THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Discussing the relation of occupations 

 and trades to public health, Dr. John T. Al- 

 ridge remarks that erroneous conclusions 

 may be drawn by overlooking factors which, 

 though potent, are not prominent to view. 

 Thus, as a general rule, light occupations, 

 in good social credit, will attract a large ra- 

 tio of weak lives, pronounced incapable of 

 active labor. Such an occupation is that of 

 clerk ; and we must not lay too much stress 

 on its unhealthfulness as being a sedentary 

 calling, when, in truth, it is largely filled 

 with persons already of sickly habit. Dr. 

 Alridge believes that inhalation of dust is a 

 most effective cause of disease, and that 

 those occupations in which much dust is 

 stirred are intrinsically the most unhealthy. 



In providing for the water-supply and 

 the disposal of the sewage of the city of 

 Toronto, engineers have to deal with the 

 problem which is presented by the necessity 

 of drawing the water from and returning the 

 sewage to the same body Lake Ontario. 

 The water intake is now through a crib fixed 

 at about two thousand feet from the outer 

 shore of the island that lies in front of the 

 harbor. Messrs. Rudolp Hering and Sam- 

 uel W. Gray, who were invited to study the 

 subject and report upon it, have reached the 

 conclusion that " for many years to come no 

 objection can arise and no pollution will be 

 observed, if the sewage outfall is placed as 

 proposed, six and one half miles from the 

 present water intake." 



The British Association Committee on the 

 circulation of the underground waters of the 

 kingdom, etc., reports that since it was ap- 

 pointed, fourteen years ago, the recognition 

 of those stores as affording efficient supplies 

 of water free from organic impurity at rela- 

 tively little cost has made great progress. 

 The publication of the results already ob- 

 tained has been greatly appreciated by en- 

 gineers and contractors, and has helped and 

 supported recommendations of water - sup- 

 plies from underground sources. As time 

 goes on, large numbers of borings are annu- 

 ally made; and numerous provincial socie- 

 ties are giving attention to the subject and 

 publishing results. 



Mr. J. A. Loudon, of Newcastle, showed 

 in the British Association that peat fiber can 

 furnish a suitable material for the manu- 

 facture of brown paper, wrappers, and mill- 

 boards. It is not, however, available for 

 white paper. 



A method of making bottles by machinery 

 was described by Mr. H. M. Ashley in the 

 British Association. The resultant bottle is 

 homogeneous, with ring, neck, body, and bot- 

 tom, all as one. Specimens had been subject- 

 ed to an internal pressure of three hundred 

 poundst to the square inch without any being 

 broken. The use of the method is expected 

 to do away with the most unhealthy part of 

 the ordinary process of blowing bottles. 



OBITUARY NOTES. 



Mr. C. Spence Bate, a British authority 

 on crustaceans, has recently died at Plym- 

 outh. He was the author of a report on a 

 class of crustaceans collected by the Chal- 

 lenger Expedition ; of a catalogue of certain 

 crustaceans in the British Museum; of a "His- 

 tory of British Sessile-eyed Crustaceans " ; 

 and of a work on the " Pathology of Dental 

 Caries." 



Prof. George H. Cook, of Rutgers Col- 

 lege, and State Geologist of New Jersey, 

 died at New Brunswick, in that State, Sep- 

 tember 22d, in the seventy-third year of his 

 age. He was born at Hanover, N. J. ; be- 

 came a civil engineer in 1836; laid out the 

 line of the Catskill and Canajoharie Railroad ; 

 was graduated from Troy Polytechnic Insti- 

 tute in 1839; was made senior professor in 

 that institution in 1840; became Professor 

 of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in 

 Albany Academy in 1842 ; Principal of the 

 Academy in 1858; Professor of Chemistry 

 and Natural Philosophy in Rutgers College 

 in 1852 ; Assistant Geologist of New Jersey 

 in the next year, and State Geologist in 1864, 

 when he was also made Vice-President of 

 the State Scientific College. He was active- 

 ly connected with the State Board of Agri- 

 culture ; became Director of the State Weath- 

 er Service; visited Europe three times on 

 scientific errands ; and was associated with 

 many public enterprises. 



Prof. Leo Lesquereux, the eminent bota- 

 nist and paleontologist, died at Columbus, 

 Ohio, October 25th, in the eighty-fourth year 

 of his age. He was a native of Switzerland, 

 was a friend of Guyot and Agassiz, and came 

 to the United States in 1848. He was the 

 author of nearly fifty scientific works ; and 

 in his special field of study he ranked with 

 Oswald Heer. A sketch of his life and 

 works, accompanied by a portrait and a list 

 of his writings, was published in " The Popu- 

 lar Science Monthly" for April, 1887. 



Dr. James Prescott Jofle, F. R. S., the 

 discoverer of the mechanical equivalent of 

 heat, died at Sale, near Manchester, England, 

 October 11th. He was the son of a brewer 

 in Salford, and was born in 1818. His first 

 contribution to scientific literature was made 

 when he was about twenty years old, in a 

 paper describing an electro-magnetic engine. 

 His great discovery was made after patient, 

 independent investigation and experiment, 

 with extremely simple apparatus constructed 

 by himself. He constructed electro-magnets 

 of greater carrying power than any previ- 

 ously known; devised electro-magnetic en- 

 gines and new forms of galvanometers ; meas- 

 ured the heat evolved by the passage of 

 electricity through mechanical conductors ; 

 and determined tho ratio between chemical 

 and thermal energy. A sketch of his life 

 and a portrait were given in " The Popular 

 Science Monthly " for May, IS'74. 



