FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



287 



also made careful observations, believes in 

 the possibility of pigeons flying 72 miles an 

 hour. Observation shows that they fly per- 

 ceptibly faster than the best express trains. 

 Their speed, in M. Rodenbach's view, is even 

 much greater than it appears ; for they can 

 not fly in a straight line as the express train 

 runs, but are obliged to make zigzags and 

 detours, as they meet or are turned by vary- 

 ing currents in the air. 



The Gas Exposition to be held in Madi- 

 son Square Garden during the two weeks 

 beginning January 25, 1897, will be the first 

 affair of the kind attempted in this country, 

 although such displays are a regular feature 

 of the year's entertainments in some Euro- 

 pean countries. The exhibition will be man- 

 aged by a board of directors composed of 

 men well kno\vn in the commercial and finan- 

 cial world many of them connected with 

 gas enterprises, and some distinguished in 

 science and public life assisted by an ex- 

 ecutive committee. It is represented that a 

 large and increasing interest is being taken 

 in the project by men and firms whose co- 

 operation is desired, and who might be 

 counted upon to become exhibitors. It would 

 be impossible to name all or even a consid- 

 erable fraction of the features which could 

 find an appropriate place in such an exhibi- 

 tion. Great improvements are being made 

 in the use of gas for light and fuel and the 

 appliances, and these will, of course, be 

 shown. 



Mr. Amos W. Butler, the well-known 

 ornithologist, gives, in his address as retiring 

 President of the Indiana Academy of Sci- 

 ences, an interesting and valuable contribu- 

 tion to our knowledge of contemporary evo- 

 lution. The address, published by the Acad- 

 emy, treats of " a century of changes in the 

 aspects of Nature " in Indiana. The disap- 

 pearance of the great forests, the extinction 

 of the Indian and the large mammals, have 

 been accompanied by corresponding changes 

 among the smaller animals. Especially nota- 

 ble has been the loss of the hosts of passen- 

 ger pigeons. In the days of Wilson and 

 Audubon the sky was literally dark with 

 these. Now the species is but a memory, so 

 far as Indiana is concerned. The future will 

 record changes as the past has done. " But 

 at no time in the future wiU the changes in 



the aspects of Nature be so noticeable, so in- 

 comprehensible, because of their vastness, as 

 have those of the century just closing." 



Following the protest which some time 

 ago appeared against the illustrations of im- 

 possible icebergs comes one against impos- 

 sible volcanoes. Mr. Oliver C. Farrington 

 writes to Science, sending a reproduction of a 

 school geography's picture of Popocatepetl, 

 and by the side of it an outline of the actual 

 mountain. The difference is quite startling. 

 The slope of Popocatepetl was found by Mr. 

 Farrington to be never more than 30, while 

 the picture represents a snow-capped peak 

 with a slope of from 40 to 50^ " A tall 

 cross, such as no traveler in Mexico ever 

 saw, and luxuriant palms, such as never grow 

 at the altitude from which Popocatepetl can 

 be seen," furnish a fitting foreground. 



NOTES. 



The experiment of planting and raising 

 Eastern oysters in the waters of Los Angeles 

 County, California, was tried in 1892, when 

 three hundred pounds of spat or seed oysters 

 were planted at Alamitos Bay, near Long 

 Beach Park, and at the mouth oJf New River. 

 At the end of 1894 the oysters of this plan- 

 tation were as large as those of the same age 

 raised in the East. The oyster ground em- 

 braced the whole of Anamitos and Anaheim 

 Bays. The outlook for the industry was 

 hopeful, and no starfish or carnivorous shell- 

 fish had been detected among the beds. Mrs. 

 M. Burton Williamson, who has published an 

 account of this plantation in the Annual of 

 the Historical Society, suggests that the ship- 

 ment of Eastern oysters may also result in 

 planting the fry of other shellfish from the 

 East in the bay. Mya aremiria and Urosal- 

 pinz cinerea are now propagated in San Fran- 

 cisco Bay from seed brought with Eastern 

 oysters. 



Topazes are found in the tin-bearing al- 

 luvions of the river Tjenderiang in the king- 

 dom of Perak, Malacca, absolutely colorless 

 and perfectly transparent, measuring from 

 one centimetre to three centimetres and a 

 half. Sometimes they are rolled, when their 

 faces are dull, but the number of intact 

 crystals is large enough to justify the sup- 

 position that their original site is not far 

 away. 



The recent conference held in London, 

 for considering the question of forming an 

 international catalogue of scientific litera- 

 ture, should have very important results. 

 Men of science recognize, as Prof. Mach, of 

 Germany, said, no distinction of race or 

 nationality, and they were glad, he added, to 



