Ethical Association. The author is firmly convinced that history can be treated in a scientific manner as an orderly sequence of causes; and he accordingly lays special stress on general tendencies and on the uniformities observable in the development of different nations, while he is rather inclined to underestimate the influence of great men. His principal aim in this work, however, is to trace the suc- cessive stages in the development of society from the prim- itive family to the state, the church and the industrial organization of the present day. Of course only the barest outlines of the subject are presented; but those who are not already familiar with the evolutionary phil- osophy of history will find here an epitome of it from one ofits ardent disciples. Mr. Powellis thoroughly optimistic, maintaining not only that humanity has always progressed in the past, but also that it will continue to progress in the future. In the appendix are given the replies and criticisms of two other men, who were present when the lecture was delivered; and their remarks are worthy of attention in connection with the author's own. We are not so sanguine as Mr. Powell is that the course of history will soon be explained, but we think it ought to be treated in a philosophic spirit, and so we are glad to have the subject discussed. —The Open Court Publishing Company have issued, in pamphlet form, the address on “Our Need of Philosophy,” delivered by Dr. Paul Carus at the World’s Congress of Philosophy, in Chicago, in August last. It opens with a few remarks on the importance of philosophy to mankind in general and on the conditions on which its develop- ment depends; and then, after a brief sketch of the lead- ing characteristics of German, French and English phil- osophy, dwells on the special need of philosophy to-day for the guidance of American life. Dr. Carus pleads not only for a deeper study of philosophical problems, but also for the teaching of philosophic truth to the masses of the people, and justly remarks that “the United States of America are so constituted that we have but one choice left us: we must educate the masses, or go to the wall.” He dwells on the great opportunity that we Americans have before us, but reminds us that “an opportunity can be lost as well as improved.” The address, though short, is very good, and will interest everyone who cares for philosophy. November 3, 1893. | SCIEN GE: PusiisHeD By N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broapway, New York. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in gdvance, one hundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reascns we desire to circulate as many copies of SCIENCE as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprint- ed elsewere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitabie for photo-engraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manu- scripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accompanies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for inscrtion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer; not necessa- rily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold our- selves responsible for any view or ovinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Attention is called to the “Wants” column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and ad- dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The “Exchange” column is likewise open. ENGINEERING LABORATORIES. BY R. C. CARPENTER, ITHACA, N. Y. Tr 1s the object of the present article to point out how an-Engineering Laboratory can be equipped for a com- paratively small expenditure. Tn discussing the subject I shall confine myself purely to the educational features and will not consider the lab- oratory as a place for investigation or solution of ad- vanced engineering problems. J may also be permitted to say that there are few colleges in America, perhaps in the whole world, in which students, as a rule, gain sufii- cient culture, or indeed have suflicient time to undertake the work of investigation of engineering problems, in an undergraduate course. It is only in those courses where a great number of graduates are to be found that prob- lems of research have any legitimate home. The undergraduate laboratory should be equipped so as to demonstrate in a practical and convincing way the principal laws or facts that the student must master in order to finish his course. Its course of instruction should be such as to require systematic work of the student, teach him how to observe, how to use apparatus, how to ~ deduce conclusions from his mass of data and finally how to make a neat and systematic report of his work. Having that object in view, the best methods or means of execution remain to be sought. In this respect two courses will be open, one, which at first may seem simpler and better, consists in laying out on a single schedule all the experiments that can possibly be performed by the students, with the apparatus at command. Students are assigned to these various experiments as they report for duty. The other consists of a course in which are put the more important experiments; every student to take in turn each experiment. In laying out a system of such work it will be necessary to have a series of independent experiments for each term, so that the order in which they are taken is immaterial. From personal experience I am positive that the latter is the only way to successfully conduct an engineering laboratory, unless you are possessed of an almost infinite equipment, an unlimited patience, and an entire disregard of order, and even then a great number of students, work- ing in as many lines, would be certain to cause vexation, delay or trouble in some direction. Lesides all this the amount accomplished by an individual student is general- ly small, since a large part of his time has to be devoted SCIENCE. 241 to preparation, looking up apparatus, and in finding peo- ple willing to lend. By arranging for a certain definite number of experi- ments each day, which are sufficient for all the students reporting that day, aud repeating these day by day until each student has performed each experiment, the condi- tions are not only more favorable for systematic orderly work, but a minimum amount of apparatus will be re- quired and more efticieut and better directed instruction can be given. In such a case the apparatus is easily kept where needed and in good order, and the student can de- vote the required time purely to the experimental work. I will not deny that the work of preparation and of look- ing up apparatus is of benefit to the student, but it is not experimental work and should have a place in some other part of the curriculum. I hope I may be excused for devoting so much time to this discussion, but I feel that it is an important matter, and vital to the subject of the article. In the physical or chemical laboratory I believe that the best results are ob- tained by the first system, since working apparatus is portable, experiments quickly arranged and the results more definite and constant in character, and the same sys- tem is likely to be applied to engineering, thought not being given to the facts, that engineering constants are seldom more than coefficients, and the value is affected by. the method used in testing. In many engineering experi- ments the method is of equal or greater importance than the results. For the reasons just stated I would advise a limited number of experiments each term and require each stu- dent to take the course as laid out. I am positive that the better instruction obtained will more than offset any loss due to the want of selection. The nature of these experiments must depend upon the apparatus, but I will, however, refer to a course which might be pursued in case the equipment was extremely small. Suppose, first, the course to be in civil engineer- ing, in which case the laboratory work will relate prin- cipally to strength of materials and hydraulics, field work and astronomy, the two latter will not, however, be included in this laboratory course. The apparatus needed might be certainly as muchas could be purchased, but one testing machine of 50,000 pounds capacity, arranged for testing in tension, compression and transverse, a cement testing machine, a small drop of 100 pounds falling ten feet, and a wooden beam twenty feet long and four by eight inches in dimensions, will be found to be sufficient apparatus to keep four experiments, two men at each, in operation the entire time. The cost of such apparatus , will probably not exceed $1,000 and possibly might be less. The experiments that might be performed are almost infinite in variety in the line of strength of materials, and the students could not only obtain skill but also valuable knowledge respecting the properties of mate- rials. Some of the most interesting experiments are performed with little or no apparatus, as, for instance, by loading a beam in different ways and studying the effect on the elastic cam produced by the load in various positions. For hydraulics, little is needed but what can easily be made by resident mechanics, excepting tanks and weigh- ing serles. Weir notches and hook gauges are readily made and ensure materials for an almost endless variety of experiments. Small water motors and pumps are quite inexpensive, s0 that probably for $500 an equipment that will give six experiments and keep twelve men at work constantly can be had. If a student could spend six hours a week, which is about the amount required to complete a single experi- 242 ment and write a complete and satisfactory report, there would be found outlined, as above, sufficient for three terms or one year’s work. For mechanical engineers the field must be broadened out go as to include the various classes of prime movers, engines, boilers, gas engines, etc.; but in this case as in the other, with a few small pieces of apparatus, and a few accurate measuring instruments, a great number of useful and valuable experiments can be performed. For the purpose of investigation and study, a tool or machine rejected for inefficiency or wear by the owners, will often serve as good a purpose as a new machine. The results obtained often point out a line of practice which should not be followed, and this becomes an endur- ing lesson on the student’s mind. I have elsewhere endeavored to point out in detail methods of performing engineering experiments, and I wish to call to mind here my emphatic opinion that so far as educational results are concerned, the equipment required need not be so expensive that it cannot be fur- nished in any college of engineering in the country. It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to remark that a little apparatus, employed to advantage, is of more benefit than a large collection used merely to adorn a cabinet or to advertise a college. My own experience leads me to be- lieve that no species of instruction is of as much value to the student as that in which he participates, and knowl- edge obtained by “feeling” it out, by proving by actual experiment, remains with one and is more readily at com- mand than that obtained purely through the senses of sight and sound. This leads me to place a high value on this species of instruction, but above and aside from all this is the fact that engineering is an art, founded on imperfect applica- tions of the science of mechanics; all that we get in this line, every engineering truth, must be proved, if not orig- inated, by the laborious processes which are first taught in an engineering laboratory; and he who would advance his profession must be skilled in all that relates to obser- vation and investigation. ANIMAL BIOLOGY IN HIGH SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. BY W. XAVIER SUDDUTH, A. M., M. D., UNIVERSITY EXTENSION LECTURER AND PROFESSOR OF EMBRYOLOGY, ETC., IN THE UNIY. OF MINNESOTA, MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. No one, at the present day, questions the importance of animal biology in the curriculum of all well conducted high schools and colleges as well as in the better en- dowed universities and professional schools. The ques- tion is rather, how may this be accomplished? That there is a sad lack of competent instruction in these branches, even in schools that make it their business to educate teachers, cannot be denied. The need is only too apparent but the laboratory method is not way the to remedy the defect in our smaller colleges and high schools, because it is beyond their financial abili- ty to secure it. This obstacle may. however, be overcome toa certain ex- tent by the use of the stereopticon and lantern slides which may be had at a cost that is within the reach of any school board. The price of stereopticons has, within the past few years, been materially reduced and the qual- ity greatly improved, so that now a good working lantern with suitable accessories for projecting photo-micrographs on the screen, for ordinary class work, may be had for a CIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 561 sum as low as fifty dollars. Then again the process of re- producing histological subjects has of late been so devel- oped that they may be had from almost all dealers in school supplies at a nominal outlay. Very little has, how- ever, been written upon this method of illustrating lectures on physiology and hygiene in our public schools and it is with this in view that I have undertaken the present article. I have no hesitancy in saying, at the outset, that a better understanding of the histology of tissues can be imparted to a greater number of students in a given space of time by this means than can be-obtained by the labor- atory method. I do not desire to be understood as de- crying the practical working laboratory. Where time and equipment are sufficient no better method can be had for studying biology in all its phases, but where either of the above essentials is lacking the lantern becomes a valuable substitute, and even hen the laboratory method is em- ployed I have found the lantern a very valuable adjunct in imparting a general knowledge of the subject. Asa method of illustrating didactic lectures on histology I consider it far ahead of charts. In its use the matter of “personal equation” is reduced to the minimum, and it carries a more vivid impression of the original tissue because of the fact that it 1s a photograph. In the use of the lantern the educated senses are appealed to and valuable time saved that in the laboratory method is spent in learning the technique of the microscope which in after years is ‘of little avail unless the individual con- tinues in practical Laboratory work. If the object sought is the making of microscopists and original investigators then use the laboratory method combined with the lantern for class demonstration, but if time or equipment is a desideratum the lantern will be found to be fully adequate for good class instruction. Ten years’ experience as a teacher of biology leads me to speak thus positively on this question. Trained in the best German labor- atories I naturally followed their methods when I began teaching. Gradually the lantern was introduced to il- lustrate didactic lectures. At first use was made of the oxyhydrogen lime light for projecting actual tissues upon the sereen. Many valuable specimens were lost by over- heating. Various cells were introduced to prevent this, but they shut off the light to such an extent as to mini- mize the result desired to be obtained. I was led to sub- stitute solar light for the lime hght, but the uncertainty of the results led to its abandonment in favor of photo- micrography, and now with an imexpensive oil lantern better results are obtained by this process than formerly with the most expensive stereopticons, under the most favorable conditions. I make my own photomicrographs and find it a delightful recreation. In past years I used to keep on hand an extensive cabinet of microscopic slides for reference. for the photomicrographic negative. My custom now is to photograph all points of especial value as Iam study- ing and file the negatives away for future use. But little time is required for the work when one has a dark room handy which is fitted up for 16. The objection has been offered to photomicrography in that it only reproduced the slides in light and shade. To overcome this objection I have invented a process by which it is possible to reproduce the original stains of the microscopic slide in the lantern positive, in double stain if necessary, and that without hand-painting as was formerly required. In conclusion let me reiterate that by adopting the lantern and photomicrography the subject of animal biology may be successfully brought before the classes of our high schools and colleges, now debarred from its study by lack of suitable equipment. These have latterly been discarded: ~ ioe November 3, 1893. THE SILVER QUESTION AND BIMETALISM. BY J. JAMES COUSINS, ALLERTON PARK, CHAPEL ALLERTON, NEAR LEEDS, ENGLAND. Ipo not think any apology is needed in introducing the silver question as a scientific one, as no subject can have a deeper interest for the American scientist at the present time, than a consideration which can furnish one particle of elucidation to this most interesting and com- plicated question. Tn order to arrive at anything like a fair solution (and that is the only one the world whichis both our debtor and creditor will listen to) we must divest it of all local and national considerations, because the fact of nearly all the silver in use being the product of America, a certain amount of prejudice against American opinions and ac- tions is engendered thereby. We find it stated (Wealth of Nations Vol. 1,743. MW Cul- ? loch’s ed.)“Hvery prudent man, in every period of society, after the establishment of the division of labor,must natural- ly have endeavoured to manage his affairs in such a man- ner as to have at all times by him, besides the peculiar product of his ownindustry, a certain quantity of some one commodity or another, such as he imagined few people would be likely to refuse in exchange for the produce of their industry.” The question is, do we find in silver such a commodity? Do our creditors all over the world exhibit a willingness to accept payment for our debts in silver? The answer is obviously “no.” In the event of our succeeding in enforcing such pay- ment as a legal tender, it is certain that those who did so would buy upon worse terms than those who paid in gold, a metal which all the commercial world is craving for. Now is this craving merely sentimental, or is there good ground for its existence’ ? One thing is certain that large and important countries one after another are abandoning the double standard, and silver is the one sacrificed, “the reason for which is not far to seek. In order to successively maintain a ‘louie standard, we must be able to fix an unfailing ratio of value between the two metals, let us see if that is possible between gold and silver. We find that in the time of Julius Caesar the ratio of value between the two metals was 9 to 1; in the beginning of the present century 151% to 1, and now 27% to 1, which seems to point to an impossibility of establish- ing a ratio of value, it is obvious that to measure length astandard must have fixed length, to measure value it must have fixed value, attempts have been made by pow- erful syndicates to give an enhanced value to copper, iron, tin, cotton, corn, etc., all of which have ultimately broken down. Suppose for a moment the government of the great commercial countries of the world were to establish a bimetallic standard and accept silver as one of them. In order to be of any value to the silver interest, silver must be a legal tender to any amount. From its depreciating tendency it would soon become the one medium of exchange, and gold would assuredly be hoarded, which would prove most inconyenient, for in the event of your presenting say a cheque of $5000 for payment the banker,whoever he may be, would insist upon the customer taking silver because it paid him (the bank- er) best to do so, and it is difficult to realise the position of the customer under such circumstances, whilst the trouble and difficulty of international exchange would be greatly enhanced. I propose in a later article to introduce the subject of an international clearing house, the relief of which to the SCIENCE. 243 metallic exchange can only be appreciated by those who have a thorough knowledge of the advantages of the Lon- don clearing house, where the bulk of the trade of the United Kingdom j is settled for, upwards of twenty millions sterling per day, without the interchange of a single coin. These two subjects are so interwoven that one cannot be fairly or properly considered without the other, but this article has already run out its proper length for your columns so that I dare not do more than hint at the subject of an “International Clearing House.” I may just say in conclusion that in my opinion the “letter” of Mr. Farley who was elected President of the National Board of Trade at Washington last January, and which may be read in the official report of the proceed- ings of that meeting, whilst it contains many valuable suggestions upon the silver question, would be found as a whole to be thoroughly unworkable. FAITH IN THE INTEGRITY OF THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM. BY DE VOLSON WOOD, HOBOKGN, N. J. Tar space is not void, is conceded. That it is filled with a medium capable of transmitting ight and heat is not questioned. This medium is believed) to be uniform in density and elasticity, but the exact natuie of its consti- tution is unknown. Some believe it to be molecular like gas, while others question if its structure has been correctly defined. It makes no direct impression uvon the senses, and is known only through effects produced ; and yet, whatever be its nature, it is known to transmit a wave of light at the rate of 86,300 miles per second, there being, as a mean value, within the spectrum, about 50,000 waves in an inch, or more than 60,000,000,000,000,000 in the distance passed over in ove second. When it is con- sidered that waves are transmitted through this medium in all conceivable directions with the same velocity, some faint conception may be had of its intense activity. The complicity of the waves is transcendent, for each shade of light has its own wave length, there being about 36,000 waves to the inch in red light, and more than 64,000 in violet, and outside the visible spectrum there are less in number in one direction and more in the other. Every self-luminuous body in the universe is imparting to this medium waves of these varying lengths all travelling with a sensibly constant velocity. | When it is considered that the countless number of stars and suns, scattered promis- cuously throughout limitless space, are producing such waves, radiating from each in all possible directions, it would seem that, if they did not.actually destroy each other they would so interfere as to produce “confusion worse confounded” and the impressions upon the eye of an ob- server would be valuless. But, on the contrary, the scientist believes that this medium truly and faithfully transmits to the remotest space every wave imparted to it, preserving with the strictest integrity its individuality —except that planets and other solid bodies may destroy the waves they intercept. A star ten or more years ago started a wave which just now, “e will suppose, arrives at the earth and writes its own record on some sensitized plates, though the star may be.6,000,000,000,000 miles away. Irom these impressions the physicist finds—perhaps—that the star is double, al- though the most powerful telescope had failed to divide it, that the two revolve about each other, and he deter- mines there probable orbit, masses and velocities. Or, perhaps he finds, as in the remarkable star of 1892, that it changes from a star to anebulain a few months. In all this, no question is raised in regard to the integrity of the record, nor whether in its long journey any planet, snn, comet, meteorite or nebula has interfered to modify 244 or in any way corrupt the story it was commissioned to tell. What faith! But this is little more than the shadow of an illustration; for Herschell, the astronomer, thought it probable that we can see nebule from which it has taken light 300 000 years to reach the earth, during which time the interstellar medium has been faithful in transmitting at the rate of more than 11,000,000 miles per minute the impulse committed to it, notwithstanding its path has been crossed and recrossed by other waves without num- ber. Pen cannot adequately describe the transcendant properties of this wonderful medium called the “lumine- ferous ether’ nor to highly exalt that faith which en- ables one to implicitly believe the truthfulness of the sto- ries committed to him. Oneis led to exclaim with the Psalmist “Oh Lord! how manifold are thy works, in wis- dom thou hast made them all.” CITY BIRDS OF DENVER, COLORADO. BY HORACE G. SMITH, DENVER, COLO. Prernars some of your readers would like to know some- thing of the city birds which come about our dwellings in Denver, Colorado, and wherein they differ from the * familiar species so near to the hearts of the bird lovers who live east of the Mississippi River. To be sure, many of the Eastern species, whose geogra- phical range is so extensive find their way, across the Great Plains, to our city at the base of the Rocky Mountains, still true to the type of their eastern friends, but for the most part the species undergo a radical change when we enter the high and arid regions of the Great Plains and be- come of a bleached and faded appearance which givesrise to subspecies or varieties; or, as is often the case, a new species takes the place of its eastern relative. Amoug those species which we have in common, the Yellow warbler (Dendroica aestiva) is perhaps one of the most familiar summer residents, and its neat little nest is often built in the shade trees along our streets or in the shrubbery of some garden, and its familiar song is heard even in the heat of midday, when most birds are silent. Scarcely less noticeable is the Kingbird or Bee Martin (Tyrannus tyrannus,) the Cliff swallow and the Barn swal- low, whose habits are well known to most readers and may not be detailed here, though I may mention that a pair of Barn swallows has returned to the writer’s barn- loft for about fifteen successive years, and when unmoles- ted has reared two broods per season. Their mode of entrance was through an open window, which they usu- ally found shut upon their return migration in the spring, but would soon make their presence known by repeated scoldings and flutterings before the glass and would en- ter and take possession as soon as the window was opened. Hence I suppose it to be the same pair, though the evi- dence is not conclusive. Perhaps the most conspicuous of our summer birds is Bullock’s oriole, which takes the place of the Baltimore oriole of the east. This brilliant bird is a common breed- er over the entire city, wherever trees are found in which to built its swaying nest, and itis not an uncom- mon occurrence to find several nests—which have been built in successive years—in the same tree. I heve often watched these birds in the early morning, searching for insects in the are light globes; their method being to enter the globe for any tempting morsel and then flying to the next in line. Speaking of the electric hghts reminds me of the little House finch (Carpodacums in frontalis) whose song often cheers us in the winter time, when most birds are silent. It would be hard to part with this little bird, for his song is rich and pleasing. Being a resident with us, they rear their young near to our homes, usually in trees or cre- SCIENCE: - [Vol. XXII. No. 561 vices of buildings, but being progressive they have length- ened their breeding season by taking advantage of the heat furnished by the electric lights, by building their nests in the lamp shades above the lights, thus bemg en- tirely protected from the weather. The past summer I was told by one of the trimmers that nearly every light on his beat contained one of these nests. ; Among other summer residents, more or less common Imay mention the Western robin, Mountain bluebird, Warbling vireo, White-rumped shrike, Lazuli bunting, - Black-headed groobeak, Western chipping sparrow, Ar- kansas goldfinch, western meadow lark, Say’s phoebe, western wood pewee, Mocking bird and western King- bird, the latter being a cousin of the Bee martin and hay- ing all the habits of his querulous relative. The Pine siskin (Spinus pinus), though considered a migrant with us, occasionally rears its young here; a pair having built their nest in an evergreen in the writer's yard. This is not so surprising when we consider that its natural summer home among the coniferous forests may be found within fifteen miles of Denver, in the mountains. Parkman’s House wren (Zroglodytes wdon parkmanit) seems less familiar than the eastern bird, at least in the manner of its nesting, for, though not uncommon in our city in migration, it seems to retire to the thickets along our streams to build its nest; usually taking possession of some crevice or deserted woodpecker’s hole. A few winter birds remain with us but perhaps none so common or well distributed as the House finch before mentioned. The western Tree sparrow, Mountain chica- dee, Long tailed chicadee, McCown’s longspur, Cassin’s finch, Harris's and Batchelder’s woodpeckers, the Nor- thern shrike and several varieties of Juncos or snowbirds, though the Desert horned lark (Olocoris a. arenicola) is the familiar “snowbird” of the region and is often seen in numbers in the outside streets, especially when snow is on the ground. At other times it is not often noticed though it may be present, for its plumage harmonizes well with its sur- roundings. Besides these we haye an occasional visit from the snowflakes, Red polls and some others. I make no mention of the host of migrants, which fill our city during the migrations, including rare and cur- ious species of warblers, sparrows, thrushes, flycatchers etc., nor of other summer residents of the region, whose summer haunts are found in woodlands or upon the plains, for this is essentially a paper upon “city” birds. These may receive our attention at some future time. OVERHEAD SOUNIS IN THE VICINITY LOWSTONE LAKE. BY EDWIN LINTON, WASHINGTON, PA. OF YEE Waiter engaged in making certain investigations for the United States Fish Commission in the summer of 1890 my attention was called to an interesting phenomenon in the vicinity of Yellowstone Lake, of which I am pleasantly re- minded by the following brief but vivid description in a recent report by Prof. §. A. Forbes. Under his description of Shohone Lake, Professor Forbes, in a foot note, thus alludes to this phenomenon: “Here we first heard, while out on the lake in the bright still morning, the mysterious aérial sound for which this region is noted. It put me in mind of the vibrating clang of a harp lightly and rapidly touched high up above the tree tops, or the sound of many telegraph wires swinging regularly and rapidly in the wind, or, more rarely, of faintly heard voices answering each other overhead. It begins softly in the remote distance, draws rapidly near with louder and louder throbs of sound, and dies away in November 3, 1893. | the opposite distance; or it may seem to wander irregu- larly about, the whole passage lasting from a few seconds to half a minute or more. We heard it repeatedly and very distinctly here and at Yellowstone Lake, most frequent- quently at the latter place. It is usually noticed on still bright mornings not long after sunrise, and it is louder at this time of day; but I heard it clearly, though faintly, once at noon when a stiff breeze was blowing. No scien- tific explanation of this really bewitching phenomenon has ever been published, although it has been several times referred to by travellers, who have ventured vari- ous crude guesses at its: cause, varying from that com- monest catch-all of the ignorant, “electricity,” to the whistling of the wings of ducks and the noise of the “steamboat geyser.” It seems to me to belong to the class of aérial echoes, but even on that supposition I can- not account for the origin of the sound.” (A Preliminary Report on the Aquatic Invertebrate Fauna of the Yellowstone National Park, etc. Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission for 1891, p. 215. Published April 29, 1893). In a paper which was read before the Academy of Science and Art of Pittsburg, Pa., March 18, 1892, enti- tled “Mount Sheridan and the Continental Divide,’ I re- corded my recollections of this phenomenon and repro- duce them here with no alteration. Although the style is, perhaps, somewhat lacking in seriousness, the descrip- tions were made from notes taken at the time and written out while the memory of the facts was still fresh. In- deed, even now, after a lapse of three years, I have a very distinct recollection of the sound, vivid enough at least to teach me how imperfect my description of it is. Words describe an echo very inadequately when one is in igno- rance of the original sound, and especially so when he is in doubt as to whether the sound is the echo of a noise or the noise itself. Following is the account of these overhead noises given in the paper alluded to above and published soon after by the academy: ; Overhead Noises.—The last topic which I shall discuss in this somewhat desultory paper, is what I shall cali overhead voices. j Lest I be thought. to be indulging in some ill-advised or disordered fancy I shall first quote from Hayden’s Re- port for 1872, on Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. Mr. F. H. Bradley, p. 234, in that part of his narrative which relates their visit to Yellowstone Lake, says: “While get- ting breakfast. [This was near the outlet ofthe lake} we heard every few moments a curious sound, between a whistle and a hoarse whine, whose locality and charac- ter we could notat first determine, though we were in- clined to refer it to water-fowl on the other side of the lake. As the sun got higher the sound increased in force, and it now became evident that gusts of wind were pass- ing through the air above us, though the pines did not as yet indicate the least motion in the lower atmosphere. We started before the almost daily western winds, of which these gusts were evidently the foreruners, had be- gun to ruffle the lake.” With this warrant I shall proceed to decribe as well as I can my impressions of these overhead noises, which ap- pear to belong exclusively to the lake region of the Park. The first time I heard them, or it, was on the 22d cf July, about 8 a. m.,on Shoshone Lake. Elwood Hofer; our guide, and I had started in our boat for the west end of the Lake. While engaged in making ready for a sound- ing on the northern shore, near where the lake grows nar- row, I heard astrange echoing sound in the sky dying. away to the southward, which appeared to me to be like a sound that had already been echoing some seconds, before it had aroused my attention, so that I had missed the initial SCIENCE. 245 sound, and heard only the echo. I looked at Hofer curi- ously for an explanation. He asked me what I thought the sound was; I immediately gave it up and waited for him to tell me, never doubting that a satisfactory explan- ation would be forthcoming. Tor once this encyclopedia of mountain lore failed to come up to date. His reply was, that it was the most mysterious sound heard among the mountains. From the first this sound did not appear to me to be caused by wind blowing. its velocity -was rather that of sound. It had all the characters of an echo, but of what I am not even yet prepared to give an alto- gether satisfactory answer. Iam afraid that my conclu- sions are about as satisfactory as those of the Irishman, who having been sent out from camp in the night to in- vestigate a strange noise believed to be made by some wild beast, returned with the announcement that “ it was nothing at all, only a noise just.” Upon our return to camp I questioned both our guides and one of the pack- ers, who had had much experience inthe mountains. They agreed substantially in what they had to say about it. They had never heard it farther west than Shoshone Lake, nor farther east than Yellowstone Lake, and not at all north of these lakes. Hofer thought he had heard it once about 80 miles south of Yellowstone Lake. Dave Rhodes had heard it usually shortly after sunrise and up to per- haps half-past eight or nine o’clock. Hofer said that he had heard it in the middle of the day but usually not later than ten o’clock a.m. Neither of them remembered to have heard it before sunrise. On the following morning we heard the sound very plainly. It appeared to begin directly overhead and to pass off across the sky, growing fainter and fainter to- wards the southwest. It appeared to bea rather indefi- nite, reverberating sound, characterized by a slight metallic resonarce. It begins or is first perceived over- head, at least, nearly every one, in attempting to fix its location, turns his head to one side and glances upward. Each time that I heard thesound on Shoshone, it appeared to begin overhead, or as one of the men in the party ex- pressed it “all over,” and to move off to the southwest. We did not hear the sound while on Lewis or Heart Lake. The next time I heard the sound was on August 4th, when we were camped on the “Thumb” of Yellowstone Lake. Professor Forbes and I were out on the lake making sound- ings about 8 a.m. The sky was clear and the lake was quiet. The sun was beginning to shine with considerable power. The sound seemed loudest when overhead, and apparently passed off to the southward, or a little east of south. It had the same peculiar quality as that heard on Shoshone Lake, and is just as difficult to describe. There was the same slight hint of metallic resonance, and what one of the party called’a kind of twisting sort of yow-yow vibration. There wasa faint resemblance to the hum- ming of telegraph wires, but the volume was not steady nor uniform. ‘The time occupied by the sound was not noted, but estimated shortly afterward to be probably a half a minute As I heard itat this time it seemed to begin at a distance, grow louder overhead where it filled the up-. per air, and suggested a medley of wind in the tops of pine trees, and in telegraph wires, the echo of bells after being repeated several times, the humming of a swarm of bees, and two or three other less definite sources of sound, making in all a composite which was not loud but easily recognized, and not at alllikely to be mistaken for any other sound in these mountain solitudes, but which might easily escape notice if one were surounded by noises. On August 8th, at 10.15 s.m., Professor Forbes and I heard the sound again while we were collecting in Bridge Bay at the northern end of the lake. a While on Shoshone Lake I ventured the suggestion that the sound might be produced beyond the divide east 246 of us, and be reflected from sonie upper stratum of air of different density from that below. -Hofer evidently con- sidered himself responsible for an-explanation of the ori- gin of the sound, and frequently remarked that it remin- ded him of the noise made by the escaping steam of the so-called Steamboat Geyser, on the eastern shore of Yel- lowstone Lake, about 6 miles from the outlet. I passed between Steamboat Point and Stevenson’s Island twice, but was not near enough either time to hear the escaping steam. Moreover, on each occasion the wind was blow- ing a lively breeze in the direction of Steamboat Point. On the afternoon of August 9th, at 3.20 p.m. while in a row-boat on the south eastern arm of Yellowstone Lake, near the entrance of the upper Yellowstone River, I heard a sound overhead, like rushing wind, or like some invisible but comparatively dense body moving very ra- pidly through the air, and not very far above our heads. It appeared to be travelling from east to west. It did not have the semi-metallic, vibrating, sky-filling, echoing re- sonance of the overhead noises that I had heard before, and was of rather shorter duration. It had, however, the same sound-like rapidity of the other. The sky was clear except for afew light fleecy and feathery clouds, and there was just enough wind blowing to rufile the surface of the water. If this sound was produced by a current of air in motion overhead, it is difficult to understand why it did not give some account of itself, either in the clouds that were floating at different levels in the upper air, or among the pines which covered the slope that rose more than 1000 feet above our heads, or on the waters of the lake itself. Tam inclined to attribute the typical echoing noise to some initial sound, like that of escaping steam for example, from some place like Steamboat Geyser, and which is re- flected by some upper stratum of air, that is differently heated from that below by the rays of the sun as they come over the high mountain ridges to the east of the lake. The sound may thus be reflected over the low di- vides west to Shoshone, and south to Heart Lake, or even farther in the direction of Jackson’s Lake. I am not strenuous for this theory, and will be glad to hear a_bet- ter explanation of this phenomenon. I have a dim recol- lection of some legend of phantom huntsmen, and a pack of ghostly but vocal hounds which haunt the sky of the Hartz Mountains. Can any one tell whether there is any natural phenomenon belonging to mountains or moun- tain lakes; which could give foundation to such legend? The phenomenon has not yet been successfully ex- plained, and I do not know that any similar phenomenon has been observed elsewhere. It is to be hoped that some one will investigate the matter soon and give a scientific explanation of its cause. THE PLACK OF MUSEUMS IN EDUCATION. BY THOMAS GREENWOOD, LONDON, ENGLAND. Tur most casual observer of educational methods could not fail to notice that the receptive mind of a child ora youth learns from an infinite variety of sources. We all know that we begin at one end of education, but there is no period in life of the most aged where the other end is reached. Frequently, again, that information which does not absolutely form part of the ordinary pro- cess of education, but which comes from unexpected quar- ters, is of as great a service in the development of the mind as any set lessons can possibly be. Whatever be- comes suggestive to the mind is of educational value. That Museums have from their very nature the very es- sence of this suggestiveness is patent. It may be true SCIENCE. [Vol. XXIi. No. 561 that of themselves alone they are powerless to educate, but they can be instrumental and useful in aiding the educated to excite a desire for knowledge in the ignorant. The working man or agricultural laborer who spends his holiday in a walk through any well-arranged Museum cannot fail to come away with a deeply-rooted and re- verential sense of the extent of knowledge possessed by his fellow men. It is not the objects themselves that he sees there, and wonders at, that cause this impression, so much as the order and evident science which he cannot but recognize in the manner in which they are grouped and arranged. He learns that there is a meaning and value in every object, however insignificant, and that there is a way of looking at things common and rare, distinct from .the regarding them as useless, useful, or merely cu-_ rious. These three last terms would be found to be the very common classification of all objects in a Museum by the uninformed and uninitiated. After a holiday spent in a Museum the working man goes home and cons over what he has seen at his leisure, and very probably on the next summer holiday, or a Sun- day afternoon’s walk with his wife and little ones, he dis- covers that he has acquired a newinterest in the common things he sees around him.’ He begins to discover that the stones, the flowers, the creatures of all kinds that throng around him are not, after all, so very commonplace as he had previously thought them. He looks at them with a pleasure not before experienced, and talks of them to his children with sundry references to things lke them which he saw in the Museum. He has gained a new sense, a craving for natural knowledge, and such a craving may, possibly, in course of time, quench another and lower craving which may at one time have held him in bondage—that for intoxicants or vicious excitement of one description or another. The craving for intoxicants or excitement is often as much a result asa cause. The toilers have few things to occupy their mind, and frequently in their home surroundings much cheerlessness and discomfort. Lite is for very many a hard daily grind for mere existence, with little or no relief from the daily reund of the struggle to make ends meet. These, and other conditions under which so many live, cannot fail to produce tastes and lkings which are not qualified to tend to the uplifting of the mind and the desires by which their life is governed. It is only those who come closely in contact with the more intelligent of the working classes, who know the nobility of character and the earnest reaching out to- wards higher things to be found among them, who~can be familiar with the intense longing to have within their reach institutions such as Museums, Art Galleries, and Free Libraries, to which they can have easy access. That such as these use the institutions which already xist is most amply and conclusively proved by the ocular demonstration of those who have visited the Museums in any of the large towns of the country. The nation should never forget that some of its great- est benefactors have belonged to this class of intelligent working men. James Watt, the engineer, Hugh Miller, the stonemason geologist, Stephenson, the collier-railway projector, Arkwright, the weaver-inventor, and scores of others who could be named. Where, indeed, should we have stood as a nation had it not been for the sturdy common sense of the intelligent and thrifty working classes ? Until very recently the great defect of our system of edu- cation has been the neglect of educating the observing powers—a very distinct matter, be it noted, from scien- tific or industrial instruction. The confounding of the two is evident in many books which have from time to November 3 1893. | time Leen published. There are not a few who seem to imagine that the elements that should constitute a sound and manly education are antagonistic; that the cultiva- tion of taste through purely literary studies and of rea- soning through logic and mathematics, one or both, is op- posed to the training in the equally important matter of observation through these sciences that are descriptive and experimental. There is considerable inconsistency in any such idea, and educational leaders are now uni- versally recognizing the need there is for not giving too much attention to one class of mental training to the ex- clusion of the rest. Equal development and strengthen- ing of all are necessary for the constitution of a well-or- dered mind. A consensus of opinion is now apparent that this method is erroneous, and the Universities are taking the lead by emphasizing toa less degree the merits of a purely classical education. The conductors of private schools, again, are beginning to see the great need which exists for a practical acquaintence with the lead- ing Continental languages, and the Board school curri- culum is rapidly becoming to mean a year or two devoted to technical instruction and manual training. It is almost impossible satisfactorily and effectually to conduct the latter without the aid of Museums, and these institutions are destined to occupy a most im- portant place in this respect. Specimens of raw materials with labels clearly defining their properties and uses, and the relation that one kind of raw material bears to annther kind, are now, im many instances, looked upon as indispensable scholastic aids. The Manchester Exhibition was particularly useful in this respect, for there were many sections in which the various stages of the raw material up to the perfected ar- ticle were shown, and itmay safely be stated that no ex- hibition of modern times possessed in this way a wider and more real educational value than the very successtul one held in Manchester in 1887. The silk, chemical, pot- tery, and other sections were especially complete in this respect. The number of models of an almost infinite va- riety in these departments had a value attaching to them as a means of instruction, which could not fail to be use- ful to the many thousands of the youth of both sexes who visited the buildings at Old Trafford. Vast collections of objects, whether in Museums or Hx- hibitions for educational purposes, do not always accom- plish the object in view. Doubtless the vastness of the collections in some of own Exhibitions in London, and those which have been held in other cities, has been very impressive, but it may be gravely questioned whether any mind has carried away many useful impressions from the infinite multitude upon which he has had an opportunity of looking. The general mental state very frequently pro- duced by such a numerous display is that of distraction. There is such a state of mind as picture drunkenness or Museum drunkenness, and this should be carefully guard- ed against. There should be in Museums and Art Galleries a more extensive use of folding screens, so that anyone so disposed could shut themselves off from the crowd while they study a case or a picture minutely. A few striking objects well and carefully studied are infinitely better and of greater educational worth than a number of things at which there is only a casual glance. f Modelling, whether in cardboard, wood, or clay, is an invaluable means of cultivating and developing the mani- pulative skill of youths. All know how readily a boy will take to the construction of a boat, or a girl to dress a doll, and in this lies the indiction that most young people will take as readily to modelling as the boys do to cricket and the girls to their slipping ropes. Charles Kingsley, addressing working men, with refer SCIENCE. 247 ence to their requirements, says: “We must acquire something of that industrious habit of mind which the study of Natural tcience gives. The art of seeing, the art of knowing what you see, the art of comparing, of perceiving true likenesses and true differences, and so of classifying and arranging what you see, the art of con- necting facts together in your own mind in chains of cause and effect, and that accurately, patiently, calmly, without prejudice, vanity, or temper.” The late Ralph Waldo Emerson, writing on the same subject, says: “Manual labor is the study of the exter- nal world.” This kind of manual labor should be taught in schools. Children’s habit of collecting and arranging objects of interest should be encouraged. ‘The study of a single branch of natural science, such as constructive bot- any, may be made the means of cultivating habits of neat- ness, order and skill. The analysis of plant forms would illustrate the application of geometry to ornamental pur- poses, and open up wide fields for the development of decorative taste and manipulative skill. But cramped by the restrictive rules of our result system, these sources of useful culture are neglected; and, therefore, our children are turned out of the educational mill imperfectly pre- pared for the further processes necessary to qualify them for taking their part in the struggle for existence. Ail this proves the necessity for Museums having the closest possible connection with elementary as well as ad- vanced education. The uses of constructive botany, as referred to in the short quotation from. Hmergon, are es- pecially helpful as a suggestive study to the mind. For this branch of education Museums are the best text-books which can be provided, but in order that specimens in these branches of natural science be properly and usefully studied they require to be explained by competent teach- ers. It is in this respect that practical and efficient cura- tors cau be of the greatest service in giving short and in- formal explanations of some of the specimens in their Museunis. As far back as 1853, there was delivered at the Muse- um of Economical Geology, in London, a lecture by the late Protessor Edward Forbes, on the Educational Uses of Museums. In one part of this lecture he spoke as follows: “In their educational aspect, considered apart from their educational applications, the value of Museums must in a great measure depend on the perfection of their arrangement, and the leading ideas regulating the clas- sification of their contents. The educated youth ought, in a well-arranged Museum, to be able to instruct himself in the studies of which its contents are illustrations, with facility and advantage. On the officers in charge of the institution there consequently falls a heavy responsibility. It is not sufficient that they should be well versed in the department of science, antiquities, or art committed to their charge. They may be prodigies of learning, and yet utterly untitted for their posts. They must be men mind- ful of the main end and purpose in view, and of the best way of communicating knowledge according to its kind, not merely to those who are already men of science, his- torians, or connoisseurs, but equally to those who, as yet ignorant, desire to learn, or in whom it is desirable that a thirst for learning should be incited.” Among the most useful Museums are those which are made accessory to professional instruction, and there are many such in the country, but almost all confined to purposes of profession- al education, and not adapted or open to the general public. The Museums of our Universities and Colleges are, for the most part, utilised in this way, but the advant- ages derived from them are confined toa limited class of persons. This educating the children in the schools in the ele- ments of natural science is most essential, especially in 248 country districts. When persons reach mature age with- out knowing anything about Natural History “objects, they find it is then too “much trouble to investigate these subjects. But by getting at them when young, ‘by simple and forcible illustrations, they are bound to carry it for- ward with them to a certain extent, and if there should come a time when they are in a position to give time to study, the first they will take up and pursue with patience will probably be some subject of this nature, merely for the pleasure of the study. On the other hand, if they have no inclination to work, they will not forget the pleasant hours they spent when theysat listening to some explanation of an object so familiar, which will create a tendency to put their hands to the bottom of their pock- ets and act feelingly. If children could be taught to see God in Nature and the wonders which He controls, with- out cramming the brain witn so much theory, by giving them a run into the country along with some one to ex- plain, it would conduce a great deal more to their general health and happiness. Country Musueums want illustra- ting and simplifying as much as possible. Call a spade a spade, 7. e., give the local name as well as the scientific one. This education would be another great saving to the nation if it were universal. Half the things that are dug up now are only sayed by the merest chance, because the men digging do not care what they are striking their pick through. This would be altered altogether if they ‘had been taught in early youth to take notice of the value and interest there i 18 attaching, often, to things dug up from the earth. Thirty-five years ago Professor Forbes said: “I cannot help hoping that the time will come when every British town even of moderate size will be able to boast of posses- sing public institutions for the education and instruction ofits adults as well as its youthful and childish popula- tion ; when it shall have a well-organised Museum where- in collections of natural bodies shall be displayed, not - with regard to show or curiosity, but according to their illustration of the analogies and affinities of organised and unorganised objects, so that the visitor may ata glance learn something of the laws of nature ; wherein the pro- ducts of the surrounding district, animate and inanimate, shall be scientifically marshalled, and their industrial ap- plications carefully and suggestively illustrated ; wherein the memorials of the neighbouring province, and the races that have peopled it, ‘shall be reverently assembled, and learnedly yet popularly explained ; when each town shall have a library, the property of the public, and freely opened to the well-conducted reader of every class ; when its public walks and parks (too many as yet existing only in prospect) shall be made instructors in botany and agri- culture ; when it shall have a gallery of its own. possibly not boasting of the most famous pictures or statues, but nevertheless showing good examples of sound art: ex- amples of the history and purpose of design, and, above all, the best specimens to be procured of nouke of genius by its own natives who have deservedly risen to ea When that good time comes true-hearted citizens will decorate their streets and squares with statues and memorials of the wise and worthy men and women who have adorned their province—not merely of kings, states- men or warriors, but of philosophers, poets, men of science, philanthropists and great workmen.” How far are we from yet realizing this ideal, and how slowly we seem to progress in so desirable a direction! Still there are many signs that the conscience of the nra- tion is at last awakened, and if we see to it that ail the discussions at present filling the air do not end simply in talk, but that practical good shall be the outcome, then our progress during the coming twenty-five vears will not be so discouraging. In no better way can this ideal be SCIENCE. [ Vol. XXII. No. 561 realized than by an acute recoznition of the place Mu- seums should occupy in our national system of education. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. wy »Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. writer's name is in all cases required as a proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number con- taining his communication will be furnished free to any corres- pondent. The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. The FEIGNED DEATH IN SNAKES. Arrrer reading the letter on “Feigned Death in Snakes” in Science of Oct. 13, dne is left with the impression that Heterodon, or the “blowing viper,” or, as he is known in New Jersey, the “adder,” actually bites itself in the side ~ and then pretends to die. Ag the adders are very common in the southern part of this state, I have had countless opportunities for watching this habit of feigning death and have never seen anything like an attempt, or even a pretended attempt, to bite themselves. The teeth of Heterodon are hardly large enough to scratch a tender hand, much less bite through or between the heavy folds of the snake’s horny skin. How this supposition.came about is easily seen, when the snake, after finding it cannot escape, is about to turn over on its back, throws its mouth wide open, tucks its head under its body and suddenly twists over, the whole affair, unless carefully watched, looks decidedly suicidal. But the snake has not bitten itself and had no intention of so doing. The account referred to is quite right in believing that this is not a “faint from fear.” The ‘convolutions of the serpentine hemispheres are undoubtedly well twisted, but we can hardly credit the reptile with so delicately a bal- anced organism as to admit of its fainting. . The measure, | believe, is purely a protective one, and often of the greatest service. Heterodon is the slowest and most clumsy of all our snakes, and as it cannot de- pend on flight for safety, it needs other means for protec- tion, of which this trick in question is among the best, as is also its beautifully adaptive coloration. The spewing out of the contents of the stomach is similar to that habit in turkey buzzards and many other creatures, and an ad- ditional aid in escaping their enemies. The whole affair, then, is not a “pretended suicide” but a pretended death, with a stink solely for the snake’s pro- tection. Darras L. Suarp. Bridgeton, N. J., Oct. 24. THE DESTRUCTION OF WILD PLANTS. Tue destruction of wild plants by students of botany and collectors has become appalling. Botany is becom- ing a universal study in the schools, and one hundred young people each gathering one plant to use and ten to twenty to throw away, soon exterminate the rarer plants. The solution of the problem is at hand. Let teachers use only cultivated plants in their work. Of these an abundance can always be had. Turn the attention of students from the mere collection and analysis of plants to the more important subjects of plant physiology and economic botany. The time has come for a change. G. G. Grorr. ~ Lewisburgh, Pa. MINNESOTA MOUNDS. In reply to Mr. I’. B. Sumner’s criticism on my notes on Minnesota Mounds I would state that he should point out and correct some of my “gross misrepresentations” instead of indulging in absurd statements not bearing on the subject. Would also suggest that he read the article November 3, 1893. | again and with more care. Though Mr. Sumner has con- siderable ability in certain lines yet his youth and lack of special training should prevent him from criticising ideas acquired by considerable study and experience. Criti- cisms should be made with care. Axpert Scunrwer, M. D. Weston, IIl., Oct. 26. SLATE BLACK-BOARDS. Arrention has been called to the fact that light is re- flected from slate black-boards in an injurious manner. One city superintendent informs the writer that he has been compelled to lessen the amount of work to be copied from the board. A county superintendent writes that he cannot sit in a certain high school without experienc- ing painful sensations, if he faces the slate boards. Have other teachers observed the same? Is a slate board more trying to the eyes than slated surfaces? Isa slated surface to be preferred to a true slate board? Will not superintendents and teachers who care for the general health of the children in their charge, and especially for the eyesight of the children, communicate with the subscriber in reference to this matter? Answers to the questions are earnestly solicited. Address, Dr. Gxo. G. Grorr, Lewisburgh, Pa. A GROOVED AXE IN A STRANGE PLACE. Somz months since while making observations with Mr. Haldeman O’Connor, of Harrisburg, on an island in the Susquehanna, not far from the city, we came across a per- pendicular exposure of a clay bed, from the face of which several feet of earth had been removed by a recent flood. Several bowlders were imbedded in its face and one of them, eight feet from the top, on account of its peculiar shape, attracted attention, and on removal proved to be a grooved axe, well made of a heavy, close-grained sand- stone, about six and a half.inches long and two and a half inches wide, having a good cutting edge and a perfect groove—somewhat weathered but not differing in any particular from the many found on the surface. The bed in which the implement was found is a compact clay, the lowest and the last of the terrace deposits of the valley and consequently, geologically speaking, comparatively recent. Any method, save one, to account for the presence of the axe in this position, was of no avail. The clay bed seemed to be unquestionably undisturbed, and no theory of trap roots nor upturning of trees would explain it. Did the axe find this resting place—eight feet below the surface—during the deposit of the bed? If it did its maker, whoever he was, must have lived about the same time,—some thousands of years ago, when the last of the prehistoric floods swept down this old valley, and the origin of Neolithic man, if such he was, must be placed at an early date. Harvey B. Basuore. West Fairview, Pa., Oct. x. THE SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF THE DIPTERA. Tn Science No. 558 for October 13, Dr. Packard has an ar- ticle upon this subject, in the general conclusions of which I most heartily agree. Dr. Packard has not men- tioned, by any means, all of the arguments in favor of his view, and some of these will be, I hope, presented by Dr. Riley, who has already suggested them in lectures,, al- though they are not, so far as I am aware, published. There are a few points upon which Dr. Packard’s paper is not entirely clear, or where, at least, I do not seem to be able to understand him entirely. He mentions, in one place, as characteristic of the Diptera the “abolition of mandibles (Simulium excepted).” In another place, the fact that the jaws are wanting, and finally speaks of the SCIENCE. 249 mosquito, eepecially the female. in which mandibles and maxillee are said to be well developed. The first state- ments are correct; but I must take issue with Dr. Packard on the statement that the mandibles are well developed in the mosquito, for, as a matter of fact, there is no trace of these organs in that insect: All the piercing and envel- oping structures are, as I have shown, homologous with other mouth structures. It is further stated that the max- illxe are usually much reduced, while the labium is enor- mously developed and highly modified. I have, I think, shown very conclusively that the enormous development in the Dipterous mouth parts takes place in the maxillary structures and that the labium is in most cases very much reduced if not entirely wanting. The best development of this latter organ is seen in the piercing flies related to Tabanus, in which we are able to trace every part of the normal structure of the labium of a mandibulate insect. Dr. Packard’s article reads as if he partially accepted and partially rejected my conclusions concerning the mouth structures of the Diptera, and I would be rather interested to know how far he considers my conclusions in that. order well founded. The reference to the mouth parts is really not needed in order to support his claim, and in some directions the Dipterous mouth is certainly very much more highly specialized than that of the Hymenop- tera. Joun B. Smrru, Rutgers College, November rst. BOOK-REVIEWS. A Guide to Stereochemistry, based on lectures delivered at Cornell University, with an index to the literature. By Arnotp Eroarr, Ph.D., B.Sc. New York, Alexander Wilson, 26 Delancey street. 96 p. with appendix, paper, 8vo., Ill. $1.00, postage free. Tur want of a suitable text-book upon this deeply in- teresting new branch of chemistry, the geometrical relations of atoms in space, has long been felt. The literature is widely scattered and so fragmentary as to make such a “Guide” as this offered by Dr. Hiloart of utmost value to student and professor alike; to the latter as an aid in the preparation of his lectures and to the former as a digest of these lectures, with an indication of the lines and means for more extended study. Unfortunately, in many colleges this department of research is barely touched upon, not for lack of interest, however, but be- cause with the limited time commonly at the disposal of the professor detailed correlation even of the work in this field is an impossibility. While the study of structural isomerism dates from 1824, the actual development of stereochemistry begins about 1873—a retardation of extraordinary length, con- sidering the easy step from one to the other. Isomerism conceives of compounds containing the same elements in the same proportions, and yet differmg in proper- ties, this difference being due to a different group- ing of these elements. Geometrical isomerism con- ceives of compounds containing the same elements in the same proportions and arranged in the same groups and yet differing in properties because of a different ar- rangement in space of the constituent groups. The sec- ond conception is thus a natural outgrowth from the first. Dr. Eiloart passes with a few words the accepted facts of stereochemistry giving more particular attention to the living issues and more daring developments. The index to the literature is most carefully planned and is more than a mere list of titles, insomuch as it gives by means of suitable abbreviations an idea of the contents of the papers referred to. An appendix with photographic plates, five in number, treats of the use of “Solid Formu- lee,” or models in the teaching of organic chemistry. The book is copiously illustrated throughout with diagrams and woodcuts. Cyr; 250 Primer of Philosophy. By Dr. Pavt Carus. Chicago, Open Court Pub. Co., 12mo., $1. Tuts book, notwithstanding its title, is the most elab- orate work on general philosophy that Dr. Carus has yet published. The philosophical system that he advocates isin the intellectual sphere what he calls positivistic monism, and in the moral sphere meliorism. By monism he means that “souland body, * * * are the too in- separable sides of our existence; they are two abstracts from one and the same reality” (p. 23). His monism eyi- dently is the kind that is known as materialistic monism; - for he does not believe in the soul as a distinct entity, but says that “a human personality is merely a society of ideas.” The main object of this book, however, is to set forth the author's views on the subject of what Kant called a priori truths, and to reconcile, if possible, the views of Kant with those of Mill. Dr. Carus holds with Kant that “logical, mathematical principles are universal and necessary; but on the other hand, he maintains with Mill that all our knowledge comes from experience. The question he has to answer, then, is how universal and necessary truths can be derived from experience, which consists entirely of particular perceptions; and we cannot think that Dr. Carus is any more successful in answering » this question than others have been before him. He sees that universal truths cannot be get out of sensuous ex- perience, yet he cannot accept Kant’s view that they are known before experience; and he advances the opfnion that such truths, or axioms, are “products of rigidly formal reasoning.” To this the obvious reply is that there can be no formal reasoning without premises, and that, if the conclusion is to be valid, one of the premises must be universal; and furthermore, the principle of reas- oning itself must be universal if the conclusion is to be sound. But while we cannot think that Dr. Carus has solved the problem he has taken in hand, we have been interested in reading his book and have found much in it that is suggestive. It shows throughout the moral earnestness and the desire to be useful that mark all its author’s works, and will well repay perusal. SCIENCE: [Vol. XXII. No. 561 Essays on Rural Hygiene. By Guorar Vivian Poors, M. D., Ff. R. C. P. London and New York, Longmans, Green, & Co. 3821p, 8 vo. For thirteen years honorary secretary and subse- quently vice-chairman of the Parkes Museum of Hygiene, Dr. Poore is well qualified as an experienced sanitarian and his word in hygienic matters carries the weight of practical experience. Many of the chapters of the above- named work has been previously published, while others have been delivered as addresses before the University College, London, and before various scientific societies. The book has, however, a perfectly preserved plan and is in no sense a disjointed collection, nor does the former publication deduct from the interest, as unfortunately Dr. Poore’s ideas of sanitation are totally at variance with the popular acceptance of that term and are not such as would be given wide publicity. The world has accepted very quickly the call for improved sanitary methods find- ing the subject, considered as a principle, one readily grasped by minds little trained in the sciences, and at the same time one which appeals very closely indeed to the comfort and health of the home. Unfortunately, how- ever, this fervor of sanitation has opened the path for hundreds of banditti patentees and political highwaymen who have quickly seen andappreciated their opportunity, and who, from the ambush of “science” have rushed out and seized upon the public pocket-book. That the pub- lic has made so little resistance and has always so smil- ingly “held up its hands” is perhaps to its credit in a way, for it thereby exhibits a readiness to co-operate with science and it can not be expected to distinguish between the true and the false. But people like to pay well for public improvements and very probably if offered their choice between the modest and enonomical means pro- posed by Dr. Poore, and the criminally expensive processes urged by city boards, would unhesitatingly |prefer the latter. We rather like beiug robbed by gallant knight of the mountains with bright colored scarfs and ornamental trappings. We can talk about it afterwards, boast of it in fact, and the more we have lost the prouder we are. © FOSSIL RESINS. This book is the result of an attempt to | collect the scattered notices of fossil resins, exclusive of those on amber. The work is of Piso’s Remedy for Catarrh is the Best, Easiest to Use, and Cheapest, : Sold by Druggists orsent by mail. fie fa 50c. E. T. Hazeltine, Warren, Pa. 3 avery reaver of “Science” shouid sub- scribe for the 2 AMERICAN ARCHITECT, THE OLDEST AND BEST interest also on account of descriptions given of the insects found embedded in these long- preserved exudations from early vegetation. By CLARENCE LOWN and HENRY BOOTH: 129. $1. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. Architectural publication in the country. Interesting articles on architecture, Sani- tation, Archzology, Decoration, etc., by the ablest writers. Richly illustrated. Issued weekly. Send stamp for specimen copy to the publishers, > Ticknor & Co., 211 Tremont St., Boston. THE AMERICAN RACK. By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. SOFTLY STEALS THE LIGHT OF DAY wher filtered through windows covered with CRYSTOGRAPHS, a substitute for Stained Glass that is inexpensive, beautiful, and easily applied. BUILDING BOOKS. DRAWING INSTRUMENTS. 20c. per square foot. Samples and catalogue, 10c. CRYSTOGRAPH CQO., 816 North Broad St., Philadelphia. *¢The book is one of unusual interest and value.*== Inter Ocean. ‘“ ADVERTISING SURFOS RESTORE YOUR EYESIGHT sCataracts, scars or films can be absorbed and paralyzed nerves restored, without the knife or risk. Diseased eyes or lids can be cured by our home treatment. ‘‘We dreds convinced. Our illustrated pamphl ‘Home Treatment for Eyes,” free. Don’t miss Everybody wants it, “Tux Eve,” Glens Falis, N.Y. Price, postpaid, $2. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. roveit.”. Huns ita ¥. November 3, 1893. | A point well developed in these essays is the evil of concentration of population, and, together with this, the ever-growing problem of proper water supply and of sew- age disposal. The question of pure air is discussed, and also the purifying power of “the living earth.” Cities now committed to the evils of expensive and wasteful water supply, with all the accompanying difficulties and snares of sewage and sewage disposal, Dr. Poore very properly leaves without his discussion; they have gone so far as to make a turning back well nigh impossible. Where the end will be he does not even conjecture. It isto the rural and suburban population that he appeals, and most ably, for a consideration of certain means by which, upon a thorough scientific basis, they can secure an efficient sani- tation for their homes, a pure water supply and an increased land value, all at a minimum of cost. Nor is this rested upon theory alone; the practical working in all details has been developed in the author’s suburban home, and the same means there used by him are open to all of us who have that blessing of a small piece of ground, and who are not condemned to live in a “flat.” CEE A Laboratory Manual, Containing Directions for a Course of Experiments in Organic Chemistry. By W. R. Ornporrr, A. B., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Chemistry in Cornell University. Boston, D. C. Heath & Co. 1893. Inter- leaved. Tur above manual is designed to accompany Remsen’s “Organic Chemistry,” and is systematically arranged as a laboratory companion to that book. It contains a course of experiments, eighty-two in all, graded in careful man- ner, leading on from the elementary principles of organic analysis, fractional distillation, the determination of melt- ing points, ete.,to the more advanced synthetical prepara- tions. The procedure of the various operations is admirably given in few but comprehensive directions, and the experiments as described would present no difficulties to a beginner in the study. While parallel to Remsen’s SCIENCE. 251 book, it is more explicit, and gives greater detail of manipulation. The author's experience as a teacher has enabled him to select carefully the best conditions of experiment and to present them clearly to the student. Cis —D. Appleton and Company have published a large octayo volume containing “Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley.” They are mostly of a political char- acter, and, as will be surmised, a large number of them are in advocacy of the protective tariff. Mr. McKinley is well known, not only as one of the leading advocates of the protective system, but also as the author of the exist- ing tariff, and his prominence in the matter will make thig book useful even to his political opponents. His views are so generally known, however, that we need not ex- pound them here, and any discussion of them or of the protective system in these columns would be out of place. He expresses himself clearly and forcibly, and whoever wishes to become familiar with the protectionist theory in its extreme form will find it set forth in these pages. Many of the speeches in this volume, however, are on sub- jects of an unpartisan character, such as those commem- orating the life and work of Grant, Garfield and other prominent men, together with several delivered on anni- versary occasions. ‘The author’s enthusiastic patriotism— sometimes too enthusiastic, as it seems to us—appears in almost all of them, as well as his straightforwardness and earnestness. The general reader will be particularly pleased with his remarks on the public school system and his eulogy of the early New Englanders, and with his hearty appreciation of the eminent men whom he hag known in public life. His strong partisanship, which shows itself so often, is not always pleasing to men of more moderate views; but in a country that is governed by parties it is necessary to know what the party leaders are thinking, and in this respect this volume will be use- ful to all students of American politics. Address N. D. C York ] EXCHANGES. [Free of charge to all, if of satisfactory character. . Hodges, 874 Broadway, New Wanis. ANTED.—Tuckerman’s Geneva Lichenum and Carpenter on the Microscope. State price ndicestion neter occidentalis, rostratus, fornia. Is the most effective and agreeable remedy in existence for preventing |I have a Beck New National monocular microscope, accessories, microtome, mounting material and a * 5 5 5 5 . large number of fine slides. indigestion, and relieving those dis- whole or in part for a first class type-writer or A. C. Gruhlke, Waterloo, Ind. id “ photograph outfit. eases arising from a disordered stomach. Helices not in collection. and. field, Mass., says, ‘“‘I value it as an excel- lent preventative of indigestion, and a i i _| Would like to exchange roo specimens of Canadian pleasant acidulated drink when BEOBer Indian Relics for a photo outfit. Hoffman St., Auburn, N. Y. ly diluted with water, and sweetened.” For exchange.—Skins of Aegialites nivosa, Ereu- Aunnodramus Arldingi. A. Chamara tasciata henshawi, Horsford’s Acid Phosphate native or foreign skins with full data. A. W. Anthony, 2042 Albatross st., San Diago, Cali- Offered sidebloom eggs of Bulimus oblongus and exotic land and freshwater shells in exchange for Send lists to G. K. Gude, Dr. WW. WW. Gardner, Spring- 5 Gresbach Road, upper Holloway, London, Eng- and, other particulars. Richard Lees, Brampton, nt. WANTED.~—Icones Muscorum by W. D. Sulli- vant, with or without Supplement, but both preferred. Address, stating price and condition of books, Dr. G. N. Best, Rosemont, N. ifs etc., for Send lists. ANTED.—A copy of Mascart & Joubert’s Les- sons in Electricity and Magnetism, Vol. I. Ad- Will exchange the dress R. W. Clawson, Vanderbilt University, Nash- ville, Tennessee. HEMIST.—Graduate of pau EeCunIcal school, and studied photographic chemistry in Ger— many and Austria. Situation teaching or in ana- lytical or experimental laboratory. M. B. P: Rochester, N. Y. y: unnett, E. J. Waters, 33 ANTED.—A recent college graduate to assist in editorial work on Science. Those seekin large emoluments need not apply. N. D. ¢. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New York. Descriptive pamphlet free on application to RUMFORD CHEMICAL WonRKS, PROVIDENCE, R. I. Beware of Substitutes and Imitations. For sale by all Druggists. For Sale.—A collection of fossil Rhinoceros bones (Aphelops fossiger Cope.) from the Loup Fork Ter- Lag including all the bones of one fore and one hind leg, the pelvis, representative vertebrae and ribs, and a nearly complete skull, with complete lower jaws. All the bones of the limbs are perfect. Price $250. Address Dept. of Paleontology, Uni- versity of Kansas, Lawrence. GRADUATE in medicine, experienced, will prepare or revise scientific and medical manu- script tor publication, read proof, compile bibliog- taphies, &c. Will also consult New York libraries for persed s out of town wishing references to rare works. Address M. D., Cambri ceiaeNne: 104 Cambridge Place, 252 SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 561 _ Sbendld, Constable As C | Latest Novelties | Autumn Dress Fabrics “JACQUARD” EFFECTS, BOUCLE, POINTELLE, ARMURES, SERGES, Rich and Effective Combinations and Colorings. DIAGONALS, SERGES, HOPSACKINGS, and CAMEL’S HAIR, SCOTCH ALL WOOL PLAIDS for School Dresses, Grenadines, Gazes, Crepes, Crepons, Cashimir D’ecosse, for Evening and House Wear. Dreoadovay HK 19th ot. NEW YORK. General or local Ladies or gents. Agents. $75 a week. Exclusive territory. The Rapid Dish Washer. Washes all the dishes for a family in one minute, Washes, rinses and dries them without wetting the hands. You push the button, the machine does the rest. Bright, polished dishes, and cheerful wives. No scalded fingers,nosoiledhandsor clothing. —— No broken dishes,no muss. Cheap, ~ durable, warranted. Circularsfree. ®., Clerk No. 12, Columbus, 0. a W. P. HARRISON & C | The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. A FIRST-CLASS WEEKLY MEDICAL NEWSPAPER. ESTABLISHED 1828. Terms of Subscription: In the United States, and to Canada and Mexico, $5 00 a yearin ad vance. To Foreign Countries embraced in the Universal Postal Union, $1.56 a year additional. Single numbers, 15c. ‘len consecutive numbers free by mail on receipt of $1.00. This JouRNAL circulates chiefly through the New England States, and is seen by the great majority of the profession in that important district. As ameans of reaching physicians it is unequalled. 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The Washington Anthropologists Ask for a Definition—The Chief Justice and the Vice President Will Consider and Ad- Aud tewis Ouallitvansmcccrndicacs ass. teens 253 INI@WAS Ehivel MG hoo dapdonoonacs SbaGdaReeErBeHC Osos 254 Some Recent Economic and Scientific Ques- TR a CAN He at Hight Awards granted us at the World’s Fair. ca THIS CE a ER ER Cao a at ai ai ai ai an ait ai aX pi aia a NEM ONG ai ai ia lax aia aM OM DY SK ai Oi Dire) ON RCE NOE TERE Scientific Instruments 3 OF STANDARD QUALITY: Physical, Electrical, Chemical, Optical, Microscopical, En- gineering, Mathematical, Photographic and Projection Ap- paratus and Supplies. of College and High School laboratories. ted upon request. Correspondence solicited. Write for abridged General Catalogue No. 219. QUEEN &«& CO., Incorpated, Special care devoted to the equipment Estimates submit- Philadelphia, U. S. A. HS SERS PRR, yw POP SS CHR ES tia in Ornithology. R. W. Shufeldt, It IDissc9, oppodoedsoosanoanoooRPasaeueon eS 5 255 A New Thermoelectric Phenomenon. W. HieyiSteele\ Mia Acic.cccresccsscnsce cc cen 256 Current Notes on Anthropology.—No. XXXIV. D. G. Brinton, M.D., LL.D., D.Sc......... 256 Improvements in the Storage of Electricity. J, IEE Wkoneatehol, IDL. Se > seoconaencosungudacoc 258 Letters to the Editor: MINERALS. The Systematic Position of Diptera. C.F. IHIEN? SacoccoedaD sna sanoedsocdsaRuRUntcdbcos 260 IBOOK ORG viewSiyntcrcicreee risen cinch tee 260 idary Work. Minerals, Gems, Microscopical Sections, Fine Lap- * GEO. L. ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists, ‘Removed to 64 East 12th Street, New York New Store. New Stock. 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Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty cents. Address: The Electrical Engineer, 208 Broadway, - - - New York, N.Y Wists merical Bell Telephone COMEAN Y- 125 MILK ST., BOSTON, MASS, This Company owns the Letters - Patent No. 186,787, granted to Alexander Graham Bell, January 30th, 1877, the scope of which has been defined by the Supreme Court of the United States in the following terms: ‘“‘The patent itself is for the mechanical structure of an electric telephone to be used to produce the electrical action on which the first patent rests. The third claim is for the use in such instruments of a diaphragm, made of a plate of iron or steel, or other ma- terial capable of inductive action; the fifth, of a permanent magnet constructed as de- scribed with a coil upon the end or ends nearest the plate; the sixth, of a sounding box as described; the seventh, of a speaking or hearing tube as described for conveying the sounds; and the eighth, of a permanent magnet and plate combined. The claim is not for these several things in and of them- selves, but for an electric telephone in the construction of which these things or any of them are used.”’ -This Company also owns Letters-Patent No. 463,569, granted to Emile Berliner, No- vember 17, 1891, for a combined Telegraph and Telephone, and controls Letters-Patent No. 474,281, granted to Thomas A. Edison, May 38, 1892, for a Speaking Telegraph, which cover fundamental inventions and embrace all forms of microphone transmit- ters and of carbon telephones. BRENTANO’S, Publishers, Importers, Booksellers. We make a speciaity of technical works in ai! branches of science, and in ail Janguages. Subscriptions taken for all American and foreign scientific periodicals. Our Paris and London branches enable us to im port at shortest notice and lowest prices. [KEPporRtTs OF SCIENTIFIC SocIETIES, MonoGRAPHS. GOVERNMEN' REPORTS, etc. Correspondence solicited fee All books reviewed in SciENcE can be orderc from us. SEND FoR A SAMPLE Copy or Book Cuar. A Month ly Index of the Periodical Literature of the World $1.00 per year. BRENTANO'’S, Union Square, New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris. Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Mineral Water For Liver, Kidney and B_dder Troubles. For Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright's Disease, Diabetes. For Hemorrhoids, Ete. It has been used medicinally and prescribed by physicians for nearly one hundred years. IRECTIONS:—Take one or two glasses about & half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50. Bedford Mineral Springs Co., Bedfurd, Pa. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. The Rugged Gilt is largely an “outdoor” product. Meesin aie and exercise usually pro- duee sound appetite and sound sleep. Sickly —chil- dren obtain : great benefit from Scotts Emulsion of cod-liver oil with Hypo- phosphites, a fat-food rapid of assimilation and almost as palatable as milk. Prepared by Scott & Bowne. N. Y. All druggists. Newspaper Clippings. 25,000 in Stock. What do you want? Let us know. We can supply you. The Clemens News Ageney, Box 2329. Sam Francisco, Cal. Send 25 Cents | For a 3-months’ trial subscription to THE MOTHER’S NURSERY GUIDE, | The recognized authority on the care of infants and children. $2 per year. HANDY BOOKS. PRACTICAL ELECTRICS, a universal handy book no every day Electrical matters, fourth edition. 135pazes, r2vo, cloth, price 75 cents. ELECTRICAL TABLES AND MEMORANDA for Engineers, by Silvanus P. Thompson, 128 pages, Illustrated, 64 mo, roan, 50 cents. BABYHOOD PUBLISHING CO.. B oeeeee Oe eS CELT ERING. by Howard L | Sromwell, 32 different styles, 50 cents. 7 Box 3123, N.Y. | nis ORNAMENTAL Ponmuice pocketbook of | alphabets,37 djfferent styles, 20cents. Books mailed post paid to any address on re- ceipt of publish4 price. SPO N & CHAMBERLAIN, 12 Cortlandt St., N. Y “BUSY FOLKS’ GYMNASIUI1.” A few minutes’ daily exercise on our fascinating apparatus clears the brain, tones up the body, develops weak parts. Our cabinet contains chest: weights, rowing-weights, lifting-weights, clubs and dumb bells, adjust- able for old and young. /¢ zs the only complete exerctsing outfit tn the world suitable for use in living rooms. All prices. You can order on approval. Chest machine separate, $4.50 and up. Educated agents wanted. Puysi CAL CULTURE CHART, with illustrated directions for de. veloping every part of the body healthfully, 50 cts. Sent for half price to those naming this paper. WHITREY HOME GYMNASIUM €0., Box 8., Rochester, N. Y. Health, Education, Dress, Pastimes, “Of incalculable valuc.’—. VY. Herald. Mention this paper. Shoulders and Upper Back good for Round Shoulders The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. BOSTON, - - - - MASSACHUSETTS. A FIRST-CLASS WEEKLY MEDICAL NEWSPAPER. ESTABLISHED 1828. Terms of Subscriptioms In the United States, and to Canada and Mexico. $5 00 a year ir ad vance. To Foreign Countries embraced in the Universal Postal Union, $156 a year additional. Single numbers, lic. ‘len consecutive numbers free by mail on receipt of $1.00 This J ouRNAL circulates chiefly through the New England States, and is seen by the great majority of the profession in that important district. As ameans of reaching physicians it is unequalled. It is under the editorial management of Dr. George I, Shattuck, assisted by a large staff of compe- tent coadjutors. Subscriptions and advertisements received by the undersigned, to whom remittances by mail should be sent by money-order, draft or registered letter. DAMRELL & UPHAM, 283 Washington Street, Boston, Mass, MeN Ch NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 10, 1893. THE WASHINGTON ANTHROPOLOGISTS ASK FOR A DEFINITION—THE CHIEF JUSTICE AND THE VICE PRESIDENT WILL DETER- MINE ITS QUALITY. Turre is a product of our country that far exceeds in value allits cotton, its corn and its useful minerals. We have no lines of figures in our census returns to set forth this value; the product is so nearly inestimable that we have not as yet discovered a method of tabulating and express- ing its worth. Thousands of millions of dollars would cer- tainly fail to cover its cash cost to the commonwealth. Our schools, our colleges, our churches, and our domestic hearths are established and maintained to form and fashion this precious product, and a large part of the time and energy and the best and longest thoughts of our noblest men and women are dedicated to the same im- portant end. This infinitely valuable, this inestimable product is— the useful citizen. It is manifest that among the hundreds of thousands of useful citizens nurtured and sent forth into the bat- tle of life there exists the widest difference in character and capacity, and, consequently, the widest difference in their individual value to the state. When we rehearse their services and sum up in our minds how much our country has been bettered and agerandized by Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin /ranklin, Peter Cooper, C. P. Huntington, Robert Fulton, Thomas Edison, and James Russell Lowell, and imagine our national existence deprived of their work and influence, we comprehend the enormous relative value of such men to the commonwealth. Indeed, is it too much to say that the nation could better afford to lose, by emi- gration to some pleasant foreign clime, the entire popula- tion of one or more of our forty-four states, rather than have blotted from our history the work and influence cf the seven fellow citizens we have named? These men performed their great services for us, for our nation, and for humanity because they were possessed of certain qualities, faculties and characteristics that gave them power to perceive, grasp, mould and control the ele- ments around them, and such desirable attributes are possessed, in a greater or less degree, by every useful citizen. But in the most useful citizen will be grouped the most desirable and most useful characteristics in the greatest number and of the highest quality. That they are sometimes so grouped that in one man may exist the potentiality of becoming the most useful citizen in whatever occupation or environment he may thereafter attain to in the community, is shown by a con- sideration of the best-known of the persons mentioned— Benjamin Franklin. We find this individual, in the most widely differing relations in life, performing his part with admirable per- fection. He was a good journeyman printer and a skilful manufacturer and publisher. His part as a shopkeeper he played well. He excelled as an inventor of the most diverse contrivances, such as stoves, musical instru- ments and electrical apparatus. He was a philosopher of high rank, and for his accomplishments in statescratft his countrymen will always honor his memory. His faculty and foresight in founding and fostering public institutions of benevolence and literary and _ scientific culture is patent to us after the lapse of a century and a half. His eminence as a diplomat is conceded, and as a man of the world, of tact, of brilliant social attainment, his experience at the French court bears ample testimony. Every one acknowledges his singular ability as an editor, as a polemic, and as a humorist. Of his aptitude as a linguist, a financier, a military leader, an orator, a post- master general, a physical geographer and as a public- spirited citizen, history gives sufficient proof. Now all the elements that produced this high deeree of usefulness in so many forms of desirable human activity, existed potentially in the citizen Franklin when aged seventeen he landed in Philadelphia, and strode up Market street with his loaf of bread under his arm. He then possessed his vigorous muscular system, his fine digestion, his well-balanced physique, his strone social instincts, his active brain, with its scores of functions working harmoniously, his quick, responsive nerves, his optimism, his enterprise, his undaunted will, his abiding patience, his ingenuity, his economy, his sound judgment, his self-reliance, and a score of additional qualities which modern science, armed with every device that invention can conceive, is striving to weigh, measure and define. it is a description of a bases of character such as is here outlined, given in terms as accurate as the most advanced knowledge will permit, that, we assume, the Anthropolog- ical Society of Washington seeks when it asks, in the fol- lowing announcement, for a definition, in 3000 words, of “The most useful citizen of the United States, regardless of occupation:” “A member of the Anthropological Society of Washington “has placed in the hands of the Treasurer of the Society a “sum of money to be awarded in prizes for the clearest “statements of the elements that go to make up the most “useful citizen of the United States, regardless of occupa- “tion. ‘The donation has been accepted, and the Society “has provided for the award of the following prizes during “the present year (1893) under the fcllowing conditions: “Two prizes will be awarded for the best essays on the “subject specified above, viz: A first prize of $150 for the “best essay, and a second prize of $75 for the second best “essay among those found worthy by the commissioners of “award. “These prizes are open to competitors in all countries. “Hssays offered in competition for the prizes shall not “exceed 3,000 words in length, and all essays offered shall “be the property of the Anthropological Society of ‘Washington, the design being to publish them at the “discretion of the Board o* Mana- ach matters as a stay-at-home "nes to understand.