NOTES. 



863 



contained in the atmosphere, and, a fortiori, 

 much greater than the variations in that 

 quantity. Although the figures can not be 

 absolutely correct, we may certainly con- 

 clude that the sea is much richer in dispos- 

 able carbonic acid than the atmosphere, and 

 is in good condition to play the part of a 

 regulator of the supply. 



NOTES. 



A TWO months' course of instruction 

 in plumbing and sanitary engineering was 

 opened on the 16th of February, in con- 

 nection with the Technical Schools of the 

 Metropolitan Museum of Art in this city. 

 The lectures on the chemical side of the 

 course are delivered by Professor C. F. ^ 

 Chandler, those on plumbling by Mr, C. F. 

 Wingate. The enrollment at the earlier 

 meetings of the class was unexpectedly large, 

 and indicated the existence of a lively and 

 wholesome interest in the subject. I 



Several papers of much interest were 

 read at the second annual meeting of the 

 Natural History Society of Illinois, held Feb- 

 ruary 8th. Professor S. A. Forbes discussed 

 the " Illustrations and Applications of Evo- 

 lution," with especial reference to the re- 

 stocking of our waters with their native 

 species of fish. He showed that the idea 

 that fishes could be artificially multiplied in 1 

 such numbers that it would make no differ- 

 ence how, or where, or in what numbers 

 they were caught, involved a contradiction 

 of the doctrine of natural selection. The 

 food-supply of fishes was diminished by the 

 drainage of swamps, the restriction of over- 

 flows by levees, and by other operations at- 

 tendant upon the settlement of a country ; 

 and it was not to be expected that the fishes 

 in a body of water could l)e permanently 

 kept up to as high a number as flourished 

 before the natural conditions were changed. 



Steps have been taken in this eity to pro- 

 vide the necessary organizations to furnish 1 

 facilities for cremation. A draft of a char- 

 ter has been approved by the persons con- | 

 cerned in the movement, for the formation 

 of " the United States Cremation Company 

 (limited)," with a capital of fifty thousand 1 

 dollars, whose peculiar object shall be " to 

 cremate the human dead in the quickest, 

 best, and most economical manner." A plan 

 has also been adopted for the formation of I 

 the " New York Cremation Society," as an 

 association distinct from the purely business 

 enterprise, having for its object " to dissemi- j 

 nate sound and enlightened views respect- | 

 ing incineration as preferable to burial, and ! 

 to advance the public good by offering fa- ! 

 cilities for cremation." 1 



Professor Dr. Emanuel Boricky, a Bo- 

 hemian mineralogist, who died January 2'7th, 

 aged forty years, was best known by his 

 microscopical researches in petrograpliy. He 

 had been connected with the Bohemian Mu- 

 seum and the University and colleges of 

 Prague since 1865, and since 1871 had lec- 

 tured in the Bohemian language on petro- 

 graphy at the University of Prague. He 

 has left a monograph on the porphyries 

 ready for the press. 



Mr. William P. Blake describes, in the 

 March number of the " American Journal of 

 Science," the beds of realgar and orpi- 

 ment in the sedimentary formations under- 

 lying the lava in Iron County, Utah. These 

 arsenical sulphides are found in lenticu- 

 lar and nodular masses, in a layer about 

 two inches thick, in a compact, sandy clay. 

 Above and below the layer and close to it 

 are thin parallel seams of fibrous gypsum, 

 while the strata above, for thirty feet or 

 more, are arenaceous clays charged with 

 soluble salts which exude and efiloresce, 

 forming hard crusts. The whole appear- 

 ance and association of the minerals indicate 

 that they have been formed by aqueous in- 

 filtration since the deposition of the beds. 

 Beds of stibnite, or antimony sulphide, in 

 the same formation, had probably a similar 

 origin. 



Ch.vrles F. Kdhlmann, a distinguished 

 Alsatian chemist and economist, whose 

 death has recently been announced, had 

 been for the last forty years a prominent 

 figure in the industrial and scientific circles 

 of France, and was known as the founder at 

 Lille of one of the most important chemical 

 manufactories of the world. His name is 

 also associated with investigations which 

 have had valuable results on the baryta 

 compounds, the crystallization of insoluble 

 bodies, on the manufacture of sugar, on the 

 chemistry of mortars and manures, bleach- 

 ing, dyeing, and printing, and on many sub- 

 jects of a more purely scientific character. 

 His collected researches were published in 

 1879 in a single large volume. 



Mercadier has described a new and 

 economical method of producing inrtcrmit- 

 tent luminous signals by burning petroleum 

 with oxygen. He has a lamp with a round 

 wick, within which is a tube rising not quite 

 up to the level of the top of the wick. This 

 tube reaches a reservoir of oxygen : when the 

 lamp is lighted and a properly adjusted jet 

 of oxygen is permitted to reach it, it gives 

 out a white flame, the intensity of which 

 approaches that of the oxyhydrogen light. 

 When the lamp is burned without oxygen, 

 it gives a smoky flame of little brilliancy, 

 which will, however, rapidly increase in in- 

 tensity, and soon reach a maximum when 

 the oxygen is turned on. 



