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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the only conceivable mode of combination 

 between atoms. 



The results of the experiments of 1894 

 at the New York Agricultural Experiment 

 Station on spraying indicate that the dilute 

 Bordeaux mixture when thoroughly applied 

 is a practical preventive of pear scab. The 

 treatment has been equally effectual in pre- 

 venting apple scab and codlin moth. Some 

 roughness, regarded as injury, appeared on 

 the sprayed fruit, but it has not been deter- 

 mined whether this was caused by the Bor- 

 deaux mixture, by substances mixed with 

 it, by the weather, or by some other cause. 

 Some of the trees sprayed in 1893 overbore, 

 and consequently did not produce as full 

 crops in 1894 ; the only inference deducible 

 from which is that spraying will not prevent 

 the reaction that follows an excessive crop. 



NOTES. 



Meerschaum is extracted in much the 

 same way as coal. Near Eski-Shehir, an im- 

 portant station on the Anatolian Railway, 

 where rich deposits of meerschaum ai'e 

 found, pits from twenty-five to one hundred 

 and twenty feet deep are dug, and as soon as 

 the vein is struck horizontal galleries, some- 

 times of considerable length, are made. The 

 stone as extracted is called ham-tash (rough 

 block), and is soft enough to be easily cut 

 with a knife. It is white, with a yellowish 

 tint, and is covered with a red, clayey soil. 

 The manipulation required before it is ready 

 for export is long and costly. 



The average annual production of wine 

 in Spain, including the Balearic Isles and the 

 Canaries, is estimated at 770,000,000 gallons. 

 The principal wiue-growing districts are in 

 Valencia, Catalonia, Old Castile, Aragon, 

 Riojana, Navarre, Leon, Andalusia, Estra- 

 madura, and the largest production is fur- 

 nished by the provinces of Alicante and Va- 

 lencia-Catalonia. Andalusia produces the 

 famous sherry and Malaga wines which com- 

 pete very favorably in the foreign markets 

 with the Italian products of Marsala and 

 Syracuse. The amount of sherry alone 

 which is shipped from Spain each year rep- 

 resents a value of over $12,000,000. 



Animals in Mediaeval Architecture, pro- 

 fusely illustrated, and The Criminal Prosecu- 

 tion of Animals in the Middle Ages, also illus- 

 trated, are the titles of two interesting vol- 

 umes by Prof. E. P. Evans soon to be pub- 

 lished by Henry Holt & Co., New York, and 

 William Heinemann, London. 



The following sentence from one of 

 Pasteur's speeches seems worthy of wide- 

 spread circulation : " I hold the invincible 



belief that science and peace will be victori- 

 ous over ignorance and war ; that the nations 

 will agree not to destroy, but to build up ; 

 and that the future will belong to those who 

 shall have done most for suffering human- 

 ity." 



The part which ants play in the menage 

 of an orchid seems to be essential to its 

 healthy growth. Mr. J. H. Hart, dealing with 

 this question in a recent bulletin of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, says that while there 

 are several theories as to the part which the 

 ants play, probably the correct one is that 

 they supply the roots of the orchid with the 

 mycelium of a fungus, which fungus enables 

 them to take up food which would be other- 

 wise unattainable. 



The third International Congress of Psy- 

 chology will meet in Munich next Augustj 

 The opening will take place in the great hal_ 

 of the university on the morning of the 4th_ 

 Prof. Stumpf is the president of the congress 

 Information may be obtained from the general 

 secretary, Freiherr von Schrenck-Notzing, or 

 from Prof. Sully, East Heath Road, Hamp- 

 stead, London, England. 



It is stated that a biography of Prof. 

 Huxley is being prepared by his son, Mr. 

 Leonard Huxley, who will be greatly obliged 

 if those who possess letters or other docu- 

 ments of interest will forward them to him 

 at Charterhouse, Godalming. They will be 

 carefully returned after being copied. 



Dr. Robert Brown, who died in 

 Streatham, England, October 26, 1895, in his 

 fifty-fourth year, was a man of much versa- 

 tility in science. He studied at the Universi- 

 ties of Edinburgh, Leydcn, Copenhagen, and 

 Rostock. Visiting Spitzbergen, Greenland, 

 and Baffin Bay in 1861, he made some 

 notable discoveries. During the next five 

 years he traveled through some of the un- 

 explored districts of America, visiting the 

 West Indies, Venezuela, Alaska, Bering Sea, 

 and places between, and the Pacific islands. 

 He was botanist to the British Columbia ex- 

 pedition and commander of the Vancouver 

 Island expedition. In these enterprises he 

 introduced several new plants into Europe. 

 He charted the interior of Vancouver Island, 

 then unknown. With Mr. Whymper he 

 made the first attempt of Englishmen in 

 1867 to penetrate the inland ice of Green- 

 land. He afterward traveled extensively 

 through the Barbary states ; then settled 

 down in Scotland, where he lectured to vari- 

 ous institutions on geology, botany, and zo- 

 ology ; and later engaged in newspaper work 

 in England. His name has been given to 

 several new species of plants and animals, 

 and to at least five geographical points in 

 Vancouver Island, Spitzbergen, and Nova 

 Zembla. He was the author of several sci- 

 entific and other books, and an honorary or 

 ordinary member of many learned societies. 