—Philadulphia ‘ulletin. erary World. A JAPANESE 1NTERIOR.—. Tue title, “A Japanese Ir may be said to have a moral’, SEV apu as Any of the above books will be sent prepaid on receipt of the publisher’s price less ten per cent. M. D..C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, New York. ELEVENTH YEAR. Vou. XXII. No. 563. SINGLE Copiss, TEN CENTS. $3.50 PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE. NOVEMBER 17, 1893. CONTENTS. Letters to the Editor: Postage on Natural History Specimens. Isaac J. Wistarand Edw. J. Nolan........ The Original Type of Corn. Thomas F. UETiur taeeeyatetercfateictelebetelsts ctcisisteteisictesieieheieisis nia ees Recent Discoveries in Northeastern Nicar- agua: Granite Hills, Moutonned Ridges and Gold-containing Lodes or Reefs, and Leads or Placer Mines. J. Crawford A New Reflecting and Direct Acting Polaris- cope for the Arc Light Projector. Oscar The Sense-organs on the Legsof Our White Ants, Termes Flavipes, Koll. Alfred C. Letters to the Editor: The Osage Riverand the Ozark Uplift. W. Goon Cats: L. O. Howard................ Pump Water. Wm. P. Mason... Coon Cats. Morris Gibbs 267 268 269 272 273 434. WT | ABNER RERUN RENEE NNT EE SSR CE at x Scientific Instruments OF STANDARD QUALITY: Physical, Electrical, Chemical, Optical, Microscopical, En- gineering, Mathematical, Photographic and Projection Ap- paratus and Supplies. Special care devoted to the equipment of College and High School laboratories. Estimates submit- ted upon request. Correspondence solicited. CaN a aN aa aM SOM aM aH ax ata aC OKO aie Bd Write for abridged General Catalogue No. 219. BE QUEEN &«& CO,, Incorpated, Philadelphia, U. S. A. Hight Awards granted us at the World’s Fair. SOILS ENE EN NG CEE a Dea De frien ote eee oe New Store. MINERALS. “32233, scan! GERMANIA et b aS SELES CS St ER a ER TN MIM WILE Test A monthly magazine for the study of the German language and litera- Send for our ‘‘ Winter Bulletin,” recently issued, | ture, is highly recommended by college professors : : F A : and the press as ‘‘the best effort yet made to assist eae Microscopical Sections, Fine Lap- the student of German, and to interest him in his jidary , | pursuit.” Its BEGINNERS’ CoRNER furnishes every GEO, L. ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogist, year a complete and interesting course in German Removed to 64 East 12th Street, New York * New Departments. | | Blea) | | etal As (a PARIS and LONDON COSTUMES. Reception and Evening Gowns, Tailor-Made Cloth Suits, causes of the malady. The allegory forming Riding Habits. Coats and Jackets. CLOTH, PLUSH, AND VELVET Mackintoshes. ing disease. FURS. Fur Cloaks, Capes, Fur Muffs, Fur Trimmings, Fur Carriage Robes. Deoadevecy KH 19th st. NEW YORK. ABENTS $50 to $100 ey) wash or sewing machine, corn shell: machinery, &c. Clean, noiseless, la: a life-time. No experience needed. d ERISON & OU., X-7, Columbus, ntes -P. HA —A— WLEK, Ladies or Gents. Bestseller known. Need- ed etevery house. place of business or farm theyearround. “Home” Electric Motor runsall xindsoflightmachinery. Cheap- tpoweron earth. Connected instantly to er, umps, fans, lathes, jewelers’ or dentisis” Sts To show in operation means a sale. Guar- Profits immense. Circulars free. Q, THE MODERN MALADY ; or, Suf- THE WINNIPEG COUNTRY: ~ ferers from ‘ Nerves.’ OR, An introduction to public consideration, | ROQGHING IT WITH AN ECLIPSE PARTY. from a non-medical point of view, of a con- | dition of ill-health which is increasingly BY \prevalent in all ranks of society. In the first part of this work the author dwells on ‘the errors in our mode of treating Neuras- \thenia, consequent on the wide ignorance of the subject which still prevails; in the sec- ‘ond part, attention is drawn to the principal A. ROCHESTER FELLOW. (S. H. 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A Subscriptions taken for all American and foreign selentific periodicals. FOSSIL RESINS. This book is the result of an attempt to collect the scattered notices of fossil resins, exclusive of those on amber. The work is of Se N Eo Cee ening (Mani Gaa tonite eeorcel also on account of descriptions given port at Eorient notice and lowest prices. Reports |of the insects found embedded in these long- oF ScIENTIFIC SOCIETIES, MoncGRAPHS, GOVERNMENT | preserved exudations from early vegetation. Repor7s, etc. Correspondence solicited. | _ ke All books reviewed in SCIENCE can be ordered By CLARENCE LOWN and HENRY BOOTH: from us. | SEND FoR A SAMPLE Copy oF Book Cuart. A Mouth- 12°. $1. ly Index of the Periodical Literature of the World. | $1.00 per year. | ND. C, HODGE BRENTANO’S, Union Square, New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris. §, 874 Broadway, N. Y SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 563 Probably you take THE Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity do. If you do not, now is a good time to begin. It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty cents. Address: 3 The Electrical Engineer, 203 Broadway, - - - New York, N.Y QUERY. Can any reader of Sczence cite a case of lightning stroke in which the dissipation of a small conductor (one-sixteenth of an| inch in diameter, say, ) has failed to protect between two horizon-| tal planes passing through its upper and lower ends respective- ly? Plenty of cases have been found which show that when the conductor is dissipated the build- ing is not injured to the extent explained (for many of these see volumes of Philosophical Trans- actions at the time when light- ning was attracting the attention of the Royal Society), but not an exception is yet known, al though this query has been pub- lished far and wide among elec- tricians. First inserted June 19, 1891. No re- sponse to date. N. D.C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, X.Y. SCIENCE CLUBBING RATES. 10% DISCOUNT. We will allow the above discount to any subscriber to Science who will send us an order for periodicals exceeding $10, counting each at its full price. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, HN. Y. Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Mineral Water For Liver, Kidney and B_dder Troubles. For Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright's Disease, Diabetes. For Hemorrhoids, Ete. It has been used medicinally and preseribed by physicians for nearly one hundred years. IRECTIONS:—Take one or two glasses about @ half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50. Bedford Mineral Springs Co., Bedfvrd, Pa. Philadolphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. Methods of treating Colds and Coughs were based on the idea of sup- pression. We now know that “feeding a cold” is good doctrine. Scott’s Emulsion of cod-liver oil with hypo- phosphites, a rich fat-food, cures the most stubborn cough when ordinary medi- cines have failed. Pleasant to take; easy to digest. Prepared by Scott & Bowne. N. ¥. All druggists. HANDY BOOKS. PRACTICAL ELECTRICS, a universal handy book no every day Electrical matters, fourth edition. 135pages, 12vo, cloth, price 75 cents. ELECTRICAL TABLES AND MEMORANDA for Engineers, by Silvanus P. Thompson, 128 pages, Newepaper Clippings, 25,000 im Stock, What do you want? Let us know. We can supply you. The Clemens News Ageney, Box 2329. Sam Francisco, Cal Fact and Theory Papers I. THE SUPPRESSION OF CON. SUMPTION. By GODFREY W. HaMBLETON, M.D. 12°. 40c. Il. THE SOCIETY AND THE “FAD.” By APPLETON MORGAN, Hsq. 12°. 20 cents. | Ill. PROTOPLASM AND LIFE By | C. F. Cox. 12°. 75 cents. | IV. THE CHEROKEES IN PRE-CO- | LUMBIAN TIMES, By Cyrus THOMAS. 12°. $1. We aE TORNADO. By H. A. Hazen. V1. TIME-RELATIONS OF MENTAL PHENOMENA. By JOSEPH JASTROW. 12°. 50c. | Illustrated, 64. mo, roan, 50 cents. |A SYSTEM OF EASY LETTERING by Howard Vil. HOUSEHOLD HYGIENE. By Cromwell, 32 different styles, 50 cents. Mary TAYLOR BISSELL. 12°, 75 cents. |THE ORNAMENTAL Penman’s pocketbook of | atphabetsa7 different SOD 20 centss A | ooks mailed post paid to any address on re- N. D. C. HODGES, Publisher, _ |ceipt of publish eoieet y | SPO N & CHAMBERLAIN, 874 Broadway, New York. Mention this paper. 12 Cortlandt St., N. Y “BUSY FOLKS’ GYMNASIUI1.” A few minutes’ daily exercise on our fascinating apparatus , clears the brain, tones up the body, develops weak parts. Our cabinet contains chest weights, || rowing-weights, lifting-weights, = clubs and dumb bells, adjust- able for old and young. J/¢ zs the only complete exerctsing outfit in the world suitable for use in As living rooms. All prices. You Z> can order on approval. Chest * machine separate, $4.50 and up. Educated agents wanted. Puyst CAL CULTURE CHART, with illustrated directions for de. veloping every part of the body healthfully, 50 cts. Sent for half price to those naming this paper. WHITNEY HOME GYMNASIUM 08., Box B.. Rochester, Y, The Boston Wedical ana Surgical Journal. BOSTON, - - - - MASSACHUSETTS. A FIRST-CLASS WEEKLY MEDICAL NEWSPAPER. ESTABLISHED 1828. Terms of Subscriptiom: Ip the United States, and to Canada and Mexico, $5 00 a year in ad vance. To Foreign Countries embraced in the Universal Postal Union, $1.56 a year additional. Single numbers, 15e. ‘!en consecutive numbers free by mail on receipt of $1.00 This JouRNAL circulates chiefly through the New England States, and is seen by the great majority of the profession in that important district. As ameans of reaching physicians it is unequalled. Jt is under the editorial management of Dr. George RB. Shattuck, assisted by a large staff of compe- Shoulders and Upper Back good for Round Shoulders tent coadjutors. Subscriptions and advertisements received by the undersigned, to whom remittances by mail show be sent by money-order, draft or registered letter. DAMRELL & UPHAM, 288 Washington Street, Boston, Mass, ENCE NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 17, 1893. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. «*,Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. writer’s name is in all cases required as a proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number con- taining his communication will be furnished free to any corres- pondent. The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. (For other letters see page 276.) The POSTAGE ON NATURAL HISTORY SPECIMENS. Ir has always been recognized that scientific re- search is greatly furthered by the exchange of the various objects with which that research is con- cerned. For the transmission of objects of Natural History from one country to another, the mails have offered a cheap, speedy and reliable means. Here- tofore, through the laxity with which the regulations on the subject have been enforced, it has been possi- ble to enter such objects in the mails of the Universal Postal Union as samples of merchandise and under the rates of postage therefor. rom official information late- ly received from the Post Office Department of the United States it appears that such a rating is entirely unauthor- ized by existing provisions, and that objects of Natural History may be mailed to countries of the Union only at the rates required for letters. The United States Post Office Department also stated that it had recently submit- ted a proposition to the countries composing the Postal Union, to modify the regulations so that such specimens might be received into the mails at the same rates as sam- ples of merchandise, but that a sufficient number of those countries had voted against the proposition to defeat it. This Academy has therefore resolved to address the various scientific bodies, with which it is in communication in those countries whose governments have voted against the proposition, and to request those scientific bodies to memorialize their respective governments in fayor of the same. The Governments of Austria, Bolivia, British India Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Guatemela‘ Hungary Japan, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Tunis, Uruguay and Venezuela having voted in the negative, this Academy respectfully requests the favorable con- sideration of this question by scientific societies, and begs that they take such steps as they deem advisable to inform the postal authorities of their respective gov- ernments of the manifest advantages to scientific re- search which would result from the adoption of the proposed modification, and to request those authorities to take such steps as may result in the adoption of the same. The letter rate for postage (Universal Postal Union) is ten times that required for samples of merchandise; such a rate for specimens of Natural History is virtually pro- hibitive. This Academy would respectfully urge upon scientific societies prompt action on this matter if it meets with that approval which we so strongly desire. Isaac J. Wistar, President. Epy. J. Noran, Recording Secretary. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, November 14. THE PICTURE IN THE LANDSCAPE. Tux inquiry by Waldo Dennis, on page 213, into the causes of the unlike impressions which one receives from a given landscape and from a painting of it, seems to me to explain the subject admirably. He supposes that the reason why the picture appeals to us more than the land- scape does is because the picture is condensed and the mind becomes acquainted with its entire purpose at once, while the landscape is so broad that the individual objects at first fix the attention, and it is only by a process of synthesis that the unity of the landscape finally becomes apparent. This is admirably illustrated in photographs. One of the first surprises which I experienced when I be- gan the use of the camera was the discovery that very tame scenes become interesting and often even spirited in the photograph. But there is something more than mere condensation in this vitalizing and beautifying effect of the photograph or the painting. Individual ebjects are so much reduced that they no longer appeal to us as dis- tinct subjects, and however uncouth they may be in the reality, they make no impression in the picture. The thin and sere sward may appear rather like a closely shaven lawn or a new-mown meadow. And again, the picture sets a limit to the scene, it frames it, and thereby cuts off all extraneous and confusing or irrelevant landscapes. All these remarks are enforced in the xsthetics of land- scape-gardening. It is the artist’s one desire to make pic- tures in the landscape. This is done in two ways—by the form of plantations and by the use of vistas. He will throw his plantations into such positions that open and yet more or less confined areas of greensward are pre- sented to the observer at various points. This glade-like opening is nearly or quite devoid of small or individual ‘@ e a ECs o es S op SS OS Ge & © a e or cca objects, which always destroy the unity of such areas and are meaningless in themselves. The two sketches illustrate my meaning. The upper one is a fair diagram of the average front-yard. It is full of individual trees and bushes, or groups, and the eye is carried from ob- ject to object, while the entire yard makes no quick appeal to the mind. One is pleased only with the kinds of plants which he sees. The lower sketch presents a definite area at once to the observer, and the individ- ual plants are of minor importance. Here is a landscape —a picture; there was a nursery. A vista is a narrow opening or view between planta- tions to a distant landscape. It cuts up the broad horizon into portions which are readily cognizable. It frames 268 portions of the country-side. The verdurous sides of the planting are the sides of the frame; the foreground is the bottom and the sky is the top. L. H. Barney. Ithaca, N. Y. THE ORIGINAL TYPE OF CORN. REFERRING to the article by Mr. Hershey in a recent number of Science, there are six types of corn, viz.: dent corn, flint corn, pop corn, sweet corn, soft corn and pod corn. Each of the first five has well marked structural differences in the kernel. Dr. Sturtevant proposed to distinguish these differences by calling these types agricultural species. The kernel of the pod corn does not present structural differences mark- edly unlike that of the flint corn, and probably under proper conditions would take on the characters of dent corn, but this type differs from all the others in that each kernel has a husk of its own, besides the usual husk that covers the ear; hence the name pod corn. It has been claimed that this type of corn has been found growing wild in the Rocky Mountains and one observer reports it from Brazil. Just how authentic these observations are ] do not know. I have some doubts about them, but be that as it may, this type has a special interest to Mr. Hershey in that it is quite cus- tomary for it to have fairly well-formed ears in the tassel, each kernel being covered with husks, and the whole ear more or less covered with a husk, although the outer husk is generally rather slight for reasons which will appear later on. The transition from corn bearing its seeds in the tassel to that having ears at the joints is not bard to imagine, when we recognize that each joint has a tend- eticy to produce an ear or throw out asucker. Suckers, that is, stalks of smaller size than the main stalks and frequently barren, result from the lower joints cf the main stalk, and ears from the upper ones when any- thing develops from these joints. Now if we assume it likely that originally each joint threw out a sucker, which at that time would be a stalk bearing at its top both staminate and pistillate flowers, it is not difficult to see that these suckers might easily be modified into ears, that is, stalks bearing only pistil- late flowers. Obviously, in the process of natural selection, those plants would be most likely to survive which had the most pollen in the upper tassel, or, in other words, in the tassel of the main stalk, because the pollen tends to descend. On the other hand, the ovaries on tassels lower down on the suckers would be more likely to be fertilized by virtue of their position. It would thus come about that there would be less and less ovaries produced on the upper tassel and less pollen on the lower ones, until we had only pistillate flowers below and staminate ones above. There are varieties to-day, such as Blount’s Prolific, which have six to eight ears upon a stalk; but these varieties are almost uniformly inferior to those varieties with but one ear per stalk for the production of grain. We can readily understand, therefore, that man in semi- civilized times early recognized that, for the production of grain, the only part of the plant then used, those plants with the fewer ears were superior, and hence selected such until the one-eared varieties resulted. All varieties tend to sucker, more or less, when plant- ed thinly; that is, to produce more stalks than there were seeds planted. The supernumerary stalks come from the joints at the base of the main plant. If you plant four kernels of Brazillian flour-corn, a variety belonging to the soft corn type, you will get, under normal conditions, about twelve stalks of corn. About three joints of each main plant produce stalks or SCIENCE [Vol. XXII. No. 563 suckers. While suckers frequently produce ears, they have a tendency to be barren, and they are more prone than the main stalks to produce corn in the tassel, al- though the production of corn in the tassel is more common generally than Mr. Hershey evidently supposes. All ears are borne at the end of stalks, much more reduced in length than those we commonly call suckers. Yet the length of these staiks varies greatly in different varieties, and practical men prefer, other things equal, the ear with the shorter stalk or shank. Of course, in early times those plants having the grain on the shorter stalks would be selected, both because the stalk would be of no possible advantage and because the shorter the stalks the more completely the ear would be covered with husk, due to the fact that the husks are but slightly modified leaves. Indeed, this may have come about from natural selection. if corn ever in this form grew in astate of nature, due to the fact that the huskis a protection from its natural enemies, and hence the more husk on the ear the less would be the liability of the seeds being destroyed, hence the greater likelihood of such plants being perpetuated. Tuomas F. Huny. Ohio State University. —Immediately following the World’s Congress on Hor- ticulture at Chicago in August last, a series of meetings was held to consider the advisability of organizing a hor- ticultural society which shall include every country of the globe. After much discussion, in which many eminent men from various parts of the world engaged, the World’s Horticultural Society was organized and the election of the three general otticers was held on the 25th of August. This new society is designed, in the language of the con- stitution, “to promote correspondence and to facilitate exchange of plants and information between the countries of the world. This society can coordinate and extend the work of all existing societies, compile statistics, promote legislation and education, prepare correspondence direc- tories, diffuse all the latest information from the various parts of the globe, consider means of transportation and facilitate the exchange of varieties and every commodity in which pomologists, viticulturists, florists, vegetable gardeners and other horticulturists are interested. The society will probably meet occasionally at the various International Exhibitions, upon which occasions, also, it can greatly aid in procuring exhibits from all parts of the world. The Society now requests the earnest and early support of its friends. ‘The Vice Presidents of the vari- ous countries will be announced soon, and the organiza- tion will then be quickly completed. ‘The Society needs the co-operation of every enlightened horticulturist and every important horticultural organization. Prosper J. Berckmans, President, Augusta, Georgia, U.S. A.; Henri L. DeVilmorin, Vice President, No. 22 Avenue de la Bour- bonnais, Paris, France; L. H. Bailey, Ithaca, N. Y., U.S. A., Secretary-Treasurer for the United States, and tempo- rary Secretary-Treasurer at Large. —The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, at a meeting held in Boston on Noy. 8, voted to grant— from the C. M. Warren Fund for Encouraging Chemical Research—the sum of $300 to Professor C. EF’. Mabery, of Cleveland, Chio, in aid of his investigations on the Amer- ican sulphur petroleums. —Another of Robert S. Ball’s popular books on Astro- nomy, entitled, “In the High Heavens,” is to be published soon by J. B. Lippincott Company. It will be profusely illustrated by drawings in the text and a number of full- page colored plates. November 17, 1893. | S@lEN Gre PuBLisHED By N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broapway, NEw York. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in advance, one hundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reasons we desire to circulate as many copies of SCIENCE as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprint- edelsewere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photo-engraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manu- scripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accompanies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer; not necessa- rily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold our- selves responsible for any view or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Attention is called to the ““Wants” column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and ad- dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The ‘Exchange”’ column is likewise open. RECENT DISCOVERIES IN NORTHEASTERN NIC- ‘ ARAGUA: GRANITE HILLS, MOUTONNED RIDGES AND GOLD-CONTAINING LODES OR REEFS, AND LEADS OR PLACER MINES. BY J. CRAWFORD, FIO WANQUE OR COCO, ATSAN RAMON, NICARAGUA. Doric the past year, commencing August, 1892, ten months of nearly continuous exploration have been spent by the author over an area of some 10,000 to 12,000 square miles in the uninhabited wilderness and jungle that cover a large part of northeastern Nicaragua, exam- ining the geology, minerology, and flora existing in great attractiveness and yariety in that part of the country. Among the numerous interesting features and peculiari- ties discovered or noted that are worthy, from both a scientific and economical point of view, of a more special description than was given of them in my paper, “Hydro- graphic Area of the Rio Waukey, or Coco-Nicaragua,” published in Science, in April, 1893, are the following: (a) The granite outbursts exposed on the tops of oval- shaped Cerros or mountains, and which also form the Cima del Cerro and longer axis of long, high, mountain ridges. Fa (b) The numerous moutonnéd ridges and lateral and terminal moraines, in series that evidence the former existence of a glacial epoch which covered an area of sey- eral thousand square miles in Nicaragua with a flow of glacial ice. (ec) The erosion-sculptured Cerros that intervene be- tween the granite hills and moutonnéd ridges, composed of debris denuded from both the nearby granite moun- tains and materials from mountain ranges found further to the southward. (d) The reefs or lodes (many of them auriferous) and dykes (of diorite) in which auriferous quartz veins are discovered piercing the mountains and ridges parallel to the length of the series of the system; and also the Post- Pliocene leads of drifts of gravels and boulders. Gold is found exposed in the banks at sides of streams, that appear to extend through the erosion-sculptured hills near their base, and also the alluvial leads, drifts of gravels, gold, ete., found in the channels of the creeks and in strata in the lower parts of valleys. (e) The composition and fertility or non-fertility of the soil and its fitness, in places, for the vigorous growth of SCIENCE. 269 certain kinds of trees or plants, also the peculiar forma- tion where groves of some kinds of valuable trees were found growing to large dimensions. (f) The apparent geological history of the granite hills, dykes, reefs or lodes, moutonnéd ridges, erosion-formed ridges, and of the leads or placer mines. H The region in northeastern Nicaragua chosen for description in this paper as typical of afew others in that part of the country is a wilderness unoccupied by mani; and although this locality is a part of Nicaragua, neither the government nor the citizens of that country have even a vague conception of its importance and its truly great undeveloped wealth in valuable minerals and metals, timber, and agricultural lands. The centre of this chosen locality is about longitude 85° W. (from Greenwich) and latitude 14° N., and embraces the headwaters of Nawa- wass, Wilson, Loccus, Umbra, Waspoopoo, Moorawasgs, Sangsang and Daka Creeks, and Wasspook River, con- fluents to Rio Waukey, or Coco River, and also the line of Cerros, about sixty miles long, just south of the Wasspook River. The granite masses appear to be in two parallel lines of elevation, but connected together as one mass and com- posed of rock of the same mineral composition, usually amphibole. syenites (with and without quartz), and also protogene and plagioclose varieties appear most numer- ous. The cooling has permitted the crystallization of the minerals so similarly at about the same depth from the surface (isogeothermal zone) in each line of ridges, as to indicate that the two exposed lines were of the same mass and lowering in temperature at the same rate. The granite has been exposed by erosion, and the hills, also, have been eroded deeply at many places, and the rocks have, at several places observed, become disintegrated and decomposed, in situ, to depths of five to twenty feet. The exposed granites are in series of spurs and ridges that extend northeastwardly for about ninety miles from the Barbar Mountains (at the southeastern termination of the Matagalpa system of mountains), and form an angle of about 120° with the southeasterly and northwesterly direction of that mountain system, which is composed largely of Archean and Silurian era rocks. The northeastern termination of these granite spurs and ridges is near to the confluence of the Rios Wasspook and Wauque, at a distance of about one hundred miles west from the Carribbean Sea, on the eastern coast of Nicara- gua, and about the same distance south from that sea on the northern coast of Nicaragua. The forces causing this upheaval of granite appear also tu have fissured the super- imposed and adjacent systems of rocks for many miles’. These fissures are now filled by deposition of minerals and metals from hot solutions, and are now reefs or lodes, containing quartz, gold, metallic ores, and other minerals. Near the northern termination of these granite ridges were found patches, of varying size, of auriferous sands, gravels, clays, and boulders—detritus transported by water from the denuded granite hills and from ranges in the Matagalpa system of mountains. These deposits of detritus increase in size northwardly, until covered north- wardly by the sands and mud composing the delta of the Rio Wauque; and on the west the deposits of detritus were in large quantities, and subsequently have been sculptured by erosion into hills and ridges; also found resting in small areas on the granite ridges are boulders in size from a few pounds to over two hundred pounds each, of varieties of bluish glaucophanyte, or hypers- 1Recently two or three Latin- Americans have, in a crude way, simulated placer-mining work in one or two of the mineral localities. They appear hopeful and cheerful. “It is very difficult, frequently impossible, to trace the extent of the our— cropping of lodes or reefs, and even of dykes, in this wilderness of dense growth of trees, vines and plants and a deep soil. 270 thenyte, or augyte, or trachyte rocks, that appear thickly sprinkled with pyrites and magnetic and titanic iron ores; these boulders were weathered toward their centres from one to three inches, and were found to be auriferous—in some instances, highly so; they differ in composition and color from the hornblende and orthoclase granite-mass forming the axis and serrated ridges of the hills, also from the boulders mixed with the patches of clay, sands, gravels, and boulders that are found to the southward on these granite hills and ridges. This filling up of former exist- ing valleys with the materials worn off, in part, from the granite ridges, evidences a subsidence in that locality at the time, and this evidence is supported by the existence, to the north of the granite hills and between them and the. Wauque, or Coco, River, of a disconnected line of limestone; on one depression of this limestone a deposit of the auriferous clays, sands, gravels, and boulders was found. The eroding into hills and valleys, as they at present appear, composed of the mass of detritus of disin- tegrated granites, etc., is evidence of a subsequent eleva- tion of that entire region and the completing of one oscil- lation of subsidence and of re-elevation there. The moutonnéd ridges extend for about sixty miles in a series of parallel oblong ridges northeastwardly from near the base of the tall Barbar and Pena Blanca Moun- tains, that at present have an altitude of over 7,000 feet above the Caribbean Sea. One of the projecting lines of moraines extends further northward, and is about ninety miles long until it terminates at a dyke, on whose sides auriferous gravels are found, in which the Rio Wauque has cut its channel at San Ramon. This system of moutonnéd ridges extends to a width eastward and westward of about twenty-five miles, and has at present an altitude above the creeks at its base of from 70 to 400 feet. They were found to be composed most generally of unstratified clays, sands, gravels, and boulders; occasionally, however, these materials are partly stratified and partly assorted. The enclosed boulders are of various sizes, from ten pounds to several tons weight, and are usually angular or sub-angular, becoming oblong and oval as the series of moutonnéd ridges extend northward, 7. e., towards the Wauque River, and are com- posed most generally of fragments of auriferous quartz, granites, syenites, hornblendic feldspatic rocks. These moutonnéd ridges have been denuded and eroded by the very energetic and potent meteorological forces in this locality, until numerous large boulders have been displaced and lie on the sides and at the base of the ridges; also numerous gulleys score deeply the sides of these ridges, and deep ravines or channels of the flowing creeks separete many of them from each other. These moutonnéd ridges are unquestionable evidences of a glacial epoch and of a long-continued glacial flow at this low parallel—only 14° north from the equator;—which covered quite a large part of the present existing narrow ‘divide of land (containing about 48,000 square miles) between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Ad- joining the granite hills on the northward and northwest- ward,often between the moutonnéd and the granite ridges, are a number of erosion-sculptured hills that have been carved out by the draining forces attending the elevation of lands in that locality, and evidence that elevation, and subsequently by meteoric forces. These hills of erosion are composed of the detritus of rocks transported by water from the southeastern ending of the Matagalpa system of mountains (a distance of seventy to eighty miles SAt latitude 12° 20’ north from the equator similar moutonned ridges and glacial epoch moraines were discovered on the south side of the southeastern termination of the Matagalpasystem of mountain ranges, and were examined by the author of this paper in 1890, and reported on to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science, and officially to the Government of Nicaragua. SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 563 southwest), and of materials eroded from the adjoining and nearby series of granite hills; the materials com- posing them have been cemented and concreted into semi- hard rocks and conglomerate masses of clastic rocks. The altitude above the Caribbean Sea of many of these granite ridges, erosion-formed Cerros and moutonnéd ridges, is from 1,000 to 3,500 feet; all are covered with a dense growth of large trees, or, in some places on the erosion- formed ridges, covered with a jungle of trees, bamboos, vines, and other vegetation. The reefs, or lodes, strike east of north and west of south, parallel to the long axis of the ridges and moun- tains, and those discovered usually dip at an angle of about 120° south. They are from 6 to 30 inches wide, and usually appear to be rich in gold and in metallic sulphides and arsenides. The reefs at the granite ridges are parallel with those ridges, and found at the contact between the granite and superimposed rocks (though some appear to be in the granite) as principal lodes, from which extend at various angles into the adjacent erosion- carved Cerros many fissures containing the oxide of metals, gold, sulphides, etc. Some few of these fissures appear to continue northwardly into the moutonnéd ridges; but this was not verified, because of the deep soil and dense undergrowth that covers the surface of the hills and valleys at that locality. The reefs parallel with the granite ridges extend southwestwardly to near the Barbar Mountains, where they appear to form an obtuse angle with the auriferous reefs, or lodes, that extend (southeast and northwest across Nicaragua) along the foothills of the Matagalpa system of mountains, from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. In the granite hills were discovered two large deposits of iron ores, limonite and hematite, and one deposit of manganese ore, the black di-oxide pyro- lusite; also graphite and some tin sulphide, stannite, whether in paying quantities or not, 7. e., profitable to mining, has not been determined satisfactori:y, because they were found but recently, this year, 1893, in an unin- habited wilderness; they are, however, in a thoroughly mineralized locality. The auriferous reefs are of the Dioritic gold-evolved era (as classitied by David Forbes, F. R. S., in his paper “On the Geological Epoch at Which Gold Has Made Its Appearance in the Crust of the earth”), and appear at the surface often where many greenstone rocks were discovered. The auriferous placer deposits or leads of clays, gravels, sands, gold, and boulders are of different geological epochs, viz.: the strata of partly-cemented auriferous drifts of sands, gravels, etce., exposed in patches, small to several acres, at the sides near the base of the erosion-formed hills and appearing to pass through those hills, and also found in the upper valleys at varying depths beneath the surface and at many places exposed in the banks along the sides of the creeks. These leads of gravel drifts are from 8 to 20 inches thick, and although few masses of gold visible to the unaided eye were observed in them, yet when they had been washed out from a pan there were frequently left in the pan particles, grains, and small nodules of gold, or occasionally laminated small masses of gold of angular, sub-angular, and ovalforms. These are “alluvial drifts,” or gravel beds, formed during the latter part, I am in- clined to believe, of the Champlain epoch, and usually contain only a small per cent of sub-angular and partly rounded quartz. The gold found in them is in rather coarse grains and particles, as described, and evidently derived from three sources: (a) The auriferous reefs that traverse that part of the country, and— (b) From the deeply disintegrated granite masses, and— (c) From the disrupted masses of quartz, pyrites, etc., 4See London Geological Magazine, III., p. 385—7. November 17, 1893. | that once were enclosed in the moutonnéd ridges, and subsequently eroded therefrom. The gold is believed to be in quantity sufficient to be profitable to mining opera- tions, especially because the mining could be done econom- ically by water, which is convenient, abundant, and has a rapid fall or descent in the nearby creeks. The alluvial beds of auriferous clays, sands, gravels, and small boulders that are found in the beds of some of the gulches and in the channels of some of the present system of creeks areoften partly cemented by hydrous oxide of iron in some places and by silica at other local- ities. These deposits were commenced, I am persuaded, during the Terrace epoch, and, in some places, are appar- ently quite rich in gold of rough, semi-angular pieces and in rounded particles; yet some of the particles of gold in the small creeks or nearby dry gulches appear so angular and undisturbed at their edges as to impress one with the opinion that they have increased in size, “grown, where they are discovered by additions from passing solutions containing gold; the chief sources, however, of the gold found in these creeks are the same as those named under the head of reefs or lodes, with ad- ditions of gold from the older leads above described found in the upper, and apparently passing through the erosion-formed hills and from accretions of gold deposited from passing auriferous solutions. The bedrock in some of the creeks is an iron-cemented arenaceous argillyte resting on a bed of partly cemented boulders, sands and clays which appear, at one place discovered, probably in the entire locality, to rest on strata of auriferous con- glomerates or breccia and this on an auriferous gravel superimposed on a bedrock of metamorphosed shale or slate. Geological history. We found several obstacles inter- vening to prevent, at present, that careful examination necessary to determine the geological epoch, when these granite ridges were upheaved and when thereafter they were exposed by the denudation of superimposed strata; during what epoch the regional elevation occurred and the erosion-sculptured hills in that region were formed; from what rocks or sources came the gold found now in the reefs or lodes traversing, longitudinally, the moun- tains and ridges. One obstacle is that no ravines or cafions were discoy- ered that deeply enough expose the strata toward the centre of the mountains or ridges. Other obstacles are, the very deep disintegration, in situ, of the exposed rocks and the deep soil covering the sur- face and also the dense vegetation, frequently a jungle difficult to cut a pathway through, covering in matted masses even the nearly perpendicular sides of ravines; but, tentatively, and from the clearest examinations we could make, we form the following geological history of this locality. 1. The granite in the hills and ridges was forced up through Jurassic period and later rocks and it upturned to nearly vertical the superimposed strata, in some of which strata were discovered moulds of silica (lined with small crystals of quartz) like the Trigonia Conradi, also others like moulds of Tancredia Warreniana. The fissures, also the dykes of diorite, appear to have resulted from disturbances occurring in epochs Post- Oolitic, but not extending later than the Cretaceous, this being the latest known or generally recognized time or period during which gold has been conveyed in large quantities or percentages, as a constituent in granites and diorites, up to the earth’s crust; these auriferous granites and diorites are certainly abundant in this region and are not Paleozoic nor Cenozoic rocks. The gold in the reefs or lodes has been dissolved from the granites and diorite rocks by hot mineralized waters and deposited SCIENCE. 25% therefrom into the fissures or reefs, on cooling or on de- oxidation of the solutions, either enclosed in pyrites or as free gold. The gold in the placer mines, drifts or leads, appears to have been derived almost entirely from the disinte- grated and denuded granites forming the mountains and from the reefs in the mountains; a small percentage of the alluvial gold is, however, from the small areas or patches of auriferous quartz eroded from the moutonnéd ridges, also a small percentage of gold has been deposited from passing alkaline waters that contain gold in solution.® The patches of auriferous quartz found generally at the base of the moutonnéd ridges as if eroded from them ap- pear to have been transported (with the other materials composing the moutonnéd ridges) from auriferous reefs in the ridges forming the southeastern part of the Mata- galpa system of mountains. The boulders of bluish-colored rocks, auriferous and containing a large percentage of pyrites, found quite fre- quently in that region, are usually some variety of the soda-bearing hornblede rocks like glaucophanyte, although bluish trachytes, also bluish hypersthene boulders, some of them auriferous (probably all of them) were dis- covered. Some of the very interesting observations noted were: (a) The altitude above the Caribbean Sea (aneroid readings) of several of the hills and ridges in the region herein described is from 1,000 to 3,600 feet, consequently the flow of water to the Caribbean Sea, only 90 or 100 miles distant, is very rapid, there being no swamps, only those of brackish water in the delta of the rivers; this rapid descent of water from the mountains over numerous rapids, cascades and falls in the creeks and rivers offers many places where great water power or pressure could be had to move machinery for sawing logs, defibrenating plants, mining, etc.; (>) That region, excepting the clay- surfaced moutonnéd ridges, is covered, from two to twelve or more feet deep, with a very fertile soil composed in large percentage of partly decomposed vegetable matter (nitrogenous) and potash and other alkalies and alkaline earths, from the alkali-containing rocks, granite, feld- spar, etc. Consequently there are excellent agricultural lands for corn, potatoes, coffee, tobacco, almonds, ete., on the sides of the hills and ridges, and suitable for sugar cane, plantains, bananas, cacao, India rubber trees, etc., in the valleys. Some of the mountain lands are admir- able for coffee, and in the upper valley lands, indigenous cacao trees (Theobroma) of good varieties are numerous; (c) The climate is warm, but not uncomfortable, no lagoons nor swamps in the hilly region; (d) On the moun- tain ridges grow forests of large trees, among which ma- hogany, cedar, rosewood, sapote (Ulva sylvestra), iron wood, guanacaste and nispero appear to be the most nu- merous. The tunoo trees’ are also numerous and of large size, and, young vigorous-growing India rubber trees (Sypho- nia elasticos) are very abandant, while in shaded moist places, the surfaces of disintegrating rocks are fre- quently covered with the beautiful velvet vine of Nicar- ragua (first discovered about 1856 in Nicaragua), having SGoid being invariably found in the granitic series of rocks, especially those of Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras and early Tertiary period, should, Iam inclined to believe, influence us to recognize,the gold as a constituent and not merely an accessory mineral in the rock. *The fact of the existence of gold in rocks of the granite series appears to give support to the theory of the successional deposition of the elements in the earth, those of greatest sp. gravity being nearest to the earth’s centre. Platinum, gold and iron appear to have been brought to the crust of the earth in every upheaval of granitic masma. 7The tunoo exudes freely, when scarified, a milky juice appearing like the milk or sap that flows from lacerations in an India rubber tree, but concretes intoa gum like gutta percha. The fibrousinner barkisa texture of strong interwoven fibres and can be removed from the tree in pieces as wide as the circumference of the tree (from three to six or six anda half feet wide) and twenty to forty feet long. The Soomoos and Sambos use this bark as bed- clothing and as clothing for their bodies; they prepare the bark for these purposes after removing it from the tree by wetting in water and softening by beating it with sticks, when it becomes soft and remains very strong, 272 its exteriorly pure, white, trumpet-shaped, velvety flower tinted with various clear colors of purple, golden, pink, ete. Orchids in great variety are numerous, also ferns of all sizes, up to trees twenty feet high, are abundant. This wilderness contains much undeveloped wealth in its export varieties of trees, medicinal and fibrous plants, and in its undeveloped minerals, metals, and very fertile agricultural lands, and has much to interest scientists, especially naturalists. July 3. A NEW REFLECTING AND DIRECT ACTING POLAR- ISCOPE FOR THE ARC LIGHT PROJECTOR. BY OSCAR KNIPE, PHILADELPHIA. Rerereine to a paper on the subject of Projection, pub- lished lately in Engineering and several other periodicals, it was then indicated that most of the accessory instru- ments for Projection, among them the polariscope, would become more popular and find increased employment in the various courses of instruction. The are light being so convenient, prompt in application and so perfectly sat- isfactory, suggests, of course, an extended application, and in consequence the expert will frequently find chances for improvement. The favorite construction of the polariscope has been with Nichol’s Prisms, two of these being employed, one for the polarizer and the other for the analyzer. To ob- tain brilliant effects it is necessary that the former should be at least two inches across the face; unfortunately it is now impossible to obtain such large crystals of spar, and as the demand for these instruments increases very much the reflecting polariscope again comes to the front; the old elbow arrangement furnished by some makers of in- struments 1s a very clumsy attachment and inconvenient, as it requires the projector to be turned side-ways so that the light can reach the screen in front of the audience. Various modifications have been proposed mainly by London makers and amateurs to obtain a direct acting re- flecting polariscope by two opposite surfaces set in a box at the usual angle and deflecting the beam upward or downward, but the main objection, that of being incon- venient, still remained. The optical bench of the Para- gon Projector offers, however, special advantages in that respect; the distance from the centre of the are to the slide base being sufficient to allow a downward polarizer to be adopted, leaving abundant room for the object stage, objective and analyzing prism upon the bench. In practice this instrument is found to be simple in adjust- ment with the light, and the results obtained are surpris- ing; the field projected is perfectly circular and even, al- ternating it light and completely dark by rotating the analyzer. The object stage here used is a novel devise; it consists of two uprights which open and close by a spring forming a clamp, a rotating ring with spring clips is se- cured to each clamp upright, so that three objects can be combined at one time, which is required for circular and eliptic polarization. The stage for exhibiting the phe- nomena of polarization in crystal, glass forms (verre trempe), and those produced by heating the object will be described at a future time. The polariscope described above is specially adapted for plane and circular polarization of geometric and fancy designs of Selenite and Mica. The latter is eas- ily obtainable and can be split into laminze of various thicknesses, the thinnest that can be taken off in a square of about two inches is technically known as an eighth wave plate, the next thickness equal to two one- eighth films superposed is termed a quarter wave film and another equal to two one-quarter films superposed is the half wave film. The quarter and half wave films are SCIENCE -by the instructor. [Vol. XXII. No. 563 the most useful in producing the most marvellous color combinations.imaginable, not only in the gay primaries of the solar spectrum, but also in the more quiet grays and plain colors generally; taking a specimen composed of four or six strips of selenite about one-quarter of an inch wide by one and a quarter inches long, laid closely together, it will project its primary colors at once upon the dark field obtained by the position of the analyzer; the slightest turn to the right or to the left produces a change in the colors, but if we move the prism through one-quarter of a revolution the field is changed to a ground flooded with light and the colors have respective- ly changed to their complementary tint, the carmine has become a pale green, the lemon color an azure blue and so on; they are termed complementary because when su- perposed they produce white light. Allowing the speci- men to remain, we take advantage of the rotary slip in front of our triple object stage and place there another specimen of selenite strips exactly like the first, but place it at right angles or diagonally and we now wiil have an illustration of the fact alluded to that complementary colors produce white light. The reason that only here and there a square or diagonal of real black or white is produced is found in the difficulty in matching exactly the films. After passing through the various changes, taking a note perhaps of the exact angle at which a cer- tain color is produced so as to be able to repeat it after- ward, we will remove the specimen from the front of the stage, and replace it by a quarter wave film; these have generally the axis marked on the edge by an arrow. We shall now obtain a decidedly different set of colors, which con be varied by rotating the analyzer; but notice now that instead of the two complementary colors we have a continual interchange of four or more colors, which can all be registered and repeated. When the quarter wave or half wave film is placed on the rotary clip at the back and rotated we obtain a different set of colors as well as a colored background. A specimen representing three or four concentric circles, or a wheel divided into a number of sections joining at the centre or again a thin slab of selenite which is ground concave on its face, either of these will give the most beautiful and fascinating changes of color. As these various types of colors are absolute standards taken from the book of nature which can be exhibited precisely alike, it is obvious that we have here in this branch of polariscope study the most brilliant, complete and unchangeable system of color samples with their complementaries and color contrasts which far sur- pass any book of artificial colors. These when projected on the screen in a class become the objective point of every member, and can be pointed out, and commented upon As the geometric designs may be varied in composition, the mica films being very inex- pensive, it requires merely. a little patience and experi- ence to produce an unlimited variety. The apparatus described in this article is made by Queen & Co. Incor- porated of Philadelphia. November 17, 1893. ] THE SENSE-ORGANS ON THE LEGS OF OUR WHITE _. ANTS, TERMES FLAVIPHS, KOLL. BY DR. ALFRED C. STOKES, TRENTON, N. J. Ty an eyeless creature that habitually shuns some in- fluence in the light, and lives in subterranean passages, or in tunnels or dark fissures within decaying wood, we should hope and rather expect, if we considered the mat- ter solely from the human standpoint, to find either an extra number of sense-organs or a supply of an unusual variety, as a compensation for the absence of sight and for the limitations of a restricted environment. Such human expectations would be realized in the case of the white ants, Zermes flavipes, so common within the rotting stumps and the fallen branches of our damp woods, for these Platyptera possess what may be considered to be an ample exchange for sight, for they have on all of the six legs a wonderful number and variety of sense-organs, which should certainly meet the needs of a peculiar life, as they doubtless do. It is generally agreed among naturalists that certain insects, perhaps the greater number, possess some senses different from any owned by man and of which we therefore can have no idea. Sir John Lubbock says, “It is, I think, generally assumed, not only that the world really exists as we see it, but that it appears to other an- imals pretty much as it does tous. A little consideration, however, is sufficient to show that this is very far from being certain, or even probable.” On each of the legs of Zermes flavipes there are seven organs which are plainly. sense-organs, with three forms of appendages which may be sensory, but are probably ornamentalonly. The blind, subterranean Termes, then, with six legs and with seven sense-organs on each, is right well prepared for whatever may happen, even for the forceps of the predatory micros- copist. The forceps conquers in the end, but the insects seem to feel its presence before it touches them, retreating and sometimes backing away from it as from some obnoxious object. Yet upon this apparent fact I should put no great reliance, as the observation was made with a single nest and late in the season, although the lateness of the season would probably have no effect, ex- cept to render impossible, as it did, a repetition of the experiment. It may, therefore, have been an event “viewed unequally.” The appendages referred to as being doubtfully sensory are mere elevations of the chitinous walls, ornamental in their arrangement, minute in size, and if possessing any special nervous connections, these have escaped my notice. The appendages, or ornaments, vary much in appearance on the coxa, the trochanter and the tarsus, the femoral and the tibial ones being similar to those on the coxa. On the latter the elevations are simply aculeate, the aculei being exceedingly minute; on the trochanter and on the femur they take the form of minute prickles, which, at first glance, appear to mark out the impressions of the chitinogenous cells, asin Fig. 1, from the femur; on the tibia the elevations become still more aculeate (Fig. 2); they are more widely separated, and the delicately ele- vated ridge which bears them gives the markings much the aspect of irregular, thick-edged scales, especially at the distal extremity, as in Fig. 3; on the tarsus the change fromjthese clusters of aculei is abrupt, more or less semi- circular seales, with thickened and elevated margins taking their place, as in Fig. 4, the edges of these being some- times minutely denticulate. Viallanes, speaking of the situation of the sensory hairs of insects in reference to the chitinogenous cells, says that there are “two kinds of hairs, distinguished by their size and structure. The smaller spring from the boundary between contiguous polygonal SCIENCE. 273 areas, and have no sensory character. The larger ones occupy unusually large areas, surmount chitinogenous cells of corresponding size, and receive a special nervous supply.” It is more than probable, therefore, that these minute appendages have in no place a significance differ- ent from that possessed by the minute elevations so com- mon on the exo-skeleton of so many insects. But to notice the different form and arrangement on the different por- tions of the leg is at least interesting and suggestive. The chitinous bristles, or “hairs” (Fig. 6), have here the usual form, and the structure described by Viallanes, be- ing slightly constricted at base and inserted in a hemi- spherical depression as a socket-joint, and furnished with a nerve-fibre, of which Viallanes says: “The nerve expands at the base of the hair into a spindle-shaped, nucleated mass (bipolar ganglion-cell), from which issues a filament which traverses the axis of the hair, piercing the chitino- genous cell, whose protoplasm surrounds it with a sheath which is continued to the tip of the hair. Such sensory hairs are abundant in parts which are endowed with special sensibility.”* On the legs of Termes flavipes these are, as elsewhere, sense-organs of great delicacy, with a sense of touch probably as sensitive as that of man himself. In the same list with these sensory hairs may be men- tioned organs of a similar character and of apparently great importance to the insect, which are found at the distal extremity of each tibia, each leg of the second and of the third pair bearing two, while those of the first pair have three. They are stout thorns, or spurs, projecting, in the first or anterior pair, two from the lower lateral margin of the tibia, with one from the upper lateral border, as shown in Fig. 9, where the other sensory hairs have been omitted. They are conical organs, measuring about 1-450 inch in length, and are, during life, well supplied with nerve- substance. But that which gives them their unique char- acter is the presence of a more or less circular aperture near the basal or tibial portion of the thick wall, as shown in Fig. 9, and more in detail by Fig. 15, each insect thus possessing no less than fourteen of these peculiar perfora- tions. The circular aperture is externally surrounded by a thick-walled, elevated, marginal ring, and across it, ap- parently at the level of the general surface of the tibial wall, extends a delicate membrane, supplied with a rather conspicuous, centrally disposed nerve-fibre, as shown in Big. 15, where a nerve is also delineated as passing from the tissues within the hollow of the spur to the mass of nerve-tissue which is here retracted from the walls, prob- ably by the processes of preparation. Within the mass thus withdrawn ganglion-cells are plainly visible. What may be the function of these fourteen organs, which are doubtless sense-organs of importance, must be left to the reader to explain. I do not know that they have been previously observed; yet it is more than pos- sible that I may have overlooked some parts of the scat- tered literature of the general subject. If any plausible conjectures have been published in regard to the function of these or of similar organs, I should be pleased to know what they are, although all such statements must neces- sarily be conjectural. It is easy to state that certain depressions on the antenna of a bee are auditory or olfactory, but it is quite another matter to do more than to make the assertion. When it comes tothe making of experiments to learn the actual function of these minute structures, the obatacles met with are practically insur- mountable. But if these tibial spurs of the white ants, with their prominent basal apertures, have been previously studied, and if any probable guessing has been done as to *Cf, “The Cockroach,” by Miall and Denny, p. 30. 274 their character, I should like to know at what result the philosophical observers have arrived. At first glance the organs might be supposed to be auditory, on account of the membrane, which closes them, and the only reason for rejecting such a supposition is that I have not seen any trace of the staff-like rods or the pyriform bodies which Graber found so well developed in what could not be imagined to be anything but organs of hearing in the tibia of the locust, Locusta viridissima, and of some other members of the same, or of an allied, order. The auditory organs of our white ants seem to be in an entirely different position and of an entirely different structure. On the outer wall of the upper, or coxal, end of the trochanter is a group of just seven conical, setose and colorless hairs, surrounded by a circumvallate base, and on the upper outer wall of the coxa isanother group of similar hairs, always ten in nnmber, and, presumably, having the same function. These groups are entirely absent from the inner walls. To show its locality, the cluster is exhibited on the trochanter by Fig. 10, and greatly enlarged in Fig. 11. SCIENCE. [Voi. XXII. No. 563 sides, and are sparingly scattered over the surface of the tibie. In Figs. 10 and 11 their general form and usual position and arrangement are shown, although in these particulars they are not constant. The number is also uncertain within known limits, varying on the outer side of each trochanter from thirteen to fifteen, thirteen being the common number; on the femur two and on the upper lateral wall of the tibia, from two to five, with sometimes an unusually large subcentral one, similar to a large one on the inner wall of each tibia; the inner walls of each trochanter also bear from four to five; on the upper part of the femur are from three to four; the central tibial surface has one, and one is near the lateral border of the distal extremity of the tibia. In structure they closely resemble the circular apertures at the bases of the tibial spurs, each consisting of an ele- vated ring, having, at the level of the general surface, a delicate membrane furnished with a nerve-fibre, which elevates the centre into a minute but conspicuous papilla. These points are shown in Figs. 5 and 7, the latter being an optical section of a pit. On the trochanters these organs are arranged somewhat EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES. Fig. 1, surface markings from the femur; Figs. 2 and 3, from the tibia; Fig. 4, from the tarsus; Fig. 5, sensory pit from the tibia; Fig. 6, sensory hair from the general leg-surface; Fig. 7, opticalsection of a sensory pit; Fig. 8, pilose depressions on the lower end of the tibia; Figs. ro and 11, sensory hairs, pits and hooded pits on the trochanters; Fig. 12, tibial trachea, with recurrent branch; Fig. 13, position of supposed tibial auditory organ; Fig. 14, pits on the lower surface of the first and second segments of the tarsus, one filled with crystalline excretion; Fig.15, sensory pit at the base of a tibial spur; Fig. 16, tibial auditory organ, partly diagrammatic. All the figures are much enlarged. These hairs differ widely: in size, form, and general aspect from the sensory bristles of the general leg-surface. Underlying them is a specialized group of nerve-cells, which supplies each with a fine nerve-filament. It is a fact worthy of note that these and other sense- organs are on the outer wall of the various parts of the legs which bear them, and that they either have no repre- sentatives on the surface toward the insect’s body, or are there smaller and in much less abundance. Even the large sensory hairs of the general leg-surface are much fewer on the inner aspect of the legs. In addition to these setose appendages, each trochanter bears other sensory organs, which take the form of ele- vated, circular, or oval rings, surrounding apertures of the same form in the thickness of the walls, some being capped by a conical, often oblique, hood-lke membrane. They, as usual, are found chiefly on the external walls of the trochanters, but exist in fewer numbers on the inner in three groups, according to size, and the three or four largest, resembling flat-topped papille pierced with a central depression above the membrane, frequently be- come confiuent, those of the other two groups being capped by a conical, often oblique, hood-like membrane, as shown in Fig. 11. These hooded apertures bear some resemblance to the “canoe-cells” of certain authors, and which are said by Huxley to be only ordinary pits over- arched by a fine hair. In the present case, however, there is no arching hair, but a distinct hood-like elevation, which is especially conspicuous on the trochanters of the . soldier. It is reasonable to suppose that the capped depressions have a function differing from that of the flat-topped papillz on the same surface. Those without the hooded covering seem analogous to the sensory pits discovered on the antenne of certain plant-lice by Dr. John B. Smith, of Rutger’s College (Science, Jan. 20, 1893). A rather hasty November 17, 1893. ] examination of the antenne of the white ants does not reveal pits of any kind on the surface, although I am not prepared to say that they are not there. Dr. Smith also found on the posterior tibiz of the plant-lice a series of the pits, exactly similar in structure, he says, to those of the antenne inthe male. Their functionin Termes flavipes is as problematical, as Dr. Smith remarks in reference to the sensory pits of the plant-lice. They are present in both the workers and in the scldiers of the white ants, varying in the latter as they vary in the workers. Perhaps the most interesting of these sense-organs, by reason of their position and of their probable character, are certain depressed spaces, several of which are on the tibiz, and one on each of the first two segments of the tarsus, where the parts come in contact with the surface over which the ingect may walk. With every step taken, these sense-organs perform their work, and probably leave on the surface walked over traces of the presence of their owners, 48 may readily be imagined, to impress the senses of those that follow. In all this remarkable collection of sense-organs there is none that seems to explain so clearly itsreason for being as do these. Yet my supposition that they leave some special evidence of their owners’ former presence which shal be manifest to the other members of the insect community, is based upon the observation of appearances in the tarsal organs of some individual Termes which are not apparent in those of others. This is that the deep depressions always present on the first and sec- ond segments of the tarsus are sometimes filled with a crystalline mass, which projects beyond the general sur- face as a hemispherical protuberance, especially, as it now - seems, late in the season, and with presumably old sub- jects, thus suggesting the idea that the tarsal organs, at least, are glandular in function, and that the crystalline substance is the hardened secretion collected through ab- normal, or sluggish, action of the parts. On the tibice the organs referred to are shallow depres- sions in the wall, bordered by thickened margins, and with the plane surface of the shallow studded with deli- cate, exceedingly minute hairs, whose tips project slightly beyond the general level, and necessarily come in contact with any surface over which the insect may walk. The tibial depressions, while they are always present, are not always of the same outlines or of the same number. In some instances there may be one large depression with several small ones scattered about, as in Fig. 8, or the single large depression may be divided into several smaller portions, which shall be scattered over the region without any regularity of arrangement. On the first and second segments of the tarsus the organs are always present, and always in the same position on the surface which must come in contact with the ground. Each of the two segments bears one in the form of a thick- walled, deep, hemispherical pit, the smooth inner surfaces of which are also studded with fine hairs similar in appear- ance to those of the tibial depressions, and with presumably the same functions. It is these hollows that are in many specimens choked with the crystalline excretion already referred to, and shown in Fig. 14, where one pit is filled and the other apparently in its normal condition. Each is plentifully supplied with fine nerve-fibres. Not rarely there are two pits, instead of one, on one or the other of the two segments; in a single instance, I have seen three on the second joint. But these hairy hollows deserve more extended investigation by some microscopist that may be more conveniently situated for that work than I am, and that may have the resources of a laboratory at his disposal. To such an investigator, thus fortunately situated, the internal structure of these remarkable legs will also offer important subjects for examination. This is especially true of what I suppose, for reasons to be mentioned here- SCIENCE. 275 after, to be the insects’ auditory organs, one being present in each tibia, a supply of internal ears that would seem to be more burdensome than necessary or agreeable. (Fig. 13.) It is possible that these organs may have some connec- tion with the tracheze, although that connection cannot be close; yet here, as in some other insects, the tibial tracheze are specially notable on account of the sac-like enlarge- ment of the upper and of the lower ends of the main tube, and of the presence of a smaller, recurrent branch, which leaves the upper inflated portion to enter near the lower at a varying distance from the extremity. This structure has been observed in the locust (Locusta viridissima), the cricket (Gryllus campestris), and in various Orthoptera by Graber; while Sir John Lubbock describes a similar ar- rangement in the tibie of the ants, especially in Lasius flavus. This tracheal structure is well developed in all the tibize of Termes flavipes, varying in the length of the recur- rent branch and in the more direct or more undulating course of the main trunk of the trachea. In Fig. 12 is shown the appearance in one of the tibie of the white ants. - In the locust (Hphippigera vitium Sery.), according to Graber, and in certain other Orthoptera, the main tracheal trunk bears a collection of ganglion-cells and globules supposed to be auditory in function, at least in part, and which, if present in Termes flavipes, have escaped my no- tice. Yet in each tibia of this insect, situated near the outer wall of each, between it, the nerve and the trachea, is the more or less ovate organ referred to, the structure of which bears considerable resemblance to that of what has been accepted as a tibial auditory organ in certain of the Orthoptera. Its position near the upper third of the tibia of Termes flaviges is shown in Fig. 13. It is connected with the nerve, and is itself formed of a collection of ganglionic cells and globules, with plainly developed, staff-like bodies, the apical extremities of which are conical, and through the middle of their apparently hollow length passes what seems to be a fibre, presumably anerve. The external extremity is continuous with a nerve-fibre, five of which, with as many elongated, staff- like bodies, being easily made out, the nerves passing singly and separately up toward the femero-tibial joint, near which they are lost to view, especially after my im- perfect methods of preparation. Similar organs have been discovered by Graber in the tibize of the Locustidiz, and by Lubbock in those of cer- tain ants. Jn reference to the latter, Lubbock says: “At the place where the upper tracheal sac contracts there is, moreover, & conical striated organ, which is situated at the back of the leg, just at the apical end of the upper tracheal sac. The broad base les against the external wall of the leg, and the fibres converge inwards. In some cases I thought I could perceive indications of bright rods, but I was never able to make them out very clearly. This also reminds us of a curious structure which is in the tibiz of the Locustidize, between the trachea, the nerve, and the outer wall. * * * On the whole, then, I am disposed to think that ants perceive sounds which we cannot hear.” In Termes /lavipes its position is somewhat different, al- though its situation and its structure are essentially sim- ilar to those referred to by Lubbock and by Graber. It is an organ of fibres, of ganglionic cells and globules, the latter being large and nucleated, and of the long, staff- like bodies already referred to. A partly diagrammatic sketch of the organ is shown in Fiz. 16, its outer, narrow extremity being attached to the wide nerve just within the external wall of the tibia and the broad base directed toward the external wall of the trachea. The rod-like bodies bear a rather remote resemblance to some observed by Graber, in what he considers to be 276 the auditory organ of the locust, although in the Locusta viridissima there are also others broadly clavate and sur- rounded by a plainly delimited, granular substance. In Termes flavipes there are no external appendages to suggest an auditory function, as there are in the locust and in some other insects, there being here oaly a slight concavity of the wall over the internal organ, and two or three of the sensory pits scattered about the surface. If the similar organs among members of the Orthoptera have such a function, it seems not unreasonable to sup- pose that such may be the use of these appendages within the tibize of our common white ants. But, however this may be, the legs of these insects merit careful investigation by some competent observer, so situ- ated that he may have access to all the luxuries of modern microscopical research, most of which are at present beyond my reach, my paper being, therefore, necessarily superficial and imperfect. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. x*,Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The writer’s name is in all cases required as a proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number con- taining his communication will be furnished free to any corres- pondent. The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. THE OSAGE RIVER AND THE OZARK UPLIFT. Mr. Arruur Winstow’s account of the Osage river and its meanders in Science for July 21, 1893, commenting on my previous suggestion concerning the development of that river in Science for April 28 of this year, has only lately come to my attention in looking over papers accu- mulated at home during vacation absence. it raises sey- eral questions on which discussion may prove of interest. In explaining the existing meanders of the Osage and other deep-valleyed rivers of Missouri and Arkansas, Mr. Winslow maintains that the rivers had originally curved courses consequent on the form of the land on which they were initially formed; that these irregularities of flow are still perceptible, although they have been in- creased during the down cutting of the valleys; and that the down-cutting of the valleys and the general sculptur- ing of the region now going on is in consequence of an uplift that was essentially completed in Paleozoic time. TI am not sure as to my correct understanding of the third point, although such appears to be Mr. Winslow's mean- ing. The explanation that was suggested in my article in- cluded a long lost beginning of river development in Mis- souri; the attainment of an oldish topographic condi- tion in the cycle of denudation preceding the pres- ent cycle; and an inheritance by the rivers of a mean- dering course, normally characteristic of the wide-open valleys of the preceding cycle, in the deep-sunk valleys of the present cycle. Mr. Winslow’s first point—that the existing meanders are simply exaggerations of initial consequent river courses—seems to me inadmissable for several reasons. In the first place, this involves the persistence through all of Mesozoic and Tertiary time of relatively trivial peculi- arities of river courses, begun on the suriace of the car- boniferous strata about the close of Paleozoic time. It is certainly true that rivers are long lived, but it is very unlikely that the land history of Missouri has been so simple 4s to allow so extraordinary a perpetuation of relatively small river features. My reason for this opin- ion is not simply an a priori objection to the opposite view; but a careful examination of the developmental changes of other rivers. In Pennsylvania, for example, the changes in the course of rivers during a period cor- SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 563 responding to that of the land history of Missouri has been so great that I cannot think that the rivers of Mis- souri still maintain any close trace of their ancient initial courses down to these modern days. It is true that there has been much greater opportunity for variation of river courses among the tilted rocks of Pennsylvania than upon the nearly horizontal strata of Missouri; but to conclude that even in the latter region there have been no essen- tial changes of river courses since the end of Paleozoic time implies to my mind altogether too passive a concep- tion of post-Paleozoic time. It is impossible to say ex- actly what has happened, for the records are rubbed out; but to conclude that practically nothing has happened in the way of oscillation and warping and river change seems to me the most unlikely of all plausible conclusions. In the second place, the postulate that the present meanders are directly descended from originally irregu- lar consequent courses does not well accord with the dis- tribution of deep meandering valleys in other parts of the world. They are not found in regions of one cycle of de- velopment; that is, in regions that are now in process of degradation following their first uplift. They characterize regions which for other reasons—of which more below— must beinterpreted as having a composite topography; that is, having topographic features produced in two or more cycles of degradation. Moreover, the fact that the radius of the valley meanders is greater where the rivers have great volume is not consistent with the origin of the meanders from a control so irrelevant to river volume as . the constructional inequality of the original land surface must have been. Mr. Winslow’s second point—that the existing mean- ders are increased in sinuosity over some former condition of meanders—seems to be an important correction to my brief explanation. Itis a point that I had not in mind at the former writing; but in now recalling the form of the meandering valley of the North Branch of the Sus- quehanna in northeastern Pennsylvania, I see that the correction applies there as well as in Missouri. One might at first suppose that if a meandering river were up- lifted, it would tend to straighten out its course, on ac- count of gaining a stronger current; but it also seems possible that an even uplift with no change of grade (ex- cept by the action of the river itself in cutting down its channel towards the new base level) may even provoke an increased meandering, instead of straightening out former meanders. Professor J. C. Branner has in a letter called my attention to essentially this interpretation of certain deep meandering valleys in northern Arkansas. As to Mr. Winslow’s third point—that the present val- ley-making Missouri is the incompleted work of the denudation begun at the end of Paleozoic time—I cannot agree to this at all. Indeed, such a conclusion appears to me so improbable, and so contrary to both local and general evidence, that I fear it is not a correct statement of Mr. Winslow’s meaning. He says: “The sculpturing of the topography {ot Missouri] must have been uninter- ruptedly in progress from the end of the Paleozoic to the present time.” He implies that the present altitude of the Osarks above the margin of the Tertiary strata in southeastern Missouri is the same as the altitude that the Osarks had above the waters in which the Tertiary strata were deposited; thus excluding all chance of tilting and local warping since that time. Differential movements havé been determined even as late as in Tertiary and post-Tertiary time in the west; and there is good evi- dence of similar late geological movements in the Appa- lachians along the Atlantic slope. It therefore seems en- tirely improbable that Missouri should have taken an at- titude at the close of Paleozoic time from which it has not since significantly changed and entirely impossible, if November 17, 1893. ] it had done go, that so little advance in denudation of the uplifted mass should have as yet been accomplished. There is every indication that before the close of Pale- ozoic time, the region which we now call Missouri suffered many oscillatians of level, for its strata are varied in com- position and are separated by slight unconformities. The unconformable superposition of the Cretaceous and Ter- tiary strata of the Mississippi embayment on the denuded surface of the deformed Paleozoic rocks indicates that changes of level and warpings occurred during and after Mesozoic time not far from the region under considera- tion. In the absence of direct evidence of actual stability, moderate oscillations of level through vertical distances of a few hundred feet, or perhaps as much as a thousand feet, with slight warpings involving slants of a degree or two, should, I think, be regarded as characterizing the post-Paleozoic history of Missouri, as well as its Paleo- zoic history. Just when the post-Paleozoic oscillations occurred, and just what was their amount is not determinate; but the latest important oscillation of the series is the one to which I would refer the permission of the rivers to cut their present deep valleys. The various brief and subor- dinate oscillations associated with glacial invasions and deposits of loess are complicated beyond clear under- standing at my distance from their local evidence. But oscillations being neglected, if Missouri had had only one cycle of denudation since its uplift at the end of the Paleozoic, it could not still be a high- land. If the present altitude of the Ozark uplift with respect to its surroundings had been taken at the end of Paleozoic time, as Mr. Winslow supposes,why is it not all consumed now? ‘The sufficiency of subaerial erosion to reduce great uplifts to lowlands in less than the whole of post-Paleozoic timeis, I believe, well demon- strated. Ido not mean to say that this demonstration is generally accepted ; for curiously enough, there is a pre- yailing hesitation of belief on this subject. Geologists have not as a rule given the matter much attention, but this does not weaken the validity of its demonstration. Those who haye carefully looked into the matter, are, I think, convinced of its correctness. Others with whom I have talked on this question, having their own special studies in other directions, have expressed a general in- credulity about it, doubting that Mesozoic time was long enough to wear down mountains to peneplains; but their doubts have not taken the form of effective argument. Such doubts might have more value if we had not in many well-known deposits of stratified rocks, the direct evidence of the sufficiency of erosive forces to accomplish great results within definitely limited divisions of the geological time scale; and if we had not sufficient studies of land forms to show that even a part of post-Paleozoic time is long enough to baselevel uplifted masses. Referring only to examples with which I am personally familiar, I may mention the following districts as instances of effective base-levelling within determinate geological periods: The plains of the upper Missouri, about Fort Benton, Montana, consist of Cretaceous strata, having a broadly rolling surface of slight relief over large distances; but here and there, surmounted by lava-capped mesas, or by necks and thick dikes of lava, whose present position can only be explained by supposing that the strata of the sur- rounding plains once rose at least as high as, if not higher than, these eminences. Yet this greater mass is now re- duced to a peneplain; and since its reduction to a pene- plain, it has been uplifted by a considerable amount, and the present trench-like valleys of the Missouri and its branches have been cut down two or three hundred feet. SCIENCE. 277 All this has happened since the deposition of the Creta- ceous strata, of which the plains are there built. It is true that the strata of the plains are not particularly resistant; but neither are those of the Missouri plateau. The Triassic formation of Connecticut and New Jersey has been base-levelled since it was faulted and tilted from its original horizontal position. Since it was base-levelled the resultant peneplain has been again uplifted, and its sandstones have been reduced to a second base-level, while its very resistant trap rocks retain, more or less per- fectly, in their crest lines an indication of the altitude to which the older peneplain was elevated. The first work of denudation, by which even the trap sheets and the ad- jacent crystalline rocks were effectively base-levelled, was a post-Triassic work; the second denudation, by which only the weaker sandstones were base-levelled, is roughly dated as post-Cretaceous. The base-levelled sandstones are now trenched, in consequence of a late, or post-Tertiary, uplift. In Pennsylvania the mountain ridges that are generally described as the remnants of the Appalachian or post- Carboniferous folding and uplift, cannot be legitimately so considered in the light of existing evidence. Their extraordinarily even crest lines, entirely out of accord with their folded structure, but closely in accord with one another, can be interpreted only as surviving indica- tions of the peneplain to which the whole mountain sys- tem was reduced while the region stood lower than it now does; and the wide open valley lowlands between the ridges are the product of denudation since the uplift of the peneplain. These valley lowlands are trenched by the streams, in consequence of a still later uplift. The dates of these features are apparently identical with their relatives across the Delaware in New Jersey. The upland of the Appalachian plateau in western Pennsylvania is a surface of denudation, trenched by val- leys. The upland is accordant in altitude with the even crest lines of the Appalachian ridges. The Hudson River flows through its crystalline High- lands in a deep, steep-sided valley. Further up stream, above Newburgh, where the rocks are weaker, the valley is opened into a broad lowland. Both the gorge of the Highlands and the open valley lowland further up stream are the work of post-Cretaceous erosion, and probably of less than all of Tertiary time. The valley lowland is trenched, indicating a late Tertiary or a post-Tertiary uplift. Examples of this kind might be increased in number from the western surveys, but I shall leaye observers there to speak for themselves. They all teach one lesson, namely, that in rocks of moderate hardness Tertiary time was amply long enough to allow the formation of wide open valleys, even to produce peneplains of faint relief on such rocks as the Triassic sandstones of New Jersey, the Paleozoic shales and limestones of Pennsylvania, or of the middle Hudson valley. It was long enough to form narrow valleys in rocks of excessive resistance, like those of the Hudson Highlands. Is not this conclusion applicable to Missouri? The rocks along the Osage are not of notable resistance. How, then, can its valley slopes be steep if they are so old as all of Mesozoic and Tertiary time! That measure of time has elsewhere easily sufficed to wear out highlands into lowlands, to uplift them again, and erter well upon their second effacement. How, then, can Missouri be still so little advanced in the sculpturing of its topography, ex- cept by reason of the relatively recent renewing of the task! It seems to me utterly impossible to explain the valleys of Missouri as a product of one geographical cycle; the product of sculpturing that has been “uninter- 278 ruptedly in progress from the end of the Paleozoic to the present time.” Having thus far taken the negative side on some of Mr. Winslow’s propositions, I will now turn to the positive side of the argument in support of my own views. Enough has been said to show my reasons for thinking that the initial courses of the drainage on the Paleozoic strata at the time of their first emergence are long since lost. Let me now consider the evidence of composite topography in the Ozark plateau, and the evidence that indicates an uplift between the production of the more gentle forms of the upland and the steeper slopes of the Osage valley and its fellows. The Missouri reports frequently make mention of the relatively even surface of the upland country, and its contrast with the steep sides of the ravines in which the streams now flow. The upland is not level by any means, but has gentle swells and broad slopes, distinctly unlike the sharper slopes of the ravines. The pro- cess by which the present ravines are forming is not a direct continuation of the process by which the gentler slopes of the upland were formed. The former are incised in the latter; the latter have suffered little change during the excavation of the former. What, then, is the origin of the upland? It is not a constructional form; that is, it does not retain the form of strata deposited under water and simply uplifted into a land surface. It has manifestly been eroded, and thereby changed from its original con- structional form. Under what conditions can a gently rolling surface be formed by erosion? Only as the penultimate re- sult of long erosion, whereby the initial valleys have been deepened close to base-level and widened go as almost to consume the intervening hills; that is, the rolling upland must have gained an oldish topographic stage, when the erosive forces were acting with respect to a base-level dif- ferent from that which now controls them, and with respect to which they are trenching deep valleys in the upland. The region must have stood lower when the wide rolling uplands were fashioned than it does now when the upland is incised by steep-sided valleys. The change of elevation, by which the older cycle was closed SCIENCE: [Vol]. XXII. No. 563 and the present cycle was opened, was only long enough ago to allow the excavation of narrow valleys in rocks of moderate hardness; and hence, according to the time scale above indicated, this uplift was not longer ago than somewhere about late Tertiary time. The uplift revived the oldish streams that then flowed gently in wide open valleys, and the streams at once began their new task of cutting down their basins towards the new base-level. They have not yet done much in this new task. lt is only as a part of this new task that the Osage has cut down its meandering valley. Making all allowance for increase of meanders during the deepening of the present valley, the river must have possessed significant meanders when the down-cutting was begun. Such a conclusion is quite consistent with the conclusion of the preceding paragraph; for a meandering course is gen- erally characteristic of an oldish river, such as the Osage was when it was flowing across the formerly lowland sur- face of what is now the upland. I am therefore con- strained to think that more than one cycle of develop- ment must be postulated in explaining the course of the Osage through the Missouri plateau. Regarding the relations of the meanders of the upper branches of the Osage on their open flood plains and those of the lower course of the main stream in its deep valley, I am not confident that the suggestion of my for- mer article is correct. Mr. C. F. Marbut, lately of the Mis- souri Geological Survey, now a student in our Geological Department, and of whose topographical work Mr. Wins- low made mention, tells me that the wide valleys of the upper Osage are confined to the weaker strata of the Coal measures; and that the narrower valley of the lower stream occurs in the harder lower Carboniferous and older Paleozoic rocks. This introduces a complica- tion in the problem that cannot be safely solved at this distance from the field; but a review of the topographical maps with this fact in mind gives no reason for with- drawing from the conclusion that the region has been pretty well base-levelled before the existing valleys were cut init. Several points that Mr. Winslow makes regarding the _SOFTLY STEALS THE LIGHT OF DAY wher filtered through windows covered with CRYSTOGRAPHS, a substitute for Stained Glass that is inexpensive, beautiful, and easily applied. “CA Se Piso’s Remedy for Catarrh is the Best, Easiest to Use, and Cheapest. | 6 Sold by Druggists or sent by mail, ; 50c. E. T. Hazeltine, Warren, Pa, aEvery reader of “Science” should sub- scribe for the AMERICAN ARCHITECT, THE OLDEST AND BEST 20c. per square foot, Samples and catalogue, 100. CRYSTOGRAPH CoO., 316 North Broad St., Philadelphia, THE PSYCHIC FACTORS OF CIVILIZATION. By Lester F. Warp. AUTHOR OF “DYNAMIC SOCIOLOGY.” 