FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



141 



fying municipalities and all public works on 

 which he may be engaged. 



An India-Rabber Famiae. The world's 

 consumption of India rubber has been in- 

 creasing so enormously during the past few 

 years that the time does not seem to be far 

 distant when the demand will greatly exceed 

 the supply. The bicycle is of course respon- 

 sible for a large part of this increase, and, as 

 the pneumatic tire is becoming more of a ne- 

 cessity every day for all city vehicles, there 

 promises to be a still greater demand here- 

 after. It is stated that only within the last 

 year has there been any attempt to regulate 

 the gathering of caoutchouc and to stop the 

 wanton destruction of the tree, which it 

 seems is usually cut down, so as to facilitate 

 the collecting of the sap. This puts an end 

 to the productiveness of whole districts every 

 year, and, as it has been found that by prop- 



erly made incisions about two pounds of rub- 

 ber can be gathered from each tree annually, 

 without in any way interfering with its growth 

 or life, vigorous attempts are called for, and 

 it is stated are being made, to regulate the 

 treatment of the trees. Owing to the danger 

 of a rubber famine, several chemists in both 

 France and Germany have been working on 

 methods for the artificial production of In- 

 dia rubber, and several new processes have 

 already been announced. Attention has also 

 been turned to the balata, a South Ameri- 

 can tree. This balata rubber, while not 

 so good for insulation and other purposes 

 as caoutchouc, is yet specially adapted for 

 a great many uses, such as machinery belt- 

 ing, mackintoshes, surgical appliances, etc., 

 and British Guiana has developed quite an 

 export trade in it, the annual quantity 

 amounting to over three hundred thousand 

 pounds. 



MINOR PARAGRAPHS. 



A RECENT number of the American Med- 

 ical and Surgical Bulletin contains an article 

 on the artificial generation of ozone for puri- 

 fying the air in our public schools. In many 

 cases the schoolroom air is so stale and de- 

 pressing that before the children have been 

 in it half an hour all their brightness and 

 vim has disappeared, they become listless and 

 sleepy, and are in the worst possible condi- 

 tion for study. This alone would be bad 

 enough, but breathing this vitiated air ren- 

 ders them more vulnerable to the attacks of 

 pathogenic germs, some of which are sure 

 to be present in such a favorable location. 

 Ozone is markedly germicidal and stimulat- 

 ing, and the suggestion, although not a new 

 one, seems worthy of attention. 



It has been decided to erect in one of the 

 squares of Paris a monument to Pasteur, and 

 to make the enterprise an international one. 

 Consequently, the people of all countries will 

 be given an opportunity to participate in the 

 subscriptions. The Paris committee is under 

 the presidency of M. J. Bertrand, Perpetual 

 Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, and 

 has among its honorary members the Presi- 

 dent of the Republic and his Cabinet, and 

 about one hundred and sixty prominent men 

 of the French nation in all walks. A com- 



mittee has been formed in the United States, 

 at Washington, with Dr. D. E. Salmon as 

 chairman and Dr. A. E. de Schweinitz as sec- 

 retary, which gladly accepts the privilege of 

 organizing the subscription and of receiving 

 and transmitting the funds which are raised. 

 " We believe it is unnecessary," the commit- 

 tee says in its circular, " to urge any one to 

 subscribe. The contributions of Pasteur to 

 science and to the cause of humanity were so 

 extraordinary and are so well known and so 

 thoroughly appreciated in America that our 

 people only need the opportunity in order to 

 demonstrate their deep interest." Subscrip- 

 tion blanks will be supplied by the commit- 

 tee, and no one who can not give a large 

 sum need be deterred from giving a small 

 sum. The committee's address is at the 

 Cosmos Club, Washington, D. C. 



The Biologisches Centralblatt, conducted 

 by Drs. J. Rosenthal, M. Rees, and E. Seleuka, 

 and published semimonthly at Leipsic by 

 Eduard Besald, aims to keep its readers in 

 current with the progress of the biological 

 sciences, and to inform the students of sin- 

 gle branches of what is going on in the other 

 and related branches. With a view to that 

 object it presents original communications, 

 particularly those embodying the results of 



