FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



861 



them water-tight. This bee, when it begins 

 its burrow, makes an oblique gallery from 

 four to six inches long before it starts in the 

 vertical direction, and all the dirt is carried 

 through this oblique gallery. Then the in- 



sect continues the tube vertically upward to 

 just below the surface, and makes a small 

 concealed opening to it here, taking care to 

 pile no sand near it. This is the regular en- 

 trance to the burrow. 



MINOR PARAGRAPHS. 



In a report of an inspection of three 

 French match factories, published as a Brit- 

 ish Parliamentary paper, Dr. T. Oliver re- 

 cords as his impressions and deductions that 

 while until recently the match makers suf- 

 fered severely from phosphorus poisoning, 

 there is now apparently a reduction in the 

 severe forms of the illness ; that this reduc- 

 tion is attributable to greater care in the se- 

 lection of the work people, to raising the 

 age of admission into the factory, to medical 

 examination on entrance, subsequent close 

 supervision, and repeated dental examina- 

 tion ; to personal cleanliness on the part of 

 the workers ; to early suspension on the ap- 

 pearance of symptoms of ill health ; and to 

 improved methods of manufacture. The 

 French Government is furthering by all pos- 

 sible means new methods of manufacture in 

 the hope of finding a safer one ; and a match 

 free from white phosphorus and still capa- 

 ble of striking anywhere is already manu- 

 factured. 



A mechanical and engineering section 

 is to be organized in the Franklin Institute, 

 Philadelphia, to be devoted to the considera- 

 tion of subjects bearing upon the mechanic 

 arts and the engineering problems connected 

 therewith. The growth of the various de- 

 partments of this institution — which has 

 been fitly termed a " democratic learned so- 

 ciety," from the close affiliation in it of the 

 men of the professions and the men of the 

 workshops — by natural accretion, and the 

 steadily growing demands for the extension 

 of its educational work during the past dec- 

 ade, have increased the costs for mainte- 

 nance and administration and have been the 

 cause of a deficit in nearly every year. A 

 movement is now on foot, approved by the 

 board of managers, and directed by a special 

 committee, to secure for it an endowment, 

 toward which a number of subscriptions 

 ranging from two hundred and fifty to 

 twenty-five hundred dollars have already 

 beeu received. 



The earthquake which took place in 

 Assam, June 12, 1897, was described by Mr. 

 R. D. Oldham in the British Association as 

 having been the most violent of which there 

 is any record. The shock was sensible over 

 an area of 1,750,000 square miles, and if it 

 had occurred in England, not a house would 

 have been left standing between Manchester 

 and London. Landslips on an unprecedented 

 scale were produced, a number of lakes were 

 formed, and mountain peaks were moved 

 vertically and horizontally. Monuments of 

 solid stone and forest trees were broken 

 across. Bridges were overthrown, displaced, 

 and in some places thrust bodily up to a 

 height of about twenty feet, and the rails on 

 the railroads were twisted and bent. Earth 

 fissures were formed over an area larger than 

 the United Kingdom, and sand rents, from 

 which sand and water were forced in solid 

 streams to a height of three or four feet 

 above the ground, were opened " in incalcu- 

 lable numbers." The loss of life was com- 

 paratively small, as the earthquake occurred 

 about five o'clock in the afternoon, and the 

 damage done was reduced by the fact that 

 there were no large cities within the area of 

 greatest violence ; but in extent and capacity 

 of destruction, as distinguished from destruc- 

 tion actually accomplished, this earthquake 

 surpassed any of which there was historical 

 mention, not even excepting the great earth- 

 quake of Lisbon in 1755. 



The first section of the electric railway 

 up the Jungfrau, which is intended to reach 

 the top of the mountain, was opened about the 

 first of October, 1898. The line starts from 

 the Little Scheidegg station of the existing 

 Wengern Alp Railway, 6,770 feet above the 

 sea, and ascends the mountain masses from 

 the north side, passing the Eiger Glacier, 

 Eiger Wand, Eismeer, and Jungfraujoch sta- 

 tions, to Lift, 13,430 feet, whence the ascent 

 is completed by elevator to the summit, 13,- 

 670 feet. The road starts on a gradient of 

 ten per cent, which is increased to twenty per 