8vo. Cloth. xxi 369 pages. By mail, Architectural publication in the country. Interesting articles on architecture, Sani- tation, Archeology, Decoration, ete., by the ablest writers. Richly illustrated Issued “weekly. Send stamp for specimen copy to the publishers, B) By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. postpaid, $2.00. BUILDING BOOKS. DRAWING INSTRUMENTS. THIS work is an original contribution to both psychology and sociology, and is, in fact, a combi- nation of these two departments of science. It is the first attempt that has been made to show in a systematic and fundamental way the workings of mind in social phenomena. It has hitherto been customary with those who recognize the operations of law in human affairs to compare them with those taking place under the dominion of vital forces. Sociology has been made a department of biology. Society has been treated as a living organism, and “The book is one of unusual interest and value."=s Inter Ocean. “Dr. Daniel G. Brinton writes as the acknowledged authority of the subject.”—Philadelphia Press. “The work will be oz genuine value to all who wish to know the substance of what has been found out about the indigenous Americans.” —Nature. Wm, T, Comstock,| «4 masterly discussion, and an example of the 23 Warren 3i,; Now York, | successful education of the powers of observation.” 1893 Catalogue of Books on Buildin; Painting, and Decoratin; also Catalogue of Draw ing Instruments and Ma terials, sent free on app}! cation to the laws of production, distribution, and consump- tion have been likened to the processes of nutrition, circulation, and assimilation. Political economy has thus gained the name of “the dismal science” be- cause it has been treated as mindless and soulless. Over against this purely physiological economy we now have fully set forth in this book a psychologi- cal economy, a philosophy of mind as the primary motive power of the world in all things above the level of animal life. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, New York, TEN BOOKS FOR PRICE OF ONE SEND FOR A CATALOGUE OF THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY OF SCIENCE. Containing the works of the foremost scientific writers of the age.—The Great Classics of Modern Thought.—Strong meat for them thatare of fullage. Single numbers rs cents. Address :—THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING Co., 1g Astor Place, New York, | —Philadelphia Ledger. Price, postpaid, $2. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. Double numbers 30 cents. November 17, 1893. ] Tertiary beds of the Mississippi embayment and the gravels within the Missouri valleys, I to consider, as they should be seen on the ground before being discussed. As far as presented, come the various lines of evidence changes in the level of Missouri since its Paleozoic emer- gence; the last of these changes being SCIENCE. shall not attempt they do not over- which point to the one in conse- Rome, Italy, Noy. 2. quence of which the present valleys were cut im the de- nuded surface of the region. Harvard College, Oct. 31, 1893. W. M. Davis. COON CATS. Szeme Mr. J. N. Baskett’s note on page 220 of the cur- rent volume of Science, concerning coon cats, I venture to inform you that I was struck with the extraordinary ap- pearance of one of these cats owned by Mr. Will Carle- ton, who had it with him in the Catskill Mountains the I asked him about the cat and he told me the same fable which Mr. Baskett relates, but he went present summer. on to say that of course the story was in his opinion this peculiar race of cats from Maine is descended from some Perisian or Angora breed brought down to Maine by early French settlers from Canada. believe that this was surmise on Mr. C it seemed reasonable to me and if you receive no more satisfactory explanation in reply to Mr. Baskett’s question, you are at liberty to use this. Washington, D. C., November 9. Pump WATER. In America we often observe that the farmer, in his efforts to economize the steps of the h domestic well in close vicinity of his drains and outbuild- ings, but I have yet to see at home so pronounced a case of unsanitary surroundings as I observed in Germany a short time ago. incorrect and that I arleton’s part, but L. O. Howarp. 279 The top of a tall wooden pump, which crowned the family well, just peeped out from a huge manure heap which completely surrounded it. that the pump handle had to be operated by a rope, and the water was carried beyond the heap by a small trough. So large was the heap Wm. P. Mason. Coon-CaTs. Ty answer to Mr. J. N. Baskett’s question regarding “Coon-Cats” in your issue of Oct. 20, 1893, I would say that this cross-breed of animals has been known for many years, more particularly in the State of Maine. tributing these mongrels to a cross between our domestic feline, and the raccoon, Procyon lotor, isas general as it is ridiculous; for it stands to reason that animals of differ- ent families could not interbreed. The notion is about as ridiculous as a prevaent story among the ignorant that (cat) owls bear their young alive. The subject of “coon-cats,” or sometimes called mule- cats, has been repeatedly discussed in many papers, and it is now generally conceded that this hybrid is the result of an alliance of our domestic tabby with some Oriental feline—probably the Angora. long, bushy tail of the Oriental species. is in error in supposing these animals plantigrade, and if he secures a skull, which he can easily do, he will find The error at- This cross would show the But Mr. Baskett that the dentition is pronouncedly feline. These cats are quite common in parts of New England, and may be purchased at a very reasonable figure, and ousewife, digs his yyarket. according to the demands and the supply in the cat Few persons are able to distinguish between genuine Angoras and these hybrids, and many are the un- suspecting buyers who have paid a high price for a com- mon “coon-cat” worth not more than t:yo dollars. 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For Sale or Exchange for last editions of Standard Works on Vegetable Anatomy or Physiology: Practical Zoology, Marshall & Hurst; Elements of Embryology, Foster & Balfour; Zoology, Macalis- ter; Guide to the Study of Insects, Packard; Geolog- ical Studies and Shall We Teach Geology, Winchell. Also have duplicates of Experiment Station pub- lications which would like to exchange for any nt in my file. L. R. Jones, Burlington, Vt. For exchange.—Skins of Aegialites nivosa, Ereu- netes occidentalis, Aunnodramus Arldingi. A. Tostratus, Chamara tasciata henshawi, etc., for native or foreign skins with full data. Send lists. A. W. Anthony, 2042 Albatross st., San Diego, Cali- fornia. I have a Beck New National monocular microscope, accessories, microtome, mounting material and a large number of fine slides. Will exchange the whole or in part for a first class type-writer or photograph outfit. A.C. Gruhlke, Waterloo, Ind. Offered sidebloom eggs of Bulimus oblongus and exotic land and freshwater shells in exchange for Helices not in collection. Send lists to G. K. Gude, Gresbach Road, upper Holloway, London, Eng- and. Would like to exchange 100 specimens of Canadian Indian Relics for a photo outfit. E. J. Waters, 33 Hoffman St., Auburn, N. Y. Wants. ANTED.—Tuckerman’s Geneva Lichenum and _ Carpenter on the Microscope, Wiley’s In- troduction to the Study of Lichens. State price ane other particulars. Richard Lees, Brampton, nt. ANTED.—Icones Muscorum by W. D. Sulli- vant, with or without Supplement, but both preferred. Address, stating price and condition of books, Dr. G. N. Best, Rosemont, N. J. ANTED.—A copy of Mascart & Joubert’s Les- sons in Electricity and Magnetism, Vol.I. Ad- dress R. W. Clawson, Vanderbilt University, Nash- ville, Tennessee. HEMIST.—Graduate of a polytechnical school, and studied photographic chemistry in Ger- many and Austria. Situation teaching or in ana- lytical or Sone laboratory. M.B. Punnett, Rochester, MW ANTED.—A recent college graduate to assist in editorial work on Science. Those seekin large emoluments need not apply. N. D. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New York. A GRADUATE in medicine, experienced, will prepare or revise scientific and medical manu- script tor publication, read proof, compile bibliog- raphies, &c. Will also consult New York libraries tor persons out of town wishing references to rare works. Address M. D., 104 Cambridge Place, Brooklyn, N.Y. 280 SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 563 SOME OF THE NEW BOOKS AT LOW PRICES. FAMOUS VOYAGERS AND EXPLORERS.—$1.50. Mrs. Bourton has added to her Famous series of books another and an unusually interesting volume, ‘‘Famous Voyagers and Explorers.” It is hardly comprehensive, as it gives the biographies of only a few typical ex- plorers—Marco Polo, Columbus, Magellan, Raleigh, and the more prominent of our modern American ex- plorers. Doubtless such names as the Cavots, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, De Soto, Cartier, Nansen and others are reserved for a second volume. Mrs. Bolton has a gift for this sort of writing, and she has here brought together a large amount of deeply interesting matter which otherwise could only be obtained by read- ing through a dozen or more separate volumes. The book is illustrated with several portraits. —Boston Trans- cript. Ula Our GREAT WEsT.— $2.59. Tue contents of the volume aibared serially in Harper’s Magazine and Harper's Weekly, in which periodi- cals they attracted wide attention and favorable com- ment. Their importance fully justified their republica- tion in a more permanent form. The book affords a more minute insight into the present condition of the West than can be found elsewhere. 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Mr. Brooks had the good fortune of personal acquaintance with most of the statesmen of the latter part of the period illustrated by his pen, and he considers it an advantage to his readers that they may thus receive from him some of the im- pressions which these conspicuous personages made upon the mental vision of those who heard and saw them while they were living examples of nobility of aim and success of achievement in American states- manship. MEN OF BUSINESS.—$2.00. W. O. Stopparp, who has just written a book pub- lished by the Scribners, on ‘‘Men of Business,” tells how the late Senator Stanford chopped his way to the law. ‘‘He had grown tall and strong,” says Mr. Stod- dard, ‘‘and was a capital hand in a hay-field, behind a plough, or with an axe in the timber; but how could this help him into his chosen profession? Nevertheless, it was a feat of wood-chopping which raised him to the bar. When he was eighteen years of age his father purchased a tract of woodland; wished to clear it, but had not the means to do so. At the same time he was anxious to give his son a lift. He told Leland, there- fore, that he could have all he could make from the timber, if he would leave the land clear of trees. Leland took the offer, for a new market had latterly been created for. cord-wood. He had saved money enough to hire other choppers to help him, and he chopped for the law and his future career. Over 2,000 cords of wood were cut and sold to the Mohawk and Hudson River Railroad, and the net profit to the young contractor was $2,600. It had been earned by severe toil, im cold and heat, and it stood for something more than dollars.—Brooklyn Times. ORTHOMETRY.—$2.00. Ty “Orthometry” Mr. R. F. Brewer has attempted a fuller treatment of the art of versification than is to be found in the popular treatises on that subject. While the preface shows a tendency to encourage verse-mak- ing, as unnecessary as it is undesirable, the work may be regarded as usefulin so far asit tends to cultivate an intelligent taste for good poetry. The rhyming diction- ary at the endis a new feature, which will undoubtedly commend itself to those having a use for such aids. A specially interesting chapter is that on ‘‘Poetic Trifles,” in which are included the various imitations of foreign verse in English. The discussion of. the sonnet, too, though failing to bring out fully the spiritual nature of this difficult verse form, is more accurate than might be expected from the following sentence: ‘‘The form of the sonnet is of Italian origin, and came into use in the fifteenth [sic] century, towards the end of which its construction was perfected, and its utmost melodious sweetness attained in the verse of Petrarch and Dante.” In the chapter on Alliteration there are several mislead- ing statements, such as calling ‘‘Piers the Plowman” an ‘‘Old English” poem. In the bibliography one is surprised not to find Mr. F. B. Gummere’s admirable ‘‘Hlandbook of Poetics,” now in its third edition. In spite of these and other shortcomings, which can be readily corrected in a later issue, this work may be recommended as a_ satisfactory treatment of the mechanics of verse. A careful reading will improve the critical faculties. —The Dial. Any of the above books wiil be sent prepaid on receipt of the publisher’s price less ten per cent. N. D. C. HODGES, The same discount will be allowed on any new book, not a text-book. 874 Broadway, New York. ELEVENTH YEAR. Vou. XXII. No. 564. SINGLE Coptss, TEN CeEnTs. $3.50 PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE. CONTENTS. Current Notes on Anthropology.—No. XXXV. IDshieGl Toyz 1D); (Cy 1ekFhalKoVls bo bcoonuaneeopuncnce Birds Which Sing on the Nest. Morris Gibbs.. Current Notes on Chemistry.—_IV. Edited by CharnlessPlati ee hs) iH CaS=aeeecer scree Reticulation of Spindle-Celled Sarcoma. A. « Cowleys Mallya ccc caicsaciivasice alesis 6 satnaiele The Bacteriological Analysis of Water. SUGIE? t oscagocnnogadenoobeocenqoanHmenpaaecdad British Stone Circles—V. Oxfordshire, Shrop- shire and Welch Circles. A. L. Lewis, F. Pele’s Fernery. Charles Fessenden Nichols, Will ID)s06acc00000 dovooobenoabovonoCnOSUORHOOOUDA My New Principles of the'Classification of the ElimanvRAaces Gar SeLe lac meeiieieisiecisertceret 290 Letters to the Editor: The Mechanics of Flight. H. A. Hazen.... 290 Portraits of Helmholtz. T.C.Mendenhall. 291 Songs of Birds. B.S. Bowdish............. 291 Dictionary of Scientific Names. B.S. Bow- GND .oooogbo0ou9beboag0N59ONDUBUODbOODDABODOS Origin of the Carvings and Designs of the Alaskans and Vancouvre Indians. P. J. IDE RTOEN OHI OS 5 on op oBoDDDOnOODdOOODOOODODSCONGD 291 On the Systematic Position of the Diptera, S. W. Williston 292 292 293 IBREUARE NNER EN ERS Scientific Instruments TT 3} gineering, paratus and Supplies. of College and High School ted upon request. SKS KS Roa ait aia an asta OF STANDARD QUALITY: Physical, Electrical, Chemical, Optical, Microscopical, En- Mathematical, Photographic and Projection Ap- Special care devoted to the equipment Correspondence solicited. Write for abridged General Catalogue No. 2109. ° QUEEN & CO., Incorpated, ie Eight Awards granted us at the World’s Fair. SERENA ER CR Ete Pee a laboratories. Estimates submit- Philadelphia, U. S. A. : , : W CSEet epee St b 4 AIA SAMMI yi iat eeot it betes te New Store. New Stock. Mil N ERALS . New Departments. Send for our ‘‘ Winter Bulletin,’ recently issued. Minerals, Gems, Microscopical Sections, Fine Lap- idary Work. | GEO. L. ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists, Removed to 64 East 12th Street, New York | cERMANIA A monthly magazine for the study of the German language and litera- ture, is highly recommended by college professors and the press as ‘‘the best effort yet made to assist the student of German, and to interest him in his pursuit.” Its BEGINNERS’ CorRNER furnishes every year a complete and interesting course in German rammar. $2ayear. Single copies 20 cents. P. O. ox 151, Manchester, N. H. Boe. easel: As 6. ORIENTAL RUGS. PERSIAN, MOHAIR, INDIAN, OUSHAK. Magnificent Antique Rugs, MOUNTED SKINS. Lion, Tiger and Jaguar Skins. ONE OF THE RICHEST COLLECTIONS EVER OFFERED. Upholstery Fabrics SPECIAL SELECTIONS. Tapestries, Wall Coverings, Curtain Materials. Deoadevecy KH y 9th ét. NEW YORK. Newspaper Clippings, 25,000 in Stock, What do you want? Let us know. We THE MODERN MALADY ; or, Suf- ferers from ‘ Nerves,’ An introduction to public consideration, from a non-medical point of view, of a con- dition of ill-health which is increasingly prevalent in all ranks of society. In the first part of this work the author dwells on the errors in our mode of treating Neuras- thenia, consequent on the wide ignorance of the subject which stil] prevails: in the sec- ond part, attention is drawn to the principal causes of the malady. The allegory forming the Introduction to Part I. gives a brief his- tory of nervous exhaustion and the modes of treatment which have at various times been thought suitable to this most painful and try- ing disease. By CYRIL BENNETT. 12°, 184 pp., $1.50. EDC HODGES, 7. | 874 Broadway, New York. BRENTANO’S, Publishers, Importers, Booksellers. Ws make a speciaity of technical works in al! ranches of science. and in ail Janguages. i Subscriptions taken for all American and foreign | sientific periodicals. | Our Paris and London branches enable us to im- vort at shortest notice and lowest prices. REPORTS | 1F SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES, MONOGRAPHS, GOVERNMENT | teports, ete. Correspondence solicited. | (==> All books reviewed in SCIENCE can be ordered from us. SEND FoR A SampLe Copy of Book Cuar. A Month- iy Index of the Periodical Literature of the World. 31.00 per year. can supply you. The Clemens News Ageney, Box 2329, San Francisco, Cal BRENTANO'S, Union Square, New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris. Littell’s Living A tell S Living Age, THE ONLY WEEKLY ECLEGTIC. 1844. 1893. “ The Oldest and the Best.” It selects from the whole wide field of EUROPEAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE the best articles by THE ABLEST LIVING WRITERS In every department of Literature, Science, Politics and Art. OPINIONS. “Only the best has ever filled its pages; the best thought rendered in the purest English. 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Sample copies of THe Livine AGE, 15 cents each. Address, Littell & Co., 31 Bedford St., Boston, Mass | Delsartians, teachers o DELSARTE SYSTEM OF ORATORY. A Book of over 600 pages of great value to all elocution, public speakers, singers, actors, sculptors, paincers, psychologists, theologians, scholars in any department of science, art and thought. Price, $2.50, postpaid. EDGAR 8. WERNER, Publisher, 108 East 16th Street, = = = New York, SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 564 Probably you take THE Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity do. If you do not, now is a good time to begin. It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty cents. Address: * The Electrical Engineer, « 203 Broadway, - - - New York, N.Y. QUERY. Can any reader of Sczence cite a case of lightning stroke in which the dissipation of a small conductor (one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter, say,) has failed to protect between two horizon-| tal planes passing through its upper and lower ends respective- ly? Plenty of cases have been found which show that when the conductor is dissipated the build- ing is not injured to the extent explained (for many of these see volumes of Philosophical Trans- actions at the time when light- ning was attracting the attention of the Royal Society), but not an exception is yet known, al though this query has been pub- lished far and wide among elec- tricians. First inserted June 19, 1891. No re- sponse to date. ¥. D.C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, N. Y. per day, at 5 to $15 home, selling LIGHTNING PLATER = and plating jewelry watches tableware, &c. Plates the finest of jewelry good as new, on all kinds of metal with gold, silver or nickel. No experience. No capital. Every house has goods need- ing plating. Wholesale to agents $5. Write for circu- ars. MH. EK. DELNO & Co., Columbus, O. Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Mineral Water Flor Liver, Kidney and B dder Troubles. GC For Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright’s Disease, Diabetes. For Hemorrhoids, Etc. It has been used medicinally and prescribed by ie for nearly one hundred years. IRECTIONS:—Take one or two glasses about a half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50. Bedford Mineral Springs Co.. Bedfvrd, Pa. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. {,000,000 young mothers need The on the care of children, deal- ing with food, dress, instruction, etc. yne hundred physicians write for it. “Tt will save the child an illness, the mother many a sleepless night.” Worth its weight in gold,""—Boston Transcript. $1.00 a Year Babyhood Publishing Co., New York. A Natural Food. Conditions of a the system arise when ordinary | foods cease to build flesh— there is urgent need of arrest- ot ing waste—assistance must come quickly, from satural food source. Seatts Emulsion is a condensation of the life of all foods—it is cod-liver oil reinforced, made easy of digestion, and almost as | palatable as milk. Prepared by Scott & Bowne, N. Y. All druggists. oe oS PRACTICAL ELECTRICS, a universal handy book no every day Electrical matters, fourth edition. | _135pages, r2vo, cloth, price 75 cents. |ELECTRICAL TABLES AND MEMORANDA for | Engineers, by Silvanus P. Thompson, 128 pages, | Illustrated, 64 mo, roan, 50 cents. |A SYSTEM OF EASY LETTERING by Howard | Cromwell, 32 different styles, 50 cents. THE ORNAMENTAL Penman’s pocketbook of | alphabelsia/ different styles, 20 cents. | Books mailed post paid to any address on re- \ceipt of publish price. | fi _ SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, |Mention this paper. 12 Cortlandt St., N. Y | HANDY BCOKS. | | “BUSY FOLKS’ GYMNASIUI1.” Ta AN NN i} living rooms. [ can order on “= machine separate, $4.50 and up. Educated agents wanted. Puyst A few minutes’ daily exercise ss on our fascinating apparatus 2 clears the brain, tones up the body, develops weak parts. Our cabinet contains chest: weights, A\| rowing-weights, lifting-weights, = clubs and dumb bells, adjust- able for old and young. /¢ zs the only complete exercising outfit in the world suitable for use in You Chest All prices. approval. Shoulders and Upper Back good for Round Shoulders ; CAL CULTURE CHART, with illustrated directions for de- veloping every part of the body healthfully, 50 cts. Sent for half price to those naming this paper. WHITNEY HOME GYMWASIUM CO., Box B., Rochester, WY. The Boston Medical and Surgical BOSTON, A FIRST-CLASS WEEKLY MEDICAL — | Journal. MASSACHUSETTS. NEWSPAPER. ESTABLISHED 1828. Terms of Subscriptions In the United States, and to Canada and Mexico, $5 00 a year in ad vance. To Foreign Countries embraced in the Universal Postal Union, $1.56 a year Baaitionslty Single numbers, 15c. ‘Yen consecutive numbers free by mail on receipt of $1.00. This JouRNAL circulates chiefly through the New England States, and is seen by the great majority of the profession in that important district. As ameans of reaching physicians it is unequalled. It is under the editorial management of Dr. George B. Shattuck, assisted by a large staff of compe- tent coadjutors. Subscriptions and advertisements received by the undersigned, to whom remittances by mail should be sent by money-order, draft or registered letter, DAMRELL & UPHAM, 288 Washington Street, Boston, Mass, bit, NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 24, 1893. CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY.—NO. XXXV. (Edited by D. G. Brinton, I. D.. LL.D., D. Sc.) CENSUS BULLETINS UPON THE INDIAN TRIBES. In these Notes, under date July 15, 1892, I called the attention of readers to the excellent work which was being done by the Hleventh Census in examining and reporting upon the present condition of the Indian tribes of the United States. The scope of the investigations was most properly extended beyond merely counting them, and embraced an inquiry into their modes of life, their physi- eal condition, their progress in civilization and education, and generally into all those traits which make them a peculiar class in our nation, governed by separate laws, and treated by our government on principles adopted toward none other of the inhabitants of the land (Thank Heaven!). This comprehensive investigation was placed under the charge of Expert Special Agent Thomas Donaldson, and ample evidence of the thorough and comprehensive man- ner in which he has completed his task is offered by two more Bulletins recently issued. One of these is on the “Hastern Band of Cherokees of North Carolina”; the other on the “Moqui Pueblo Indians of Arizona and the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico.” They are both in large quarto, abundantly illustrated with photographs, maps, and draw- ings by excellent artists. The text contains a really sur- prising amount of newly-gleaned, accurate, uncolored information, covering the individual and ethnic life of these peoples, not too specialized, and yet not superficial. These Bulletins must always remain a first-hand authority for students of the aboriginal race of the United States. EARLY CENTRAL-EUROPEAN ART. In the year 1591 two interesting objects were found at remote points in central Hurope, both of them dating from about the first century of the Christian era, and both illustrating in an attractive manner the art, and inci- dentally the life, of that little-known epoch. One was a large vase of silver, dug up in a peat bog at Gundestrup, in Jutland, Denmark; the other, a bucket (situla), unearthed on the banks of the Danube, above Vienna, also of silver. The former has been made the subject of a handsome publication by the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, Copenhagen; and the other has been lately described in full by M. Salomon Reinach, in I Anthropologie. The Gundestrup vase is elaborately ornamented with numerous figures of gods and goddesses, men and women, horses, dogs and other animals, in répoussé, retouched on the outer surfaces. he eyes of some of the larger heads are of colored glass, fixed on pieces of metal. The scenes portrayed are of hunting, war and sacred rites. There is evidently a Gallic inspiration, as also one from classic art p but the archeologists of the Society reach the concusion that this is a specimen of Danish skill in the first century. The situla from the Danube is also adorned with figures in relief, representing a civic or sacred procession, com- bining a pugilistic exhibition, horse and chariot races, musicians, etc. It also presents certain traces of Gallic art, along with others which must be attributed to Etruscan influences, which we know at one time extended far north in Hurope. These two beautiful specimens have justly claimed the attention of the artists and archeologists of Europe. THE NUDE IN SCIENCE. We have, from time to time, plenty of talk about the nude in art; its importance in science, anthropologic science, is just being discovered. For a recent and sug- gestive communication on this subject we have to thank M. Gabriel de Mortillet, the distinguished archeologist - and ex-President of the Anthropological Society of Paris. In a late communication to that Society he points out how many features are concealed by the clothing, and urges the value of photographs from the nude. He recom- mends that these should be taken in three positions—full face, in profile, and full back. It is essential that the same posture should always be maintained, and the best one is the subject standing erect, the legs together, the hands dropped by the side of the body. He also recommends that a man and a woman of the same family or locality be photographed standing side by side, so as to preserve and exhibit the distinctions of sex—though he does not over- look the difficulties in the way of accomplishing this, fortunately overcome, however, in a number of photo- gravures which accompany his report. The physical anthropologist will at once see how much information can thus be added about a race or stock. We learn the hairiness of the body; the inclination of the shoulders; the relations of hip and chest dimensions in the two sexes; the development of the breasts in both sexes; the prominence of the chest; the projection of the gluteal region; the proportion of trunk to extremities, and a number of other physical peculiarities. It isto be hoped that this valuable suggestion can and will be carried out on a large scale. THE CRIMINAL IN ANTHROPOLOGY. To the historian, to the philosophic student of man, morality and criminality become terms extremely relative— often convertible. What a people at one time regards as a revolting crime, the same people a little later, or another people at the same date, regards as innocent, or even praiseworthy. One has but to turn the leaves of such works as Dr. Post's “Grundriss der Ethnologischen Juris- prudenz,” or Dr. Steinmetz’s “Ethnologische Studien zur ersten Entwicklung der Strafe”’—treatises combining solid erudition, sound judgment and enlightened views— to find examples by the hundred. Men and women with unusually high moral natures have generally been re- garded as unusually depraved criminals by their con- temporaries, and treated as such; for instance, Socrates, 282 Jesus, Hypatia, Bruno, Joan of Are—the last mentioned burned, not as a captive, but as a sorceress. Hence Mr. Arthur MacDonald, Specialist of the Bureau of Education on the Relations of Education to Crime, in his useful handbook just published by the Bureau, entitled “Abnormal Man,” correctly defines such a man as one whose “mental or moral characteristics are so divergent from those of the ordinary person as to produce a pro- nounced moral or intellectual deviation.” Any such devia- tion disturbs the bourgeois, offends good society, and brings upon itself the condemnation of the ministers of the law and the popular religion of a well-ordered com- munity. The “abnormal men” include enthusiasts, re- formers, men of genius, idiots and professed criminals. Myr. MacDonald deals with all these misgrowths with im- partial hands, and presents a great and valuable mass of material for study about them, drawn from many writers on sociology and anthropology. His book is, therefore, an extremely useful contribution to our knowledge of these curious beings. EXTENSION OF THE DAKOTA STOCK. An interesting proof of the great value of linguistics in the study of ethnography is offered by the investigations of various observers into the extension of the Dakota or Siouan linguistic stock. It was long supposed to be confined to the northwest, with an extension to the south among the Osages. The Mandans of the Missouri River spoke one of its dialects, and George Catlin, the artist, more than fifty years ago, expressed the opinion that they had migrated westward from the upper Ohio valley or farther east. But it was not until Mr. Horatio Hale, by an examination of the language of the tribe of Tuteloes, on the Roanoke River, in Virginia, proved that they spoke a clear dialect of the stock, that proof was at hand to show that portions of them lived in historic time on the Atlantic seaboard, and were encountered there by the doughty explorer, Captain John Smith. There is some reason to believe that the Catawbas of the Carolinas are another branch; and in his late address before the Section of Anthropology of the American Asso- ciation, Mr. James O. Dorsey offered evidence which places beyond doubt the supposition that the Biloxis, on the Gulf shore of Louisiana, are a colony of the same stock. He further advances the opinion, drawn from the nature of the linguistic changes which have taken place, that about 1,500 years have elapsed since these and the main body of the Dakotas severed their relations. BIRDS WHICH SING ON THE NEST. BY MORRIS GIBBS, KALAMAZOO, MICH. Amone birds, the females do not sing, and although many species have musical call-notes and agreeable tones in conversation, which are shared in by both sexes, still the true song is only rendered by the male bird. Iam sincere in saying that the lady bird talks more than her mate about the house, but I will admit that when away from home she is very discreet in this respect. In attend- ing to her duties of incubation she is very quiet, and it is seldom that a note is heard from her while on the nest. Tt has even been said that all birds are silent when incubating, so as to avoid observation. However, although most species are quiet when setting, there are a few which chirp loudly when so engaged, and some eyen burst into exuberant song. Few observers are aware how assiduous are the atten- tions of the two birds to one another during incubation, SCIENCE [Vol. XXII. No. 564 and the credit which is due to the father-bird in his devotion in covering the eggs in his mate’s absence is not allowed him. Of course, when a bird is heard singing on the nest we know that the notes come from the male, but many young observers are inclined to attribute the song to the female. Another source of error in failing to identify the sex occurs with those species in which the singing male assumes the plumage of the female until the second or third year. The chipping sparrow sometimes sings his chattering refrain while upon the eggs. Yellow warblers are not rarely heard singing from the nest, but one has to wait patiently in a neighboring copse, at the proper season, in order to hear, see and be convinced. I have once heard the Maryland yellow-throat’s song - from its concealed nest in the grass; in fact, I found the nest, from hearing the peculiar notes, almost at my feet. Several times the song of the house wren has reached me, coming from the cavity where the old bird was sitting solacing himself in his gloomy nesting spot. Once, each, I have heard the notes of the black-billed cuckoo, scarlet tanager, orchard oriole, goldfinch and the hermit thrush, the latter the only thrush whose song has positively reached me from the nest. One would think that the brown thrush, cat-bird and robin, as great sing- ers, would burst forth on the nest, but it must be borne in mind that these thrushes all prefer higher perches for singing, while the hermit isa ground nester and often sings cn the ground. But of all the species which are musical while setting, the warbling vireo heads the list, both for persistence and for beauty of song, according to my note-book. Anyone can listen to the song of the warbling vireo on the nest if the trouble to find a nest with eggs in May or June is taken. For when the mate takes his trick keeping the eggs warm, he cheers himself, and enlivens the surround- ings by pouring forth his rippling, inspiring melodious warble. I bave heard him sing from the nest in early morning; in the hottest part of the day, and in the early twilight, and I have heard him issue as many as twenty bursts of song during one spell on the nest, and have dis- covered the nest on more than one occasion by the sweetly modulated tell-tale song. These ten species are all the birds which I have found to sing while on the nest. —The sixth annual meeting of the Geological Society of America will be called to order at 10 o’clock a. m. Wed- nesday, Dec. 27, in the Hall of the Bostcn Society of Natural History, corner of Boylston and Berkeley streets. Prof. William H. Niles, the President of the Natural His- tory Society, will welcome the Geological Society. It is proposed to hold the sessions of Thursday at Harvard University, in Cambridge. ‘Titles and abstracts of papers should be sent to the Secretary immediately, as it is desired to issue the list of papers not later than Dec. 12. Matter for the programme distributed at the first session must be in the Secretary’s hands by noon of Tues- day, Dec. 26. Until Dec. 22, the address of the Secre- tary will be Rochester, after that date at The Thorn- dike, on Boylston street, Boston. Excellent facilities will be given for use of lantern illustrations. In place of the formal lecture on Wednesday evening, it is proposed to hold a regular session for reading of papers. Following an early adjournment there will be an opportunity for social introductions. On Thursday evening the annual dinner of the Society will be held, probably at The Thorn- dike. No special railroad rates are obtainable. “Holiday rates” are given during the week on some lines. November 24, 1893. | 7 SCIENGE: PUBLISHED By N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broapway, New York. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in advance, one hundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reasons we desire to circulate as many copies of SCIENCE as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprint- ed elsewere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photo-engraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manu- scripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accompanies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer; not necessa- rily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold our- selves responsible for any view or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Attention is called to the ‘‘Wants’’ column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and ad- dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The Exchange” column is likewise open. CURRENT NOTES ON CHEMISTRY.—IV. (Edited by Charles Platt, Ph.D., F. C. 8.) ADVANCE IN THE ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY OF RECENT YEARS. Pror. Atpert B. Prescort has outlined some of the most distinctive advances of analytical chemistry in a paper read before the World’s Congress of Chemists. First we have “the resolute attempt to find out the composition of matter, as a whole, in any and all of its mixtures of what- ever source.” Complete analysis, proximate and ultimate, of complex substances has been entered upon, and “unde- termined residues” have been made the beginning instead of the end of chemical research. The courage of analytical effort in recent years has been seen especially in the elaboration cf methods for the isolation of carbon com- pounds, both natural and artificial. Proximate organic analysis has been called for by many practical workers, and we are now enriched by the labors of thousands in this field, which was opened largely by Dragendorff and Hoppe-Seyler. We have an increased knowledge of the molecular structure of bodies produced by nature—mineral, vegetable, and animal, as well as those of artificial produc- tion. Important advance has also been made in the em- ployment of physical methods of inspection whereby mole- cular change is avoided. We have but to mention in this connection the multiplication of optical methods, the polarimeter, the refractometer, the spectroscope, recent studies in molecular mass, the freezing and melting points, solutions, adhesion and capillarity. An exhibition of advance made is furthermore found in the reciprocal benefits of scientific research and of tech- nical skill as seen in the work of experts in biological and pathological analysis, sanitary and forensic analysis, in the industries, and in agriculture and metallurgy. SODIUM PEROXIDE IN ANALYSIS. Probably no other recent addition to the reagents of the laboratory has become of such importance as has the peroxide of sodium, Na, O.. Its superiority as an oxidizing agent is firmly established, both because of its purity and because of its rapidity of action; and while but a few years ago it was something of a curiosity, it is now an article of commerce used in industrial operations, as well as in the finer applications of the laboratory. So long ago as 1871 Dr. John Clark pointed out, through the Chemical News, the strong oxidizing power of a mixture of caustic soda and calcined magnesia, and, a little later, illustrated the SCIENCE. 283 value of this action in the analysis of sulphides. As Dr. Clark states in a recent paper in the Journal of the Chem- ical Society (London), the exact cause of the above action was not quite clear at the time, but has since been de- termined by him to be due to the formation of the perox- ides of sodium and magnesium. Hempel shows the supe- riority of the peroxide for the detection of chromium and manganese, and for rendering titaniferous iron ore soluble, but considers that for the oxidation of sulphur compounds that the addition of sodium carbonate is necessary to re- duce the violence of the action. Clark, however, in the article referred to, prefers to use the peroxide without ad- mixture with carbonate, stating that when a sufficiently low temperature is employed there is less tendency to loss by spurting and the action is completed in less time. In the analysis of pyrites, the procedure is as follows: One part, by weight, of the pyrites is mixed with six parts, by weight, of sodium peroxide in a platinum or nickel crucible, placed about two inches above a very low Bunsen flame. Oxidation immediately sets in and the mixture becomes red-hot. A few minutes suffices for the action, and upon its completion the sulphur is easily soluble in water. The solution is acidified and the sulphur precipitated as barium sulphate. In the case of blende part of the zinc dissolves with the sulphur, so that when it is desired to determine the zinc also the mixture is acidified with hydrochloric acid and precipitated with sodium carbonate before filtration. Galena, after treatment with peroxide, yields part of its lead into solution, and it is therefore advisable to acidify slightly with nitric acid and to boil with excess of sodium carbonate, when all the lead will be rendered insoluble, and upon filtration the whole of the sulphur will be found in the filtrate. By fusion with peroxide, arsenic is converted into soluble arsenate, and may then be estimated by any of the ordinary methods. Dr. Clark uses peroxide of sodium most advantageously in the estimation pf chromium and in the analysis of chrome ore. The temperature should not beso high as to liquefy the mixture, but just enough to form a paste, under which condition the contents of the crucible shrink, leav- ing a space between the mixture and the walls of the crucible. The mass is extracted with water and the solu- tion boiled to decompose any excess of peroxide if the chromium is to be titrated. The insoluble residue dis- solves easily in hydrochloric acid, and should be tested for any traces of undecomposed ore. The beauty and ease of this process can only be fully realized by analysts who have had practical experience with refractory chromium compounds. The analysis of ferro-chromium is conducted in the same manner, the metal being first reduced to.a fine powder and then mixed with six times its weight of peroxide. This reagent is also applicable with some mod- ifications in procedure to the quantitative estimation of chromium in steel, and in the quantitative separation of manganese from zinc, nickel and cobalt, the solution in this latter case being made in cold water, to avoid de- composition, which gradually setsin. In the separation of zinc and manganese, the latter is thrown down perfectly free from the former by the addition of peroxide to the ammoniacal liquid, or, as is recommended in the separa- tion of manganese and cobalt, that the cobalt should be in the highest state of oxidation, the sodium peroxide may be added to the cold acid solution before rendering it alkaline with ammonia. In the separation of manganese from nickel and cobalt it 1s advisable to redissolve and to repeat the operation. Another valuable application of sodium peroxide is in the breaking down of tungsten minerals for analysis. In a paper read before the British Association, at the Nottingham meeting, Dr. 8. Rideal and Mr. H. J. Bult 284 propose the use of sodium peroxide as a substitute for alkaline permanganate in water analysis. It is hoped thereby to throw light upon the character of the organic nitrogen in the water by differentiation in comparison with the results obtained using potassium permanganate. With 1 gramme of the peroxide for 1-2 litre of water the total ammonia evolved equaled 0.027 parts per 100,000, while with the permanganate 0.050 parts per 100,000 were obtained. Repeating with the same water gave with the peroxide 0.026 parts, and with the permanganate 0.048 parts per 100,000. The addition of a further quantity of sodium peroxide and further distillation failed to increase the amount of ammonia produced, hence it. is evident that the peroxide does not break down certain of the nitrogenous contents, and it was found possible to obtain a fresh quantity of ammonia after the distillation with peroxide by adding the permanganate. Some of the results obtained were as follows: NH, by potassium NH, by permanganate Water. Free NH, sodium peroxide. after the peroxide. A, 0.01 trace 0.007 B, 0.001 0.004 0.011 G 0.012 0.0L 0.015 D, 0.021 0.024 0.057 Water. Free NH, NH; by permanganate. A, 0.01 0.008 B, 0.001 0.013 ¢ 0.012 0.027 D, 0.019 0.078 The sodium peroxide thus liberates a portion of the am- monia, and apparently this is included in that set free by potassium permanganate. There is evidently no ratio between the two, and hence we may have a means of differentiating. Wanklyn’s method also indicates a differ- entiation of the nitrogen, but the problem is too complex to be of service. A water after being partially oxidized by the peroxide yieldsits nitrogen more quickly than water not so treated, and it is suggested that this is due to the partially oxidized nitrogenous substances being left in such a condition as to be readily broken up by the stronger reagent. THE BACTERIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF WATER. According to C. E. Cassal, F. I. C., in a recent report abstracted in the Chemical News, the assertions that the bacteriological examination of water indicates its condi- tion with relation to disease germs and that the analytical method gives the past history of a water rather than its present condition, are entirely devoid of foundation. “The so-called analytical method is the only one whereby a knowledge of the actual conditions of a water can at pres- ent be attained, whatever views may be held as to the degree of efficiency possessed by any method for arriving at an accurate knowledge of such condition.” The bacte- riological examination depends upon the successful culti- vation of micro-organisms and their spores in a nutrient media, such as “nutrient gelatin” and meat broth, which may be carried out on a minute portion of a sample, and consequently can hardly be representative. The difticul- ties are in the method itself, in the small sample, in the particular treatment which is artificial and unlike the con- ditions of the body, and which, only if successful, gives some knowledge of the organisms present. Negative re- sults are practically worthless. A further difficulty is the recognition of disease-producing germs as such when found. Mr. Cassal is an extremist, but we have many such upon the opposite side, and undoubtedly we shall hear from them. SCIENCE. (Vol. XXII. No. 564 NATURE OF RED PHOSPHORUS. When exposed to the direct sunlight under water com- mon phosphorus becomes covered with a red coating, and the same red modification is formed in abundance by heating in an atmosphere of CO,, or other inert gas, to a temperature of between 235°—250°. The red variety is insoluble in carbon disulphid, undergoes no change in dry air, and may be heated to 250° without taking fire. The density is, furthermore, always superior to that of white phosphorus, though it is not constant, varying with the conditions of preparation. Commonly red phosphorous is spoken of as amorphous, and it was formerly so considered, but the error of this was shown by MM. Troost and Hautefeuille, who obtained a crystalline variety at 580° having a specific gravity of 2.34 (that obtained at 270° has a sp. gr. of 2.15). Mr. Hittorf had previously obtained a black crystalline variety by heating with lead to a red heat in a tube, without contact with air. After cooling, the lead is dissolved in dilute nitric acid and the crystal- lized phosphorus left as a residue. J. P. Cooke describes rhombohedral crystals of this substance. The nature of red phosphorus has recently been under discussion in Germany. J. W. Retgers (Zeitschrift fur anorganische chemie) has made microscopic examinations in polarized light, and finds that the smallest and thinnest particles are distinctly transparent, though owing to their high index of refraction most of the light, with the ex- ception of a central red glimmer, is internally reflected. When, however, the internal reflection is diminished by moistening with a highly refractive liquid, such as methylene iodide, the particles transmit a clear, ruby- colored light. In polarized light these show extinction in two mutually perpendicular planes, and they are conse- quently described by Retgers as crystalline, he consider- ing the refractive power as too great to be accounted for by internal stress in an amorphous body. A few short prisms were observed, but the crystal system has not as yet been determined. Referring to the “metallic” phos- phorus obtained by Hittorf, Retgers concludes that it is merely a better crystallized form of the red variety. The black color may be due to impurities, arsenic or lead. W. Muthmann criticises Retgers’ article, and points out that red phosphorus is dimorphous, and that in the commercial product we have frequently a mixture of crystalline and amorphous forms. According to Muthmann, when phos- phorus is heated in an atmosphere of CO, at 230° for 24 hours the product is principally amorphous, but is also crystalline in part. If the experiment is conducted in a glass tube the separation of the two is accomplished, as the amorphous variety sublimes and the crystalline does not. The sublimed portion has the optical properties of an amorphous substance. From the assumed greater purity of the sublimate it is argued that the presence of impurities, as for instance, arsenic, may favor the forma- tion of crystals. THE ORIGIN OF PETROLEUM. Among the papers presented in Chicago was one by Dr. C. Engler on the artificial production of petroleum, of both chemical and geological interest. Dr. Engler briefly reviews some of the better known of the various theories on this subject, as, for instance, that of Sokoloff, that petroleum was produced during the formation of our planet out of cosmical hydro-carbons, which, in the begin- ning, dissolved in the soft mass, separated from it later on. Mendeljeff assumes that water entering by fissures and chasms into the interior, comes into contact with melted carbide of iron, and produces by interchange oxide of iron and hydro-carbons of petroleum. The “distillation theory” is dismissed, for chemical and geological reasons— first, because it is difficult to conceive of the substance of plants being split up by distillation into petroleum with- November 24, 1893. | out leaving a residue of charcoal or coke, while in nature, according to Dr. Engler, we have no connection between doposits of coal and the occurrence of petroleum. Another theory, defended by Whitney, Hunt, Hofer and others, ascribes the origin of petroleum to animal remains. To test this latter theory, Dr. Engler has conducted a series of experiments so successful as to demonstrate clearly its possibility, at least, if not its probability, from a chemical point of view. First, some thousands of salt-water fishes were distilled under strong pressure, with the production of a liquid containing nitrogenous bases such as pyridin, but having no similarity to petroleum. Recalling experi- ments of Wetherill and Gregory as to the nature of so- called ‘“adipocere,” the idea was conceived that possibly in nature the nitrogenated animal substances were de- stroyed and the fatty residue converted into petroleum. Animal fat (train oil) was submitted to distillation under a pressure of 25 atmospheres at a moderate heat of 300°— 400°, and it was found that 70 per cent (or 90 per cent of the theoretical) of the train oil was transformed into petroleum. ‘The same results were obtained from the other fats like butter, hog fat, artificial fats, the free, fatty acids, etc. Not only illuminating oils were obtained, but also the lighter hydro-carbons, gasoline, ligwin, benzine, etc., and in those parts of the crude oil which show a high boiling point were found and separated paraffin wax and lubricating oils. “As a matter of fact,” says Dr. Engler, “I have found in the distillate obtained by decomposition of train oil nearly all of the constituents which have been separated from the natural crude petroleum, and even the gases, which, like natural gas, consist essentially of marsh gas.” For the chemism of the formation of the hydro-carbons, Dr. Engler refers to a recent paper in the Berichte der Deutschen Chemischer Gesellschayt. RETICULATION OF SPINDLE-CELLED SARCOMA. BY A. COWLEY MALLY, MUNSLOW, ENCLAND, No subject lends itself more freely to errors of inter- pretation than the description of the microscopical ap- pearances presented by histological and pathological preparations. Even the delineation, both manual and photographic, of the structure of the Diatomacez bear some semblance of uniformity in the descriptions of different observers. Still, to quote Dallinger, “In the present state of the theory and practice of microscopy, it would be extremely unwise to give absolute adhesion to what is now held, by some students of diatom structure of no mean repute and of unrivalled manipulative skill, to be the absolute struc- ture of some of the larger forms.” The same observation applies with still more force to the former investigations, as it is impossible to compare ’ and correllate either the methods of preparation, observa- tion or interpretation of different observers. They all differ, as a rule, in some detail, and in addition there is not only a marked tendency on the part of histologists and pathologists to copy the methods, drawings and re- sults of others, but also a great liability to subjective imitation through suggestion. Before confining myself to the evidences of reticulation in sarcomal structures, I may mention that the appearance in Polymyxa, so interpreted, is perfectly evident in some individuals and absolutely imperceptible in others. When seen, it is extremely evanescent, and, therefore, can scarce- ly be looked upon as evidence of the existence of formed material, but rather as the effect of some temporary chem- ical or physical change in or upon the external surface of the protoplasmic mass. ‘The same or very similar appear- ances may be observed in Volyox, which are equally erratic, but as they are unquestionably received as the SCIENCE. 485 evidence of formed material, the foregoing statement is put forward as only a conditional hypothesis. The portion of the tumor from which the accompany- ing sketch is taken was placed in Muller’s fluid twelve hours before the sections were cut. These sections were taken from the central portion, where the fluid had evi- dently no time to act, then slightly stained with carmine, mounted in balsam and in the usual way. On being ex- amined the same evening with a one-sixteenth water im- mersion and No. 12 compensating eyepiece, it was found that the markings forming portions of the reticulations took a definite direction, that is, obliquely lateral to the long diameter of the cell. This lateral obliquity did not change on revolution of the stage, and therefore cannot be interpreted ag the result of oblique illumination. In many of the cells a granular nebular nucleus was ob- served, connected by slender and almost phantom branches with the oblique lateral markings. Atthe junc- tion of these branches with the nucleus their point of Spindie —-cedled Sarcom a Semi—deagrana de Alia Single cell insertion or outgrowth, as the case may be, seemed to be placed in the hyaline substance surrounding the gran- ules, and unconnected with the granules themselves. This latter observation is not laid down as an established fact, but simply as something more than ordinary conjec- ture. At the points of junction with the lateral markings there seemed to be definite nodal enlargements increasing in frequency towards the edges of the cell, and the whole section had a peculiar watered-silk appearance, which it was found impossible to represent on paper. On examination of teased preparations, it was evident that the sections were cut obliquely, as the cells appeared very much elongated; at the same time they showed no reticulation. Sections from the same portion of the growth were treated with osmic acid and several aniline dyes without effect. Iam, however, by no means skeptical as to the results which ought to be obtained in perfectly fresh specimens with chloride of gold. Its manipulation is difficult, owing to the nature of the tissue, changes in temperature. light and color definition, therefore annoy- ingly variable in its results. I cannot endorse Chatin’s {statement, as quoted by Dr. Stokes on p. 374, No. 517 of this journal, that reticulated structure in amcboides and in the blood corpuscles of 286 SCIENCE. invertebrates is constantly and easily demonstrable. Chatin, in the previous paragraph, referred to osmic acid; it is natural to suppose that the organisms and globules were submitted to that treatment, a method which, at least in my hands, has proved extremely uncertain in its results. In conclusion, allow me to request some of your very numerous correspondents to inform usif the spectroscope would give any material assistance in the solution of the true nature of these markings. (I, of course, mean the diffraction spectrum), my acquaintance with the instru- ment being limited to test fluids. Since writing the above my colleague, W. I. Pentland, has persuaded me not to be too dogmatic with regard to the reticulation of the invertebrate corpuscles and indi- vidual (especially conjunctival) cells of invertebrates till after next spring, as in the meantime he intends working up the subject. THE BACTERIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF WATER. BY J. H. STOLLER, UNION COLLEGE, SCHENECTADY, N. Y. Wuen, in 1881, Koch announced the gelatine culture iwnethod for bacteria devised by him, it was believed that one of its most important applications would be in the examination of waters with reference to their potable use. This method, as is now well known, renders possible an exact determination of the abundance of bacteria in water. But it was soon discovered that the mere demonstration of the presence of bacteria was of little value in estimat- ing the qualities of waters, iasmuch as waters of unques- tionable suitability for potable use often contained bac- teria in considerable abundance. However, the general result was established that the numbers of bacteria are in relation to the amount of putrescible organic matter in the water. The ideal value of the gelatine culture method not having been realized, it is probable that itstrue useful- ness in water analysis has not been estimated as highly as it deserves. An experimenter who has familiarized himself with the distribution of bacterial life in waters will be able to form definite and reliable conclusions up- on the basis of numbers of bacteria. This is especially true in the case of river water subject to polution by sew- age from towns. Numerical determinations of abun- dance of bacteria having been made of samples taken at various points trom the same river, a fair judgment may be formed of the amount of sewage polution at any re- quired point. The first step requisite to be taken is to determine, for use as a standard, the numbers of bacteria in unpolluted water in the stream under investigation. Comparisons made with this standard give reliable quanti- tative indications of polution. Any access of sewage raises ‘the number of bacteria above the normal for that stream and the excess is a definite indication of the extent to which the water has suffered polution. The standard is obtained by testing the water, both at such points and at such times as give the condition approaching nearest to purity for that stream. In general, samples taken from the head waters of the river, above the first town from which sewage polution is received, and at a time of con- tinued fair weather when the water is free from rain- wash, are best suited for the control tests. In regard to the effects of surface washings from the land by rains, as indicated by turbidity of the water, itis necessary to el- iminate them from all tests by taking samples only when the water is clear. This rule being observed, comparisons of results give indications of the extent of contamina- tion due to sewage. [Vol. XXII. No. 564 It should be added that there are other conditions which enter in a minor degree as factors in the results of numerical determinations of bacteria. These are tem- perature of water, depth at which the sample is taken, point at which the sample is taken with reference to rifts and pools in the stream, free ex- posure to air and light (prevented in winter by ice), etc. Consideration should always be given to these conditions and as far *as possible samples should be taken under similar conditions throughout in order to render the re- sults comparable. The writer, working in association with Prof. C. C. Brown, consulting engineer for the New York State Board of Health, in furtherance of his work in investigat- ing rivers as sources of water supply, has made numeri- cal determinations of bacteria for some six hundred sam- ples of water from the Hudson and Mohawk rivers. A statement of the results of this work is given in the an- nual reports of the State Board of Health of New York for the years 1891 and 1892. it naturally occured to us, early in the work here al- luded to, that a method of differentiating sewage bacteria from ordinary water bacteria would be of great value as affording a more exact means of ascertaining the degree of sewage pollution than is possible by the method out- lined above. Dr. Theobald Smith, of Washington, D. C., was then consulting bacteriologist for the New York State Board of Health and upon submitting the idea to him he informed us of a method of differentiating gas-producing bacteria from others which he had devised and published some time previously (Centralblatt fur Bakteriologie, Vol. VIL, p. 302 and Vol. XIL, p. 867) and which he believed was applicable to the end sought by us. The method thus placed at our disposal consists in the use of a culture fluid of which sugar (glucose) is a com- ponent and which is placed for inoculation in tubes simi- lar in principle to the ureometer employed by chemists. Bacteria capable of causing sugar-fermentation when in- troduced into such culture-tubes give rise to a gas the quantity and composition of which can be ascertained. In the application of this method to the bacteriological analysis of water its value rests upon the fact that the most common species of bacteria present in feces are gas generators. As is well known the most constantly occur- ing species of bacteria in feces is Bacillus coli commune; and for some time our experiments related to the determina- tion of the abundance of this species in the waters under investigation by means of the characteristic quantity and composition of the gases which it generates in the fermen- tation-tubes. Later others of the more common fecal bac- teria were isolated and studied with reference to their gas- generating character. In this way a method was elabor- ated by which, it is believed, there can be determined with approximate exactness the numbers of prevailing species of fecal bacteria in a unit quantity of water. This deter- mination is taken as a definite indication of the amount of sewage pollution. In the practical use of this method the procedure is as follows: The saccharine culture fluid contained in a set, say eight, of fermentation-tubes is inoculated with a measured quantity of water from the source of supply under investigation. The tubes are immediately placed in an incubator and kept at a temperature of thirty-eight degrees centigrade for forty-eight hours or somewhat longer. (This is favorable to the development of fecal bacteria and probable destruction of the greater number of ordinary water bacteria.) Those tubes in which gas has been developed are then examined withreference to the amount and composition of the gases present and note is taken of those which agree in these respects with the effects produced by known fecal bacteria. Finally November 24, 1893.] upon these data the number of fecal bacteria per cubic centimetre in the water under examination is calculated. A part of the results thus far obtained by the use of this method, together with a more detailed account of the method is published in the 1892 report of the State Board of Health of New York. BRITISH STONE CIRCLES—Y. OXFORDSHIRE, SHROPSHIRE, AND WELCH CIRCLES*. BY A. L. LEWIS, F. C. A., LONDON, ENGLAND. Tuer is a well-known circle called the Roll-Rich, better known locally, however, as the “King-stones,” four miles from Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire (Great Western Rail- way). It is 100 feet in diameter, and consists of fifty-four stones and fragments, varying from one to seven and a half feet in height, one to five and a half in width, and one to two in thickness. Many of these stand close together, giving the idea that the circle when complete may have been a continuous wal! of enclosure; but this is a point on which the visitor can form his own opinion. Two hundred and fifty feet from the circle, in a direction 55° north of east, is a stone called the “Kingstone,” 9% feet high and from 1¥% to 5 feet broad and thick; it is on the other side of the road which divides Oxfordshire from Warwickshire, and is therefore in the latter county. Though very sim- ilar in position to the “Friar’s Heel” at Stonehenge, it would appear to be too far north to mark the point of sun- rise; but it may have marked the point of the first appear- ance of light on the longest day. About 300 yards from this circle,in a direction 108 south of east, stand five stones called the “Five Knights,” which are from eight to eleven feet in height and one to four in breadth and thickness. As they now stand they enclose a small square space, three of them standing in a contiguous line facing S. S. E., one standing four feet behind them, and the fifth forming the northeast side of the enclosure, but it is possible that the latter was originally a capstone on the top of the others, and has fallen into the position which it now occupies. The ground enclosed by these stones is two feet higher than that outside them; they may have been designed in connection with the circle, or they may not; this is a point for the consideration of the visitor. There is a monument very like the “Five Knights,” some four miles south from Chipping Norton, at a place called Enstone. These stones are called the “Hoarstone,”’ and are four miles from Charlbury Station (G. W. R.). On a hill above Penmznmawr, on the north Welsh coast, there is a circle called “Y Meinen Hirion” (the long stones), eighty feet in diameter; seven stones from three to five and a half feet high remain upright, and one, eight feet long, hes prostrate; there are also sundry fragments and stumps. This monument, described in Gough’s “Cam- den’s Britannia” as one of the most remarkable in North Wales, is not unlike the Roll-Rich in character, but is smaller, and, as regards the circle itself, even insignificant. The ground toward the northeast falls rapidly away into a deep hollow, on the other side of which are lofty hills; but about 500 feet to the northeast, down in the valley, is a stone, now prostrate, nine feet long, five feet wide and two feet thick, and in the same direction, but about 400 further, is another prostrate stone of the same length and width, but twice as thick. These stones, placed like the “Friar’s Heel” at Stonehenge and the “Kingstone” at the *No. 1 Abury appeared in No. 529, March 24. No. 2 Stonehenge appeared in No. 537, May 19. No. 3 Derbyshire Circles appeared in No. 545, July 14. No. 4 Somersetshire and Dorsetshire Circles appeared in No. 555, Septem- ber 22. SCIENCE. 287 Rojl-Rich, being down ina valley, do not themselves show up on the horizon against the rising sun, but they lead the eye directly to a hill on the other side of the valley, over the top of which the sun would probably rise on the longest day, as it is between 45 and 50 degrees east of north, and not very much higher than the circle. This hill, one on the north side of it, and the Great Orme, form a group of three, and we shall find that in the hilly dis- tricts of Great Britain triple summits or groups of three hills are often to be seen to the northeast of circles, from which it may be inferred that the circles were, for some reason or other, intentionally placed in such positions as to command views of triple summits in that direction. There are two other circles which are only just over the border of Wales, in Shropshire, and are most conveniently reached from Minsterley, to which there is a railway from Shrewsbury. The farther and larger of the two is about seven miles from Minsterley, and is called Mitchellsfold; it seems to be slightly oval, the diameters being 86 and 92 feet; it consists of thirteen stones, varying from six to two feet in height, and one to three feet in thickness. There are also some fragments, but the original number of stones may have been from 27 to 30. Two hundred and fifty feet from the south side of the circle are two stones, fifty feet apart, the dimensions of which are from two to three feet each way; and half a mile due south was formerly a monument of some kind called the Whetstone, which may or may not have been planned in connection with the circle. The top of a high hill, called Stapeley Hill, is 50° east of north from the centre of Mitchellsfold (the same direction as the “Friar’s Heel” at Stonehenge), and about three-quarters of a mile from it. Between the two is a single stone, now fallen, eight feet long. Still farther, in exactly the same line, on the other side of Stateley Hill, and at the same distance from its summit on the northeast as Mitchellsfold ison the southwest, is another circle, called the “Hoarstone,” or Marshpool, circle; and beyond this, looking northeasterly, may be seen three low hills. The Hoarstone circle is about 74 feet in diameter, and consists of 33 stones and fragments, the general size of which is from two to three feet in height, width and thickness. The largest stone is in the middle of the circle, a little to the southwest of the centre, and is only three feet and a half high; but, as the ground is soft and swampy, the stones may be sunk to some depth in it, and their original height may have been greater, and, if so, the bottom of the central stone, which now leans to the southwest, may be nearly at the centre of the circle. Many of these stones have artificial holes in them; - these are not ancient, but have been made by the miners, who fill them with powder and fire them when a wedding takes place in the neighborhood. Mitchellsfold, other- wise Madge’s Pinfold or milking fold, is said to have re- ceived its name from a legend connecting it with a cow which gave milk enough for all honest people who wanted any, until some wicked person drew her milk into a sieve, from which time the cow disappeared. The fallen stone between the circle and Stapeley Hill is called the “Dun Cow,” probably in connection with the same legend. There is another circle on Penywern Hill, two miles south from Clun in Shropshire, but it is nearly destroyed; it appears to have been about thirty yards in diameter, and to have had an outlying stone ten feet high, 120 yards or so to the southeasty. There is also a circle at Kerry Hill, in Montgomeryshire, eight or ten miles west of Clun, which, I am told, is about thirty feet in diameter, with a central block, like the Marshpool circle. +I have not seen either of these, and am indebted to Mr. Luff, a former resi- dent of Clun, for the above information concerning them. 288 PELE’S FERNERY. BY CHARLES FESSENDEN NICHOLS, M. D., BOSTON, MASS. Ont Hawaiian morning, word was excitedly brought: “The cloudisoffthe pali and here are waiting Noo Loeloe (the Tired Lizard), Po Poki (Poor Pussy) and Wai Atlan- tika (the Atlantic Ocean), three merry natives all ready to climb the mountain, and why should not haoli (the outsider) join them? For it is but once in eleven years that Pele’s cloud is off the pali. Now who is Pele? And what is apali? Any pali may become American soil and we ought to recognize it. The word simply means a high rock, or precipice, usually overhanging a mountain torrent; but Pele’s pali, just here above the valley Waipio, enwrapped forever in the cloud which its great height attracts, is, with a considerable area of table-land, her own reserve. Superstition com- pletely debars the natives from visiting this region; it is tabu ground, “Death sure and swift awaits there,” and nobody ever goes up to grope in the tangle of this beautiful cloud-garden of the very melodramatic goddess of Hawaiirei. To-day, however, so say these three natives, Pele withdraws her tabu. In compliment to the white hadli traveller, the secret-sacred, gray-fluffy cap, always hiding her white face* is, in part, removed. Pele is the true ruler of Hawaii, not a queen or a prin- cess to be bribed or pensioned dollarwise, goddess of in- fernal coquetry, of form so unstable that no idol has been fashioned for her worship, although she is held in such reverence as is given to no other, placable only when mas- querading in some chaotic element, whose last footstep tossed molten lava, and who hides her rare garden where it finds its sunshine above the clouds. Polypodium tameriscum, Hawaii. Realizing then, O Lizard, Pussy and Wai Atlantika! that your tales are ever highly colored and that eleven days would, most likely, generously span the time where- in your mountain has lately remained under water (even a fish-story must come to the surface to breathe before its eleventh year), realizing all this, it is pleasant to know that the wind has changed, her trade-wind no doubt; such good fortune is not to be slighted, and so we will together ride to the pali. On unshod horses, lassoed from a neighboring rice- patch, we ride, with slight ascent, through long weeds and grass. Looking backward, the curious illusion pre- vails, often observed on an island, that the water below *Pele is represented fair and flaxen-haired, Tradition of northern voyag- ers visiting these islands deified them, taking note of their light complexion. Captain Cook and his sailors were worshipped, at first, as gods. SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 564 appears to rise and confront us, as if we were lower than the sea whose lustrous furrows seem no deeper than warped surface of polished mahogany. Birds are seldom seen on these islands, yet we can hear much twittering, as if made by little hidden birds. These birds are never captured “and if we were to see one,” says Wai Atlantika, “we should be drowned.” A few humming- birds are out to-day, and sand-mice, underground, make a noise between singing and chirping. “Kauka’ (Doctor), says Lizard, “it is time to be careful.” Henceforth, at stated intervals, we dismount to place crisscross bunches (leis) of flowers and leaves, to propiti- ate the mountain deities (hoo-kupu). Very safe it is to push aside the long weeds, seeking yams and ferns, for there are no snakes nor any other Trichomenes pervulum, Hawaii. venomous reptilian life on beautiful Hawaii; very safe, while listening to the monotonous chant of my compan- ions “Aloha lio loa” (praise to the big horse), to scoop the. fingers through a brook for small fish, then eat them alive. The natives do not even chew their squirming captives! “Kahuna,” says Lizard (he means native doctor, witch- doctor, sorcerer, and now addresses the outsider as such by reason of our increasing friendship), “my mother buried five of us alive.” “Why?” I ask. “To stop the volanco,” replies Lizard.t There is no trail. We pass cacti, sprawling in families like turtles, oval, ragged and dusty, some rampant and pugnacious, others on their backs. The hau tree (Hibiscus tilaceus), the banana, tbe ti (draceena terminalis), begonias and yellow blooms of the shrub ohenaupaka (sczevola gla- bra) are seen in a maze of trailers, fungi and mosses. Polypodium spectrum, above Waipio, Hawaii. Fragrant wood-strawberries grow here and we may eat them with the slippery, sour guavas found on all sides. A valley to the right is completely overspread by nastur- tiums of enormous leafage and the smallest possible blos- som. Somewhat pathetic it is, this growth, so many years after its wrinkled seeds were planted by some New Eng- land missionary, not quite content with palmetto, ohia,{ +Even at this time the burial of living children is not unknown on Hawaii. The writer remembers an old woman, seamstress in a mission family, who was supposed to have eaten several of her own children. tOhia, the native apple (Metrosideros polymorpha). . November 24, 1893. | orange and fern! And now, without frost to interrupt their progress, the nasturtiums have filled in, from edge to edge, this untrodden vale; the mass of vines is from twenty to fifty feet in depth and extends as far as vision reaches. Tired Lizard proves to be chief chatterer; he is small, alert, shows white teeth, rides backward and stops at times to braid his horse’s mane. My other companions, of the common stolid type, I remember now, only by their legs, so lone that the two men seemed to stand over their small horses and could walk at option without dis- mounting. Ferns abound here aud we may fancy their existence to be most joyous; knowing their right to the soil, sure that they are loved in all the land, for their beautiful life is not essential to the cruel worship of any evil god, they fill every nook or hang above us infested by big spiders. A loquacious Ophioglossum pendulum, embraced and fes- tooned by a graceful piori (Smilax Sandwichiensis), attracts attention. But, without separate enumeration, we are aware of Blechnia Sadeleria cyatheoides, Davallia repens, with varieties of nephrodium, asplenium and pteris. Gradually quitting firm land, our horses stumble at times, and sink to their chests in the mud; the weeds top- ple and flatten where a mountain stream gurgles; on one side lies a treacherous quicksand into which bullocks may sink and perish. Here we repeatedly dismount to cut the vines and roots which wind about the legs of the tired Vittaria elongata, Hawaii. horses. Ever pusbing aside the thicket.as we force our way, we are drenched by the water-laden branches of the tall shrubs; a dash, as if from a dipper, is thrown from tree or skirmishing cloudlet until our clothes drip as if we had waded through a river. “Tis a sanatarium quite controlled hy hydropathy. Warmth and reeking moisture are omnipresent; a height which in other lands would be the realm of snow attracts here only mists ever condensing into shower, and clarified by rainbow-sun- shine. Under these conditions an enormous fernery is created where growths which could nowhere else ma- ture revel undisturbed, unless the rarely veering wind stir for a moment the habitual quietude. Here the light clouds hesitate, touching the treetops, the soft wind bears no aroma but that of the mountain dews, earthy, evanes- cent, soothing. Itis, indeed, the heart of the marvelously beautiful region to which we have aspired. Ferns, where their life has full sway, inuade earth and SCIENCE. 289 air alike. Gleichenias travel, emulating the banyan and throwing out rootlets wherever their stalks touch the ground. Such as are parasites climb over one another, surmount the vast undergrowths, sway from tall trees and profit by their larger outlook—plagiarists and sycophants at very heart—to steal almost indiscriminately from the thousand forms outspread below. Again quitting their highest points of observation, charmed by the varied shapes which grow beneath, clinging and swinging down- ward, these marauders now steal the prettiest forms they spy. Polypodium spectrum outlines an oak leaf, Pteris de- cipiens miniatures theeaf of the rock maple, Polypodium tamariscum resembles the tamarind leaf, Vittaria elongata is indistinguishable from grass. Like the recognized imitation, or resemblance, on the part of certain birds, in- sects and many animals, of the leaves and trunks of the trees near which they dwell, these fern-counterfeiters often confuse the naturalist. The glass only detects fern- ship in many of the pretty parodists, revealing, on edge or surface of the leaves, their fine spores. Detection is often difficult (particularly in the case of Polypodium spectrum) except during the brief period of fruitage. Tethering the horses, the natives now begin to place between thin pieces of wood the ferns we find. All will be fastened firmly together while the specimens are still fresh, before we go down the mountain. To collect ferns is to search, to shout, to be hungry, to wallow, to climb into far, wild places, until certain shy lives are, asit were, pressed into the service of science, receiving in captivity Latin names. Polypodiums which, on the volcano, develop to fruitage in a few days, but are stunted, in the hot lava cracks, to a height of three or four inches, here exhibit long and graceful fronds. We find Polypodium pellucidum, P. pseudogrammaticus, and P. hymenophylloides, natives only at these islands. Pteris decora and Naratia Doug- lassi grow here only. The “Fanny fern” appears to be a hymenophyllum.* These, with many others, are found. An Asplenium enatum supports numerous young plants of its own variety which have enrooted themselves on the stems and leaves of the parent fern. Wandering along the edge of the pali we see, on the low trees, charming pink shells. There are many vari- eties of these land-shells in the forests of the tropics, and a collection has been made and catalogued from Oahu Maui and Hawaii. i The precipice drops, not very abruptly, about four hun- dred feet. Half way down, a great tree has fallen. Some- what piteous and helpless the tree appears, devoured and ornamented by orchids, selaginellas, lycopodiums and pendant mosses, while every notch and gnarled limb sup- ports parasitic ferns; among them are seen Trichomanes parvulum and the microscopically small Hymenophyllum lanceolatum, a pulpy mass with delicate projecting leaf- lets. A giant pulu, the tree fern (Cibotium Chamissoi from which the natives gather the silky material with which they fill their beds),—this vigorous growth has forced up- ward an immense mass of earth upon which nestles the birdsnest fern (Asplenium nidus avis, throwing its vast leaves about as if to invite auks or pheenix to establish a nest here in Pele’s service. It is now that Lizard wishes he could discover the secret cave of Umi,a great warrior said to be buried beneath this pali. We look upward, seeking the little white rag which has been tied upon one of the horses for a beacon. A deluge of rain is pouring upon it from Pele’s terrible forehead, signal for scramble, remounting and retreat. Thus we saw her fair garden when the goddess was not at home; her soft cloud swept in and Pele’s paliis but a memory, so intangible I could believe it a dream, were it not for my album. *To Prof. Daniel C. Eaton, who kindly arranged my collections, Iam in- debted for the classification of these ferns. 290 MY NEW PRINCIPLES OF THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE HUMAN RACE. BY G. SERGI, ROME, ITALY. Tue chief principle consists in discovering many varieties in man, as in animal species. These varieties have internal and external characters: the former are persistent and fixed by heredity, and in man are durable for many cen- turies—according to my own observations, more than a thousand years. The external characters are liable to be changed by crossing the varieties. These char- acters, now, are very much mingled in various ways, so that it is not easy to distinguish one from another. These mingled characters are constant causes of mistakes in the classification of human beings. The internal characters of the human varieties are in the bony frame, especially in the skull; the externals are the color of the skin and of the hair and eyes. Until the human classification is made by external characters (Linneus, Cuvier, ete.), we cannot have one upon a natural basis. Very little experience of the various races of man, as now classified, shows that these are an intermixture of various ethnic elements, with the same or various colors of skin, hair and eyes. Elsewhere we find various colors of skin with the same internal characters of the skeleton. The skull chiefly furnishes the characters of classifica- tion; it shows the external shape of the brain, the most important and the highest organ of man; the skull is the means of the classification of the brain. Now, I have discovered in the human skulls various forms or types which are persistent by heredity; these forms, which we find in many individuals, are varieties of my primitive ideal form of skull inhuman beings. Again, Ihave discovered that the varieties comprehend sub- varieties by means of some new characters which modify the variety, or are superadded to the characters of the variety. Therefore, I consider the shape of the skull as a natural basis of the classification of the varieties of man, because the varieties have a dependence upon a biological fact, viz., the natural formation by variations, as in animal species. The various forms of the human skull have their origin from a series of anatomical facts: (1) From the various de- velopment of the bones of the human skull. (2) From the different curves of the bones, and from the different direc- tions of these curves. (3) From the capacity of the skull. It is true that anthropologists have often spoken of type of skull, but they have not defined this type; we can show it by the works of the German anthropologists, especially of Von Holder, Ecker, Virchow, and others, of the French and Swiss anthropologists, as His and Riitimeyer, De Quatrefages and others. The Italian anthropologist, Mantegazza, has proposed a Linnean description of human skulls. But all the anthropologists believe they can determine the form of the skulls by the measurements and the cor- related indices. This method of measurement, which Retzins introduced in anthropology, was suggested by himself and by sub- sequent scholars. Retzins classified the human races by means of the cephalic index, which is one character of the skull; he changed his classification four times in a few years, because his method was uncertain. In my opinion, the method of measurements adopted for this classification is no method. The measures only discover some secondary characters of the skull; I have proved that, uuder the same cephalic index, we have many different forms of skulls, and under various cephalic indices we have the same shape of the skull. Besides, the skulls SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 564 of all people of the world are dolicho, meoo, and brachy- cephalic. I think that Blumenbach laid the true basis of anthropology in his little book, De generis humani varietate nativa, a century ago. He found that the human varieties are numberless, and investigated very accurately the causes of the variations in man, asin animals. But sub- sequent anthropologists have left off the Blumenbach principles, which should have been the basis of systematic anthropology and of classification. Now, my object is to establish the basis of s)stematic anthropology on the shape of the skulls, without regard to measurements. For this purpose it is necessary to find a nomenclature of those forms which correspond to the varieties and sub-yarieties,as we have done in zodlogy. The nomenclature is intended to distinguish one form from another, and to fix definitively the forms of the differ- ent varieties. Further, the nomenclature applies to the geographical distribution of the varieties and serves to analyze the various ethnic elements which compose the peoples of the world. Thus we can follow the course of human emigration and of mixture in various times. I have attempted, in many sketches, to show practically the results of my principles and of my new method of classi- fication of varieties. Thesesketches are the following: African and Armenian skulls: General considerations on anthropology and craniology. (Archivio per lAntro- pologio, 1891). The human varieties in Melanesia (Acad- emia de Medicina de Parma, 1892). The human varieties in Sicily (Acad. dei Lincei, Roma, 1892). The human varieties in Sicily. (Acad dei Lindei, Roma, 1892). The hu- man varieties in Lower Russia (Anali de Medicina 1892). The primitive inhabitants of the Mediterranean Sea (not yet published). The microcephalic varieties and pygmies of Europe (Acad. di Medicina di Roma, 1893). Catalogue of the varieties of man in Russia. Systematic classification of the primitive inhabitants of Huropean Russia. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. »*,Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. writer’s name is in all cases required as a proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number con- taining his communication will be furnished free to any corres- pondent. The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. : The THE MECHANICS OF FLIGHT. Ar the recent Aérial Navigation Congress in Chicago a paper was read on this subject which was published in Engineering News for Oct. 12. The paper has causcd a great deal of discussion, which has appeared in the same journal for Oct. 26 and Noy. 16. I think it will be of in- terest to readers of Science, who may not have access to this paper, to give a few points in these novel views and to show how valueless they are in explaining the perplex- ing problem of the soaring bird. The author has made a careful study of the flight of buzzards in tropical regions, and assumes, as a premise, that because he has not seen the bird move its wings, or any portion of them, therefore it must gain some assist- ance from air currents. it seems to me this is a violent assumption at the outset; surely our eyes at a distance cannot give us movements of wings which might be ample to keep the bird at a level, or it may be that the bird does not continue absolutely at the same level, though appear- ing to the eye to do so. At all events, this premise should not be granted, and should be proved by evidence far better than any thus far adduced. The author thinks that the bird in flying with a cur- rent and down an inclined plain will gain energy fromthe current over and above that due to the descent, and this ‘November 24, 1893.] gain will enable the bird to turn and mount to a much higher plane than it formerly occupied. On the face of it [ think this must strike every reader as extremely im- probable and almost nonsensical. The opinion is strength- ened as we continue on in the original discussion. Sup- pose a bird to be soaring at a speed of twenty miles per hour in a current which is itself moving at the same rate. It is very evident that this velocity must have been at- tained by the bird with almost no assistance from the air current, for the resistance of the air against the soaring bird it practically nothing. It is also evident that, if the bird continues soaring in this current, it must lose the velocity it had attained, and very quickly fall if not as- sisted in some way. If it descends in an inclined plane, its velocity, so far as the current of air goes, will not be changed in the least, for two reasons. Tirst, it has the same velocity as the air current at starting on its down- ward path, and hence the air current could not accel- erate it any more than if it had continued soaring in a horizontal plane. Second, as just suggested, the resist- ance of the air is practically nothing, so that the current will have no effect. The assumption that there is some occult assistance given to the bird, because it is going down an inclined plane instead of horizontally, will not be regarded as of any value by any one at all familiar with the simplest principles of mechanics. But this is not all: an attempt is made to prove this occult assistance from a concrete example. The author takes a ship moving at twenty miles per hour and places upon it an inclined plane, whose vertical height is 13.38 feet, which is the distance through which an object must fall to attain a velocity of twenty miles per hour. Now, if a ball should be allowed to roll down this inclined plane, it would attain, so it is assumed, a velocity of forty miles per hour with respect to the water outside of the ship neglecting friction on the plane. This velocity of forty miles per hour is made up, as the author states, of the twenty miles per hour due to the motion of the ship or the initial velocity, and twenty miles per hour ad- ditional due to the acceleration from the fall of 13.38 feet in the descent of the ball on the inclined plane. It is perfectly plain that there is no occult effect coming in so far from the motion of the ship. The author shows that with a velocity of forty miles per hour, if the ball should roll upon an inclined plane fixed off the ship, it would rise toa point more than twenty-six feet higher than the starting point. This conclusion is quite startling, and shows a most serious fallacy in the reasoning. If the ball had rolled up an inclined plane fixed to the ship, it would have risen to exactly the same height as at starting, as was clearly shown by Prof. J. P. Church. That the ball would not rise to any such height will be clearly seen by considering what would happen if it rolled from its first position upon an inclined plane fixed upon the water. In this case it would rise exactly 13.38 feet, and its motion would cease altogether. The vicious reasoning is brought out very clearly even in the original paper, for the author considers what would happen if the ball fell vertically instead of rolling down the inclined plane. In this case the twenty miles per hour initial velocity he considers as equivalent to a fall of 13.38 feet, and as the inclined plane is 13.38 feet high, the total fall would be equivalent to 26.76 feet, and he shows that with this fall the velocity attained would be 28.28 miles per hour. That is to say, a ball rolling down an inclined plane, where it must meet with a slight resistance, will attain an accelerated velocity of twenty miles per hour due to the fall of 13.88 feet; but, when the same ball falls vertically in free air, and where it meets with no resistance, its acceleration is only 8.28 miles per hour. I am sure nothing farther is needed to show the utter fallacy of all this reasoning. H, A. Hazen, Nov, 2% SCIENCE. 