768 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the principles of mining, and navigation, 

 which are already included in the list of 

 scientific arts toward instruction in which 

 aid is given, and in which examinations are 

 carried out by the department. 



The use of aniline colors for tinting can- 

 dies, syrups, and the like, is condemned by 

 the Laboratory on account of their lia- 

 bility to contain arsenic. In twenty-five 

 samples of aniline red or fuchsine, lately 

 analyzed by Dr. Springmiihl, only one was 

 found wholly free from this poison, some of 

 the samples containing as much as 6+ per 

 cent, of arsenic. Cases of poisoning by 

 these colors, as thus used, are numerous 

 and well authenticated, and should warn 

 consumers against brightly-colored syrups 

 and confectionery. 



According to the Mining and Scientific 

 Press, several vessels laden with coal for 

 California were destroyed by fire last year. 

 The cause was undoubtedly spontaneous 

 combustion, heat being generated by the 

 pressure and friction in the hold of the 

 vessel. The "fire-damp" which escapes 

 from coal-mines arises from slow decompo- 

 sition of the coal at a temperature but little 

 above that of the atmosphere. 



The Berlin Academy of Sciences has 

 voted money for the purpose of maintaining 

 in that city a certain number of scientific 

 men, whose only occupation will be the in- 

 vestigation of science, and who will have 

 no other duties to attend to, such as teach- 

 ing, lecturing, and the like. Prof. Kirch- 

 hoff has received and accepted a "call" 

 from the Academy. 



On the 18th of January of the present 

 year, there died at Tring, Herts, England, a 

 woman who had attained the extraordinary 

 age of one hundred and eleven years and 

 nine months. She was of pure gipsy de- 

 scent, and was born in 1763 at Chinnor, 

 Oxfordshire. Her name was Hearne, by 

 marriage Leatherlund. The parish register 

 of Chinnor shows that she was baptized on 

 the 24th of April, 1763. 



From July 25, 17*75, when Benjamin 

 Franklin was appointed Postmaster-Gen- 

 eral, until 1799, only letters and newspapers 

 were conveyed by the United States mails. 

 In the latter year it was provided that pam- 

 phlets and magazines also might be trans- 

 ported when convenient; and not till 1845 

 was mailable matter strictly defined as in- 

 cluding letters, newspapers, and periodicals. 

 The regulations for 1852 admitted bound 

 books not weighing over thirty-two ounces. 

 The act of 1861 admitted maps, engravings, 

 seeds, and cuttings, not weighing over eight 

 ounces, and books not over four pounds. 

 In 1863 a number of miscellaneous articles 

 were declared mailable, and in 1872 it was 



enacted that this miscellaneous matter should 

 embrace all articles within the prescribed 

 weight (four pounds) which were not liable 

 to injure the mail-bag or the person of any 

 post-office employe. Down to 1852 the 

 post-office was self-sustaining ; since that 

 time there has always been an annual defi- 

 cit, with the exception of the year 1865. 



Prof. J. N. Benedict, who has s'tudied 

 the topography of the Adirondack plateau, 

 with a view to determine the probable cost 

 of storing up the surplus waters of that re- 

 gion for the use of the Hudson and other 

 streams, reports that 1. Immense quan- 

 tities of water can be safely stored at a 

 comparatively low cost on the Upper Hud- 

 son, much of which is now worse than lost, 

 as it runs to waste in spring freshets, which 

 in various ways are the cause of much 

 damage ; 2. That this excess alone is suffi- 

 cient to maintain a good depth of water in 

 the main river for one hundred days in the 

 summer. The lakes of the Racquette basin 

 alone are stated to have a capacity more 

 than six times that of the Black River res- 

 ervoirs, which supply the eastern division 

 of the Erie Canal. 



The " Central Ohio Scientific Associa- 

 tion " was organized last November, at Ur- 

 bana, with the following officers : President, 

 Rev. Theodore N. Glover ; Vice-President, 

 P. R. Bennett, Jr. ; Corresponding Secretary 

 and Curator, Thomas F. Moses, M. D., ; Re- 

 cording Secretary, William F. Leahy ; Treas- 

 urer, J. F. Meyer. The Association holds 

 its meetings once a month at Urbana, the 

 county-seat of Champaign County. 



The chief of the Manchester Fire De- 

 partment gives, in a late number of Science 

 Gossip, several instances where leaden water- 

 pipes w r ere gnawed through by rats. Two 

 cases are also cited where the rats evident- 

 ly mistook a gas for a water-pipe, and 

 gnawed through it ; on both these occasions 

 damage was done by fire, by the accidental 

 ignition of the escaping gas. Fires have 

 occurred through rats and mice conveying 

 under the flooring oily and fatty rags which 

 have afterward ignited spontaneously. This 

 is supposed to be a common cause of fire 

 in cotton-mills. 



At the Vienna Exposition there were 

 exhibited specimens of paper from the bark 

 of the mulberry, from the stinging-nettle, 

 and from potato-stalks. The mulberry-bark 

 used for paper is the bark stripped from 

 twigs after the leaves have been fed to silk- 

 worms. In Hungary the nettle is used with 

 rags for making fine sketching and copying 

 paper, and in Bohemia wrapping-paper is 

 made from potato-stalks. 



At the beginning of the present year 

 the amount contributed toward the Agassiz 

 monument was $9,000. 



