XVI NOTES BY THE EDITOR 



The sum of two thousand five hundred dollars was appropriated at 

 the last session of Congress "to enable the Secretary of the Treasury 

 to cause such experiments and analyses of different beds of ore as to 

 test whether any such ores, in their native state, possess alloys that will 

 resist the tendency to oxydize to a greater extent than others, and to 

 ascertain under what circumstances they are found, and where, in or- 

 der to facilitate the proper selections of iron for public works." To 

 carry out the object in view, the Secretary states in his recent Report 

 " that he has caused circulars to be sent to all iron-masters whose 

 names could be ascertained, soliciting specimens of ore and iron, and 

 calling for information pertinent to the subject, and that in compliance 

 with the request, a large number of specimens have been received. 



" So soon as the specimens are all received and arranged, and the 

 information which accompanies them has been abstracted and collated, 

 a competent chemist or metallurgist will be employed to make the ex- 

 periments and analysis. Conclusive evidence has already been re- 

 ceived that a decided difference in the susceptibility of different irons 

 to oxydize does exist, and it is hoped that the proposed analysis will 

 discover the cause. However, should the experiments fail in this re- 

 spect, they will at least show the localities from which the least oxydiz- 

 able iron can be procured." 



The late M. Michaux, the distinguished botanist/author of the Sylva 

 Americana, bequeathed by will, to the Massachusetts Agricultural So- 

 ciety, $8,000, for the purpose of promoting Sylvaculture and Horticul- 

 ture, and of making experiments in the growth of trees in " sandy 

 rocks and bog soils. The principal portion of the bequest is to be in- 

 vested for increase in good farm land ; cheap and productive land is 

 to be purchased with another portion, and the remainder to be appro- 

 priated to seeding and planting the experimental plantations. 



A larger sum than the above was also bequeathed the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Natural Science, for similar purposes. 



In accordance with a joint resolution of Congress passed in 1857, to 

 provide for ascertaining the relative value of the coinage of the United 

 States and Great Britain, and fixing the relative value of the coins of 

 the two countries, Prof. Alexander, of Baltimore, has been appointed 

 Commissioner to confer with the proper functionaries in Great Britain 

 in relation to some plan or plans of so mutually arranging, on the dec- 

 imal basis, the coinage of the two countries, as that the respective 

 units shall hereafter be easily and exactly commensurable. 



The researches of M. Ville, of France, on the absorption of the ni- 

 trogen of the atmosphere by plants during vegetation still continue. 

 The importance of these researches may be best understood by the 

 fact that the French Academy has voted a snm of 4000 francs, the 

 half as an indemnification for the expense of his past experiments, and 