291 PORTRAITS OF HELMHOLTZ. I rink it will be of interest to the many admirers of the distinguished physicist, Von Helmholtz, to know that on his recent visit to this country he was induced to sit for a photograph in the gallery of the well-known artist, Mr. Brady, of Washington. Some most excellent pictures were obtained, copies of which may be obtained by addressing Mr. M. B. Brady, photographer, Washington, D. C. The prices are: For the largest size, 9x14, $2.00; intermediate, 8x10, $1.00; cabinet, 25 cents. The cabinet size and the others (unmounted) will be sent by mail. The larger sizes (mounted) must be sent by express, at the expense of the purchaser—usually 25 to 35 cents. T. C. MENDENHALL. Washington, D. C., Nov. 7. SONGS OF BIRDS. Hap I not expected that we should have more satisfac- tory answers to the query as to whether the voices of birds expressed emotion or not, I should have ventured a word betore now. I think any student or observer of birds, who has care- fully noted them with his heart in the study, will agree with me when I say that if there is such a thing as ex- pression of emotion in voice, then bird voices most clearly express it. The mere fact that a bird soon forgot his loss and grief, and sang in the natural bouyancy of his spirits, or that another, lame and confined, was yet happy, and expressed his happiness in his song, certainly does not prove lack of emotional expression in the voices of birds. The untrained ear may fail to detect the difference in the joyful and sorrowful notes of some birds, but surely the ear must be indifferent, indeed, that does not detect plain expression of sentiment or of joy in the happy song, or of sorrow in the disturbed wail of any of the common birds about our doors. The gift of voice was unquestionably intended as a means of expression to all creatures thus endowed, and wherever our powers of comprehension enable us to hear and understand them aright, we cannot fail to detect expression in them. ‘This may seem a trivial matter to bring up at this time, but it seems hardly fair that we should pass over the mat- ter without giving to birds and all other creatures their just dues. B. S. Bowptsx. Phelps, N. Y., Nov. 1, 1893. DICTIONARY OF SCIENTIFIC NAMES. THROUGH your query column, permit me to ask if there has ever been published a pronouncing dictionary of scientific names in use in the study of natural science for the benefit of the young student who does not care to delve too deeply into the study of Latin, and if not, why would not such a publication be a welcome addition to our library ? B. S. Bowopisz. Phelps, N. Y., Nov. 9, 1893. ORIGIN OF THE CARVINGS AND DESIGNS OF THE ALASKANS AND VANCOUVRE INDIANS. A rew years ago I crossed the ocean on a slow steamer in company with a returning missionary, who had spent fourteen years among the Vancouvre Indians. He had with him a large collection of carved imple- ments and fae simile drawings of the quaint figures on their boats and other objects. His opinion was that they were Japanese in design; that at some time some people from that country had been blown across the Pacific, and left there traces of their arts, which were perpetuated. He thought there were some traditions among the Indians that pointed that way also. In looking over the collections at the Exposition this 292 summer it occurred to me to verify his conclusions. In the Anthropological Building was a large collec- tion of ‘‘totem poles,” carved implements, and drawn figures from Alaska, also from California, Mexico, Cen- tral America, and Peru, as well as from other parts of the Americas. In many places Japan was largely represented. There is a most striking difference between the arts of the western coast and the interior of America. They have something of the grotesqueness of Japan, but not much other likeness. They are akin to those of ancient Mexico, and would indicate that the arts and the people of the western coast were of like origin; that the “totems” and other figures of Alaska and Vancouvre are survivals of the arts of Central America and ancient Mexico. P. J. FaRNSwoRTH. Clinton, Iowa, Nov. 12, 1893. ON THE SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF THE DIPTERA. As a student of diptera, I have been interested in the recent letters by Professors Packard, Smith and Riley in Science, on the systematic position of this order of insects, and wish to express my entire concurrence in the views presented by these gentlemen. That the diptera, or some of them, are the most specialized of insects—that they depart most from the primitive type of insects—seems to be almost without argument; but that they therefore hold the highest position among insects by no means follows. Even the advocates of the supreme rank of the order have never ventured to carry their conclusions to the logical ultimatum, and give to the sheep-tick, or, better yet, the wingless, eyeless bat-tick, the highest rank. That the bat-tick is the most specialized among diptera admits of no question; that it is one of the most degraded of flies is equally certain. The whale and the bat are more highly specialized animals than is the dog; but, nevertheless, they have a very inferior rank. T have collected flies for years, and have necessarily observed their habits somewhat closely, but I have never SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 564 seen anything in them that might be called intelligence. Man’s claims to preéminence in the animal kingdom rest almost wholly upon his intelligence: for the same reason, preéminence among insects must be conceded to the hymenoptera. S. W. Wixuisron. BOOK-REVIEWS. Lecons de Chimie, a’lusage des Eleves de Mathematiques spe- ciales.Par Henri Gautier, Et GrorcEs Cuarry. Paris, Gau- thier-Villars et fils, Quai des Grands-Augustins 55 A471p., Tll., 1892, 9Fr. We take pleasure in announcing to students of chem- istry in this country the above able work of MM. Gautier and Charpy, which while designed, according to its title, particularly for students of mathematics is of highest in- terest to all chemists. The title is misleading to Ameri- can readers as the book is in no sense a volume of diffi- cult and complex mathematical theories as one might sup- pose but an extraordinarily clear exposition of the ground work or base of chemical science, mathematical in its ex- act and succinct statements. Itis not wished to imply that chemists should avoid mathematical because they are such even though they may deal with chemical theory, but it is nevertheless a fact that the mathematical training in many of our colleges (we speak of special courses in chemistry) has been pushed to the wall. ‘lhere is a rea- son for this, 2 doubttul one however, in the shortness of the collegiate course which necessarily prevents more than an introductory knowledge of chemistry even when this subject is taken alone. The main difficulty rests in the confusion of college and university and in the effort to complete one’s education in the four years following the “high school” graduation. The authors aim to present the subject to students, not asa mass of facts and recipes, but as a science which while it may be as yet more or less imperfect is already far advanced in definite form. This is particularly the purpose of the first part of the book, which deals SOFTLY STEALS THE LIGHT OF DAY wher filtered through windows covered with CRYSTOGRAPHS, a substitute for Stained Glass that is inexpensive, beautiful, and easily applied. 1SO™ patie boos Bs 5 aS ie) GURES WHERE ALL ELSE FAILS. 4 Best Cough Syrup. Tastes Good. Use Van) : in time. Sold by druggists. NEON SUMP TION: . Every reader of “Science” should sub- | scribe for the _ AMERICAN ARCHITECT, THE OLDEST AND BEST Architectural publication in the country. {©} 200. per square foot, Samples and catalogue, 10s, CRYSTOGRAPH CO., 816 North Broag St., Philadelphia. THE PSYCHIC FACTORS OF CIVILIZATION By Lester F. Warp. AUTHOR OF ‘‘DYNAMIC SOCIOLOGY.” S8vo. Cloth. xxi 369 pages. By mail, K G2 CHICAGO: Interesting articles on architecture, Sani- tation, Archzology, Decoration, ete., by the ablest writers. Richly illustrated. Issued weekly. Send stamp for specimen copy to the publishers, ® Ticknor & Co., 211 dremoat St, Beston, THE AMERICAN RACE, = By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. 7.189 LA.SALLE postpaid, $2.00. THIS work is an original contribution to both psychology and sociology, and is, in fact, a combi- nation of these two departments of science. It is the first attempt that has been made to show in a systematic and fundamental way the workings ot mind in social phenomena. It has hitherto been customary with those who recognize the operations of law in human affairs to compare them with those taking place under the dominion of vital forces. Sociology has been made a department of biology Society has been treated asa living organism, anu BUILDING BOOKS. DRAWING INSTRUMENTS. “The book is one of unusual interest and value." Inter Ocean. “‘ Dr. Daniel G. Brinton writes as the acknowledged authority of the subject.”—Philadelphia Press. “The work will be of genuine value to all who wish to know the substance of what has been found out about the indigenous Americans.”’—Nature. ““A4 masterly discussion, and an example of the successful education of the powers of observation.” —Philadelphia Ledger. 1893 Catalogue of Books on Building, Painting, and Decorating, also Catalogue of Draw- ing Instruments and Ma. terials, sent free on appli- cation to Wm, T. Comstock, 23 Warren St., New York. the laws of production, distribution, and consump- tion have been likened to the processes of nutrition, circulation, and assimilation. Political economy has thus gained the name of ‘‘the dismal science”’ be- cause it has been treated as mindless and soulless. Over against this purely physiological economy we now have fully set forth in this book a psychologi- cal economy, a philosophy of mind as the primary Containing the works level of animal life. N. D.C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, New York, TEN BOOKS FOR PRICE OF ONE SEND FOR A CATALOGUE OF THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY OF SCIENCE. A . ‘ writers of the age.—The Great Classics of Modern motivelpower/ot ‘the world’ in/all things/above|the MEGiehte-Strone meat for them that are of fullage. Single numbers rs cents. Double numbers 30 cents. Address :—THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING Co., 1g Astor Place, New York. Price, postpaid, $2. of the foremost scientific N. D. C. HODGES, $74 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. November 24, 1893. | with generalities and seeks to separate facts from principles acquired by hypothetical speculations as well as to define precisely the meaning of termsemployed. A methodical and rapid presentment is made of the laws of combination, of chemical equivalence, the atomic theory, of crystallographic laws, and of thermo-chemistry. It is shown that the atomic theory, a beautiful structure in it- self, might still be done away with without in any degree undermining the laws of chemical equivalents. Great pains have been taken with the second part of the book, which deals with the metalloids as is evidenced in the ex- actness of the facts recorded. Original memoirs have in each case been consulted and when there has been doubt or contradiction the authors have verified their decision by actual experiment. So also with those portions treating of industrial chemical processes, modern and practical usage have alone been given passing over former pro- cesses in a few words as of historic interest only. Thisis a relief from the custom of many authors who through lamentable ignorance deceive the student with descrip- tions of processes as impossible as they are false. In short the features of the work are, an eminently success- ful departure from accepted notions of chemica] text- books, a suppression of old and hoary errors which have des- cended through these same text-books from our ancestors to the preseut day, new methods of treatment and new illustrations. Some of the French scientific periodicals have predicted for the “Lecons de Chimie” “a place among the classics which will be as lasting as itis well merited” and such praise we feel confident will be ac- corded by all who peruse the work. Cuarirs Prarr. SCIENCE. 293 NOTES AND NEWS. Accorpine to the State Board of Health of Michigan, the statistics of sickness have demonstrated the law that generally influenza (la grippe) is quantitatively related to the atmospheric ozone—the more ozone the more influenza; and the law that remittent fever is inversely related—the more ozone the less remittent fever. The unusual amount of ozone, the increase of influenza and the falling off of remittent fever shown in the State Board of Health Bul- letin for the week ending November 18 illustrate these general laws. —Bulletin No. 48 of the National Museum contains the collected writings upon Myriapods by the late Chas. H. Bollman. The volume is edited by Dr. Underwood, who also contributes an excellent list of the literature of the N. A. species. The writings of Mr. Bollman are given in their order as published in Entomologica Americana, Proc. of United States National Museum, and other publications, and include also many articles which were ready for the printer at the time of Mr. Bollman’s death. These latter will be especially valuable to the student of N. A. Myria- pods, as they include articles upon the “Classification of the Myriapoda” and a catalogue of the N. A. species. My. Bollman described sixty-five species new to N. A., nearly all of which will stand, and when we consider that he was not yet twenty-one years of age at the time of his death we can but regret that he was not spared for further work. The volume just published by the Museum is by far the best work on N. A. Myriapods that has appeared since Wood’s paper in 1865. Address N. York ] EXCHANGES. [Free of charge to all, if of satisfactory character. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New Wants. A GEOLOGIST thoroughly conversant with the geology ot the Southern States desires an en- twenty-five times. hidigestion Horsford’s Acid Phosphate Box 16s, Phelps, N. Y. For Sale.—A very fine telescope, length ex tended, twenty-five inches, closed, seven inches. Good as new. Will sell for the best cash offer. For Sale or Exchange for last editions of Standard Works on Vegetable Anatomy gagement. Has complete knowledge of the eco- nomic geology of Iron, Coal, Lignite, as well as Clay and Kaolin. Five years’ experience with Geological Surveys. Address K., 509 West Sixth Street, Austin, Texas. Power Cost $25.00. B. S. Bowdish, ANTED.—Tuckerman’s Geneva Lichenum and _ Carpenter on the Microscope, Wiley’s In- troduction to the Study of Lichens. State price or Phy siology:|and other particulars. Richard Lees, Brampton, Is the most effective and agreeable remedy in existence for preventing indigestion, and relieving those dis- eases arising from a disordered stomach. Dr. W. W. Gardner, Spring- field, Mass., says, ‘‘I value it as an excel- lent preventative of indigestion, and a pleasant acidulated drink when proper- ly diluted with water, and sweetened.” Descriptive pamphlet free on application to RUMFORD CHEMICAL WoRKS, PROVIDENCE, R. I. Beware of Subs/itutes and Imitations. For sale by all Druggists. Practical Zoology, Marshall & Hurst; Elements of Embryology, Foster & Balfour; Zoology, Macalis- ter; Guide to the Study of Insects, Packard; Gevlog- ical Studies and Shall We Teach Geology, Winchell. Also have duplicates of Experiment Station pub- lications which would like to exchange for any net in my file. L. R. Jones, Burlington, Vt. For exchange.—Skins of Aegialites nivosa, Ereu- netes occidentalis, Aunnodramus Arldingi. A. rostratus, Chamara tasciata henshawi, etc., for native or foreign skins with full data. Send lists. A. W. Anthony, 2042 Albatross st., San Diego, Cali- fornia, I have a Beck New National monocular microscope, accessories, microtome, mounting material an large number of fine slides. Will exchange the whole or in part for a first class type-writer or photograph outfit. A.C. Gruhlke, Waterloo, Ind. Offered sidebloom eggs of Bulimus oblongus and exotic land and freshwater shells in exchange for Helices not in collection. Send lists to G. K. Gude, Gresbach Road, upper Holloway, London, Eng- and. Would like to exchange 100 specimens of Canadian Indian Relics for a photo outfit. E. J. Waters, 33 Hoffman St., Auburn, N. Y. Ont. WANTZTED.— Icones Muscorum by W. D. Sulli- vant, with or without Supplement, but both preferred. Address, stating price and condition of books, Dr. G. N. Best, Rosemont, N. J. WANTED.—A copy of Mascart & Joubert’s Les- sons in Electricity and Magnetism, Vol. I. Ad- dress R. W. Clawson, Vanderbilt University, Nash- ville, Tennessee. HEMIST.—Graduate of a polytechnical school, and studied photographic chemistry in Ger- many and Austria. Situation teaching or in ana- lytical or See ONE laboratory. M.B. Punnett, Rochester, ive ANTED,—A recent college graduate to assist in editorial work on Science. Those seeking large emoluments need not apply. N. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New Y ork. 294 SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 564 SOME OF THE NEW BOOKS AT LOW PRICES. Famous VOYAGERS AND EXPLORERS.—$1.50. Mrs. Bouron has added to her Famous series of books another and an unusually interesting volume, ‘‘Famous Voyagers and Explorers.” It is hardly comprehensive, as it gives the biographies of only a few typical ex- plorers—Marco Polo, Columbus, Magellan, Raleigh, and the more prominent of our modern American ex- plorers. Doubtless such names as the Cabots, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, De Soto, Cartier, Nansen and others are reserved for a second volume. Mrs. Bolton has a gift for this sort of writing, and she has here brought together a large amount of deeply interesting matter which otherwise could only be obtained by read- ing through a dozen or more separate volumes. The book is illustrated with several portraits.— Boston Trans- cript. Our GREAT WEST.—$2.50. Tue contents of the volume appeared serially in Harper’s Magazine and Harper’s Weekly, in which periedi- cals they attracted wide attention and favorable com- ment. Their importance fully justified their republica- tion in a more permanent form. The book affords a more minute insight into the present condition of the West than can be found elsewhere. What it tells is the result of personal experience, fortified by information obtained from the best-informed and most reliable men in the localities under discussion, and set forth with admirable clearness and impartiality. It is a work to be read and pondered by those interested in the growth of the nation westward, and is of permanent standard value.—Boston Gazette. STATESMEN.— $2.00. In the preparation of this work Noah Brooks has aimed to present a series of character sketches of the eminent persons selected for portraiture. The object is to place before the present generation of Americans salient points in the careers of public men whose at- tainments in statesmanship were the result of - their own individual exertions and force of character rather than of fortunate circumstances. Therefore these brief studies are not biographies. Mr. Brooks had the good fortune of personal acquaintance with most of the statesmen of the latter part of the period illustrated by his pen, and he considers it an advantage to his readers that they may thus receive from him some of the im- pressions which these conspicuous personages made upon the mental vision of those who heard and saw them while they were living examples of nobility of aim and success of achievement in American states- manship. MEN OF BUSINESS.—$2.00. W. O. Sropparp, who has just written a book pub- lished by the Scribners, on ‘‘Men of Business,” tells how the late Senator Stanford chopped his way to the law. ‘‘He had grown tall and strong,” says Mr. Stod- dard, ‘‘and was a capital hand in a hay-field, behind a plough, or with an axe in the timber; but how could this help him into his chosen profession? Nevertheless, it was a feat of wood-chopping which raised him to the bar. When he was eighteen years of age his father purchased a tract of woodland; wished to clear it, but had not the means to do so. At the same time he was anxious to give his son alift. He told Leland, there- fore, that he could have all he could make from the timber, if he would leave the land clear of trees. Leland took the offer, for a new market had latterly been created for cord-wood. He had saved money enough to hire other choppers to help him, and he chopped for the law and his future career. Over 2,000 cords of wood were cut and sold to the Mohawk and Hudson River Railroad, and the net profit to the young contractor was $2,600. It had been earned by severe toil, in cold and heat, and it stood for something more than dollars.—Brooklyn Times. ORTHOMETRY.—$2.00. In “‘Orthometry”,Mr. R. F. Brewer has attempted a fuller treatment of the art of versification than is to be found in the popular treatises on that subject. While the preface shows a tendency to encourage verse-mak- ing, as unnecessary as it ts undesirable, the work may be regarded as useful so far as it tends to cultivate an intelligent taste for good poetry. The rhyming diction- ary at the end is anew feature, which will undoubtedly commend itself to those having a use for such aids. A specially interesting chapter is that on ‘‘Poetic Trifles,” in which are included the various imitations of foreign verse in English. The discussion of the sonnet, too, though failing to bring out fully the spiritual nature of this dificult verse form, is more accurate than might be expected from the following sentence: ‘‘The form of the sonnet is of Italian origin, and came into use in the fifteenth [sic] century, towards the end of which its construction was perfected, and its utmost melodious sweetness attained in the verse of Petrarch and Dante.” In the chapter on Alliteration there are several mislead- ing statements, such as calling ‘‘Piers the Plowman” an ‘“‘Old English” poem: In the bibliography one is surprised not to find Mr. F. B. Gummere’s admirable “Handbook of Poetics,” now in its third edition. In spite of these and other shortcomings, which can be readily corrected in a later issue, this work may be recommended as a satisfactory treatment of the mechanics of verse. A careful reading will improve the critical faculties.— The Dial. Any of the above books will be sent prepaid on receipt of the publisher’s price, less ten per cent. N. DD: GC; HODGES: The same discount will be allowed on any new book, not a text-book. 874 Broadway, New York, ELEVENTH YEAR. Vou. XXII. No. 56s. DECEMBER 1, 1893. SINGLE Coprtigs, TEN CENTS. $3.50 PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE. CONTENTS. Review of the Birth of the Great Lakes and Their Deserted Shores..... pdasuooseodoousntios 205 Texas Claysand Their Origin. W. Kennedy. 297 Karyokinesis in Embryos of the Domestic Cat. —Preliminary Notice. FrankS. Aby........ The Pterylography of the Pileated Woodpecker Enuibentuaymani Clanimnrentneceerb ester Secret Language of Children. Parasitism of Molothrus Ater. 300 TTS ES NER Letters to the Editor. An Intelligent Squirrel. Ray Greene Hul- thi ant Gon cudponeosdadohbaSnoduoniaacursnbatnd.« ea Naiant TESTES LAS SATE AA SA SA SA IA IA IA 34 SA IA Scientific Instruments OF STANDARD QUALITY: Physical, Electrical, Chemical, Optical, Microscopical, En- gineering, Mathematical, Photographic and Projection Ap- paratus and Supplies. of College and High School laboratories. ted upon request. Correspondence solicited. Write for abridged General Catalogue No. arog. QUEEN & CO.,, Incorporated, MM MMS IA MImé» teers Leet Peete ae . Sut ve WEIS TAS Tate Special care devoted to the equipment Estimates submit- TEN DE A Philadelphia, U. S. A. ; ees : ER Eight Awards granted us at the World's Fair. is Movieivlivi wanna FiMisiha Rx SEN a babs Pesta deren biter een eter Bra breebr Te beeen et yt bias bese aeat ee b eee St. Louis Limestone in Poweshiek County, Iowa. Arthur J. Jones MINERALS. idary Work. New Store. New Stock. GEO. L. ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists, A monthly magazine for the study of the German language and litera- GERMAN New Departments, f | Send for our ‘‘ Winter Bulletin,” recently issued. | ture, is highly recommended by college professors Minerals, Gems, Microscopical Sections, Fine Lap- and the press as “‘the best effort yet made to assist | the student of German, and to interest him in his pursuit.” Its BEGINNERS’ CoRNER furnishes every year a complete and interesting course in German rammar. $2ayear. Single copies 20 cents. P. O. ox 151, Manchester, N. H. Removed to 64 East 12th Street, New York —<— NEW METHOD OF PROTECTING BUILDINGS FROM LIGHTHING. SPARE THE ROD AND SPOIL THE HOUSE! Lightning Destroys. Shalt it be Your House or a Pound of Copper? PROTECTION FROM LIGHTNING. What is the Problem? In seeking a means of protection from ligntning-discharges, we have in view two objects,— the one the prevention of damage to buildings, and the other the prevention of injury to life. In order to destroy a building in whole or in part, It is necessary that work should be done; that is, as physicists express it, energy is required. Just beforo the lightning-discharge takes place, the energy capable of doing the damage which we seek to prevent exists in the column of air extending from the cloud to the earth in some form that makes it capable of appearing as what we call electricity. We will therefore call it electrical energy. What this electrical energy is, it is not necessary for us to consider in this place; but thatit exists there can be no doubt, as it manifests itself In the destruction of buildings. The problem that we have to deal with, therefore, is the conversion of this energy into some other form, and the ac- complishment of this in such a way as shall result in the least injury to prop- erty and life. 5 Why Have the Old Rods Failed? 4 When lightning-rods were first proposed, the science of energetics was en- tirely undeveloped; that is to say, in the middle of the last century scientific men had not come to recognize the fact that the different forms of energy — heat, electricity, mechanical power, etc.— were convertible one into the other, and that each could produce just so much of each of the other forms, and no more. The doctrine of the conservation and correlation of energy was first clearly worked out in the early part of this century. There were, however, some facts known in regard to electricity a hundred and forty years ago; and among these were the attracting power of points for an electric spark, and the conducting power of metals. Lightning-rods were therefore introduced with the idea that the electricity existing in the lightning-discharge could be con- veyed around the building which it was proposed to protect, and that the building would thus be saved. The question as to dissipation of the energy Involved was entirely }gnored, naturally; and from that time to this, in spite of the best endeavors of those interested, lightning-rods constructed in accordance with Franklin’s principle have not furnished satisfactory protection. The reason for this is apparent when it is considered that the olectrical energy existing in the atmosphere before the discharge, or, more exactly, in the column of dielectric from the cloud to the earth, above referred to, reaches its maximum value on the sur- face of the conductors that chance to be within the column of dielectric; so that the greatest display of energy will be on thesurface of the very llghtning- rods that were meant to protect, and damage results, as so often proves to be the case. It will be understood, of course, that this display of energy on the surface of the old lightning-rods {s aided by their belug more or fess Insulated from the earth, but in any event the very existence of sucha a mass of metal as an old lightning-rod can only tend to produce a disastrous dissipation of olectrical energy upon its surface,— ‘‘ to draw the lightning,” as It is so commonly put. Is there a Better Means cf Protection? Having cleared our minds, therefore, of any idea of conducting electricity, and keeping clearly in view the fact that in providing protection against light- ning we must furnish some means by which the electrical evergy may be harmlessly dissipated, the question arises, ‘‘Can an improved form be given tothe rod sothatitshalle. ‘n this dissipation? ” 4 “ As the electrical energy involved manifests itself on the surface of conduc tors, the improved rod should be metallic; but, instead of making a large rod, suppose that we make it comparatively small in size, so that the total amount of metal running from the top of the house tosome point a little below the foundations shall not exceed one pound. Suppose, again, that we introduce humerous insulating joints in this rod. We shall then have a rod that experi- ence shows will be readily destroyed —will be readily dissipated —when a discharge takes place; and it wlll be evident, that, so far as the electrical en- ergy is consumed in doing this, there will be the less to do other damage, Tho only point that remains to be proved as to the utility of such a rod 1s to show that the dissipation of such a conductor does not tend to injure other bodies in its immediate vicinity. On this point I can only say that I have found no case where such a conductor (for instance, a bell wire) has been dis- sipated, even if resting against a plastered wall, where there has been any material damage done to surrounding objects. Of course, it is readily understood that such an explosion cannot take place in a confined space without the rupture of the walls (the wire cannot be boarded over); butin every case that I have found recorded this dissipation takes place just as gunpowder burns when spread onaboard. The objects against which the conductor rests may be stained, but they are not shattered, I would therefore make clear this distinction between the action of electri- cal energy when dissipated on the surface of a large conductor and when dis- sipated on the surface of a comparatively small or easily dissipated conductor. When dissipated on the surface of a large conductor, — a conductor so strong as to resist the explosive effect, — damage results to objects around. When dissipated on thesurface of a small conductor, the conductor goes, but the other objects around are sayed A Typical Case of the Action of a Small Conductor. Franklin, ina letter to Collinson read before the London Royal Soclety, Dec. 18, 1755, describing the partial destruction by lightning of a church-tower at Newbury, Mass., wrote, ‘‘ Near the bell was fixed an iron hammer to strike the hours; and from the tail of the hammer a wire went down through a small gimlet-hole in the floor that the bell stood upon, and through a second floor in like manner; then horizontally under and near the plastered ceiling of that second floor, till it came near a plastered wall; then down by the side ot that wall to aclock, which stood about twenty feet below the bell. The wire was not bigger thanacommon knitting needle. The spire was split all to plecex by the lightning, and the parts flung in all directions over the square in whik the church stood, so that nothing remained above the bell. ‘The lightring passed between the hammer and the clock in the above-mentioned wire, without hurting either of the floors, or having any effect upon them (except making the gimlet-holes, through which the wire passed, alittle bigger), and without hurting the plastered wall, or any part of the building, so far as the aforesaid wire and the pendulum-wire of the clock extended; which latter wire was about the thickness of a goose-qu'll. From the end of the pendu-- lum, down quite to the ground, the builiing was exceedingly reut and dam- aged... . No part of the aforementioned long, small wire, between the clock and the hammer, could be 7ound, except about two inches that hung to the tatleftae hammer, and about as much that was fastened to the clock; the rest being exploded, and its particles dissipated in smoke and alr, as gun- powder is by common fire, and had only left a black smutty track on the plas- tering, three or four inches broad, darkest in the middle, and fainter towards the edges, 8U along the celllug, under which it passed, and down the wall.” Dne aundred feet of the Hodges Patent Lightning Dispeller (made under patents of N. D. C. Hodges, Editor of Science) will be mailed, postpald, to any addregs, on recelpt of five dollars ($5). Correspondence solicited. Agents waited. AMERICAN LIGHTNING PROTECTION Cco., &74 Broadway, New Yorl: Citv. SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 565 Probably you take THE Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity do. If you do not, now is a good time to begin. It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty | cents. Address: @ The Electrical Engineer, « 203 Broadway, - - - New York, N.Y, _ THE mencan Dell Teeplnne COMPANY. 125 MILK ST, BOSTON, MASS. This Company owns the Letters - Patent No. 186.787, granted to Alexander Graham Bell, January 80th, 1877, the scope of which has been defined by the Supreme Court of the United States in the following terms: ‘“The patent itself is for the mechanical structure of an electric telephone to be used to produce the electrical action on which the first patent rests. The third claim is for the use in such instruments of a diaphragm, made of a plate of ircn or steel, or other ma- terial capable of inductive action; the fifth. of a permanent magnet constructed as de scribed with a coil upon the end or ends nearest the plate; the sixth, of a sounding box as described; the seventh, of a speaking or hearing tube as described for conveying the sounds; and the eighth, of a permanent magnet and plate combined. The claim is not for these several things in and of them- selves, but for an electric telephone in the construction of which these things or any of them are used.’’ This Company also owns Letters-Patent No. 463,569, granted to Emile Berliner, No- vember 17, 1891, for a combined Telegraph and Telephone, and controls Letters-Patent No. 474,231, granted to Thomas A. Edison, May 8, 1892, for a Speaking Telegraph, which cover fundamental inventions and embrace all forms of microphone transmit- ters and of carbon telephones. BRENTANO’S, Publishers, Importers, Booksellers, Wea make a speciaity of technical works in ell branebes of science, and in ail languages. sobseriptions taken for all American and foreign selentifie periodicals 9 aris and London branches enable us to im- ortest notice and lowest prices. REPORTS ic SOCIETIES, MonoGRaPHs, GOVERNMENT ENT Al fron us. SEND FoR A SampLe Cory or Boos Csat. A Month- iy Index of the Periodical Literature of the World. $1 00 per year. BRENTANO'S, Union Square, New York, ‘7 mai Chicago Washingtcn, London, Paris. | and Peoples’ to both beginners and scholars. | recommend it as an introductory manual of ethnol- | RACES AND PEOPLES. By DANIEL G, BRINTON, M.D. “The book is good, thoroughly good, and will long | remain the best accessible elementary ethnography in our language.’—The Christian Union. ‘We strongly recommend Dr. Brinton’s ‘ Races We} are not aware of any other recent work on the} science of which it treats in the English language.” —Asiatic Quarterly. “His book is an excellent one, and we can heartily | to children that a medicine is “nice to take” —this trouble is not experi- enced in ad- ministering Scott's Emuis! of Cod Liver Oil. ogy.” —The Monist. “A useful and really interesting work, which de- serves to be widely read and studied both in Europe and America.”—Brighton (Eng.) Herald. “This volume is most stimulating. It is written with great clearness, so that anybody can under- stand, and while in some ways, perforce, superficial, grasps very well the complete field of humanity.”— The New York Times. “Dr, Brinton invests his scientific illustrations and measurements with an indescribable charm of nar- ration, so that ‘Races and Peoples,’ ayowedly 2 rec- ord of discovered facts, is in reality a strong stim- ulant to the imagination.”—Philadelphia Public Ledger. “The work is indispensable to the student who re- quires an intelligent guide to a course of ethno- graphic reading.”—Philadelphia Times. Ol It is almost as palatable as milk. No preparation so rapidly builds up good flesh, strength and nerve force. Mothers the world over rely upon it in all wasting diseases that children are heir to. Prepared bs Scott Bowne, Y. _All druggists. (ee EET Price, postpaid, Si.75. HANDY BOOKS. PRACTICAL ELECTRICS, a universal handy book no every day Electrical matters, fourth edition. 135pazes, r2vo, cloth, price 75 cents. ELECTRICAL TABLES AND MEMORANDA for Engineers, by Silvanus P. Thompson, 128 pages, Illustrated, 64 mo, roan, 50 cents. A SYSTEM OF EASY LETTERING by Howard Cromwell, 32 different styles, 50 cents. THE ORNAMENTAL Penman’s pocketbook of alphabets,37 different styles, 20cents. Books mailed post paid to any address on re- ceipt of publishp price. i! _ S ON & CHAMBERLAIN, Mention this paper. zz Cortlandt St., N. Y. “BUSY FOLKS’ GYMNASIUI1.” A few minutes’ daily exercise on our fascinating apparatus clears the brain, tones up the body, develops weak parts. Our cabinet contains chest- weights, rowing-weights, lifting-weights, clubs and dumb bells, adjust- able for old and young, Jf zs the only complete exercising outfit ia the world suitable for use in living rooms. All prices. You > can order on approval. Chest machine separate, $4.50 and up. Educated agents wanted, Puyst CAL CULTURE CHART, with illustrated directions for de- veloping every part of the body healthfully, 50 cts. Sent for half price to those naming this paper. - WHITNEY HOME GYMNASIUM CO., Bex D., Rochester, Wi. Y. Newspaper Clippings, 25,000im Stock, What do you want? Letusknow. We cam supply you. Fhe Ciemens News Ageney, Sox 2329. Sam Francisco, Cal. Shoulders and Upper Back good for Round Shoulders The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. A FIRST-CLASS WEEKLY MEDICAL NEWSPAPER. ESTABLISHED 1828, Werms of Subscription: In the United States, and to Canada and Mexico, $5 00 a yearin ad yance. To Foreign Countries embraced in the Universal Postal Union, $1.56 a year additional. Single numbers, 150. ‘‘en consecutive numbers free by mail on receipt of $1.00. This JOURNAL circulates chiefly through the New England States, and is seen by the great majority of the profession in that important district, As ameans of reaching physicians it is unequalled. It is under the editorial management of Dr. George B. Shattuck, assisted by a large staff of compe- tent coadjutors. Subscriptions and advertisements received by the undersigned, to whom remittances should be sent by money-order, draft or registered letter. DAMRELL & UPHAM, 283 Washisgton Street, Boston, Mass. ENC & NEW YORK, DECEMBER 1, 1593. REVIEW OF THE BIRTH OF THE GREAT. LAKES AND THEIR DESERTED SHORES.’ Pace after page in the history of our Great Lakes has been deciphered by the researches of Dr. J. W. Spencer. This study has involved many of the most important ques- tions in dynamical geology. First there was the long continued high continental elevation, during which the Laurentian valley was excavated by the erosion of the great river, its tributaries and the multitudinous branches. Afterwards, the old topography became disfigured, the hills were swept off and the valleys filled up, and all the other changes of the ice age followed, with the drowning of the lower lands by the encroachments of the sea upon the sinking continent. The lands had given place to the sea; now the sea receded from rising lands. In the olden days, the mountains had been worn down to mere trunks, salt or fresh isnot yet known. Its shores upon both sides of the Superior basin, about Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, on both sides of Erie, in Ontario and New York, are now more or less known, but not the northeastern limits. This is an enormous area for only three or four workers to cover: nearly the whole region by the author under re- view; New York and Ohio by Mr. G.-K. Gilbert; north of Lake Superior by Dr. A. C. Lawson; about Lake Michi- gan, south of Superior and northeast of Lake Huron by Mr. F. B. Taylor,—this makes our list of workers. From one strand to another, lower, lower, lower sank the Warren waters, and slowly rose the deserted shores of the great inland sea or lake. But this subsidence of the waters was caused by the rise of the land; not an equal uplift of the continent, but a greater eleva- tion towards the north and east than towards the south and west. The lands about the shrinking lakes were gradually expanding, so as to eventually dismember the Warren water, when it was contracted within the sep- Sp AV PUSENG ; Hewfions referred to sea'level. MAP SHOWING THE EASTERN PART OF ALGONQUIN LAKE. but with the pleistocene re-elevation which lifted the later shore-lines the old water-levels were deformed and broken. In our issue of June 3rd, 1892, we described the manner in which the lake basins had been formed—just ancient valleys closed by drift and by the warping of the earth’s crust in proximity to some of their outlets. Then the history of these fresh-water lakes began. Fragments of their story havenow been discovered, and their well preserved but deserted beaches mark the shrinkage of the waters. About the close of the ice age, one great sheet of water covered most of the Great Lake region, occupying 200 000 Square miles or more. This was Warren water, whether 1“Deformation of the lroquois Beach and Birthof Lake Ontario.’ Am. Jour. Sc., Vol. XL., 1890. “Deformation of the Algonquin Beach and Birth of Lake Huron.” “High-Level Shores in the Region of the Great Lakes and their Defor- mation.” Am. Jour. Sc., Vol. XLI., 1891. arate basins. At first there were two of these. The greater was Algonquin Lake, covering most of the Su- perior basin, reaching to near the southern end of the Michigan, to near the southern end of the Huron, and ex- panding far beyond the eastern margin of Georgian Bay, and extending by a strait northeastward toward the On- tario basin by way of the Nipissing and Ottawa valleys. The other branch of the dismembered Warren water was an unnamed union, embracing the waters in the On- tario basin and in the Erie basin, to the extent perhaps of a hundred miles from the Niagara River. The waters at the level of the Algonquin and the lost pre-Hrie beach tarried for a long period; but from these levels they gradually sunk, leaving fainter beaches and terraces until a level 300 feet below was reached—the Troquois beach Then Niagara River had its birth. At this level, the 496 pause in the terrestrial movement was of long duration. The youthful Niagara drained only the Erie basin, and cascaded over the low Niagara escarpment in a sheet re- sembling the modern “American Falls.” After a long rest, the continental undulations again be- came active, so that before long the waters in the Ontario basin sank eighty feet below its present level, and with- drew somewhat from the head of the lake, but they ex- tended far down the Laurentian valley. Tke Iroquois shore was formed at sea level. Before the Iroquois episode, the terrestrial warpings had set in, but the deformation was relatively slight. The deforma- tion accompanying the epeirogenic movements following the Iroquois days was much more pronounced. About the head of Lake Erie, the beaches are now nearly level, but at the eastern end the deformation is two feet in the mile; east of Georgian Bay it amounts to four feet, and east of Lake Ontario it reaches five, six or even eight feet or more in each mile. In this Adirondack region, it is not unlikely that the old strands have been more or less dislocated by modern faultings such as occur from the Hudson River southward. Up to the present time we do Seale 22 8 By Elevations referito Beach above Sea. Lake Ontario. 247 feet above Sea. MAP SHOWING THE WESTERN not know what barriers, if any, closed these inland seas. The lower strands are known to be connected with old marine shore-lines. ‘There may have been some land bar- riers now unrecognized on account of faulting. Some think that the waters were held in as glacial lakes. Of the eastern region there has been too little exploration for us to know anything about the lakes. But we do know that there were once greater bodies of water where the lakes now exist. During the earlier Niagara epoch, or throughout the Iroquois epoch, the Nipissing strait became lower, and the Algonquin waters slowly subided so that they emptied by a river flowing through the Nipissing basin and the Otta- wa valley to the Iroquois luke below. But with the rise of land accompanying the subsidence of the Iroquois waters, below their great beach, the Nipissing rim of the Huron basin was raised so high that the Algonquin lake flooded the head of the Michigan basin, and overflowed what is now the outlet (then the head) of the Huron basin, and drained by the Niagara River. About this time the eastern rim of the Erie basin was raised up, so that the waters backed up to the present head of the lake, and the barrier at the outlet of Lake Ontario was uplifted so as to back water over the lands at the head of the basin to the extent of eighty feet. To-day the Iroquois beach rises 363 feet above the sea (the lake is 247 feet). At the eastern end the same beach is 7380 feet, and still farther, on the flanks of the Adirondack mountains, this old shore line may be seen in SCIENCE; Vol. XXII. No. 565 fragments at a thousand feet or more, the whole rising as a monument of the mutability of the most ancient hills of America. The story of the lakes is still incomplete, and some of the most important questions are not yet settled. But a dozen years of research upon the old shore-lines, whether beaches, terraces or sea cliffs, has begun to throw some light upon the history of the most distinguished feature of the continent. We now know something of the origin of the basins, the birth, maturity and commencement of the old age of the great lakes. Something more of their age will be known when the history of Niagara Falls is writ- ten, but its history could not have been deciphered with- out the present history of the lakes being known. —At the beginning of the present year a meeting was. held in London to promote a memorial commemorative of the eminent services of the late Sir Richard Owen in the advancement of the sciences of Anatomy, Zodlogy and Paleontology. It was decided that the memorial should consist primarily of a marble statue, which should be offered to the Trustees of the British Museum, to be Ogden sbidy Claras dorough® prrt oe Shea Hingston gt Gt Sas ye 7 Ze PART OF TROQUOIS LAKE. placed in the Hall of the Natural History Museum. A large committee, including the names of many foreign and American men of science, was formed to carry out this project, the Prince of Wales being Chairman. The circular-letter sent out has been very liberally responded to, the subscription list amounting on Nov. 1 to £1,050. The number of contributors, however, is relatively small; and it is hoped that a much larger sum will yet be ob- tained: for Owen was so many-sided in his work that his memory has a claim upon naturalists of every grade all over the world. With a few notable exceptions, a very small number of American names have as yet appeared among the contributors. They have probably yet to be sent, and we would offer the present suggestion that subscriptions from intending donors should be sent with as little delay as possible to the Treasurer of the Fund, Sir William H. Flower, Natural History Museum, London, S. W. —T. Y. Crowell & Co. have received word that Professor Ely’s “Taxation in American States and Cities,” published by them, will soon appear in Japanese, the work having been translated by Dr. Iyenaga, one of his former students, and Mr. Shiozawa. Messrs. Crowell & Co. hope to have Professor Ely’s new book on “Socialism” on the market in the coming spring. —James Pott & Co. announce that they have made ar- rangements with Prof. Henry Drummond to bring out his new work, “The Evolution of Man,” being the Lowell lectures for 1893. December 1, 1893. ] SCIENCE: Pus.isuep sy N. D. C. HODGES, 874 BroApway, New York. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in advance, one hundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reasons we desire to circulate as many copies of SCIENCE as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprint- edelsewere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photo-engraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manu- scripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accompanies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer; not necessa- rily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold our- selves responsible for any view or ovinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents, Attention is called to the ‘‘Wants’’ column. It is invaluable to those who use 1t in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and ad- dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The Exchange” column is likewise open. TEXAS CLAYS AND THEIR ORIGIN. BY W. KENNEDY, AUSTIN, TEXAS. A snort time ago, while engagedin making a report on the clays of the State for the Geological Survey of Texas, I had occasion to study a large number of analyses made of clays belonging to the different Tertiary formations. During the course of the investigations it appeared to me that there was a peculiarity in the chemical composition of these clays not often seen among clays—that is, while in nearly every other clay to the analysis of which I had occasion to refer, and in which the alkalies, potash and soda were separated, the contained potash appears to ex- ceed the percentage of soda, and in some instances this excess appears to be very great. In the Texas Tertiary clays, on the other hand, almost every one of the analyses made shows the soda to exceed the potash in ratios from 2 to 5 of soda to 1 of potash. As this excess variesin the different divisions, the difference generally increasing as we ascend in the beds, while at the same time the actual quantities of both decrease in the same ratio until the highest or coastal clays are reached, when the amounts of both are largely increased, I have been led to the opinion that this peculiarity might be due to the origin of the materials forming these deposits, or that some clue to their source might be obtained by a study of this phenomenon. With this object in view, I have examined whatever analyses have been available of the deposits underlying or older than the Tertiary within the State, as well as the analyses belonging to the Tertiary and other beds found in the other States, so far as I have been able to obtain them, together with the analysis of the underlying de- posits from which the clays may reasonably be expected to have been derived. In the New Jersey clays, which, according to Cook, are of Cretaceous age and derived mostly from rocks lying to the southeast of the deposits, but which are now covered with water, or else completely destroyed, the percentages of potash and soda are 0.93 potash and 0.10 soda. In Ohio, according to Mr. Orton, the clays derived from the Carboniferous shales show averages of : Potash. Soda. 5. Fire clays, - - - - - 0.67 Traces 8. Potters’ clays, = - - - 0.9 Traces 6. Pipe clays, - - - - - 2.82 0.26 Or an average of - - - - 0.18 0.0137 SCIENCE. 297 In Kentucky, the next report examined, Dr. Peters shows the averages of the different formations to be: Potash. Soda. 10. Tertiary fire clays, - = - 0.607 0.099 17. Coal-measure fire clays, - - - 0.537 0.407 5. Tertiary Potters’ clays, - - - 0.814 0.208 3. Coal-measure Potters’ clays, - - 2.909 0.231 3. Black slate and Clinton clays, - - 4.537 0.303 1. Middle Hudson clays, - - - 4.660 1.706 In Arkansas, according to Williams, the shales show the percentages of potash and soda to be: ? Potash. Soda. At Little Rock, 2 - = > Ti 3X6) 2.76 Round Mountain, - S - - 1.81 0.66 Fort Smith, - - 2 - - 2.18 1.03 These shales belong to the Carboniferous, and it may be noted that the shales in the neighborhood of Little Rock are in close contiguity to the syenite area around Fourche Cove. Unfortunately no clay analyses showing the exact relations between the potash and soda in the Ter- tiary deposits are available from either Arkansas or Louisiana, into which many of the Texas Tertiary beds stretch with unbroken continuity. Coming back to the fact that the Texas Tertiary clays are sodic clays, it is interesting to note that the immedi- ately underlying deposits of Cretaceous age also carry an excess of potash over soda. The section of these beds appears to be roughly, in descending order, thus: Greensand marls, Marly flags, Ponderosa (blue) marls, Chalk marls, Austin limestone. The published analyses of these deposits show the per- centages of potash and soda to decrease as we descend as follows: Potash, Soda. Greensand marls, - - - - 1.75 2.94 Ponderosa (blue) marls, = = - 0.802 2.78 Chalk marl, - - - - - 0.15 2.84 Austin limestone, - - - - 0.23 2.34 Average Cretaceous, - - - 0.733 2.72 Going still further back in the deposits, the only analyses we have of the clays and shales of the Carbon- iferous show them to be also sodic and to carry a percent- age of 3.09 soda and 1.53 potash, or closely approximating the ratio shown in the Tertiary basal clays and the lignitic beds. The only analyses we have of the Texas kaolins show the west Texas materials to be practically free from alkalies and the Edwards County deposits to carry 0.02 of potash and 0.60 soda. An analysis of the baselt from Pilot Knob, near Austin, gave Professor Kemp 2.77 soda and 2.02 potash (Amer. Geol., Noy., 1890). A kaolin from Pulaski County, Arkansas, shows 0.23 potash to 0.37 soda. Clays naturally partake of the nature of the rocks from which they may have been derived, and the proportions of their constituents will in the same manner be in a ratio more or less in accordance with those of the parent rock, the variations being due to the solubility of the constitu- ent and the number of changes to which it may have been subjected during the course of its transportation from the original locality to that in which we may find it. These changes are, however, sometimes extremely great, as, for instance, in the case of kaolin. Williams shows a kaolin - in Arkansas, evidently derived from asyenite containing 5.48 potash and 5.96 soda, to have only 0.23 potash and 0.37 soda. Since, then, the Texas Tertiary clays appear to be sodie, 298 where are we to look for their sources? Are they due to the destruction of the syenites of Arkansas or the basaltic outbreaks of which Pilot Knob is a representative, or must they be traced to a still more remote source among the eruptive and intrusive rocks of western or central Texas through the media of the Cretaceous, Carboniferous and other stages found in Texas? Another question may be asked. The Tertiary deposits themselves give strong evidences of their being mostly of marine deposition, having throughout the greater portion of them a marine fauna. Had this condition of deposition anything to do with the quantities of soda found in the beds? Was it deposited from the waters of the sea and afterwards absorbed by the clays? Sodium chloride ap- pears as an efflorescence in many portions of the area. Sodium occurs both as chloride and sulphate in nearly the whole of the mineral waters examined, and even the Greensand marls of the marine beds show, with but few exceptions, a large percentage of soda over the potash. The few soils examined by the officers of the Geological Survey have also the same apparent constitution. Soda appears to exceed the potash. It may also be of interest to find that, according to Dit- mar, the relation of soda (Na, O) to potash (K,O) in ocean water is 100 to 3.23, and in kelp, according to Richardson, 100 to 5.26. For geological purposes, the Texas Survey has divided the Tertiary deposits into five divisions, which may be briefly described, in ascending order, as follows: First: The basal beds or Wills Point clays—This is a serics of blue, bluish gray, yellow and brownish yellow clays, and gray, yellow and brown sands. These clays contain numerous small nodules of calcareous material, and crystals of selenite also occur in places. They also appear as fossiliferous in places. Boulders of fossiliferous limestones, with veins of calcite through them, occur scattered throughout the beds, although the heaviest proportion belong to the yellow-sand division—and occasional irregular deposits of heavy bedded white and grayish white highly fossiliferous limestones form a por- tion of these basal beds. These deposits lie immediately upon the marly deposits of the Upper Cretaceous, and may be said to have been deposited in small bay-like in- dentations along the Cretaceous shore line, or probably have suffered extensive erosion, as they now occur only as isolated patches in a few places along the Cretaceous border. Second: The lignitic beds.—These deposits form the lowest portion of Dr. Penrose’s Timber Belt beds and comprise a series of blue, brown, yellow, white and gray clays and sands, with extensive deposits of brown coal and lignite. The clays occur as thinly laminated, or strati- fied and massive, sometimes nearly free from sand; but the greater portion occurs as sandy or micaceous clays. Near the base these deposits consist of blue sands and clays, with occasional beds of gray and pinkish white or gray clays and thin deposits of brown sandstones. At the top they become a series of thinly-laminated and thinly- stratified red and white sands and clays, the lamine or strata usually not exceeding to % inch in thickness, although the white-clay strata occasionally form beds from four to six feet in thickness. These, however, are very irregular, and when such a thickness of clay occurs it generally forms a pocket-like deposit extending over but a small area. The intermediate beds may be said to be blue and dark gray sands, clays and lignites—the lig- nites often attaining a thickness of from six to sixteen, and even more, feet. These lignite beds are probably the most extensively developed Tertiary deposits within that portion of the coastal plain in the State. Nor are they confined to Texas alone, but occur farther east in both SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 565 Arkansas and Louisiana. In the northeastern portion of the State they have a known thickness of 1,000 feet, wells bored in that region from 800 to 1,000 feet having failed to pierce them; and at Mineola, in Wood County, the base of these beds was not reached in a well 1,200 feet in depth. These beds contain vast deposits of clays of all sorts, including plastic potters’ clay and refractory clays showing an analysis equal to the best Stourbridge, as well as clays suitable for the manufacture of the finest grades of porcelain. Third: The Marine beds.—Succeeding the lignitic beds and overlying them in direct continuity comes a series of sands, clays and iron ores, the greater portion of which is highly fossiliferous, containing in many places an abundant marine fauna. These beds have an agegre- gate thickness of over 600 feet. Abundant deposits of limonite and greensand marls occur throughout them, but the claysare generally poor and very irregularly de- posited. Fourth: The Yegua beds.—The fourth great division has been called the “Yegua clays” from their development on the river of that name. These clays form the base of Dr. Penrose’s Fayette Beds, and the division comprises a series of dark blue and gray clays and brown and gray sands and sandy clays, with great quantities of selenite in crystals from nearly six inches in length down to sizes almost microscopic. The water found in these beds is strongly saline, and in many portions of the area under- laid by them, especially where the dark blue clays ap- proach the surface, the gray overlying sands show patches of saline efflorescence. Many of the gray clays belonging to this series contain leaves and stems of plants, and heavy deposits of lignites also occur at many places within the same area. Fifth: The Fayette Sands.—This division has been called the Fayette Sands chiefly on account of its being made up largely of gray sands and sandstones, although, however, it contains many deposits of very fine white and gray clays, many of which when washed showing decided kaolinitic conditions. These deposits are also more or less fossiliferous, showing at places a scanty marine fauna of the Kocene series, and closely connecting them with the yellow and brown sands of the marine beds already referred to. In the sands belonging to this division great quantities of beautifully opalized wood occur. Beds of a very fine white silicious earth or sinter occur at several places within this area, and the enormous quantities of gray sandstone used at Galveston and Sabine Pass for jetty purposes are obtained from these beds. Many of the clays and coarse sandstones belonging to the upper portion of the Fayette beds are highly calcareous, and in places show small quantities of well-worn Cretaceous shells. Overlying the Fayette sands there appears a series of heavy-bedded, blue, red, green and yellow and sometimes white clays, with brown and grayish white sands contain- ing small patches of pink clay. These are pretty generally ascribed to the Tertiary age, but their exact position is as yet a matter of doubt. The blue clays contain an abund- ance of calcareous nodules scattered throughout them, although these nodules appear to be wanting in the im- mediately underlying red clays, and are not very plentiful in the overlying yellow and green deposits. These de- posits have not yet received a specific name. They have been described in the Third Annual Report of the Survey under the title of the Fleming beds. Since then, how- ever, more extended research has been made in these beds in southwestern Texas, and Mr. Dumble proposes to assign to the whole division the name of “Frio Clays.” The last division of our clay deposits is known as the Coastal Clays. These occupy an area of from 75 to 100 December 1, 1893. ] miles in width along the coast, and comprise a series of blue, brown, yellow and variously colored clays, many of which are highly calcareous. With probably the exception of the basal beds, which, as has already been stated, appear to be somewhat irregu- larly distributed along the contact between the Tertiary and the underlying Cretaceous, the whole of these depos- its may be considered ag lying in a series of irregular belts roughly parallel to the present coastal line, while a section drawn across them almost anywhere would show each to have an abrupt exposure towards the northwest. In other words, while the dip is approximately southeast, the northwestern edge appears usually as an escarpment showing the broken ends of the beds, and in places these escarpments have deflected the courses of several of the rivers crossing the Tertiary area. These rivers also appear to be working southward, showing high steep bluffs along their southern sides, while broad flat bottom lands appear along their northern banks. Such also appears to be the course of operations with all the larger streams running in an easterly or westerly direction. A peculiarity noticeable among the lower divisions of these deposits is a flexing or bending of the beds, begin- ning in the lignitic, and, so far as at present known, reaching the culminating point towards the top of the marine beds. This flexing has resulted in making many of the higher hills hills of erosion and the tops portions of the synclines. From this brief outline it will be seen that the greater portion of the Tertiary areas is made up of extensive beds of clays and sands. The analyses of these clays made by the different chem- ists of the Geological Survey show them to have the peculiarity of having the proportions of the alkalies pot- ash and soda reversed. ‘In the greater number of clay analyses which I have had occasion to refer to, the pro- portion or percentage of potash exceeds that of the soda. In the Tertiary clays of Texas the proportions of soda ex- ceed the potash as 3.19 of soda to 1.18 of potash. These- proportions vary in the different stages, as will be seen in the following: Potash. Soda. 1. Basal beds, - - - - 1.53 3.64 2. Lignitic beds, - - - - 1.35 3.42 3. Marine beds, - - = - 0.9L 2.32 4. Yegua beds, - - - - 1.07 2.33 5. Fayette beds, - - - : 0.67 1.93 6. Fleming (Freo) beds, no analyses made. 7. Coastal clays, - - - - 1.56 5.52 From this it will be seen that there is a gradual decline of the two alkalies as we ascend until the coastal clays are reached, when the soda shows a sudden increase over the basal beds almost equal to the sum of the losses it sus- tains in the other members of the series, while its actual increase over the Fayette beds amounts to 3.55. The pot- ash also shows an increase in these beds over the basal clays of only 0.03, and over the Fayette beds of 0.88, or about equal to the sum of the losses sustained in its course through the deposits from the lignitic to the Fay- ette. The question of the origin of these clays involves the existence of an extensive land area of deposits in which the alkalies were strongly represented, and, assuming the solubility of the two to be approximately similar (as a matter of fact the potash is slightly more soluble), one in which the soda was considerably more abundant than the potash. Again, throughout the deposits and interbedded with the clays we have heavy beds of sand, many of them almost pure quartz, and the greater portion of the clays themselves are highly silicious. In addition, the immense deposits of limonite found interstratified with and cover- SCIENCE: 299 ing the marine stage of these deposits will require to be accounted for. It appears to me that the most probable immediate sources of the materials entering into the composition of these Tertiary deposits are the underlying cretaceous beds for the lowermost or basal Tertiary, and a partial rework- ing of the older Tertiary with the cretaceous materials for the upper or newer deposits. These cretaceous marls and marly clays correspond very closely to the Tertiary depos- its, as will be seen from the following analyses: I. 10 Ill, Ay. of 59 Ter- Av. of 8 Cre- S tiary Analyses. taceous Analyses. Silica, - - - 65.63 31.67 59-34 Alumina, - - - 14.84 9.92 18.59 Iron, - 4.83 3.36 6.30 Lime, - - - 3.19 26.68 3.19 Magnesia, - - - 0.30 Trace Trace Potash, - - 1.03 0.73 137 Soda, - - = 2.65 2.72 5.0L Carbonic acid, - = — 20.95 — Sulphuric acid, - - 0.57 1.04 5.67 Water and loss, - 7.11 2.97 +57 100.15 100.04 100.04 The third column shows the average of the Cretaceous analyses re-calculated without the carbonate of lime and carbonic acid and omitting a portion of the sulphuric acid, which would undoubtedly be lost during the course of erosion and deposition, and which we might expect to find farther to the south among the more recent of the Tertiary deposits as well as in the coastal clays. The per- centages of lime and sulphuric acid shown in this analy- sis are the averages shown in the Tertiary deposits. The course of the lime through the different sets of beds appears to be thus: Basal beds, - - - 2.05 Lignitic beds, - = = 0.77 Marine beds, - - - 1.97 Yegua beds, - - - 0.43 Fayette beds, - - - 10.75 Many of these Fayette clays contain as high as 24.42 per cent of lime and 18.91 per cent of carbonic acid. Among the sandstones belonging to the upper division there are many beds which might be classified as calcare- ous sandstones, some of them containing enough lime to have made it profitable at one time to use them asa source of lime for building purposes. Their derivation from Cretaceous deposits is also indicated by the exist- ence of numerous water-worn Cretaceous shells. The coastal clays contain immense quantities of lime at different points, and nothing short of an immense number of analyses could give us anything like a fair average. They have not been included in any of the above analy- ses. The basal beds of the Tertiary so strongly resemble the upper and contiguous beds of the Cretaceous in lithologi- cal as well as chemical structure that it is very difficult to tell them apart, and in many portions nothing but a study of the fauna will enable anyone to differentiate the two, and in many places the Tertiary beds contain boul- ders and fragments of Cretaceous limestones containing Cretaceous fossils. It would thus appear that the structural conditions of the Basal beds and the Fayette deposits, apart from any chemical evidence whatever, bears out the assumption of these two divisions being derived from the Cretaceous. If we accept Dr. Penrose’s theory that the iron ores and glauconite of the marine beds are largely due to the de- struction of the upper glauconitic division or the green- sand of the Cretaceous, and in this theory, from a long period of work among these beds, I am inclined to believe for several reasons—one of which being the close affinity chemically and otherwise of these beds. Then that will in 300 a great measure dispose of the origin of the middle great division. Now whether the great series of deposits immediately overlying the marine beds—the Yegua clays—have been altogether derived from the erosion and consequent de- struction of the marine bedsis not very clear. That a portion of the materials composing these clays was so derived there can be no doubt. The line of contact be- tween the two is very irregular in more than one place, showing long troughs or valleys of erosion in the older beds, and now filled up by the clays and sands of the newer. At other places this outline shows the existence of comparatively bold head-lands, from which no doubt the waters of Yegua time abstracted a considerable quan- tity of material. The presence of extensive deposits of lignites in these beds would appear to indicate another source of material having a swamp or lagoon origin, and some of it may have been obtained from the rivers travers- ing the region. Some of the materials employed in the formation of these beds may also have been derived from the sea water occupying the area during the period of deposition. The last division, or more properly speaking, the sec- ond division—the lignitic beds—presents somewhat dif- ferent features from any of the others. So far as it con- tains immense deposits of lignite and small beds of sand carrying crystals of selenite, it resembles the Yegua clays, but with that its resemblance ceases. The beds belong- ing to this division overlie the basal deposits, which in many places they overlap so completely as to obscure them altogether, and in others lie in direct contact with the Cretaceous deposits. Throughout the whole of the immense thickness and extent of these beds, with the ex- ception of a few fragmentary plant remains, some of them belonging to the sabal family, not a single fossil is known from this division. Evidently the conditions were not favorable to animal life. These beds apparently represent a period when the whole coast was made up of swamps, lagoons and bayous, very similar to some portions of the gulf coast of the present day, or what may be seen in the broad stretches of overflow or “bottom” land found along almost every one of our rivers. A rank vegetation grew on the marshy portions, and the rivers of the time having no fixed chan- nels, distributed their waters throughout the lagoons and bayous and into them, and over the low islands carried their burdens of debris during periods of flood. With this debris came soft clay, sand, branches, limbs and trunks of large trees, all of which went to swell the - accumulations already gathering and aid in the formation or the lignites and their associated beds of clay and sand. In the meantime the coast was slowly sinking and the - encroaching water eating away the basal clays and the Cretaceous deposits within reach. The lithological structure of these deposits accord with these conditions. Hverywhere the deposits are irregular in deposition, variable in texture, changing from fine- grained, dense, muddy, to coarse-grained, sandy material within short distances. Many of the beds contain great quantities of iron pyrites, a common characteristic of the Cretaceous greensand marls. In composition these lig- nitic beds closely resemble these marls. IV. Vv Av. of 38 analy- Cretaceous ses of lignitic greensand clays. marls. Silica, - - = = 69 .83 60.82 Alumina, - - - - 16.93 16.05 Iron, — = - = ~ 3.66 5.25 Lime, - - = = 0.77 3.66 Magnesia, - - = - 0.35 Potash, - - — = 1.35 1.75 Soda, = = = = 3.42 2.94 SCIENCE: [Vol. XXII. No. 565 Sulphuric acid. = = - 0.22 1.06 Carbonic acid, - - - 2.85 Water and loss, - = - 4.26 5.53 100.79 99-91 From this, then, it would appear that while the greater portions of these clays and sands are derived from Creta- ceous materials, these have been mixed with a small quan- tity of ingredients belonging to some of the older forma- tions through which the larger rivers ran; but the propor- tions of these older materials were so small as not to visibly affect the deposits as a whole. Mention has been made of the syenitic rocks of Arkan- sas and the basaltic outbreaks extending through the Texas Cretaceous area as forming the source of some of the materials found in the clays. These I do not think can have contributed any of the materials required. No very decided evidence of the age of these rocks has been given, but the general opinion as stated by Branner and Williams appears to be that the age of the Arkansas rocks is ether late Cretaceous or early Tertiary, and certainly not newer than this time. According to Hill, Pilot Knob belongs to the upper Cretaceous and the latter half of Austin Chalk sub-epoch. If these ages are accepted, then certainly the rocks in question had nothing to do with the formation of the Texas Tertiary clays. KARYOKINESIS IN EMBRYOS OF THE DOM- ESTIC CAT.—PRELIMINARY NOTICE. BY FRANK 8S. ABY, HISTOLOGICAL LABORATORY, STATE UNI- VERSITY OF .IOWA. In all sections of various embryo kittens that have been examined by the writer, up to those of embryos seventeen millimetres in length, karyokinetic figures are by no means an occasional or a rare occurrence, but are to be found in many situations. In the preparation of these sections, no special cyto- logical methods were employed, as the subject of in- vestigation was the development of the central nervous system of the cat. The embryos were hardened in increasing strengths of alcohol, with no precautions whatever with regard to fixation. After remaining in 95 per cent alcohol for a number of months the embryos were imbedded in celloidin and sectioned. The sections were then stained in Grenacher’s haematoxylin and mounted in Canada balsam. The resting nuclei are spheroidal occasionally, but the more usual form is that of an elongated oval. Occa- sionally very peculiar, irregular nuclei are found, and one was seen whose length was three times its width, without the aggregation of chromatin to be described later, but with a clearly marked reticulum and nuclear membrane. Usually the nuclear membrane is not shrivelled or wrinkled in hardening, but is plump and’ distinct, clear cut on its outer line, and in almost all cases has taken a deep stain. The chromatin in these resting nuclei is disposed in a reticulum that strongly reminds one of the bridles seen in plant cells. This reticulum is clearly continuous with the nuclear membrane, as may be seen in very numerous instances, the point of union of a strand and the nuclear membrane presenting a well-defined en- largement of the strand. In some nuclei which happen to lie in the proper position several of these points of union in a single nucleus appear in the same plane, giving the nuclear membrane the appearance of being toothed. ‘December 1, 1893.] Occasionally a nucleus is found in which all that is to be seen within the nuclear membrane is this reticulum, without local aggregations of the chromatin. In the greater number of nuclei the chromatin is so disposed that certain local thickenings may be observed. Under a power of about 500 diameters these accumulations of chromatin appear to have no connection with the nuclear membrane, but each nucleus seems to have a well- defined nucleolus. Under a power of 1,200 diameters, however, the connection between the strands of the reticulum and this central body stand out clearly. This aggregation of chromatin may be condensed, and in some instances may be described as spheroidal; in other more numerous instances it is elongated, and, with its radiating strands of the reticulum, looks very much like a bone lacuna, with rather coarse canaliculi. Usually but one such body is found in a nucleus; but occasion- ally there are two side by side, or both near the nuclear membrane, and it is not rare to find four or five. From the behavior of these local aggregations and the strands of the reticulum to haematoxylin, itis not possible to determine a difference. Both have about the same tint, and any slight difference of shade may be attributed to the quantity of colorable matter present in the aggrega- tions. In situations where it is to be supposed that cell multi- plication is proceeding rapidly, as in the Wolffian bodies and the inner lining of the cerebral vesicles and central canal of the developing cord, many nuclei are found whose nuclear membranes are indistinct, in many cases invisible. Those nuclei, however, are quite conspicuous, owing to the fact that the chromatin is no longer dis- posed in thin shadowy strands, but is in heavy solid skeins, taking a much deeper stain than any part of the resting nuclei. Moreover, these deeply staining bodies of chromatin in these nuclei assume the position of the nuclear membrane that has disappeared, thus forming a basket with irregular meshes. Thus farI have not been able to determine whether in these nuclei it is a single skein, or a number of segments, that enter into the formation of this basket; but in certain nuclei, where the basket was not very regular, detached segments were certainly determined. In some nuclei in which mitosis was well established the loops of chromatin, or chromosomes, were seen scattered through the nucleus, as if the basket had been broken into frag- ments and crushed in. No traces of the nuclear or achromatic spindle were observed before the monaster stage. The monaster stage was seen in many nuclei, but the best view was always obtained when the achromatic spindle was lying at right angles to the line of vision. When the aster was seen from the pole the chromosomes were in such a tangle that no satisfactory view was ob- tained. In the nuclei of embryo kittens the chromo- somes are short and thick, and in the haematoxylin em- ployed took a very deep stain, in many cases almost black. For these reasons it was usually impossible to distinguish individual chromosomes in either the mon- aster or dyaster stage, but the ends of the chromo- somes were usually distinct. The achromatic spindle at this stage is fairly conspicu- ous and well defined. The chromosomes are seen clustered in the plane of the equatorial plate, while on both sides the fibrils of the achromatic spindle converge toward the pole corpuscle. From the region surround- ing the pole corpuscles, radiating out into the cyto- plasm, are to be seen the exceedingly delicate rays of achromatic substance, forming the polar cones. Many nuceli were seen at this stage presenting the appearance of the conventionalized diagrams, such as Quain’s SCIENCE. 301 “Anatomy,” tenth edition, vol. I., part II., figure 214, except that the chromosomes were not so distinct as in the diagram. In the process of metakinesis all phases were seen, from that in which the limbs of many chromosomes re- mained in contact, while the apices of the loops had separated, to the complete dyaster stage. In some instances the ends of the limbs of two or four chromo- somes remain in contact, the others having separated. In nuclei in which the two sets of chromosomes have migrated for some distance, and are separated by an interval equal to the average diameter of a resting nucleus, the exquisitely fine webs that stretch from the ends of the limbs of one set to the ends of the limbs of the other set may be seen in many instances. When the two sets are separated by a small interval the web is not easily seen. In the dyaster stage the two sets of chromosomes do not present the appearance that is usually represented. As stated before, the chromosomes of the cat are short and thick, and the limbs do not extend in such a way as to make it easy to determine their number. It is stated that the nuclei of each species contain a definite number of chromosomes. From what can be determined in the nuclei under observation, each set of chromesomes in the dyaster stage contains four chromosomes, al- though it is difficult to determine this point with certainty. The portion of the achromatic spindle between the pole corpuscles and the two sets of chromosomes can be made out easily, as the delicate webs are quite conspicu- ous in the dyaster stage, and seems to take a deeper stain in many instances than in the monaster stage. I am not certain that the webs of the spindle react to haematoxylin, but am certain that in some instances this seems to be the case. The radiating webs beyond the pole corpuscles, extending out into the cytoplasm and forming the polar cones, have not been made out in the dyaster stage. The chromosomes in the two-daughter nuclei, then, assume the basket form. The baskets found in the two- daughter nuclei are easily distinguished from the basket in the initiatory stage of karyokinesis by the fact that daughter nuclei occur in pairs, and each basket is much smaller than that found in the mother nucleus. The meshes in daughter nuclei are also much smaller, and the chromatin is in a close tangle. Of all the stages of karyokinesis in these nuclei, the dyaster stage is most conspicuous and most easily found. Mitotic figures are most abundant in embryos about five millimetres in length; in older embryos they are not so easily found. In examining sections from a five-mill1- metre embryo, some fields show karyokinetic figures in fully half the nuclei. In these embryos karyokinesis was observed in the following situations: I. Lining of primitive cerebral vesicles. Here they were most abundant. Nuclei bounding the cavity showed the figures especially well. Il. Lining of central canal of the spinal cord. Here also very abundant. Ill. Lining of lumina of tubules of Wolffian bodies. Occasional. IV._ Epithelium lining the pharynx. V. Within the branchial arches. VI. Epithelium lining the branchial clefts. VII. Optic vesicles. VIII. Otic vesicles. IX. Epiblast forming epidermis of face. X. Walls of heart. 302 THE PTERYLOGRAPHY OF THE PILEATED WOODPECKER (CHEOPHLOEUS PILEATUS). BY HUBERT LYMAN CLARK, PITTSBURG, PA. A recent examination of a pair of Pileated Wood- peckers (Ceophloeus pileatus) from West Virginia showed that in several important particulars this species differs in its pterylosis from any of the plates which have been published hitherto, illustrating Picine pterylography. So far as I can learn the pterylosis of Ceophloeus has never been described, or at any rate figured, and so I venture to offer this contribution to a little known branch of ornithology. Nitzsch has figured, in his ‘‘Sys- tem der Pterylographie,” Picus viridis, and Dr. R. W. Shufeldt has figured and described (Auk., April, 1888) Dryobates V. harrisii and Sphyrapicus V. nuchalis; but I have seen no other illustrations of the Pici. I have ex- amined Dryobates pubescens, Centurus caroliniensis and Col- aptes auratus, but Ceophloeus differs from all these in several ways. A comparison of Fig. 1 with the figure of P. viridis (Sys. Pter., Plate V, Fig. 14)shows two very important differences; one of these is on the chin and lower mandible, the other is at the opposite end of the body near the anus. The whole lower surface of the héad in P. viridis seems to be fully feathered, while in Ceophloeus there are very distinct apteria along the Fig. 1.—Ventral Surface of Pileated Woodpecker (Ceophloeus pileatus). rami of the lower mandible and on the cheeks. These apteria are not shown in any of Dr. Shufeldt’s figures, nor have I observed them in any other woodpecker; but they are very evident in both sexes of Ceophloeus. Fig. 3 shows them nearly natural size; a, the apteria of the rami, and 6, the apteria of the cheeks; the same in Fig. 1,a@andb. Nitzsch says, in regard to apteria on the head, after mentioning the temporal space (see Fig. 1, c) and the vertical space (Fig. 2, d), ‘‘Die tibrige Kop- flache ist dicht befiedert,” but he seems to have been wrong. According to the same writer, in P. viridis, the SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 565 main branches of the pt. ventralis continue beyond the vent, including it, to the very base of the rectrices; but in Ceophloeus they curve abruptly inward and end just before reaching the anus, while behind the latter is a horse-shoe shaped tract (Fig. 1, e) which is also shown in Dr. Shufeldt’s figure of D. v. harristi and to which he gives the name of ‘‘post-ventral tract” (pt. postventra- lis). This tract is found in all the four genera of wood- peckers which I have examined, but Nitzsch does not speak of it, although he gives P. auratus and P. carolinus as among the species he studied. It seems to be want- ing in Sphyrapicus, as it is not shown in Dr. Shufeldt’s figure of that species. The remainder of the ventral Fig. 2.—Dorsal Surface. Pileated Woodpecker (Ceophloeus pileatus). surface of Ceophloeus agrees very well with that of P. viridis, especially in the connections of the pt. ventralis with the pt. humeralis and pt. alaris forming the trian- gular apterium shown at /, Fig. 1. On the dorsal surface Ceophloeus agrees with P. viridis more nearly than with any other species. The only differences of note are in the humeral tracts and at the extreme end of the dorsal tract. According to Nitzsch’s plate, the humeral tracts are much broader anteriorly, but in Ceophloeus (Fig. 2, g) they consist of four rows of contour feathers throughout, and so are of equal width at the ends. In P. viridis the dorsal tract is of greater width at its end on the oil-gland than it is further forward, while in Ceophloeus it is much nar- rower there (Fig. 2, h). The dorsal surface in Colaptes ison much the same plan, but the tracts are broader, December 1, 1893.] and there are some noticeable differences. The tail, as is usual in woodpeckers, consists of twelve rectrices, of which the middle pair are the longest, and the outer pair are not only very short, but they are inserted almost over the pair next to them, and are much less stiff and pointed than the others. On the wing I found ten primaries and eleven secondaries and four feathers in the alula. Of the secondaries the first seven are of Fig. 3.—Chin and Throat. Pileated Woodpecker (Ceophloeus pileatus). To show the apteria on the lower mandible. 2 about equal length, and the rest decrease rapidly, the eleventh being the shortest, though it is interesting to note that it is longer than the first primary. No sexual differences were noted in the pterylosis until I exam- ined the proportionate lengths of the primaries, when I was astonished to find a difference which seems well Fig. 4.—Wings of Male and Female. worthy of note. Of course it must be remembered that I examined only one specimen of each sex, and so this difference may be only an individual variation, but it is SCIENCE. 393 So great as to warrant its illustration. In Fig. 4 will be seen the tips of the wings as they appeared in each sex, and the difference in shape will be at once remarked, In both the first primary is very short, only one-quarter the length of the sixth; the second is considerably longer, reaching, in the male, to within two and one- fourth inches of the tip, and in the female to within one and three-fourths inches; the third is next in both sexes, but is three-fourths of an inch shorter than the sixth in the male and less than one-fourth of an inch in the female; the fourth is almost equal to the fifth and sixth in the female, but in the male is shorter than the seventh; the latter in the female is much shorter than the third; in the male the eighth, ninth and tenth are all longer than the second, while in the female the lat- ter is longer than the ninth and tenth. Thus we see that the wing formula in the two sexes is as follows: Male 3 © 8B 7 4 3 8 © TH @ i Meee, co fF O A 8 7 8 2 oO tm T° > It is hardly necessary to state that both wings showed these same differences, which Fig. 4 will make clear. Aftershafts are present on all the contour feathers, and are of fairly good size though rather weak. ‘The oil-gland is ornamented with a large tuft of white feathers in marked contrast to the surrounding black. Down-feathers seem to be wanting, though ‘‘half- down,” as Nitzsch calls it, is present on most of the spaces. Filoplumes are plenty on all the tracts. Figs. 3 and 4 are drawn three-fourths natural size, and Figs. 1 and 2 are not quite one-half. SECRET LANGUAGE OF CHILDREN. BY OSCAR CHRISMAN, A. M., FELLOW IN CLARK UNIVERSITY, WORCES- TER, MASS. We adults are rather apt to rate children’s powers too low. This, no doubt, comes from a lack of study of these owers, and, perhaps, from a wrong comparison of the child with the adult. In the power of originating it may be that the child is the superior of the adult. This is well illustrated in the forming of languages. In this field the child seems to be perfectly at home, as may be shown to any one who will make a study of such; or if he will look back into his own childhood he will find left in memory traces of such languages, or if one will keep his earsopen among children he will be very sure to find such languages here and there. Only on the other Sunday afternoon, while, with my wife and little girl, stopping at a small depot on a railroad in South Worcester to rest from a walk, a number of pretty tough-looking boys came along and stopped to play. At first, from their language, I thought they were foreigners, but I soon found out that they were using a language of their own. I did not have the opportunity at this time to make inquiries about their language, for which I am truly sorry. The editor of “Am Ur-Quell,”’* a German Folk-Lore paper, gives over 150 specimens of Secret Languages col- lected during the past three years. To be sure, quite a number of these are not languages of children, as some are of thieves, peasants, secret societies, etc., but who knows but that many of these may have their foundation in child- languages ?” *I am indebted to Dr. A. F. Chamberlain, Lecturer in Anthropology, Clark University, for having my attention called to these languages in Am Ur- Quell, and also for the privilege of using his numbers of this journal. — 1] am indebted to Mr. L. N. Wilson, Clerk of Clark University, for his hay- ing called my attention to thefollowing: “ . . . . he went on to mention the one sole accomplishment which his sons had imported from Winchester. This was the Ziph language. . ... Repeat the vowel or diphthong of every syllable, prefixing to the vowel so repeated the letter G. Thus, for example: Shall we go away inan hour? This in Ziph becomes: ‘Shagall wege gogo agawagay igin agan hougour?’’’—“The Collected Writings of Thomas de Quincey, New and Unabridged Edition,” by David Mason. Edinburgh, 1889, vol. I., p. 202, 304 In this list I find “Gibberish,” “The Black Slang,” “The Rhyming Slang,” “Medical Greek,” “Potters’ Latin,” “Dog Latin,” “Robber Language,” “Goose Language,” “Crane Language,” “Zither Language,” “Bob-Language,” “Erbsen- Language,” “Sa-la-Language,” “Schu-Language,” “If- Language,” “B-, P-, W-, O-, M-, and F-Languages.” There are many other names besides these. These names, in some instances, seem to be simply arbitrary, but many arise from the use of the languages or from some distinguishing features. “Medical Greek” takes its name from its being used by medical students. “Robber Lan- guage” derives its name from the fact that the children use it in playing that they are robbers. The B-, P-, etc.,- Languages are so called because the letter occurs fre- quently in the designated language. That these languages are quitenumerous and variously named is shown from there being in “Am Ur-Quell” more than eighty different kindsnamed. Twelve of the letters of the alphabet are used as names of these languages, aud every letter of the alphabet, except X and Y, is used either as a name or to begin a name among these alphabets. I shall not go into details concerning these different languages, but give some few examples: 1. B-Language. Gubuteben morborgeben. (Guten morgen.) 