HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



i35 



The flame itself appears to have done nothing, the 

 light passing through it unaltered. This is completely 

 in harmony with the results of my own experiments 

 on flame described in chapters vii. and viii. of " Fuel 

 of the Sun." 



Trickery on Tin. — It is well for all of us that 

 the gamblers who have been rigging the tin market 

 are laid on their backs. Let us hope that they will 

 remain there, as the extravagant rise in the price of 

 that metal which they temporarily obtained by the 

 customary tricks of their class threatened to create 

 another very dangerous form of fraud, viz., a large 

 addition of lead to the tin which is used in tinning 

 the iron plates of which the cans now so largely used 

 for preserving provisions are made. 



Lead is a peculiarly treacherous poison ; its soluble 

 compounds belong to the class to which the name of 

 " slow poisons " has been applied. A small dose 

 may be taken to-day, another to-morrow, and so on 

 for some time with no perceptible effect ; it appears 

 to remain in the system, but if the dose is repeated 

 with sufficient frequency the accumulation begins at 

 last to act with serious consequences. 



Mr. Jacob Reese, of New York, speaking to his 

 fellow-countrymen, who consume so much tinned 

 fruit, advises them to eat no fruit canned in 1888. 

 This was at the time when the syndicate of tricksters 

 had run up the price of tin to some 60 or 70 per cent, 

 above its natural value. The simple fact that such 

 advice was seriously and properly given, and the pro- 

 bability of a sudden panic arising by the poisoning of 

 a few eaters of canned goods, shows the shallowness 

 of the syndicate. Such a panic would at once annihilate 

 about two-thirds of the demand for tin, and this oc- 

 curring simultaneously with the opening of new sup- 

 plies must have the effect of throwing down the price 

 of tin far below its old average. This has already 

 happened, even without any particular panic. I find 

 by reference to " Iron " of May nth, that the London 

 price of tin has fallen from 170/. to 85/. per ton within 

 a few weeks ; the old ordinary price was usually a 

 little above 100/. The financial condition of those 

 who rigged the market up to 170/. by holding back 

 supplies may easily be imagined. Their ruin is of no 

 serious consequence, rather desirable than otherwise ; 

 but the poisoning of the people or the checking of so 

 useful an enterprise as the canning of food for the 

 million is a serious matter. 



Sponge Nurseries.— The Board of Trade Journal 

 for April describes the progress of a comparatively 

 new and very promising industry. Professor Oscar 

 Schmidt, of Gratz (Styria), has planted small cuttings 

 of sponges in suitable positions, and obtained in the 

 course of three years large and valuable specimens : 

 4000 of these, with interest for capital expended, 

 only cost 225 francs, about one half-penny each. 

 Those who have had much experience in marine 



aquaria will not be surprised at this. In the early 

 days of the Crystal Palace Aquarium, I noticed that 

 one of the tanks had a very untidy appearance, as 

 though infested with cobwebs, and on further ex- 

 amination found this to be due to the growth of 

 sponges. The late Mr. Alford Lloyd, who con- 

 structed this aquarium, told me that this was one of 

 his common troubles, notably so at the Hamburg 

 Aquarium, where the sponges grew so rapidly that 

 some of the zoophyte tanks had to be frequently 

 emptied and cleared. This was especially the case 

 when the tanks were newly charged with sea-water 

 at certain seasons. I should add that the sponges 

 that thus infested the tanks, like those which abound 

 on our coast, differ very widely from the species that 

 are in commercial demand. 



Scientific Millinery. — When highly-dressed 

 servant girls go out a-shopping, the smart salesmen, 

 who understand their weakness and are allowed a 

 premium for pushing and selling certain inferior 

 goods (vulgarly described as "spiffed"), skilfully 

 force the rubbish on the foolish women by assuring 

 them that each particular sample is "the latest thing 

 out," the fashion that presently will be all the rage. 

 He knows that with such customers intrinsic merit 

 of the goods is a secondary consideration. 



It is a rather humiliating fact that there exists in 

 the scientific world a class of pedants who closely 

 resemble these highly-dressed servant girls — young 

 men of the period who are perpetually struggling to 

 make a display of their acquaintance with the latest 

 thing out in technical words and phrases. They profess 

 a profound contempt for what they call "popular" 

 science, and sneer at all who are so old-fashioned as 

 to use the simplest and clearest language, whether old 

 or new. This is especially the case in chemistry, where 

 we now have as many as half-a-dozen names for the 

 same thing, some of them simply absurd, but eagerly 

 adopted on the same basis as the latest fashion in, 

 bustles or bonnets. 



Having frequently and very plainly expressed my 

 own opinion of such affectation, I am glad to find 

 the following in the second edition of Professor Tidy's . 

 "Handbook of Modern Chemistry," and that it is 

 quoted approvingly in "Nature.'' He says: " If I 

 have used the word 'potash,' and the body I mean, 

 to imply thereby is understood, I am satisfied. I 

 confess that the growing necessity for having a trans- 

 lation at one's side in attempting to understand the 

 modern scientific paper, is in my opinion a circum- 

 stance to be deplored. Danger, moreover, is always 

 to be apprehended when a language has to be in- 

 vented to support a theory or a formula. A party 

 Shibboleth has, no doubt, a charm for its special . 

 clique. It serves as a bond of union for the initiated, . 

 whilst it prevents the interference of outsiders." 



My view of the folly is not quite as serious as that 

 of Professor Tidy. Such a clique as he refers to are: 



