NOTES. 



287 



were eight hundred or nine hundred feet in 

 length, gave different indications as to di- 

 rection, amplitude, maximum velocity, and 

 intensity ; so that, had these instruments 

 been in the hands of different observers, 

 each observer would have given a different 

 account of the same earthquake. Thus, 

 comparing the average maximum velocities 

 at a station, C, on hard ground, with that 

 at a station, E, on soft ground, they were 

 found to be 1 : 5. The maximum accelera- 

 tions at these two stations were 1 : 2*4. It 

 might therefore be concluded that a build- 

 ing at C would withstand a disturbance 

 which would be sufficient to shatter a simi- 

 lar building placed at E. 



NOTES. 



A committee of the American Society for 

 Psychical Research, of which Josiah Royce, 

 of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is chairman, 

 wishes to collect accounts from trustworthy 

 sources, respecting supposed cases of appa- 

 ritions of absent or deceased persons, and 

 the communication by them of facts un- 

 known to the person visited by them, or 

 belonging to the future, which are after- 

 ward verified. It would also like to receive 

 accounts of other similar personal experi- 

 ences which may have been striking enough 

 for the persons concerned to remember, or 

 perhaps record. The committee's purpose 

 is to collate and examine the evidence pre- 

 sented, with a view to drawing such conclu- 

 sions from it as may seem proper and war- 

 ranted. The committee's circular, which 

 may be obtained on application to the 

 chairman, contains a full statement respect- 

 ing the kind of information it seeks, with a 

 schedule of questions which may be useful 

 as a guide in making up the accounts. 



The summer courses in chemistry, to be 

 given at Harvard University this year, will 

 open July 5th and close August 14th. In- 

 struction will be given under the direction 

 of Dr. A. M. Comey in general chemistry, 

 qualitative analysis, organic chemistry, and 

 mineralogy. The fee for any of these courses 

 is twenty-five dollars, and material and ap- 

 paratus usually cost from five to six dollars 

 additional. It is desired that applications 

 for desks in the laboratory be made before 

 June 15th. These courses are taken each 

 year by teachers, both male and female, 

 who are preparing to teach chemistry, by 

 persons who intend to use their knowledge 

 in the arts, and by general students. 



Wood-oil is now made on a large scale 

 in Sweden from the refuse of timber-cut- 



tings and forest-clearings, and from stumps 

 and roots. Although it can not well be 

 burned in common lamps, on account of the 

 heavy proportions of carbon it contains, it 

 furnishes a satisfactory light in lamps espe- 

 cially made for it, and in its natural state 

 is the cheapest of all illuminating oils. 

 Thirty factories produce about 40,000 litres 

 of the oil daily. Turpentine, creosote, acetic 

 acid, charcoal, coal-tar oils, and other use- 

 ful substances, are also obtained from the 

 same materials as is the wocd-oil. 



M. H. Fatol reports that a number of 

 oaken piles which have seen nine years of 

 service at Mieres, Spain, have taken on the 

 appearance of stone-coal. The structure 

 resembles that of a fibrous coal composed 

 of bright particles separated by dull ones ; 

 it also feels like stone-coal. M. Renault 

 states, after a microscopic examination, that 

 the wood of fibers and parenchyma have 

 preserved their characters, and the dottings 

 of the vessels are perfectly clear. Chemical 

 analysis gives a composition analogous to 

 that of lignite. The very black color is 

 ascribed to the presence of tannate of iron. 



M. Chevreul gave joy to the members 



1 of the French Academy of Sciences by re- 



, suming his seat among them on the 5th of 



j April, after a few weeks' absence on ac- 



! count of illness. He seemed only slightly 



weakened, but was otherwise in his usual 



vigor. The President of the Academy gave 



him a suitable welcome, and he replied, 



speaking till he was checked by Dr. Vul- 



pian, his titular physician. 



Dr. Charles Osten records, in "The 

 Practitioner," the case of a woman patient 

 who was made sick by eating eggs. She 

 appears to be affected with a family idio- 

 syncrasy against eggs, for she said that 

 they never agreed with her when well ; and 

 neither her mother nor grandmother could 

 eat them. 



According to Professor Yirchow, the 

 German Colonial Society has had circulars 

 sent to all European colonies situated in 

 the tropics, requesting observations to be 

 made regarding the question of the accli- 

 matization of Europeans in the tropics, in 

 order that the answers may be ready to be 

 communicated to the German Naturalists' 

 Association at its meeting in September 

 next. An exhibition of objects required in 

 fitting out scientific travelers for their jour- 

 neys will also be held at the same time with 

 the meeting of the Naturalists. 



Herr L. Rutenberg, of Bremen, has pre- 

 sented the Natural History Society of that 

 city with the sum of 2,500 for a Rutenberg 

 fund, in commemoration of the services ren- 

 dered to science by his son, the traveler, 

 who was murdered in Madagascar. 