2. P-Language. Gupupen mopopen. (Guten morgen.) 3. W-Language. Guwuwen momowen. (Guten morgen. ) 4, O-Language. Jadakokkebob = Jacob. 5. F-Language. (1) Derererfer Baumaumafouun _ istista- fist grniiiinafiin. (Der Baum ist griin. ) (2) Wennfenenefes donefoch enefendline- fich friihnefiilinefing wiinnefiirdenete. (Wenns doch endling Friihling wiirde. ) 6. Ubbala Abbala Language. (Copenhagen. ) Nubbala ebbala jebbala abbala skrib- bala, tibbala leibbala. 7. Rst.-Language. (Copenhagen. ) Ereseteldgarasatamlarasata Irisitisar- asataforosotold. (There are no translations given to these two specimens. ) 8. Sa-la-Language. The writer of this article in “Am Ur- Quell,” G. Schlegel, says he found this language among the Chinese children in Amoy in 1858. Goasoa kasa lisi kongsong, or, Goal- oasoa kalasa lilisi konglongsong. [Goa (I) ka (to) li (you) kong (say) ]. 9. Robber Language. (Used among the children in Guben (Niederlaus). Kin feinlefein guhulefu tes hes le fes worthortlefort finhinlefin det het lefet eiheile fei nenhen le fen guhulefu tenhenlefen orthortle fort. (Ein gutes Wort findet einen guten Ort.) 10. Potters’ Latin. Used by school-children of Danzig and Kénigsberg. Each consonant is placed before and after a short O; the vowels remain single. SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 565 Frischbier—=fof ror i schosch bob i ror. 11. Dog Latin. The speech of a little child just learn- ing to talk is termed by some Dog Latin. Dog Latin was, perhaps, though first used, says the writer, as a term of reproach to designate a language, made up by the ancient merchants of Nieven- hagen and Groenstraat, two villages in Southern Limburg. The root words are Limburger Low German; the con- nectives are Low German; but the sub- stantives and verbs are foreign--Hebraic, Latin, French, Old German—but for the most part distorted and corrupted. Benk und blag = Mann, thuren = Frau, wuiles — Junge, flits}] = Miidchen, hock = Kredit, keut = Bier, plinten = Lumpen, sipken = ja, nobis — nein. The numbers all had foreign names. 12. Crane Language. (Denmark.) (1) Mads Peder Thomsen. Marbe Perbe derbe Thorbe gerbe. (2) Mads = Adsmand or Adsmaj. Peder = Hderpend or Ederpej. Thomsen = Omsenthond or Omsen- thag. 3) Magedos Pegede degeder Thogedom ) segeden. 13. Goose Language. Ichicherfich liebiberfieb dichicher- fich ausauserfaus Herzerzerfersgrund- underfund, wieieerfie derererfer Ochs- ocherfochs dasaserfos Heueuerfeubund- underfund. (Ich liebe dich aus Herzensgrund, wie der Ochs das Heu- bund.) 14. Language of the Cat’s Elbow. Dod is e kok a tat zoge lol a ssass tot dod a sos mom @ u sos e non non i choch tot. (Die Katze lisst das Mausen nicht. ) Tn “Songs and Games of American Children,” by Wil- liam Wells Newell, I find the following languages: 1. Gibbberish (Hog Latin in NewEngland.) Wiggery youggery goggery wiggery miggery? (Will you go with me?) 2. Withus yoovus govus withus meevus? Ivus withus govus withus yoovus. (Will you go with me? I will go with you.) 3. Uwilla uoa ugoa uwitha umea utoa uluncha? (Will you go with me to lunch?) (From Cincinnati.) 4, Cat Language. This is the name of a language invented by children living near Boston, and was used mostly to talk to cats. The various positions of the cat were no- ticed and names givento such. This language seems to have been quite independent of the children’s ordinary language. One afternoon of last year in Texas one of the younger school-boys said to me: “I can talk so that you cannot understand me; I can talk Tut.” This was recalled to me one day this winter, and I wrote to a young High School girl’ of that town to gather for me what she could in re- \Miss Edith Fly, Gonzales, Texas, to whom my thanks are due for such kindness. December i, 1893. | gard to this language, and from her work I am able to give the following: Tur Lanevace. The name is usually given as Tut Language, but it is also known as Hog Latin and Dog Latin. It consists of an alphabet, which will be given farther on in connection with some others. The way to learn the language is to get the alphabet and then replace the letters of a word with those of the Tut alphabet. Thus: apple = a-pup—pup—lull-. boy = bub-o-yek. At one time this Tut Language was used by many of the children of the town, but at present it is not used ex- cept very slightly. The children knew it so well that they could talk and write it as wellas they could their regular language. They were able to carry on as extended a con- versation as they desired, and any one unacquainted with Tut Language could no better understand what was being said than if it were a foreign tongue. The following may be of some interest: 1. Declension of Zin Tut. Sing. Plu. Nom. I wuy—e Poss. mum-yek o—u-rur, or, 0-u—rur-—suss. Obj. mum-—e u—suss. 2. Declension of ox. Nom. o-x o-x—e-nun Poss. O-X—suss o-X-e—nun-suss Obj. o-x o-x—e—nun 3. Comparison of good. Positive, gug—o-o-dud Comparative, bub-—e-tut—tut—e—rur. Superlative, bub-e-suss—tut. This young lady traced the origin of Tut Language as follows: She learned it from her mothor’s servant, a negro girl, this girl learned it from a negro girl who got it at a female negro school at Austin, Texas, where it was brought by a negro girl from Galveston, Texas, who learned it from a negro girl who had come from Jamaica. Whether it originated in the Island of Jamaica or was carried there I cannot state, as inquiries were able to be made no further than the above. Perhaps the most striking thing in this language is its close resemblance to the alphabetic languages given in “Am Ur-Quell.” These are “Guitar Language,” from Bonyhad, Hungary, “Bob Language,” from Czernowitz, Austria, and “A—Bub-—Cin—Dud Language,” from Ber- gischen. I give here the four alphabets for comparison: Guitar. Bob. A-Bub—Cin—Dud. Tut. a a a a a b bop bob bub bub ¢c (z) zitt cit cin cut d dot dot dud dud e e e e e f finf fif fimpf fuf g gwek gwek guch gue h her hir hach hush i i 1 drei) Job jot j jug k kwiss _ kweis kuck kam 1 lol lol lol lul m mom mom mom mum n non non non nun Co) Co) ) ) () Pp pop: Pop pop pup q (k) kwiss (k & w) kwisu ku q r ror ror ror yur s sis S08 sis sus t tot tot , tut tut wo u u u V7 (w) vop vov yemp yuy SCIENCE. 305 W wow wut wuy x (ks) kwissis (k&s) kwissos iks x y 1,p,8,i,l,0,n ypsilon yec. Z zit Zausis ZUzZ The Guitar Language, so writes the relator, was used sixty years ago by the pupils of a school at Bonyhad, and this party was so expert in its use at that time as to be able to recall it and write it now. The Bob Language was used at school when the writer (in “Am Ur-Quell’) was a pupil. The one who gives an account of this A-Bub-Cin—Dud Language states that he found the alphabet among some old scraps of paper at his home, but he isnot able to say whether this was ever used at his home (Bergischen) or not. As I stated at the first, if one will go back into memory he will find traces remaining of these child languages. In my own experience I recall three such as occurring in my boyhood days at my home at Gosport, Ind.: 1. Wilvus youvus go withusvus? ‘This comes ringing in my ears as though it were only but yesterday since I used it. 2. Also we boys had a language in which we turned the words around, as: boy = yob. Thus if a boy got very much vexed and wanted to be expressive, he said “mad-dog.” 3. I recall, too, that at one time some of us boys under- took to make up a language. I cannot give anything more of this, as it comes to me only as a faint recollection. I am quite sure, though, that this language was not car- ried very far nor ran very long. 4. I recall, also, a language used by some pupils in a school in Indiana, in which I taught some yearsago. This was a number language. Hach letter of the alphabet had a number to representit, as: a—5, c= 9, t — 10, ete. Thus: cat = 9-5-10. This paper is not meant to be exhaustive, but only to give a peep into an unexplored field of child life. It isto be hoped that some day we will become much better acquainted with our boys and girls than we are now. PARASITISM OF MOLOTHRUS ATER. BY CHAS. W. HARGITT, PH. D., SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY, SYRACUSE, N. Y. Or the few members of our avi-fauna known to be addicted to the habit of parasitism, none is perhaps more thoroughly confirmed therein than the common cow-bird (Molothrus ater). This habit is so well known that no par- ticular attention need be called to it as a record of fact or as a matter important for general information. The pur- pose of this note is simply to record some interesting observations recently made in reference to a host which, so far as my own observations have gone, has not been generally considered as involved in its mischievous usur- pations, though Wilson (Am. Ornithology, vol. L, p. 289) mentions it as of the number liable to such impositions. Upon two occasions during the present summer I have noted the very ludicrous spectacle of the full-grown young of the cow-bird being fed by the chipping sparrow (Spizella socialis). One of these observations was made on one of the hottest days of July, and the diminutive little foster-mother panted with mouth wide open as she sought food to satiate the rapacious appetite of the adopted waif. The note of Hatch upon a similar observation made of a similar feat of the Maryland yellow-throat is so apposite to the case in question that I quote it entire: “One of the most comical spectacles ever falling under my observation in bird life has been the appearance of a young cow-bird, nearly large enough to take to its wings, still sitting on (in was impossible) the nest of the Maryland yellow-throat, 306 and the female of that diminutive species in the act of feeding it. The tiny excavation could scarcely afford room for its feet, to say nothing of the body, and, with feathers fluffed so as to apparently double its size, the mouth extended to its utmost, while the midget foster- mother, at the hazard of being swallowed bodily, plunging her morsels far down the abysmal throat of the ungracious usurper, who has unavoidably destroyed the mother’s own birdlings in the process of its development.” (Birds of Minnesota, p. 274). The other case observed was somewhat later in the month. In both cases there was but a single specimen of the parasite, as is usually the case, and not one of the bird’s own offspring was to be found, which, I think, is also the usual thing. In the case most critically studied the bird had left the nest and was diligently following the foster-parents, both of whom were in attendance upon it, now to the ground, now to a tree, and all the while persistently clamoring for food, which they were industriously seeking to supply. And it seemed to me there was in the eye of the usurper a look of impious maliciousness, which seemed to express a semi-consciousness of wild satisfaction in the scandalous imposition. The observations were the more interesting to me in that from my earliest recollections of bird-habit and instinct the “chippy’ was among the most wary and jealous of the slightest intrusion or interference about the nest. I have known the disturbance of even the foliage in proximity to be sufficient to result in its abandonment. A note in American Ornithology, p. 296, speaks of it in the same way, and refers to it as the most punctilious on this point, often deserting the nest even after the eggs had been deposited. Ihave myself known the nest to be deserted upon an apparently smaller prov- ocation after the full complement of eggs had been laid. It has, therefore, seemed strange to me that an egg so dif- ferent in size and markings should be accepted and brooded, or that after the full-grown intruder had flown it should yet be so tenderly cared for, though its vaga- bond nature must certainly be recognized! Is it probable SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 565 that the maternal instincts are so strong as to overcome all scruples even of the tragic sort involved in the case under consideration ? If Spizella is the frequent victim of this parasitism I should be glad to know more about it. Of all the cases where I have found the eggs of the cow-bird in the nests of other birds, I have yet to find the first case of such in the nest of the “chippy.” My observations may have been too limited, and I shall hereafter be on the lookout for making them more critical, and, at the same time, more extensive. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. «*,Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. writer's name is in all cases required as a proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number con taining his communication will be furnished free to any corres pondent. The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. The AN INTELLIGENT SQUIRREL. Tur new home to which I removed this summer has about it two-thirds of an acre of ground bearing several old oaks, maples and other trees. Naturally enough, it has introduced me to a number of new acquaintances in furs and feathers. Of these the most interesting by far is a gray squirrel (Sciwrus Carolinensis), the largest specimen I remember to have met. He made his first bow to us early in Septamber, taking his position one morning upon a red oak some twenty feet from the house, with his four feet spread widely on the main trunk, his head downward and his beautiful great brush poised above his gray back. Here he remained motion- less for a time, peering into a second story window where two little children were busy at play. Directly one of the children—a five-year-old—caught sight of the curious eavesdropper, and made the usual hullabaloo over him, vigorously assisted by her younger brother. The squirrel paid little attention to their excitement, save that he changed his position,a little, but continued his observations. For a while there was a mutual ad- _SOFTLY STEALS THE LIGHT OF DAY wher filtered through windows covered with | CRYSTOGRAPHS, a substitute for Stained Glass that is inexpensive, beautiful, and easily applied. Z Best, Easiest t CATs Piso’s Kemedy ior Catarrh is tae fay o Use, and Cheapest. Sold by Druggists or sent by mail. 50c. E. T. Hazeltine, Warren, Pa. - Every reader of “ Science” should sub- | scribe for the | AMERICAN ARCHITECT, THE OLDEST AND BEST 20c. per square foot, Samples and catalogue, 10s. CRYSTOGRAPH C@O., 816 North Broad St., Philadelphia. AGENTS $50 to S100 rc 5 i Ladies or Gents. Best seller known. Need- BE ed atevery house. place of business or farm Eweey theyearround. “Home” Electric Moter runsallKindsoflightmachinery. Cheap- Sey est poweron earth. Connected instantly to A wash or sewing machine, corn sheller, SS = pumps, fans, lathes, jewelers’ or dentists” Sa = machinery, &c. Clean, noiseless, lasts ' Architectural publication in the country. Interesting articles on architecture, Sani- tation, Archzology, Decoration, etc., by the ablest writers. Richly illustrated. Issued weekly. Send stamp for specimen copy to the publishers, 9 Ticknor & Co., 211 Tremont St., Boston. , 1869. THE 1595. Manufacturer and Builder. Published Monthly. A handsomely illustrated me- chanical journal, edited by Dr. Wit1am H. WAHL. a life-time. No experience needed. To show in operation means a sale, Guar- nteed. Profits immense. Circulars freee ERISON & OU., X-%, Columbus, 0. BUILDING BOOKS. DRAWING INSTRUMENTS, SCIENCE CLUBBING RATES. Every number consists of 48 large quarto pages and cover, filled yeh useful snrormeyion on ey subicets on of a practical nature. ecimen copy free. or of Books on Building, gale by alllpemadeelere al Agents wanted every- Painting, ang Decorating, where, Address so Catalogue o: TAW- | ‘ ing Instruments and Ma.| @ HENRI CERARD, ath Con fresonappii- P, 0, Box 1001. 83 Nassau St., N. W. ation to | z Wm, T, Comstock, Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Mineral Water 23 Warren St, New York, For Liver, Kidney and B_dder Troubles. ca For Grevel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. 1893 Catalogue 10% DISCOUNT. TEN BOOKS FOR PRICE OF ONE SEND FOR A CATALOGUE OF For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright’s Disease, Diabetes. For Hemorrhoids, Etc. We will allow the above discount to any subscriber to Science who will send us an order for periodicals exceeding $10, counting each at its full price. N. D.C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. 7 THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY OF SCIENCE. Containing the works of the foremost scientific writers of the age.—The Great Classics of Modern Thought.—Strong meat for them that are of fullage. Single numbers rs cents. Double numbers 30 cents Address :—THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING Co., 1g Astor Place, New York, It has been used medicinally and prescribed by | physicians for nearly one hundred years. DIRECTIONS:—Take one or two glasses about half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50. Bedford Mineral Springs Co., Bedfurd, Pa. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. December 1, 1893. ] miration society in session, which adjourned only on the arrival of certain older members of my family. On nearly every pleasant day for the succeeding month we caught sight of him on one tree or another in the neigh- borhood, sometimes bearing a nut in his mouth, but oftener darting about as if simply enjoying himself among the variegated autumn leaves. Our respect for this fellow-tenant of our grounds was greatly increased one day, when a neighbor, hearing us speak of him, told us how it came about that we en- joyed the pleasure of the little fellow’s company. In this neighbor’s yard stood a large tree on whose top was a stump left by a decayed and broken limb. One day it was determined to trim up this tree with some thor- oughness. The workmen brought their ladder and began. Soon there appeared upon the scene a much disturbed gray squirrel. Excitement was evident in every movement as the trimming proceeded. Finally the workmen left their work for the day. When all had become quiet, my neighbor was privileged to see a curious sight—one which I cannot remember seeing or hearing described before. It was the removal of a squirrel family toanew home. The old squirrel seized each young one by the nape of the neck, while the little one threw its tail about the parent’s neck, as if to hold on. Then the old one, with its precious freight, descended the tree to a boundary fence, and, by char- acteristic hops and runs, arrived at a hollow tree top between my house and my barn. Two or three such journeys were observed before the whole family was domiciled in the new quarters. Whether this burden-bearer was the male or the female, I know not. Perhaps some reader of Science can SCIENCE. 307 tellme. Indeed, I do not know whether there are a pair of the old squirrels here or not. We have never been able to observe two together. It is plain that the old squirrel came to the conclusion that its young were unsafe in the former home. Was this an inference from observation of the falling branches ? The mere presence of man could not have been the ground of the conclu- sion, for a group of boys had played about the tree all summer, and after the removal the squirrel’s freedom from fear in the neighborhood of human beings was often remarked. Its action in this instance resembles intelligence more than mere instinct. Ray Greene Hutine. Cambridge, Mass. St. Louis LIMESTONE IN POWESHIEK County, IOWA. The St. Louis limestone described by Hall and White, and more recently by Keyes (Geol. Ia. First Am. Rep., 1892) was formerly known to occur only as far north as the eastern border of Mahaska County. Early in 1893 Bain traced this formation completely across the county in the beds of the Des Moines and South Skunk rivers, and in the North Skunk nearly to the northwestern corner. More recently several excellent exposures of this limestone have been discovered three miles above the southern line of Poweshiek County, thus extending its northern limit about ten miles be- yond that previously reported. At one place nearly fifty feet of coal-measure strata were seen to rest upon the limestone. Generally, however, it was immedi- ately overlaid with drift. Many fossils, in a fine state of preservation, were obtained from the marl which capped the rock. ARTHUR J. JONES. Iowa College, Grinnell. Ia. EXCHANGES. [Free of charge to all, if of satisfactory character. . Hodges, 874 Broadway, New Address N. D. C York ] Wants. A GEOLOGIST thoroughly conversant with the geology of the Southern States desires an en- gagement. Has complete knowledge of the eco- nomic geology of Iron, Coal, Lignite, as well as Clay and Kaolin. Five years’ experience with hidlices¥or Horsford’s Acid Phosphate Is the most effective and agreeable remedy in existence for preventing indigestion, and relieving those dis- eases arising from a disordered stomach. Dr. W. W. Gardner, Spring- field, Mass., says, ‘‘I value it as an excel- lent preventative of indigestion, and a pleasant acidulated drink when proper- ly diluted with water, and sweetened.” Descriptive pamphlet free on application to RUMFORD CHEMICAL WoRKS, PROVIDENCE, R, I. Beware of Substitutes and Imitations, For sale by all Druggists. For Sale.—A very fine telescope, length extended, twenty-five inches, closed, seven inches. Power twenty-five times. Good as new. Cost $25.00. Will sell for the best cash offer. B. S. Bowdish, Box 165, Phelps, N. Y. For Sale or Exchange for last editions of Standard Works on Vegetable Anatomy or Physiology: Practical Zoology, Marshall & Hurst; Elements of Embryology, Foster & Balfour; Zoology, Macalis- ter; Guide to the Study of Insects, Packard; Geolog- ical Studies and Shall We Teach Geology, Winchell. Also have duplicates of Experiment Station pub- lications which would like to exchange for any net in my file. L. R. Jones, Burlington, Vt. For exchange.—Skins of Aegialites nivosa, Ereu- netes occidentalis, Aunnodramus Arldingi. A. rostratus, Chamara fasciata henshawi, etc., for native or foreign skins with full data. Send lists. a W. Anthony, 2042 Albatross st., San Diego, Cali- ornia. I have a Beck New National monocular microscope, accessories, microtome, mounting material and a large number of fine slides. Will exchange the whole or in part for a first class type-writer or photograph outfit. A.C. Gruhlke, Waterloo, Ind. Offered sidebloom eggs of Bulimus oblongus and exotic land and freshwater shells in exchange for Helices not in collection. Send lists to G. K. Gude, eeerace Road, upper Holloway, London, Eng- and, Would like to exchange 100 specimens of Canadian Indian Relics for a photo outfit. E. J. Waters, 33 Hoffman St., Auburn, N. Y Geological Surveys. Address K., 509 West Sixth Street, Austin, Texas, ANTED.—Tuckerman’s Geneva Lichenum and Carpenter on the Microscope, Wiley’s In- troduction to the Study of Lichens. State price ead other particulars. Richard Lees, Brampton, nt. ANTED.—Icones Muscorum by W. D. Sulli- vant, with or without Supplement, but both preferred. Address, stating price and condition of books, Dr. G. N. Best, Rosemont, N. J. ANTED.—A copy of Mascart & Joubert’s Les- sons in Electricity and Magnetism, Vol. I. Ad- dress R. W. Clawson, Vanderbilt University, Nash- ville, Tennessee. HEMIST.—Graduate of a polytechnical school, and studied photographic chemistry in Ger- many and Austria. Situation teaching or in ana- lytical or Sa ES laboratory. M.B, Punnett, Rochester, N. Y. ANTED.—A recent college graduate to assist in editorial work on Science. Those seeking large emoluments need not apply. N. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New York. 308 SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 565 SOME OF THE NEW BOOKS AT LOW PRICES. FAMOUS VOYAGERS AND EXPLORERS.—$1.50. Mrs. Bouton has added to her Famous series of books another and an unusually interesting volume, ‘‘Famous Voyagers and Explorers.” It is hardly comprehensive, as it gives the biographies of only a few typical ex- plorers—Marco Polo, Columbus, Magellan, Raleigh, and the more prominent of our modern American ex- plorers. Doubtless such names as the Cabots, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, De Soto, Cartier, Nansen and others are reserved for a second volume. Mrs. Bolton has a gift for this sort of writing, and she has here brought together a large amount of deeply interesting matter which otherwise could only be obtained by read- ing through a dozen or more separate volumes. The book is illustrated with several portraits.— Boston Trans- cript. Our Great WEST.—$2.50. Tuer contents of the volume appeared serially in Harper’s Magazine and Harper’s Weekly, in which periodi- cals they attracted wide attention and favorable com- ment. Their importance fully justified their republica- tion in a more permanent form. The book affords a more minute insight into the present condition of the West than can be found elsewhere. What it tells is the result of personal experience, fortified by information obtained from the best-informed and most reliable men in the localities under discussion, and set forth with admirable clearness and impartiality. It is a work to be read and pondered by those interested in the growth of the nation westward, and is of permanent standard value.— Boston Gazette. STATESMEN.— $2.00. In the preparation of this work Noah Brooks has aimed to present a series of character sketches of the eminent persons selected for portraiture. The object is to place before the present generation of Americans salient points in the careers of public men whose at- tainments in statesmanship were the result of their own individual exertions and force of character rather than of fortunate circumstances. Therefore these brief studies are not biographies. Mr. Brooks had the good fortune of personal acquaintance with most of the statesmen of the latter part of the period illustrated by his pen, and he considers it an advantage to his readers that they may thus receive from him some of the im- pressions which these conspicuous personages made upon the mental vision of those who heard and saw them while they were living examples of nobility of aim and success of achievement in American states- manship. MEN OF BUSINESS.—$2.00. W. O. Stropparp, who has just written a book pub- lished by the Scribners, on ‘‘Men of Business,” tells how the late Senator Stanford chopped his way to the law. ‘‘He had grown tall and strong,” says Mr. Sto d dard, ‘‘and was a capital hand in a hay-field, behind a- plough, or with an axe in the timber; but how could this help him into his chosen profession? Neverthel ess it was a feat of wood-chopping which raised him tothe bar. When he was eighteen years of age his father purchased a tract of woodland; wished to clear it, but had not the means to do so. At the same time he was anxious to give his son alift. He told Leand, there- fore, that he could have all he could make from the timber, if he would leave the land clelar of trees. Leland took the offer, for a new market had latterly been created for cord-wood. He had saved money enough to hire other choppers to help him, and he chopped for the law and his future career. Over 2,000 cords of wood were cut and sold to the Mohawk and Hudson River Railroad, and the net profit to the young contractor was $2,600. It had been earned by severe toil, in cold and heat, and it stood for something more than dollars.— Brooklyn Times. ORTHOMETRY.—$2.00. In “‘Orthometry” Mr. R. F. Brewer has attempted a fuller treatment of the art of versification than is to be found in the popular treatises on that subject. While the preface shows a tendency to encourage verse-mak- ing, as unnecessary as it is undesirable, the work may be regarded as useful so far as it tends to cultivate an intelligent taste for good poetry. Therhyming diction- ary at the end is a new feature, which will undoubtedly commend itself to those having a use for such aids. A specially interesting chapter is that on ‘‘Poetic Trifles,” in which are included the various imitations of foreign verse in English. The discussion of the sonnet, too, though failing to bring out fully the spiritual nature of this difficult verse form, is more accurate than might be expected from the following sentence: ‘‘The form of the sonnet is of Italian origin, and came into use in the fifteenth [ste] century, towards the end of which its construction was perfected, and its utmost melodious sweetness attained in the verse of Petrarch and Dante.” In the chapter on Alliteration there are several mislead- ing statements, such as calling ‘‘Piers the Plowman” an ‘“‘Old English” poem. In the bibliography one is surprised not to find Mr. F. B. Gummere’s admirable ‘‘Handbook of Poetics,” now in its third edition. In spite of these and other shortcomings, which can be readily corrected in a later issue, this work may be ‘ recommended as a satisfactory treatment of the mechanics of verse. A careful reading will improve the critical faculties. —The Dial. Any of the above books will be sent prepaid on receipt of the publisher’s price, less ten per cent.The same discount will be allowed on any new book, not a text-book. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, New York. CIENCE © ELEVENTH YEAR. SINGLE Corts, TEN CENTs. Vor. XXII. No. 566. DECEMBER 8, 1893. $3.50 PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE. PETE TTL ETO a Dee LETT LET TE Scientific Instruments OF STANDARD QUALITY: Physical, Electrical, Chemical, Optical, Microscopical, En- gineering, Mathematical, Photographic and Projection Ap- paratus and Supplies. Special care devoted to the equipment of College and High School laboratories. ‘ Estimates submit- aK ahaa Na Mana Nex ax aia iat ano aK aig CONTENTS. Some Geological Features of Jackson Park, Chicarors Di baawWalland)iyeis cei sics sic cetente 309 INGLES Ginal NOWS goaddcunsusesaosunsossbeneuedooc ~ 310 ted upon request. The Atmospheres of the Moon, Planets and 6 d Kies 1 Site Co lel Heyer Wie Ae soosodsanocosadosoc 311 orrespondence so icited. On the Life Zones of the Organ Mountains and Adjacent Region in Southern New Mexico, with Notes on the Fauna of the Range. C. Teeny; era) OTIS EM Gite etetetelersisielseteleleieistelsiets setts 313 Pottery on Puget Sound. James Wickersham. 315 Disposal of Waste at the World’s Columbian Write for abridged General Catalogue No. 219. QUEEN & CoO.,, Incorporated, Philadelphia, U. S. A. SENS ST CR THREE at a Exposition. W. F. Morse..............+0+++ 316 Eight Awards granted us at the World’s Fair. Bird Notes. Morris Gibbs...............5...05 i y Vive bee oe Beier A y, - z PEN ae oY) SEU RUA R AHR R RRR RUSE RR a SEA peer rara re A Mustaee in Teaching Botany. E. W. New Store. @laypole.......... ee te ee ee es teeteerte rte ees 317 New Stock. A monthly magazine for the study Coral Reef Formation. Joseph Le Conte... 318 a New Departments. of the German language and litera- IBOOKSRIe VIS WSiarecle ccm Chinas nares celdels closes ee 318| Send for our ‘‘ Winter Bulletin,” recently issued, ture, is highly recommended by college professors . . . . bh Minerals, Gems, Microscopical Sections, Fine Lap- POR aie Go a Baslet idary Work. pursuit.” Its BEGINNERS CoRNER furnishes, every . . year a complete and interesting course in German GEO. L. ENGLISH & (0., Mineralogists, Tammar. $2ayear. Single copies 20 cents. P. O. ( Box 151, Manchester, N. H. Removed to 64 East 12th Street, New York LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.S NEW BOOKS. The Outdoor World; | Manual of Bacteriology. et oun) Coleg tandboolk _ For Practitioners and Students. With Spec- By W. Furneaux, F. R. G. S. With 546 Illustrations, | : c including 16 colored Plates. Crown 8vo, 438 pages, | ial Reference to Practical Methods. ornamental cover, gilt edges, $2.50. | By Dr. S. L. Scuenk, Professor Extraordinary in the Part I. 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Contents: Wood-boring Beetles—Club-horn Beetles—Cel- | fy evens Biss as 5 Be. lar Beetles and Meal Worms—Longhorns and Prey-hunters—Ants “x ‘This is a small book suitable for medical students. It and Wasps—Social Wasps and Horntails—Clothes Moths and | treats of the subject in the same way as Prof. Scheefer's ‘‘Essen- omer pecs aee EP RY Meee Ae. commen ae tials’ treats of Histology. It contains a number of elementary roach—Crickets and Earwigs—House Flies an uebottle—House. | ee racticalllesso Follomedti 3 as -Flies and Bluebottles, continued—Gnats, Midges, and Mosqui- | Cine! EAN GIES! Pu EED MOSS OSS, MONON TCR ie CEC case byga bier toes—The Common Flea—The Bed-bug—The Book-louse and | descriptive account of the facts related to the exercises which are Silver-fish Insect—Human Pediculi. | intended to be performed by each member of the class. Our Catalogue of Scientific and Medical Works sefit upon request. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO., Publishers, LoS ASBriGin Slr, NEW BORK. SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 566 Probably you take THE Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity | do. If you do not, now is a good time to begin. It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty cents. Address: + The Electrical Engineer, 203 Broadway, - - - New York, N.Y, QUERY. Can any reader of Sczence cite | a case of lightning stroke in which the dissipation of a small, conductor (one-sixteenth of an) inch in diameter, say, ) has failed | to protect between two horizon- tal planes passing through its upper and lower ends respective- ly? Plenty of cases have been found which show that when the conductor is dissipated the build- ing is not injured to the extent explained (for many of these see} volumes of Philosophical Trans- actions at the time when light- ning was attracting the attention | of the Royal Society), but not an exception is yet known, al though this query has been pub- lished far and wide among elec- tricians. First inserted June 19, 1891. No re- sponse to date. N. D.C. HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, ¥. Y. Gentlemen. using or selling “Old Reliable Plater.” Only per week, toAgents, Operation; lasts 5 to 10 years; fine | finish when taken from the plater. | Every family has plating to do. Plater sells readily. Profits large. W. P. jiarrison & Co., Columbus, 0. RACES AND PEOPLES, By DANIEL G, BRINTON, M.D. “The book is good, thoroughly good, and will long remain the best accessible elementary ethnography , in our language.”—The Christian Union. “We strongly recommend Dr. Brinton’s ‘Races and Peoples’ to both beginners and scholars, Wo | are not aware of any other recent work on tiie science of which it treats in the English language.” —Asiatic Quarterly. “His book is an excellent one, and we can heartily recommend it as an introductory manual of ethnol- ogy.”’—The Monist. “A useful and really interesting work, which de- serves to be widely read and studied both in Europe and America.”—Brighton (Eng.) Herald. “This volume is most stimulating. It is wnvuten with great clearness, so that anybody can under- stand, and while in some ways. perforce, superficial, grasps very well the complete field of humanity.” — The New York Times. f “Dr, Brinton invests his scientific illustrations and measurements with an indescribable charm of nav- ration, so that ‘Races and Peoples,’ avowedly a rec- ord of discovered facts, is in reality a strong stim- ulant to the imagination.’—Philadelphia Public Ledger. “The work is indispensable to the student who re- quires an intelligent guide to a course of ethno- graphic reading.”—Philadelphia Times. ‘WE CANNOT SPARE | Aealthy flesh —nature never | burdens the body with too much sound flesh. Loss of flesh usually indicates poor as- similation, which causes the | loss of the best that’s in food, | the fat-forming element. Scott's Emulsion of pure cod liver oil with hypo- | phosphites contains the very } essence of all foods. In no oth- er form can so much nutrition | be take and assimilated. J¢s range of usefulness has no limita- | t2on where weakness exists. } Prepared by Scott & Bowne, Chemists, | New York. Sold by all druggists. Price, postpaid, $1.75. HANDY BOOKS. PRACTICAL ELECTRICS, a universal handy book no every day Electrical matters, fourth edition. 135pages, r2vo, cloth, price 75 cents. g ie ELECTRICAL TABLES AND MEMORANDA for Engineers, by Silvanus P. Thompson, 128 pages, Illustrated, 64 mo, roan, socents. A SYSTEM OF EASY LETTERING by Howard Cromwell, 32 different styles, so cents. THE ORNAMENTAL Penman’s pocketbook of alphabets,37 different styles, 20cents. Books mailed post paid to any address on re- ceipt of publish price. SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, Mention this paper. 12 Cortlandt St., N. Y. “BUSY FOLKS’ GYMNASIUI1.” A few minutes’ daily exercise q on our fascinating apparatus clears the brain, tones up the body, develops weak parts. Our cabinet contains chest weights, rowing-weights, lifting-weights, clubs and dumb bells, adjust- able for old and young. /¢ is the only complete exercising outfit in the world suitable for use in Newspaper Clippings, 25,000 in Stock, What do you want? Let us know. We can supply you. ‘The Clemens News Ageney, Box 2329. San Francisco, Cal. ZI 2 la A» living rooms. All prices. You J can order on approval. Chest Shoulders and Upper Back machine separate, $4.50 and up. good for Round Shoulders Educated agents wanted. Puyst CAL CULTURE CHarrtT, with illustrated directions for de. veloping every part of the body healthfully, 50 cts. Sent for half price to those naming this paper. WHITNEY HOME GYMNASIUM CO., Box D., Rochester. N. Y, The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. A FIRST-CLASS WEEKLY MEDICAL NEWSPAPER. ESTABLISHED 1828. Terms of Subscription: In the United States, and to Canada and Mexico. $5 00 a year in ad vance. To Foreign Countries embraced in the Universal Postal Union, $1.56 a year additional. Single numbers, 15¢. ‘J en consecutive numbers free by mail on receipt of $1.00. _ aver This JouRNAL circulates chiefly through the New England States, and is seen by the great majority of the profession in that important district. As a means of reaching physicians it is unequalled. It is under the editorial management of Dr. George BR. Shattuck, assisted by a large staff of compe- tent coadjutors. Subscriptions and advertisements received by the undersigned, to whom remittances by mail should be sent by money-order, draft or registered letter. DAMRELL & UPHAM, 283 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. NEW YORK, DECEMBER 8, 1893. SOME GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF JACKSON PARK, CHICAGO. BY D. E. WILLARD, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, CHICAGO, ILL. Visrrors to the great Columbian Exposition during the past season can hardly have failed to have been impressed with the beauty and harmony of the landscape features of Jackson Park. Those who have made topography a study must have found it a place of especial interest. Only when one compares the Jackson Park of 1893 with that of former years can he realize the greatness of the transformation, or comprehend the herculean task which confronted the gardener in his attempt to bring beauty and harmony out of this wild, and from an artistic stand- point, chaotic region, or appreciate the magnificent success with which the problem was finally solved and the wild waste transformed into a place fit to be called the “Gar- den of the Gods.” The Jackson Park of former years, in large part a wild and unimproved morass, a succession of sandy ridges and low stretches of marsh, the resting place of water- loving fowl during their season, and the resort of game- loving marksmen, contrasted with that of 1893, with its beautiful avenues, glittering lagoons and studded islands, a dreamland of beauty in its rare combination of nature and art, surely presented a marvellous example of what it is possible for the landscape gardener to accomplish. To understand tbe matter at all well, the topography of the adjacent vicinity must be studied, which at once introduces us to a very interesting geological problem. Along the borderland of Lake Michigan in the vicinity of Jackson Park may be observed ridges running south- ward and diverging from the lake shore, varying in width from a few yards to a considerable fraction of a mile, and in height from that which barely distinguishes ridge from adjacent lowland to twenty feet or more; the front edge, 7. ¢., the eastern or one toward the lake, usually being more or less abrupt, while that on the opposite side not infrequently grades down to the adjacent marsh so evenly as to make it difficult to determine where the ridge ends and the marsh begins. If the observer traverses the lake shore southward he finds these ridges occurring at irregular intervals, and if he follow one of them along its course he will soon find himself at considerable distance from the lake, and ridges rising to view both to the eastward and westward. Examination of their structure where exposed in cellars or excavations for sewers, or perchance where a sand-pit has been opened, reveals stratification and evidence of distribution and deposition in water, with alternating lay- ers of coarse and fine sand and grayel. The intervals between the ridges are marsh or lowland, and during certain seasons of the year are often covered with water. The ridges are easily recognized from a distance by the oaks which usually—and, so far as our observations have extended, always—cover them in a state of nature, a sharp tree-line marking the transition from ridge to marsh. If from the roof of the Manufactures Building or other elevated standpoint the region south of the park be surveyed, one observes that a broad level plain stretches southward from the boundary of the park (Sixty-seventh street), toward South Chicago, Pullman, and Lake Calu- met, the eye being able to trace the landscape clearly as far as about One Hundredth street. This region is seen to be traversed in a generally north-south direction by lines of trees, which, by closer observation, are found to coincide with the sand ridges. Abutting against the southeast corner of the park there is observed a grove of oaks of considerable extent con- sisting of broader or narrower tree-covered belts (ridges), separated by narrow strips of lowland (lagoons), while toward the lake other tree-belts are noticed, separated by low even tracts of marsh-land of varying width, en- tirely destitute of trees. And again, for some miles to the westward lines and patches of trees indicate ridges or outliers, and a nearer approach reveals some very high and extensive ones. If the grove mentioned above be examined more close- ly, it will be found to consist of a somewhat complicated series of ridges and lagoons. Near Seventieth street, the first ridge in the series which we can study satisfactorily—some having been destroyed by grading—to the east from Stony Island avenue (which forms the western boundary of Jackson Park) divides to the southward, and the intervening lagoon' gradually widens. The ridge is quite pro- nounced, especially as to its front, along east of the tracks leading to the Terminal Station, and here again the sec- ond lagoon, which forms the interval between the first and second ridges north of Seventieth street, becomes nar- yvower and presumably disappeared a short distance fur- ther north in the park. This second ridge is quite regu- lar in outline, and transversely symmetrical. it has to a striking degree the appearance of an old-fashioned coun- try “turnpike” road before it has been distorted by heavy wagons. It is as evenly built asa gardener could have made it with his shovel and rake, rising gradually and evenly to a height of about four and a half feet, and then as evenly, though slightly more abruptly, descending to the lowland on the east or lakeward side. It is about eight rods in width at Sixty-ninth street, two blocks south of the park fence, and is separated from the next ridge by a lowiand belt at this point, about four rods in width, which, however, gradually widens southward, and narrows northward till it disappears, and the two ridges unite just south of the park hmits. The highest point of the combined ridge, just above the juncture of the two ad- jacent edges, is about six feet. Eastward again of this third ridge or eastern arm of the second (which is about twenty-five rods in width) ex- tends a broad level tract of lowland of a breadth of a hundred rods, covered with a growth of rushes and other marsh plants, and so low that it is covered with water during the wet seasons of the year and furnishes a favor- able haunt for wild fowl and a tempting field to the sportsman. Still further east is a broad ridge sagging 1The terms lagoon, lowland, and marsh-belt are used interchangeably throughout this discussion, for the low interval which separates the ridges, whether or not it be covered all or any part of the year with water, 310 sharply along its dorsal line to a depth of half its total height; followed by another belt of lowland eight or ten rods in width; and lastly a peculiarly irregular, low, broad ridge, which quickly terminates southward, and is bor- dered on the east by the present lake beach. It seems probable from a study of this region and com- parison with the park to the north, that the Administration Building stands on a continuation of one or more of the ridges just described, while the broad, low belt mentioned above has its continuance embracing that part of the park on which were located the dairy and stock barns, the Stock Pavilion, the Agricultural Building, the Court of Honor or Grand Basin, and part of Manufactures Building, to- gether with the area covered by the South Pond. Pre- sumably the ridge on which stands the Administration Building is one which extends northward, forming part of the Wooded Island, and, as the native oaks give evidence, extends past the site of the Turkish, osta Rica and other foreign buildings, continuing along the east end of the north lagoon and Art Annex to the northeast corner of the park. The presence of the large native oaks on a part of the Wooded Island shows the former existence of the dry, sandy soil of a ridge, while the absence of the trees in other parts becomes negative evidence that it is filled or artificial land, as the mud which was scooped out from the low places, forming the artistic lagoons, was piled along the margins to fill sinuses and level depressions. The presence of a few large trees near the Government Building bespeaks a ridge, and the grading of the grounds indicates traces of the same, despite the garden- er’s skill. But whether here was a distinct ridge on which stands part of the Manufactures and the Govern- ment Buildings, and running over toward Victoria House, or whether it was only an outlier, or whether it was a ridge at all, is involved in uncertainty. From the Convent La Rabida a ridge seems to take its origin, on which stands also the Krupp Gun Works, part of Shoe and Leather, thence extending southward along the east margin of South Pond and west of Anthropologi- cal Building, and continuing, as the ridge described as lying east of the wide belt of lowland south of the park. The ridge mentioned as adjacent to the present lake beach and very irregular in its outline and disappearing sud- denly southward, just enters the park touching the Forestry Building. Another distinct ridge crosses the northwest corner of the grounds, on which stands the California State Build- ing, Washington, South Dakota, the Hsquimaux Village and others. This soon disappears from the grounds to the westward, the oaks in Buffalo Bill’s enclosure indicating its location upon the ridge. The lagoon or pond which extends into the Esquimaux Village is probably a natural sag or lagoon scooped out deeper, but it is impossible to determine, since the grading outside the park fence has destroyed all traces. From these observations it is seen that the lagoons of Jackson Park—those objects of so much delight and pleasure to World’s Fair visitors, those gem-stones of earth in a silver setting of water, which completed the indis- pensible features of the perfect landscape ana gave the finishing touch of beauty to thisfairy dream]and of nature and art—are the excavated marsh-belts which formed the lowlands between the oak-covered ridges above described, the deep muddy, marshy or water-covered places being imade deeper and the excavated material being used to fill sinuses and depressions,—in fact, that these lagoons were a necessity in the reduction of a dismal desert waste to a perfect landscape garden ; were formed because nothing else could be done with the water ; in short, the process was but one of giving back to the sea her own, the low- SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 566 land belt becoming what it originally was before being filled by the processes of time—a lagoon. We have not space to discuss the geological history of this region, but may say in closing that Lake Michigan has, at a not early time, geologically occupied many square _ miles of territory now embraced in part in: the city of Chicago and vicinity—that a great region about the head of the lake is entitled to the Indians’ appellation of ‘ Chi- ca-gow”’ or ‘Skunks’ Nest,’ and that these ridges are beach-ridges successively piled up by the waves of the receding lake, and the marsh-belts are the filled and filling lagoons which are formed in such shore processes. NOTES AND NEWS. Two numbers of a new university publication upon geology have lately come to notice, reminding one in their form and general aspect of the bulletins of the Geological Society of America. The new publication is the Bulletin of the Department of Geology of the Uni- versity of California. Itis edited by Prof. Andrew C. Lawson. In the two parts of the first volume there are seventy-two pages and five plates. The articles are “The Geology of Carmelo Bay,” by A. C. Lawson and J. de la C. Posada, and “The Soda-Rhyolite north of Berkeley,” by Charles Palache. The new enterprise has a wide field open to it. Comparatively speaking, very little work has been done upon the geology of California, and the prob- lems are numerous and important. Aside from the two quarto volumes upon the Geology of California, the work of the U. S. Geological Survey and the few early govern- ment expeditions, little has been done in the State. Many of the problems are so intricate that it is not to be ex- pected that they will be solved in the short time given to them by government expeditions. The great extent of the State, and the vast variety of soils and geological for- mations found in it, will form fertile themes for discus- sion and investigation for many years to come. It is the intention of the university to issue the parts at intervals as material accumulates, and when a volume of 350 or 400 pages has been printed the subscription price of $3.50 will be requested. Subscriptions can be sent to Prof. A. C. Lawson, University of California, Berkeley, California. —G. P. Putnam’s Sons will publish immediately the first volume of “Social Kngland: a record of the progress of the people in religion, laws, learning, arts, science, literature, industry, commerce and manners, from the earliest times to the present date,’ edited by H. D. Traill, D.C. lL. The work is to be completed in about six vol- umes, and the one about to be published presents the record from the earliest times to the accession of Edward I. They also announce Le Gallienne’s “Religion of a Literary Man,’ ‘“Wah-Kee-Nah, and Her People,” a study of the customs, traditions and legends of the North American Indians, by James C. Strong, late Brevet Brigadier-General Reserve Corps, U.S. A. —J. B. Lippincott Co. announce another of Robert 8. Ball’s popular books on astronomy, entitled “In the High Heavens,” to be profusely illustrated by drawings in the text and full-page colored plates. —The large and curious philological library of the late Prince Lucien Bonaparte is soon to come into the market. It numbers about 25,000 volumes. The Prince early de- termined to make a collection of works which would rep- resent not only every written language in the world, but their connection one with another, and also their dialectal varieties ; and he was able to a large extent to carry out this idea. His collection includes a specimen of every English dialect. His usual plan was to get the Gospel of St. Matthew or the Song of Solomon translated into the different dialects by experts. December 8, 1893. ] SCIENCE: PusiisHeD By N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broapway, New York. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in advance, one hundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reascns we desire to circulate as many copies of SCIENCE as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprint- edelsewere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photo-engraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manu- scripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accompanies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer; not necessa- rily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold our- selves responsible for any view or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Attention is called to the ‘‘Wants’’ column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and ad- dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The “Exchange” column is likewise open. THE ATMOSPHERES OF THE MOON, PLANETS AND SUN. BY G. H. BRYAN, M. A., CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND. Ir was only a week or two before reading Professor Liveing’s interesting communication in Science that I had made some calculations which led me to adopt the same theory which he has advocated. The object of my inves- tigations was, in fact, to show that we could not regard the atmospheres of the different members of the solar sys- tem as isolated masses of gas, from which molecules might fly off if their speeds were to become sufficiently great, but that, to account for the very existence of plane- tary atmospheres at all, it would be necessary to adopt the hypothesis of an atmosphere of excessive tenuity per- vading both interplanetary and interstellar space. It is unfortunate that Mr. Howard did not apply the principle of conservation of energy to the arguments con- tained in his letter in the issue of April 28. Had he done so he would have realized that the question as to whether a molecule will permanently leave the atmosphere of the Moon or a planet depends only on its speed, irrespective of direction, and does not in any way depend on whether the motion takes place in a vertical direction. In fact, if the kinetic energy of a molecule is greater than the work required to be done against the planet's attraction in or- der to remove the molecule to an infinite distance, the molecule will describe a hyperbola, and will fly off never to return again, no matter what be its direction of motion, provided that it does not come into collision with any other molecule or with the planet itself. Again, the speed required to leave the Karth is about five times as great as that required to leave the Moon; but this is not because the earth’s attraction is five times as great as the Moon's, but because the Earth’s polential is about twenty-five times as great as the Moon’s, conse- quently, in order to leave the Harth, a particle would re- quire to have twenty-five times the kinetic energy, or five times the speed, which it would require to leave the Moon. According to the well-known “error law” of distribu- tion of speed among the molecules of a gas, which forms the basis of calculations connected with the kinetic the- ory, there must always be some molecules moving with sufficiently great speeds to overcome the attraction of any body, however powerful, and some whose speed is too small to enable them to escape from the attraction of any body, however feeb e. On this assumption no planet can have an absolutely permanent atmosphere, and no planet SCIENCE. 311 or satellite which has ever had an atmosphere could get rid of that atmosphere entirely. If, however, the propor- tion of molecules which escape is relatively exceedingly small, any changes which occur in the nature of the at- mosphere of the planet will take place so slowly that countless ages will have to elapse before they make them- selves felt. In order, therefore, to test the relative de- gree of permanence of the atmospheres of different celes- tial bodies, I have calculated what proportion of the mole- cules of oxygen and hydrogen at different temperatures have a sufficiently great speed to fly off from the surfaces of, and never return to, the Moon, Mars and the Earth. I have also given the corresponding results for the Sun, not, however, at its surface, but at the Earth’s distance from the Sun’s centre, where the critical speed is, of course, square root of two times the speed of the Karth’s orbital motion. The numbers, which are given in Table 1 below, repre- sent in each case the average number of molecules, among which there is one molecule whose speed exceeds the crit- ical amount. Thus, for oxygen at temperature 0°C, rather over one molecule in every three billion is moving fast enough to fly off permanently from the Moon, and only one in every 2.3x10*" is moving fast enough to es- cape from the Earth’s atmosphere, while the Sun’s attrac- tion, even at the distance of the Harth, prevents more than one in every 2x10" from escaping. : When we arrive at such vast numbers as this, it might be reasonable to object that we have pushed the kinetic theory a great deal further than it will go. The assump- tions made in many proofs of the “error” law of distribu- tion certainly preclude its application to high speeds that are sorarely attained. Still there is no physical limit to the speed which any individual molecule might acquire in the course of colliding with other molecules. As Professor Liveing has pointed out, all that would be necessary would be a sufficiently long run of collisions, in each of which the line of impact happened to be nearly perpen- dicular to the direction in which the molecule in question was previously moving, so that each impinging molecule should transfer the greater portion of its energy to that one molecule. And theory points to the conclusion that whenever there is any law of permanent distribution of the mole- cules of a gas, that law must be the “error” law. Hence the calculations may be reasonably expected to give a cor- rect estimate of the proportion of molecules whose speed exceeds the critical speed, provided that the mass of gas under consideration is so large that the tofal number of such molecules is great, however small their relative pro- portion may be. Thus we are at least justified in regard- ing the figures as affording indications of the relative permanency or otherwise of the gaseous envelopes sur- rounding different bodies of the solar system. One great difficulty presented by the theory is that oe taking account of the differences of temperature of the atmospheres of the different bodies. There seems to be good reason for believing tnat the Moon’s temperaturf may fall below —200°C., in which case only one molecule in 7x10" will be able to escape. And generally the larger members of the solar system are the hotter, and this would cause them to part with their atmospheres more readily in proportion than they would if all the bodies were at one common temperature. If the absolute tem- peratures of different bodies were proportional to their gravitation potentials, the proportion of molecules pos- sessing the speed requisite to carry them off would be the same for all. This condition would require the Earth’s atmosphere to have an absolute temperature roughly twenty-five times as high as that of the Moon's. Even supposing this were the case, it does not necessarily 312 follow that the Moon’s atmosphere would be of as perma- nent a nature as the Earth’s, for the gain and loss of molecules would only take place near the upper limits of the atmospheres, where collisions rarely occur; hence the question of permanency would largely depend upon the extent of the atmospheres surrounding the two bodies. The figures tend to show that the Earth would lose its atmosphere very slowly, even if plunged in vacuo, and that the Sun’s atmosphere may be regarded as practically permanent, even independently of the hypothesis of an interstellar atmosphere. But the impossibility of assum- ing losses to be taking place from the atmospheres of planets without a compensating accession of molecules from the surrounding space is at once evident when we endeavor to trace the past history of the solar system. If the Moon ever had an atmosphere which has now flown off into space, losses of a similar nature must neces- sarily have taken place in the atmospheres of all the plan- ets at a time when they were much hotter than they are at present, especially in the case of so small a planet as Mars. And if we trace the history of the solar system further and further back, we find that, if the planets were hotter and hotter, they must therefore have been parting with their gaseous envelopes at a greater and greater rate,—a condition of things which would render it impossible to account for the initial existence of plane- tary atmospheres. The nebular hypothesis supposes the Sun and planets to have been evolved by the gradual contraction and con- densation of a nebulous mass of gas. This process would be exactly the reverse of the flying-off process suggested by a perusal of Dr. Robert Ball’s paper. It is only necessary to assume the existence of a distri- bution of matter of excessive tenuity pervading interplan- etary space, in order to account for the permanence of the planetary atmospheres at all temperatures; and such an assumption, taken in conjunction with the kinetic theory, is quite compatible with the absence of any percep- tible atmosphere surrounding the Moon. The kinetic theory enables us to compare the densities at different points of a mass of gas in equilibrium under fixed central forces, such as the attractions of the celes- tial bodies. If we apply the theory to the system consist- ing of the Sun, Moon and Earth, we shall find the rela- tive densities given in Table 2, the density of the corres- ponding gas in the atmosphere at the Earth’s surface be- ing taken as unity. If we take the density at an infinite distance from the Sun to be unity, the corresponding re- sults will be given by Table 3. The assumption on which these results are calculated may be called an “equilibrium theory,” since it takes no account of the motions of the hodies in question, and it assumes a permanent distribution to have been attained, so that the whole of the mass is at a uniform tempera- ture. When every allowance is made for the artificial charac- ter of the assumptions, it is still highly unreasonable to suppose that the Moon could have an atmosphere so far in excess of that required by the equilibrium theory that its presence could be detected even by the most careful observations. And so far from its being necessary to assume the density of the interplanetary atmosphere to be a millionth of a millionth of the density at the Harth’s surface, we should, on the assumption of a uniform temperature of O°C, have to divide the latter density by a million over and over azain fifty-five times, before we had reached the degree of tenuity required by the equilibrium theory for the interplanetary atmosphere in the neighborhood of the Earth’s orbit. Taking the number of molecules in one cubic centimetre of air as a million million million SCIENCE. | [Vol. XXII. No. 566 and employing the figures calculated for oxygen, we should have to construct a cube, each of whose sides was 10’ kilometres long, in order to enclosea hundred molecules of a gas of this degree of tenuity. Thus, if we multiply a million by a million and repeat the process sixteen times and then multiply by ten thousand, and take this number of kilometres as the side of a cube and place one hundred molecules of gas inside it and the Harth in the middle, that hundred molecules would be sufficient to make up for any loss that is going on at the surface of the Earth’s atmosphere. It is similarly evident from the figures in Table 1 that countless ages must elapse before a single molecule leaves the Earth’s atmosphere, and that no per- ceptible equalization is taking place between the atmos- pheres of different planets. If we try to compare the atmospheres of different plan- ets, such as the Earth and Mars, the “equilibrium theory” breaks down completely. But it would be highly un- reasonable to suppose that anything like a permanent law of distribution existed between two bodies at such vast distances apart, separated by a medium of such extreme tenuity, and subject to solar radiation and so many other disturbing causes. The molecules of gas flying about in interplanetary space are so few and far between that collisions can only rarely take place between them, whereas any tendency of approach towards a permanent state of distribution must necessarily depend on fre- quency of collisions between the molecules. Hence the rate of equalization of energy among the molecules of so diffuse a medium must be infinitesimally slow, so slow in- deed that practically no such equalization is taking place at all. It is different in the case of two bodies so near one another as the Earth and Moon. Among the mole- cules of gas which at any time might find themselves in the neighborhood of the Moon and Earth, the greater number would be drawn in by the more attractive body, and the moon would not, therefore, be likely to obtain more than her fair share of air, which, as we have seen, is very small in comparison with that allotted by the equi- librium theory to the Earth. ; Table 3 affords some idea of how the density of the Earth’s atmosphere would increase with the gradual cooling of the solar system. According to this theory, a similar increase has been taking place in what little at- mosphere there is surrounding the Moon, and at no period of its history has it possessed an atmosphere of oxygen and nitrogen comparable in density with that of the Earth. A decrease of density in a planet's atmos- phere could only take place by the condensation in liquid form of vapors present in it, not by matter leaving the planet. The figures given in Table 3 are more than sufficient to account for the comparative rarity of hydrogen in the Earth’s atmosphere, but a similar argument would also, of course, require a considerable preponderance of oxygen over nitrogen, which is contrary to experience. But here again we have pushed the equilibrium theory too far. It is highly probable that the number of molecules flying about both in interplanetary and interstellar space is far greater than that given by the accompanying tables, and the inference is that the atmospheres of the planets are in- creasing in density at a rate far greater than that due to cooling alone. Even so, however, the few molecules picked up by the Earth in the course of a year or even a million years may have no appreciable effect on the density or composition of the atmosphere. Hence, while, as Pro- fessor Liveing asserts, the same chemical elements may be expected to enter into the constitution of all the celes- tial bodies, there appears to be no warranty for suppos- ing them to be in any way regularly distributed as re- gards their relative proportions; and on the other hand December 8, 1893.] there is every reason for believing that the existing law of distribution may differ vastly from the law of perma- nent distribution required by the kinetic theory of gases. TABLE 1. Average number of molecules of gas to every one whose speed is sufficient- ly great to overcome the attraction of the corresponding body: (6) ie) un ah NS = BAO 5 = 5 = vont} = Og 92 Saoe az e8 a8 52 Mo j2ea8 ISo8 ES ces 3 Emi 2+ O53 = a5 Hu 80 wa WO eon 2S /s ao +2 9 00) aa O98 an l3 v Sn =) Gog fo a G2 30 Ga ao to. Ae too we A wo yea CSS Of OS Co UM ON VG BR wom &S ws BR wR He WS USA tr aemencally iz Cr et Ul el > ll # ll mo & || >| x || Po AW Wi Or) pa nOhee isa, Ol gq Oo Moon’s surface............ 3-6 610.0 2.7X101 6.9X1097 Surface of Mars........... 3920. 5.ox1015 1.0x 10° 1.8x107°3 | Barth’s surface............ 6.0x101" 3-3 108 2.3x10979 4.5x101522 Earth's atmosphere at a é height of 80 miles. .... 2.3X1019 7.6x1079 5-7X10822 I.5X101296 Sun at same distance as wae IBEW! ooo oc adoadonbanon 2.7X10807 6.6x101233 2.0x104940 1.7X 1019757 TABLE 2. Relative densities of oxygen and hydrogen in a permanent distribution taking their densities at the Earth’s surface as unity: > = > a £- 3 £4 a ee ke ict na od g c ei 2S 52 < a8 <3 aa So nT Os Ox Te) Se) pe) oS Sic OC) a a0 ag Oe 1s 1% I | , Pe) i] ae oy se qo 21) 2{e) qo Earth’s surface............ I I = I Earth’s atmosphere at a 2 height of 80miles...... -3859 02268 2.414X10~7 3.4XK10—°7 Moon’s surface............ Bese Gyre shes spew At Moon's distance from DetddLosqasesooseodedene 4.6X10 721 4.6xr0 752 4.5x10 9878 = 4.0x10 71802 At Earth’s distance from SeAndocetpcoaDeEnDeOee 2.1X10 21 z.9x10~83_ 1.4X10 98! 3.6x10 —1324 Interstellar space.......... 2.7X10 ~ $39 4.9x10 —1918 5.6x10 —5724 9.9x10 — 71894 TABLE 3. Relative densities in a permanent distribution, taking the average densit of distribution of the gas in interstellar space as unity: 5) a] s Ba a é 29 as) Aun - a2 a nn Ln ae as a) 88 ae Ge ae 3 os Sino om Swe ise) % 5 on ere} as om} wa tO » »~ Dad ie a 3 ee ei qo qo mo qo LMe UE 5h con oneeragndan I.0 I.0 I.0 1.0 At Earth’s distance from Siboascag segsceeseccces 7-9x10398 = 3.9K101286° 3. 4x104942 3-6X 1019769 At Moon’s distance from , IDEIAIR osidssonooonadeeds 1.7X 10309 .4X101238 8.0x101947 4-0X10!9781 At Moon’s surface.... T-2X10°10 z:9x101246 1.4x10498! 4-2X1019844 At Earth’s surface........ 3.7X10829 2.0x101817 1.8x105773 Teorey ON THE LIFE ZONES OF THE ORGAN MOUN- TAINS AND ADJACENT REGIONIN SOUTH- ERN NEW MEXICO, WITH NOTES ON THE FAUNA OF THE RANGE.®* BY C. H. TYLER TOWNSEND. Tue range known as the Organ Mountains, in south- ern New Mexico, was determined by the U. S. Geodetic Survey, if I mistake not, to rise to a height of 8,800 feet above sea-level. This altitude has been carefully veried by observations taken by Professor C. T. Hag- erty, of the Civil Engineering Department of the New Mexico Agricultural College. The western base of the range is about twelve miles to the eastward of Las Cruces, in Dofia Ana County. The range runs nearly north and south for a distance of about twenty miles. It varies in width from about four to eight miles, the north extremity as well as the south one being much narrower. It is intersected a little south of the middle 1Read before the New Mexico Society for the Advancement of Science, at Las Cruces, April 6, 1893. SCIENCE. 313 by a wide and detoured pass known as Soledad Cafion. The San Augustine pass divides the range near its north end. About two miles to the north of this pass begin, by common consent, the San Andres Mountains, a lower range which extends on to the northward for about fifty miles. About three miles south of San Augustine pass is a rather high and more difficult drop in the range, known as Bayler pass. The highest peaks of the Organs are north of the centre of the range, and their upper portions are mostly bare and nearly inaccessible. There is a ridge between the southernmost two peaks and those peaks to the north of them. This ridge is probably 8,000 feet or more in elevation, and its high- est portion is the point to which the zones given below have been traced. It dips about 200 feet at its north- ern end. The altitude at the western base of the range is about 4,800 feet, or t,000 feet higher than the site of Las Cruces, situated twelve to fifteen miles west on the edge of the Rio Grande Valley. Thus the above mentioned ridge is, roughly speaking, about 4,000 feet above the surrounding country, or about 3,000 feet above the base of the range. The various points above mentioned will be better understood by consulting the accompanying diagram of the range. Itis only a diagram, no attempt having been made to secure accuracy of detail. It may be stated that, to the northeast of the range, stretch away the plains of San Augustine; while to the northwest is the vast waterless expanse known as the Jornada del Muerto, or Journey of the Dead, where seventy miles has to be covered between springs. To the eastward of the range is a vast level sandy plain which extends some eighty miles to the Sacramento Mountains, and plains stretch away likewise to the southeast, and for a less distance to the south. For some of the beauties of the Organ Mountains, I would refer the reader to a paper by Mr. Charles H. Ames, in Appalachia for 1892. The point reached by Mr. Ames was the lowest part of the ridge above referred to be- tween the peaks, being the dip at its northern end. Beginning at the east bank of the Rio Grande River, in the bottom of the valley, and going eastward until the highest portion of this ridge between the peaks is reached, the following zones, in the order given below, are encountered. The actual ascent to this ridge, dur- ing which most of the data of the higher zones were carefully noted, was made on Novy. 12, 1892. We left the house at Riley’s ranch at 9.00 a. M., and reached the highest part of the ridge at about 12.15 Pp. M., thus making fully 3,000 feet in three and one-quarter hours. Starting back at 12.30 Pp. M., we reached the house again at 2.55 p. M. It should be stated that there was much snow in the dense brush through which we passed in the higher portions of the range, and that on. many occa- sions we had to proceed in a reclining attitude over long stretches of smooth rock at an angle of about 35°. The house at Riley’s ranch is 4,900 feet altitude, and the ridge, as above mentioned, about 8,000 feet. Tornillo or Cottonwood Zone. About 3,500 to 3,800 feet. Characteristic plants.—Prosopis pubescens (tornillo), Populus fremontii var. wislizeni (valley cottonwood), Salix spp. including S. longifolia (willows), Aster spinosus (spring aster), Helianthus annuus (common sunflower), Helianthus ciliaris (dwarf sunflower), Xan- thium sp. (cocklebur), Rhus sp. (sumach), Sphzralcea angustifolia, Solidago sp. (golden rod), Baccharis an- gustifolia (at its climax), mistletoe, grasses, etc. 314 SICIIEINO 8. Mesquile Zone. About 3,800 to 4,800 feet. Characteristic plants. —Yucca baccata (Spanish bay- onet—at its climax), Yucca angustifolia (narrow-leafed yucca), Prosopis juliflora (mesquite), Larrea mexicana (creosote bush), Opuntia lepticaulis (vine cactus), Opun- tia arborescens—some (tree cactus), Ephedra nevadense (clapweed), Opuntia spp. (smaller-leafed prickly pears), Opuntia engelmanni—some (prickly pear), Echino- cactus wislizeni (barrel cactus), Cereus spp. (bunch cacti), Atriflex canescens (sage bush), Fallugia para- doxa—some along arroyos, Fouquiera splendens (can- dle wood), Krameria parvifolia, Zizyphus lycioides, Baccharis angustifolia, Parkinsonia sp. (?), Acacia sp. (cat’s-claw thorn), Chilopsis saligna (along arroyos, and especially near base of mountains), Perezia nana, cer- tain grasses on plains to north (Jornada del Muerto), etc. Dasylivion or Scrub Oak Zone. About 4,800 to 6,800 feet. Characteristic plants.—Dasylirion wheeleri (sotol), Quercus undulata var. wrightii (scrub oak), Opuntia fa 2ue—“€Ku [Vol. XXII. No. 566 north at a point about a mile east of Mr. Isaac’s place (mostly south exposure); and also as noticed in general in the whole range, on the western slopes, from Soledad to the south end. As before said, the zones were more particularly noted in the ascent to the ridge above the Modoc mine, Nov. 12, 1892, as this is about the highest accessible point in the range. On Noy. 26, 1892, an ascent was made to the top of the ridge of the northeast portion of the range. The results of this trip are detailed separately below. Going up this slope, which has a north-northeast exposure, the following seventeen characteristic species of vegetation were noticed. The real ascent was begun at a point about four or five miles a little east of south of San Augustine. Exactly a year before this, I made an as- cent nearly to the top of the higher portion of the same ridge about two miles farther to the westward, on which many of the same plants were also noted. Plants found on going up northeast slope of Organ Mountains, Nov 26, 1892.—The vertical distance was divided into approximate fifths, which are spoken of as first to fifth belts. This vertical distance from the level a a )} DIAGRAM OF THE ORGAN MOUNTAINS IN SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO. . Organ peak. 5. Old San Augustine hotel. g. Riley’s ranch. 13. Highest peaks (8,800 ft.). 17. Ridge of northeast part of range. . Organ pass. 6. Davies-Lecinsky ranch. 1o. Modoc mine. 14. Highest part of ridge betw. peaks. 18. Suuth and wagon pass. . Bayler pass. . Sugar loaf. ir. Soledad canon. 12. Isaac’s ranch. 7. Stephenson-Bennett mine. 8. Riley’s well. ww Pw arborescens (tree cactus—at its climax), Yucca baccata (Spanish bayonet), Accacia sp. (cat’s-claw thorn), Opun- tia engelmanni (prickly pear or tuna—at its climax), Agave heteracantha (century plant), Agave parryi (Parry’s century plant), Unguadia speciosa (Mexican buckeye), Celtis occidentalis (hackberry), Fraxinus sp. (ash), Robinia neomexicana (New Mexico locust), Fal- lugia paradoxa, ete. Juniper or Cedar Zone. About 6,800 to 7,500 feet. Characteristic plants.—Juniperus sp. (cedar), Cerco- carpus parvifolius (mountain mahogany), Garrya wrightii, ete. Pine Zone, About 7,500 to 8,800 feet. Characteristic plants.—Pinus edulis probably (pifion), Pseudotsuga douglassi1 (Douglas spruce), Quercus un- dulata var. gambellii (a scrub oak on top of ridge, 8,000 feet), Pinus ponderosa (Californian pine), etc. The above are the more important forms of vegeta- tion met with in going up past the Modoc mine to the top of the ridge (slope with western exposure); in going up a long side cafton which opens into Soledad on the 15. Dip of ridge at north end. IQ. 16. Side canon opening into Soledad. Bishop’s Cap. at San Augustine to the top of the ridge is probably about 2,000 feet, the ridge being, apparently, about 7,000 feet elevation at its easternend. The lower range of the hardier species, as shown below, is due to the north or northeast exposure. tr. Cat’s-claw thorn (Acacia sp.).—Extending from near base of mesa-like prolongation of north end of range through first belt. 2. Mulberry (Morus parvifolia).—Upper portion of cat’s-claw thorn area or first belt. 3. Mexican buckeye (Unguadia speciosa).—Second belt. 4. Wild grape (Vitis sp.).—Second belt. Wild cherry (Cerasus sp.?).—Second belt. Maple (Acer sp.).—Second belt. Small bunch cacti (Cereus 2 spp.).—Third belt. Ash (Fraxinus pistacifolia).—Third belt. g. Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis).—Third belt. to. Willow (Salix sp.).— Third belt. tr. Cottonwood (Populus sp. much resembling P. fremontii).—Third belt. 12. Scrub oak (Quercus undulata var. wrightii).— Third and fourth belts. Often hung with mistletoe. 13. Pifion (Pinus edulis?).—Large trees on lower ex- Omar DA December 8, 1893 ] tent of fourth belt. (Perhaps P. ponderosa as well). t4. Jimson weed (Stramonium sp.)—Fourth belt. 5. Mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus parvifolius).— Fourth and fifth belts. 16. Oak (Quercus undulata var. belt, below but near top of ridge. 17. Thornless chaparral (Fallugia paradoxa).—At top of ridge, fifth belt, forming a thick chaparral on north slope. It should be mentioned, as a possible explanation of the higher altitude at which the scrub oak, hackberry, etc., were found on this slope than on the western slope, that in the ascent the course of a stream was followed about to the third belt. Notes on the fauna of the Organ Mountains.—Mam- malian fauna: The range contains a wide and varied extent of country, particularly between its northern widened portion and Soledad cafion. Of the larger mammals, there were formerly, as reported by hunters, elk, mountain goat, mountain sheep, and bear. These are not known to exist there at present, but Mr. G. R. Beasley, of Soledad cajion, is reported to have killed a full-grown male mountain sheep two years ago in the Organs. There are said to be some bears at the pres- ent time in the more inaccessible portions of the range, but this is not positively known. There are known to exist at the present time: Deer (probably the black-tailed, Cariacus macrotis); moun- tain lion (Felis concolor); wild cats (Lynx sp.); red and silver foxes (Vulpes spp.); skunks (Mephitis sp.); squir- tels (Sciurus sp.); chipmunks (Tamias gracilis and other spp.); weasels (Putorius sp.); civet cats (Bassaris sp.); and raccoons (Procyon sp.). Bats and mice also occur. Antelope, rabbits, badgers, prairie dogs, coyotes, are found at the base or in the lower portions. Avian fauna: Californian quail, tonto quail (Ortyx spp.), eagles, hawks, buzzards, owls, jays, woodpeckers, doves, mocking birds, orioles, whippoorwills, wrens, swallows, humming birds, and others have been noted in the range. Unfortunately specimens were not col- lected, so that no specific determinations can be given. Wild turkey are said to occur, but I have seen none. They were common in the range formerly. Reptilian fauna: Rattlesnakes (Crotalus sp.), sev- eral species of harmless snakes, and several species of small lizards have been observed. The rattlers are more frequent on the plains at the base of the range. Frogs are also said to occur. Fish fauna: There are no fishes that I know of, as the mountain streams are small and swift, and often dry, for along season. In the Sacramento and White Mountains, about sixty to eighty miles north and north- east, there is fine trout fishing in the streams. Insect fauna: Many species of insects abound, a large number being peculiar to the range in this region, i. e., not found on the mesa and in the valley to the westward. These, in most cases, feed on such plants and trees as are likewise peculiar to the range. ‘ihe following are those species which feed on some of the principal plants, so far as I have observed them, ar- ranged under the heads of the plants: Sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri). 1. Thrincopyge alacris—larvee bore flower stalks. 2. Hesperobeenus n. sp.—adults eat newly forming flowers. 3. Thrincopyge ambiens—larve bore flower stalks. 4. Acmeeodera culta—larve bore in flower stalks. 5. Moth—larvee bore flower stalks. 6. Lecanodiaspis yuccee—seale on leaves. Yucca baccata. 7. Small weevil—bores in flower stalks, gambellii).—Fifth Also on SCIENCE. 315 Scrub oak (Quercus undulata var. wrightii.) 1. Andricus sp.?—makes a woolly, reddish gall on leaves. 2. Another gall-fly—makes a fleshy leaf gall. 3. Synergus sp. and Decatoma sp.—the first makes a large apple-like and very hard woody gall on twigs, in which the second is apparently an inquiline., 4. Geometrid moth—larva feeds on foliage. 5. Several species of Lepidoptera—larvee feed on foliage. Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis). 1. Pachypsylla venusta—forms a leaf-stalk or petiole gall. 2. Pachypsylla celtidis-pubescens—forms a small cir- cular gall on leaves. 3. Cecidomyiid—makes small round gall on leaf- stems. Many carnivorous bugs and beetles abound in the range. Butterflies are more numerous than in the val- ley. There are bees, wasps and ants; dragon flies, many locusts, larvee of gnats in the streams, including buffalo gnats (Simulium occidentale); and flies of many families, especially those of parasitic and creophilous or coprophagous habits. A single specimen of a peculiar large blister beetle (Megetra vittata) has been found in the mountains and nowhere else in this immediate region, but many were found higher up in western New Mexico. Tarantulas (Lycosa sp.), centipedes (Scolo- pendra), viflagrones or whip-scorpions (Thelyphonus) and true scorpions also occur. : Molluscan fauna: Quite a number of specimens of a snail have been found in several paits of the mountains about half way up the range. Prof. T. D. A. Cocker- ell, to whom I gave some of the shells for determina- tion, writes me that they are undoubtedly a variety of Patula strigosa Gould. In conclusion, it should be stated that the determina- tions of the plants mentioned in this paper were made largely by the Botanical Division of the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, and by Mr. Walter H. Evans, now of that Department also. A few were made by Prof. E. O, Wooton, botanist of the N. Mex. Agr. College. ) POTTERY ON PUGET SOUND. BY JAMES WICKERSHAM, TACOMA, WASHINGTON. Tuar the reader may not be misled by the above headline, I hasten to say that there never was any aboriginal pottery made either on the Columbia River, Puget Sound or in the regions northward to Alaska. Baskets of such strength, firmness and texture were made, however, that the absence of pottery was not a hardship upon the Indians, for they carried water in baskets, and even boiled food in them by the use of hot rocks constantly dropped in the water. But what lesson, if any, can the ethnologist learn from the absence of pottery on this northwest coast? Let us first look at the character of the civilization existing here prior to the advent of the white man and compare it with that of other localities—say San Fran- cisco Bay, but a few hundred miles farther south on the same shore. The Indians of Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska made and constantly used the finest canoes in the world, capable of holding fifty or sixty men. They fearlessly pursued the whale on the Pacific Ocean, far out of sight of land; and fastening their harpoons to the monster by the rse of inflated bladders, they caused him to float; and after his death he was towed by a line of great canoes to the shore; where, landing the huge carcass, 316 his captors feasted in truly Indian style. But a few hundred miles away the Indians of San Francisco Bay rode on a raft or bundle of reeds! The conclusion fol- lows irresistibly that a different aboriginal civilization existed from the Columbia River northward to Alaska than that on San Francisco Bay. From a careful exam- ination of the archeological remains it seems quite cer- tain that the lines connecting the middle type of civiliza- tion of the Puget Sound region with other American civilizations lay—one up the Columbia and across to the Ohio region, and the other by way of the Snake River, Great Salt Lake and the Pueblo region, and connecting with the Mexican country. But in each of these regions —in Ohio and Mexico—we find pottery in abundance, but none in the Puget Sound basin. This cannot be on account of lack of material, for the finest potters’ clay exists in great beds throughout this region on the surface, and many potteries now work it. What is the conclusion, then? It is that the high civilization of the Northwest coast did not come either from the east or south! This middle type of civilization on Puget Sound made splendidly carved war canoes; the finest basket work in America; featherwork like the Aztecs; metalics like those of Moqui; wove blankets equal to the’ Navajo; worshipped the sun like the Mexican, and made stone gods equal in carving to those of Central America; as carvers of wood they have no equals in America; they were artisans skilled in carving, weaving and painting; they built permanent homes of great posts and cedar boards, exactly like the Mongolian tribes of Asia—ex- actly like the Japanese; their beds were arranged on each side of the houses on platforms in the true Mongolian style; their language yet preserves the identical tongue spoken by the Apache and other southern Athapascan; many pure Aztec words linger north of Puget Sound—and yet they made no pottery! No nation ever lost the art of pottery-making. The art never was known to the people of this northwest country; though they are cousins to the Algonquins and Aztecs and brothers to the Apaches, yet they had not the art possessed by these people of making vessels from clay. Not a trace of the potter's work can be found in the Columbia River or Puget Sound regions. Although these people are of kin, yet in this particular they are as distant as the poles. It follows that the Athapascans of Mexico learned the potter’s trade after they left the early home of their kinsmen on Puget Sound; it also follows that the Apache and kindred tribes were mi- grants from the north, and it is true that the Algonquin was not a potter until after he reached the Mississippi valley. It seems to me that one certain result follows from the known facts, viz.: That the Athapascan tribes of Mexico, and possibly the Aztecs, migrated to Mexico from the Puget Sound region—for if our Athapascans came to the north ftom Mexico and settled in the Puget Sound basin, why did they not bring that most characteristic manufacture, pottery, with them? I take it that the conclusion must be conceded that the migration was southward, and not by San Francisco Bay, either, but via Great Salt Lake to Mexico. Humboldt, Prescott and other eminent authorities place Aztlan, the ancient Aztec hiving place, in the Puget Sound region, and certainly the absence of pot- tery here is a strong additional fact in support of their statements. If, now, it be conceded that the hiving place of the Aztecs, Apaches and other southern Atha- pascans was on Puget Sound, may it not also be granted that this is some further proof of the Asiatic origin of the same tribes? SCIENCE. (Vol. XXII. No. 566 DISPOSAL OF WASTE AT THE WORLD'S COLUM- BIAN EXPOSITION.* BY W. F. MORSE, NEW YORK. WHEN it was seen that the proposed World’s Fair would ~ occupy 600 acres of ground, have a resident population of thirty to forty thousand, and an average of one to three hundred thousand daily visitors, it was apparent that the sanitation of the grounds was a problem of some magnitude, and one that must be solved without the chance for an error, as after the opening there was no time for changes of plans. For the drainage the Shone Hydro-Pneumatic System was chosen. ‘This isan English apparatus, which receives, in tanks under the floors of the buildings, all the sewage from toilet rooms, and by compressed air automatically employed forces it into large tanks or reservoirs at one central station. The sewage is then precipitated by chemicals, the effluent run off into the lake, and the residuum pumped into presses which deliver it in solid cakes for disposal. ; Besides this sewage sludge, the waste food products from restaurants and the refuse and litter of all sorts taken together would amoznt to a vast bulk of waste to be destroyed. There was no convenient place outside the grounds where this might be dumped, the lake was im- practicable for the purpose; it must be burned, and this must be done on the grounds of the Exposition. The Engle Sanitary Garbage Cremator was selected as the one which promised best results, and two large fur- naces were built in the fall of 92. At the opening of the Fair the work of disposal of all garbage, sewage sludge, waste, refuse, manure and the bodies of animals was be- gun and has been carried on without cessation for six months. The results of this work give a better idea of the value of garbage cremation than any reports yet pub- lished. The two furnaces used crude petroleum oil as fuel, atomized this by air, obtained the power from an electric” motor, and with a pressure of twe:ve ounces of air and using six to seven gallons of oil per hour for each burner, obtained as high a degree of heat and did the same work which would be done by a steam burner using 120 lbs. pressure of steam and a much larger amount of fuel. The sewage cake contained fifty-eight per cent of liquid, and of the remainder only eighteen per cent was combustible. The garbage contained water in large amounts, rising sometimes from sixty to eighty per cent. Because of the necessity of being always open for inspec- tion, more men were employed than would usually be needed, thus adding extra expense. There was at no time any discharge of odors, fumes or smoke from the chimney; the results of combustion (car- bonic acid gas) were colorless and invisible, and being discharged fifty feet from the ground at a temperature of 1,000° were quickly dissipated. The cost of labor and fuel was from sixty to seventy cents per ton, the sludge costing considerably more than the garbage. At other places where furnaces of this same type are employed, this cost has been brought down to eight to twelve cents per cubic yard, equivalent to twenty to thirty cents per ton. The bodies of animals—four horses, two camels, cows, deer, elk, pigs, dogs, etc., were destroyed with ease and speed. The Engle furnaces are constructed with two fires, the first or primary fire burning the garbage and waste by direct application of flame, the smoke, gases and fumes from this combustion being driven forward into a second *Extract from paper read at World’s Public Health Congress, Chicago, Oct. 10-14, 1893. December 8, 1893.] fire at the other end of the furnace., Combustion is as- sisted by hot air inlets and by combustion chambers, thus making it possible to consume the most offensive matter, to destroy or convert into gas the product of this combus- tion, and to do this with speed and economy at places near to houses and in the presence of large numbers of people. The garbage and sewage sludge resulting from the presence of twenty-seven and one-quarter million of persons has been destroyed in six months to the entire satisfaction of the Exposition authorities and under the observation and in the presence of thousands of persons. The furnace received the highest awards in medals. BIRD NOTES. BY MORRIS GIBBS, KALAMAZOO, MICH. Raracrous birds and beasts retain their love of destroy- ing, even after years of confinement, and it is a well- acknowledged fact that among those rapacious animals of a menagerie which are reared in confinement, we find the most ferocious and destructive examples, if they once escape and become aware of their power. As a fitting illustration of this principle of general acceptance, the following instance is offered: A friend of mine took two half-grown young from a nest of the great horned owl, Bubo virginianus (Gmel.), five years ago last spring. These birds were always kept in confinement and were never in the presence of other birds or mammals which might have formed their food in the wild state. Within a few months past the pair escaped from their pen, and instead of flying to the woods, they immediately sought out a hen-house at a neighbor's less than sixty rods distant, entered it and mangled and killed over a dozen chickens. The owner of the hennery appeared on the scene and caught the owls red-handed in the midst of the carnage. This is certainty a much more destructive onslaught than is recorded from the visitations of wild owls in my experience. In watching the gulls which follow the steamers on the sea or great lakes, the question has often occurred to me, Do these same birds follow the boat day after day, or do the birds of the day drop out and others take their place? I have repeatedly noticed individuals leave one steamer and follow another, oftentimes in a different course and sometimes directly opposite to the formerly selected route. Of course during the nesting season gulls or other birds cannot fly to any great distance, but in the summer, fall and winter months they certainly can and do follow ships for immense distances. On a trip in a coasting steamer from New York to Jacksonville a few winters ago, I had a favorable opportu- nity to prove that a gull could follow a vessel for a great distance. Soon after passing Hatteras we noticed one of the gulls in the good-sized flock which followed the boat, to have an injured leg. The foot hung so that the pas- sengers could readily identify the cripple. When we reached Charleston harbor the crippled gull was still picking up scraps thrown overboard from the galley, but was soon lost to us in the fog which surround- ed us for hours while we waited to cross the bar. The next morning, when the passengers went on deck, there was our gull which had met the vessel on coming from the harbor, whether by accident or design I cannot say. The cripple followed us up the St. Johns River, and was often remarked upon by the passengers who had come to know it. This bird, which was one of the larger gulls, but I cannot be positive in regard to the species, followed our steamer fully five hundred miles. SCIENCE. 