NOTES. 



287 



water on glass. He found that a cubic centi- 

 metre of water dissolved at 20 C. in one 

 hour from one to two millionths of a milli- 

 gramme from a square centimetre surface of 

 glass ; that with temperature rising arith- 

 metically, the growth of solubility is consid- 

 erably more rapid than that of a geometrical 

 series ; that the increase of conductivity of 

 the water for a given kind of glass under 

 like conditions is a characteristic constant; 

 and that later, when a certain quantity of 

 alkali is dissolved, further action involves a 

 dissolving also of silicic acid, and the salts 

 then formed may cause a decrease of con- 

 ducting power. 



A vein of asbestos has been found near 

 Broken Hill, New South Wales, in which 

 there are fibers thirteen inches long, of silky 

 and flexible texture, but less tough than Ital- 

 ian asbestos. It is reddish in color. 



The sixth annual meeting of the Iowa 

 Academy of Sciences was held at Des Moines, 

 December 29th and 80th. The programme 

 of discussions was full, and besides technical 

 subjects of biology, zoology, petrology, etc., 

 included several topics of domestic and other 

 economical importance, such as the determi- 

 nation of the active principles of bread- 

 making, the bacteria of milk, the effect of 

 feeding on the composition of milk, sugar 

 beets, the coal-bearing strata, brick and other 

 clays, and aluminum in Iowa ; the artesian 

 well question, and the report of the commit- 

 tee on State fauna. The President of the 

 Academy, Prof. C. C. Nutting, made an ad- 

 dress on Systematic Zoology in Colleges, 

 and Mr. J. E. Todd gave some Further 

 Notes on the Great Central Plain of the Mis- 

 sissippi. 



The statement that the adoption of elec- 

 tric lighting in the English Savings-Bank De- 

 partment has been followed by a considera- 

 ble reduction in the amount of sick-leave 

 points to what will probably be one of the 

 chief advantages of this mode of lighting 

 rooms. An electric lamp does not draw on 

 the oxygen of the room, and does not give 

 off irrespirable gases as do gas and oil lights. 



According to the Minneapolis Tribune, 

 as cited in Garden and Forest, the leading 

 opponents of the proposed forest reservation 

 in northern Minnesota have become support- 

 ers of the measure. The Duluth Chamber of 

 Commerce sent its secretary, Mr. Thompson, 

 to the meeting of the State Forestry Associ- 

 ation, to protest against the movement, but 

 when he learned that instead of withholding 

 the timber from use it was proposed to se- 

 cure a constant lumber-supply, and that the 

 forests when protected from fire and larceny 

 would be more productive than they are 

 under the present lack of supervision, Mr. 

 Thompson himself joined the Association and 

 was made a member of the Executive Com- 

 mittee, which is laboring to induce the Presi- 



dent to make the proclamation withdrawing 

 the forest lands from sale and entry. 



A collection of letters and unedited 

 memoirs by the Swedish chemist, Scheele, is 

 in course of publication, under the direction 

 of Baron Noidenskiold. The question of 

 preparing an English-American edition of 

 the work is under consideration. 



In the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 

 November 11, 1891, Prof. Hughes described 

 the results of his examination of some de- 

 serted Indian villages in Arizona, one of 

 which consisted of caves excavated in the 

 top of a small hill of lava ; and another of 

 dwellings built under the shelter of over- 

 hanging ledges in the cliffs of the Walnut 

 Canon, much resembling the cliff dwellings 

 of mediaeval times along the rivers of Dor- 

 dogne. 



Statues of Boussingault, by M. Dalon, 

 and Chevreul, by M. Fagel, are to be erected 

 in Paris, in connection with the Conservatoire 

 des Arts et Metiers. The Chevreul statue is 

 a repetition of one executed by M. Fagel in 

 1889. 



Manganine is the name of a new alloy, 

 consisting of copper, nickel, and manganese, 

 which has been brought into the market by 

 a German firm, as a material of great resist- 

 ing power; it having a specific resistance 

 higher than that of nickeline, which has 

 hitherto passed as the best resisting metal. 

 It is said to be affected in only minute de- 

 gree by high temperatures, and is therefore 

 adapted for the manufacture of measuring 

 instruments and measuring apparatus in gen- 

 eral, which are required to vary in resistance 

 as little as possible under different degrees 

 of heat. While the resistance of other met- 

 als is increased by the raising of their tem- 

 perature, that of manganine is diminished. 



TnERE is an art in dusting which does not 

 receive the attention it demands. According 

 to the various analyses of different observers, 

 the components of ordinary dust exhibit 

 special characters in almost endless variety. 

 Mineral matters, animal and vegetable debris, 

 morbid germs, and whatever is small and 

 light enough to remain for any time sus- 

 pended in the air, falls into the category ; 

 and among these things are many substances 

 that in the air do mischief. The spread 

 of cholera and exanthematous diseases has, 

 doubtless with truth, been attributed to its 

 influence. Methods of dusting, therefore, 

 which merely remove the dust to another 

 place or fill the air with it, are not sufficient 

 and are not harmless. It should be wiped 

 rather than brushed away, and carried away 

 off, or destroyed. Then let the sunlight in 

 to kill the infection that may remain. 



An examination of tinned peas, greened, by 

 Drs. M. Charteris and William Snodgrass, of 

 Glasgow, showed, by deposits on the crucible 



