NOTES. 



7 6 7 



seum, laboratories, etc. ; 8. Publications 

 number and class number of volumes pub- 

 lished since foundation how these publi- 

 cations may be obtained ; 9. Any other 

 useful information. M. Rau'iVs address is 

 " Academie Royale des Sciences, Place du 

 Musee, No. 1, & Bruxelles." 



The World's Production and Con- 

 sumption of Paper. The following statis- 

 tics of paper-making are given on the au- 

 thority of Rudel, of Vienna, Austria : It 

 appears that there are 3,960 paper-manu- 

 facturers in the world, employing 80,000 

 men and 180,000 women, besides the 100,- 

 000 employed in the rag-trade ; 1,809,000,- 

 000 pounds of paper are produced annually. 

 One-half is used in printing, a sixth for 

 writing, and the remainder for packing and 

 for other purposes. The United States av- 

 erages 17 pounds per head; an Englishman 

 consumes 11 pounds ; a German, 8 pounds ; 

 a Frenchman, 7 pounds ; an Italian, 3g 

 pounds ; a Spaniard, 1 pound ; and a Rus- 

 sian only 1 pound annually, on an average. 



According to Worsaae, the civilization 

 of the Age of Bronze originated in Asia Mi- 

 nor, and was first adopted in Greece. From 

 Greece and Hungary it spread over the rest 

 of Europe. From Greece it spread into 

 Italy, Gaul, and Britain ; from Hungary, 

 into Northern Germany and Scandinavia. 



E. Monsen, C. E., has written a pamphlet 

 entitled " The Sewage Difficulty exploded." 

 " The author," says Iron, " cuts the knot of 

 sewage utilization, by regarding sewage as 

 practically useless for agricultural purposes, 

 thus restricting the question to the easiest 

 and most economical method of rendering 

 it innocuous. He puts his opinion in epi- 

 grammatic form when he observes that 

 sludge and sewage require a deal of leaving 

 alone. Having removed the insoluble mat- 

 ter or sludge by deposition, and brought 

 the liquid portion into a condition suf- 

 ficiently innocuous, he proposes to pass it 

 into the rivers ; the sludge he would bury 

 or store in trenches. It will thus, he says, 

 be put out of the way, and cease to be a 

 nuisance." 



It is proposed to make the tidal move- 

 ments in the British Channel available for 

 compressing air to drive the engines used 

 in excavating the Anglo-French Tunnel un- 

 der the Straits of Dover. 



Experiments made by Fleck, of Dres- 

 den, on the disinfecting power of chloride 

 of lime, caustic lime, alum, sulphate of iron, 

 and chloralum, show that the last is by far 

 less efficacious than the others. Alum and 

 sulphate of iron are quite as inoffensive and 

 innocuous as chloralum, while at the same 

 time they are more powerful and considera- 

 bly cheaper. 



A new tonic medicine, stimulant to di- 

 gestion, and having a marked action on the 

 liver, is mentioned in the Medical Press. It 

 is called boldo, and is obtained from the boldu, 

 a tree which grows in Chili. One gramme 

 of the tincture excites appetite, increases 

 the circulation, and acts on the urine, which 

 gives out the peculiar odor of boldo. 



The mode of fertilization of the closed 

 gentian, the flowers of which never open, 

 has long puzzled botanists. The corolla is 

 twisted up so as to leave no opening at the 

 top. The flowers are all nearly erect, with 

 two stigmas considerably above the five 

 anthers. An English observer has seen 

 humble-bees entering these flowers ; they 

 pry or untwist the opening with their mouth- 

 organs and legs, and then pop into the 

 barrel-shaped cavity, which they just fill. 



Sir Charles Lyell, author of "Princi- 

 ples of Geology," died February 23d. De- 

 ceased was born in 1797. At Oxford Uni- 

 versity he attended Buckland's lectures on 

 geology. The first volume of his "Prin- 

 ciples" was published in 1830. The work 

 has reached its twelfth edition in England, 

 and is the principal text-book of geology 

 in that country. Lyell's " Elements " was 

 originally a part of the " Principles." He 

 also wrote " Geological Evidences of the 

 Antiquity of Man." We gave a portrait of 

 Lyell and a sketch of his life in No. II. of 

 the Monthly. 



Died, December 31, 1874, Francis Kier- 

 nan, F. R. S., author of " Anatomical Re- 

 searches on the Structure of the Liver." 

 He was a native of Ireland, but had lived 

 in England from boyhood. His researches 

 earned for him his Fellowship in the Royal 

 Society, and also the Copley Medal. He 

 took an active part in promoting the estab- 

 lishment of the London University. 



It is in contemplation to send out from 

 Germany during the present year an expe- 

 dition to explore the north-polar region. 

 The expedition is to consist of two steam- 

 ships, one to explore the east coast of Green- 

 land, the other to advance to the pole. 

 The funds are to be raised by private sub- 

 scription. 



The Highland Agricultural Society of 

 Scotland lately resolved to memorialize the 

 Government in behalf of agricultural edu- 

 cation for the working -classes, that the 

 grants of the department shall be declared 

 to cover instruction in chemistry, mechan- 

 ics, physiology, botany, morphology, and 

 other scientific subjects, when taught in the 

 abstract, in so far as necessary for agri- 

 culture ; and also to cover instruction given 

 in the principles of agriculture as an applied 

 science, and to place it in the same position 

 as machine-construction, applied mechanics, 