317 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. x*,Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. writer's name is in all cases required as a proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number con taining his communication will be furnished free to any corres pondent. The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. A MISTAKE IN TEACHING BOTANY. The Attowine for some measure of truth in the article un- der the above heading in your issue for Oct. 20, I still think that the writer is in error in several of his recom- mendations and in some of his criticisms. Probably the system of teaching botany at present in vogue in many schools and colleges is far from perfect, but I very much doubt if the introduction of the changes proposed would effect any improvement. Some of them would, I am persuaded, be injurious. The writer condemns the old plan of a spring term in botany spent on the study of the phanerogams and fol- lowed by the analysis of fifty to one hundred plants, and he suggests if no more time can be given to the study that the teacher should tell the names of the plants and save the time for more important work, adding that, as for analysis, experience shows that a large part of the work, when not done under the supervision of the teacher, is accomplished by ascertaining the common name and then going to the index. He afterwards sug- gests that those who have been confining the study to the phenogams should give half of the time to the crypto- gams, and even adds that every one who studies botany at all should learn something about bacteria, smuts, moulds, mildews, etc, and that vegetable physiology should form an important part of the work of the first term. I cannot infer with certainty from the article if the writer is a teacher or not, but after many years’ experi- ence in the work it appears to me that any attempt to cover the ground proposed must end in failure so far as real scientific education is concerned. Consider for a moment the mental position of a class of beginners of any age and in any science, botany for example, utterly ignorant of scientific method and un- versed in scientific work, and too often, if beyond child- hood, mentally purblind from the pernicious habits of thought and work engendered by the book-instruction of which school work mainly consists. For such scholars the whole available time of a term is required to learn how to work, and the difficulty of studying even a pheno- gam is quite sufficient to engross their attention without entering on the intricate ground of cryptogamic botany. The organs of a plant, their parts, their names and func- tions, their description and the nomenclature, with other important but untechnical topics that can be incidentally introduced by the teacher, such as the elements of geo- ‘graphical distribution, economic botany, forestry, etc., are more than enough to fill the time while the scholar is wrestling with the elementary difficulties of the science. And the teacher of experience knows that a considerable time is necessary for the assimilation of even this mini- mum of knowledge, and that it is impossible to reduce this amount if any real mental discipline is desired, be- cause the organic law of mind demands repetition, varia- tion and attention before facts and their significance and words and their ideas can make a permanent impression on the memory and the intellect. Any other course can end only in a smattering, and in the past this method of procedure has too often brought so-called scientific teach- ing into disrepute. Moreover any one accustomed to working in the higher departments knows how little can be accomplished in the 318 hundred and twenty hours or thereabouts that form the available allowance in a single term, even after the attain- ment of a fair knowledge of phenogamic botany. To acquire the necessary skill in the use of the compound microscope will alone consume no small part of the time, and without this nothing of value can be done among the eryptogams. Again, to tell a class the name of a plant instead of teaching them how to discover it for themselves is to rob the study of much of its special value in training the fac- ulties of observation. This part of the work compels a close and repeated examination of the plant and renders the parts and their names thoroughly familiar as no other method can do it. And speaking from a long experience; I cannot believe that the art can be acquired by less practice than that afforded by the analysis of the fifty or more specimens usually required, unless, as is sometimes, and as should be always done, the description of the plants is made a part of the work. And this description should consist not merely of the filling up of the forms usually supplied, whereby the exercise is robbed of much of its value, but by requiring the whole from the scholar, thereby training him in recollecting what to look for without suggestions or leading questions. No practice in elementary botany is so useful as this. Of course a part of every class, especially if it is large, will shirk the labor when they are out of the class-room. But shirking in the way suggested -can easily be pre- vented by giving a plant which has no English name and in general by testing a scholar’s progress by the work done in the class-room from day to day. I need not do more than allude to the difficulty, I may say the impossibility, of supplying elementary classes with microscopes of sufficient power for the purpose ad- vocated in the paper here referred to, without which the study must degenerate into a mere absorption of what the teacher tells. This would be little more than a waste of time anda degradation of science to the level of a mere memory study. On yet one other point I must disagree with this au- thor. There was, some years ago, a disposition to begin the study of ascience at the bottom and work upward, and this in spite of strong remonstrances from many teachers of great ability and experience. Even a man like Hux- ley fell into this error, as may be seen in the early edi- tions of his “ Biology.” But afew years’ test showed the many disadvantages of this method, and the opposite, or older plan has been readopted. Whatever may be urged from the standpoint of theory, practice is unanimous on the other side. Steady advance from the known to the unknown is easier than a plunge into the mysteries of cryptogamic botany with its abstruse terminology and its minute, often almost invisible structure. For every one who might be attracted by the delicacy and difficulty of the subject a thousand would be disgusted and disheart- ened and would forsake the study forever. The author's illustration from geology is unfortunate because in teaching this subject the best plan is to begin neither with the superficial nor the deep rocks. This savors of book geology. The proper plan is to begin with whatever rocks happen to lie within the range of the student's investigation. Here again we work from the known to the unknown. The object of the teacher in every study should be to stimulate to farther advance, and this cannot, I think, be accomplished except by beginning with the easy and the obvious, and by assigning tasks well within the strength of the student. Ifa fair acquaintance with the structure of the phenogams and the methods of phenogamic bot- any can be attained in the first term devoted to the study, the time will have been well spent, and neither the SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 566 teacher nor the average scholar can reasonably expect much more. KE. W. Crayrore. Akron, Ohio. CORAL REEF FORMATION. In Science for Oct. 20, p. 214, I observe that Professor Perkins gives a succinct account of the history of the theories of coral reef formation. Darwin and Dana have, of course, their proper place in connection with the “sub- sidence theory.” Agassiz is justly mentioned as declaring that there was no subsidence in the case of the Florida reefs. Guppy and Semper are very properly mentioned along with Murray in connection with the new views; but my name is not mentioned in that connection. Let me, then, quote from a paper of mine read before the A. A. A. §., Aug., 1856, and published in the Proceedings and also in the Am Jour., Jan, 1857: “On sloping shores with mud bottom, such as we have supposed always ex- isted at the point of Florida, a fringing reef cannot pos- sibly be formed, for the water is rendered turbid by the chafing of waves on the mud bottom; but at some dis- tance (in this case ten to twenty miles), where the depth of sixty to seventy feet is attained, and where the bottom is unaffected by waves, the conditions favorable for coral growth would be found. Here, therefore, would be formed a barrier reef, limited on one side by the muddi- “ness and on the other by the depth of the water.” This is positively the first allempt to explain barrier reefs without resorting to subsidence. Captain Guppy worked out the same explanation independently long afterward, but on becoming acquainted with my paper promptly ac- knowledged the anticipation of his views. I quote from a communication by him to Nature (Vol. 35, p. 77, 1886): “When I arrived at the above conclusions I was not aware that substantially the same explanation had been ad- vanced thirty years before by Prof. Joseph Le Conte in the instance of the reefs of Florida * * * * The circumstance that barrier reefs are frequently situated at or near the border of submarine plateaus receives a ready explanation in the view jirst advanced by Professor Le Conte.” When I wrote my paper I did not dream of generaliz- ing my conclusions or of invalidating Darwin’s theory ex- cept as applied to Florida. The subsidence theory was to me then, as it is now, the most probable general the- ory for the Pacific reefs. I am little disposed to make reclamations. Except on the score of history, it matters little who first brings forward an idea. My paperis now thirty-seven years old. In the midst of all these discus- sions of new views I have been silent. My paper, there- fore, has almost dropped out of the memory of the younger generation of naturalists. This is my only ex- cuse for bringing it up now. JosrpH Lr Conve. Berkeley, Cal., Nov. 10 BOOK-REVIEWS. Tables for the Determination of the Rock-forming Minerals. By F. Lorwryson-Lessine. Translated by J. W. Greg- ory. New York and London, Macmillan & Co. 55p., Svo., $1.25. Tue literature of micropetrology has of late received an interesting addition in the shape of a translation by J. W. Gregory of F. Loewinson-Lessing’s tables for the deter- mination of rock-forming minerals. Unlike the Hiilfsta- bellen zur Mikroskopischen Mineralbestimmung of Rosen- busch, or the Tableaux des Mineraux des Roches of Michel, Levy and Lacroix, the work is something more than a bare list of the rock-forming minerals with their optical] properties, but has for its avowed purpose an attempt to apply to micropetrology the system “so long applied in December 8, 1893.] botany for the rapid determination of plants by using one character after another.” In carrying out the scheme six tables are given, of which the first is synoptic, while the second deals with the methods of determination of min- erals by the aid of polarized light; in the third the mor- phological character of the minerals is made the distin- guishing characteristic, and in the fourth the determina- tion of the crystalline system. In table five the minerals are classified upon crystallographic grounds, aud in table six the positive or negative character furnishes the de- sired clue to identification. To the original work (pub- lished in Russian) the translators have added a brief chap- ter describing a petrographical microscope and its acces- gories. The work is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather as introductory to the larger works of Rosenbusch and others. To students beginning the study, and par- ticularly to those working without instruction, the book cannot fail to be of great service. The Mummy; Chapters on Egyptian Funereal Archeology. By E. A. Watus Bones, L.D., F. S. A. Cambridge, Uni- versity Press. 404p., with 88 illustrations, 1893, $3.25. In his preface the author justly observes: “The pres- ervation of the embalmed body or mummy was the chief end and aim of every Egyptian who wished for everlast- ing life.” Hence, a large proportion of the monuments and remains of ancient Egypt are of asepulchral character, and an intimate acquaintance with what relates to their mortuary beliefs and ceremonies well nigh exhausts Egyptian archeology. Impressed with this fact. Dr. Budge has chosen “the mummy” as the one object of study, but this in the widest relations. He begins bis volume with a brief sketch of the history of the lower Nile valley, furnishes a list of the dynasties, the cartouches of the principal kings, and a list of the nomes or provinces. Next, beginning with the Rosetta stone as a text, he describes succinctly the dis- covery of the methods of reading the hieroglyphic writ- ing. This brings him to his immediate subject, the mummy, its preparation and surroundings. Short but satisfactory descriptions are given of such appurtenances as mummy cloth, Canopic jars, the Book of the Dead, ushabti figures, sepulchral boxes, vases, toilet articles, scarabs, amu- lets, figures of the gods and sacred animals, sarcophagi and tombs. Mummies of animals, reptiles, birds and fishes receive some attention, and there are instructive para- graphs on Egyptian writing and writing materials, and the Egyptian numbers and months. The book closes with lists of the more common hieroglyphic characters and determinatives. The whole is presented with great clearness, and with a full, accurate and scientific knowl- edge of the subject. Asa practical handbook to Kgyp- tian archeology, it has no superior, within the lines the author has laid down for himself. The Outdoor World. By W. Furxuavx, F. R.G. S. New York, Longmans, Green & Co. 411 p. Our Household Insects. By Epwarp A. Burter, B. A., B.Se. New York, Longmans, Green & Co. 342 p. The Industries of Animals. By Freprric Hovssa . ported by Charles Scribner’s Sons. 258 p., $1.25. A History of Crustacea. By Rey. Tuomas. R. R. Sreperne, M. A. New York, D. Appleton & Co. (International Scientific Series, Volume 71). 466 p., $2.00. Durine the last few years the laboratory naturalist has very largely taken the place of the old student in natural history, and work on biological subjects in gen- eral is to-day quite largely carried on in the laboratory by means of the microscope and the dissecting knife. The reason for this can be largely traced to our mod- ern education, which, in trying to introduce biological Im- SCIENCE. - 3t9 subjects into educational curricula, must do it in such a way that the student can carry on his work in dif- ferent branches at the same time. This is hardly com- patible with a very widely extended field work. As the result of this laboratory method, laboratory text books and laboratory technic have become well developed and well known, and readily meet the student’s require- ments. The general public, however, will always be more interested in the side of natural history that treats with animals and plants in a general way, and books to be widely instructive must contain facts never to be learned in the laboratory. Even the laboratory natural- ist himself finds relief and pleasure in leaving his scal- pel and microscope and turning through the pages of some well written book upon the study of nature on a broader scale. The four zodlogical books above listed represent a better class of the popular scientific books which at- tempt to deal with phases of nature in a wider way and in a more popular style. The first of the four is a book designed for boys and young people in general, and has for its purpose the attracting young students to the study of nature. This book attempts to give descriptions and figures of such common animals and plants as a wide awake boy might be able to obtain by ordinary collecting methods. Methods of collection are given, simple and readily ob- tained forms of apparatus for collection are described, and directions are given the reader as to where and how he may most likely find certain animals and plants. In the different chapters of the book different groups of animals and plants are taken up for discussion and des- cription. The book abounds in figures describing the organisms mentioned, as well as the apparatus used and methods of preservation. The scope of the book covers all types of animals which the boy may be supposed to find, from the smallest (not including microscopic ani- mals) to the largest, and from coelenterates to man. It comprises the study of fresh water, land and marine ani- mals, and is arranged in such a way as to give the boy an interest and a zest in his study of nature in whatsoever line he chooses, and withal a deal of scientific informa- tion is given. The book is, in short, just the sort of text book that a boy wants to interest him in natural history, and the figures, many of which are colored, are such as both to attract and instruct. The second of the four is of quite a different character and is designed as an introduction to entomology. It gives an anatomical and a general account of such com- mon insects as one may find in and around his home. The anatomical description is illustrated by figures and is more or less detailed. Bits of history of different species of insects are introduced, many accounts of interesting habits are described. As the insects are taken up one after another, the author brings up for discussion just the sort of questions which the semi-scientific reader will desire to ask and have answered. He discusses such mat- ters as the poison of mosquitoes; the origin and habits of flies; the distribution and origin of cockroaches; meth- ods of getting rid of many of the insect pests, etc. Quite a number of excellent figures are given illustrating the anatomy, and a few excellent photographic plates of some of the smaller insects are introduced. This book, in short, gives the sort of an account of common insects as the elementary student in entomology may desire to have. Both of these books being English books, the species described and figured are English species. They are for this reason less valuable to an American student, but at the same time the difference in species between English and American is not so great that the books are not usa- ble here. The third book is even more entertaining to the gen- 320 eral reader, treating as it does of the habits of insects and giving little or nothing in regard to the dry details of anatomy. ‘he author attempts here particularly to des- eribe the industrial habits of animals, more particularly those of social animals. He describes the methods of hunting and the methods of carrying of war and the gen- eral methods of defence of animals. He gives an account of the various habits possessed by animals of obtaining and storing provisions, describing the habits of garden- ing ants and agricultural ants, and giving an account of the slavery that exists among certain species of ants as well as their habits of “cattle keeping.” He gives an ac- count of the methods for rearing the young; of the meth- ods of building houses and of the material and archi- tecture of the dwellings of various animals; discusses habits of sanitation and defence against diseases. This account is extremely entertaining reading and is full of the most striking incidents. The preacher will find anec- dotes for illustration; the lecturer find examples to en- liven his lectures; the psychologist will find many facts to ponder over and explain, and every one will find much to interest and to wonder about, so that, on the whole, a more readable book on entomology can hardly be men- tioned. The last of the four has quite a different scope and is of a more technical scientific character. The fact that this is one of the International Scientific Series is enough to determine its high character. The author aims to give in this book a complete account of the higher crus- tacea (Malacostraca). He was unfortunately, however, obliged to leave out the description of the Amphipoda, since the space assigned to him would not admit of their treatment. This book begins with a careful description of the general anatomy of the crustacean gronps, with an outline of their classification. This part of the book is, unfortunately, not illustrated by figures, so that it will be hardly intelligible to one not acquainted with the material beforehand. Then there follows, in separate chapters, descriptions of the various orders, tribes and families of the crustacea and a short account of all of the important genera. Numerous illustrations of more common species SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 566 are given throughout the book, and the descriptions and history of the different genera will prove of especial value. This volume of the International Scientific Series is an especially valuable book for a student wanting a thorough knowledge of crustacea, for it will enable him to determine the general character and relations of any crustatea which he may find, and in many cases enable him to determine any species at hand, although it does not pretend to be a systematic account of the crustacea. Even a more valuable book will it be for a reference library book. Unlike the other three books above given, this one can hardly be regarded as a readable book, but must be looked on as a work for reference. As such a book it will find a valuable place in the libraries of all students of zodlogy. Elementary Palaeontology for Geological Students., By Hryry Woops, B. A., F. G. 8. Cambridge, University Press. 222 p., $1.60. - Tuts little book is a text-book, designed for the student to use with specimens of fossils in his hands. It gives the general characteristics of the groups of animals im- portant to the paleontologist and a brief description of the most important genera of fossils. It gives also at the close of the discussion of each group an outline history of the group in the past. The book is of value as a guide to a student who has access to a good collection of fossils; but having almost no figures of fossils in it, it is of no use for any other purposes. It is not designed, indeed, for any other purpose, but the geological student will find it a convenient handbook to carry into a museum for refer- ence and study. —Messrs. Macmillan & Co., of New York, announce for January, 1894, in their “Book Reviews”: “The Study of the Biology of Ferns by the Collodion Method ; for Ad- vanced and Collegiate Students.” By Geo. F. Atkinson, Ph. B., Associate Professor of Cryptogamic Botany, Cor- nell University. Profusely illustrated. The book is designed for laboratory instruction and for reference on the development and structure of ferns. It consists of SOFTLY STEALS THE LIGHT OF DAY wher filtered through windows covered with } CRYSTOGRAPHS, | a substitute for Stained Glass that is inexpensive, beautiful, and easily applied. et CURES WHERE ALL ELSE FAILS. fsa] Best Cough Syrup. Tastes Good. Use ey Ve) in time. Sold by druggists. =I 1 CONSUMPTION§..& - Every reader of *‘Science” should sub- scribe for the AMERICAN ARCHITECT, THE OLDEST AND BEST 20c. per square foot, Samples and catalogue, 10c. CRYSTOGRAPH CO., 316 North Broad St., Philadelphia. _ BRENTANO’S, - Publishers, Importers, Booksellers. We make a speciaity of technical works in all ranches of science, and in ail languages. M Subscriptions taken for all American and foreign scientific periodicals. y Our Paris and London branches enable us to im port at shortest notice and lowest prices. REPORTS — Architectural publication in the country. Interesting articles on architecture, Sani- | tation, Archeology, Decoration, ete., by the ablest writers. Richly illustrated. Issued weekly. Send stamp for specimen copy to the, publishers, C) Ticknor & Co., 211 Tremont St., Boston. , 1869. THE 1593. Manufacturer and Builder. Published Monthly. A handsomely illustrated me- _| chanieal journal, edited by Dr. Wiri1am H. WABL. OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES, MoNOGRAPHS, GOVERNMENT Reports, etc. Correspondence solicited. ay {= All books reviewed in SCIENCE can be ordered from us. SEND FoR A SAMPLE Copy or Book Cuat. A Month ly Index of the Periodical Literature of the Wor!d $1.00 per year. BRENTANO’S, Union Square, New Yor Chicago Washington. London, Paris. SCIENCE CLUBBING RATES. DRAWING INSTRUMENTS. Every number consists of 48 large quarto pages and BUILDING 1893 Catal cover, filled with useful information on all subjects alogue | of a practical nature. Specimen copy free. For B O of Books on Building, sale by all newsdealers, Agents wanted every- O K S x where, Address Painting, and Decorating, also Catalogue of Draw- ing Instruments and Ma, | terials, sent free on appili- | cation to Wm. T, Comstock, 23 Warren St, New York, HENRI GERARD, P. 0, Box 1001. 83 Nassau St., N. ¥. Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Minerai Water For Liver, Kidney and B_ dder Troubles. < For Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. 10% DISCOUNT. TEN BOOKS FOR PRICE OF ONE SEND FOR A CATALOGUE OF For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism: and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright's Disease, Diabetes. For Hemorrhoids, Ets. We will allow the above discount to any subscriber to Science who will send us an order for periodicals exceeding $10, counting each at its full price. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY OF SCIENCE. Containing the works of the foremost scientific writers of the age.—The Great Classics of Modern Thought.—Strong meat for them that are of fullage. Single numbers 15 cents. Double numbers 30 cents. Address :—THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING Co., 1g Astor Place, New York, it bas been used medicinally and prescribed by physicians for nearly one hundred years. DIRECTIONS: —Take one or two glasses about a half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.59, Bedford Mineral Springs Co., Budfurd, Pa. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. December 8, 1893 ] two parts—Part I. is descriptive and deals in full with the life-history of ferns; Part II. deals with methods of study. The descriptive portion of the work is arranged in seven chapters, six chapters being devoted to the Leptosporan- giate homosporous Filicinez, and one chapter to the Ophioglosseee The chapters on the ferns trace in detail the development, morphology and anatomy of the gameto- phytic and sporophytic phases. The text is in no sense a compilation, but is written after a thoroughgoing and serious investigation by the author, using the Collodion Method as a means of bringing the material under contri- bution, so that in a very large measure it is written from nature revealed by original preparations. One unique feature of the work is the result of a critical examination by the author of the structure of the sporangium in the different orders of ferns and the dispersion of the spores. In the light of this study it is clearly shown that the customary statements regarding the extent of the annulus must be modified. The 163 illustrations are all original from camera lucida sketches, accompanied by a magnified micrometer scale, so that the reader can at once compute the magnification. All of the illustrations of sections are from objects prepared by the Collodion Method, and sev- eral of them from preparations made by students of the author during their ordinary laboratory work. The old method of free-hand sectioning rendered it an extremely difticult task even for an expert to make satisfactory sec- tions of the delicate prothalline tissue. The profuse illus- trations in this book, representing, as they do, the entire range of development, the chief features of anatomy and a comprehensive treatment of the structure of the sporangia of the different orders, are evidence of the comparative ease with which students may now, by this method, over- come obstacles which heretofore have stood in the way. From the intermediate position which ferns occupy in ~ SCIENCE. 321 the plant kingdom their life-history presents a general- ized view of the chief phenomena of plant life, and they are therefore admirably suited for studies of the biologi- cal aspect of botany, and form a suitable introduction to this phase of botanical instruction. The book is suited to assist students in laboratory classes in successfully tracing out the more difficult phases in the development of fern organs. ‘The descriptive part affords a convenient means of reference at any step of the work, while the practical part deals with methods, preparation of material and in- structions for prosecuting the various phases of the investigation, and is to be used as a-laboratory guide. By its use, as first tested by the author in his own classes, the students are enabled to make with precision and accuracy permanent microscopic preparations of all the stages of development. Especial success has been had in adapting the collodion method to the handling of the delicate prothalline tissue, sexual organs and embryo, it being better suited to such delicate tissue than the paraffin method, and the preparation of material can be carried through in less time and with far less trouble. Permanent microscopic sections thus made serve the purpose of study, for future reference, and, if desired, for class illustration. The descriptive part occupies such a prominent part of the book that it will commend itself also to those who do not contemplate the practical study, but desire, in compact form, a much fuller account of fern history than can be obtained in ordinary text-books. —Charles Scribner’s Sons will publish a sumptu- ous art-work, entitled “Rembrandt: his life, his work and his time,” by Emile Michel. Among their other books, nearly ready, are a new book by Dr. Henry M. Field, en- titled “The Barbary Coast,’ a description of a leisurely journey to many interesting points in Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli. Address N. York ] EXCHANGES. [Free of charge to all, if of satisfactory character. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New Wants. ANTED.--Books or information on the micro- scopical determination of blood and hair. Also reports of cases where hair has played an import- ant part in the identification of an individual. Ad- dress Maurice Reiker, 206 N. First Ave., Marshall- town, lowa. Meson Horsford’s Acid Phosphate Is the most effective and agreeable remedy in existence for preventing indigestion, and relieving those dis- eases arising from a disordered stomach. Dr. W. W. Gardner, Spring- field, Mass., says, ‘‘I value it as an excel- lent preventative of indigestion, and a pleasant acidulated drink when proper- ly diluted with water, and sweetened.” Descriptive pamphlet free on application to RUMFORD CHEMICAL WoRKS, PROVIDENCE, R. I. Beware of Substitutes and Imitations. For sale by all Druggists. I am desirous of obtaining the following back num - bers of Zhe Auk: One copy each of Oct., 1885; July, 1886; January, 1887; July, 1887; April and July, 1891; and two copies each of the following: January, 18386; Oct. 1886; Oct , 1887; July, 1888; January, 1889; Jan- uary, 1890. My own contributions in them only are required; otherwise the copies necd not be perfect Ihave in exchange for them two vols. (zoology) Mex. Bound’y Surveys (col. plates) or complete set of English reprints of ‘““Osteology of Arctic Water- Birds, etc.’ (a parts, 24 lith. plates); or other rare scientific reprints of any subject required. Ad- dress Dr, Shufeldt, Takoma, D. C. For Sale.--The first eleven volumes of Crooke’s Quarterly Journal of Science, 7 vols. xst series, 4 vols. 2nd series, beautifully bound, half morocco, as good as new, for $30. John J. Jarmey, 93 India- nola Place, Columbus, Ohio. For Sale.—A very fine telescope, length extended, twenty-five inches, closed, seven inches. Power twenty-five times. Good as new. Cost $25.00. Will sell for the best cash offer. B. S. Bowdish, Box 165, Phelps, N. Y. For Sale or Exchange for last editions of Standard Works on Vegetable Anatomy or Physiology: Practical Zoology, Marshall & Hurst; Elements of Embryology, Foster & Balfour; Zoology, Macalis- ical Studies and Shall We Teach Geology, Winchell. Also have duplicates of Experiment Station pub- lications which would like to exchange for any nt in my file. L. R. Jones, Burlington, Vt. For exchange.—Skins of Aegialites nivosa, Ereu- netes occidentalis, Aunnodramus Arldingi. A. rostratus, Chamara tasciata henshawi, etc., for native or foreign skins with full data. Send lists. A. W. Anthony, 2042 Albatross st., San Diego, Cali- fornia, ter; Guide to the Study of Insects, Packard; Geolog-| A GEOLOGIST thoroughly conversant with the geology ot the Southern States desires an en- gagement. Has complete knowledge of the eco- nomic geology of Iron, Coal, Lignite, as well as Clay and Kaolin. Five years’ experience with Geological Surveys. Address K., 509 West Sixth Street, Austin, Texas. ANTED.—Tuckerman’s Geneva Lichenum and Carpenter on the Microscope, Wiley’s In- troduction to the Study of Lichens. State price and other particulars. Richard Lees, Brampton, Ont. ANTED.—Icones Muscorum by W. D. Sulli- vant, with or without Supplement, but both preferred. Address, stating price and condition of books, Dr. G. N. Best, Rosemont, N. J. ANTED.—A copy of Mascart & Joubert’s Les- sons in Electricity and Magnetism, Vol.I. Ad- dress R. W. Clawson, Vanderbilt University, Nash- ville, Tennessee. (CCEEMIST.— Graduate of a polytechnical school, and studied photographic chemistry in Ger- many and Austria, Situation teaching or in ana- lytical or age laboratory. M. B. Punnett, Rochester, N. Y. 322 SCIENCE: [Vol. XXII. No. 566 SOME OF THE NEW BOOKS AT LOW PRICES. FAMOUS VOYAGERS AND EXPLORERS.—$1.50. Mrs. Bouton has added to her Famous series of books another and an unusually interesting volume, ‘‘Famous Voyagers and Explorers.” It is hardly comprehensive, as it gives the biographies of only a few typical ex- plorers—Marco Polo, Columbus, Magellan, Raleigh, and the more prominent of our modern American ex- plorers. Doubtless such names as the Cabots, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, De Soto, Cartier, Nansen and others are reserved for a second volume. Mrs. Bolton has a gift for this sort of writing, and she has here brought together a large amount of deeply interesting matter which otherwise could only be obtained by read- ing through a dozen or more separate volumes. The book is illustrated with several portraits.—Boston Trans- cript. Our Great WEST.—$2.50. Tue contents of the volume appeared serially in Harper's Magazine and Harper's Weekly, in which periodi- cals they attracted wide attention and favorable com- ment. Their importance fully justified their republica- tion ina more permanent form. ‘The book affords a more minute insight into the present condition of the West than can be found elsewhere. What it tells is the result of personal experience, fortified by information obtained from the best-informed and most reliable men in the localities under discussion, and set forth with admirable clearness and impartiality. It is a work to be read and pondered by those interested in the growth of the nation westward, and is of permanent standard value.—Boston Gazette. ? STATESMEN.—$2.00. In the preparation of this work Noah Brooks has aimed to present a series of character sketches of the eminent persons selected for portraiture. The object is to place before the present generation of Americans salient points in the careers of public men whose at- tainments in statesmanship were the result of their own individual exertions and force of character rather than of fortunate circumstances. Therefore these brief studies are not biographies. Mr. Brooks had the good fortune of personal acquaintance with most of the statesmen of the latter part of the period illustrated by his pen, and he considers it an advantage to his readers that they may thus receive from him some of the im- pressions which these conspicuous personages made upon the mental vision of those who heard and saw them while they were living examples of nobility of aim and success of achievement in American states- manship. MEN oF BuSINESS.—$2.00. W. O. Sropparp, who has just written a book pub- lished by the Scribners, on ‘‘Men of Business,’’ tells how the late Senator Stanford chopped his way to the law. ‘‘He had grown tall and strong,” says Mr. Stod dard, ‘‘and was a capital hand in a hay-field, behind a- plough, or with an axe in the timber; but how could this help him into his chosen profession? Nevertheless it was a feat of wood-chopping which raised him to the bar. When he was eighteen years of age his father purchased a tract ef woodland; wished to clear it, but had not the means to do so. At the same time he was anxious to give his son alift. He told Leand, there- fore, that he could have all he could make from the timber, if he would leave the land clelar of trees. Leland took the offer, for a new market had latterly been created for cord-wood. He had saved money enough to hire other choppers to help him, and he chopped for the law and his future career. Over 2,000 cords of wood were cut and sold to the Mohawk and Hudson River Railroad, and the net profit to the young contractor was $2,600. It had been earned by severe toil, in cold and heat, and it stood for something more than dollars.—Brooklyn Times. ORTHOMETRY.—$2.00. In “‘Orthometry” Mr. R. F. Brewer has attempted a fuller treatment of the art of versification than is to be found in the popular treatises on that subject. While the preface shows a tendency to encourage verse-mak- ing, as unnecessary as it is undesirable, the work may be regarded as useful so far as it tends to cultivate an intelligent taste for good poetry. The rhyming diction- ary at the end is a new feature, which will undoubtedly commend itself to those having a use for such aids. A specially interesting chapter is that on ‘‘Poetic Trifles,” in which are included the various imitations of foreign verse in English. The discussion of the sonnet, too, though failing to bring out fully the spiritual nature of this difficult verse form, is more accurate than might be expected from the following sentence: ‘‘The form of the sonnet is of Italian origin, and came into use in the fifteenth [sic] century, towards the end of which its construction was perfected, and its utmost melodious sweetness attained in the verse of Petrarch and Dante.” In the chapter on Alliteration there are several mislead- ing statements, such as calling ‘‘Piers the Plowman” an ‘‘Old English” poem. In the bibliography one is surprised not to find Mr. F. B. Gummere’s admirable “Handbook of Poetics,’” now in its third edition. In spite of these and other shortcomings, which can be readily corrected in a later issue, this work may be recommended as a satisfactory treatment of the mechanics of verse. A careful reading will improve the critical faculties.—The Dial. Any of the above books will be sent prepaid on receipt of the publisher’s price, less ten per cent.The same discount will be allowed on any new book, not a text-book. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, New York. e. ELEVENTH YEAR. Vou. XXII. No. 567. DECEMBER 15, 1893. SINGLE Copirs, TEN CENTS. $3.50 PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE. PERENNIAL PE a CONTENTS. Dropsical Diseases of Plants. Geo. F. Atkin- SS OLUiietoletelelsleisielelutelalsicin(clelelslele\cielalel«latalalalelofelel(a)eteie 323 The Speech of Animals. Howard N. Lyon, NG IDs cosdadoveoesebecacunoodacbadaoadana[CS 324 Interpretation of Maya Hieroglyphs by Their Phonetic Elements.—I. Hilborne TT. (Cresson, “A, WL, NYS 1D). >sonccooanpnconnoDoo[e 325 Double Surfaces. Henry L. Coar..............+ 328 Botanical Notes from Western Pennsylvania. Hubert Lyman Clark, Pittsburgh........ 329 Letters to the Editor: Feigned Deathin Snakes. J. N. Baskett.. 330 A Peculiar Flora in Chicago. Hubert Ly- Sia a aD aM aM aia santana nna aa en aK aMSMD I a aN gia i ai artes “Odd” Apparatus. In preparing for ‘‘stock taking” we find some 200 pieces of odd or shopworn physical instruments that must be sold promptly to make room for new goods. Price being a secondary consideration, we have placed these instruments at very low figures; often a mere fraction of first cost; and solicit immediate correspondence with all who can use such apparatus. We are sincere in believing this offer unusually important, and upon request will mail to any address descriptive circular No. 480, which gives full particulars. QUEEEN & CO., Incorporated, PE a ER TRE Fro eam Gears Ktepetestaredanc pote elatcinte isl ietalessierslelsicie/=ishere 330 Eskimo Traces in New York. W. M. Beau- Scientific Instrument Makers, champ aooousoodd0o08 SponvadoHon9spaRADDDAD oC 330 Philadelphia, U. S, A. A Miniature Water Lily. J. E. Todd 33 6 ral Catal No. 219 Feigned Death in Snakes. J. W. 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The new complete Catalogue of Macmillan & Co.’s Publications, with classified index, sent free to any address on application. MACMILLAN & CO., 66 Fifth Avenue, New York. 826 SCIENCE. (Vol. XXII. No. 507 Probably you take THE Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity do. lf you do not, now is a good time to begin. It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty and trees. Its writers are the foremost cents. Address: * The Electrical Engineer, 203 Broadway, - - - New York, N.Y, ae THE ae American Bell Telephone COMPANY. 125 MILK ST., BOSTON, MASS. This Company owns the Letters - Patent No. 186,787, granted to Alexander Graham Bell, January 30th, 1877, the scope of which has been defined by the Supreme Court of the United States in the following terms: ‘“The patent itself is for the mechanical structure of an electric telephone to be used to produce the electrical action on which the first patent rests. The third claim is for the use in such instruments of a diaphragm, made of a plate of iron or steel, or other ma- terial capable of inductive action; the fifth, of a permanent magnet constructed as de- scribed with a coil upon the end or ends nearest the plate; the sixth, of a sounding box as described; the seventh, of a speaking or hearing tube as described for conveying the sounds; and the eighth, of a permanent magnet and plate combined. 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Shoulders and Upper Back good for Round Shoulders wUCrENCE NEW YORK, DECEMBER 15, 1893. DROPSICAL DISEASES OF PLANTS. BY GEO. F. ATKINSON, BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT, CORNELL UNI- VERSITY. Recent progress in the study of fungi and bacteria has revealed many standing in casual relation to several plant diseases which were of a hitherto mysterious nature and which were supposed to have been due to atmospheric or solar influences. The effect has been to create a firm be- lief in the germ theory of plant diseases, and there is consequently a strong tendency in certain quarters to ap- ply the germ theory to all cases of phytopathology. The first fruits of investigations leading to the determination of bacteria and fungi as the cause of certain obscure blights of plants were either rejected in toto, or received cum grano salis. Now it is the fad to attribute all phases of disturbance, short of artificial injuries or those violent injuries produced by the elements, to the agencies of micro-organisms. It must be urged, however, that there are some purely physiological diseases of plants. But so strong just now is the .eaning to the germ theory that any departure from this path must be fortified by very careful experi- ments and inoculations with the germs associated with the trouble in order to carry conviction not only to one’s self but to others. The writer had occasion last winter to investigate a very mysterious disease of tomatoes’ grown in the forc- ing houses of Cornell University. Typical cases of the disease presented the appearance so characteristic of cer- tain mildews. The leaves were strongly curled and the veins on the under side were swollen and whitened. Large patches of the same kind were also found to exist on the stems. Contrary to expectation, a microscopic ex- amination did not show the presence of any fungus of or- dinary dimensions in the early stages of the trouble. The young and succulent tissues of the plant were strongly turgescent and the cells in the affected areas were stretched radially to an enormous extent. These tissues ultimately collapsed and in many instances the loss of water content from these places was so great that the affected parts of the plants died. In other cases the loss of water was more gradual where the turgescence and rupture of the cells were not so profound. Then the cush- ions of collapsed tissue were dry, and presented a tomen- tose appearance, and the effect upon the adjacent tissues was to interfere with the assimilatory processes, causing the upper parts of the leaves at these spots to become yellowish in color. On the stems there resulted from the collapse of the tissues elongated, depressed and black- ened areas in various stages of decomposition. These sometimes extended far beyond the first appearance of the cushions of elongated cells, showing that the trouble once started would extend to other parts of the plant. The question now to be considered was, Are these ab- normal extensions of tissue caused by the influence of some microsymbion within the plant? Healthy plants were inoculated with the material taken directly from affected tissues. No result. Dilution cultures were then made from several different affected places and fifteen different species of bacteria were obtained, three of Bacillus, three of Micrococcus, and nine of Bacterium. Cultures of these were made in liquid 1O0edema of the tomato, Bull. 53, C. U. Exp. Sta,, May, 1893. media and healthy plants were inoculated, but there was no result. These negative results from inoculation and also the fact that when using the necessary precautions to prevent the entrance of gems from the outside, no growth oc- curred when culture media were inoculated with material from the interior of freshly affected areas of the plant, led to the conclusion that the trouble wags due to some physiological disturbance of the plant, probably that root pressure, as it is termed, was greater than transpiration. The conditions of the green house were such as to pro- duce active and almost constant root absorption, while they were very unfavorable for transpiration, since there was very little disturbance of the air, the part of the house where the tomatoes were grown was poorly light- ed, and the winter days were very short as compared with the nights. In the open during the summer currents of air remove quickly the water vapor given off during transpiration. This, with the longer days, favors rapid transpiration. The heating of the forcing house is also such as to make but little difference between the temper- ature of the soil and that of the air, and also the temper- ature of the soil is such as to make the roots active al- most continually, while in the open there is a much greater difference between the temperature of the soil and air, in such ratio in the summer that root pressure and transpiration are more evenly balanced. Cuttings of healthy plants were then connected with the hydrant by means of rubber tubing, the pressure of water turned on being twenty to thirty pounds. The pressure of water was so great that in a very few minutes drops of water stood out at the ends of the veins on the margins of the leaves. In a few days, since this abnormal pressure was in excess of transpiration, cushions of turgescent tissue exactly like those developed under the conditions of the forcing huse, were produced. Another proof that the cause of the trouble was exces- sive turgescence is furnished by the relation of growth to the trouble. Where active growth was taking place in the cells the radial elongation did not take place. The increase in number of cells and the natural increase of the size of the cells were sufficient to accommodate the amount of water distributed to those parts of the plant. So that when there was no immediate interference with the growth of the terminal portions of the plants there were no cushions developed on the ends of the stem or branches for a distance of four to six inches. But just so soon as the growth by increase of cells ceased the cush- ions of turgescent tissue appeared. Alsoin the case of some plants on one bench, when the tops reached the glass roofing and the confined condition interfered with growth, the trouble appeared even to the extreme tips of the stem and branches. It is also to be noted that the short days and poor lighting of the house gave little opportunity for the metabolic processes in the manufacture of building material for the formation of strong cell walls. Recently a similar trouble has fallen to my lot to in- vestigate, which occurred on apple trees. Numerous blisters appeared on the trunk and branches of young and vigorous orchard trees. These blisters were caused by the radial elongatian of the phellogen layer of cells just beneath the periderm. ‘The tissues ultimately col- lapsed, and were then subjected to the attacks of putre- factive bacteria and fungi. Inquiry of the owner devel- oped a fact which was already inferred, that the plants were under such conditions that. growth was very rapid, and then during the winter and spring were subjected to 324 a very severe pruning. When growth began in the spring there were no leaves to produce active transpira- tion, and but few growing points to accommodate the ex- cess of water which the large root system was continually pumping up. The excess of water in the phellogen layer was drawn into the interior of the cell protoplasm by the vegetable acids, and since it could not filter out readily, nor be removed sufficiently fast by transpiration, the cells were abnormally stretched and at last collapsed. Similar troubles have been recorded as appearing on other plants, as potatoes,’ grapes, rose and plum seed- lings, gooseberries, beans‘ and pears’; and recently Hal- sted has recorded it on pelargoniums.° THE SPEECH OF ANIMALS. BY HOWARD N. LYON, M. D., CHICAGO. Tar animals have a means of communication among themselves through certain vocal sounds is a well estab- lished fact; that these vocal sounds are of sufficient range to express other than mere physical ideas, and thus to assume the importance of a language, is probable, al- though as yet unproven. It is towards the final settle- ment of this question that I wish to add my mite, and, while there is much that might be said, in the present in- stance I will confine my observations to a field but little explored—the attempts of animals to communicate with man. For the last three years I have had a tame fox squirrel of which I have made a great pet. Polly has occupied a cage in the laboratory where she has been, for the most part, shut off from the sights and sounds of the outside world. Although at times the laboratory has had other tenants in the shape of squirrels, rabbits and guinea-pigs, she has formed no particular attachment for any of them, but when I am about she is usually close to me, either on my shoulder or following me about like a dog. Unconsciously at first and later with a definite purpose I have talked to her much as one would talk to a young child. About a year ago she began to reply to my con- versation. At first it was only in response to my ques- tions as to food, etc., but later her “talk” has assumed larger proportions until now she will, of her own accord, assume the initiative. Her vocabulary appears to be quite extensive, and while, for the most part, it pertains to matters of food and per- sonal comfort, there are times when it seems as though she were trying to tell me of other things. When I first go out where she isin the morning she immediately asks for food, and untilthat want is supphed she keeps up a constant muttering. Later when her hunger is appeased she will ask to be let out of the cage. Often when playing about the room she will climb onto my shoulder and “talk” to me for awhile in a low tone and then scamper off. Unless she is sleepy she will always reply to any remark made to her. Her speech is not the chattering ordinarily observed in squirrels, but a low gutteral tone that reminds one both of the low notes of a frog and the cluck of a chicken. Some of the notes I have been able to repeat, and in- variably she becomes alert and replies to them. Unfor- tunately, the effort to reproduce her tones produces an uncomfortable effect on my throat, and I have been obliged to desist from further experiments in that direction. The 2Ward, on some relations between host and parasite. Proceedings Royal “Society. XLVII, 1890, p. 393-443- 8Gardener’s Chronicle, 1878, I. 802, and 1889, I. 503. 4Sorauer, Wassersucht bei Ribes aureum, Freihoft’s Deutsche Gartner- zeitung, Aug. 1880. Pflanzenkrankheiten, Zweite Auflage, I. 235-238. Goeschke, Die Wasser- sucht der Ribes, Monatsschrift d. Verein z. Beford. d. Gartenbaues in den kgl. Staaten, October heft, 1880, 451. SQuabius,.Wassersucht bei.Birnen, -Jahresb, d. Sohles.--Centralverein's-fur Gartner und Gartenfreunde zt Breslau, 1881. ®Bulletin Torrey Bot. Club, XX., 1893; ggz. SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 567 sounds that she makes are quick and in low tone, so the attempt to isolate words is very difficult, yet there isas much range of inflection as in German. Another reason why I believe she is endeavoring to communicate with me is that she has used the same sounds towards other squirrels confined in the same cage, and that, while she will answer any one who addresses her, she voluntarily will only talk at length to me. That she understands what is said to her is beyond question, and, furthermore, she will distinguish between a remark made to her and one made to some one else. I have had many pets that would answer in monosyl- lables to a question asked them or indicate by actions their desires, but this is the first instance that has come un- der my observation in which an animal has attempted more that that. When Polly first commenced “talking,” I regarded it merely as idle chattering, but further observation shows that it is not such, and that the sounds she makes have a definite meaning. Moreover, the sounds she makes in- “talking” are not the shrill notes of anger or alarm, but low, clear sounds that are unmistakably articulate. In my fondness for my pet, have I overestimated the value of the sounds she makes, or am [right in assigning to them the characters of speech? Why should an animal not attempt to communicate with man? The higher animals are possessed of a well-formed larynx and vocal chords. Why, then, should we deny or ever question the possibility of articulate speech? And, if they can con- verse among themselves, why may they not attempt to communicate with man ? Anyone who has owned a well-bred dog can relate numerous instances in which his dog has clearly under- stood what was said to it, and the readiness with which a dog learns a new command shows an intelligence of a high order. Although a dog’s vocabulary is of limited range, it has certain definite sounds that possess an un- mistakable meaning. There is the short, sharp bark that expresses a want, the low, nervous bark that means dis- comfort, the sharp, quick bark of joy, the low whine of distress, the growl of distrust, the deep growl of anger, the loud bark of warning and the whimper of fright. When to these is added the various movements of the body, cowering in fear, crouching in anger, the stiff brac- ing of the body in defence, leaping in joy, and many special actions, as licking the hand of the master or pull- ing at his clothes, we find that a dog can express his likes and dislikes, his wants and his feeling as clearly as though he were human. Anyone who, in a time of sorrow or de- pression, has had his dog come to him and lay its head in his lap and has looked down into those great brown eyes so full of sympathy and love, can never doubt that the dog understood all, and in its own way was trying to comfort. A friend’s cat has an unmistakable sound for yes and no. The former is a low meyouw, while the latter is a short, sharp m’yoww. If Tom wants to go out that fact is made manifest by a quick meyouw’. If, perchance, anyoue should be in the chair which Tom regards as_ his especial property, no regard for propriety restrains him from indicating that fact and unceremoniously ordering the instructor out. His me'youw’ on such an occasion can not be mistaken. Instances of this sort are not uncom- mon and ordinarily fail to attract attention, but is there not here a field that will well repay a careful investiga- tion ? : Until my pet squirrel commenced her performances I regarded these things as a matter of course, but her chat- tering has raised with me the question, Is it not possible that our animal friends.are endeavoring in their own way to talk to us as we talk to them? December 15, 1893. | SCIENCE: PuBLISHED BY N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broapway, New York. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in advance, one hundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. 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The name and ad- - dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The “Exchange’’ column is likewise open. INTERPRETATION OF MAYA HIEROGLYPHS BY THEIk PHONETIC ELEMENTS.—I. BY HILBORNE T. CRESSON, A. M:, M. D- Tue intent of this article is to demonstrate, as briefly as possible, the method pursued in my endeavor to analyze the Maya hieratic and demotic script by the phonetic elements of which it is composed. So far as the work has progressed the indications are that the Maya graphic system, like that of other early peoples, is based upon a primitive ideographism, most of its ele- ments being derived from motives suggested by organic or inorganic nature and objects invented by man for his necessities. The symbols were gradually given phonetic significance, and had advanced to that stage which Dr. D. G. Brinton has designated the itkonomatic. The Maya script, like the ancient Mexican, is largely of this char- acter. There are indications that the Maya script had begun to enter a stage even more advanced than that of the ikonomatic. At times sounds even so meaningless as that of a single letterare to be remarked; this is very rare. It is not my intent to advocate that they had ar- rived at a stage where each sound was indicated by a certain element or sign. They had, however, reached a point in their progression toward an alphabetic method where we find ideographic suggestions, phonetic char- acters and phonetic additions, intermingled. Particular attention is called to the assertion ‘‘begun to enter a more advanced stage” for the ikonomatic method prevailing, in the majority of cases, itis evident that the advance into another stage was but in process of transition. The consonant sounds are indicated by the characters, yet syllabic characters frequently appear. Vowel fluc- tuation is one of the most important factors in Maya script, and the various combinations produced by the Maya scribes require careful and especial study. The sign v-s is proposed for this peculiarity where it occurs. For instance, Fig. 122 isa genuine syllabic character, the guttural consonant k, whose variants play an im- portant part in Maya script. Its phonetic values seem to be kan, ka v-s, an y-s, k. Where ka y-s is indicated it is meant that this element and its variants may have any of the phonetic values, ka, ke, ki, ko; ak, ek, ik, ok, and that an v-s may — an, en, in, on; na, ne, ni, no. It is to be remarked that this method of using a syllable and portions of a syllable is quite common in Maye script. The element ban, Fig. 135, has the phonetic SCIENCE. SB) value of ban, ba v-s, an v-s. The syllable cab is repre- sented by Fig. 125;it has the phonetic value of cab, cav-s, ba v-s, and also the additional phonetic value of Ma v-s. The character of the Maya language explains these peculiarities, most of its roots being monosyllables or dissyllables, and, as in all languages, largely mono- syllabic, there are many significations attached toa single word. Cab, for instance, has twelve or more dif- ferent meanings. The face glyphs and drawings that accompany demotic script, and the sculptured repre- sentations that appear with hieratic script, it is my opinion, are composites of phonétic elements and ideo- graphic suggestion, and it is an important question whether the peculiar ornamentations or decorations of the ancient Mayan structures of southern Mexico are not closely allied to these composites. This has already been suggested by me in other publications. The plates accompanying this article, from Fig. 1 to Fig. 192, give a series of elements to which certain phonetic values have been assigned, these having been frequently repeated in new combinations with probable results, corresponding in some cases with the interpre- tations of De Rosny, De Charency and Thomas. They are now offered for consideration to Mayastudents, and as a basis for future progress in the work, subject to further alteration and change. An interesting fact is their resemblance to many of the phonetic elements of the day signs of the Chilan Balam of Kaua, which is a demotic form of the script that can readily be traced to that of the older codices. Most of the phonetic elements obtained by me and given in this article are derived from analyses of the day signs of Landa and a few of the month signs; from analyses of the hieratic script of Palenque, the Yucatec stone of the Leyden Museum and a vase in the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, found at Kabahr by Mr. Edward Thompson, United States Consul to Merida, Yucatan. The inscription on this vase is, in the opinion of Dr. D. G. Brinton and myself, a beautiful example of the demotic form of hieratic script. Variants of some cf the phonetic ele- ments on this vase may be seenin Figs. 1, 3, 4, 8, 10, 19, 22, 27, 43, 84, 85, 92, 122. Especial attention is called to the fact that many variants exist of the pho- netic elements given in my list, and to use them one must habituate himself to these variations. Vowel fluc- tuation is the only method, in my opinion, that can ex- plain some of the combinations used by the scribes in forming their glyphs. Especially is this puzzling in more demotic forms of script, yet I venture to say that there are but few of the day signs of the Chilan Balam of Kaua that cannot be analyzed by my method, and their evolution from those of Landa demonstrated. Space will not permit further discussion of this interest- ing subject. It is to be remarked before beginning our list of values assigned phonetic elements that the consonant x or sh is interchangeable with that of ch. I, 2, 3, 4 = Hav-s, a, kan v-s, ka y-s, an v-s. 7, 8, 9, 10 = Cab, ca v-s, ba v-s, ma v-s, m. II, 154, a, b = Ka v-s, za v-s, composed of Fig. 6 and Fig. 1; see Fig. 154, a, b. Figs. 1 22 = Man, mav-s, anv-s. Fig, 23 to 26 = Nav-s. Fig. 26, variant of element in day signs, Chuen and Akbal. The day sign Akbal is probably akanbal = bal, “object” or ‘“‘thing,” acaan = “‘set up”; is allied to Fig. 162, the chak glyph, composed of ideo-phonetic elements suggesting akaan-tun or “‘stones set up,” symbols of Figs. Figs. Figs. 326 SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 567 the chaks or bacabs and of Haa=water Fig. 36 = hun, un. descending to fertilize the earth. Tothese Figs. 37, 38, 39, 40 = ki v-s (often used as a phonetic perpendicular symbols we have assigned addition). the phonetic values Hav-s, a, kan, anv-s_ Fig. 41 = Xi v-s. derived from Haa = water and akaan=— Fig. 42 = X. “set up.” They are among the most Figs. 43, 45 = 1, 0, u (vowel?) primitive elements in the Maya graphic Fig. 44 = ich, ik v- Sy, il, system, and their values have been repeated Fig. 40y— hun, un, ho v-s so often in new combinations that there is Figs. 47, 48 = Ca Ves, ich, ik little doubt in my mind of their truth. Fig. 49 = Xo v-s, sho, chov-s. Combining Figs. 1, 79, 9 and 6, an ideo- Fig. 53 = hun, un, i. graph of sky, water and earth is obtained, Fig. 54 = Cav-s, ich, ik. Fig. 193. Take Figs. 2 and 4 (adding Figs. 55 to 59 = Xo v-s, sho v-s, cho v-s. black color = ik or eek) andthe symbol of Figs. 60, 61, 62 = Xo v-s, sho v-s, cho v-s, Ho v-s the four bacabs or chaks supporting the (dotted aspirate circle). : Yih. 25. Tig 1 eh RN Eup, ~~ Te, Ube. G2 : “4 oho oF 4. 4a. 6 We 8. : q. (<=) (iid 2 See STOTT SN ANN (hast) BOOT aT aimee, 25. 2) do erie (uo) (aca) Bae ee i ! \ IN o oo @ & oh 2 es) Fy 55. She 5/®, 250? wg ae X “7 4% oe O50 SS e@ ee 8288 5 Z2e@ e Sy, es 7 42. 4B. by ER 4G > Oo © ThA om, SD cusmteera en tog peas’ 0S 6 Wo 4 Gp 0 Be oiGore . nN aa ea EMM (5 GG (Ce AMR 88 te ree" ee ee gs oot % 37 (( 88 y Cy a : 16. = 77. 2 TG BO. : (C)) ae 5 » We Zi) Te mx Se a Raa) Qo joZ., : i Plare.L. sky is apparent. Combine Figs. 1 and 6 and the chak, bacab, or ‘‘wind symbol,” Fig. 1541s obtained—the so-called ‘‘cross.” There is more method than accident in these combinations, a strong proof that the elements composing the glyphs are pho netic, as they stand for the sound of the name of the thing represented = ikono- matic. 29, 30 = Kav-s, a. Hspecially allied to 4 sounds; probably a vowel element. Is used as a phonetic addition in certain glyphs, e. g., Fig. 100, day sign kan. Figs. 31, 33 = Xo v-s or sho v-s, cho v-s. Figs. 32, 34, 35, 352 kan v-s, ka v-s, an v-s. Figs. 27, 28, Figs. 63 to 69 = Xa v-s, sha v-s, cha v-s, Ha y-s (aspirate line with phonetic addition). Figs. 27 and 43. Fig. 70 = Xan, Xa v-s, shan, chan, cha v-s, Ha v-s. Fig. 72 = Xo v-s, sho y-s, zo v-s, cho v-s, Ho v-s. Figs. 722, 73 = Xan, Xa y-s, an v-s, chan v-s, Ha v-s, cha v-s, Ha v-s. Figs. 737, 73° = Xan, Xa v-s, an, cha v-s, Hav-s. Fig. 735 = Xo v-s, cho v -S, Ho v-s. Figs. 74 to 78 = Xan, shan, chan, zhan, Xa v-s, chav-s, an v-Ss, Ha v-s. Figs. 79 to 80 = Kan, chan, ka v-s, cha v-s, an v-s. (Motive derived from the life line of the serpent kan; see Fig. 192). ites, 81 to 86 = Man, Ma v- -S, an V-S. December 15, 1893. | Figs. 87 to 88 = Chav-s, Xa v-s, sha v-s. Figs. 89 to 91 = Cha v-s, Xa v-s, sha v-s. (From Chilan Balam of Kaua). Fig. 92 = Cha v-s (ch'i glyph from ch’i to bite, pinch, cling to; phonetic addition in this case indi- cates its value to = i; see Fig. 43). Fig. 93 = Cha v-s. Figs. 933, 94 = Ah, u (Generally used as a prefix; its phonetic elements are a variant of Figs. 92 and 93, Fig. 48 and Fig 163, expressing cha v-s, Ha v-s, from which ah is obtained. Its u value is suggested by chu from cha y-s). Figs. 95 to 98 = Cha v-s, chan, an v-s, Ha v-s. Fig. 99 shows this element combined in a circle, see Fig. 171, glyph of kukulkan; see also day signs Muluc, kan, cib, akbal and their variants. See Figs. 100, ror. In Fig. ro2 it appears in the well-known chak glyph of the Peresianus, whose phonetic elements express the words chak-ik = ‘‘God of Wind.” See also this element as it appears in Troano 22*, an upper row of glyphs. Figs. 1032, 103° = Chav-s, chan. Variant of Figs. 92, 105, 108; frequently appears with face glyph of the so-called ‘‘Long-Nosed God,” or kukulkan. Fig. 104 = Cha v-s, chan, an v-s; derived from Figs. g2- and 8; see sculptured representation of the “‘Long-Nosed God,” left wing of Palace at Chi-chen-itza; see also sculptures of Labna and Kabah, etc. Figs. 105 to 111 = Chan, cha v-s, an v-s, Ha v-s; ants of 92, 93, 103. Figs. 112, 113 = Cav-s, combined with the twisted line, as in the day sign cib. See Figs. 134, 135, 136, 137; it expresses ciban from which cib is derived. See also day signs caban and the cabil or honey glyph, Fig. 125; see also variants of this glyph in Codices. Figs. 114 to 119 = Chav-s, Ha v-s. Fig. 120 = Chav-s. The ‘‘pinching hand,” with crus- tacean-like thumb, suggesting by its action chug — tos bites pinche) seer Plates 24° Troano. Fig. 121 = Xan, chan, shan, cha v-s (variants derived from the serpent motive, Fig. 192). Fig. 122 = Kan, chan, kav-s, an v-s, n (variant of Fig. Ig2; see Landa’s n, renresenting the final letter of the word kan. The letters of Landa’s alphabet, viz: a, b, c, e, k, n, ka, ku, x, are all derived from kan elements, and are attempts of a Maya scribe, or Landa himself (?), to approximate to the sounds of the Castilian alphabet such as ah, bay, thay, é or a, ain-nay, aikeys; k does not exist in the Spanish alphabet, but is represented in Maya script, not only by variants of the serpent line, Fig. 192, but also by a face glyph, which is a composite of phonetic elements having the values of kan, ka v-s, cha v-s; see Figs. 172 to 177. It is not only ikonomatic recalling ku = ‘‘a god,” butis used with the phonetic value of kan, ka v-s. The addition of the hissing aspirate, half circle, Fig. 1728, gives it the phonetic value of x or sh, also of ch. Fig. 123 = Ca v-s, cha v-s; is a variant of Figs. 192 and 122. See face glyph of kukulkan (so-called vari- SCIENCE. 327 Long-Nosed God) in Codices and hieratic script. Figs. 125 to 127 = Glyph expressing cabil = “‘honey.” Pig. 126 = ‘‘L curve.” Fig. 123 — Kab or cab, honey glyph (see Peresianus, Plate 23) composite of Fig. r27 = ca and the twisted line ban, Fig. 135, 137; see variants of the day signs cib and caban in codices. The dotted aspirate line also ap- pears as one of its components, Figs. 63 and 66 = cha. From the element, Fig. 113 and Fig. 127, we obtain the word caban, suggesting cab, and this prefixed to the il curve, Fig. 126, gives cabil = ‘‘honey.” The glyphs underneath this compound glyph are variants of Figs. 118 and 119 and = cha. The element placed between is a variant of Fig. 63, with the vowel ele- ment == a above; one of its phonetic values is also cha. The glyph to the right is the prehx Fig. 93 = ini this case, u. We, therefore, obtain the suggestion u-cabil = “honey” or “‘sweets.” Cha. is repeat- ed several times. In certain glyphs we frequently find repetitions of certain sounds as if the scribe desired to prevent any mistake in the meaning of the glyph, or else considered their addition as pho- netic elements improved the appearance of the glyph. It cannot be denied that the arrangement of the phonetic elements composing these glyphs has a high de- gree of artistic excelience. The 1 curve, Fig. 126, in the giyph just anaiyzed, is combined with Fig. 53, one of whuse val- ues isi. We see given in glyphs Figs. 128 and 129 (refer to Plate 22* Troano) ap- pearing in connection with the representa- tion of an armadillo caught beneath a trap. On the top of tne wooden bars composing the trap are three glyphs shown in my Fig 136. It has for component parts three smali squares, variants of Fig. 35+, one of whose vaiues == cha. Joined to it is thel curve, see Figs. 126 and 130, giving chal. The element Fig. 74isrepresented = chav-s or xa v-s, cha v-s, from which we ob- tain by vowel fluctuation che or xe; suf- fixing this to chal or xal we ubtain chalche. The glyphs, Figs. 128 and 129, either rep- resent pieces of calcareous rock, chaiche, placed upon the bars of the trap, or else the word is used to recall the word che = “wood.” The glyph itself may represent round bars of woud calche that have been sawed across and laid on top of the trap or cage drawn by the scribe. If the inter- pretation ‘‘wooden bar’ be accepted it coincides with and proves the interpreta- tion of Dr. Thomas to be correct. The method herein set forth, in fact, coincides in its resuits with many of the interpreta- tions made by my colleague of the Bureau of Ethnology, Dr. Thomas, and one method of procedure is, in fact, but a check upon the other. Figs. 131 and 132 == Co or kuy-s, chu v-s (see day sign chuen). In the day sign akbal these same elements appear placed in a perpendicular position. Its value, instead of being ku or chu, as in chuen, is ak or ach, derivec 328 from ku v-§ ot cht v-s, thus: ka, ke, ki, ko; ak, ek, ik, ok. Itis an excellent ex- ample of how the same elements appear in new combinations with different phonetic values, these being influenced by vowel fluctuation. Figs. 146, 147 = Uch v-s. Fig. 148 = Ka v-s. Figs. 149, 150 = Kan, ka v-s, an v-s. Fig. 151 = Yox, iax, yosh, iash, sh, h, xa v-s. The value of this element will be demonstrated in Part II. of this article. The phonetic values assigned a series of elements having been given, let me proceed to apply some of them to certain glyphs beginning with Fig. r60. This glyph, and variants of it, is frequently found in the codices in connection with a figure which has been des- ignated, for the sake of convenience, ‘’The Long-Nosed God,” whom there is good reason to think is kukulkan. A glance at this glyph shows it to be a representation of an elongated reptile-like head, an ideographic sug- gestion of the serpent god. Inthe nose we have the elements, Fig. 105 = cha, curved around into a loop-like end, Fig. 161. ‘the mouth line must not be confound- ed with the parallel earth line. At times small tooth-like squares (Figs. 28, 29, 30) are attached to it—similar to those shown in our Figs. 31 and 34. They seem like phonetic additions placed to indicate the especial pho- netic value of the element to which they are attached. In this case there are two squares attached — ca. As chi = ‘‘mout’’ we accept the suggestion as cha or kha (c == kin Maya). It will be observed that the end of the mouth line is somewhat curved upward (see Fig. 162). It might at first be thought the result of accident but an examination of other glyphs (Figs. 171 and 181) shows that this is not the case. Figs. 181, 186, 187, show the mouth element, Fig. 185, connected with a curved line, a motive derived from the life line of the serpent kan, Fig. 192. This line, Fig. 187 a and Fig. 133 has the phonetic value of kan, ka y-s, an v-s. Chan is the evident phonetic value represented by our element, Fig. 162. We shail see it repeated with like value in other face glyphs yet to be analyzed. Fig. 163 we have assigned the phonetic value of uch yv-s, and by vowel fluctuation we obtain cha (see values assigned ics Ow vay) emedbie element shea 167) )— (cha, (or kha or ka. The element shown in Fig. 165 is composed of the perpendicular line, Fig. 1 — ka, and the twisted line, Fig. 135 and Fig. 1534 = ban y-s, ba v-s an, b; its value an is here used, which, placed after ka, = kan or kaan. Fig. 165 by reference to the list at Fig. 45 —ooru. Fig. 166 — cha; it is a variant of the chi glyph, Figs. 92 and 93, 114, 115, 116,117. The Fig. 168,has a like value, as our element Fig. 99 — chan ot kan. ‘The components, Figs. 169, 170, 170%, by ref- erence to Figs. 7, 8, will be seen to have the value of ka orca. All of the elements composing this glyph are kan elements recalling ‘‘chu-cha-chan” or kukakan. Fig. 171 from the Codex Cortesianus is composed of a similar series of kan elements, the three perpendicu- lar black dots to the right of it repeating xo (= three) or chu; sois Fig. 181 with its components, Figs. 182, 183, 184, 185, 187; all kan elements arranged into a face glyph. In Fig. 172 we have another important face glyph which is a composite of kan elements. Curving upward around the mouth (= ch’1) Fig. 172° is the an curve, Fig. 34, recalling chan. The element in the nose position, ©. 173, = cha; see Figs. 109, 110, 111. The curved , Fig. 174, = cha. It is avariant of Figs. 87 and 88 ny list and appears in many different combinations SCIENCE, (Vol. XXil. No. 56 with this value. Some of them will be demonstrated in Part Il. of this article. Fig. 175 has already been used, as cha v-sin Fig. 160. The same phonetic vaiue is rep- resented here. Fig. 176 is a series of Figs. 1 and 2 = ka, and Fig. 177 are variants of Figs. 12 and 13, 14 = an, giving kan. All the elements in this face gl\ ph are kan elements. Where the dotted line Fig. 1724 is pre- fixed to the glyph it gives the hissing sound of x, sh, or ch and the glyph becomes xan or chan. Fig. 178 has as one of its components a variant of the kan glyph, Fig. 172. The face or head is represented in the act of sucking the nipple of a breast. Hoobnelil, Fig. 179. Inside of the outline of the breast, Fig. 179, is the ah prefix, Fig. 180. We have thus recalled by the prefix ah, by the representation of a breast, hoobnil, and by the glyph, a variant of Fig. 172, = kan, the name of the bacab or chak, who represents the cardinal point south, — ah-Hoobnil-kan. The glyph is taken from the series, Codex Troano, Plate 25*, and proves the assignment made by De Rosny to be correct. It is an excellent example of the ikonomatic method of writing used by the ancient Mayas, a similar method being used by the ancient Mexicans, and to use the words of Dr. D. G. Brinton in a letter received by me from that distinguished Americanist, ‘‘hence it proba- bly obtained in the Maya.” [Lo be continued. ] DOUBLE SURFACES. BY HENRY I. COAR, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. Tur double surface was discovered by Moebius, prob- ably about 1858, and he called attention to some of the peculiarities of the surface as he constructed it, and which has been called after his name, “Blatt des Mdéebius.” Since his time this surface has been studied to some extent, especially by German mathematicians, and many forms of the double surface have been found beside that of Moebius. The most recent work on the subject is by F. Dingledey— “Topologische Studien iiber die aus ringférmig geschlos- senen Bandern durch gewisse Schnitte erzeugbaren Gebilde” (Leipzig, 1890). In this work Dingledey gives a pretty complete bibliography of the subject. The exist- ence of these surfaces is, however, little known, and it may be of interest to describe the simplest form, aside from any mathematical interest which may be attached to the subject. The simplest form of a double surface may be con- structed as follows: Take a strip of paper, whose edges we will denote as in the figure by AB and CD, and bend it imto a ring, at the same time revolving one end through 180°, so that B will fail on C and D fall on A. Now glue 4 6 the two ends together. We shall then obtain a band, which has the distinctive properties that it is bounded by only one edge and has only one surface. In other words, we can pass from any point in the surface of the paper to the corresponding point on the other side of the paper without crossing the edge. This is the simplest form of a double surface. If, now, we cuit our band along the line marked EF in the figure, it will drop apart into a new band of twice the length of the former band, but the new band will no longer be a double surface. The reason for this is obvious. December 28, 1893. | In the original band we could pags continuously along the edge from Bto A (= D) to C (= B) back to our start- ing point. Now, in cutting along the line KF we nowhere cross this continuous edge, so that it will remain an edge of the new surface, while the cut will form a second edge of the new surface. We have thus removed one of the distinctive characteristics of the double surface, by having a surface bounded by two lines. Furthermore, it will be impossible to pass in the new band from a point on one side of the paper to the corresponding point on the oppo- site side without crossing the edge. ‘The reason for this will be more obvious in the following: In forming the double service we revolved one end of the strip of paper through an angle of 180°, about, say, the point H, or, better, the line KF. It is clear now that if, instead of revolving it through an angle of 180°, we had revolved it through an angle of 2x180°, the point B would have fallen on A and D on C, so that we should have two continuous edges to our surface, and it will no longer be a double surface. We can then say, in general, that if we revolve the end of the strip of paper through an odd multiple of 180°, before fastening the two ends together, weshall always obtain a double surface, whereas if we revolve through an even multiple of 180° we have an ordinary surface. By this means we can distinguish double surfaces from ordinary surfaces. We will now return to the surface obtained by cutting the double surface along the line EF and see why it must be an ordinary surface. The double surface originally had a twist of 180°. Suppose, now, we have cutit as indi- cated, but do not let the ends drop apart; then each part on either side of the cut will have a twist of 180°, or, to- gether, 2x180°. If we let tne surface fall apart we double the twists again, and our new surface hasa twist of 4x180°, and it is therefore an ordinary surface. That this is so may be easily verified by cutting the band across and re- volving one end until the strip has no twists, when it will be found that it has to be revolved through 4x180°. If we cut a double surface obtained by rotating through 3x180° along the line EI’, we shall find that we have intro- duced a knot in our new surface, which in other respects will, however, be an ordinary surface. These knots will be multiplied, as we proceed, to surfaces containing a higher number of twists. It is easy to see that if we cut an ordinary surface, ob- tained by revolving the end of our paper through 2x180°, along the line EF, we shall obtain two ordinary surfaces, which are, however, interlinked. The same holds for surfaces with a higher number of twists, where, however, the interlinking becomes more complicated. -Another interesting set of results may be obtained by cutting the surfaces along a line parallel to the edge at a distance from the edge less than one-half the width of the strip of paper. The results will be different in the case of double and ordinary surfaces. BOTANICAL NOTES FROM WESTERN PENN- SYLVANIA. BY HUBERT LYMAN CLARK, PITTSBURGH, PA. On looking over my field notes for the spring and summer of 1893, I find there are a few facts the preser- vation of which may be worth while, in the hope that before long some competent botanist will prepare an annotated list of the plants of western Pennsylvania. There is not at present, so far as I know, any such list, and its appearance would be welcomed by all our local botanists. Whenever the work is undertaken it will be desirable to have as much material in available form as SCIENCE. possible, and so I have ptestimed to publish my im- portant notes in Science, hoping they will also prove of interest to botanists elsewhere. On analyzing specimens of Delphinium from the coun- try around Pittsburgh last spring, I was struck with the tich coloring of the flowers. There was not the least doubt about the plant being D. tricome, but, to my sur- prise, Gray’s ‘‘Manual” says the flowers of D. tricome are ‘‘bright-blue, sometimes white,’ while every specimen which I examined had ‘“‘royal purple” flowers. Think- ing that the trouble might be in my sense of color, I looked through the ‘‘Manual” for other ‘“‘bright-blue” flowers. I found Asler undulatus, Chicorium intybus and Campanula rotundifolia so given, and I should certainly call them so, but the Delphinium of this vicinity has flowers of the same color as Liatris scariosa, which Gray calls ‘‘rose-purple,’’ or perhaps nearer to Aster nove- anglice; which is given as ‘‘violet-purple.” Never having seen Delphinium growing elsewhere, I am curious to know if in other parts of its range it really does bear flowers similar in color to Chic_riwm or Campanula, or whether it is not a slip of the pen in the ‘‘Manual” to describe them as ‘‘bright-blue.” In the same work (which is perfectly invaluable to an amateur botanist in the east) Silene nivea is recorded as ‘‘rare,”’ and it is with great pleasure, therefore, that I can report it as abund- ant in several places around Pittsburgh. Indeed, I am inclined to think it is the most common representative of its genus in this neighborhood. None of the botanists whom I have consulted record Trifolium stoloniferum east of Ohio, and it is therefore very pleasant to be able to record it from Pittsburgh. On the 8th of last June I foundit growing in an open space in some woods about six miles east of the city. While it is of course possible that it has been introduced, it was growing so far from any house or highway as to certainly appear indigenous. There is no specimen of this clover in the herbarium of the Western Pennsyl- vania Botanical Society, and I am inclined to think this is the first record for the State. Gnaphalium purpureum is reported in the ‘‘Manual” to occur in ‘sandy or gravelly soil, coast of Maine to Vir- ginia and southward.” It is not very clear from this how far inland we may expect to find it, but certainly the implication is that it is aseashore plant It may be worth while, therefore, to record that it is not very rare around Pittsburgh, three hundred and fifty miles from the coast! I found it growing in Arlington, twelve miles south of the city, in June last, and there are a number of specimens in the herbarium of the botanical society to which reference has been made. These speci- mens are from widely-scattered points in the county, and would seem to indicate regular and not uncommon occurrence. One of the most abundant weeds in many parts of Pittsburgh is a species of Galinsoga, differing from G. parviflora in the scales of the pappus and being very hairy instead of smoothish. Dr. Robinson, of the Gray Herbarium, Cambridge, to whom I am indebted for many fayors, kindly identified the specimens sent to him as ‘‘a possible variety of G. hispida,” or at least so it may be considered provisionally. Similar specimens are reported from Milwaukee and Providence. Whether G. parviflora occursin Pittsburgh I cannot say, but I have not yet found any specimens agreeing with the descrip- tion in the ‘‘Manual.” Another plant which Dr. Robinson identified for me is also an introduced species reported in the ‘‘Manual” as ‘‘ratherrare;in cultivated grounds.” I refer to Veronica arvensis, two specimens of which I sent to Cambridge, supposing them to represent different species, they were sounlike. One of them was collected in open pasture land, and I found similar specimens:in 336 other places of a like ature. It appears like an intro- duced species, and I suspected it was V. arvensis. So far as I know, it has not been previously recorded here, and there is no specimen in the herbarium of the botanical society. The other specimen also referred to V arvensis was collected in the Allegheny Mountains near Altoona, and differed from the first in the size, shape and abundance of the leaves. It was growing on a hillside in the woods, far from any house or road and at some distance from cultivated ground, so that it appeared to be indigenous. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. «*,Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The writer’s name is in all cases required as a proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number con taining his communication will be furnished free to any corres pondent. . a i " The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. FEIGNED DEATH IN SNAKES. Ir was I who suggested to Professor Kilpatrick the possibility of the apparent biting of itself by Heterodon being in mimicry of that which was claimed for the rattlesnake. But I do not at all know that the rattlesnake has any such habit. I have often heard it from the herdsmen on our prairies in an early day concerning -our short Massassaugas, Caudisona tergemina (Cope). I shave repeatedly heard persons say that they had taken a small switch and teased a rattlesnake till, in its anger, it would bite itse!f and die. But after reading Dr. Mitchell’s statement that he had often injected the snake’s own poison into its circulation without any ap- patent effect, I grew skeptical on the suicide theory. Professor Kilpatrick’s narration to me recalled the traditions, and, knowing that this spread-head often mimicked the ways of poisonous kinds, it occurred to me this might be another manifestation. Cannot some- one inform us whether it be true that any of the Crotalide have, or pretend to have, this suicidal habit, and can we not have some further statements from herpologists as to whether in any serpent its poison is fatal to itself or its fellows? Analogy would indicate that it might be. Bee stings are fatal to each other, and it seems well established that scorpions commit suicide by their own stings under certain circumstances of -torment. Apropos of the conduct of Professor Kilpatrick's snakes being a ‘faint, instead of a feint,” it is perhaps well known that Dr. C. C. Abbott, in ‘‘Rambles About Home,” claims that the similar conduct of the opossum is really a spasm from fear (rendering the creature un- conscious), instead of a shamming of death. J. N. Basketr. Mexico, Mo. A PECULIAR FLORA IN CHICAGO. Wuite in Chicago last July I spent some little time in botanizing in the vicinity of the Fair grounds, and I was much struck with the peculiar flora of two vacant lotsin that neighborhood. One of these is at the corner of Oglesby avenue and Sixty-second street, and is very dry with the grass cropped short by grazing animals. Here I was surprised to find the ground covered with Potentilla anserina, which I have never found previously in any but very marshy places. Indeed, until I had analyzed it, I could scarcely believe that it was not some SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 567 other species. The plants were all very dwarfed, presumably from their unfavorable environment, but otherwise agreed perfectly with P. anserina from other localities. On the edge of this same lot was a thriving specimen of Habenaria leucophaea, also a plant of the marshes, and so out of place here. I am inclined to think, therefore, that before the extension of the city so far south these lots were marshes and the plants are but survivors of the former flora. In the other lot, however, at the corner of Woodlawn avenue and Fifty-ninth street, the peculiar flora does not admit of as easy an explanation. In this field the soil was rich and moist (though nowhere wet) and coy- ered with a good growth of grass and sedges. Here I found several specimens of Galium boreale ; and Calamin- tha nuttallii was abundant. The former, according to Gray, is an inhabitant of the ‘‘rocky banks of streams,” while the latter occurs only on ‘‘wet limestone river banks.”’ So unlikely a place did it seem for Calamintha that I sent a specimen to the Gray Herbarium at Cam- bridge, but Mr. Fernald, who very kindly examined the plant, assures me that my identification was correct. He suggests also that the species may have been introduced in that place, but I must say that this seems improbable to me. Perhaps some one more familiar with the botany of Cook County may be able to explain the occurrence of these two species in such an unlooked-for locality. Huspert Lyman Ciark. Pittsburgh, Pa. EskiMo TRACES IN NEW YORK. Sir Dante, Witson once suggested a connection between the Eskimo and the Iroquois, founded on physical structure. The habits of the two were so dif- ferent, however, that this is probable only in a slight degree. That the Eskimo once roamed where the Iro- quois afterwards lived seems certain. If the Northmen reached the shores of New England, the Eskimo must even then have dwelt along the coast, and archeology makes it probable that a large part of the Middle States had not then been occupied by the so-called Indian tribes. ; The recent collections made far north have been especially interesting to me as bearing upon some relics found in New York and Canada, and in a less degree in New England. The one-sided harpoon of Alaska differs in no respect from those which the Mohawks and Onon- dagas used three hundred years ago. ‘The half-circular slate knives found all through the territory mentioned are like those of the Eskimo women now. The Ninth Report of the Bureau of Ethnology contains other sug- gestive material. Through central New York, in por- tions of the Province of Ontario, in Canada, and along Lake Champlain occur double-edged polished slate knives, arrow-like in form, almost identical with those on page 151 of the report and some following pages. Rarely have I seen them single-edged, and, as they usually occur near streams, I have thought they were used in opening and cleaning fish. Almost all those I have seen in New York and Canada have slight barbs, a feature which seems lacking in the Eskimo knife. With us they are made of various kirds of slate, and I have one very broad form of red slate. Usually they are dark grey. The flat tong is always bevelled, and often notched. A very delicate and beautiful one I recently figured from the Oneida River. If the Iroquois used combs at all before European contact, they were very simple, but some of their later examples remind one of those of the Eskimo under sim- ilar circumstances. The wooden and horn spoons are also suggestive, the broad wooden spoon occurring December 15, 1893.] among the Onondagas yet. In both cases these may be due to anew environment. The flat soapstone vessels, with their many perforations, are earlier in New York than the Iroquois occupancy, and altogether apart from it. Many of them have handles, and they occur along the larger streams. The material is not found in the State, as far as I remember, and they seem to have been brought here by fishing parties. The common forms are like some Eskimo vessels. The figure on page 136, representing a man’s belt, is of special interest. as showing the reputed form and material of the primitive Iroquois council belt, after- wards made of wampum. The foundation of this Eskimo belt is like that of a wampum belt, but quills, or shafts of feathers, form the pattern instead of beads. Now, it is a clearly proved fact that the Iroquois and their predecessors in New York had no shell beads suit- able for belts, and very few at all. Loskiel said that they used small colored sticks. In a paper on ‘‘Hia- watha,” andin my ‘‘Iroquois Trail,” I have given some Iroquois stories on their first use of wampum, in some of which the wampum bird figures. One of these repre- sents Hiawatha stringing the quills of the legendary black eagle. ‘The Mohawk chief, however, cannot call down the sacred bird, and sends a string of partridge quills in return. An Onondaga told me that their early belts were made of the quills of birds or of porcupines, which were afterwards replaced with beads. The latter have been found on no early sites, and are quite modern with them. W. M. BeaucHamp. Baldwinsville, N. Y., Dec. 4, 1893. 3 A MINIATURE WATER LILY. Durie an extended tour the past summer in northern Minnesota I came upon a beautiful little white water lily. It is an almost exact miniature of Nymphea odorata. The flowers are about an inch and a half across. The leaves are oval-sagittate, three-fourths inches long. I found it only on the south branch of the Tamarack river, which flows into the northeast corner of Red Lake. It is there quite abundant. Can any of your readers give more in- formation concerning it? J. E. Topp. University of South Dakota, Dec. r. FEIGNED DEATH IN SNAKES. In Science for Nov. 3 is an article on ‘‘Feigned Death in Snakes.” Probably the writer is correct in his state- ment that the Heterodon does not (usually) bite himself just before feigning death. I recall one instance, how- ever, in which a large black blowing viper, in the act of feigning death, contrived somehow to get his teeth (such as they were) caught in the skin on his side, and he was lying thus when I picked him up and loosed the teeth. This may have been accidental. I have often tried to get these snakes to bite something—anything— my hand, for instance, and never succeeded. But I have occasionally had one of them strike me a sharp tap with the end of his nose—of course without doing any damage. Moreover, I have not observed that they usually eject the contents of the stomach. When one of them has recently swallowed something, especially if it is something bulky, he will often (perhaps always) eject it before trying to escape or feigning death. But other- wise, my observation has not led me to believe that it is a common practice. However, the thing that I especially desired to hear about was the action of rattlesnakes under similar cir- cumstances. I have never seen a rattlesnake feign death, but reliable parties have reported the fact; only they generally speak of it as the snake killing himself. SCIENCE. 331 For they all state that the rattlesnake does bite himself and then seems to die. (The quickness with which they appear to die is suspicious). Now Dr. Mitchell states, after much study and experiment with the poison of snakes, that the poison of a rattlesnake injected under the skin of the same animal does not cause death. It is about these animals and their apparently pretended suicide that I would much like to hear. J. W. Kivparrick. Fayette, Mo., Dec. 1. Dr. TOPINARD AND THE SERPENT MOUND. In the November 10th issue of Science Dr. Brinton has very properly replied to Dr. Paul Topinard, the eminent French anthropologist. American students, who _ have been so frequently told how much more the French know concerning prehistoric archeology than the scientists of this country, will find a great deal of satisfaction in noting the ignorance which the great savant Dr. Topinvard dis- plays in his article. I wish to call the attention of the readers of Science to the fact that, while Squier and Davis published an excellent map of the Serpent Mound (in Adams County, Ohio), Caleb Atwater wrote concerning it in 1820. So the eminent Frenchman has made a mistake of about sixty years in attributing the discovery to Pro- fessor Putnam. One can easily understand and overlook a mistake in locating or describing the small earthworks or western ruins on the part of the distinguished foreigner, but, after all that has been published about our greatest monument, the Serpent Mound, it is very strange that one whose entire life has been given to the study of prehis- toric peoplesshould have fallen into such an error regard- ing it. Warren K. Mooreneap. THE HARDNESS OF CARBORUNDUM. Rererrine to my article on “Carborundum” (Science, XXII, 141), it is there stated that the discoverer of this substance claimed that it would cut and polish the dia- mond. In the December number of the Am. Jour. Sci., XLVI., 473, Mr. G. F. Kunz states the result of an experi- ment made by him to determine this. A new wheel was provided, and, after several trials, it was found that the carborundum, though hard enough to cut sapphire and corundum, would not cut or polish the diamond. The carborundum crystals may be scratched by diamond points. The hardness is thus between 9 and 10, and it is, next to the diamond, the hardest substance known. Wm. P. Brake. LATE-BLOOMING TREES. Wuute at Brielle, N. J., I noticed, during the first week in September, several apple trees blooming quite freshly, and I have reports from Alpine, N. J., of pear trees and horse chestnuts being in bloom. Can any of your readers give an explanation of the cause and the effects (upon the trees) of this occurrence ? Watrer Menpetson. New York City. TELLURIDE OF GOLD, CRIPPLE CREEK, COLORADO. Tur native gold of Cripple Creek, whether obtained from the placers or from the veins, is remarkably fine, being worth twenty dollars, or more, per ounce. It con- tains very little silver, and appears to be derived from a telluride allied to, if not identical with, the species cala- yerite, which contains about 41 per cent. of gold. The telluride is silver white, and is in prismatic crystals, much striated. In the oxidized ores the tellurium has leached out and left the gold behind in a spongy condition, but retaining the form of the original crystal A purple- 332 colored fluorite in small cubic crystals is a common asso- ciate of the telluride. The rocks of the district are mostly granitic. The ores of high grade are successfully worked by smelting, rather than by milling. Wm. P Brake. New Haven, Conn. BOOK-REVIEWS. A Pocket Key to the Birds of the Northern United States. By A. ©. Avcar. Trenton, N. J., John L. Murphy. 50 p, 50 cents. Tuts small book, which can readily be carried in one’s pocket, gives a simple, usable key which will enable a student of nature to determine the family and usually the genera of any of our northern birds. It will be especia ly valuable as a field book for one to carry in short excursions. The Soil in Relation to Health. By H. A. Miers, F. G. S., F.C. S., and R. Crosxry, D. P. H. New York, Macmillan & Co. 130 p., $1.10. As the result of the recent advance in matters of hygiene many short accounts of the hygienic character- istics of water and milk have been presented to the public. The suggestion of soil in relation to health is a somewhat new one. Atthe same time, itis perhaps as old as any in general estimation, for every one has some conception that certain kinds of soils are not healthful. In this little volume of 130 pages are collected all of the general facts known in relation to the hygiene of the soil. It is dis- cussed especially in connection with the subjects of the water in the soil, the air in the soil and micro-organisms in the soil. The relation of the soil in the distribution of most important diseases is discussed, and the relation of ground water to all phenomena of health is considered carefully. In short, this little volume presents the factors which should be considered in determining the healthful- ness of any locality, so far as concerns its soil. The Inadequacy of “Natural Selection.” By Herpert SPENCER. New York, D. Appleton & Co. In this little pamphlet have been republished the three essays on the subject of Weismannism published by Her- bert Spencer in the Contemporary Review in 1893. These trenchant criticisms of Weismann’s theory are well known and need no comment. In this form the essays form a valuable addition to any library on the subject of recent views of heredity. The Native Calendar of Mexico and Central America: °7" Sen interest also on account of descriptions given | _, To read itis itself an education in the course aenuaT eneteetoundiembeddedinithesellong. |) o5. ccden™ thoushieand | Duerauure seu cto | Commercial Advertiser. . : preserved exudations from early vegetation. Published WEEKLY at $8.00 a year, free of By CLARENCE LOWN and HENRY BOOTH: | postage. Club Rates.—For $10.15 Tse Livine 12°. $1. AGE and Scrence will be sent for a year, postpaid. Rates for clubbing Tae Livine AGE with other periodicals will be sent on application. Sumple copies of THE Livine AGE, 15 cents each, Address, © Littell & Co.,31 Bedford Si., Boston, Mass. LIGHT, HEAT AND POWER. THE INDEPENDENT GAS JOURNAL OF AMERICA. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, KY. DELSARTE SYSTEM OF ORATORY. | A Book of over 600 pages of great value to all Delsartians, teachers of elocution, public speakers, singers, actors, sculptors, painters, psychologists, | theologians, scholars in any department of science, art and thought. | Price, $2.50, postpaid. | EDGAR S. WERNER, Publisher, 108 East 16th Street, - - = New York, | | | PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT PHILADELPHIA. Subscription, $3.00 per year, ii SCIENCE. . _ [Vol. XXII. No. 568 Probably you take THE Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity do. If you do not, now is a good time to begin. It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty cents. Address: ©The Electrical Engineer, 203 Broadway, - - - New York. N.Y QUERY. Can any reader of Sczence cite a case of lightning stroke in which the dissipation of a small conductor (one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter, say,) has failed to protect between two horizon- tal planes passing through its upper and lower ends respective- ly? -Plenty of cases have been found which show that when the conductor is dissipated the build- ing is not injured to the extent explained (for many of these see volumes of Philosophical Trans- actions at the time when light- ning was attracting the attention of the Royal Society), but not an exception is yet known, al though this query has been pub- lished far and wide among elec- tricians. First inserted June 19, 1891. No re- sy onse to date. W. D.C, HODGES, 874 BROADWAY, X ¥. PAGENTS $50 to $00 54= Ladies or Gents. Bestseller known. Need he i\|ed atevery house, place of business or farm my theycarround. “Home” Eleetric Moter “ runsallkindsoflightmachinery. Cheap- 7 estpoweron earth. Connected instantly to A wash or sewing machine, corn sheller, pumps, fans, lathes, jewelers’ or dentists” machinery, &c. Clean, noiseless, lasts a life-time. No experience needed. To show in operation means a sale, Guare nteed. Profits immense. Circulars free, P. HARBISON & O0., X-7, Columbus, Q A Weak Digestion strange as it may seem, is caused from a lack of that which is} never exactly digested—/a?. The greatest fact in connection with} Scotts Emulsion appears at this point—it is partly digested fat—and the most weakened digestion is quickly strengthened by it. “Por the enlightened owner of gardens and wood- lands this journal is invaluable.’’— New York Tribune. G = RNAL OF: PEA AJOU LAND A beautifully Ulustrated journal of Hor- ticulture, Landscape Art and Forestry, filled every week with fresh, entertaining, practical and accurate information for all who love nature or take an interest in flowers, shrubs and trees. Its writers are the foremost American and European authorities, and the editorial and leading articles constitute the best literature of the time on all subjects within the scope of the paper. | The only possible help 2m Consumption its the arrest of waste and re- newal of new, healthy tissue. Scott's Fimulsion has done wondersin Con- suniption just this way. “The foremost journal of its class.’”’--Boston Herald. “A delightful weekly companion.’’—Harper’s Weekly. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. $4.00 A YEAR. Specimen copy free on application. Carden ‘nd Forest Publishing Co., TriBuNE Buitoinc, NEW YORK. Prepared hy Scott & Bowne, N. Y. Alldruggists. 3 HANDY BOOKS. PRACTICAL ELECTRICS, a universal handy book no every day Electrical matters, fourth edition. 135pages, r2vo, cloth, price 75 cents. ELECTRICAL TABLES AND MEMORANDA for Engineers, by Silvanus P. Thompson, 128 pages. Illustrated, 64 mo, roan, 50 cents. y A SYSTEM OF EASY LETTERING by Howard Cromwell, 32 different styles, 50 cents. THE ORNAMENTAL Penman’s pocketbook of alphabets,37 different styles, 20cents. Books mailed post paid to any address on re- ceipt of publish price. SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, Mention this paper. r2 Cortlandt St., N. Y, “BUSY FOLKS’ GYMNASIUM.” A few minutes’ daily exercise b on our fascinating apparatus clears the brain, tones up the body, develops weak parts. Our cabinet contains chest weights, rowing-weights, lifting-weights, - clubs and dumb bells, adjust- able for old and young. /¢ zs the only complete exercising outfit ta the world suitable for use in living rooms. All prices. You can order on approval. Chest * machine separate, $4.50 and up. Educated agents wanted. Puysi CAL CULTURE CHART, with illustrated directions for de. veloping every part of the body healthfully, 50 cts. Sent for haif price to those naming this paper. WHITNEY HOME GYMNASIUM CO.. Box 2., Rochester. N.Y. The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. BOSTON, - = ~ - MASSACHUSETTS. A FIRST-CLASS WEEKLY MEDICAL NEWSPAPER. ESTABLISHED 1828. Terms of Subscription: In the United States, and to Canada and Mexico. $5 00a year in ad vance. To Foreign Countries embraced in the Universal Postal Union, $1.56 a year additional. Single numbers, 15c, ‘Jen consecutive numbers free by mail on receipt of $1.00. _ Pit This JOURNAL circulates chiefly through the New England States, and is seen by the great majority of the profession in that important district. As ameans of reaching physicians it is unequalled. it is under the editorial management of Dr. George R. Shattuck. assisted by a large staff of compe- tent coadjutors. Subscriptions and advertisements received by the undersigned, to whom remittances by mail should be sent by money-order, draft or registered letter. DAMRELL & UPHAM, 283 Washineton Street, Boston. Mass. Newepaper Clippings. 25,v00 in Stock. What do you want? Let us know. We can supply you. The Clemens News Ageney, Box 2329. San Francisco, Cal. Shoulders and Upper Back good for Round Shoulders a NEW YORK, DECEMBER 22, 1893. CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY—NO. XXXVI. (Edited by D. G. Brinton, MU. D., LL, D., D. Sc.) THE WOMAN’S ANTHROPO_OGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. Tr is pleasant to record that this Society held its one hundredth meeting in January, 1893; and in memory of this interesting occasion, it has issued a modest pamphlet with a sketch of its industry since its organization in 1885. It has had three presidents, Mrs. Tilly E. Steven- son, Mrs. Carter and the present incumbent, Miss Alice C. Fletcher. The Society is divided into six sections, occupied respectively with the six branches, archeology, child-life study, ethnology, folk-lore, psychology and sociology. This division might be open to some ques- tion, especially as to the distinction between ethnology and sociology; but if it is found to be a good working basis, that is enough. The finances are reported in a flourishing condition, and the attendance, as well as the membership, reveals a steady advance. So far as I am aware, there is no other anthropological society composed exclusively of women; although there are distinguished anthropologists of the female sex in many countries. It seems contrary to the true spirit of science for any scientific society to be composed exclu- sively of one sex. The pursuit of truth, especially that of general laws by inductive methods, should be epicene, and severed from all sex relations. The result of the opposite course in this instance is indicated by .the fact that three-fourths of this report are taken up with an article on “The Woman’s Movement.’ Good indeed, but much better fitted for a political congress than an anthro- pological society. should for the time forget sex in the search for truth. THE PALAEO-ASIATICS. Tuis is the name given by some ethnographers—Rus- sian and German—to a number of tribes, including the Kamschatkans, Ghiliaks, Koriaks, Youkagirs, etc, now inhabiting the islands and extreme northern and eastern coasts of Siberia ; the theory being, that at one time their aucestors occupied most of northern Asia and the Japa- nese Archipelago, but were dispossessed by the Chinese, Mantchu, and other Mongoloid peoples. They aresmallin stature (about 1.50—1.60), strongly built, head round, nose flat, eyes small and oblique, hair straight, beard scanty. Some interesting studies bearing on this question have been recently issued by Professor Gustave Schlegel, of Leyden, to whose fruitful researches in the Chinese annals [ have before alluded (see Science, Sept. 9, 1892, March 24,1853). He advances cogent reasons for be- lieving the “Land of Little Men” of these ancient chron- icles was Japan, and the small people from whom it derived its name were the Koriaks, who, he argues, in- habited these islands before the arrival of the Ainos, and were driven out by them. He supports this by the archeological observations of Prof. H. S. Morse, which point in this direction. The Ainos themselves, he in- clines to think, are the nation referred to in the Annals as the inhabitants of “The Land of White People,” and connects them with the European white race, both from the color of their skin, the character of their hair, and their full beards, traits which distinguish them broadly from their Mongolian neighbors. When women become scientists, they - Other identifications suggested by Professor Schlegel are the “Land of Gentlemen” with a part of Corea; the “Tand of the East” with Kamschatka ; the “and of Pro- fligate Devils” also with Kamschatka ; and the “Land of Tall Men” with the islands of the Ainos. THE ETRUSCAN PROBLEM. Tat in the centre of the classic world a nation arose, attained a high state of civilization and remarkable artis- tic and literary culture, flourished for five hundred years, then disappeared, leaving some of the grandest monu- ments of history, and thousands of inscriptions and extensive texts in its language,—and yet that modern scholars have been unable to decipher positively a word of this language, or discover an affinity with any other nation or race,—this is certainly an unique example. The efforts are, however, bravely continuing. In a little-known provincial journal, the Zeitschrift des Insterburger Alterthumsverein, 1893, Heft III, Dr. G. Klein- schmidt has an article headed, “Zwei Lemnische Inschrif- ten,” undertaking to show that the two well-known in- scriptions from the island of Lemnos, in Etruscan characters, can be interpreted by the Lithuanian and Let- tish languages. As these are pure and ancient forms of Aryan speech, his argument has just as much in its favor as those of the great Etruscologist Deecke, who also claims Etruscan as an Indo-Germanic tongue. Quite opposed to that view is the opinion—not novel— of Signor Gaetano Polari, who in a brief paper called “The New Etruscology,” printed at Lugano, urges and illustrates the similarity of Etruscan to the Basque language. Approaching the question from the side of pnysical anthropology, Professor Giuseppe Sergi, of Rome, in a careful article in the Nuova Antologia, Sept., 1893, an- nounces that a prolonged and minute study of the genuine Etruscan remains of skulls, etc., throughout Italy, has convinced him that beyond doubt they must be classed with the Lybian stock, of North Africa. He will shortly bring cut the technical demonstration of this. It. gives me a natural pleasure to mention this, as the many points of similarity between the culture, religion and languages of these two peoples were first pointed out by myself,—as Professor Sergi kindly acknowledges. THE STUDY OF FOLK-LORE IN ITALY. Few nations can claim the wealth of folk-lore possessed by Italy, and it is a pleasure to add that no nation is more diligent in the collection and sifting of this interesting anthropologic material. Quite recently, a new society for this purpose has been added to the considerable number of those already exist- ing; this one at Rome, under the guidance of the distinguished Professor De Gubernatis. In Sicily, Signor Pitré has been most successful in exciting an interest in the subject, and the “Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradi- zioni Popolari,” which he brings out, is always rich in useful observations. Our own eminent folk-lorist, Mr. Charles G. Leland, who makes his home largely in Italy, has published some most curious investigations of the survival of Etruscan rites in the superstitions of to-day in that ancient land. In the province of Naples, Dr. Stanislas Prato, Profes- sor in the Royal Lyceum at Lucera, is a diligent collec- tor, and has published largely, though but little in book form. Among his essays may be mentioned a critical dissertation on the “Twelve Words of Truth,” “Le Dodici 338 Parole della Verita,’ in its various forms; on a pecu- liarity of the Book of Tobit; on the Novelle of Cieco da Ferrara ; on the Apologue of Menenius Agrippa, etc. All of these show extensive reading and sound critical judg- ment. FALL MEETING OF THE ALABAMA INDUSTRIAL AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIKTY. In December, 1890, this society was organized “for the promotion of the scientific examination and discussion of various questions of interest to the material progress of the state.” The last meeting of this society was held in Birmingham on Noy. 24, when several papers of consider- able interest were presented. Mr. Murray, of the Linn Iron Works, described an im- provement made by him in boilers. This improvement consists in the use of a double decked boiler with a mud drum below, and a further improvement was a modifica- tion of the Speerman-Kennedy gas burner. Mr. A. E. Barton, Superintendent of the Ensley Furnaces, read a paper “On the Grading of Southern Pig-Ivon,” in which he discussed the change from the old method of fifteen grades to the present one of eleven grades. He also emphasized the necessity of frequent analyses of the furnace products as an aid to the proper grading. Mr. Erskine Ramsay, Mining Engineer at the Pratt Mines, and President of the Society, read a paper “On the Use of Coke Oven Gases and Heat in the Generation of Steam.” » The system in use at the Pratt Mines, which has been very carefully worked out by Mr. Ramsay, has resulted in considerable economy. The coke ovens are provided with a gas flue running the entire length of the battery through which the gases are delivered under the boilers. Mr. Ramsey showed that the heat thus utilized was merely the waste heat of the coke ovens, and that none of it was due to the combustion of the gases them- selves. Attempts to utilize the heat of combustion were not successful. Dr. William B. Phillips, consulting chemist of the Ten- nessee Coal, Iron and Railway Company, read a paper on the “Improvement of the Iron Ores of the Birmingham District,’ in which he described certain processes which he has for some time been investigating, by which it will be possible to free the red ores of the Clinton or Red Mountain formation from the greater part of the silica, as well as from most of the phosphorus. The freeing of the iron from the silica is effected by means of an electro- magnet, the ores having been previously magnetized by heating them in an atmosphere of combustible gas. Operating upon 3,000 pounds at a time, the crude ore, which contained 40 per cent of iron and 29 per cent of silica, was so improved as to yield 57 per cent of iron and only 10 per cent of silica. In some cases even better re- sults than this have been obtained. The success of these experiments has induced the company to make a test on a large scale in one of their furnaces in Bessemer, and if successful there also (and of this there seems to be no reasonable ground for doubt), a vast amount of ore will at once become available, which is now thrown aside be- cause carrying from 25 per cent to 35 per cent of silica. Mr. H. F. Wilson, Jr., described some work of his in tracing the great seams of ore along the Red Mountain on both sides of Grace’s Gap, illustrating his remarks by some handsome drawings and sections. This paper was a valuable supplement to that of Dr. Phillips. The financial depression of the last year or two has left its impress upon the society, but at this last meeting nine new members were elected, and a marked increase of interest was shown in the number of papers presented and in the discussions which followed. SCIENCE [Vol. XXII. No. 568 ALABAMA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. Tur field work of the geological survey during the past season has been in the gold region of Coosa, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Cleburne, Randolph and Clay Counties. Be- fore the discovery of gold in California a great amount chiefly of placer work was done in Alabama, and many thousands of dollars’ worth of gold raised. This work was almost suspended when the new fields of California were brought to notice, for the gold miners of Georgia and Alabama flocked to the new country to try their for- tunes. Since 1849, the mining of gold in Alabama has been somewhat desultory, though never entirely aban- doned. During the past five years there has been a renewal of interest in the industry, and many new enter- prises have been set on foot. Unfortunately, however, some of these were badly managed and have come to grief, and the impression has gone abroad that the mining of gold in Alabama will not pay. Certainly, it will not pay in the manner in which the work has been carried on at many places, for most of the plants are arranged solely for the winning of free gold and are practically useless after the mining has gone down to the drainage level, and the ore is in its original condition of a sulphuret. Thus most of the mills have ceased work after the free milling surface ore has been exhausted. A few years ago Dr. William B. Phillips undertook for the Alabama Survey an examination of the gold region of the state, but this work was interrupted by unavoidable circumstances after he had spent only a few weeks in the field. His report, in Bulletin No. 3 of the Alabama Survey documents, showed conclusively that with proper methods, such as are in use at the Hailes mine in South Carolina and elsewhere and adapted to the successful working of sulphurets, the mining of gold could be made profitable in many places within the bor- ders of this state. The examinations of the last season have only served to confirm this opinion of Dr. Phillips and to bring to light a number of new localities where the mining of gold with proper methods of extraction may surely be made profitable The gold does not seem to be distributed over the whole of our crystalline schists, but it is mainly confined to those belts of partially crystalline, argillaceous slates which have been named the Talladega formation by the Geological Survey A part of these slates are equivalent to the Ocoee group of Dr. Safford in Tennessee. This is the belt which les furthest to- wards the northwest, making the northwest border of the crystalline schists, but there are two other well defined belts of almost exactly identical rocks crossing our crys- talline area further to the southeast, and these belts also are rich in gold-bearing quartz veins. In one locality only, of those examined, the gold is found in a fully crys- talline mica schist. In most instances the gold is associated with veins of quartz which appear to be interbedded with the slates themselves, and in such cases the veins are usually not solid sheets of quartz but strings of lenticular masses of quartz wrapped in the slates, and occupying a width or thickness of strata of twenty or thirty feet. In other in- stances the quartz veins cut across the strata and are then only a few inches in thickness but very rich in gold. _ In the westernmost belt of these gold bearing rocks, the quartz vein is quite thin, only a few inches, but on the other hand of exceptional richness. For several years past the attention of capitalists has been directed to the gold fields of this and adjoining states, and it appears certain that with ordinary care and good judgment in the management the mining of gold will soon be numbered among the paying industries of Alabama. December 22, 1893. | SCIENGEE PuBLISHED BY N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broapway, New York. 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Attention is called to the ‘‘Wants’’ column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and ad- dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The “Exchange’’ column is likewise open. THE CENTIMETRE GRAMME SECOND AND THE CENTIMETRE DYNE SECOND SYSTEMS OF UNITS AND A NEW GRAVITATIONAL EXPERIMENT. B. REGINALD A. FESSENDEN, ALLEGHENY, PA. Tue C. G. S. system of units was undoubtedly a great advance over previous systems, but it has at least one serious disadvantage. This is the employment of the gramme as one of the fundamental units. Mass is not a fundamental conception, and has no claim to be put in the same class as length and time. We can conceive of matter as distinct from mass just as easily as we can conceive of matter as distinct from electricity, and far more logically, for each unit of matteris always associated with the same quantity of electricity, while the amount of mass asso- ciated with the unit of matter,7 e., the atom, is more than 200 times as great in the case of some kinds of atoms as in others. There is, therefore, this theoretical objection. There is also a practical one. Any system of units must be logical, in that the dimensional formula for any quantity must be made up of such concepts only as are necessarily associated with that quantity. This is not the case with the C. G. S. system. The dimensional formula for quan- tity of electricity in the electrostatic system of units is L’ T *M*%, in which the conception of mass is brought in. Now, mass has no connection with electricity, so far as we know at present; if there were no such thing as mass we should still have electricity, and therefore the system of units which gives such a formula is defective. There is a second practical reason. This is, that in the C. G. 5. system of units it is much more difficult to see readily relations between different quantities, and to in- terpret them, than in a more theoretically perfect one, on account of the fact that the M in the formula of a force which has no necessary connection with matter may can- cel out with an M which has a legitimate right to be there For instance, suppose that, in working out a problem, we get such a result as M/T, this may mean al- most anything, 7. ¢., it may be the product of various things, and what these are is not readily apparent. As a matter of convenience, the writer has used a system of units in which the dyne takes the place of the gramme, and has found that there is a considerable ad- vantage. SCIENCE. 339 > . * In this system the unit of mass drops back into its rightful place, and is a dimension of the same sort as the unit of electricity or the unit of magnetism. Gravity is treated as a separate substance, distinct from matter, but residing in it in the same way as magnetism is supposed to reside in iron, and unit quantity of gravity is defined as that quantity which will attract equal quantity placed at unit distance with unit force. The atomic weight of an atom is its permeability to gravity, and corresponds to jin magnetism. Lines of gravitational force are sup- posed to radiate from a body charzed with gravity in the same way as from a body char ged with electri icity or mag- netism. Current of gravity is the quantity of gravity which passes between any two points in unit of time, and unit of gravitational potential causes unit current of mass through unit resistance. To show the advantage of the C. D. 8. system over the C. G. S. system, the following table is sabjoined, which gives the principal dimensional formule in Electricity, Magnetism, Heat and Gravity in both systems: C. D. S. Klee. Elec. é Units. Gravity. Mag. Stat. Mag. Heat. Quantity ...../FL WMG p/ABIL jARbrAv 1 Current:....,/EL/T /#U/2 /PL/L,/Pi/ iY pL. Difference of JE chen wan RV AS) fle F/R, ely eee Resistance... T/L T/L NUAG; byl ALAR IL Capacity ... L L L 1 ESE; C. G. 5S. Elec. Elec. Units. Gravity. Mag. Stat. Mag. Heat. Quantity. MM /L’/M/2 /U/M/L ./,/M LM/T Current. .M/T ./L*,./M/T° ./L*,/M/T°,/,/M/T L* M/T? Difference OH 120. IE ADV ANYAY AL /MUAU U7, fMyAt> il ResistanceL*/TM ‘T/L T/L L/?T TLM Capacity MT*/L* L L IGA Ab AA Incidentally, it may be noted that the notation is more concise. This, however, is merely an accidental point, the main thing being that the C. D. 5S. system is “ ethi- cally” more correct, and that it does not distort ideas so much in the handling as the C. G. 8. system does. It will be found convenient to denote the different quantities by means of subscript letters. Thus, R,z, Rn, Res Rem, Ry represent gravitational, magnetic, electrostatic, electromagnetic, and heat resistances. So, also, W, represents g evavitational work, 7.e., 1/2mv*, Wem represents electrical ‘work, or C’R, W;, represents heat energy, being really only a particular case of W,, in which the algebraic sum of the vectors representing the velocities is zero, and W,, represents magnetic work, or BxM.M.F. One or two remarks may be made in regard to these formule. There has been some doubt in regard to the correct dimensional formula for temperature. This has been caused by the incorrect assumption that k, the specific heat of a body, isa number. That this is not the case follows from the law of Dulong and Petit. Accord- ing to this, the atomic heat of all the elements is the same. Therefore, the heat required to raise a cubic cen- timetre of any substance one degree C., 7. ¢., its specific heat, is equal to the heat required to raise the tempera- ture of a single atom the same amount x the number of atoms in the cube. This last is a number, and the former depends upon the kinetic energy of the atom. As the dimensional formula for kinetic energy is the same as that for work, i. e., LF. (in the C. D. S. system), the formula for temperature must equal FL—FL., 7. e., unity. We obtain the same result by considering the fact that Quantity of Heat All books reviewed in SCIENCE can be ordered from us. SEND FoR A SAMPLE Copy oF Book Cuat. A Month- ly Index of the Periodical Literature of the World. $1.00 per year. BRENTANO’S, Union Square, New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris. SCIENCE CLUBBING RATES. BUILDING BOOKS. DRAWING | INSTRUMENTS. chanical journal, edited by Dr. Wii1am H. WAHL. Every number consists of 48 large qUazLOnaEes and cover, filled with useful information on all subjects of a practical nature. Specimen copy free. For sale by all newsdealers. Agents wanted every- where. Address y HENRI CERARD, P. 0. Box 1001. 83 Nassau St., N. ¥. Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Minerai Water For Liver, Kidney and E ddsr Troubles, 5 Por Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. 1893 Catalogue of Books on Building, Painting, and Decorating, also Catalogue of Draw ing [astrumenis and Ma terials, sont free on appli cation to Wm. TF, Somstock, 23 Warren St., New York. 10% DISCOUNT. We will allow the above discount to any subscriber to Science who will send us an order for periodicals exceeding $10, counting each at its full price. W. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. Containing the works TEN BOOKS FOR PRICE OF ONE SEND FOR A CATALOGUE OF THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY OF SCIENCE. writers of the age.—The Great Classics of Modern Thought.—Strong meat for them that are of fullage. Single numbers 15 cents. Address :—THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING Co. 1g Astor Place, New York, For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright’s Diseass, Diabetes. Bor Hemorrhoids, Btc. It has been used medicinally and prescribed by physicians for nearly one hundred years. DIRECTIONS:—Tako one or two glasses about & half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50. Bedford Mineral Springs Co., Bedfurd, Pa. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. of the foremost scientific Double numbers 30 cents December 22, 1893. | tries, but the United States by their policy make it im- possible to receive or tosendthem. Thescientific societies should exert their influence at home, and endeavor to have the United States Congress adopt the more ad- vanced and liberal postal-arrangements of the countries which your correspondents blame for their troubles. W. Hacue Harrineron. Ottawa, Canada, Dec. 14, 1893. A DICTIONARY OF SCIENTIFIC TERMS. In answer to the query of B. S. Bowdish regarding a pronouncing dictionary of scientific names | would men- tion “A Manual of Scientific Terms,’ by Stormouth. Edinburgh, James Thin; London, Simpkin Marshall & Co. 1892. This is asmall handy book of x1+488 pp., giving the pronunciation, derivation and definition of the terms used in botany, natural history, anatomy, medicine, ete., and contains an excellent appendix giving alphabeti- cal lists of specific names, prefixes and postfixes with their definitions. I would consider it just the book for the purpose mentioned in the query. Water C. Kerr. New Brighton, Staten Island, Dec. x2, 1893. NOTES AND NEWS. Fire destroyed the contents of the stock room of the Salisbury Laboratory, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Mass., on the morning of Dec. 2. The new stock for the work of the current year had just been re- ceived, and much of it had been imported from Ger- many with no little pains by Dr. L. P. Kinnicutt and his assistants. The loss on the stock and apparatus amounts to $3,000, and the building was damaged to the extent of $1,500. There was ample insurance. Had it not been for the substantial character of the building, which is of brick, with brick partitions and wire-lath ceilings, the firemen would have been unable SCIENCE: 349 to save the structure. The stock room was in the fourth story. The Freshman laboratory adjoining was injured by smoke, and the chemical library below the stock room was damaged somewhat by water. It is believed that the fire was caused by an overheated chimney. —The Board of Education of the city of Saginaw, Mich., has provided for a museum in connection with its East Side High School. Thisis now well under way and is to include departments of archeology, ethnol- ogy, ostiology, physiology, botany, zodlogy, chemis- try, geology, history and economic industries. Part of the museum is to build up itself naturally by small accessions. Specimens will be transferred to this sec- tion only as they are illustrative of the branches in which instruction is given. In this way it is hoped the section may be developed, by the students themselves, into a typical High School museum entirely independ- ent of the remaining specimens, which will be arranged more as a public museum, with attention to original re- search in the lines being investigated by citizens. An endeavor will be made that this museum shall not be- come amere place for the storing of curiosities, but may be built up each step with a purpose into a teach- ing institution. —The Iowa Academy of Sciences will meet in Des Moines, Iowa, Dec. 26 and 27, 1893. This Academy in- cludes the active scientific workers of the state and a very interesting programme is prepared, including papers on the geology and natural history of the state, as well as papers in chemistry, physics and engineering. The meetings will be held in the Y. M. C. A. building, and all who are interested in the objects of the Academy are cordially invited to attend the sessions and take part in the discussions. The programmes may be obtained prior to the meeting by addressing the Secretary, Her- bert Osborn, Ames, Iowa. dress York ] N. EXCHANGES. DeRee of charge to all, if of satisfactory character. A D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New Wants. WANTED to exchange for human bones or re- cent medical text-books, the following books: | “Metallurgy of Silver,’ M. Eissler, 1889; ‘Practical |Treatise on Petroleum,” by Benj. J. Crewe, 1887; “Cook’s Chemical Philosophy,” 1885; ‘Cairn’s Chemical Analysis,” 1880; ‘‘Wagner’s Chemical LiddicesHion Horsford’s Acid Phosphate Is the most effective and agreeable remedy in existence for preventing indigestion, and relieving those dis- eases arising from a disordered stomach. Dr. W. W. Gardner, Spring- field, Mass., says, ‘“‘I value it as an excel- lent preventative of indigestion, and a pleasant acidulated drink when proper- ly diluted with water, and sweetened.” Descriptive pamphlet free on application to RUMFORD CHEMICAL WonRKS, PROVIDENCE, R. |. Beware of Substitutes and Imitations, For sale by ali Druggists. Box 165, Phelps, N. Y. Museum of Hamline University desires to exchange Marine Shells, preserved alcoholic material of ma-}| Tine zoology, or microscopic slides for zoological specimens from southern and western United} States, especially for rodents in the flesh. Corres- pendence solicited. Address Henry L. Osborn, Biological Laboratory of Hamline University, St.| Paul, Minnesota. | For Sale.—Small collection of fine first-class sets of| birds’ eggs; single breech-loading shotgun, gold-| filled hunting-case watch and telescope. Write for} list of eggs and particulars, B.S. Bowdish, Phelps,} No Y- lam desirous of obtaining the following back num-| bers of The Auk: One copy each of Oct., 1885; July, 1886; January, 1887; July, 1887; April and July, 189z and two copies each of the following: January, 1886 Oct. 1886; Oct , 1887; July, 1888; January, 1889; Jan- uary, 1890. My own contributions in them only are required; otherwise the copies need not be perfect. I have in exchange for them two vols. (zoology) Mex. Bound’y Surveys (col. plates) or complete set| of English reprints of “Osteology of Arctic Water- Birds, etc.” (g parts, 24 lith. plates); or other rare} scientific reprints of any subject required. Ad- dress Dr. Shufeldt, Takoma, D. C. For Sale.--The first eleven volumes of Crooke’s Quarterly Journal of Science, 7 vols. xst series, 4 vols. 2nd seties, beautifulty bound, half morocco, | as good as new, for $30. John J. Jarmey, 93 India- nola Place, Columbus, Ohio. Technology,” by Crookes, 1886; ‘‘Fresemier’s Qual. Chem. Analysis,’’ 1879; ‘Elementary Treatise on _ Practical Chemistry and Qual. Analysis. "Clowes, | 1881; bound Vols. x to 12 of Dr. Lardner’s “Museum of Science and Art” (very rare), 1854; back numbers of “Electrical World,” beautiful specimens of Pyrite Incrustations from Cretaceous of New Jer- sey; Magnetis Iron Ore, Highly Polarized. Address D. T. Marshall, Metuchen, N. J. ANTED..--Books or information on the micro- scopical determination of blood and hair. Also reports of cases where hair has played an import- ant part in the identification of an individual. Ad- dress Maurice Reiker, 206 N. First Ave., Marshall- twn, Iowa. A GEOLOGIST thoroughly conversant with the geology of the Southern States desires an en- gagement. Has complete knowledge of the eco- nomic geology of Iron, Coal, Lignite, as well as Clay and Kaolin. Five years’ experience with Geological Surveys. Address K., 50g West Sixth Street, Austin, Texas. WANTED.—Tuckerman’s Geneva Lichenum and Carpenter on the Microscope, Wiley’s In- troduction to the Study of Lichens. State price and other particulars. Richard Lees, Brampton, Ont. For Sale.—A very fine telescope, length extended, twenty-five inches, closed, seven inches. Power WANTED.—Icones Muscorum by W. D. Sulli- twenty-five times. Good as new. Cost $25.00. Will sell for the best cash offer. B. S. Bowdish, vant, with or without Supplement, but both preferred. Address, stating price and condition of books, Dr. G. N. Best, Rosemont, N. J. 35° ‘SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 568 SOME OF THE NEW BOOKS AT LOW PRICES. Famous VoyYAGERS AND EXPLORERS.—$1.50. Mrs. Botton has added to her Famous series of books another and an unusually interesting volume, ‘‘Famous Voyagers and Explorers.” It is hardly comprehensive, as it gives the biographies of only a few typical ex- plorers—Marco Polo, Columbus, Magellan, Raleigh, and the more prominent of our modern American ex- plorers. Doubtless such names as the Cabots, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, De Soto, Cartier, Nansen and others are reserved for a second volume. Mrs. Bolton has a gift for this sort of writing, and she has here brought together a large amount of deeply interesting matter which otherwise could only be obtained by read- ing through a dozen or more separate volumes. The book is illustrated with several portraits.—Boston Trans- cript. Our GREAT WEST.—$2.50. Tuer contents of the volume appeared serially in Harper’s Magazine and Harper’s Weekly, in which periodi- cals they attracted wide attention and favorable com- ment. Their importance fully justified their republica- tion in a more permanent form. The book affords a more minute insight into the present condition of the West than can be found elsewhere. What it tells is the result of personal experience, fortified by information obtained from the best-informed and most reliable men in the localities under discussion, and set forth with admirable clearness and impartiality. It is a work to be read and pondered by those interested in the growth of the nation westward, and is of permanent standard value.— Boston Gazette. STATESMEN.— $2.00. In the preparation of this work Noah Brooks has aimed to present a series of character sketches of the eminent persons selected for portraiture. The object is to place before the.present generation of Americans ‘salient points in the careers of public men whose at- tainments in statesmanship were the result of their own individual exertions and force of character rather than of fortunate circumstances. Therefore these brief studies are not biographies. Mr. Brooks had the good fortune of personal acquaintance with most of the statesmen of the latter part of the period illustrated by his pen, and he considers it an advantage to his readers that they may thus receive from him some of the im- pressions which these conspicuous personages made upon the mental vision of those who heard and saw them while they were living examples of nobility of aim and success of achievement in American states- manship. MEN OF BUSINESS.—$2.00. W. O. Stopparp, who has just written a book pub- lished by the Scribners, on ‘‘Men of Business,” tells how the late Senator Stanford chopped his way to the law. ‘‘He had grown tall and strong,” says Mr. Stod dard, ‘‘and was a capital hand in a hay-field, behind a- plough, or with an axe in the timber; but how could this help him into his chosen profession? Nevertheless it was a feat of wood-chopping which raised him to the bar. When he was eighteen years of age his father purchased a tract of woodland; wished to clear it, but had not the means to do so. At the same time he was anxious to give his son alift. He told Leand, there- fore, that he could have all he could make from the timber, if he would leave the land clelar of trees. Leland took the offer, for a new market had latteily been created for cord-wood. He had saved money enough to hire other choppers to help him, and he chopped for the law and his future career. Over 2,000 cords of wood were cut and sold to the Mohawk and Hudson River Railroad, and the net profit to the young contractor was $2,600. It had been earned by severe toil, in cold and heat, and it stood for something more than dollars.—Brooklyn Times. ORTHOMETRY.—$2.00. In ‘“‘Orthometry” Mr. R. F. Brewer has attempted a fuller treatment of the art of versification than is to be found in the popular treatises on that subject. While the preface shows a tendency to encourage verse-mak- ing, as unnecessary as it is undesirable, the work may _ be regarded as useful so far as it tends to cultivate an intelligent taste for good poetry. The rhyming diction- ary at the end is anew feature, which will undoubtedly commend itself to those having a use for such aids. A specially interesting chapter is that on ‘‘Poetic Trifles,” in which are included the various imitations of foreign verse in English. The discussion of the sonnet, too, though failing to bring out fully the spiritual nature of this difficult verse form, is more accurate than might be expected from the following sentence: ‘‘The form of the sonnet is of Italian origin, and came into use in the fifteenth [sic] century, towards the end of which its construction was perfected, and its utmost melodious sweetness attained in the verse of Petrarch and Dante.” In the chapter on Alliteration there are several mislead- ing statements, such as calling ‘‘Piers the Plowman” an ‘‘Old English” poem. In the bibliography one is surprised not to find Mr. F. B. Gummere’s admirable ‘“‘Handbook of Poetics,” now in its third edition. In spite of these and other shortcomings, which can be readily corrected in a later issue, this work may be recommended as a satisfactory treatment of the mechanics of verse. A careful reading will improve the critical faculties. —The Dial. Any of the above books will be sent prepaid on receipt of the publisher’s price, less ten per cent.The same discount will be allowed on any new book, not a text-book. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, New York. ELEVENTH YEAR. Vor. XXII. No. 569. SINGLE Copies, TEN CENTS. $3.50 PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE. DECEMBER 29, 1893. Con tenrs, Frost Plants: A Resume. i x MIA IM WW SEES SS ET Scientific Instruments on EATS eA Pasa aN aia aang pi aitak aig plan me. D. T. Macdougal.. 351 OF STANDARD QUALITY: Quaniiaive Compansons: 4 Common eer : Physical, Electrical, Chemical, Optical, Microscopical, En- of Language. George H. Johnson, Sc.D.. 352 5 ma Math een IETS in al rar al A Variation in Spores of CornSmut. A.S. Hitch- gineering, at ema cal, i otograp 1¢ an rojection p- GOS zsanc oe accoae eaten SHEE Ate EEE R BGs: 353 paratus and Supplies. Special care devoted to the equipment On the Measurement of Hallucinations. E. W. of College and High School laboratories. Estimates submit- Scripture and C. E. Seashore 353 ted upon request. On Root Hairs. Th. Jamieson s» 354 a d fietted Laboratory Work by the Student of Chemis- Correspon ence soucited, ‘ try Should Be Subordinate and Auxiliary Write for abridged General Catalogue No. 219. tothe Development of Facts, Principles and Theories by the Teacher. R. W. Jones.... 357 Origin of the Hydrocarbons. MarcusE. Jones. 358 QUEE N & COE Incorporated, Birds Seldom Seen in South Carolina. Prof. J. Philadelphia, We S: A. (C. igri |FRoocosansenossansoasesospseode0c 359 A New Mite Infecting Mushrooms. Herbert Eight Awards granted us at the World's Fair. OWSOP iio ccooppagnocdonsaon cod scéoosea0s0099 360 The Arctic Current inthe Estuary of the St. Pirie Mot ety set SAL phytate 3 tS St SALAS Sa Sa Sa i tt ot Pt ot a a Lawrence. Andrew T. Drummond........ 360 > Letters to the Editor: Mi N ERALS New Store. : | i Ee ee ee CS UORSEDEYE TELA NONE (OVE G x edo aco au “wi in.” ; jture, is recommende ) Tr On Carib Migrations. D. G. Brinton....... 361 eee nae Wwanter sey eee! perued. jand the SS “the best effort wee mde Nae Pocket Key of the Birds of the Northern LIELGHIENS (CIOS LITRES) SENOS AND 2 Fa student of German, and to interest him in his : 2 Z idary Work. pursuit.” Its BEGINNERS’ CorNER furnishes every United States. Austin C. Apgar......... 361 ' A |year a complete and interesting course in German Taio RGnaG co aoandcodonenasosoasandaesaneecdes 362 GEO. L. ENGLISH & C0., Mineralogists, lgrammar. $2a year. Single copies 20 cents. PB. O. PNIGHES [ATG W See eferisieinicleiele(ins e(sielefeicieielsteie esc sees 363 ox 151, Manchester, N. H. Removed to 64 East 12th Street, New York | Sat TA Ts TE Te ee A BOOK OF FLOWERS AND FLOWER LORE. Thirty parts of Meehans’ Month- ly ; two volumes; containing 30 col- ored plates, by Pranc, of Wild Flowers and Ferns; with numerous copper and wood engravings, and 288 pages of reading matter. A text book for the flower lover, artist, botanist, and all students of nature. 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Terms of Subscription: In the United States, and to Canada and Mexico, $5 00 a year in ad vance. numbers, 15c. To Foreign Countries embraced in the Universal Postal Union, ‘Len consecutive numbers free by mail on receipt of $1.00. $1.56 a year additional. Single This JourNAL circulates chiefly through the New England States, and is seen by the great majority of the profession in that important district. As a means of reaching physicians it is unequalled. It is under the editorial management of Dr. George B. Shattuck, assisted by a large staff of compe- tent coadjutors. Subscriptions and advertisements received by the undersigned, to whom remittances by mail] should be sent by money-order, draft or registered letter. DAMRELL & UPHAM, 283 Washington Street, Boston, Mass, SUIENCE NEW YORK, DECEMBER 29, 1893. FROST PLANTS: A RESUME. BY D. T. MACDOUGAL, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. Pror. Lesrrer F. Warv’s observations on the “Frost Freaks of the Dittany,” in the Botanical Gazette for April, 1893, obtain more than a passing interest, since the phenomenon recorded—ever but little noticed, and re- cently almost forgotten—illustrates one form of the ac- tion of the woody tissues, and the medullary rays, in the movements of water in the plant stem. Since the article mentioned and the accompanying cut may not be accessible to all of the readers of Science, it may be pertinent to say that the frost phenomena of this and other plants consist principally of the formation of very thin sheets of crystals of ice on the sides of the stem near the ground. These crystals are attached only by one edge, and extend their length of several inches out into the air in a sinuous or scroll-like form. The inter- pretation of the facts affording this phenomenon seems to the author to be of such importance as to justify their presentation here. The first observation recorded is that of Stephen Elliot, who “notices a remarkable protrusion of icy crystals from the stems Couyza bifrons” (now Pluchea bifrons). (1824. Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgia, Vol. 2, p. 322.) Sir John F. Herschel notices a similar occurrence on the stalks of the thistle and heliotrope, in the London and Edinburgh Philos phical Magazine (1833. 3d_ series, Vol. 2, p. 110). Prof. S. R. Rigaud notices the analogous formation of ice crystals on a newly-built stone wall, in the same jour- nal (1. c. p. 190). The frost freaks of the dittany were first noticed by Dr. Darlington in his “Flora Cestrica” (1837. p. 350). In his description of the Cunila Mariana (the dittany) he says: “In the beginning of winter, after a rain, very curious and fantastic ribands of ice may often be ob- served attached to the base of the stems of this plant, produced, I presume, by the moisture from the earth rising by capillary attraction, and then being gradually forced out horizontally through a slit by the process of freezing The same phenomenon has been noticed in other plants.” Referring to Helianthemum Canadense, he says: “Prof. Eaton and Dr. Bigelow have noticed the formation, in freezing weather, of curiously curved ice crystals near the root of H. Canadense” (I. c. p. 314). Prof. John Leconte made a study of the frost phe- nomena of Pluchea bifrons and P. camphorata Decand., in November and December, 1848, along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. The results of his observations, and a consideration of the results of some of the pre- ceding workers, are given in the Proceedings of the A. A. A. S. for 1850, under the title of “Observations on a Remarkable Exudation of Ice from the Stems of Vege- tables, and a Singular Protrusion of Icy Columns from Certain Kinds of Earth During Frosty Weather.” The frost phenomena noted by these several observers on the various plants agree in their general features, and it is only necessary to present the conclusions reached by Leconte in his lengthy and detailed consideration of the subject. The points which appear to be well established are: 1. The ice crystals on any plant are in the form of sheets, one to five in number, about three or four inches in width, and extending one to five inches from the plant. 2. The crystals are attached in longitudinal lines, fol- lowing the medullary rays, in the portion of the stem immediately above the ground, around which they are arranged symmetrically or unsymmetrically. 3. The crystals appear to have their origin at the outer surface of the fibro-vascular ring, and protrude through slits in the bark, whick has been ruptured in their formation. Ifthe bark is strong enough to resist this rupture, the ice extends around the plant in the form of a thin layer of ice between the wood and bark. 4. When the crystals did not extend into the woody ring, they might appear in the same position several days in succession : if, however, the crystals extended through the wood along the rays, the wood split apart in the freezing, and no more crystals could be formed at that place. 5. The stems had ceased growing and were in all stages, from almost green to entirely dead ; in all cases the stems were more or less saturated with water. The phenomena is entirely physical: similar formations are exhibited by certain soils. 6. The crystals are formed in the greatest profusion immediately after rainfall, and at a temperature slightly below 30° F. All of these conclusions are fully warranted by the facts recorded, but when Professor Leconte sought an explana- tion of the actual movement of water in the plant stem necessary for the formation of the crystals, he was, of course, limited by the somewhat crude know- ledge of plant anatomy current at that time. His reason- ing that plants to show frost phenomena must be annual and herbaceous is entirely at fault, since the very plants upon which he worked are described by many botanists as biennials, as well as Helianthemum, on which the phenomenon is most frequently noticed. Again, while herbaceous stems doubtless furnish these crystals in greater profusion, the stem of Helianthemum is very woody and hard, with a relatively small section of pith. He reasons that the water “is drawn upward through the highly porous pith, while the wedge-shaped medullary rays secure the mechanical conditions necessary for the projectile force in the proper direction.” Of course, the water is drawn upward through the ves- sels near the pith, and is conducted laterally by the medullary rays. That the fluid does take this course in the dead stems was proveu by the author, by allowing them to absorb and carry up colored solutions. It ap- pears that the water is taken up by the simple saturation of the roots from the charged soil, without the interven- tion of the special activity of the root hairs, as is shown by the fact that plants dug up and replanted, which 352 would destroy the larger number of the root hairs, still formed crystals as usual. Then root pressure must be entirely wanting, as well as osmotic activity in plants at this stage. Neither can the elevation of the water be due to “negative pressure,’ since the portion of the stem above the crystal-forming part may be split, or broken, or cut entirely away, without affecting the formation of the crystals. Capillary force is the only means by which the water may be carried from the ground up through the plant to where it forms crystals. The constant absorption and evaporation by the dessicating tissues limit the region of saturation and confine the formation of crystals to the basal portion of the stems. The size and arrangement of the medullary cells favor the lateral conduction of the water by reason of their greater capillary power. The portion of water at the peripheral ends of the rays is frozen and in expanding is forced outward. The portions which replace it are in turn frozen, and the successive in- crements thus formed give the length and account for the perpendicular striations of the ice riband. This is sug- gested by Professor Leconte, though he compares the whole ray with the capillary pores of the soil in its ac- tion. A temperature of several degrees below freezing point is necessary to overcome the capillary force, and freeze the water in the rays, which results in the splitting of the stem. So far as can be learned from an examination of the stems of the “frost plants,” the only structural conditions necessary are large and numerous vessels, thin-walled medullary cells in a well marked ray, and a bark easily split longitudinally. The category of plants furnishing these conditions is by no means small. And it seems highly probable that frost phenomena may be exhibited by any of these plants which may pass through the death stage at the season affording the necessary conditions of temperature and moisture. I am indebted to Prof. Lester F. Ward for some of the references given above, as well as for other helpful sug- gestions. QUANTITATIVE COMPARISONS: ERROR OF LANGUAGE. BY GEORGE H. JOHNSON, SC. D., ST. LOUIS, MO. A COMMON In expressing the degrees in which any object—using the word in its broadest or metaphysical sense—pos- sesses a certain attribute or characteristic there must be understood aunit of comparison or measurement. To be comprehensible, this unit must be subject to the as- sociative law of mathematics; that is to say, if sub- tracted from itself the remainder must be nothing, or the zero of the scale of comparision, if added to itself the sum must be twice itself, and if from the unit—supposed positive—there be subtracted a quantity greater than itself, the remainder must be negative. These facts, which seem so axiomatic as to make their statement superfluous, are frequently overlooked even by some eminent speakers and writers. If we say that A is twice as longas B, we make B yhe unit of comparison and affirm that the length of Bis sontained twice in that of A, or, no length being the zero of linear measurement, the length of Bis one unit and that of Ais two units. Similarly, if we say that A is three-halves longer than B we have : Length A — length B + 3/2 length B — 5/2 length B ; and if A is three-halves shorter than B we have : Length A —length B —3/2 length B = —1/2 length B. Now such a negative can occur only as indicative of reversed direction or position relative to the zero, and when no direction or position is assumed as positive the SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 569 negative, as well as its imaginary roots, expresses the impossible. For example, when we say it is twice as far from A to B as from A to C, we have no reference to the positions or directions of the lines A B and A C, but only to their relative lengths, and a negative ex- pression under these conditions is impossible in any system of mathematics. A photographer advertised that by an improved pro- cess he could take pictures thirty times quicker than by the old process. Here, if T is the time required by the old process and T’ the time required by the new process, we have : T' — T-30T —-29T; the negative T being the algebraic expression for “‘less than no time.” Granting the claim of the advertise- ment, itnecessarilly follows that the passage of time could be stopped or reversed at our pleasure and the rapidity of its backward flight would be determined only by the number of photographs taken by the new process in a unit of time. Amateur photographers will doubtless be pleased to know that they have the fountain of eternal youth so easily within their reach! It is true, however, that if an arbitrary assumption be made in regard to the zero of the scale of ‘‘quickness” the claim of the ad- vertisement may be verified. For example, if we agree to take one second, s, as the zero of measurements, all increments constituting slowness and all decrements quickness, Q, then if T — 59/60 s we haveQ = 1/60s and Q’ — 30/60 s, whence T' — T —Q! =290/60s ; so that the time by the new process would be nearly half the time by the oldprocess. But the ‘‘thirty times quicker” was doubtless intended to mean one-thirtieth of the time, and so was a notable example of an unsuc- cessful and absurd attempt to make a quantitative state- ment. A more remarkable example, because it occurred in a carefully written essay by an eminent scientist describ- ing a variable star, is as follows: “On April 27 it had become invisible in the great telescope. It was then one hundred and sixty thousand times fainter than it was at the time of discovery.” Now it is evident what would be meant by saying that it was one hundred and sixty thousand times brighter at one time than another, because brightness is an essentially positive quality whose quantity is de- pendent upon if not proportional to the amount of lum- inous energy eminating from the body ; but faintness is a negative quality expressing only the absence of bright- ness ; hence if there was no lack of brightness in the star when discovered, faintness at any other time could not be expressed comparatively by using any positive factor however large. Considering the quotation grammatically the star is said to be ‘‘fainter” in the comparative degree; hence it is evident that it was first faint in the positive degree, and since no unit of faintness is used in photometry we can only assume that the brightness of the star in its posi- tive condition of faintness as observed at discovery is the unit of comparison; hence when it was one hundred and sixty thousand times fainter it must have been (160,000-1) times less bright than an invisible body— since the latter, without luminous energy, has no bright- ness and presumably one unit of faintness. After the auther of the statement quoted has shown that 160,000 times fainter is equivalent to 1/160,000 as bright, which is doubtless what he meant, I will show that a liability of $1.00 is the same thing as assets of $159,999.00; and such a blessed discovery for insolvent debtors and their creditors would have so many degrees of brightness as to quite outshine any variable star! December 29, 1893 | SCIENGE- PusiisHeD By N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broapway, NEw York. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in advance, one hundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reascns we desire to circulate as many copies of SCIENCE as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprint- ed elsewere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photo-engraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manu- scripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accompanies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer; not necessa- rily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold our- selves responsible for any view or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Attention is called to the “‘Wants’” column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and ad- dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The “Exchange” column is likewise open. VARIATION IN SPORES OF CORN SMUT. BY A. S. HITCHCOCK, MANHATTAN, KAS. A piaGnostic character among cryptogamic plants is the size of the spores. Since the size varies it has been customary in descriptive works to give the spore meas- urements between the limits of observed variation. These limits show the actual variation, or nearly so, only when a large number of observations are made. It is well known that in many cases of original descrip- tions the measurements are founded upon too small a number of spores. But suppose the limit of variation is known, it is still desirable to know the usual size. There are only a few individuals that approach either extreme, and the greater number will lie near the aver- age. on curve might be constructed to show the variation of a given species by laying off abscissas representing equal differences in a given dimension and erecting ordinates whose lengths shall represent the number of spores having the corresponding dimension. If this curve descends rapidly from the maximum and afterwards gradually approaches the axis, it becomes more neces- sary to know the usual limits than the extremes, since spores lying near the extremes are proportionately more infrequent than where the curve approaches the axis of X more abruptly. The curve will probably always show two points of inflexion, and these two points will represent the usual limits. In testing the matter by applying it to the measure- ment of corn smut spores I arrived at a somewhat un- expected result. Spores from several different sources were thoroughly mixed and samples from various parts of the mixture mounted in water. In taking the meas- urements, all the spores passing within convenient range of the micrometer were measured until about fifty observations were made. The results are in divis- ions of the eye-piece micrometer, each of which repre- sents 3.85 “. The 500 spores measured may be ar- ranged as follows: Diameter.... 1-7 1-8 1.9 2.0 2.4 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3.0 3. Numbet..... 3 2 18 67 gz 89 66 qr 38 28 2t 20 10 4 I Since it is rather difficult to estimate correctly 1/ro of a division on the micrometer, it will be well to unite the resultsin pairs. Weshall then have: eecucecs 1.7 1.9 2.1 23 2.5 2.7 2.9 3-1 Divisions . 5 85 181 107 66 4 14 I Number .. Fane If the curve is constructed for this set of measure- SCIENCE. 5533 ments, we find that it is not symmetrical around the axis of Y. It is much steeper on one side than the other. The arithmetical mean does not represent the average diameter. The result shows that the curve is not that of the curve of probability which follows the law of variation in the physical world, but, in this par- ticular case, follows the law governing biological varia- tion. This difference between the laws of variation in the physical and living worlds has been nicely shown by Dr. C. S. Minot. He shows that biological curves rise rapidly to their maximum and then fall on the other side much more gradually. It will also be seen that over 50 percent of the spores fall between 2.0 and 2.2, and that nearly 80 per cent fall between 2.0 and 2.5 inclusive. A similar series of observations was made upon 300 pollen grains of Acuida tuberculata, but owing to the un- even surface there was more difficulty in making accu- tate measurements. Divisions ......... BO fy OO GS 7@ we HO BS CS Gs Te Numibereneeeneene dS tg Oy Co Bas 9 5 3 3 I The observer should be careful to measure all the spores in a given field, otherwise there is a tendency to pick out the very large and the very small ones, thus giving these too great a representation. ON THE MEASUREMENT OF HALLUCINA- TIONS. BY E. W. SCRIPTURE AND C, E. SEASHORE, NEW HAVEN, CONN. In an article on ‘‘Tests on School Children,” by E. W. Scripture, in the Hducational Review, 1893, V. 61, a test on suggestion was proposed, in which a wire was sometimes heated at a given signal and sometimes not. The observer, not knowing the facts of the case, was required to tell when the wire felt hot. When the wire was not heated, but the observer believed it to be heated, the time required for the hallucination to arise was measured. This crude idea has been taken up on a larger scale this year, and measurements have been made on sev- eral persons in several ways. The work so far has been considered to be the preliminary or qualitative stage of the investigation. Before proceeding to the careful and laborious technical work necessary for exact meas- urements, which must necessarily take a great deal of time, we wish to secure priority rights as the first to measure hallucinations. In the first place, as the sug- gestion calling out the hallucination is a sensation or a compound of sensations, we can measure the intensity of the stimulus in the usual ways. In the second place, by finding that stimulus whose sensation is not percep- tibly different from the hallucination, we measure the intensity of the hallucination. In the third place, by reacting to the hallucination we record the time required for it to appear; in more accurate work the reaction- time is to be subtracted from the total time, but as the hallucination-time in the cases already investigated ranges from seven to thirty seconds it was of no ac- count. Our work has hitherto been confined to the weak hallucinations of sane people. We find very great differences, corresponding to classes of society and to training in scientific judgment. With abnormal per- sons we shall expect much shorter hallucination-time and much greater intensity. L>.- Rey INE NAN SP. 0.9.4 B.A Genera 354 ON ROOT HAIRS. BY TH. JAMIESON, ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND. Dunine the past fifteen years, in the course of carrying out a very large number of experiments to ascertain the relative effects of different forms of manure, and also, which of the mineral chemical elements usually found in plants are essential, no point was more strikingly illus- trated than the inability of the plant to grow in the ab- sence of phosphorus, although all the other essentials of growth were fully supplied. In its absence, the turnip plant, for instance, reached the stage of forming only leaflets, while neighboring plants, treated in every respect in precisely the same manner, only that they were sup- plied with phosphorus in addition, developed large plants, yielding a crop of about 380 tons per acre. No laboratory or lecture room experiment could be more ef- fective than the positive and negative results shown by two such plots, side by side, and these evidences have been abundantly repeated annually. In following out an inquiry bearing on this remarkable action, a special microscopic examination of root hairs was suggested; special in respect of introducing various con- ditions of light and shade, even approaching darkness, as well, of course, as adjustments of the focus under various degrees of light. This is specially mentioned in order to indicate that the feature on root hairs about to be ex- plained is such as might easily escape notice in an ordin- ary examination. An unlooked-for structure was thus detected, as a consequence of attention being so long con- centrated on the tip of the hair and of gazing continually on the spot under cautious and slight alterations of both light and focus. It was seen that there was a well defined aperture. ‘The aperture in the first case of detection was so clearly defined, and moreover seemed so clearly con- tinuous with tne inner membrane or tube of the hair cell, that no doubt was felt that there was an aperture. Pos- sibly it would not have been discerned had it not been on an unusual part of the hair, viz.: a little be- lew the point, so that the point formed a kind of cap. As a rule, however, the aperture is at the point. So necessary is it to examine the root hair under vary- ing conditions of light and focus, and also to travel along the inner lining of the tube with the eye till. it reaches the point where the aperture ought to be, and so frequently is the aperture turned away from the point of view, that one familiar with the process can easily under- stand how any one not so familiar might rise from the examination and feel satisfied that the hair is, indeed, a a closed tube. Only persistence to continue, till the in- experienced observer falls upon a suitably placed hair, is followed by success. After having observed so satisfactorily the first aper- ture, much time was spent during three years in exam- ining the hairs of a large number of plants, and al- though from the state of the plant roots, and the condi- tion and position of the hair, the aperture has frequently not been detected at the first examination, yet by an- other selection and persistent examination the aperture has been found without exception in the case of every plant examined. On examination at this stage of the writings of the more eminent botanists on the subject, it was found that in few of these treatises is the detailed form of the hair gone into with sufficient minuteness. The works of De Bary, Duchartre, Olivier, Gasparina, Van Lieghem, Sachs, Vines have been referred to. The essential and accepted character given in all these works is: a complete and closed cell, thread-like in form SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 569 and broadened at the base, where it is continuous with, and forms part of, the epidermis. The more recent works by Schwartz, Zacharias and others dealing more particularly with root hairs have been examined, but the idea of an aperture does not seem to have occurred to them, and the negative evidence, of course, is not of any significance. Referring now to the function of hairs as bearing on an aperture. None of the writers on the minute struc- ture of hairs departs from the idea that the hairs are closed cells, or, as Sachs describes them, exceedingly deli- cate walled narrow tubes. By accepting this view a difficulty arises. It has hith- erto been found necessary to advance some explanation, for the well-known fact that the insoluble matter, such as phosphates, is assimilable by plants. Sachs says in expla- nation that these insoluble matters are without doubt dis- solved in the thin layers of water which surround the particles of soil, basing this inference on the fact that water running off from the drained pipes of tilled soil contains these substances; but he infers further, that “since the nutritive materials clinging to the particles of soil are not soluble, or but slightly so in water, the roots must themselves effect the solution.” This seems to be a kind of forced conclusion, 7%. e., as the insoluble matter does get in, the particles must be dissolved, and, he as- serts, without, however, giving grounds for it, that this solution is accomplished by means of the extremely thin membrane of the root hair being permeated with an acid fluid. Now, it is obvious that, it being once accepted that the root hair is a closed tube, and that side by side with this acceptance is placed the well-known fact that plants make use of insoluble matter, it becomes a neces- sity to assume, and it appears little more than an assump- tion, that the plants obtain their solids by the action of an acid. The usual statement is, not that the plant roots make use of an acid, but that they must make use of an acid, thus indicating that there was no other way of ety ting over the difficulty. Van Tieghem also says that the roots set free an acid liquid saline bathe their surface. He, however, under- mines that statement by summarizing the functions of the root as a threefold action on the soil: First—On the gases, by absorbing oxygen and disen- gaging carbonie acid. Second— On the water and dissolved matter, by Dab oa ing them. Third— On the solids, by dissolving them. Now, it is evident that if the root acts so as to disen- gage carbonic acid, that acid alone is sufficient to account for the reddening of the litmus; and this circumstance takes away the support that such acid reaction might seem to give to the assumption that the plant forms an acid to dissolve the mineral food, unless, indeed, the dis- solving acid be simply carbonic acid, in which case it would be uncertain whether the acid is there to dissolve insoluble matter, or is there as a simple product of de- composition. Vines asserts, however, that the reddening is permanent, and therefore is not due to carbonic acid. Considering the slight evidence thus provided by Sachs and Van Tieghem, and that no observers seem to have found any special acid in the root, but simply acidity that may be accounted for by decomposition of the plant, or of organic matter in the soil, the dissolving action of the root hair seems to be little more than an assumption ren- dered necessary as an explanation of the well-known fact that insoluble matter is assimilated by the plant. A difficulty in accepting the passage of solid particles by an aperture may seem to be presented by the consid- eration that, if solid particles enter the hair tip by an December 29, 1893.] SCIENCE. Deceptive appearance— Deceptive appearance— Appearance—When aperture hap- pens to bein positicn | so that both lips are © just in focus. As given by J} = Sachs. Appearance—When both lips are not’ in focus, or the aper- ture is directed away from view. aes ~ cult to find. s given by Van Tieghem. | | Pea. Carrot. { USUAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF ROOT HAIRS. Lupin. A, a a goa seenae eaewea a Tobacco. Barley. Potato. Outer line in focus. Rounded end in focus. OAT HAIRS MORE MAGNIFIED. Turnip Root Hair—Long, thready, soon becomes £ twisted. Hole exceedingly mi- nute and diffi- USUAL FORMS OF HAIRS. TIP OF OAT ROOTLET WITH ROOT HAIRS (much magnified.) 356 aperture, they must either be decomposed inside the cell, or there must also be an aperture at the lower end, or that the particles should be forced out (as is done by the amceba). There may, indeed, be such a basal aperture which it would be difficult or impossible to distinguish. But close examination of the base of the root hairs indi- cates that, although they may originate in an epidermal cell, the internal part of the hair seems to communicate Mangold—Branched. Particles seemed drawn within and hair grown round it. Hole on side. Mangold. Grass. Beet. Potato. Turnip—Branched. UNUSUAL FO?MS OF ROOT ALS (Rarely occurring inthe above plants.) Apatite. IN FIELD. Minute. PAMpatitenges ern eea Seite nies 3 A Ee rel rer ieee 43 Se ee isl ctanchare Bases ete roi 3 ea A a eae ae mere 13 SHB tloumne es Re ate oe, 2 See et ot IIo Coprolite nea any aie ses 5) eeE eee eee relee 56 SCIENCE. [Vol. XXII. No. 569 no real difficulty here, for it is known that decomposition takes place within the plant, and it may as well be donein a hair cell as any other cell. Having now considered the literature on the subject, observations made on the aperture may be returned to. That there is a definite formation of an aperture with lips, I have satisfied myself in regard to a large number of root hairs, illustrations of which are given here, and it will be Grass—Particles freqifently seen inside occupying line of inner tube. Pea—A peculiarly formed hair. At times, when hole large, particles may be seen lying on iip. When hairs are allowe1 to dry under the object glass they shrivel up and often discharge contents, and this discharge is at the tip. When litmus solution is passed under object glass it seems not to affect outer tube, which remains greenish, while inner tube becomes tinted, hence the colouring matter seems to pass not through outer membrane, but by the hole. _In one case was seenf very dis- tinctly a piece of matter half way into the tube of Pea root hair, which is large;the darker tint of the half lying outside indicated, as well as the rim of hole, that the other half was inside. ENTRANCE OF PARTICLES INTO APERTURE. “teamed Bone Flour. Coprolite. NUMBER PER CENT. Small. Medium. Large. Minute. Small. Medium. Large. 17 3 43 65 25 4 6 2) 4 3 32 50 10 8 15 3 2 86- Il 2 I 35 8 4 56 34 7 3 STATE OF DIVISION OF MANURES EFFECTIVE ON PLANTS. (Apative—crystalline—only slightly so.) Shcwing that in these manures there are particles so minute as to be able to pass into aperture of root hairs. with the deeper tissue, or possibly with the vascular tis- sue. Thus in examining the root hair of a carrot, the faint bluish-grey appearance of the central tube was seen to be continuous with the deeper tissue, though whether entering into a vessel, or simply passing between the cells, could not be distinguished. This relation of the hair with the deeper tissue is supported by the origin of hairs as described »y Schwartz and Duchartre. But there is seen that they vary nota little, both in shape and posi- tion, being usually a minute circular hole at the extreme, and more or less tapered, end of the inner tube, with, of course, a correspondingly larger rim in the outer tube; but sometimes the opening is transverse, sometimes not quite at the tip, or, rather, the tip seems half curved, mak- ing the aperture appear slightly at one side, and the tip to appear like a lip or knob. December 29, 1893. | LABORATORY WORK BY THE STUDENT OF CHEMISTRY SHOULD BE SUBORDINATE AND AUXILIARY TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF FACTS, PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES BY THE TEACHER.’ BY R. W. JONES, UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI. Tuose of us who are engaged in teaching chemistry recognize the fact that it is a difficult subject to teach scientifically; it is ofttimes hard to make its lessons clear tothe mind of the student; difficult to employ it with its due power as a means of intellectual discipline and an element of general, liberal education; and yet it has a place, an accorded place, in every properly arranged scheme of education: no such scheme is complete with- out it, and no one can be said to be liberally educated who has not learned the elements of this science; for without the knowledge of these elements, at least, it is impossible to read understandingly the literature of our day and to appreciate a thousand things of common oc- currence in respect to health, well-being and progress. The practical utility of chemistry is unquestioned; but some question its disciplinary value as an element of general education. In my opinion, the skillful teacher makes its value in this regard equal to the languages and mathematics, and gives to the mind exercise and truth which in character are peculiar and in quality most valuable. The great value of the study of general chemistry turns solely on the adoption of good, sound methods of instruction. The nature of the subject, the inquiry into strange forces, into marvellous activities and changes, give to it, in the eyes of beginners, the appearance of the mys- terious, making it seem, as it did to the Egyptians, a “Black or Secret Art.” The puzzling vastness of the number of facts, the important and interesting relations between them, the comprehensive laws, the profound theories, tax the powers of the capable and patient stu- dent. The teachers and the writers of text-books often find it difficult to decide what to use and what to omit of this profusion of material. The subjects can be so selected, the matter so arranged with due regard to the time at our disposal and such methods of instruction employed that no other subject could be profitably sub- stituted for the study of chemistry. The methods of teaching general chemistry have varied greatly at different times and now vary more or less in different schools. Ot course, each teacher car- ries his persunality into his class room: this is right and inevitable; there are differences of method which are broader, proceeding from difference of standpoint and difference of view both of the object to be accomplished and the way of reaching it. We cannot emphasize too strongly the general disci- plinary value of the study of chemistry and its essen- tiality to culture; and it devolves upon us to maintain the correctness of our estimate by the intellectual and industrial resuits of our teaching. The first object is to use chemistry in a scheme of education to make iatellec- tual men, and the second is to prepare skilled chemists. After noting these differences of method, I am sure we may all agree that the feature which specially char- acterizes the teaching of chemistry at present and which distinguishes it from the method of past years is experi- mentation by the student. And yet in many high schools and colleges, even in this day, the effort is made to teach chemistry without experi- ments either by the instructor or by the pupil. Many 1Read before the International Congress of Chemists, Chicago, SCIENCE. 357 of these schools and colleges have no apparatus. Such teaching of chemistry and of science generally is illus- ory. Chemistry is justly and highly valued in its gen- eral study as an element of disciplinary power and as a foundation for special attainments; but its most earnest and intelligent advocates in a course for a well-rounded education would admit that it would be far better to omit it altogether than to teach it in that irrational manner without experiments, and to devote the time thus saved to the study of some subject which can be scientifically taught without apparatus. As teachers, we must insist that an experimental science, such as chemistry is, cannot be taught without experiments. In my judgment, the best method of teaching gen- eral chemistry, in the earlier part of the course, the best way of laying a substantial basis of knowledge that is reliable and definite, on which the student can subse- quently build most surely and rapidly, is for the pro- fessor to give in didactic style oral lectures, adapted to the comprehension of his class, setting forth in order the most important portions of the great body of estab- lished facts, connecting them by threads of scientific relation, that bring them into a simple unity, illustrat- ing them by experiments, on the lecture table, which cover all essential points and help the minds of students to apprehend them as real. A really good text-book is very valuable, and the in- - structor ought either to follow the order of subjects in the text-book or be careful in assigning the readings so that the lectures and text-book will each day cover the same ground substantially. Otherwise confusion of thought will arise in the student’s mind. To indicate something of the scope of instruction I would say that there should be a clear presentation of the nature of chemical science, its relation to other sciences, and the ways of doing the work: there should be a discussion of the elements and their most import- ant, best known compounds: as the teacher’s knowledge covers his whole course he is able to call attention to that which is essential and that which may be at the time incidental, to note the connection between facts, the relation between substances, and thus to systematize and organize knowledge and build up the science in the minds of students: this prepares the way for the proper presentation and discussion of laws and theories, for calling into vigorous exercise the faculties of compari- son and judgment. He can exhibit the method of prop- erly guarded generalizations and formulations of his teachings; his duty and plan are to guard the student against the presumptuous thought that one man can make experiments to cover all the facts and phenomena and demonstrate all the laws of chemistry, and to im- press on the mind respect for the work that has been patiently done by others and thus give a just regard for authority, through which so much of our knowledge comes in every department of inquiry: the pupil learns that for a satisfactory demonstration of chemical truths he needs a large complement of facts and processes. At each meeting the class should be questioned upon the matter of previous lectures and readings; skillful repetition is needed to make distinct and abiding im- press of the truths, to wear off the strangeness of the subjects and to get alodgement of the facts and princi- ciples. The careful keeping of notes, subject to periodical in- spection of the teacher, the writing of chemical reac- tions and the solution of problems constitute an import- ant part of that instruction which is necessary to ex- actness in method and clearness of understanding. It goes without saying that the student must be taught to 358 make experiments. But in order to carry out this plan, the experiments to be made by him should be connect- ed with the course of instruction and should be definite- ly related to the experiments given on the instructor’s table. Indeed, the relation should be so close that a knowledge given by the instructor’s experiments would be in large measure a guide to the performance of the student’s experiments and that without it the successful petformance of the practical work by the student would be beyond his power. This insures the closest atten- tion and care on the part of the student to get the pro- fessor’s instructions; it trains the mind to correct obser- vation, concentration of energies and carefulness in drawing conclusions. In the beginning of a course in general chemistry and for two or three months, one hour of laboratory work by the student to four hours of such instruction by the professor, as I have outlined, will be a good division of time. As the student’s knowledge of the subject in- creases and his manual dexterity in handling apparatus improves, his working hours should increase. This mode of instruction proceeds on the rational assumption that the pupil needs to be instructed; it will furnish him the largest amount of reliable, systematic, classified knowl- edge that is attainable in a given time and give him the best foundation for extended scientific study. Other special advantages of thissmode of study will - appear by comparison. Many excellent chemists make laboratory experi- ments by the student the starting point and the centre of all instruction. Their idea seems to be to make the student do his own work, draw his own conclusions and thus instruct himself: the instructor, according to this method, gives him the fewest practicable hints and directions. In furtherance of this plan of instruction many ‘‘laboratory manuals” have been written which contain a great profusion of experiments: in many cases these.are poorly arranged. In the preface to one of these ‘‘manuals,”’ now open before me, I find these words: ‘‘The teacher should be but the guide that points out the right path, calling attention to the by- paths of error.” This plainly implies that if only the direction be pointed out, the student can make the trip. This plan puts the student forward to work for unknown truth; it holds out to him the idea that in some sort he is an investigator, when in reality at first his work should be to learn what others have brought to light and how they have done it. The objections to making the laboratory work of the student in the beginning the leading and independent method of learning chemistry are numerous and strong: 1. It involves an unnecessary consumption of time. 2. It assumes that the student can do properly what, in the very nature of the case, is well-nigh impossible. A certain amount of knowledge is necessary to the ac- quisition of other knowledge under the best conditions: there is hardly any fact more palpably true than this. A student of algebra could hardly be expected to solve problems of any degree until he had the prelim- inary operations and rules that had been established by the patient work of strong, industrious minds. All books reviewed in SciENCE can be ordered ‘rom us. SEND FOR A SAMPLE Copy oF Book C#at. A Month- y Index of the Periodical Literature of the World. $1.00 per year. BRENTANO’S, Union Square, New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris. SCIENCE. i Vol. XXIII. No. 570 Probably you take THE Electrical Engineer. Most people interested in Electricity | do. If you do not, now is a good time to begin. It is published every Wednesday. Subscription, $3.00 per year. You can try it three months for fifty cents. Address: @ The Electrical Engineer, 203 Broadway, - - - New York, N.Y, QUERY. 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It is written with great clearness, so that anybody can under- stand, and while in some ways. perforce, superficial, grasps very well the complete field of humanity.”— The New York Times. : “Dr, Brinton invests his scientific illustrations and measurements with an indescribable charm of nar- ration, so that ‘Races and Peoples,’ avowedly a rec- ord of discovered facts, is in reality a strong stim- ulant to the imagination.’—Philadelphia Public Ledger. “The work is indispensable to the student who re- quires an intelligent guide to a course of ethno- graphic reading.”—Philadelphia Times. Priee, postpaid, $1.75. THE AMERICAN RACE. By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M.D. ‘The book is one of unusual interest and value.”"—= Inter Ocean. “‘ Dr. Daniel G. 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Puysi Thia Children Grew Fai on Scott’s Emulsion, They are thin, and remain in thin just proportion to their inability to assimilate food rich in fat. Seott’s Emulsion of Cod Liver Oil is especially adaptable to those of weak diges- tion—i# 1s partly digested already. Astonishing how quickly a thin person gains solid flesh by its use! Almost as palatable as milk. Prepared by Scott & Bowne, N.Y. All druggists. ee OS HANDY BOOKS. PRACTICAL ELECTRICS, a universal handy book no every day Electrical matters, fourth edition. 135pages, 12vo, cloth, price 75 cents. ELECTRICAL TABLES AND MEMORANDA for Engineers, by Silvanus P. Thompson, 128 pages, Illustrated, 64 mo, roan, socents. A SYSTEM OF EASY LETTERING by Howard Cromwell, 32 different styles, 50 cents. THE ORNAMENTAL Penman’s pocketbook of alphabets,37 djfferent styles, zocents. ~ Books mailed post paid to any address on re- ceipt of publish price. SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, 12 Cortlandt St., N. Y. FOSSIL RESINS. This book is the result of an attempt to collect the scattered notices of fossil resins, exclusive of those on amber. The work is of interest also on account of descriptions given of the insects found embedded in these long- preserved exudations from early vegetation. By CLARENCE LOWN and HENRY BOOTH: 12°. $1. Mention this paper. N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, N. Y. “BUSY FOLKS’ GYMNASIUI1.” Lt ts All prices. You approval. Chest 6 Shoulders and Upper Back good for Round Shoulders Cuart, with illustrated directions for de. Sent for half price to those CO., Box D., Rochester, N. Y. NEW YORK, JANUARY 5, 1894. RIVER COURSES IN THE JURA MOUNTAINS. BY EMM. DE MARGERIE, PARIS, FRANCE. Ir is well known to readers of Science that Prof. W. _M. Davis, in his admirable analysis of the origin of the Valleys of Pennsylvania (National Geogr. Mag., Vol. L., No. 3, 1889), started from the assumption of a purely consequent, original course for the rivers which have excavated most of the Appalachian Valleys. As an illustration of such a kind of drainage system existing at the present time the Jura Mountains were given, fol- lowing a statement published by Col. de la Noé and myself in our joint work, ‘‘Les Formes du Terrain” (Paris, 1888). More recently, however, Prof. Davis has been led to change this view, according to the results reached by Mr. Aug. F. Foerste, in his valuable account of ‘‘The Drainage of the Bernese Jura’ (Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. XXV., p. 392-420, 1892). While admitting that Mr. Foerste has clearly shown that the River Birse could not have taken its present path if it had been a purely original consequent stream, I cannot agree with him when he endeavors to show that recourse must, of Necessity, be had to the postulate of an antecedent origin; for it seems highly improbable that such a small river, whose upper drainage area is of So little extent, could have victoriously reinted the up- lift of such great anticlinals as the Graitery, the Raimeux, the Roche and the Choindez folds are. The failure of other explanations to meet the facts, which is given by Mr. Foerste, together with the systematic ar- rangement of several series of cluses in straight lines, as the main support of the theory of an antecedent origin (loc. cit., p. 411), does not seem to constitute a valid argument: are we absolutely certain not to have over- looked some possibility, which could turn out, when fol- lowed out in detail, to involve the true explanation ? But, apart from these considerations, if such is really the origin of the Cirques followed by the Birse, we should expect to find in the Jura Mountains many cther examples of the same absence of relation between river- courses and constructional form. In order to test ina definite manner the validity of Mr. Foerste’s conclu- sions, and to see whether his theory may be of general application in the Jura or not, my friend, Col. de la Noé, has lately drawn, at my request, a large map of the whole country between Bale, on the Rhine, and Belley, near the Rhone, a map upon which all the heights have been referred to a common datum plane (in a stratigraphical sense), viz.: the limit between the uppermost Jurassic beds and the base of the Cretaceous (Neocomien); as a basis for the work, use was made of the sheets of the new map of France, drawn in contours with 20 metres vertical interval on the scale of 1:200,000, geological boundaries being adjusted on the same from the detailed maps of the French and Swiss Surveys. The altitude reached at any point by the horizon selected, above the present surface, if denuded, or underground, if covered by more recent deposits, could be computed with a fair degree of approximation, thanks to the numerous measurements of sections pub- lished during the last decade for various parts of the Jura; contours were then constructed, every 100 metres apart, without any regard to the present topog- raphy, and a photographic proof of the map, reduced one-half, colored in the manner of an ordinary hypso- metric map.’ The result is very striking: nearly everywhere a strict accordance is shown to exist between the actual courses of rivers and the distribution of the lowest parts of the constructional surface; the larger streams, those which might be expected to exhibit the most irregular courses if the assumption of an antecedent: origin was correct, are precisely those which follow the most close- ly synclinal depressions, making use here and there of cols where anticlinal arches are locally lowered in a transverse direction. Such is the case for the river Ain, the longest among the tributaries which the Rhone receives from the Jura, and for the Doubs, the longest stream in the whole region. A beautiful illustration of a series of cluses arranged in a straight line, and demon- strably correlated with the lowering of several adjacent anticlines from both sides, is given by the river Bienne, between the town of St. Claude and its junction with the Ain. Many other cases might be pointed out to the same effect, viz.: that the Jura drainage, as a whole, is typically consequent upon the deformations, and that, accordingly, Professor Davis was quite right in postulating as the initial stage, in the development of Pennsylvania rivers, essentially original courses during Permian time. As to the special case of the Birse, no doubt that ap- parent exception remains to be explained; that back- ward erosion may have been concerned in the produc- tion of the Bernese Cirques, Mr. Foerste himself seems to concede, in alluding to the Crémine cirque; and I believe: nobody can have seen the Soulce depression, on the outside of the Choindez fold, or the great ravine south of Chatillon, a little more to the east, without be- ing struck by the analogy of both features with an un- perfected cluse—and their purely regressive origin is beyond question. A last word about the crystalline pebbles in the Ter- tiaries of the Bernese Jura: Mr. Foerste, following J. B. Greppin, believes that they came from the Schwartz- wald, to the north of the district. But that conclu- sion is far from certain. Dr. Rollier, who bas care- fully surveyed the district on the scale of 1:25,000, 1The method here described does not seem to have been, as yet, appreci- ated to its full value. Originated, I believe, in America, with Professor Lesley’s efforts, and splendidly applied to the study of the anthracite fields of Pennsylvania by his lamented assistant, the late Charles A. Ashburner, it has been but little resorted to, outside of very limited districts and for purely scientific purposes. So far as I am aware, the only similar attempts J to construct in contour-lines stereograms of displacements, for a broad geographical area, are Mr. Doll us’s ‘‘Carte hypsometrique de la Sur- face de la Craie dans le Bassin de Paris,’’ on the scale of 1:1,000,000, published in Bulletin No. 14 of the French Geological Survey (Paris, 1890), and the two maps illustrating the shape of the Trenton limestone in Ohio and Indiana, publi hed by Professor Orton and Mr, Phinney in the Eighth and Eleventh Annual Reports of the United States Geological Survey, respectively. I myself constructed, seyeral years ago, a contour map, still unpublished, showing the deformations of the Dakota sandstone in western Colorado (from Hayden's atlas of that state), and where the same agreement between structure and hydrography as is here advocated for the Jura was plainly ex- hibited. Tne construction of such maps would be specially fitting in those countries where detailed geological surveys are conducted upon topograph- ical maps in contours as a basis, such as are in most parts of Germany. 2 : when conducting five years ago the Swiss Geological Society on the ground, expressed the opinion, then endorsed by Professor Gutzwiller and Professor Balt- zer, that the pebbles, at least in part, came, on the contrary, from the south and were of Alpine origin ;* and it may be well to recall that such was also Studer’s opinion.’ It would make the case very different, in so far as several of the paleo-geographical conclusions of Mr. Foerste are concerned. INDIANA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. Tuer ninth annual meeting of the Indiana Academy of Science was held in the capitol at Indianapolis, Dec. 27 and 28, 1893, under the presidency of Dr. J. C. Arthur, of Purdue University. The morning of Wed- nesday was devoted to a discussion of the proposed biological survey of Indiana. The directors having the survey in charge first presented reports of their respec- tive divisions. Dr. L. M. Underwood, Division of Botany; Dr. C. H. Eigenmann, Division of Zodlogy; Prof. V. F. Marsters, Division of Paleontology. For some time there has been under discussion a plan for several states to coéperate in the work of sucha survey; This matter was taken up, and Dr. J. M. Coulter, of Lake Forest, Ill., spoke for that state. Prof. R. E. Call represented Kentucky. Several of the workers on the Indiana Survey spoke on various phases of the work. “Pheenerogams,” discussed by Prof. Stanley Coulter; ‘‘Fishes,”’ Dr. C. H. Eigenmann; ‘‘Plans for Successful Work,” Dr. J. M. Coulter; “What Can the High Schools Do to Help the Survey?” Prof. W. S. Blatchley. “Can the Common Schools Aid?” Prof. W. W. Nor- man; ‘‘Mollusks,”” Prof. R. E. Call; ‘‘Paleeontology,” Prof. V. F. Marsters; ‘‘Ornithology,” A. W. Butler. The discussion occupied the full half-day. In the afternoon the Academy met in two sections, one devoted to botany and zodlogy, the other to chem- istry, physics and mathematics. In the former the fol- lowing papers were presented: ‘‘An Alphabetical and Synonymical Catalogue of the Acridide of the United States,” W. S. Blatchley; ‘‘On the Hibernation of Tur- tles,” A. W. Butler; “‘Some Notes on a Variety of Solanum Dulcamara,” KR. Wes. McBride; ‘‘Indiana Fishes,” C. H. Eigenmann; ‘‘Review of Botanical Work in Indiana with Bibliography,” L. M. Underwood; “Notes on an Imbedding Material,” John S. Wright; “Recent Notes on Indiana Birds,” A. W. Butler; ‘‘The Distribution of Indiana Birds,” A. W. Butler; ‘‘On the Occurrence of the Rarest of the Warblers (Dendroica Kirtlandi) in Indiana,” A. B. Ulrey; ‘‘Histology of the Pontederiacee,’’ E. W. Olive; ‘‘Growth in Length and Thickness of the Petiole of Richardia,”’ Katherine E. Golden; ‘‘The Geographical and Hypsometrical Distri- bution of North American Viviparide,” R. Ellsworth Call; ‘“‘Recent Notes on Cacti,” J. M. Coulter; ‘‘The Field Columbian Museum,” J. M. Coulter. In the physico-chemical section were presented: “Estimation of Organic Matter in Water by the Potas- sium Permanganate Method,” Thos. C. Van Nuys and Sherman Davis; ‘‘1. 4. Di-amino-cyclo-hexane,” W. A. Noyes and H. H. Ballard; ‘‘Preliminary Note on Vari- ations of Strength of Timber in Different Parts of the Cross Section of the Tree,’ Thomas Gray; ‘‘A Method of Determining Traces of Cyanogen in Organic Mat- ter,’ Sherman Davis; ‘‘Integration of a Linear Vec- tor Differential Equation,” A. S. Hathaway; ‘‘An Autographic Method of Testing the Magnetic Qualities of Iron,” Thomas Gray; ‘‘A Case of Stereo-isomerism *See Eclogze Geologicee Helvetiz, 1888, No. III., p. 28r. *See L. Rollier, Etude stratigraphique sur les terraine tertiaire du Jura Bernois (Archives des Sc, Phys. et. Nat., March, 1892). SCIENCE. [Vol. XXIII. No. 576 in the Hydrazones of Benzoin,” Alexander Smith; “Camphoric Acid,” W. A. Noyes; ‘‘The Value of the Steam Pipe within the Smoke Box of a Locomotive, as a Means of Superheating,” Wm. F. M. Goss; ‘‘An Ex- perimental Study of the Action of the Counterbalance in Locomotive Drive-Wheels,” Wm. F. M. Goss; “‘Methods of Starch Determination,’ W. E. Stone and D. B. Hoffman; ‘‘The Combustion Gases of the Loco- motive,” W. E. Stone. Wednesday evening the Academy met in general ses- sion. The following officers were elected for the ensu- ing year: President, W. A. Noyes, Terre Haute; Vice President, A. W. Butler, Brookville; Secretary, C. A. Waldo, Greencastle; Assistant Secretary, W. W. Nor- man, Greencastle; Treasurer, W. P. Shannon, Greens- burg. President Arthur then addressed the Academy on ‘‘The Special Senses of Plants.” Thursday morning the early part of the session was devoted to the reports of committees. A change was made in the constitution of the Academy providing for a body of fellows. The following papers were then presented: ‘‘Should the Study of Natural Science in the Lower Classes of the Public Schools be Encour- aged ?’ W. W. Norman; ‘‘The Detection of Strychnine in an Exhumed Human Body,” W. A. Noyes; ‘‘Ab- sorption of Poisons by Animal Tissue After Death,” P. S. Baker; ‘‘The Application of Graphical Methods to the Solution of Some Problems in Electrical Engineer- ing,” Harold B. Smith; ‘‘Induration of Certain Ter- tiary Rocks in Northeastern Arkansas,” R. Ellsworth Call; ‘‘The Effect of Environment on the Mass of Local Species,” C. H. Eigenmann. ; At the afternoon session the following papers were offered: ‘‘The White Clays of Southern Indiana,” A. W. Butler; ‘‘The Ash of Trees,” Mason B. Thomas; ‘‘Poisonous Influence of Cypripedium spectabile,” D. T. MacDougal; ‘‘Notes on the Biological Survey,” Mason B. Thomas; ‘‘Notes on Sectioning Woody Tissues,” John S. Wright; ‘‘The Stomates of Cycas,’’ Mason B. Thomas; ‘‘Symbiosis in Isopyrum Biternatum,” D. T. MacDougal; ‘‘Our Present Knowledge of the Distribu- tion of Pteridophytes in Indiana,’ Lucien M. Under- wood; ‘‘Concerning the Effect of Glycerine on Plants,” John S$. Wright; ‘‘The Adventitious Plants of Fayette County,” Robert Hessler; ‘‘Bibliography of Indiana Ornithology,” A. W. Butler; ‘‘Bibliography of tke Batrachians and Reptiles of Indiana,” O. P. Hay; “Bibliography of Indiana Mammals,’ A. W. Butler and B. W. Everman; ‘‘The Effect of Light on the Germin- ating Spores of Marine Alge,”’ Melvin A. Brannon; ‘“Notes on Saprolegnia,”’ George L. Roberts; ‘‘Contri- butions to the Life-History of Notothylas,”” D. M. Mot- tier; ‘‘Some South American Characinide, with Six New Species,” A. B. Ulrey. The Academy decided to hold its next meeting in May at Rochester, Indiana, where, in connection with the meeting, an exploration of some of the beautiful lakes in that vicinity can be undertaken. —Diana Clifford Kimber will soon publish a text- book on ‘Anatomy and Physiology for Nurses,” in con- nection with Louise Darche. Miss Kimber’s experi- ence as assistant superintendent in both the New York City and the Illinois Training School for Nurses has led her to feel the need of such a manual and to under- take the work. It is designed to fill a middle place be- tween the text-book written for medical students and that for use of children in schools. The subject is pre- sented in a scientific manner, but the technicalities which discourage the average student have been, so far as possible, avoided. January 5, 1894 ] SCIENCE: @ PuBLIsHED BY N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broapway, New York. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD, $3.50 A YEAR. To any contributor, on request in advance, one hundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reasons we desire to circulate as many copies of SCIENCE as pos- sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprint- edelsewere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photo-engraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manu- scripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accompanies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer; not necessa- rily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold our- selves responsible for any view or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. : Attention is called to the ‘‘Wants’’ column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and ad- dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The “Exchange” column is likewise open. THE CRUISE OF THE CLOVER—FURTHER RE- MARKS ON THE ABERRATIONS OF AUDIBILITY OF FOG SIGNALS—THE METHODS USED. BY ARNOLD BURGES JOHNSON, WASHINGTON, D. C. Iris now about a quarter of a century since Prof. Joseph Henry, the first President of this society, com- menced his investigation into the operations of the laws of sound in connection with the fog signals used by the Light House Board, of which board he was then the scientific member. When I was made Chief Clerk of the Light House Board in 1869 it became my duty, as well as a privilege which I highly prized, to act to a certain extent as his amanuensis and aid in putting the results of his experiments in the form of reports to the Light House Board. In this way I became interested in this work and was, in a very humble way, associated with Professor Henry in its pros- ecution. Thus I entered with him into a practical dis- cussion of the subject and became, after a fashion, pos- sessed of his views as to the best way to follow up the investigation. I thus came to know something of his tentative plans and of his desire to make very practical use for light house purposes of the outcome of the in- vestigations. On Nov. 6, 1880, the great Long Island Sound steamer Rhode Island was stranded and finally lost on Bonnet Point iu Narragansett Bay. Then, putting it roughly, a million in property was lost and thousands of lives were imperilled. The master and pilot of the steamer claimed that the fog-signal at Beaver Tail Point, about one and seven-eighths miles away, was not sounding at the time of the accident; and hence the casualty. The light keeper who was in charge of the fog-signal at the time, and who was in peril of losing his place, proved con- clusively that at the time of the wreck the sound of the fog-signal was heard at Newport, five miles away, at Fort Adams, four and a quarter miles away in one direction, and at Narragansett Pier, four and a half miles away in another direction. The steamer people, who were in danger of forfeiting their licenses, came back with affi- davits of many on board that they were anxiously listen- ing for the fog-signal, and that it was not in operation, for they did not hear its sound. Then the Light House Board took a hand in the mat- ter. It had been shown by Professor Henry that, although a sound could be heard at a certain distance from its 1Read before the Philosophical Society of Washington, Novy. 25, 1893. SCIENCE. | | 3 source, it might not be heard in the same direction, and at the same time, at a less distance. Could this be one of those cases? A naval officer in the service of the board, now ranking as a Commodore, was sent to the locality to find out. He had the fog-signal at Beaver Tail started, and cruised round it in a sail boat for some time, taking constant note of the intervals of the sound. He found, and reported to everybody's surprise, that not only did he fail to get the sound of the Beaver Tail fog- signal at Bonnet Point, one and seven-eighths miles away, where the Rhode Island was lost, but he failed to get it at other points even nearer to the fog-signal, while he heard it on the same day at different points farther away, and much farther away in a line with the nearer points where he could not hear it. This settled the question. The light keeper was relieved from the charge of failing to have the fog-signal in operation, and the steamer people were relieved from the charge of failing to act on the warning of the fog-signal, which was blowing, but which, while within earshot, they might not hear. In 1881 the great propeller Galatea, while on the way from New York to Providence, ran onto Little Gull Island in Long Island Sound, imperilling many lives and much property. There was, and is, on that island, which is but one-eighth of a mile long, a powerful light and a powerful fog-signal. That fog signal has been often heard sixteen miles away. ‘The defense of the steamer people was that the fog was dense and that the fog-signal was not blow- ing. The light-keeper, in his defense, showed that the fog-signal was blowing, that it was heard and noted at several different points in different directions, say at New London, Mystic, and at several light houses, many miles away, at the very time the Galatea ran on the little islet on which the fog-signal was at work. Again the Light House Board was required to look into the matter. Again careful investigation was made. And again it was shown that the fog-signal might be heard far off, and not close to, and the spots where it was not heard were noted and plotted on the chart; and again the steamer people and the light house people were exoner- ated from blame. fs In 1881 I gathered these facts and submitted them to the Philosophical Society. My paper was printed in the Bulletin of the Society, and it was largely copied in mari- time and scientific publications in this and other coun- tries. The light house establishments of England, France and Spain reprinted the paper, each in its own language. And the eminent Emile Allard, head of the French light house establishment and a prominent officer of the French Corps of Engineers, plotted my numerical statement of the intensity of sound as heard from the fog-signals, in graphic form, that is, in lines of various width, and sent his diagrams to me in a letter in which he discussed the subject at length. The Light House Board meantime was considering the matter from a purely practical standpoint. If, it was reasoned, there is a point within earshot of a fog-signal, where, from any cause, the fog-signal cannot be heard, then some other signal should be placed at that point, from which vessels can take a fresh departure. Acting upon that idea, investigation was made as to the region about each prominent fog-signal which it had been said could not be heard at points where it ought to be heard. In several instances I was sent to such points to make in- vestigation and to report with recommendations. In the summer of 1885 I cruised about Point Judith, R. I., and the southeast end of Block Island, both at the entrance of Long Island Sound, and about the light house and fog- signal on Little Brewster Island, entrance to Boston Harbor. An area of silence was found and plotted about one and a quarter miles south of Point Judith, where the 4 SCIENCE. powerful fog-signal in operation at Point Judith could not be heard. hat area was soon marked by a whistling buoy. A similar area was found and plotted five miles from Block Island, and a whistling buoy was placed in the centre of that silent spot. A curious state of things was found off the light house on Little Brewster Island, Boston Harbor. Complaint had been made as to the action of the fog-signal there, which was a Daboll trumpet, and another and better fog- signal was wanted. Some asked for a siren, some for a steam whistle, and some for a larger and better Daboll. So a battery of fog-signals, one of each kind, was placed there, and I was appointed, with others, on an informal sort of a board to ascertain and re- port which of the three was best adapted to the place. It was found that the siren gave the best ef- fect, and it was duly established there, and is there yet. But it was also found that there were several areas of silence within normal ear-shot of that fog-signal which were constant as to their general position, but which were floating or variable in their actual positions. There were already so many lights, buoys, spindles, etc., in that vicinity it was recommended that no more be established there lest it cause confusion. It was deemed the most curious concatenation of peculiar phenomena yet met. In observing all these peculiar phases of non-audition of fog-signals at points where they should be heard, only one vessel had been used at a time. Hence, we had no record as to the sound at more than one place at a time, of a fog-signal. It had been a favorite plan of Professor Henry to use several vessels simultaneously about the same fog-signal, so as to learn where its sound was heard, as well as where it was not heard, at the same moment. The board decided to follow that plan this fall and in this way to re examine, with seyeral vessels at the same time, the sound of the fog signal, which had heretofore been examined with but one vessel at a time. This duty was devolved on me, and I was ordered to the Clover, a fast-sailing schooner, to carry it into effect. Iwas permitted to invite two members of this society, Prof. C. A. White, LL. D., Member National Academy of Sciences, and Prof. H. A. Hazen, Forecaster of the Weath- er Bureau, to go with me on this cruise, and the invita- tion was afterwards formally repeated by the board. It was planned that when I had reached a scene of opera- tion and a proper day was found, I was to impress any other light house vessel within reach for that day, and the light house district officers were directed to give every practical aid to the expedition. This they did with great readiness and good effect. Thus it has happened that observations have been made recently from three vessels simultaneously, at three dif- ferent places, of the sound of a number of fog-signals at which abnormal phenomena had been observed and re- ported before; and the recent observations have been made, and have been plotted on the same scale as previous observations; so that all the observations made at each place whether in 1881, 1885 or 1893 are now comparable. The methods used at Little Gull light house and fog- signal station, for instance, were as follows: The Clover arrived at New London Harbor on the morning of Oct. 19. Leaving her trying to work up to the city, against a headwind, I went ahead in the steam launch. At the light house depot I found the light house steamer, Cactus, with banked fires. In half an hour she was under way, and towing the Clover toward Little Gull light station. Dr. White, Professor Hazen and I went on shore and the light keeper was directed {o start up his fog-signal. Dr. White remained on the islet to see that the orders were carried out and to note any variations made from any cause in the usual sound. Then Profes- j Voi. XXiII io. 570 sor Hazen went on board of the Clover and I returned to the Cactus, and each vessel ran over prescribed courses. Observations of the intensity of the sound wéfte made on each vessel each minute. The direction and force of the wind, the temperature by wet and dry bulb thermometer, and the pressure of the atmosphere, as shown by the bar- ometer, were duly recorded. The appearance of the sea and the sky were also noted. The next day the Cactus was engaged on other impera- tive duty and the Clover went out from New London Harbor, where we had spent the night, without her. But Professor Hazen made a rather adventurous cruise in an open steam launch about the fog-signal, with excellent results. On the third day Professor Hazen was on the schooner Clover, and I was on the steamer Cactus. Dr. White was landed on Great Gull Island, which is small, treeless, and uninhabited, where he had large opportunity, which he fully used, to get the sound of the fog-signal under cir- cumstances not had before. Here Dr. White noted the action and the result of peculiar echoes, and his studies of these echoes have developed an important factor in the discussion. Off Point Judith we had very light wind, almost no sea, though there was a heavy swell rolling in, and a fair sky; in other words, we had an excellent day for hearing. The Cactus being again with us, I went on her, Dr. White stayed with the Clover, and Professor Hazen, in spite of the bad character of that vicinity for quick and severe changes of weather, again took to the steam launch; so we got simultaneous observations of the sound of the fog- signal at Point Judith from three vessels, each cruising about on different lines. In our work about the hight on Little Brewster Island, at the entrance to Boston Bay, which occupied two days, we had the help of two other steamers. Major Livermore, of the Corps of Engineers, U. 8. A., and Hngineer of the First and Second Light House Districts, went with us on his steam propeller, the Myrtle, and Lieutenant Com- mander Colby, U. S. N., assistant to the Inspector of the Second Light House District, accompanied us on the side- wheel steamer, Geranium. On the first day I was with Major Livermore on the Myrtle, Dr. White was in charge of the work on the Clover, and Professor Hazen went with Lieutenant Commander Colby on the Geranium. On the second day Dr. White went with Major Livermore; I stayed on the Clover, and Professor Hazen remained with Lieutenant Commander Colby on the Geranium. Hach vessel ran on different courses on different days, and we got many simultaneous observations from the three ves- sels. Most of the time was spent on the open ocean be-- tween Boston light and Minots Ledge light, or beyond, or between Boston light and Egg Rock light. Part of each day, as we were going and coming from Boston Har- bor, was spent in the Narrows, or in Broad Sound, at the rear of the fog-signal we were observing. Now, as to our tools. We had on the Clover an anno- meter at the foremast head, and another at the end of the jib-boom. Both were connected by electric two-conduc- tor cables with self-registering apparatus in the cabin. We also had a barograph which registered the pressure of the atmosphere, and we had a very delicate barometer by which to check the barograph These had been lent to the expedition by the Weather Bureau, and were under the charge of Professor Hazen, who looked after our me- teorology. In addition to these, the Professor had brought his own sling pschycometer, an ingenious arrangement of wet and dry bulb thermometers, which he managed with great skill, and clung to with much affection. The- Clover had her own complement of thermometers, barom- eters, etc., in addition to what had come to us from the January 5, 1894. | Weather Bureau. The balloon which the Secretary of the Treasury had asked the Secretary of Agriculture to permit the Weather Bureau to lend us, and which had been shipped to us, did not arrive. Had it come we might have had Professor Hazen looking down upon us from a great height, and we should have had him at the end ofa rope, recording temperature, air currents, moisture, wind and sound from 1,000 feet above, and at intervals of 25 feet, till we landed him on our deck or in the water. Major Livermore, however, used toy balloons, with which to ascertain the force and direction of the upper air cur- rents. The paper balloons were, say, four feet high, and one foot in diameter, at the widest part. They had an in- genious attachment for producing hot air, which, at night, lighted them, and made them for a while clearly visible. The longest flight I saw one of these make was 151% min- utes. Then the Major had spherical rubber balloons of, say, nine inches through, which he filled with hydrogen generated on the Myrtle, which were also quite useful. The fog-signals we were sent to observe were three steam sirens and a steam whistle. Hach signal has its own peculiar characteristic. The second-class siren at Little Gull Island, for instance, gave, during a fog, a blast of five seconds, and then after a silent interval of 40 sec- onds, and another blast of five seconds, and it continued this alternation of blast and interval while the fog contin- ued. This blast and interval served to differentiate this signal from other signals within ear-shot, and especially that at New London light-house, which was a six seconds blast, alternating with a silent interyal of thirty seconds. The siren is the most powerful fog-signal in existence. The English Government adopted it after a favorable re- port on it made by acommission sent to this country headed by Sir Frederick Arrow, and also after a report by Pro- fessor Tyndall, who then bore the same relation to the _ English lighthouse establishment that Professor Henry did to the United States lighthouse establishment, that is, of scientific adviser. Tyndall says of the siren in his book on “Sound,” third edition, p. 316: “The steam siren is the most powerful fog-signal which has been tried in England.” Again Tyndall says on p. 318: “We find the sound range on clear calm days varying from 21/2 to 16 1/2 miles.” Again he says on page 319: “It may be relied upon at a distance of two miles; in a great majority of cases it may be relied upon at a distance of three miles, and in a major- ity of cases at a distance greater than three miles.” Now as to the full range of the instrument, Tyndall says on page 321 of the same book: “The most conflict- ing results were at first obtained. On the 19th of May, 1873, the sound range was 3 1/3 miles; on the 20th it was 5 1/2 miles; on the 2nd of June, 6 miles; on the 3rd, more than 9 miles; on the 10th, 9 miles; on the 25th, 6 miles; on the 26th, 914 miles; on the Pst of July, 1234 miles; on the 2nd, 4 miles; while on the 3rd, with a clear, calm at- mosphere and smooth sea, it was less than 3 miles.” I have quoted this much from Tyndall, for while he ac- cepts the siren, he damns it with faint praise, and what he says is about the worst that has been said of it. The French, who also adopted it, speak in much higher terms of it, and the Light House Board, while constantly search- ing, has found nothing better. It remains the best fog- signal in the world, and it may be regarded as a constant memorial of the work of Professor Henry, who, for light- house purposes, was its inventor. But good as the siren is, it leaves much to be desired. It is a great big clumsy, ugly machine, expensive to make, expensive to run, and expensive to keep in repair. It is maintained to make a great big ugly noise continuously, and of a certain kind andatcertain intervals. It makes the noise, without regard to ethics or esthetics; but it might SCIENCE. 5) keep its pitch better; and it might maintain its intervals better. Itis not an instrument of precision. It has its limitations. They are not entirely unconnected with the pressure of its steam; in other words, with its manage- ment. But it approximates exactness sufficiently near to answer the purposes for which it is intended. When the mariner hears it, and hears it aright, he knows where he is. The question we are discussing is not so much con- nected with the sound made as with the sound heard. It is not the aberration of the sound, but the aberration of the audition of the sound with which we are concerned. Now as to the method used to determine the intensity of the sounds of the fog-signal we tested. This we did, on this cruise, by ear,and ou the same scale and in the same way in which it was done in observations made in 1881 and 1885. Hach of the party on the Clover used the scale of 10. Tt was understood that 10 was the sound of the highest intensity, and 0+ the lowest sound observable. We divided the scale, however, thus: 11 plus, 1%, 2 minus, and then 2. Mr. Wallace, Major Livermore’s assistant, used the scale of 100. I have no doubt that is Just as good as my scale, but as I had commenced my observations on the seale of 10, I carried that scale through these observations in order that those made in ’93 might be comparable with those made in ’85 and in 81. The question of personal equation has arisen, but I have carefully avoided any comparison of the mode of hearing, or rather accuracy of hearing, between members of my party. My direction to each was to record 10 as the highest sound of the fog- signal that could be heard on board of the vessel in which he was making observations. | When they were as near as they could get the vessel to the source of sound, the distance was, as a rule, not more than one-fourth of a mile. The minimum sound was 0. plus. One-half ot the sound between 0+ and 10, I considered as 5, and half-way between that and maximum was called 7%, and half-way between 5 and 0+ was regarded as 2%, and then we divided still finer between those points. In that way I think we got a practical solution of the question, and are as nearly accurate as it is practicable for observers to be, that is, for practical, but not for scientific, purposes. Each person preserves his own scale throughout, re- eording the maximum and minimum and medium, and dividing between those points according to the accuracy of his own ear. I noticed that different members of my party, and of Major Livermore’s party, did not mark in- stances the same under some circumstances; but the dif- ferences were slight, and they could be accounted for by interfering noises in different parts of the ship, which affected different hearers in those parts of the ship, so that their hearing of the same noise was to a certain ex- tent interfered with. I think the results reached were of a practical character, although they were not such as might be considered severely, or even scientifically, accu- rate. They were not such as would have been recorded by a self-registering machine, that is, they were not as finely phrased. I tried to put myself in the place of the mariner, who might hear a fog-signal without knowing what it was, and who might be forced to determine its identity by the character of its blast, the intensity of its blast, and the continuation of the silent interval between blasts. Major Livermore has a large number of observations which haye been plotted, and I think will be comparable with ours when ours are plotted. We are now haying very delicate instruments made with which to measure the character and the intersity of the sounds made by fog-signals; and thus I hope that 6 SCIENCE. next year we may be able to give the intensity of the sounds heard, with an approach to absolute accuracy. The results thus far obtained, however, are such as a captain of a vessel coming onto our coast ina fog and a gale would be apt to get. Itis for him the fog-signals are established, and I have tried to put myself in his place and to hear with his tired and strained ears the sounds which must be distinguished and differentiated from the shrieking of the wind, the creaking of the cordage, the rattle of the machinery and the roar of the surf. If he has heard aright the sound of the fog-signal and can tell from the length of its blast and the following in- terval of silence which one of the several fog-signals in that vicinity it is, he is certain of his position. The experiments thus far made and the observations taken are to make sure that the mariner can hear aright what he does hear, and to provide against his acting upon errors in hearing, which, if acted on, may place his ship in peril. SASSAFRAS TREES. BY WALTER J. QUICK, COLUMBIA, MO. - As Brine of some scientific interest, it is worthy our at- tention to note the marvelous growth that ten trees of the above well-known variety have acquired here in Mis- souri—a growth that is so exceptional of this species that it has not been observed elsewhere in the United States. The Sassafras officinale, of the order Lauracee, the Laurel family, is very seldom known as little more than a shrub or bush and generally as growing poorly or not at all on fertile soil. In truth, it is looked upon as being in its native element in company with and growing on thin land. This is not a fact, but the opinion prevails since old and worn-out fields, depleted of their fertility in greater part, when abandoned, grow up to “brush,” not the least profuse of which is the sassafras. It is a native of America and has been found in every State in the Union, growing much more abundant on poverty-stricken soil, but more luxuriant and larger in proportion, we con- clude, as the per cent of humus in the soil increases. In _the poor, white clay lands of the New England States and some parts of Indiana, Kansas and this State we have observed it growing where it seems to sprout pro- fusely and does not reach a height of over twelve feet, usually six or eight feet, while in the same States on richer land it will not be found in thick profusion, but scattered and attaining almost to the dignity of a tree in size. Recently it was our pleasure to visit the beautiful farm of Mr. T. B. Hickman, near Columbia, Mo. During our stay we were shown the various interests of the owner, and our attention was summoned to some peculiar trees of the sassafras variety. Their difference from others of this species consists in their vigorous growth and extreme size, being the largest any one present had ever seen or of which we had in any way known. This preter- natural development inspired us to investigation. They exhibited on measurement the surprising circumference of 80 to 82 inches—a diameter of over 26 inches. As the bark is thick and rough, similar to walnut, the diameter of the solid wood is not likely this much, but fully two feet. By triangulation we ascertained the height to be about fifty-five feet, and the whole ten will not vary much from these measurements. While there is very little indication of decay, as a matter of fact, these trees are fully grown for this ' sweetish taste. [Vol. XXIII. No. 570 variety. Their location is very auspicious for the growth they have made, being the low, rich and moist soil of Bonne Famme creek bottom. The writer has never seen larger trees, and is unable to learn of larger specimens on this continent, with the exception of the species of sassa- fras of California and the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, known as Oreodaphne Californica, which at- tains a still larger size “in the land of big trees.” The aroma from the leaves of this variety is more pungent, in fact, so much so as to occasion excessive sneezing, fre- quently during high winds. It has a greater reputation medicinally than ours, though the importance of the latter is by no means small. Our officinale species has been introduced into England as Sassafras laurus. Asis usual with anything imported, they appreciate it more as medicine than we do. A tree near the Royal Gardens at Kew has attained a height of about fifty feet, and is said to be over 110 years old. As there are no other figures given, we cannot compare the size with that of the Hickman trees, but the height is not so great. Almost every country has one or more species of this tree, all said to differ in some characteristic from ours, but all having the same odor and similar aromatic, But one country has larger trees. Those of New Zealand grow toa height of 100 to 150 feet. This tree appears in every clime, and is described as hav- ing “a large head of horizontal branches.” The fruit is a small, black drupe, which is not palatable, but is eaten by birds. The sassafras oil of commerce is made from these seeds and the buds. The leaves of our species are very dark green, rather thick, broad, oblong and ellip- tical. In Italy it is more like the American species than any other, andis known as Sassafrasso. The word comes from the Latin, saxum, a stone, and frango, I brake, so named be- cause it was believed that the use of the tea made from it would desolve the gall stones of the bladder and prevent their formation. In the southern states sassafras grows to the size of trees, generally small, but very abundant. The air is said to be more pregnant with its aroma than further north, and it can be detected a great distance at sea. The bark seems to be more fragrant, too, when steeped. Sassafras tea is very popular in many sections of the countries where the tree grows. The bark of the roots is kept everywhere for sale, for that purpose. In addition to its use as a table beverage it is employed as a tonic and constitutional stimulant. In those localities where the sugar-maple tree is a native and abundant a very delightful drink is made from the “sugar-water,” or sap and bark of the sassafras root. It makes the finest tea in the spring when the sap is forming and is then drunk mostly to resuscitate the system, improving the appetite and aiding the digestion. It is also valuable for boils, pimples and eruptions of all sorts, as well as for rheumatism. The pith of the new growth and sprouts contains a gum or mucilage, used in eye medicines, as being impor- tant in reducing inflammation and granulations. This pro- duct is also prepared in the form of a drink for diseases of the kidneys, catarrhal troubles and dysentery. In many localities there is perhaps no more popular farmers’ remedy for diseases of horses. It is administered by grinding the root bark to a powder and giving it in the feed, or by preparing a decoction with which the feed is mixed. Frequently the roots are placed in the horse’s feed trough, and he is permitted to bark them himself, which he willingly does, apparently with much relish. In the spring it greatly improves his appetite, strengthens him and assists in shedding and sleeking his coat. January 5, 1894.] THE McMILLAN CHEMICAL LABORATORY. BY DELOS FALL, ALBION, MICH. Tuts building, the generous gift of Senator James Mc- Millan, is now completed and will be devoted exclusively to the Department of Chemistry. It was dedicated Nov. 15 with appropriate exercises, addresses being delivered by Professor A. B. Prescott, of Michigan University, Professor H. H. Donaldson, of Chicago University, Senator McMillan, Professor Washington Gardner and others. The plans were drawn by Mr. E. W. Arnold, architect, of Detroit; the building was erected by the firm of Wal- lace & Morris, builders and contractors, of Detroit. SCIENCE. 7 of galvanized iron. The foundations are of stone. From the ground to the first story window-sill, the outside is faced with cut stone ashlar in courses. The exterior treatment is colonial in character, which will give to the building a quiet dignity and, at the same time, perfect appropriateness to the purposes for which it is erected. The basement story is 10 feet high and contains a boiler and fuel room, an assay laboratory with three furnaces and a fire table; a hall, a fire-proof storage vault; a re- search room, fitted with tables, ventilating hoods, ete.; a room for large gas tanks holding oxygen and hydrogen; a distilling room, with fire-proof tables, hoods, etc.; a The cut of the exterior and the floor plans here pre- sented will give the reader a general idea of the struc- ture. The general. form of a building that would best suit the requirements of the various departments was found to be a rectangle, 52x88 feet. This is divided into two parts in each story by a hall 13 feet in width. This provides a wide, recessed entrance on both sides of the building. — RESEARSA: ROM: STALE There are three stories and a basement, all abundantly lighted by high and broad windows. All outside and inside walls are of brick. The entran- ces, sills, lintels, copings, etc., are cut stone, the cornices lavatory, a storage room, and a second large research room. In the first story, which is 13 feet high, there is, on one side of the hall, the organic laboratory, 27 x 30 feet, con- taining tables for 24 students, with 29 feet of hoods, also wall tables, cases for chemicals, etc. Adjacent to this is the quantitative laboratory, 22x30 feet, with tables for 20 students, hoods, wall tables, etc.; a combustion room, “GAS: MASAIIE- | AGSEATGKe i -BAOEMEAT- 10x17 feet, and dispensing room, 10 x 21 feet. On the other side of the hall is the instructor's study with a private stairway to the basement and the lecture room above, This is furnished with book cases, fire place, 8 SCIENCE. [Vol XXIII. No. 570° wardrobe, ete. Off this is a private laboratory, with bowl, gas, water and waste pipes at convenient intervals, laree table, hoods, wall tables, cases, etc. The balance hydrogen and oxygen from the tanks below, electric con- OOM, 9x21 feet, and a research room, 15 x 30 feet, com- nections with dispensing and assistant’s rooms, a plunge plete the equipment of this floor. _ battery, etc. q q (===) “LeMBVSTICN: MP q q a cine QVAATITATIVE: LABSRATCRY: Heo? bebe ee =) 1S) = nay “ORGANIC: LABSRATORY: 2 PIROT PL ok: The second story is also 13 feet high and contains the Behind the lecture table is a hood 14 feet long, double qualitative laboratory, 40x 49 feet, with tables for 80 stu- counter-balanced blackboards, a rolling stereopticon cur- a Pw i] a “APFARATVS: s cunt Heo? | = LECTURE TABLE “LECTURE ROM: ulelolelMulelolole © i erolore) OOOOOR “SECOND: FIQ0K: dents, with 7 hoods, wall tables, cases, etc. The lecture room, also on this floor, 30 x 37 feet, will accommodate 82 students, the seating being arranged in rising tiers of tain, etc. Off the lecture room is an apparatus and prep- aration room, which will also contain cases for lecture table apparatus. URMITSR: oS le JANITOR: MOT: Ta isn ry AUTAIME SULTY: RCV “AALL THIRD FLOR: The third story is 10 feet high and contains a chemical museum, a class room, a chemical society room, three rooms for janitor’s residence, store rooms, ete. chairs. This room also contains an elaborately furnished lecture table, provided with a large pneumatic cistern, a powerful down draught for handling noxious gases, wash January 5, 1894. | The heating is by steam, direct radiation, and in addi- tion to this there are encased radiators recessed under the windows with register openings through the wall. By this means a supply of warm, fresh air is admitted to each room, which can be fully controlled. The ventilation is by large ventilating flues and groups of flues arranged so as to ventilate all parts of the build- ing and at points where most needed. The flues are in three sets, viz.: for floor ventilation, for ceiling ventila- tion and for hood ventilation, each set independent of the other and yet each working in combination with the other, and all controlled independently. Steam heat is applied in all flues in the upper story, which will insure their proper working. The Laboratory is supplied with gasoline gas from a machine of 400 Bunsen burner capacity. Each student's table is provided with two gas and two water cocks, wash bowl, two drawers, cupboards and shelves. The gas and water are also distributed to all hoods, dispensing rooms, etc. THE GRADUAL DISAPPEARANCE OF THE RANGE GRASSES OF THE WEST. BY I. W. TOURNEY, TUCSON, ARIZ. In the early days of our great West almost the only method of travel from the Mississippi Valley to our western coast and intervening points was by caravan. Wagons drawn by horses or cattle were several months in making this journey. During this time the stock sub- sisted entirely upon the natural forage afforded by the country traversed. For the most part, this forage was perennial grasses, which at that time were everywhere abundant. Then the whole of the West was a great pas- ture, unstocked, save for the herds of buffalo, deer and antelope. Many regions which were covered with a luxuriant growth of nutritious grasses are now entirely destitute of vegetation, if we exclude a few straggling, stunted bushes and the yearly crop of annuals which fol- low the summer rains. As a more specific case, thé rancher who drove the first herd of cattle into Tonto Basin, in central Arizona, found a well-watered valley, everywhere covered with grass reaching to his horse’s belly. In passing through this region a year ago scarcely a culm of grass was to be seen from one end of the valley to the other. This transformation has taken place in a half-score of years. The important native forage grasses are perennials, many of them of the great western genus bouteloua. Their growth in all parts of arid and semi-arid regions is slow. The grasses which formerly covered so great an area of our West were years in developing their root systems, and, in not a few species, even the culms were of several years growth. When only cropped by the deer and buf- falo they were able to hold their own against the drought and other agencies of nature. By stocking this great western country with the herds of civilization, these grasses were mowed down before them like timber before the forest fire. They are gradually becoming less and less, and it is only a question of a few years when, in many regions, they will disappear as a material factor in the natural forage of the country. Regions long dis- tances from water, out of reach of the great herds of cattle everywhere on the un-fenced domain of each wes- tern state and territory, are yet well-covered with peren- nial grasses. Last year in passing over a large un- watered area north of Prescott miles of country were found covered with grass, while in much more favored localities in the vicinity of water these species have en- tirely disappeared. Cattle men are putting down wells in many of the un- SCIENCE. 9 watered regions and moving their herds thither. The first year the forage is excellent, the next year itis not so good, and the third or fourth year it becomes so poor that the well is abandoned and another sunk in an as yet unfed locality. The more arid the region the more disas- trous is the effect of overstocking. When stock are driven into a locality they are allowed to increase, not in proportion to the amount of forage that the given range is in condition to furnish year after year, but as many are grazed as can find feed for the time being. No considera- tion or thought is expended on the future. This condi- tion of things has been most disastrous to stock-men throughout the West. To within afew years the efforts of cattle-men were expended in increasing the size of their herds, and this continued until nearly every vestige of the perennial grasses was swept away. Since that time cattle have died by thousands, the assigned cause in most cases being cold weather or drought, when in reality it has been the lack of forage; the direct result of stocking the range to a greater extent than the natural conditions year after year will justify. Many are deceiving themselves in thinking that a few rainy seasons will bring back the rich perennial grasses of the years gone by. It seems to me, under the present condition, the time can never come when our western range will be as rich in forage as it was ten or more years ago. Under the most favorable conditions, with cattle entirely excluded, it would take many years for these grasses to get the foothold that they formerly held. The annual grasses, mostly the smaller Boutelowas and Aristidas, are not so disastrously affected by overstocking. They seem to be always on hand to cover the plains with verdure after the rainy seasons. They furnish excellent forage during the short period that they are at their prime, but at the most they cau only provide feed for three or four months of the year. The ranchman makes a marked distinction between the annual and perennial grasses. He aptly designates the annual as “seed grasses” and the perennial as “root grasses.” The seed grasses soon become worthless, their bleached, short culms are broken and beaten into the sand by storm and wind. The root grasses retain their vitality and remain green for the greater portion of the year. Even when dry, their harder, stronger and larger culms contain as much nutrition as well-cured hay, and are, or rather used to be, the valuable winter forage of the West. In conclusion, there is a limit beyond which no range can be profitably stocked. If we exceed this limit it will not only be detrimental to the ‘permanency of the range, but in the end will be disastrous to the stock as well. It is but natural that a growth of top is necessary to a growth of root, therefore if the tops be continually cropped to the ground, the roots will finally perish. This is especially true of grasses of arid regions, growing in bunches or scattered about here and there a few culms in a place. The range is frequently fed so close that few of the better grasses mature seeds, while many others are tramped out by horses and cattle. During the past few years the effect of over-stocking has shown itself in the inferiority of the cattle when compared with those of former years. They are poorer as a consequence of their increased number and the resulting deterioration of the range. —The essays received by the Canadian Institute in the competition for a prize for the best act “which, if made law, would give the whole Canadian people equal rep- resentation in Parliament,” have been issued to the final tribunal of judges. Their reports are returnable on March 15 next; immediately thereafter the awards will be announced. 10 SCIENCE. MEETING OF THE IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. Tur eighth annual session of the Iowa Academy of Sciences occurred in Des Moines, Iowa, Dec. 26 and 27, 1893, and was one of the most largely attended and profit- able in the history of the Academy. About thirty Fellows were in attendance, and over forty papers were pre- sented. The officers elected for the coming year were: Dr. L. W. Andrews, President; Prof. H. W. Norris and Dr. C. R. Keyes, Vice-Presidents; Herbert Osborn, Secretary-Treas- urer; and Professors Arey, Hendrixson and Nutting ad- ditional members of the executive committee. Dr. L. W. Andrews presented a paper on the “Assumption of a Special Nacent State,” in which he concluded that the as- sumption of such a condition is the survival of an obso- lete doctrine and that it explains nothing which cannot be as well explained without it. In another paper he treated of some peculiarities of Ferric Sulphocyanate, discussing them from a physico-chemical basis. Prof. A. A. Bennett made a verbal report upon certain work done in the Chemical Laboratory of the Iowa Agri- cultural College and called attention to the methods in vogue in instruction in chemistry. Prof. W. S. Hendrixson, of Grinnell, Iowa, discussed “The Electrolysis of Silver,” detailing a method by which pure silver could be obtained in a rapid and easy way, and, in another paper entitled “Some Laboratory Appar- atus,’ he described several inexpensive forms, one of which was for the distillation of water. Prof. G. W. Bissell presented some notes on experi- mental engineering at the Iowa Agricultural College, giy- ing the results of some studies, the result of which can be used to advantage in the designing of certain kinds of machinery. Prof. 5. Calvin, of Iowa City, discussed the “Geological Position of Benettites Dacotensis, MacBride,” with obser- vations on the stratigrophy of the region in which the species was discovered. This was a careful description of the geological features of the region of Hot Springs, South Dakota, with the conclusion that this fossil belongs to the Cretaceous. Dr. C. R. Keyes read a paper upon the “Derivation of the Unione Fauna of the Northwest.” He compared the faunze of different river basins and discussed at length their relations and derivations. In discussing the paper Professor Shimek, of Iowa City, called attention to the similarity of the Unione Fauna of eastern Nebraska and eastern Iowa, whereas in central and western Iowa these forms are much less plentiful. Prof. J. L. Tilton, of Indianola, discussed the “Origin of the Present Drainage System of Warren County.” The present river valleys aud larger ravines fit into the pre- glacial valleys, whise in the smaller divisions only do we find erosion without regard to the pre-glacial configura- tion of the country. H. F. Bain, of the Geological Survey, in a paper on “The Structure of the Mystic Coal Basin,” presented data from a number of different sections, showing a remark- able persistence of character in the coal strata at different points, which has had a very important bearing upon the development of the coal industry of southern Iowa. In another paper he gave a careful record of the strata pene- trated inthe boring of the “Deep Well at Sigourney.” These borings of nearly two thousand feet penetrated the various formations to the “St. Peters” and entered the Oneota. EK. H. Lonsdale, of the Geological Survey, in a paper entitled “Southern Extension of the Cretaceous in Iowa,” presented the results of an extended examination of the southwestern portion of the State, in which he has been able to determine the occurrence of Cretaceous deposits [Vol. XXIII. No. 570 at points considerably farther south than hitherto recog- nized. A. G. Leonard, on the “Zine Deposits of Northeastern Iowa,” showed that these deposits have proven quite valu- able and are being extensively worked, occupying the same localities as the lead deposits, which at one time were worked with profit, but have for a number of years been practically abandoned. He also spoke of “Satin Spar from Dubuque, Iowa,” and exhibited some very handsome specimens of this mineral. H. A. Jones, of Grinnell, Iowa, in a paper on the “Coal Measures in Powesheik County,” indicated the location of coal seams and coal measure strata in the vicinity of Grin- nell and at other points in the same county. Prof. T. H. McBride, of Iowa City, presented some very interesting “Notes on North America Cycads,” in which he described the occurrence of a remarkable new species of Benetites found in South Dakota. He also showed photographs of a large specimen of the fossil and a speci- men of one of the living species for comparison. In an- other paper he discussed the “Distribution of Rhus typhina.” The presidential address by Prof. L H. Pammell was devoted to a discussion of bacteria, their relation to mod- ern medicine, the arts and industries. It wasa very com- prehensive and interesting account of the historical de- velopment of bacteriology and of the relations which these organisms bear to modern medicine and to various im- portant industries. He also presented the following papers: ‘The Powdery Mildew of the Apple,” “Further Notes on Cladosporium carpophilum” and “Notes from the Botanical Laboratory of the Iowa Agricultural College.” Prof. H. W. Norris, of Grinnell, in a paper on the “De- velopment of the Har of Necturus,” presented the results of a very careful study of this organ and exhibited draw- ings of sections and also, for comparison, reconstructions of the ear of Amblystoma. Prof. B. Shimek, of Iowa City, in “An Additional List of: Iowa Molusca,” recorded a considerable number of species additional to the list which he published some years ago. He also presented a paper and exhibited specimens illustrating the variations in certain Succinide occurring in the loess, comparing them with living forms and showing conclusively the great range of variation in certain species. He considers these shells an import- ant factor in determining the age of the loess formations. Prof. C. C. Nutting, of Iowa City, gave two anatomical papers, one devoted to the “Vascular Sepply of the Teeth of the Domestic Cat,” in which he showed that the distri- bution of the blood vessels to the teeth was different from what has been commonly held; the other discussed the “Homology of the Inca Bone.” Mr. Herbert Osborn, of Ames, presented a paper upon the “Distribution of Hemiptera,” giving records which extend the known distribution of a number of species, . also a paper including laboratory notes, in which he called attention to species particularly useful for laboratory work in this region. Mr. C. W. Mally, in the “Hackberry Psyllide of Iowa,” reviewed the species occurring in the state and gave very full descriptions of certain forms which had been studied in detail in their different stages. Mr. F. A. Sirrine described “A New Species of Plant Louse Occurring on Thorn.” Aside from these papers, which were read, a number of others were réad by title and will appear in the proceed- ings of the Academy, which will be published by the State at an early date. Resolutions were passed commending the Geological Survey and, also, looking toward the securing of a greater amount of scientific literature in the State Library. J anuary 5, 1894.| BALTIMORE MEETING OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIBTY. BY CHARLES PLATT. Arter a rather dark period in its history, the American Chemical Society has now attained a firm footing, and has become what it has ever aimed to be, a truly national re- presentation of American chemists. The summer meeting in Chicago and the recent Baltimore meeting have been extraordinarily successful, not only in papers presented, which are, after all, very secondary attractions, but more particularly in the establishment of those feelings of good fellowship and esteem which can only be born of personal acquaintance. During the last meeting this sentiment was expressed many times, and there was a universal feel- ing of congratulation and good-will, which made the meeting extremely satisfactory. The general verdict seemed to be that the time allotted was too short, and that a programme extending over three or four days, in- stead of the two provided by custom, would have been more suitable. The meeting convened Dec. 27, 1893, in the lecture-room of the chemical department of Johns Hopkins University, with President H. W. Wiley in the chair. President D. C. Gilman welcomed the society to the University, and Prof. Ira Remsen performed the same office in behalf of the chemical department. In response, President Wiley returned thanks for the society for the welcome so kindly extended, and, continuing, spoke of the remarkable growth of the society during the past year, its field in America, and the increasing need of such a bond of union as is provided. Professor Wiley tnen opened the business of the meeting with his presidential address on “The Relations of Agricultural Chemistry to the Waste and Recovery of Plant Food.” Other papers on the programme, read in person or by title, were as follows: “The Widespread Occurrence of Barium and Strontium in Silicate Rocks,” W. F. Hillebrand; ‘The Estimate of Small Amounts of Barium and Strontium in Silicate Analysis,’ W. F. Hillebrand; “A Plea for Greater Completeness in Chemical Rock Analysis,’ W. F. Hillebrand; “A Study of the Distribution of the Oleo- resins in the ‘Pinus Palustris,” Omar Carr; ‘‘Salicylic Acid in Food,” K. P. McElroy; “Utilization or Garbage,” Bruno Terne; “Report on the Determination of Atomic Weights Published during 1893,” I. W. Clarke; “The Detection of Strychnine in an Exhumed Human Body,” W. D. Noyes; “The Importance of the Study of Bio- chemistry,’ E. A. de Schweinitz; “Upon Uniformity in Sampling and Assaying Copper Bullion,” G. W. Lehmann; “The Preservation and Arrangement of Chemical Ab- stracts,’ Thomas M. Chatard; “Notes on the Electro- Metallurgy of Zinc,” Charles Platt; “The Phenyl-hydra- zen ‘Test for Glucose in Urine,’ C. EH. Pellew; “Expert Testimony,’ W. P. Mason; “A Description of the Boric Acid Springs in Tuscany,” W. P. Mason; “Phosphorus in Steel,” C. B. Dudley; “Determination of Phosphorus by the Molybdate Method in the Presence of Arsenic in Iron, Steel and Ores,” J. O. Handy; “The Analysis of Malt,” J. A. Miller. Other papers not on the programme were presented, among them one by Dr. Thomas Taylor, of Washington, and another by Prof. G. F. Baker, of Philadelphia, who read a memorial to the late T. Sterry Hunt. In the afternoon the society accepted the invitation of the Baltimore Copper Smelting and Rolling Company, and several profitable hours were spent examining the details of refining at these representative works. A com- plimentary banquet was enjoyed at the Eutaw House in the evening. On the second day the reading of the papers was continued and the annual business of the so- SCIENCE. » ciety transacted. The officers elected for the ensuing year are: President, H. W. Wiley; General Secretary, Albert C. Hale; Treasurer, C. I’. McKenna (resigned); Librarian, Ff. E. Dodge; Directors—C. F. Chandler, P. T. Austen, C. A. Doremus, H.C. Bolton; Council—C. B. Dud- ley, C. EK. Munroe, Wm. MecMurtrie, J. H. Appleton. The meeting was brought to a close with a delightful excur- sion down the river to Sparrows Point, where the works of the Maryland Steel Company were thoroughly inspected. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. ,*,Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. writer's name is in all cases required as a proof of good faith. On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number con- taining his communication will be furnished free to any corres- pondent. The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character of the journal. The Do EARTH WorMS RAIN DOWN 2 Tux old-time notion that earth worms, frogs, fish, etc., “rain down” is now seldom mentioned by intelligent peo- ple except in the way of ridicule. The sudden appear- ance of these animals after a shower is, however, a matter of common obseryation, and I am not aware that any ade- quate explanation of the phenomenon has ever been given. I have heretofore mentioned the finding of minnows after a heavy rain in pools and ditches which were dry not long before. As for earth worms, their nature and habits seem to preclude their coming to the surface vol- untarily. When dug up and left on top of the ground they seem very uncomfortable and lose no time in bury- ing themselves again, as soon as they can find a spot where the earth is soft enough to penetrate. Of those found after a rain, some are dead, others nearly so, and those which are in motion seem plainly to be seeking a place to burrow. While it would seem to be impossible that they should have come down from above, it is very remarkable that they should come up from below, leay- ing their dark, earthy home to be pelted by the rain, which seems so disastrous to them. Besides, they are often found in situations which they could not have reached from the earth, as in tightly cemented cisterns, closed with no opening except where the water pipe en- ters from the roof. Have those found drowned in rain barrels committed suicide by crawling up the side of the barrel and thence into the water? By the way, who can vouch for their ability to climb a vertical surface in that way ? This morning, after a shower, I found several earth worms near the middle of a street paved with asphalt. There was no crack or crevice in the pavement, and it connected smoothly, on each side, with a curbstone six- and-a-hali inches high. It would seem entirely contrary to nature for them to leave the soft earth, climb over the curbstone and make the long journey to the middle of the street. I have no theory or explanation to offer. My relation to the subject is merely that of an interested observer. I would be glad if others would contribute their observa- tions, with a view to arriving at the true explanation. : Cuartes B. Parmer. Columbus, Ohio. LATE-BLOOMING TREES. Dr. Water MENDELSON inquires in Science for Dec. 15, 1893, as to ‘‘cause and effects of late-blooming of fruit trees.” The fruit buds of pears, peaches, apples and cherries are formed during the late summer and early autumn. If there should be warm, damp weather in the autumn, premature blossoming is frequently caused, and the result is the fruit crop of the following i2 season is diminished in proportion, as, of course, no new buds can be formed. This late blooming is not at all uncommon, although I do not remember having noticed any as early as Sep- tember. One season in the first week of November the pear trees in the garden were quite white with blos- soms, but unfortunately I cannot recall the year. : Dr. Mendelson may enjoy avery pretty bouquet in February or March by placing in water in a sunny win- dow the fruit-bearing branches of pears, apples or cherries; in a short time they will develop their beauti- ful and fragrant blossoms. F. J. THompson. New Brighton, Staten Island. A CORRECTION. Science is so generally exact in following copy that I must have left out one important word in a recent com- munication. I should have said that the early Iroquois had no council wampum. When the Dutch came they obtained it fast enough, but itis found on no earlier sites in their territory. The later ones have furnished it in abundance. I wish to record the occurrence of the thick-billed guillemot in this part of New York. A young one was shot on the Seneca River, at Baldwinsville, Dec. 15, 1893. It has not been reported so far inland before. Two species of cormorant have been shot on Onondaga Lake, and I heard that a pelican was recently killed there, but have not seen it. W. M. Beaucuamp. Baldwinsville, N. Y., Dec. 28, 1893. LATE-BLOOMING TREES. Trees or shrubs if stripped of their foliage during the summer will put out new buds and new leaves and blossoms. It is a common saying with farmers that when a tree blossoms in the fall it is about to die, which is generally the case, as it mostly occurs on diseased trees. On such a tree the leaves will often turn yellow and fall off during a dry summer. ‘The later rains will put a little new life into it, and it will often put forth buds and blossom. The same occurs if healthy trees are stripped of their foliage during the summer. SCIENCE. { Vol. XX111. No. 576 The phenomenon of “‘the late blossoming of trees,” referred to by Dr. Walter Mendelson in Science of Dec. 15, 1893, was observed here. During the latter part of September and the first of October great numbers of fruit trees were in bloom, and on many green fruit set and grew; but they all occurred in the track of a severe hail storm which in August passed over a strip of country about half-a-mile in width, cutting the foliage completely from the trees. Possibly Brielle and Alpine, N. J., were in the track of that hail storm. THoMAS S. STEVENS. Trenton, N. J., Dec. 28, 1893. As TO FEIGNED DEATH IN SNAKES. WHILE on a trip to the Bad Lands in northwest Nebraska and South Dakota in the summer of 1892, col- lections of rattlesnakes were made. Being much in- terested in the recent articles on ‘‘Feigned Death in Snakes,” I have the following statement to make: Whenever a freshly captured rattlesnake was intro- duced in the box with the former captures it usually vented its rage on them by striking and biting. Noill effects whatever ensued. Also, when teased, the snakes would bite one another. We lost no rattlesnakes what- ever on the trip. . We often teased the snakes before capture, and in not one instance did they show any ten- dency to feign death. H. H. Everett. Lincoln, Neb., Dec. 27, 1893. THE LEAST BITTERN. Lasr summer a wounded bittern, the smallest of them all, Botaurus emilis, came into the grounds of the New York State Fishery Commission, at this place, and as its wing was hanging down one of my men caught it and amputated the wing. It remained and fished in a swampy bit of land where the minnows are plenty, in a poolfed by tide water, and promises to winter there. Its habit of remaining motionless when I approach it slowly and in plain sight is interesting, perched on a stick, or standing in the mud withits neck drawn up _SOFTLY STEALS THE LIGHT OF DAY wher filtered through windows covered with CRYSTOGRAPHS, a substityte for Stained Glass that is inexpensive, beautiful, and easily applied. =eGU LL : =| Best Cough Syrup. Tastes Good. Use ) in time. Sold by druggists. close and bill pointed upward. I can go within two A monthly magazine for the study 5 : GEAMARI of the German language and litera- ture, is highly recommended by college professors and the press as “‘the best effort yet made to assist the student of German, and to interest him in his pursuit.” Its BrGinneRs’ CoRNER furnishes every year a complete and interesting course in German ~ rammar. $2ayear. Single copies 20 cents. P, O. : 20c. per square foot, Samples and catalogue, 10s. CRYSTOGRAPH CoO., 316 North Broad St,, Philadelphia, Fact and Theory Papers I. THE SUPPRESSION OF CON- SUMPTION. By GopFrEY W. HAMBLETON, M.D. ox 151, Manchester, N. H. Newspaper Clippings, 25,000 in Stock, What do you want? Let us know. We cam supply you. The Clemens News Agency, Box 2329, Sam Francisco, Cal” New Stock. fi | N ERALS . New Departments, Send for our ‘‘ Winter Bulletin,’ recently issued. New Store. 12°. 40c. Il. THE SOCIETY AND THE “FAD.” By APPLETON MORGAN, Hsq. 12°. 20 cents. BUILDING of Books on Building, Minerals, Gems, Microscopical Sections, Fine Lap- 1893 Catalogue idary Work. III. PROTOPLASM AND LIFE C. F. Cox. 12°. 75 cents. IV. THE CHEROKEES IN PRE-CO- LUMBIAN TIMES. By Cyrus THomas. 12°, $1. V. EHE TORNADO. By H. A. Hazen. 12°. $1. By VI. TIME-RELATIONS OF MENTAL 50c. | PHENOMENA. By JOSEPH JASTROW. 12°. VII. HOUSEHOLD HYGIENE. MARY TAYLOR BISSELL. 12°. 75 cents. N. D. C. HODGES, Publisher, 874 Broadway, New York, By Painting, and Decorating, also Catalogue of Draw- ing Instruments and Ma terials, sent free on appli- cation to Wm. YT, Cometock, 23 Warren St.; New York. BOOKS. DRAWING INSTRUMENTS. TEN BOOKS FOR PRICE OF ONE SEND FOR A CATALOGUE OF THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY OF SCIENCE. : Containing the works of the foremost scientific writers of the age.—The Great Classics of Modern Thought.—Strong meat for them that are of fullage. Single numbers 15 cents. Double numbers 30 cents. Address :—THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING Co., 1g Astor Place, New York, GEO. L. ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists, Removed to 64 East 12th Street, New York Pennsylvania Bedford Springs Minerai Water Ror Liver, Kidney and B_dder Troubles. C Nor Gravel, Gall Stones, Jaundice. For Dyspepsia, Rheumatism and Gout. For Dropsy, Bright’s Disease, Diabetes. Ror Hemorrhoids, Etc. Wt has been used medicinally and prescribed by physicians for nearly one hundred years. DIRECTIONS: —'Take one or two glasses about & half-hour before each meal. Case One Dozen Half-Gallon Bottles, $4.50. Case Fifty Quarts (Aerated), $7.50. Bedford Mineral Springs Co., Bedfurd, Pa. Philadelphia Office, 1004 Walnut St. January 5, 1894. | feet of it and walk all around it, and the bird will not betray a sign of life, even by winking. This I do several times a week, but, if I come on it suddenly, over the bank, it will utter a cry and flop into the water and wade or swim off. Jam getting fond of see- ing it simulate an inanimate thing. Frep MATHER. Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y. BOOK-REVIEWS. Handbook of Public Health and Demography. By Evwarp F. Wittoucupy, M.D., Lond. London and New York, Macmillan & Co. 509 p., 1893. $1.50. THOUGH appearing for the first time under the pre- sent title, this is, in fact, a third edition, greatly en- larged andimproved, of the “‘Principles of Hygiene,”’pub- lished in London, 1884 and 1888. To this latest edition several important chapters have been added, as, for instance, those on ‘‘Vital Statistics,” ‘Sewage Dis-- posal,” ‘Unhealthy Trades,” and “‘Sanitary Law,” while some other matter entirely irretevant to the sub- ject in hand has been omitted. The author, as stated in his preface, has endeavored throughout so to combine scientific accuracy with the popular treatment of per- sonal health and social problems as to render the work a clear and comprehensive manual of the principles and practice of public health, equally adapted to the pur- poses of the medical man, the student, the teacher and the general reader. Hygiene is treated under the general heads of ‘‘ Health of the Man,” ‘Health of the House,” ‘‘Health of the City’ and ‘‘Health of the People,”’ with sub-divisions into sections on ‘‘Dietetics,” “Clothing,” ‘‘Exercise,” ‘“‘Air, Warmth and Light,” “General Sanitary Arrangements,’ ‘‘Water Supply,” “School Hygiene,” ‘‘Preventable Diseases,” etc. The remaining chapters include an admirable treatise on “‘Demography,” in which many common errors, statistical and otherwise, are exposed; a chapter on “Meteorology,” another on ‘‘Sanitary Law,” and an SCIENCE. 13 appendix of tables, etc. These various subjects are discussed so thoroughly and are so comprehensive that we are provided with a most excellent book of refer- ence in all matters pertaining to hygiene. Particularly noteworthy are the sections on ‘‘Die- tetics” and those dealing with ‘‘House Drainage and Sanitation,” and also that which discusses the neg- lected question of ‘‘ School Hygiene.” We say neglected, for even in the face of modern enlighten- ment on these subjects many, if not most, of our school buildings continue on the same general lines of the last generation, remodelled only so far as to gain a greater seating capacity. Wedo not refer to the ‘‘sanitary arrangements” of the plumber; the school building is always a favorite place for costly experiments in that direction, but rather to the heating, ventilating, school desks and seats, etc. One defect which is probably the last thought of in school building, and yet the surest in its evil effects, is that of school lighting, and in treat- ing this all-important section the author has given us the benefit of such authorities as Professors Cohn and Forster, of Breslau, the eminent oculists. How im- portant this subject is at once comes home to one when we temember the alarming increase of weak eyes among school children, the headaches, and the so often repeated complaint that ‘‘It hurts my eyes to look at the black-board.” The chapter on ‘‘Dietetics’ em- braces a discussion of food stuffs, the classification and uses of food, the relative values of the common foods, their proper preparation and the adulterations which they may contain. It will be seen that the subject matter is most general, and embraces practically all that is of moment in sanitary matters, while, moreover, the arrangement and treatment are most admirably suited for convenient reference. Methods of hygienic chemical analysis are given in so far as is deemed necessary, and these sections will prove particularly valuable as an aid to the interpretation of results ob- tained through an expert chemist. Address N. D. York ] C. Brain EXCHANGES. [Free of charge to all, if of satisfactory character. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New Wants. anted.—Sachs’s Text-book of Botany, 2nd Eng- lish edition. Dr. Alfred C. Stokes, 527 Mon- Workers. mouth Street, Trenton, New Jersey. Horsford’s Acid Phosphate is recommended by physicians of all schools, for restoring brain force or nervous energy, in all cases where the nervous system has been re- duced below the normal standard by over-work, as found in lawyers, teachers, students and brain-workers generally. Descriptive pamphlet free on application to Rumford Chemical Works, Providence, R. I. Beware of Substitutes and Imitations. For sale by all Druggists. For Sale or Exchange.—A large number of state and zeneral government scientific reports, Smith- sonian contributions and Bulletins Torrey Club, Botanical Gazette and many others. These were obtained in the purchase of a large scientific library and are duplicates. Write for what you want and offer any sum. Mexican Boundary Sur- vey, Torrey’s Botany California, Blume’s Orchid of India and Japan, and Hooker’s Rododendruns of the Sikkim-Himalaya are in the lot. What} offers? R. Ellsworth Call, Louisville, Ky. Skins, with full dat of ADgialites nivosa,| Ereunetes occidentalis, Ammodramus beldingi, | A. rostratus, Chameea fasciata henshawi and others from California, for native or foreign skins with full data. A. W. Anthony, 2042 Albatross Street, San Diego, California. a, For Sale.—An entirely new analytical balance, made by one of the most celebrated manufacturers; capacily 100 grammes, sensitive to one-twentieth amilligramme. Never been used. Regular price, $83. Will sell for $50 cash. Address, A. P. Nichols, 41 Summer Street, Haverhill, Mass. Museum of Hamline University desires to exchange Marine Shells, preserved alcoholic material of ma- rine zoology, or microscopic slides for zoological specimens from southern and western United States, especially for rodents in the flesh. Corres- pondence solicited. Address Henry L. Osborn, Biological Laboratory of Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota. For Sale.—Small collection of fine first-class sets of birds’ eggs; single breech-loading shotgun, gold- filled hunting-case watch and telescope. Write for WANTED to exchange for human bones or re- cent medical text-books, the following books “Metallurgy of Silver,” M. Eissler, 1889; ‘“‘Practical Treatise on Petroleum,” by Benj. J. Crewe, 1887; “Cook’s Chemical Philosophy,” 1885; ‘Cairn’s |Chemical Analysis,’’ 1880; ‘‘Wagner’s Chemical echnology,” by Crookes, 1886; ‘‘Fresemier’s Qual. hem. Analysis,” 1879; ‘“Hlementary Treatise on Practical Chemistry and Qual. Analysis. ’—Clowes, 1881; bound Vols. 1 to 12 of Dr. Lardner’s ‘Museum of Science and Art” (very rare), 1854; back numbers of ‘Electrical World,” beautiful specimens of Pyrite Incrustations from Cretaceous of New Jer- sey; Magnetis Iron Ore, Highly Polarized. Address D. T. Marshall, Metuchen, N. J. W ANTED.--Books or information on the micro- scopical determination of blood and hair. Also reports of cases where hair has played an import- ant part in the identification of an individual. Ad- dress Maurice Reiker, 206 N. First Ave., Marshall- twn, lowa. A GEOLOGIST thoroughly conversant with the geology of the Southern States desires an en- gagement. Has complete knowledge of the eco- nomic geology of Iron, Coal, Lignite, as well as Clay and Kaolin. Five years’ experience with Geological Surveys. Address K., 509 West Sixth Street, Austin, Texas. ANTED.—Tuckerman’s Geneva Lichenum and Carpenter on the Microscope, Wiley’s In- troduction to the Study of Lichens. State price feuds eggs and particulars. B.S. Bowdish, Phelps, and other particulars. Richard Lees, Brampton, nt. T4 SCIENCE. [Vol. XXIII. No. 570 SOME OF THE NEW BOOKS AT LOW PRICES. FAMouS VOYAGERS AND EXPLORERS.—$1.50. Mrs. Bouton has added to her Famous series of books another and an unusually interesting volume, ‘‘Famous Voyagers and Explorers.” It is hardly comprehensive, as it gives the biographies of only a few typical ex- plorers—Marco Polo, Columbus, Magellan, Raleigh, and the more prominent of our modern American ex- plorers. Doubtless such names as the Cabots,. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, De Soto, Cartier, Nansen and others are reserved for a second volume. Mrs. Bolton has a gift for this sort of writing, and she has here brought together a large amount of deeply interesting matter which otherwise could only be obtained by read- ing through a dozen or more separate volumes. The book is illustrated with several portraits.—Boston Trans- cript. Our GREAT WEST.—$2.50. Tur contents of the volume appeared serially in Harper’s Magazine and Harper's Weekly, in which periodi- cals they attracted wide attention and favorable com- ment. ‘Their importance fully justified their republica- tion ina more permanent form. ‘The book affords a more minute insight into the present condition of the West than can be found elsewhere. What it tells is the result of personal experience, fortified by information obtained from the best-informed and most reliable men in the localities under discussion, and set forth with admirable clearness and impartiality. Itis a work to be read and pondered by those interested in the growth of the nation westward, and is of permanent standard value.—Boston Gazette. STATESMEN.—$2.00. In the preparation of this work Noah Brooks has aimed to present a series of character sketches of the eminent persons selected for portraiture. The object is to place before the present generation of Americans salient points in the careers of public men whose at- tainments in statesmanship were-the result of their own individual exertions and force of character rather than of fortunate circumstances. ‘Therefore these brief studies are not biographies. Mr. Brooks had the good fortune of personal acquaintance with most of the statesmen of the latter part of the period illustrated by his pen, and he considers it an advantage to his readers that they may thus receive from him some of the im- pressions which these conspicuous personages made upon the mental vision of those who heard and saw them while they were living examples of nobility of aim and success of achievement in American states- manship. MEN OF BUSINESS.—$2.00. _W. O. Stopparp, who has just written a book pub- lished by the Scribners, on ‘‘Men of Business,” tells how the late Senator Stanford chopped his way to the law. ‘‘He had grown tall and strong,” says Mr. Stod dard, ‘‘and was a capital hand in a hay-field, behind a- plough, or with an axe in the timber; but how could this help him into his chosen profession? Nevertheless it was a feat of wood-chopping which raised him to the bar. When he was eighteen years of age his father purchased a tract of woodland; wished to clear it, but had not the means to do so. At the same time he was anxious to give his son alift. He told Leand, there- fore, that he could have all he could make from the timber, if he would leave the land clelar of trees. Leland took the offer, for a new market had latterly been created for cord-wood. He had saved money enough to hire other choppers to help him, and he chopped for the law and his future career. Over 2,000 cords of wood were cut and sold to the Mohawk and Hudson River Railroad, and the net profit to the young contractor was $2,600. It had been earned by severe toil, in cold and heat, and it stood for something more than dollars.—Brooklyn Times. ORTHOMETRY.—$2.00. ; In ‘‘Orthometry” Mr. R. F. Brewer has attempted a fuller treatment of the art of versification than is to be found in the popular treatises on that subject. While the preface shows a tendency to encourage verse-mak- ing, as unnecessary as it is undesirable, the work may - be regarded as useful so far as it tends to cultivate an intelligent taste for good poetry. The rhyming diction- ary at the end is anew feature, which will undoubtedly commend itself to those having a use for such aids. A specially interesting chapter is that on ‘‘Poetic Trifles,” in which are included the various imitations of foreign verse in English. The discussion of the sonnet, too, though failing to bring out fully the spiritual nature of this difficult verse form, is more accurate than might be expected from the following sentence: ‘‘The form of the sonnet is of Italian origin, and came into use in the fifteenth [sic] century, towards the end of which its construction was perfected, and its utmost melodious sweetness attained in the verse of Petrarch and Dante.” In the chapter on Alliteration there are several mislead- ing statements, such as calling ‘‘Piers the Plowman” an ‘Old English” poem. In the bibliography one is surprised not to find Mr. F. B. Gummere’s admirable ‘‘Handbook of Poetics,” now in its third edition, In_ spite of these and other shortcomings, which can be readily corrected in a later issue, this work may be recommended as a satisfactory treatment of the mechanics of verse. A careful reading will improve the critical faculties.—The Dial. Any of the above books will be sent prepaid on receipt of the publisher’s price, less ten per cent.The same discount will be allowed on any new book, not a text-book. N. D. C. HODGES,. “B19 &) 874 Broadway, New York. RYAN re sin OU " vit He HN